Training woes

New chapter out, and I'm glad that I managed to write this much easier than the other one. Don't underestimate a Taco Bell Dr Pepper, corn syrup and sugar insomnia, and unmatched self loathing mix as an excellent fuel for writing.

This chapter is basically just filler that pushes things along by about 2 months and has some character interactions in a relaxed setting.

Thinking about it, I didn't have any buildup or hinting of Kimimaro being brought back in earlier chapters. I shall endeavor to inject proper foreshadowing into my other arcs I toss up as I did in earlier portions.

(I might rewrite parts of the Kimimaro fight to make it more realistically brutal, adding a few more injuries and tension. I'm not sure.)

Anyway, here's the chapter.

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

"You need to actually sleep, this isn't healthy." Kurama's voice echoed in my head, making me scowl openly.

Currently, it was 4:37 in the morning, and I was wide awake at my table. The lamplight was on at the moment, a shield on it to dim it some so it wouldn't irritate my eyes as I was at work.

"As if I believe you even care." I muttered out loud, tinkering with a seal absentmindedly. "I slept and did nothing for a couple days straight, so I'm back to work."

I probably should have been more polite because Kurama was actually trying to help me, but my mind just wasn't feeling it right now.

If I thought nightmares of being overwhelmed and dying were bad before, my run in with Kimimaro brought all of that back to the forefront of mind.

So, to help myself deflate and mentally relax, I didn't do much aside from my typical training and interact with my friends for the most part, Jiraiya requesting that he have a few days to himself for some reason as well.

"Your lack of sleep is affecting something in the seal because it is more constricted than before." The fox growled lightly, his irritation bleeding into my thoughts minutely.

I clamped down a bit to stave off any cross influence, but the reveal of my desire to not have nightmares might actually cause issues with Kurama was a bit of a sobering thought. I wanted to be on friendly grounds with him, and this wouldn't help things if I shrugged off his request.

'I'll sleep when I finish this seal, I promise.' I assured him, hearing a huff of acknowledgement from the Bijuu.

"What even are you making?" He asked curiously, "I don't recognize it like those bracers you did."

'The bracers were fairly easy.' I said, not being exactly truthful. Etching seals into the bracers I bought was fighting me every step of the way on doing it properly when I tried to force it. Once I sort of gave up and let my mind wander, I got it to work.

Weird as hell, but it worked.

"But what are you making currently?" He repeated himself, to which I had no answer.

To be honest, I didn't even know what I was making. I just let my mind wonder as I kept thinking of my latest dream, the scene continuously running through my head like it was yesterday.

It was of me saying goodbye to Rin.

Normally, my nightmares coincided with whatever prevalent emotion I had tied to it. My dreams were more vivid than in my old life, probably from some weird stuff related to overly potent Yin chakra.

But I kept feeling depression and longing in the dream, not fear or terror at the thought of her being gone. It was almost enough for me to talk to Inoichi about it, and I'd rather not have something be acting up again with my chakra.

Twitching as I tried to not fidget while drawing the seal as I thought of those particular things, especially a talk with Inoichi, I took a deep breath and got back to it.

"Ashira I'adonai ki gaoh gaoh." I sang softly, casually adding a flourish here and a sharp downward dragging of my brush there.

The singing seemed to do the trick to get me to focus while simultaneously letting my mind wonder, the words undoubtedly being butchered in sound by my muddled country boy accent and this 'verses dialect of Japanese mixed into my English partially.

As I kept thinking of all that, I kept tracing out the seal and paused after a certain point, looking down at it. It was mostly done, so I kept at it a little longer.

Finishing up the seal finally, I inspected what it was and snorted at what I ended up making. It was a chakra lure similar to the lightning one I made that Rin improved, except this one looked to be for nonaligned chakra.

Pressing my finger against it and pulsing my chakra into it to key it to mine, I decided to test it out and tossed it to the side, making a shadow clone and instantly popping it.

Surprisingly, the seal actually absorbed a portion of the chakra, fizzling out not long after and sending the rest back to me.

'Hmmm, neat.' I thought, feeling a little prideful that it even did anything.

Keeping to my promise to Kurama, I went back to my bed and hopped in, shutting my eyes and trying to sleep.

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

"Son of a bastard son of a whore." Jiraiya swore to himself, clenching his fingers as the backlash from him screwing with the Akatsuki ring made his tenketsu burn in his hand.

Whatever stimulant Ashina was on that had him designing this thing, Jiraiya wanted some of it. He'd looked into it and tried to study the design for a few days, but he gave up after some time.

Now, after forcing himself to study it for days once more nonstop, he understand part of it. But it was like he graduated from newborn to a barely walking toddler when he was trying to reach what his current physical state is as an end goal.

He still couldn't figure out the communication aspect that Itachi mentioned, or the way it could pull Bijuu from their Jinchuriki and seal it into a particular statue.

Again, Ashina had to have been operating on a completely different plane of existence to cook up this masterpiece of a ring.

'And here I was, wondering why he enjoyed incessant ring jokes whenever I mentioned communication issues with Tsunade.' Jiraiya grumbled internally. 'I thought he was telling me to propose or some bullshit.'

Peering at the intricate seals etched into the metal of the outer band, Jiraiya twitched when he felt the air displace slightly.

'Hmmm, I wonder who that is.' He thought sarcastically.

"I'm kind of busy, Sensei." Jiraiya muttered, knowing only two people alive who would be able to sneak up on him like that, and Tsunade was busier than he was.

"I can see that." Hiruzen said casually, walking up to him and looking down at the ring in Jiraiya's fingers.

Jiraiya noticed once again, rather amusingly, that his head was a little over chin level to his Sensei, even when he was sitting down in a chair.

"Were you not supposed to begin training Naruto in using Doton?" The elder of the two asked pointedly. "It has been nearly a week since he has returned from the mission, and you're still fiddling with that relic."

The reminder was a bit irritating, if Jiraiya were honest. He was stretched thin on time, and there was a legitimate reason for why he hadn't.

"This relic is less than half your age." Jiraiya pointed out with a snort, setting it down gently as he looked at his Sensei, "And Naruto wanted a few days off, so I obliged."

Hiruzen frowned at that, his brow furrowed in thought.

"Did the mission have that much of an impact?" He wondered, not exactly voicing it as an actual question.

"Well, he did almost get killed by the Kaguya during the invasion, and then he had to fight him again." Jiraiya pointed out, "That wouldn't sit well with me either."

Hiruzen grunted an acknowledgement, nodding at the sense in Jiraiya's words.

"Speaking of that," Jiraiya continued, a flash of memory gliding through his thoughts as he addressed arguably the only person alive with this knowledge, "Are we approved to start making seals to restrain them?"

Officially, Hiruzen had to ask Tsunade permission to teach anybody personally or hand over classified documents on how to restrain Edo Tensei properly to other people.

Unofficially, Hiruzen taught Kakashi how to days prior, and Naruto would be once Kakashi could make the seals himself without too much hassle.

"Yes." Hiruzen replied, his hand stroking his goatee as he furrowed his brow. "I never thought I would need to teach another what Tobirama-sensei had imparted upon me."

Orochimaru using them was one thing, but an extremely skilled former ROOT agent that had knowledge of all of Orochimaru's bases and unknown plans was capable of just as much destruction.

"But you haven't really told me why you're here."Jiraiya fixed him with a curious look, his tone a little laid-back to let the man know he wasn't annoyed with him in particular. "Mind sharing?"

Hiruzen was here for a reason other than just saying hello.

"I will get straight to the point," Hiruzen said gruffly, lighting his pipe with a flick of his finger and setting it between his teeth, "I am bored. This is the first time in thirteen years that I have absolutely nothing to do other than the training I'm currently capable of doing and sitting around hoping that Tsunade has a question concerning the internal workings of the village." After the long sentence, he took a drag from his pipe and sighed happily.

"Should've kept the hat and still had your beloved paperwork to caress late into the night." Jiraiya snorted, not expecting the smack to the back of his head that had him scowling and fighting the urge to say something petulant.

"I will still put you over my knee, height difference or not, if I think it will do you good." Hiruzen gave him a stare not dissimilar to the kind he'd give when Jiraiya would act out as a genin. "But I don't have the same energy I had after my... injury." He added the last word distastefully.

His kidney had not been salvageable, the muscle and soft tissue damage was severe, a tenketsu point was torn that needed reattaching, and he ended up opening up two healed hernias that had occured over 20 years ago. Pretty much everything decided to fall apart in that anatomical region after the Shodai landed that crippling hit.

"Speaking of, did Tsunade say how long that would take to settle?" Jiraiya asked, wanting to know since he had been a bit, well, drunk, when Tsunade had been patching up their Sensei after he was officially discharged from the hospital.

"A year at minimum." Hiruzen sighed, his posture at least normal looking instead of the visible favouring of one side that had become the norm for several weeks. "But I'm not here to speak about my less than stellar recovery, I'm here to ask a favour."

The Toad Sage looked at the man who trained him with rapt attention, shifting in his chair.

"Would you let me train Naruto in Earth Release?" The old man asked simply, looking a bit awkward as he asked.

Jiraiya didn't say anything, slowly digesting what he just heard.

"That bored, huh?" He finally spoke, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice. "What's in it for me, Sensei?" He added with a faint smirk.

