Recipe for Disaster

2/3 c. shortening
1 1/4 c. sugar
2 1/4 c. flour (self rising)
1 c. milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 176 Celsius. Grease and flour 2 round pans. Add all ingredients, mix until smooth. Pour in pans and bake in oven for 30 minutes.

Genre: Not quite a Parody
Rating: T or teen
also to cover for my sorry habit of swearing

~~~~~~~~~~~

Introduction:

“Hey old man! Wake up!”

“Eh?”

“Come on wake up”

“Knock it off, kid, I'm already awake and you're late.”

“Yeah sure, whatever, come on it's time for your walk.”

“Is it? I see, where are your fellows?”

“My what?”

“Your fellows, your classmates, your comrades...friends?”

“Oh them, well they aren't really friends and I suppose they're still on the way here.”

“You didn't come together?”

“Noooo, what are you senile or something? You said yourself I was late, so let's getta move on.”

“I think I'll wait for the others to arrive. I'm not in the mood to be 'walked' by a loud mouth genin. In fact why don't you have a seat and I'll tell you a little story.”

“You gotta be kidding, this has to be the stupidest mission...can't we just get this-”

“Sit boy!”

“I'm sitting, I'm sitting. Is this at least going to be interesting?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Great, are there any battles?”

“A few.”

“Blood?”

“What kind of battles would they be without that?”

The boy shrugged so the old man grunted and started his story:

Our story begins with the simplest of ingredients, one sack of flour, a container of milk, some sugar, butter and the best of intentions. It was late March and the shinobi in possession of these items had big plans for them. Having purchased these ingredients, he made his way home with the firm belief that not only was he going to bake the best cake ever, he was finally going to win the heart of the girl he most desired.

Arriving home, Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a carefully folded piece of paper. On it was the recipe for a simple yellow cake. There was a problem though, the recipe had gotten wet and some of the words were now missing. This shinobi being the resourceful ninja that he was, sat down and attempted to fill in the blank spots with the words he thought should be there. Confident that he'd figured them all out he set about making the cake. Unfortunately for everyone involved, what it turned into was a recipe for disaster.

“Disaster?”

“Yes, it's hard to believe one cake could do so much damage, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.”

“But...wait a minute...”

“What now?”

“How did the recipe get wet?”

“Well that would be Konohamaru's fault.”

“Huh? Hey, did you skip a battle?”

“Just a small one, and it wasn't really a battle.”

“Well it's gotta be more interesting than hearing about some guy baking a cake.”

“You think? Hmmm, alright then, we'll back up a bit, but no more interruptions. Now where did I leave off...oh yes...”

Naruto, hadn't eaten any breakfast in his haste to get to the market early. So after leaving the there, he decided to make a quick stop at his favorite ramen shop. Setting the bag with the ingredients down he ordered a bowl of the house specialty and enjoyed it so much he had four more bowls. This also used up the rest of the money he had with him. Normally this would not be a bad thing, but Naruto forgot he was short an ingredient for his cake. Eggs. Remembering too late that he had none at home, he now had to figure out a way to get some.

For most, getting a few eggs was an easy enough affair; you just borrow them from a friend. But for Naruto this was a bit more of a challenge. He only had few friends to begin with and the adults he would normally ask were inaccessible to him at the moment. Iruka-sensei was teaching at the academy, Kakashi-sensei was...well wherever it is jounin go when they aren't training their squads and the old man Hokage, he probably didn't even have any eggs and Naruto didn't want to take the chance that the old man would bore him to death with some inane lecture on being a ninja.

There were the other members of his team, but since Sakura was the intended recipient of the cake, she was out...that left Sasuke. To say that Naruto and Sasuke didn't get along well would be an understatement to the extreme, but Naruto was desperate so he sighed and started toward Sasuke's home in another part of town. Like Naruto, Sasuke lived alone but Naruto never liked going there. The place was creepy, silent and empty of people. Why his teammate chose to live in such a place was one of those mysteries that quite frankly baffled him.

As he neared his destination he ran into a young acquaintance, Konohamaru and when I say ran into, I mean it literally; for as Naruto rounded a corner he was knocked flat on his back by the younger boy.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!” Naruto shouted.

“Sorry!” the other replied and after getting a look at who he'd just run into grabbed Naruto's arm and shouted, “Ah! It's you Naruto-niichan!”

“Konohamaru?” Naruto asked, “What are you doing running around like that! You could have killed me!”

“Naruto-niichan, you're just the one I need! You have to help me!”

Naruto rose from the ground and dusted himself off. Lifting his shopping bag he stuck his nose inside inspecting the contents for damage saying, “I don't have time right now, I'm-”

“But it's a matter of life or death!” Konohamaru begged. “Please...?”

“Ahhh...but Konohamaru I...”

If it had been anyone else Naruto would have just said no and been on his way, but Naruto had taken a liking to the boy. Thoughts of his cake and how much time he'd already wasted that morning ran through his head, but Konohamaru was so insistent that Naruto let out a sigh and said, “Oi...alright Konohamaru, but someone really better be dying.”

“Thank you Naruto-niichan!” Konahamaru shouted and bolted ahead into the crowded street. Naruto let out another sigh and took off after him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting near an open window, Sasuke was enjoying a rare leisurely morning after training. So it was by chance that he looked down toward the street in time to see Konohamaru flatten Naruto.

This brought a smile to the Uchiha's face as he thought, What an idiot.

Sasuke also found, he was oddly curious as to why in the world Naruto would even be on this side of town. There were plenty of people in Konoha that considered this part of town not only unlucky, but cursed.

“What the hell are those two up to?” Sasuke wondered.

Deciding he'd better keep an eye on them, he dressed quickly, grabbed his gear and headed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, Konohamaru, just who are we saving?”

“A princess!” Konohamaru shouted.

Naruto grabbed Konohamaru's scarf and pulled him to a halt. “A real Princess? I don't have time today to be playing ninja.”

“I know that, and it is a real princess!” Konohamaru shouted and took off once again. Naruto stared after him, surprised by how quickly the boy was moving. That Princess must be someone special if he's running that fast and Naruto almost missed seeing Konohamaru skid around a corner into an alley. Picking up his pace in an effort to catch up with him, Naruto rounded the corner at top speed and came to a dead stop when he realized Konohamaru was gone.

Now it is true to say that Naruto was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he wasn't completely dim. Even if he didn't always understand what was going on, he'd learned a long time ago to listen to his instincts. Something is not right, he thought as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Looking up at the imposing wall at the end of the darkened alleyway, Naruto backed up a bit hoping maybe he'd taken a wrong turn, but he knew he hadn't.

“Konohamaru?” Naruto called. No one answered and Naruto was getting that weird sinking feeling, the one that told him he should be getting the hell out of there. Shit... he thought and started forward anyway. “Konohamaru?” Still no reply. “Damn it, Konohamaru, where the hell are you?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sasuke heard rather than saw Naruto and followed the sound of his voice. As Sasuke approached the alley Naruto had turned into he paused and looked around at the milling crowds of people in the on the street. Not one person was any where near the alleyway's entrance to the street. In fact if he didn't know better, he'd swear they were being deflected away from it. A flash of orange in the alley caught Sasuke's attention and he heard Naruto shout, "Damn it, Konohamaru, where the hell are you?"

Naruto disappeared from view and Sasuke carefully edged his way closer to the corner. Wouldn't do to be spotted now but where was Konohamaru? Sasuke decided it'd be better if he got a better perspective and ran up the wall to the roof. With a bird’s eye view of things, Sasuke noticed what Naruto did not. Unfortunately it was already too late and Naruto abruptly disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey kid...”

"Huh? Why are you stopping? It was finally starting to get interesting."

"I think your teammates have arrived. Why don't you go let them in."

"Do I have to?"

“Yes.”

“Fine...”