"You would be free to train Rin in tactical summoning and other things when your scheduled meetup occurs, and you won't be restricted to the village as often while Naruto is here." Hiruzen replied, the last part sounding very enticing to Jiraiya.

He genuinely loved the village and would fight to the very end for it, but the freedom of just exploring and going from place to place was irreplaceable. Naruto would gain more by staying in the village for a few more months, then Jiraiya could take him on a few missions out in the great emptiness that was the backwoods of the continent.

Plus, Hiruzen would be able to train Naruto in a few things that he was better equipped to do than what Jiraiya was.

'You knew I'd accept this all along, old man.' Jiraiya smiled to himself, giving Hiruzen a knowing look.

"Go ahead and ask the gaki if he wants you to guide him along on Doton." Jiraiya shrugged, knowing it honestly didn't matter who between the two of them gave him proper instruction, "It'll probably end up being similar to what I'd teach him, you did a pretty good job at teaching me with that method."

Jiraiya didn't want Hiruzen to know that he was planning on doing the exact same type of training Hiruzen had subjected him to. It left a little bruise on his ego that there wasn't a single thing he could find that improved upon the teachings he'd received.

"Ah, flattery," Hiruzen huffed, a faint grin stretching the lines on his face, "It seems manners were browbeaten into you at some point in the last few years."

"I'm not as much of an uncouth savage as you and Tsunade make me out to be." Jiraiya huffed in a perfect mimicking of the older man as he stood up, stretching his legs and back as he groaned. "Ugh, my back and fingers are not enjoying deciphering the ring for hours on end."

Hiruzen scoffed, reaching forward and grabbing the ring. "Trust me when I say you are unlikely to understand how any of Ashina's esoteric innovations even worked. He was completely incoherent in how he leaped from concept to concept, even more than Tobirama-sensei, when experimenting. Go outside, get some sun, and for gods' sake, eat something."

"Yes, Tousan." Jiraiya said sarcastically, exiting the room and heading to go do something more entertaining than understanding the eccentricity of Uzumaki Ashina made manifest in his seal creations.

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

"Shika, I want to take a moment and thank you for asking me to do all your hard work for you." I said with an almost palpable level of sarcasm, lifting up a 100 pound bag of flour with little difficulty when I flowed some chakra through my tenketsu. "Real pal move."

Shikamaru gave me a side eye glance, before rolling his eyes.

"You're the one who asked me to find you boring work to do."

I bit my tongue to not make a snarky comment in front of the civilian that hired us out for the D-rank, deciding to be casual about it.

"By boring, I meant you using the money I offered to give you to pay me to do nothing," I shifted the bag on my shoulder, not enjoying this all that much, "Where do you want this one put?" I asked the baker who ordered the flour, a man who looked to be in his sixties.

"Put it on the left side, please." He said politely, pointing at an open spot next to a few jars of cooking oil.

I nodded and grunted as I walked over to the open area, setting down the bag gently.

"I'm going to lie to your mom and say you're motivated to be an S-rank Shinobi and that you're training with both Gai and me."

Shikamaru actually laughed at me, or more specifically my threat.

"I have been training with Gai, Naruto. Remember?" Shikamaru had a more laid-back but sarcastic streak that reminded me quite a bit of Kakashi sometimes ever since he started training more often, and I was all for it.

"Adorable that you think Gai treating you with kid gloves is training." I snickered to myself, hoisting up the last remaining bag.

Shikamaru let out another one of his deadpan sighs, sounding just like he did right before the sewer incident.

"You don't have to rub it in that you're an abomination just like Gai. I just hope you don't wear an outfit like him when you train with him."

I almost dropped the bag from involuntarily retching at the visuals of me with a bowl cut and spandex, my eyes trying to burn a hole into Shikamaru's head.

"Thanks for that visual, Shika." I bit out, tossing the bag down and wiping my brow to get the sweat off my forehead, cursing the summer heat.

Deciding to at least pretend to be professional around the civilians, I stopped talking with Shikamaru and looked towards the baker.

"That's the last one, sir." I said politely, the man giving me a beaming smile.

"I appreciate the help, boys. How about I sign that slip of yours and treat you to some pastries?"

The signature that we completed the mission was a given, but the offer of a dessert was a surprise.

"Ah, you don't have to do that." I said politely, but he wasn't having any of it.

"Nonsense," He shook his head, gesturing for both me and Shikamaru to come in, "Pick out something you want. I couldn't have lifted all that flour on my own."

My eyes flicked towards Shikamaru when he didn't act surprised by the offer, a thought going through my head that had me fighting to roll my eyes.

Shikamaru picked this as a D-rank on purpose.

"Nothing like free donuts after doing jackshit." I muttered to myself in English, nodding in acceptance and grabbing Shikamaru's arm, shocking the boy with a faint amount of lightning chakra as I pulled him along against his will.

"Through the front." The baker requested, so I dragged an unwilling Shikamaru around the building and into the street.

Shikamaru tried to jerk on his arm to get loose, but he had better odds of escaping the Shinigami than my death grip.

"I'm not an infant, Naruto." He said irritably, finally prying his wrist out of my grip and shooting me a glare when we reached the front door. "And that stings."

"Think of me infantilizing you as payment for you having me do your work for you." I offered, pushing the door open and entering the establishment. "Thoughts on what I should get?" I asked him, looking around at the inside.

It was a nice and cozy little place, feeling like the small neighborhood bakeries in my old life. This was the one Hinata tended to get her cinnamon rolls at, and they were pretty good.

"I don't know what's good here." Shikamaru shrugged, glancing at the pastries on display. "I only heard the baker might offer a free sample if I did a D-rank here."

A snort left me as I heard that, the statement perfectly encapsulating the personality of Nara Shikamaru.

'I think I know what I'm getting.' I thought, making my way to that section of the display.

"Uh, sir?" I got the baker's attention, "I'd like a cinnamon roll."

The man nodded and got one out, putting it into a paper bag and handing it to me.

"Thank you." I nodded, turning to leave, but not before I looked at Shikamaru. "If you want, swing by the hospital because I'm going to help Karin out with some training. I might need an assistant to sit around and do nothing."

His eyes visibly perked up when I said that, a grateful smile appearing on his voice.

"I might." He replied, looking like he was considering it.

"Well, too bad," I laughed, turning on my heel to have my back to him, "Someone else has the spot to laze around."

"Which of the voices in your head is the lucky winner?" He asked dryly, which I maturely responded to by blowing a raspberry.

Holding the cinnamon roll in my hand, I exited the bakery, making my way to the hospital to pick up Karin and do some clan related education.

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

"Uzumaki Naruto is here to meet with one of Tsunade-sama's students." I said to the receptionist, the lady being around thirty or so.

She peered over her glasses at me, before glancing down at the note I got from Tsunade to give whenever I needed to get into the 'secure' part of the hospital.

"It looks good." She said in a bored tone, handing it back and pressing a button, the door unlocking and seal built into the door itself deactivating. "Go on in."

I nodded and took the note back, walking towards the door and pushing it open. I then walked down the hallway, taking two rights and a left to reach the room they usually trained their Iryo-ninjutsu in.

Reaching out with my sensing to make sure they were in there, I felt Ino, Hinata, Sakura, and Karin inside, with Shizune probably filling in for Tsunade because she was in there and not the blonde Sannin.

With a slight creak, I pushed the door open and whistled, startling none of them.

"Hello to you too, Naruto." Shizune said brightly, giving me a smug look. "You can't really surprise a room with two sensors and a Hyuga."

'Go ahead and kill my fun.' I laughed to myself, just happy to see them all again.

"Just came by to remind Karin that today's Thursday." I explained, feeling my cousin's chakra flicker as her eyes widened.

"Oh, I forgot that was today." She said apologetically, stopping whatever training technique she was doing that I had no idea what it was for and grabbing her stuff.

While she did that, I just stood there and started eating my cinnamon roll, enjoying it immensely from it being fresh.

Unfortunately for me, Hinata noticed what it was and she stared straight at me, her eyes narrowed.

"Where did you get that?" She asked calmly, but I could tell from her signature being almost cold that she was probably insulted that I didn't get her anything.

"The bakery." I replied, taking an intentionally slow bite as I closed my eyes for a moment and hammed up how much I was enjoying it.

Hinata's eyes were now narrowed into two lavender slits, her fingers tapping against the table with a constant drumming noise.

"They only come in orders of six or twelve... You ate that many and didn't share?" Her voice held an unfamiliar coldness in it that made me involuntarily shiver.

It was amusing to see how riled up Hinata would get if it was related to cinnamon rolls, but it didn't stop me from feeling a bit scared of her when she'd give that trademark death stare of her clan.

In hindsight, maybe I overdid it.

"I got offered this one for free because I unloaded some flour for the man." I clarified, taking another bite.

Ino had covered her mouth and was stifling a snicker at Hinata glaring at me, and Shizune looked amused by the kindest and most polite girl in the room glaring daggers at me.

"Naruto-kun," I did not like the way she said my name, her eyes reminding me very much of her father's gaze, "Are you lying to me?"

'Yeah, I overdid it.'

"Uh, no?" I said confusedly, not bothering to stop eating the cinnamon roll so it wouldn't get cold.

After a few tense seconds of silence, Hinata shrugged and went back to using Iryo-ninjutsu on what appeared to be a rabbit, the animal not moving its legs.

'That's a little unsettling.' I thought, hoping I didn't just provoke the ire of my friend from enjoying a cinnamon roll without getting her some.

An even worse thought was that she was able to pretend that she was insulted by it and fool me.

"Okay, I'm ready." Karin said, everything she had with her sealed into a scroll that was in her pocket, her ruby eyes glancing up at me as she reached me.

With my cousin ready to begin some personal training from me, the two of us left the hospital, heading to a training ground I booked for the day to be the location of today's round of Uzumaki clan technique exercise.

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

Karin was standing in front of me, her arms crossed as she looked at me inquisitively, the wind blowing gently across the training ground.

"Okay, from what I've gathered from how your chakra feels, you can use adamantine chains like my mother." I repeated what I had told her before, the bespectacled girl nodding her head affirmatively.

"But you can't actually use them." Karin pointed out.

"Right," I nodded, "But the Sandaime mentioned what Uzumaki Ashina said about the ability that both of us were capable of." I lifted my hand up and pulsed chakra through the tenketsu in my hand as an example, a thin blade of golden chakra manifesting.

"I can't manifest chains, but those who can are able to do what I'm able to do. Something about how the chakra didn't shape properly in our tenketsu was along the lines of how it was explained." I trailed off a bit at the end when I tried to remember the precise wording.

"So the actual method wasn't written down." Karin sighed, looking vexed by that realization.

"If it was, it's probably still in the ruins of Uzu." I said, feeling a chill go up my spine as I thought of that. "And I don't fancy exploring a place with unexploded ordinance."

That, and I knew that areas touched by death had a distinct stain to them when sensing the residual chakra from specific regions. The site of my clan's destruction was at the bottom of my priorities to explore.

"I want you to focus on how my chakra feels." I said clearly, not letting my previous thoughts impede me looking directly into her eyes to explain, "Visualize the difference between when my chakra goes from normal, to how it feels when I use my Bloodline."

Karin furrowed her brow and sensed my chakra, her eyes squinting.

"Your chakra is too bright." She said after a few seconds of trying to sense the difference, sounding annoyed at herself. "And it's mixed with another kind."

"Sorry." I said a little sheepishly, having forgotten to make a clone to dim my signature beforehand.

I made a clone with a half seal in my off hand, still having a chakra blade in my right.

"Go and entertain yourself, legally if you will." I instructed in a clipped tone, the clone nodding and flickering away in a blur.

I turned back to Karin and she looked less negative, her eyes holding a faraway look as she focused.

"I can feel the difference, but your chakra has another kind in it like your clone did during the exams." She muttered, blinking for a moment as she stopped sensing my chakra.

"The joys of having a murderous tenant in my chakra network." I said aloud, using my chakra to poke at the seal to get Kurama's attention.

"What?" He asked, sounding bored.

'You wanting to talk about random stuff, or you just going to sleep the rest of the day?'

"Probably harass the vixen whenever it suits me." I could distinctly feel him shrug, which was a little weird to describe.

'I thought harassing two Uchiha that could control you completely with their Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan would be a more entertaining target.' I pointed out, noticing Karin give me an odd look.

"I'm speaking to the fox." I said quickly, her eyes widening in understanding.

"Gotcha." She murmured, tilting her head as she sensed how it felt.

"The older of the two is the most humourless hominid I've ever had the displeasure of knowing," Kurama grumbled, sounding authentically exasperated, "Incapable of taking a joke, doesn't respond whenever the vixen attempts to draw out an amusing conversation. I swear, Madara had more humour than Uchiha Itachi."

'You have my condolences.' I said with a serious tone, not hiding my amusement at his supposed melancholic complaining. 'And I'm so proud you've picked up the habit of using hominid to describe people.'

"I can feel your emotions, meatbag." He scowled at my act, before going quiet all of a sudden.

'You there?' I asked, wondering what was going on.

"The female in front of you." He said coldly, a growl building in the back of his throat. "She has chakra like your mother. Keep her away from me."

That wasn't something I was wanting to deal with now at all.

'Just chill out.' I rolled my eyes, not in the mood for him to have a vendetta against another one of my female relation. 'She's not going to be holding me down, and by extension you, with chains. I'm helping her out with our Bloodline ability.'

I could understand his disdain for certain types of chakra from it reminding him of specific people, but there was a set amount of cynicism and hostility that I would tolerate or be accepting of. This was the set amount.

"Just keep her away from me."

'Sure.' I wasn't going to worsen Kurama's mood, so I just stayed silent. I could maybe talk with him tonight to lighten his demeanor.

"I will be going now, and your sister is doing fine." He added the last part without any biting tone or anything like that, which I was thankful for, then he slunk back into the seal.

"Uh, that was kind of weird." Karin said unnecessarily, her hands wringing uncomfortably. "I don't like feeling its chakra."

"He's just been in a perpetual bad mood for several decades," I waved it off, knowing that his anger went back longer than that, "Tends to stain your chakra. But back to training you in our bloodline ability."

Karin perked up and focused back on me.

"First, the fox confirmed beyond basically all doubt that you can use adamantine chains. My mom could, and he said your chakra feels like hers in that way."

I could feel the positivity radiating from her chakra, which was already fairly bright for a girl of 14, since her birthday was back in June.

"It's a type of Yin release technique," I explained further, "So I had to learn it differently because I have the Yin half of the Kyuubi sealed in me. I tried channelling his chakra before while doing it to see what happened... it was almost impossible to do. So the two types of chakra clash like same sided magnets."

The last part was the easiest comparison I could give since I didn't exactly know any others that weren't convoluted and better left unsaid.

I went on to explain the different steps of training I did to be able to properly use it, ways I sharpened my control, etc.

"So, any questions?" I asked after finishing my carefully articulated training regimen for obtaining a priceless resource in hand to hand.

"How did you first pull it off?" She wondered, tucking the spiky half of her hair back behind her ear. "Maybe I could try something similar."

'That's not going to work out at all.' I thought, laughing internally at the morbid thought that went through my head.

"Eh," I grimaced, not liking the thought at all now, "That won't work at all. Period. Ino used her clan Jutsu on me and accidentally rattled something in my head that had me attacking Kakashi and screaming."

At my rather flat explanation of what happened, Karin paled considerably.

"I... I don't think I want to do that." She mumbled, clearly disturbed by it.

"Wouldn't recommend it either, so you're stuck with me rambling about inane things while I try to teach you how to hopefully match up to me."

Karin let out a short laugh at that.

"Unlikely." She said, adjusting her glasses so that they sat higher on her nose. "You're scary, Naruto."

Not being able to resist the temptation, I leaned forward some to act like I was inspecting her features.

"You know, you look pretty scary too." I smirked, seeing my cousin's eyes narrow. "Redhead and spiky hair."

"Hush, you." She swatted at my arm, which I let her hit me. "And don't compare my hair to that rat nest on top of your head."

I clutched my chest like I'd been stabbed. "You wound me, cousin. I'll have you know that I only let the most adorable and fluffy squirrels in my hair. Rats aren't allowed." I finished, puffing my chest out proudly.

Karin blinked for a moment, thrown off by my particular brand of playful humour.

"I really hope whatever you are isn't tied to our bloodline." She eventually said, "That sounds hellish."

"I resent that," I said flatly, "And you got that from Rin, don't deny it." I pointed my finger at her when she looked like she was about to.

"She's your twin!" Karin protested, looking affronted, "She knows you more than anybody else."

"I know more about myself than she does." I countered, grinning when Karin stifled a growl of annoyance. "You haven't figured out that you can't hold a conversation with me if I don't want you to, have you?"

The former Kusa kunoichi gave me a defiant glare, her hands on her hips.

"Just teach me our clan techniques so I can wipe that stupid grin off your face." Karin nearly demanded, "I'll show that us Uzumaki girls are better than you."

'Oh, my sweet and dear cousin, you still haven't been around me long enough.'

"Wanna bet on that?" I asked seriously, already formulating a glorious plan for some light entertainment.

Karin nodded resolutely, her chakra brimming with determination as we started seriously training.

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

The day after Karin was made well and truly aware of who the superior redhead in Konoha was, I was to train with Jiraiya outside of the village to prevent some... collateral damage above and beyond the minimum permitted for regular training grounds.

I reached gate number three and frowned when I reached out to sense where precisely Jiraiya was. He said he was on this side out in the plains area.

'Why's Hiruzen there?'

Jiraiya wasn't there at all, but Hiruzen was.

I shrugged and Shunshined there, coming to a stop moments later.

It was the same area Jiraiya and I trained at leading up to the Chunin exam finals, being perfect for flat terrain and no debris in the way that could cause problems.

Next to one of the few rocks in the area, was Hiruzen, who's chakra was crackling at a low pitch like it usually did.

"Ah, Naruto," Hiruzen smiled, turning around and giving me one of his trademark, sagely looks, "Glad you aren't late."

I don't think I'm ever getting used to him outside of his Kage robes. I thought to myself, noticing how old he looked without the white and red robes.

"Wasn't Jiraiya supposed to train me?" I asked, adjusting my posture to lean on my right leg.

"Yes," Hiruzen acknowledged my question with a nod, "But I asked him if he would let me for a time as a favour."

Being who I was, I couldn't help myself as I felt my face curl into a smirk.

"Was retirement not suiting you?" I asked amusedly, catching the faint tightening of his jaw.

"Every one of you has mentioned that," He scowled lightheartedly, not actually annoyed by it, "You would not be incorrect though. I want to also see how well you have progressed with my own eyes."