The door opened and the old man surveyed the three people standing there. Two were children, younger than the one already in his rooms but not by much. In fact he’d venture to say they were twins and even though they didn't resembled the first boy he already knew they were siblings. The last to enter was their jounin sensei. She frowned at the older boy and appeared ready to scold him, but she caught the old man's eyes and paused, following his gaze. She shook her head as she noted the older boy already had his jaw set in anticipation of the event. Deciding the lecture could wait, she shrugged and said;

“Sensei, it's good to see up and around again, you ready to get started?”

The old man nodded to the jounin.

“All right you three, let's go.”

“But...”

“But what, we're already way behind schedule.”

“I want to hear the rest of the story...”

“Story? Which...story? Oh no, please tell me you aren't telling him that story...”

The old man coughed and headed for the still open door.

“Oh God! You were! You swore you'd never ...”

“I never swore...in fact I never promised either. Time to go, it's getting late and I'd like to be home at a reasonable time for dinner.”

“You're just evil.”

Which will I choose...miso? No, no, I had that twice already this week, definitely tonkotsu.”

Rabbit Hole

“Well,” the old man said, “I guess it’s time for some introductions. I already know who you are,” he said waving at the jounin, he turned instead to face the boy. Dark eyes regarded him cautiously as the old man asked, “What’s your name, boy?”

“Hito.”

“And you two?” he asked pointing to the others. The pair of boys smiled, one held up four fingers, the other three.

“That’s Yon and Mi,” Hito answered pointing to each in turn.

“Your brothers can’t answer for themselves?”

“Actually, Sensei, they did,” the Jounin broke in, “It’s more right to say, they won’t answer out loud.”

“Really? How odd. Must be fun getting through your missions.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Alright, now that that’s out of the way, we’re off,” the old man said and set off at a brisk pace up the road. Mi and Yon exchanged glances with their brother, who shrugged in reply and the pair laughed as they caught up to the old man. Hito originally expected to be done with this mission rather quickly or at least he'd hoped it would. It was turning out to be a rather open ended sort of thing and that just irked him. There was something odd about that old man that his teacher wasn't telling him. He also had the strange feeling he was being set up but he had no clue for what.

“Sensei?”

“Yeah, Hito?”

“I thought you said the old man was blind.”

“He is.”

“Was he blind when he was your teacher?”

“Yup.”

Hito fell back to watching the old guy closely for any signs this was true. After several minutes he said to his teacher, “I still think he's faking it.”

“Why is that?”

“Blind people don't walk like that and Sensei he looked at me.”

“Ah...”

“What do you mean...ah?”

“He really is blind, those eyeballs in his head are made of glass, and they're only there so people don't freak out when they meet him.”

That was not the answer he was expecting. “Oh, then how did...”

“He controls their movement with his chakra. It's how he sees the people and things around him. I don’t think he’s able to distinguish colors, I mean look at that outfit, but who knows. I'm not sure the range of his ability or how he manages it in the first place.”
“Then it's a bloodline limit.”

“No, that’s unlikely since he wasn't blind as a child or even a teenager. Something happened though, I' really have no idea what though. I did ask once, he told me he's just really good at learning to adapt. ”

“So in other words, don’t be so damn nosy.”

“Exactly.”

The walk continued for over an hour and when they returned to the apartment, the old man went inside after waving his farewell. Hito convinced his brothers to distract their teacher and the pair took off in the wrong direction. Hito snickered as his teacher ran after and yelled at the pair in a vain attempt to get them to come back. He wondered why she bothered since they always ended up back at home. It's not like anyone was going to let those two wander off.

Not really believing what his Sensei said was true, Hito sat on a nearby fence as the sun dropped behind the horizon. Convinced that if he waited long enough a light would appear in the old man's apartment. Several hours later, he decided to call it quits. It was full dark and getting late and Hito knew he'd best get home.
Carefully closing the door behind him, Hito listened intently for any sound. Nothing. Good, he thought Mom and Dad are still out. Padding quietly up the stairs he slipped into darkened room he shared with his brothers.

Well?
Was there a light?