Before I nodded along and asked to get started, I felt his chakra more closely and hid my frown at something I noticed more so than before.

He looks like he's mostly recovered, but I can tell his chakra is still struggling to circulate on his right side at the same pace as his left.

"Tsunade gave you the clear to train?" I asked seriously, not willing to sate Hiruzen's need for doing something at his detriment. "I will sic her on you and Jiraiya if you're lying."

Hiruzen, in spite of himself, paled some at my threat.

"I assure you that Tsunade has medically cleared me to train. There's no need for that."

"Just checking." I grinned to hide my relief, stretching my arms out and hopping on the balls of my feet lightly. "Ready to drive me up the wall with elemental release training for a contrary element to my own?"

I was probably going to be swearing and getting aggravated to an unimaginable level today, but I didn't care. I needed the diversity.

"Yes." Hiruzen replied, pulling out a storage scroll and setting it to the side. "I have personal notes sealed in here for you after today to read. I will be giving you practical examples to sense in a controlled environment so you know how you chakra needs to act. This will also take longer than most things you have put your mind to, Naruto. Earth does not operate like lightning or water."

I nodded my understanding, ready to begin.

"Okay, hit me."

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

"Fucking useless, saggy-titted, snout-nosed, son of a Kentucky Fried Fuck!" I snarled to myself, my chakra refusing to cooperate and move steadily and firmly like earth was supposed to.

The earth spires Hiruzen had raised up for me to pulse my chakra into kept cracking when they weren't supposed to, the overwhelming urge to switch to how I knew lightning felt driving me up the wall.

Sure, I had become more familiar with how my chakra would shift around in the earth, but it felt alien to me. It didn't come back to me like through water or if I arced lightning through metal and back to me.

Hiruzen was sitting in a chair, having done a light training workout while a Bunshin of his had been watching me slowly lose my mind. But he was finished now, and was silently watching me struggle with dozens of my clones to try and reach a breakthrough.

"You have been doing this for two hours, Naruto. You need to take a short break."

I shook my head, my fingers itching from the amount of chakra I had been moving through the tenketsu in my fingers non-stop.

"Not until I make some progress." I gritted my teeth, feeling like I was six years old and learning basic chakra control all over again.

"You have managed to pulse your chakra consistently without making the earth explode." He pointed out, drinking from a bottle of water steadily to stay hydrated, "I expected that to take a few days for you to manage."

I knew he was just saying that to make me think I was like Orochimaru or my dad in amazing progress speed. But I was pretty sure they hadn't been using clones and repeatedly popping them, rinsing and repeating, to cut corners.

Today probably had a few days worth of experience from me using dozens of clones and popping them in a constant cycle.

"Bingo!" One of the clones shouted, popping itself and giving me the experience back.

The memory of what it did differently trickled into my head, causing me to frown.

'Is that how Doton works? Bull. Shit.'

"There is no way in hell I can do that safely." I muttered to myself, refusing to believe that what the clone stumbled across was the first step to how I needed to make my chakra act to use Doton.

It felt downright inhuman to make my chakra act that way. The stupid clone did it as a laugh by leashing its chakra and pulling on it so hard that it gave me a phantom chill in my tenketsu.

At Hiruzen's silent look of inquisitiveness, I sighed and dragged my hand through my hair, hoping he would say I was incorrect.

"I think my clone finally figured out how my chakra needs to feel to manipulate earth." I moaned, fighting the urge to pace back and forth.

"Can you replicate it for me?" Hiruzen asked, a calculating look in his eyes as he stood up from his chair.

"Yeah." I said, not looking forward to this.

The old man made a lazy half seal, a precise amount of his chakra exiting from his feet and sinking into the ground, pushing up another spire of earth that was about chest height to the both of us.

"Try it again on this." He instructed, setting his hand on it and sinking a faint amount of chakra into the spire.

I followed suit and pressed my palm against it, doing exactly what my clone did and frowning as I twisted and made my chakra act in a way that made me feel uncomfortable.

"Hmmm," Hiruzen furrowed his brow, closing his eyes as he felt how my chakra acted with his own with the rock as the medium, "A juvenile use of Doton, but a use nonetheless. Congratulations, you have taken a half-step forward."

"It's supposed to feel that way?" I asked weakly, dreading the answer.

Hiruzen grimaced slightly, before nodding reluctantly.

"It never felt... wrong to me when Tobirama-sensei trained me in its use. Water on the other hand did, because my natural affinity is fire. With earth being the opposite of lightning, and water is weak to it as well, it would feel uncommonly disconcerting to you, especially since sensors are more intimately attuned to their own chakra."

With that awful answer to my question, I let my hand fall to my side, my eyes jerking towards my clones.

"Pop." I ordered, which they did.

Once I got back the memories, I clicked my tongue, eying the spire Hiruzen had just raised distastefully.

"I hope this hasn't dissuaded your goal in learning a third affinity." Hiruzen voiced his thoughts, looking at me with an appraising expression.

That wasn't the issue. The issue was that I realized just how difficult it was to learn another affinity without having the rare situation of having two at a young age like me. It might have been some type of fanon creation, but I was one of the rare people with a second affinity that didn't need trained from scratch.

It made people like Tobirama, Hiruzen, and Mu all the more impressive and frightening.

"It's not that." I sighed, deciding to be honest about my thoughts with the man. I didn't want to keep an additional secret from him. "You learned all five nature releases, and so did the Nidaime. I just, ugh," I pressed my fingers against my temple and shook my head, "It feels wrong when I make my chakra behave differently, yet I know I need to learn this stuff."

"Not wind or fire?" Hiruzen queried, probably to gauge my thoughts.

"Unimportant," I said shortly, losing the battle with my nerves as I began pacing back and forth, "I have lightning for area of effect instead of wind, and I have this for close range." I pulsed chakra through my fingers to form a blade as an example.

"Fire... I have explosives to mimic it and I can seal oil away and ignite it with lightning." I was rather blunt and had little enthusiasm with my view on fire as an element.

Don't tell me an element is useful if its most iconic technique didn't kill a single person in the show.

'The Uchiha and their Grand Fireball.' I scoffed internally. 'Madara killed more people with a kunai on screen than that fancy ball of hot air.'

I wasn't particularly concerned about my arrogance related to the Uchiha. My best friend was an Uchiha, and anything that made my clan seem better than his was a sacrament to me.

"I can see you have put thought into learning earth specifically." Hiruzen hummed thoughtfully.

My eyes flicked back to his. "Yeah, and I've come too far to just roll over and give up on learning it." I unsealed my own chair from one of my storage seals and sat heavily down in it, crossing my arms when Hiruzen raised his brow at me. "You told me to take a break." I pointed out petulantly, milking it for all it was worth.

The Sandaime Hokage let out an undignified snort, sitting down in his own chair and looking me up and down.

"If I had never met you, and Jiraiya told me you were his grandson, I wouldn't have doubted him for a minute."

'What?!'

I shot the man a scandalized look, his face breaking out into a wide smile as he laughed.

"You act just as he did at 13, minus the attempts at sneaking into the hot springs of course."

'As if he needed to sneak when you went there half the time too.' My mind accused, but I didn't voice it.

"If I discover that my father was Jiraiya's lovechild from some random fling," I swore, feeling repulsed at the visuals, "I'm blackmailing Tsunade into removing a quarter of my DNA."

Hiruzen chuckled at my reaction, pulling his pipe from his pocket and stuffing tobacco inyo it.

"Jiraiya will be disappointed that you wouldn't want him as a grandfather." He said with faux admonishment, igniting the contents of the pipe.

"Would you want to share genetic material with him?" I asked flatly, crossing my arms tightly.

Hiruzen hummed as he sucked on the pipe, blowing out a smoke cloud from his nose.

"I suppose not," He admitted, before his eyes twinkled with amusement, "But let's keep that a secret between the two of us."

The two of us sat in a companionable silence after that, the environment calm and relaxing as the sun was high in the sky and all was at ease.

Until Hiruzen broke the silence.

"Naruto," He said my name in a tone of voice that he normally didn't use, a mix between uncertainty and worry, "If I asked something of you, would you do it?"

My eyes slowly looked up towards his, my expression neutral.

"Depends on what it is." I said slowly, leaning forward and placing my elbows on my thighs.

"Nothing nefarious," Hiruzen clarified, probably noticing how tense I had been for a moment, "I'm concerned about Konohamaru."

I paused at that, thinking of the younger protege of mine. I'd neglected spending as much time as I should have with him over the last month or two, but that came down to me being extremely busy with training.

"I know you have been keeping him out of trouble and he listens to you," Hiruzen continued, smiling faintly as he brought that detail up, "But he's in the academy now, and he is bored from the material."

It didn't take much of a deduction to figure out what Hiruzen was going to ask of me. If I had to guess, he probably wanted me to entertain Konohamaru when I could.

'I'll flip the script.' I thought with a grin.

"This is kind of a weird way to promote me to being a Jonin sensei, Jiji." I said quietly, my voice laced with astonishment.

Hiruzen obviously wasn't expecting that as a response, because he jerked and blinked, his pipe almost falling out of his mouth.

That quickly changed into a loud laugh, his head leaning back as he did.

"Oh, Naruto," He smiled, still chuckling to himself as he regained his composure quickly, "This truly is a splendid day."

I gave him an answer to his unasked question before he could ask it again. "If you're wanting me to spend time with him so he doesn't get bored and experiment with Jutsu unsupervised, then I can."

Ebisu wasn't the worst Jonin to have as a chaperone and somebody to answer questions about techniques. But he wasn't the most suited for a kid that was more rambunctious than a majority of kids.

'Rambunctious? I must be getting old already to use that word.'

"Your usual interactions with him?" Hiruzen asked more pointedly, peering at me expectantly.

"Pretty much." I shrugged, unstrapping and redoing the wrap on my left bracer. "He's adventurous and likes fun stuff, so I'll help guide him to do practical things under the guise of whatever. It's worked before."

Hiruzen had a pleased expression on his face, his chakra flexing some as he rose to his feet.

"If you wish, you can continue training," He said, "Break time is over."

Now that I had permission, I jumped up to my feet and got back to it.

The rest of the day was basically filled with me working on Doton, and hating every moment of it.

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

"Hey, Naruto." Ino greeted her friend, walking from her house and going to do a few things before she was supposed to be back for a special occasion.

It was her birthday today.

"Hey, to you too." Naruto smiled, his eyes flicking towards her hair. "Mind if I just tag along for now? I need to head to the weapons shop later about my sword."

It was a happy coincidence that they came across one another, it seemed.

"Sure." Ino didn't think anything of it, still walking towards the flower shop to water a few of the plants, then do a couple of small errands.

Naruto was quiet for a time as they walked, his eyes flicking to her hair again.

'What's he thinking?' She thought, trying to sense his chakra. The overwhelming sense of discomfort exuded by him made her almost recoil away.

"Felt my chakra, didn't ya?" Naruto raised a brow, having noticed her reaction, "Word of advice, Earth release training is extremely uncomfortable when you're a sensor and are used to lightning and water. I feel dirty right now."

Ino blinked at that, still trying to recover from how uncomfortable Naruto felt.

"I don't think that's how nature release training is supposed to feel, Naruto." She said with no small amount of concern. "Asuma-sensei didn't say anything about that when I asked him about other Jutsu to potentially learn."

To be fair though, her now technically former Sensei hadn't gone into too much detail about Ninjutsu when they talked just recently. He had recommended, once he found out how well she had been progressing in Iryo-ninjutsu, that she could probably do well with Genjutsu, especially from how Yamanaka were already predisposed to being adept at Yin release.

Naruto rolled his eyes, but she could tell he wasn't actually annoyed or anything. "I'm special that way."

Ino stifled a snicker at that, not knowing if Naruto intentionally worded it that way or not.

"So, that's what my day has been like. How's your-" Naruto stopped mid sentence and tilted his head, staring at her hair.

'Okay, this is... a little weird.' Ino thought to herself, having not had Naruto look at her that way before.

"Uh, Naruto?" She said confusedly, his eyes squinting as he leaned towards her.

She took half a step back, but he moved closer. Ino felt blood start to rush to her face as he closed the distance between them, having a serious expression on his face.

"Why do you have a grey hair?" He asked casually, his eyes staring intently at her shoulder.

Ino's eyes widened in shock at the question, horror radiating from her.

"What?!" She practically shrieked, grabbing at her ponytail hurriedly in panic. She ran her fingers through her hair, desperately trying to disprove the calamity.

So caught up in the horror of her beautiful platinum blonde hair having a grey hair, on her birthday, she missed how Naruto's face reddened as he struggled to not openly laugh.

She was finally pulled from her despairing state of looking through her hair when Naruto finally broke out into a fit of laughter, his entire body shaking as he was bent over.

"You should have seen your face." He wheezed, his eyes looking up at hers as his hands were on his knees.

At the realization of what Naruto had done, Ino growled and slapped him as hard as she could on the head.

"Ow." Naruto flinched away, rubbing at his head but still laughing. "That stung a little."

"Jerk." She glared as hard as she could at him, his mirth staining his chakra to an insufferably bright degree. "Thinking you can scare me like that." She huffed, crossing her arms and still giving him a harsh look.

"I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday." He protested, still rubbing his head as he adjusted his Hitai-ate.

"I," Ino started to say, before her mind caught up to what he said, "You knew today was my birthday?" She asked questioningly.

She didn't expect him to know, because she never told him.

"Uh, yeah?" Naruto said, acting like it was an obvious thing. "I know my friends' birthdays, including yours."

'Oh.' She thought, mildly surprised that he would have tried to learn that on his own volition.

"Well you're still a jerk for scaring me." She eventually said, narrowing her eyes when Naruto snickered.

"You just turned 14, Ino." He let out a short laugh, beginning to walk to which she followed, "You know how I am. It's your own fault that you trusted my word on a low hanging joke."

"Hn." Ino sniffed and turned her head up at him, embellishing it to get her point across. "I expect a proper apology at some point." She then flicked her head to smack him in the face with her hair, causing him to stumble and scowl.

"Very funny." He deadpanned, but the smile on his face let her know he wasn't bothered.

"Now be a good escort for the Yamanaka clan heiress and assist me on this very special day and I'll count that as an adequate apology." She commanded imperiously, hearing a less than dignified snort from Naruto.

"Yes, Ino-sama." Naruto saluted her, the two going towards a few different stores to pick out random things she needed.

It was a relatively quiet walk, with Naruto walking at a more steady pace than he usually did. It might have been for her sake, she didn't know. But it stood out to her for some reason.

Once they left the most important store, that had fertilizer that needed to be reserved when it was in stock once more, Ino stopped by the flower shop and watered the plants really quickly, Naruto electing to stay outside for whatever reason.

The blonde hummed to herself as she finished up the little chore of making sure the flowers didn't shrivel up and die, and walked back towards the street, her eye focusing in on a visibly annoyed Naruto.

A civilian lady was talking with him, the subject obviously being a negative one for her red haired friend as he was clearly trying to rein in whatever biting comment he wanted to make.

Deciding to hopefully head it off, Ino quickened her pace to get to them.

"I will repeat myself for the fourth time," She heard Naruto say, finally getting within earshot, "I'm not interested. I'll be leaving now." He said shortly, practically storming away.

"Naruto." She called for him, ignoring the woman as she rushed to catch up to him, tapping his shoulder to get his attention.

Her friend twitched and shot her a look, his eyes holding a familiar iciness in them without him breaking his stride at all.

"Dumbass civilians." He hissed under his breath, his fingers fidgeting against his leg as he shook his head irritably. "Never should have tormented Sasuke about this." He said to himself, the pace of his steps making her hurry a bit to keep up as he turned left down a street.

Ino realized it actually got to him. It wasn't a joke or anything like that, it actually bothered him.

"The, uh, usual?" Ino asked uncertainly, expecting it to be the same old thing that riled him up.

Civilian girls had tried to cozy up to Sasuke because he was in line to have a lot of influence in the village, she remembered that. It was glaringly obvious the the youngest Uchiha despised it with every fibre of his being, and Naruto was no different in that regard after being outed as the son of the Yondaime and the head of a newly recognized clan.

"Yeah." He said exasperatedly, muttering something else under his breath that she didn't understand. "I'm almost tempted to just say I have an unrequited infatuation with Sasuke just to get them to back off. Less hassle."

'Aaaaanndd, there's the Naruto I'm looking for.' Ino thought as she stifled a laugh, hoping he'd just bleed off his temper with comments like that instead of internalizing it.

Naruto was by far the strangest of their entire generation. Even Sasuke was more decipherable, having a predictable set of reactions to particular subjects that were weighed by priorities that Sasuke had.

Naruto, in contrast, was completely unpredictable. It went deeper than his own admitted issues with authority he considered unworthy of loyalty, lack of patience at times, and an attention span that jumped from subject to subject at times, while being razor sharp focused for others.

In all honesty, it was maddening for her to try and predict him. She just went with it most of the time and secretly wondered if that was how non-Yamanaka felt around people.

"I'll stop going off about it," The red haired boy in question said quietly, seeming to deflate, "I'm kind of irritable right now."

"I can give you company." She offered, hoping that her presence would help him relax.

Now that all of her errands were finished up, Ino opted to continue following Naruto as he did his own for the day.

Naruto smiled at her offer. "I'd appreciate that." He admitted, looking grateful.

The two walked next to each other as Ino followed her friend until they reached Higarashi's weapon shop and Naruto went in first, the bell making a ting noise as it opened.

"Tenten!" Naruto called out, "It's Naruto. My sword ready?"

"Kind of busy right now!" Tenten's responded, the sound coming from under the counter. "Just a minute, please."

With Tenten currently doing something, Naruto started looking around, clicking his tongue as his gaze swept over towards the armour section.

"Anything here interest you?" Naruto asked, walking towards a rack that had armour on it that looked like it would fit someone her size.

The thought had crossed Ino's mind since Choji had been taken aside by his father about wearing steel armour instead of an eventual chunin flak jacket, and her own father had asked her in passing.

"Not really." She shrugged, eying the probably heavy metal skeptically. "It looks too heavy for me."

The fact that she could feel Naruto's eye roll and chakra shift in sync with one another forewarned her of a weird armour nerd lecture from her lovably dorkish friend.

"My armour on my chest weighs about 15 or 20 pounds at most." Naruto deadpanned, wracking his knuckles against his chest for emphasis. "Remember how many hits it took after the forest? The invasion? My mission two months back?"