Hito took a deep breath; even as late as it was, he should have known they'd still be awake. Their wispy voices hit his ears from opposite sides, as always Mi's was on the right and Yon, the left. Most people found it unnerving, especially their habit of completing each other sentences, but Hito was used to it. The whole family was.

“Nope,” Hito replied.

Sometimes he regretted conning his sister Futa into drawing straws to see who would be their teammate. He'd fixed it so she'd be the one to go on. She had ten times the talent he did and that was the primary reason he chose to remain at the academy until Mi and Yon were able to graduate. That made him wonder how Futa was fairing at the chuunin exams in the Sand village. Sensei said she'd made it through the first round; of course he had no idea where she got that information.

Wow, how do you-
think he does it?

“Don't know, don't care,” Hito responded crossing the room. It was a lie, but they'd keep him up half the night with their questions if he didn't put a stop to it now.

That's too bad.
Will you-
tell us-
the story?

“No, not now,” Hito said and found himself getting pissed off. Not wanting to yell at his brothers he said, “Guys, just go to sleep, it's all ancient history anyway and we'll likely have a new ever so exciting D Rank tomorrow.”

Okay
Goodnight

Hito sat on his bed near the window staring at the empty street below and after a while of running details of the story through his head, he decided he was just being stupid. It's a dumb story anyway. Who gives a crap about a stupid cake?

Obviously he did and Hito became irritated with himself for even wanting to know. It's not like he was planning to write a book or anything, but...Hito groaned when he realized that somewhere in his head he'd already decided he needed to find out how it all ended and thought, I am such a loser.

“I thought I heard you come in.”

His father's voice caught him off guard and Hito wondered how long his father was standing there. Here it comes, he thought and sighed. As a son of the Hokage...blah, blah, blah...he should be more this, blah, blah, more that. He was so tired of the lectures. Knowing a response was required Hito said, “Hey, Pop.”

“You're a bit late getting in.”

“There was something I had to do.”

“I see, did you find out what you wanted?”

“Not completely.”

“That's too bad, but next time-” His father broke off and for some reason, smiled. “Next time, try not to be out so late. It worries your mother. Goodnight, Son.” He then turned and without another word walked away. Hito gaped at the spot his father just vacated and wondered what the hell was going on. Right now he should be sitting through yet another talk about responsibility. It also occurred to him then that Sensei didn't shout at him the way she normally did when he took off from the group. I suppose I really should stop doing that, Hito thought. Either way the whole stupid day was just odd.

Getting ready for bed, Hito looked out the window and thought he saw someone on the street below. Stepping closer to the window he stared at the spot, but there was no one there. That was just creepy, he thought he was sure someone had been there before. Pulling the curtains closed he lay down, but found he couldn't sleep. Something was going on and it didn't help that the adults of his world were just getting weirder and weirder every day.

In the days that followed, Hito was given little time to ponder over his newfound obsession. He was right to think he they were due for a new mission. In fact the team just successfully completed their very first C-Ranked mission. Yon and Mi had already bugged him into telling them the part of the story that he'd already heard. They'd also extracted a promise from him to find out the rest.

When the group stopped and set up camp in the middle of a very large field, Hito lay back and stared up into the cloudless sky, studiously ignoring his brothers as they chattered on about their first 'out of village experience'. While he pondered anew the old man's story, Hito just couldn't shake the feeling there was more to it than just cake. Hell, he knew most of the people in it and even toyed with asking Sensei, but it was obvious from her initial reaction, she wasn't about to tell him anything and would likely clobber him if he pushed it too much.

His parents definitely knew something but he discarded that idea since he figured it'd just be a waste of time anyway. That left the old man. When they got back they'd have at least three days to rest before the next mission. Hito was coming up with a pretty extensive list of questions, all of which he intended to get answers for.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re up early, Pop,” Hito said when he entered the kitchen the next morning. His father was standing at the counter reading a magazine and favored his son with an almost embarrassed expression. It was then Hito realized which magazine his father was flipping through. It was the same one Hito left on the counter the day before.

“You are so lucky your mother worked the late shift yesterday,” his father said as he closed it and held it out to his son. Hito snatched it and shoved it under his arm. “Anyway I'm taking your brother's fishing after I finish up a few things, want to come?”