He then went on a short tangent about the importance of armour and that it was still common practice to use for a reason.

Before he got really into it, she took pity on him and interrupted.

"Okay, I get it, armour is awesome and good for you." Ino rolled her eyes, secretly enjoying how much Naruto took her safety seriously. "But it doesn't mean I'd like it or be compelled to wear it."

Naruto downright pouted when he was denied the chance to talk more about armour, but he quickly recovered and moved away from the chest and leg armour, moving over to metal reinforced gloves and bracers.

"Would you consider having bracers at the very least?" He asked, pointing at a specific pair that resembled his. "I can etch some seals onto the metal keyed to your chakra so you can seal water in them like I do, or kunai, senbon, even poison gas you mix with mist and absorb into a storage seal."

Ino had humoured the idea when she had talked with her Sensei and father awhile back. The girl visualized how she would look with those particular bracers on her forearms, not completely unlike the ones Naruto had for himself.

'Ehh, probably too rustic.'

"Hmmm," Ino hummed thoughtfully, "Maybe, but they'd look terrible on me."

Naruto, with his brow raised, reached towards a pair that were sleeker than the others, and tossed them towards her, not breaking eye contact.

Ino caught them, fumbling one of them slightly as she was surprised by the abrupt action.

"Those ones fit well with your outfit if you have the metal tinted as purple and the trimmings are the same shade as your hair." He said matter of factly, not even thinking before he spoke.

Ino's gaze flicked from Naruto, then down to the bracers in her hands. She visualized what he said about the proper colouring of this particular type of bracer, and she smiled as the image she conjured up in her mind matched what Naruto said.

"I didn't know you had any fashion sense, Naruto." She eventually said, being totally honest. "I thought you only understood red and black colours."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I know what I like to wear, and I'm pretty sure you'd like some matching bracers for your outfit?"

Ino looked down at them again, frowning from the colouring not being what she wanted. The bracers themselves looked great and would be perfect for her, but the colouring.

"Any chance you could find some purple ones as a birthday present?" She asked hopefully, making a wild swing of a request.

Naruto paused, his head slowly turning towards the counter. Tenten was currently listening to them, her elbows on the counter.

"Oh, don't mind me," She snickered, the brunette looking between the two, "Keep talking so you'll buy something else."

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah." Naruto waved dismissively, shooting the girl a grin. "Do you have any purple bracers like what Ino's holding?"

'Wait, I was just joking.' Ino's eyes widened, staring at the teen that just offered to buy her a pair.

"I appreciate it, but you don't need to ask." Ino said awkwardly.

She really wanted them, now that Naruto laid out the benefits and such, but she wasn't going to try and leverage her friendship with Naruto to get him to buy her stuff. It felt wrong.

"None aside from th-"

"Okay," Naruto interrupted, making the girl blink in faint surprise at the abruptness, "What about my sword?"

"Uh, yeah, about that." Tenten looked a bit hesitant, trying to find the right wording. "I'll just bring it out and explain more." The girl made a hasty retreat to the back room.

With Tenten out of earshot, Naruto took his Hitai-ate off and pushed his hair back, putting it back on right after. It was a tic of his she noticed when he was annoyed by something.

"Why do I feel like I'm about to shell out a hellacious amount of money because of a complication?" He voiced aloud, groaning under his breath.

"Would the extra payment even be worth it if there was another issue?" She asked honestly.

"It's more of a sentimental thing ever since I got the Kusanagi," He admitted, tapping his right bracer where he sealed the legendary sword, "That sword holds some sentimental value to me."

'Fair enough.' Ino thought, knowing there were personal items she valued that she would pay extra money to fix if they broke.

Tenten came back out a moment later with a bundle in her arms, before setting it on the table.

"We weren't able to repair it." She said sheepishly, looking awkward.

"Why not?" Naruto asked, sounding a bit vexed by the news as he walked towards the counter, "It's been two months now."

"We didn't realize you brought in an heirloom blade, Naruto." The brunette said flatly, "You could've mentioned that."

Ino felt the shock roll off of Naruto as Tenten said that, his head tilting to the side.

"A what?" He asked, not knowing what she meant.

"It's an Uzumaki made sword, you didn't know that?" Tenten asked incredulously.

Ino could almost see Naruto's chakra ripple around him as he absorbed what Tenten said, his breath faint.

"I..." Naruto trailed off, his eyes glued to the blade that was broken.

"The maker's mark is etched into the bottom of the guard," Tenten grabbed the hilt and pointed it out, "Kind of a weird place to put it, but it's a whirlpool to show it was an Uzu made sword. You probably didn't notice because there was compacted dirt and other stuff on it that covered it." She set the hilt back down on the table after explaining.

"This is news to me." He almost whispered, his eyes tracing along the two segments of his sword as he touched the hilt with an almost reverential gentleness.

Ino couldn't decipher what emotion Naruto was feeling now. It wasn't one she had ever felt from him since she started her empathic sensory training.

Almost like longing.

"I didn't know it was." He said quietly, pulsing chakra through the hilt as he held it up in one hand, the metal wreathed in a golden glow.

After several seconds of silence where all that could be heard was the nearly imperceptible hum of chakra coming from the broken hilt, Naruto cut the chakra feed and set it down slowly.

"Is it repairable?" He asked suddenly, looking at Tenten with a near desperate need to know.

"My Tousan said he knows of a few blacksmiths that might be able to fix it?" Tenten said uncertainly, "Not in Hi no Kuni though."

"Just great." He scowled, his hand gripping the counter tightly. "So I just need to take my sword with me?"

"Yeah." Tenten nodded, looking apologetic, "Sorry we couldn't fix it."

"It's fine." Naruto said neutrally, "Just tell me how much I owe for keeping it in shop."

"You pretty much already paid it with the initial fee," Tenten pointed out, popping open the register, "We actually owe you money back."

Ino watched as Naruto collected the two parts of his sword and Tenten counted out the Ryo Naruto was owed.

"Again, sorry we couldn't repair it." Tenten repeated herself, but Naruto waved his hand dismissively.

"It's not a big deal. I might need to straight up buy a backup sword instead and have this," He lifted up the hilt, before he sealed it into his bracer along with the blade itself, "As a decorative piece."

With that, Naruto left the store, Ino following right behind him, but not before she glanced at the bracers Naruto showed her.

Shrugging at not being able to get some good ones, she left the store and caught up to Naruto.

Once she was shoulder to shoulder with him, her eyes focused on his face as he walked roughly in the direction of her house.

"I didn't expect to find out that my sword was made by my clan." He said, his fingers curling inward on his right hand. "Especially on your birthday. You'd think I would've found out two or three weeks from now when I turn 14."

Ino could now tell what Naruto was feeling more distinctly. He was happy, almost elated.

"An early birthday present I guess." Ino replied, noticing that Naruto turned onto the street that led to her house. "Where are we going?"

"Your house is on this street, isn't it?" Naruto asked, his head turning to look up at the street sign.

"Yes, it is." Ino responded to his question, "But why are you headed there?"

"A mission I was tasked with by a Jonin." He replied simply, still walking towards the entrance to the area where her clan resided.

'You're not going to make this easy on me, are you?' Ino thought with a frown, a tick mark forming on her temple.

"What mission and what Jonin?" Ino asked, expecting more clarification.

"A two part mission involving the delaying and later escorting of Yamanaka Ino to her home to commence celebratory occasions surrounding the 14 anniversary of her birth." Naruto said clinically, taking a deep breath afterwards, "And the Jonin who gave the orders was Yamanaka Inoichi, who is overall commander of the mission."

Ino stopped walking, attempting to comprehend what on Earth she even heard.

She knew what was said, but the way Naruto's voice could sound like an actual automaton was so mind numbingly befuddling that she struggled to respond.

"My delaying mission is still not complete." Naruto grinned, "And it appears I have succeeded once more."

That she understood.

"You," Ino said irritably, smacking his shoulder, "Are all your weird comments today just smokescreens for plots and misdirection?"

Naruto made a half seal, Henging as a tall, blond man with the sides of his hair cut short, blue eyes, and the fullest beard she'd ever seen.

"Yes." He said firmly, before dropping the Henge.

"I'm not even going to ask who that's supposed to be." Ino sighed, resigned to how creative Naruto would be when he was actually ordered to be crazy for a mission, especially if said mission was to distract her from what was her birthday celebration.

"You have no idea how fun it is to be paid to do this," Naruto smiled, the two finally reaching the entrance, "And by your dad, no less."

Ino ignored that last part, knowing Naruto probably volunteered to do it and her dad thought it would be funny to subject her to it.

The two Yamanaka guards on duty today emerged from the brush that encircled that part of the compound, Naruto looking unsurprised by their reveal.

'I can't wait until I can sense suppressed signatures like him.'

"You know why we're here." Naruto said to the older one respectfully, "Security question?"

"Not necessary." He replied, glancing at Ino. "Inoichi-sama said you would be here shortly."

The two guards motioned them along and Ino took a deep inhale when she felt all the familiar chakra signatures in the house, the brightness and multiple familiar ones making her pause in her tracks at the door.

'Tousan. Kaasan. Shikamaru. Choji. Sensei... So many.'

She could feel Hinata's as well, and Sakura and Karin's also, Naruto's cousin standing out more noticeably than the rest.

"You," Ino slowly turned to look at Naruto, the boy smiling faintly at her as his eyes were partially closed from likely sensing everyone, "You distracted me so everyone could arrive?"

Even if she suspected that there would be at least a dozen people, it still made her feel warm inside.

"Yeah." Naruto nodded, stepping forward and wracking his knuckles against the door. "Your dad, Hinata, or Karin probably already know we're here, but whatever."

Ino sensed her father walk towards the door and open it seconds later, his attention on her as he smiled warmly as Naruto was proven right about him knowing it was the two of them.

"Did Naruto do an excellent job at distracting you?" He asked, drawing an eye roll from the girl.

"Very funny, daddy." Ino smiled as she squeezed through the gap between the doorway and her father's shoulder, heading in to say hi to everyone.

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

"He seems a bit out of place right now." Kauri said quietly, holding his arm as they watched their daughter interact with her friends from the kitchen area that had been thoroughly turned into a mess by the teenagers and their rather excitable eating habits that were made worse by the cake being delicious.

Inoichi knew what his wife meant by he, the only male redhead present being the subject of her statement.

"He has been absent-minded, from what Ino has said." Inoichi shrugged, snorting when he heard Naruto seem to break from his silence to crack a joke at Shikamaru's expense, Ino laughing the loudest out of the group of over half a dozen genin and recently promoted Chunin.

And just like a switch was flipped, Naruto retreated back into himself, quietly listening to his friends talk and only pitch in to the conversation when necessary.

This had been a very recent change, within two months to be precise. That coincided with the ANBU mission that went awry involving the Edo Tensei. It was possibly that, but Inoichi wasn't sure.

It still astounded the Yamanaka clan head how a boy of 13 operated in that manner mentally, especially because this only occurred occasionally instead of uniform.

But, to be perfectly candid, he knew of not a single person who remembered being born and the first thing seen in life was the Kyuubi. Conventional methods of gauging the state of someone's mind weren't applicable in the normal way.

"Can you speak with the poor boy?" Kauri asked, resting her head against his shoulder as they witnessed Naruto be pulled from whatever he was thinking about back into the conversation by Ino.

He would not appreciate a challenge to his sanity. Inoichi thought to himself grimly. Naruto had a distinct hatred of things like that, and a seemingly unprompted offer of help with a problem Inoichi knew nothing about would pointlessly antagonize him.

"Best to let him go to Ino for someone to confide with." He eventually sighed, "Then she can defer to me."

Before Kauri could respond, Inoichi felt something cold crawl up his side and tap his shoulder, the feeling familiar as he fought the urge to twitch.

"Shikaku is ready for me." Inoichi said, extraditing himself from his wife's grasp regretfully. "I'll be back shortly." He promised, kissing her forehead and giving a long look at the members of the next generation.

Anything that shielded them from what lay on the horizon was worth every ounce of sacrifice.

He turned on his heel and exited the room, heading into his study where his two best friends and the son of the Sandaime were waiting for him.

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

"All of the Jonin will be supplied with tags to restrain Edo Tensei more adequately than most kinds as standard issue." Shikaku's voice echoed through all their heads, the four having their minds linked by Inoichi. "The Sandaime, Jiraiya-sama, and Tsunade-sama believe the risk of Edo Tensei being used is greater than ever in history."

The cold influx of concern from the different men was felt more potently by Inoichi, who grimaced at the feeling.

"Could this not have waited until the clan meeting next week?" Choza asked confusedly, frowning thoughtfully.

A brief silence fell across the room, the scarred Nara shaking his head firmly as he sighed.

"War could very well break out. Neutral or normally amenable minor villages aren't returning messages as often, Iwa is in complete lockdown... Remember how the Third War started out, the precursor events?"

That was a sore subject for three of the four present.

"I was given leave to bring it up now because we might be needed in the field as an effective team to counter S-rank threats." Shikaku finished, a brief and faint phantom pain streaking across the surface of Inoichi's thoughts that belonged to his friend.

"That's... not good." Choza voiced unnecessarily, grimacing as he finished.

"Better us than our kids." Inoichi said firmly, glancing at Asuma. "Any input you can offer to prepare them faster?"

The next portion of the conversation wasn't the most ideal, but it was absolutely necessary for the continued safety of his daughter and what were his nephews in all but blood.

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

The birthday party for Ino had me a little on edge, if I were to be perfectly honest. The ones our age were doing the normal thing of milling about and were fine with a celebration for a mutual friend's birthday, but I could tell there was a faint undertone of something that wasn't right with the previous rendition of the Ino/Shika/Cho trio and Asuma.

A couple of hushed conversations that were very brief stood out to me, including the current one behind closed doors.

I'd done the rounds of having basic conversations with everyone like usual, even if I wasn't really into it today. Ever since I found out that my sword was one that my clan made, I had been in a sort of daze.

Shaking my head, I kept trying to hear what was being said.

The house was thankfully familiar enough to me where I remembered a blindspot or two, and my chakra was suppressed as I strained to hear them speak, but it was difficult because they went totally silent at times and Inoichi's chakra seemed to wrap across the room like a spiderweb of interconnected threads.

I wiped at my mouth as I attempted to hear them still, my lip curling when I saw that I still had icing on it from when we ate the cake Kauri ordered to make it a proper celebration. I pushed that thought aside as I focused on the reason for why I was listening.

Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Hiruzen had been keeping something from me, I could tell. Something they suspected that would anger me or illicit some type of negativity, and they kept it secret.

I was entitled to anything that pertained to me or Rin. It didn't matter what anybody thought.

Hopefully, a hint of it could be found if I could hear the discussion between Asuma and Shikaku.

Just as I leaned in closer, my eyes narrowed, I heard laughter from the other room, pulling me away from my spying as I sensed the different signatures of my friends and I thought of the last several weeks.

Ino was having a phenomenal time, Hinata was more outgoing than she had ever been, Sakura and Ino seemed to have patched up their friendship somewhat, and Karin had already started to be considered a part of the newest generation of Konoha nin.

'What the Hell am I even doing?' I stopped and thought to myself. I was a guest in Inoichi's house, and here I was, try to snoop on likely secret discussions instead of spending time with my friends.

Even if I was legitimately fearful of all my knowledge of the future being spent to stop Orochimaru, save Sasuke, and bring Itachi back into the fold, it was wrong to do this.

A shiver went up my spine as I thought of what I was doing, my mouth going dry. Maybe it was because me discovering that I possessed a part of my clan's legacy I never knew about that I was in a bad headspace today, but I don't know.

I just know that I shouldn't be doing this.

I quietly slunk back towards the front room and went back to my friends, viciously crushing down the part of my mind that wanted to try and listen in still.

Once I got there, I waved at Ino when she noticed that I rounded the corner from the hallway.

"What were you doing back there?" She asked suspiciously, her eyes narrowed as everybody looked at me.

"Probably something illegal." Shikamaru muttered, the Nara at his wit's end.

Shikamaru looked particularly unenthused at the last 20 minutes of being the butt end of several comments about being lazy and Gai likely having been bribed by him to lie about his progress in training.

Everybody else waited patiently for my reasoning or excuse.

"I broke into your room and was reading your diary." I shrugged, feeling a distinct undercurrent of emotion shoot through Ino's chakra as I said that.

"Liar." She said flatly, but I caught a flash of panic in her eyes.

'Thanks for letting me know you have one.' I thought, stifling a laugh at the gift that keeps on giving in the form of being a sensor.

Sakura, to my surprise, didn't sound curious about any potentially embarrassing things about Ino. She just rolled her eyes at me in a similar way Rin did when I said something sarcastic.

"I was just wondering where your guys' dads were," I shrugged, sitting down next to where Hinata and Karin were, two card table sized tables being needed for all of us, "They're talking about something we're not supposed to hear, I guess."

Shikamaru caught on to what I was getting at, but none of the others did.

"They'd better hurry up." Ino huffed, glancing at the couple of boxes that contained gifts to her.

'You'll like what I got you.' I thought to myself smugly, knowing beyond all doubt after today that she'd appreciate it.

"Yeah, you're not getting any younger." I said, leaning back in the chair and snickering to myself.

I didn't expect her to chuck a present at my face when I wasn't looking.

"Gah!" I yelped, a box of something I didn't know smacking me in the face.

Hinata giggled while Karin outright laughed, making me give my cousin the stinkeye.

"Learn situational awareness, Naruto." Ino said, mimicking Anko's tone of voice as she perfectly recited what our mutual sort of trainer liked to say during dodge training.

Shikamaru and Choji at least had the decency to stifle their laughter, the two boys getting only a suppressed glare from me.

Upon further reflection, the only reason they probably restrained themselves was that their mothers were currently listening and watching the spectacle.

"Yeah yeah. Laugh it up," I grumbled, grabbing the present and lifting it up to my face while looking at a laughing Ino, "You know you could've grabbed something lighter?" I asked, jiggling the box lightly.

"Ino, please don't throw things!" Kauri said from within the kitchen, cleaning the dishes from our meal.

"Sorry!" Ino called out sheepishly.

"And stop harassing my daughter, Naruto." Kauri added with an admonishing tone. "I don't want to ban you from the house."

"I-I," I sputtered, feeling offended by that, "Your husband ordered me to antagonize the Yamanaka clan heiress."

"I don't believe you." She said simply, not brokering any response.

I just groaned under my breath, knowing I couldn't rely on any of my friends present to vouch for my character because it did line up with something I'd lie about.