“No thanks, Pop, I got some stuff I gotta do today.”

“More training? It is your day off.”

“So?”

His father shrugged.

Can we
come too?

“No.”

Why
Not?

“Mi, Yon, please come down from there. If your mother catches you eating breakfast while hanging from the rafters like that, she’ll likely add to your current laundry duties.”

Come on Pop!
We’re training!

“Your funeral,” his father said and picking up a small pile of papers from the counter he waved and said, "Do your best boys." and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Hito looked up, sure enough there they were. He rolled his eyes and grabbed his bowl full of cereal heading to the dining room. Little show offs Hito thought as he sat on the table and shoveled down a mouthful just as his mother walked in the room from another part of the house. She was reading one of the charts she was carrying and was already dressed in her Medic uniform. That meant she was due to be at the hospital soon. Hito was not playing nursemaid today and did his best to turn his back toward her. Maybe if he didn’t make eye contact…as she walked toward the kitchen, she caught the back of his shirt and yanked him down onto one of the floor mats and said sweetly, “Good Morning, Hito-chan.”

Hito fumbled with his bowl, trying hard not to let the rolled up magazine under his arm escape and said in a voice loud enough for his brother's to hear, “Morning Mom!” and was pleased to hear two thuds from the kitchen. Hito snickered and his mother gave him that look and Hito immediately shoved another spoonful of cereal into his mouth to keep from laughing.

Sliding the door to the kitchen open, his mother let out an exasperated sigh when she found her youngest sons rubbing their backsides as they got up from the floor. Wolfing down the rest of his cereal, he abandon his bowl and bolted out the front door before his mother could find a reason to stop him.

Returning to his chosen outpost, Hito sat on the wooden fence outside the old man's apartment for a good long while as he tried to think up a good excuse for being there in the first place. It wasn't coming to him, but the problem was solved for him when an unseen hand pushed him forward off the fence. Hito hit the ground with a thud and scrambling to his feet as he looked around for the person who pushed him. Turning back around Hito jumped away from the person there, smashing backward into the fence. It was the old guy. Where hell did he come from?

“What brings you back here? I’d have thought you be training with your brothers?”

“It’s our day off so they're going fishing with our father.”

“Sounds like fun. That still doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

“Do I need to?”

“I suppose not,” the old man said and walked away.

Never seeming to take notice of anyone around him, Hito watched the old guy as he weaved through the crowded street, never even coming close to running into anyone. Okay this is just stupid, he thought, you came here for a reason idiot, so just get on with it already. Since Hito thought he knew where the old man was headed, he decided to beat him there. Taking a shortcut through town he reached the training grounds and sat atop one of the thick logs stuck in the ground there.

After sitting for there for almost an hour, Hito was ready call it a day, obviously he’d guessed wrong, besides it was lunchtime and he was hungry. As he got ready to step off the log, Hito felt a smack from behind and was knocked to the ground. He turned over ready to pounce on whoever hit him but found his legs immobilized by some sort of wire.

“You're not very good at this ninja thing are you boy.”

It wasn’t a question, it was a statement and it immediately pissed Hito off. “What the hell do you want?”

“To know why you’re following me or are you going to tell me it’s some kind of odd coincidence you keep turning up?”

You didn't come here to piss him off, idiot. Hito sighed and let his head fall back on the grass. “I just wanted...” God this so stupid, he thought.

“You just wanted?”

“I just wanted to find out how that story about the cake ended up.”

Other than the wires around his legs going slack there was a complete and total lack of response from the old guy. Hito disentangled himself and waited. Seconds stretched into minutes and Hito decided he'd had enough. Just one more thing he wasn't going to find out.

“I guess that's a no then...sorry to have bothered you, old man.”

Hito got up and started back on the path toward town when he heard: “First tell me, why is it you want to know, and make sure it's the truth, I don't take well to being lied to.”