Before Ino could add a playful comment, I heard a door in the hallway open, drawing the attention of all of us.

"Sorry we took so long," Inoichi apologized, rounding the corner first among the four men, "Just needed to talk about clan related things."

He sounded truthful, so I just put my suspicion aside and turned to look back at Ino.

"Why don't you open this one first?" I asked, tossing the box back to Ino and watching her catch it.

I could guess what it was from the weight, the irony not being lost on me that it was probably the present I gave to her that Kauri boxed up.

The adults sat down and Ino jiggled the box next to her ear, making me wince.

'Calm down, you did the seals properly. They won't randomly explode... I think.'

Putting that morbid thought aside, I watched as Ino opened up the box, her eyes inspecting the gift.

It turned out to be something else, a set of kunai that looked much higher in quality than the standard ones issued to us for free.

"Thanks, Shikamaru." Ino said gratefully, smiling at her black haired teammate.

Shikamaru shrugged, but I could tell he was just as happy as Ino was that she appreciated it.

The gifts that were from the other genin or recently promoted were opened up and thanks were given, most of them being Shinobi related.

A few hairpins that matched her hair and could be used as senbon were Sakura's gift, which Ino appreciated quite a bit.

Choji's mom had given her different cookbooks for things she had taken an interest in and had asked me for advice a month ago.

And Yoshino got her a well made kimono that went well with Ino's hair, looking much better than the ones I bought for myself and Rin when we had formal dinners with Hinata's family.

"Wow, this is amazing." Ino marvelled at it, rubbing her fingers across the fabric. "Thanks, Aunt Yoshino!"

"Your welcome, dear." Yoshino smiled, the expression much less scary when she didn't have a pan in her hand or was occupied pestering her son to not be lazy.

The last two gifts remaining were, by happenstance, Hinata's and mine, which Ino now moved onto after carefully folding and putting up the kimono.

'I'm sure she'll love Hinata's present.' I thought, glad that I was perceptive on that one occasion and mentioned it to Hinata as a possible gift for our friend.

Ino opened the flat rectangular box, a slight squeak escaping her as she saw what was in it.

"Where'd you get this jacket?!" She asked loudly, pulling out the very jacket she had been interested in months ago.

It was almost a coincidence that I saw the jacket and mentioned something to Hinata about Ino wanting it awhile back, and she ended up buying it with a sizable portion of her monthly allowance as the clan heiress.

Sometimes, it paid off to be Hiashi's eldest.

"I saw it and remembered you saying you couldn't get it that day." Hinata replied, looking pleased with herself at getting the best reaction out of Ino so far.

Unfortunately for Hinata, she was within arm's reach and Ino grabbed her, hugging the other girl tightly.

"Thank you!" Ino practically squealed, almost attempting to suffocate Hinata as she engulfed her in a bone crushing hug.

She eventually let go and sat back down and put the jacket on while Hinata tried to recover from the abrupt action, her eyes blinking repeatedly.

I stifled a snicker as my friend tried to recover from the attempted assault, the sight very amusing.

"Did you, uh, like the present?" Hinata asked, still trying to catch her breath from what happened moments prior.

"Like it? I love it!" Ino wrapped the jacket around her more and had a beaming smile on her face. "I thought I'd never get it."

The blonde eventually calmed down enough to grab the final remaining gift, testing the weight of them.

"Last present is from me." I said, wondering how she'd react.

With a bit of delicateness, Ino popped open the box and looked in, her eyes widening in shock as she gasped audibly.

'So that's how she reacts.'

The faint gasp of shock coincided with the steady flow of her chakra almost stopping completely, only her heartbeat and breathing affecting the movement.

Swallowing noticeably, the blonde lifted the two items inside up and her fingers trembled slightly.

They were purple bracers, with intricate seals carved into them that had a beautiful flourish to it that took me years of Fuinjutsu training to get right.

"Did you-" Inoichi started to say, so I turned around and nodded.

"I carved the seals myself." I said, looking back at Ino while addressing her father. "Took me a week or so to get it right, but I managed."

The adults understood the amount of effort I put into this gift. Making these things were extremely difficult and time consuming, but no price was too great for my friends.

The seals were like mine, being able to hold different things like water for my Ninjutsu, but these ones had a slightly more flexible build to them. They stored less volume, but could contain a greater variety of things that weren't just liquid. Senbon, Kunai, poison gas, all could be sealed without issue.

"They'll hold pretty much anything you'll need." I voiced my thoughts, explaining what could be done with them.

"That's why you talked about them today." Ino whispered, her hand wiping at her eyes, before looking up at me with a watery smile. "Thanks, Naruto."

Still wearing the purple jacket, Ino slipped the bracers on to her forearms and strapped them to her, pulling the sleeves down and marveling at herself.

"How do they match so well?" She said to herself, looking surprised.

"I might have asked Hinata if I could borrow the jacket and have your mom model with it on along with the bracers." I said casually, causing her to jerk and look at me, then to her mom.

The realization at what I did had her eying me with a look I didn't recognize, her chakra shifting with her breathing in a soft manner.

"You went through that much effort?" Ino asked, standing up from her chair and walking around the table towards me. She then grabbed me roughly and pulled me into a hug.

"Thank you." She whispered in my ear, before letting go of me and looking down at her arms, specifically the bracers.

"Um," She said awkwardly, tapping her fingers against one of them, "How do I get them to seal and unseal specific objects?"

I let out a short laugh at the innocent question, pulling out a small manual I wrote from my pocket and giving it to her.

"This details which seals are activated or not by specific pulses of chakra from each individual tenketsu in your fingers." I explained happily, practically brimming with positivity that she loved the gift. "I just finished writing it out, so that's why it wasn't in the box."

Ino wasted no time in sitting back down and looking through the small booklet, wanting to try out her knew little pet project of figuring out basic Fuinjutsu.

The next half hour was uneventful, mostly just us all continuing to talk about inane things that weren't related to our jobs as Shinobi or anything particularly serious. It was... freeing.

Sakura was the first that needed to leave, the pinkette saying she needed to get home before the normal suppertime with her parents.

To my surprise and evidently only my surprise, Sakura gave Ino a quick hug, wished her a happy birthday, and then she left out the door, giving a quick thank you to Inoichi and Kauri for their hospitality as she went through the doorway.

Them training together and not having Sasuke as a rift between them obviously did wonders on them restoring their friendship.

Deciding that I wanted to get home a little early and eat my usual amount of food, because no way in hell was I going to eat the normal levels I did that amounted to probably half of a family meal, I stood up and stretched my legs before I prepared to leave.

That and I needed to test out a few seal ideas before it got too late, my future schedule being booked for a few missions I planned on participating in.

"I need to head back." I said, looking at everyone still present. "I'll see most of you guys tomorrow." I promised, eying Shikamaru specifically.

With Sasuke absent, the only other relatively intelligent friend of mine to talk with aside from Kakashi was Shikamaru. It wasn't like my other friends were stupid or anything like that, but Shikamaru just seemed to understand me.

We were also both going to be doing taijutsu training with Gai in the future.

"Later, Naruto." Multiple voices rang out, making me smile as I waved goodbye, turning around and giving a quick goodbye to the clan heads and their wives.

"Be sure to come by again." Kauri offered kindly, "It's always nice to have Ino's friends come over."

"I'll think about it." I promised, giving nods of respect to what were technically my equals in rank as fellow clan heads, Choza and Shikaku. "Is the next clan meeting next week?" I focused my sight on Inoichi.

"The week after." Inoichi corrected me, the blond man looking at me strangely.

Quick as a flash, the look vanished and was replaced by his usual positive one when lookimg at me.

"Gotcha." I thanked him, turning and leaving. "Bye, everyone!" I gave a vague wave without turning around, opening the door and exiting the house and soon, the compound area.

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

I finished eating my food and relaxed in the chair, closing my eyes as I let my mind wander. This was all in all a pretty good day. I got to interact with some of my friends outside of training, Ino was grateful for the present, and... A certain item sealed away wasn't what I had ever thought it would be.

My hand reached towards my bracer and I unsealed my sword, setting the blade on the table while I inspected the hilt right under the guard.

"Just as Tenten said." I murmured to myself, my eyes transfixed on the small swirl stamped into the guard of the sword.

Me breaking it now made me feel terrible. I was originally annoyed, but nothing else, about it. But this being something that my clan had forged made me feel awful about it being potentially avoidable.

First thing I'm asking Jiraiya when we leave for a couple months is to find someone to fix this.

I wasn't exactly truthful with Tenten when I mentioned putting this up as a decoration. This was a weapon. The very purpose behind its conception was to be used for war. Denying it its purpose was like me being denied action or being able to fight the Akatsuki.

It was against my nature and purpose.

Finally setting the hilt down, I pressed my forehead down onto the wooden table gently, shutting my eyes and just resting as I thought of what lay ahead.

End Chapter:

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If my muse didn't leave me before the last 2k words, I would have had this chapter out within a week of the last chapter posted. Whatever accursed entity stole my inspiration has had its fill and I finally finished the chapter.

The next couple of chapters are just to push things along and have some filler portions. Rin and Sasuke will get some screentime next chapter, and a few other things sprinkled in that I won't spoil.

Comments, no matter how big or small, are always appreciated and wanted.

Here's a new chapter, and I hope you all enjoy.

Raging.