The question brought Hito to a halt, he'd probably only get one chance at this so he'd better make it count. Keeping his voice as even as he could he said, “There was someone you mentioned in the story that I always wanted to know more about. I've asked, but no one ever talks about what happened when he was a kid...it's like there some sort of huge secret...anyway I guess I was hoping you...”

“That I'd accidentally spill it during the telling?”

Hito shrugged but when the other cocked an eyebrow, Hito realized he just shrugged at a blind guy and sighed as he said, "Yeah."

“I'll tell you what, boy. You buy lunch, and I'll give you some more details.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

True to his word, the old man said nothing until they reached the ramen shop and Hito had ordered up two bowls of barbecue pork ramen. Once they settled into their lunch the old man started up his story, by reminding Hito where they'd left off. Hito didn't actually need it, but figured he'd humor the old guy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto's first inkling that something wasn't right came when he realized he was falling, and fast. Crap! Shoving the handle of his bag of groceries in his teeth, unable to see anything around him, Naruto thrust his hands out and discovered the walls were barely within reach. He struggled for a moment to calm himself enough to focus chakra into his hands and feet. Pushing as far out as his arms and legs could stretch he focused on sticking to the wall. Skidding to a halt, Naruto looked up but the exit was just a small dot above him. Below was just more darkness.

“Naruto nii-chan...” Konohamaru's voice almost caused Naruto to lose his tentative grip on the wall. The boy was standing on some sort of ledge just above him and Naruto glared at Konohamaru. He would have shouted but for the grocery bag still stuffed between his teeth.

“Why didn't you just use the ladder?” Konohamaru asked looking very puzzled. Naruto's eyes finally adjusted to the gloom and he did in fact see the ladder just a few inches from his right hand. Not wanting lose face in the younger boy's eyes, Naruto thought up an almost reasonable explanation a lot quicker than he normally would. Shifting his hand, Naruto caught hold of the ladder and breathed a sigh as he shifted the bag into his left.

“It's training, Konohamaru,” Naruto said as he climbed up to the ledge. “I told you I don't have time to waste.”

“Oh,” Konohamaru replied accepting the answer.

“So where next?” Naruto asked.

“This way.” The boy then turned and started into the dimly lit tunnel they found themselves in front of. Naruto actually had to duck to follow him and after several twists and turns, Naruto could only hope Konohamaru knew where he was going because he was completely lost.

Finally they stepped out into a deeply walled garden. It was overgrown from years of neglect, and the pond at the center was choked with dead grasses and leaves. Naruto was aghast; he could tell the garden was really beautiful once just by the path that led through it. It was well worn so someone used to spend a lot of time here and Naruto wonder what happened to the gardener who had cared for it.

“The princess is over here!”

Naruto snapped out of his trance and walked over to where Konohamaru was standing pointing at something. At first Naruto thought the princess must be behind the sickly looking palm and looked to one side then the other, but there was no one there.

“Konohamaru?” Naruto asked, “Where is she?”

“Right in front of you Naruto nii-chan!”

“What!” Naruto shouted and smacked Konohamaru up the back of his head as he finally realized the boy was talking about the plant. “Dammit, you idiot, I told you I didn't have time to play today and now I've wasted half the day for ... a plant?!”

“But she's special! She's sick and you're the only one who can save her, Naruto nii-chan!”

Naruto felt the weight of his groceries on his arm and sat on the ground with a disheartened thud. Not only did he still not have his eggs, but he was quite sure he'd never have time to find some and still get home to make the cake. He was going to miss his chance to impress the girl of his dreams. The longer Naruto thought about it, the more it depressed him. Still he'd accepted this mission from Konohamaru and if there was one thing Uzumaki Naruto was known for it was finishing what he started.

“What's wrong, boss?”

“It's nothing, Konohamaru,” Naruto said as he got up and set the grocery bag down. “Let's have a look at your princess.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay wait a minute old man, I'm confused,” Hito said, “What happened to the water...and I thought you said there was a battle?”

“You certainly are an impatient brat. Who's telling this story anyway? The battle, such as it was, was not until later. We are also done for today. It's time for you to go, Uzumaki Hito.”

“What do you mean it’s time to go? You just got started.”

“I have things to do, kid.”

Hito didn’t really believe that, but couldn’t really argue the point. “So since you didn’t finish, is it alright if I come by again?”

The old man turned in his seat and said, “I’ll make you a deal, kid.”

“A deal?” Hito wasn’t sure if he liked the sound of that. “I guess, what kind of deal?”

“All you have to do is find me by noon and I’ll tell you more.”

“That’s it?” Hito asked.

The old guy nodded.

“And if I'm late?”

“Try not to be, I’m not inclined to wait.”

“Ooookay, that ought to be easy enough,” Hito said but noted the small smile on the old guys face.

“Hito!” a familiar voice shouted and Hito twisted around in his seat to see his mother headed straight for him. When he turned back to ask another question he frowned, the old guy was gone. Not only was he not there, but there wasn’t even a touch of resonance from his chakra and Hito realized ‘finding’ the geezer might not be as easy as he first thought.

Turning back to his mother, Hito noticed she had Mi and Yon with her and Hito rolled his eyes as he hopped off the stool and met her in the street.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Hito-chan,” she said, “can you take these two down to the river to go fishing?”

“I thought Pop was taking them?”

“He was, but he’s been held up and can’t get a way for a bit longer. He'll meet you all there later.”

“Why can’t they just go by themselves?”

Yeah!
Why not?
We’re not..
babies!

His mother rounded on the pair. “Don't you two start that again,” she said and both boys took a step back. Hito smirked, sometimes his mother was just scary, but that was soon wiped off his face when his mother snagged his ear and pulled him a few feet away. “Feeling better about the idea yet, Hito-chan?”

“Ow! Ow! yes yes...”

“Good,” she said releasing his ear. “There is actually another reason I want you to go with them.”

“What?” Hito asked as he rubbed his ear.

“There have been sightings of some unusual animals in the forest. No one's been able to capture one so just be careful. They probably aren't dangerous but if you see anything out of the ordinary, make sure you report it.” His mother didn't wait for a response and turned and walked off.

Weird animals? Great... “Come on, guys, let's get going.”

So tell us
what did the
old guy
tell you?

“I'll tell you on the way.” Hito was not at all surprised his brothers knew what he was up to that day. Both were a little too smart for their own good and they were better than anyone at putting together random information. Hito's job was to collect it. So as they made their way toward the river, Hito told them the story.

That was
short...
So the
Princess is
a plant?

“Yup,” Hito said as they arrived at their destination.

That's just
weird...
So, how you
gonna find
the geezer?

“Dunno, but I will, don't worry.”

Who’s...
worried?

“You should be,” Hito said and pushed them both off the riverbank. His brothers let out audible shouts as they fell into the water and Hito burst out laughing. Once he could breath again he wiped a tear from his eyes and said, “Suckers.”

After several hours of messing around in general, the boys decided their father wasn't coming. It was getting late, so the three of them collected the fish they'd caught and headed for home. Hito thought he saw something moving on the forest floor beneath them and called a quick halt.

What's...
wrong, Hito?

Hito waved off the question as he senses were assaulted by the nastiest chakra, he'd ever come across. Mi and Yon must have felt it too, since they both went rigid as it slid across their awareness leaving a greasy feeling behind that made Hito shudder. What the hell is that? Was it one of the creatures Mom warned me about? Just as abruptly as it started the sensation disappeared. Deciding to stay off the ground Hito made his brothers stick to the trees and then the rooftops when they entered the village, just to be sure. Still it was obvious his brothers were not happy, they were actually speaking in complete sentences.

I really thought he was going to show up this time, Mi said.

Quit being such a baby, Yon said sounding very irritated.

I'm not a baby! Mi shouted back.

Then quit whining like one, he's the Hokage. He's got more important things to do than go fishing... when Yon fell silent Mi finished for him ...with us...
yeah...

Hito didn't say anything, when their father became the Hokage five years before; He and Futa just turned seven and his brothers, four. The extra attention was fun at first, but that didn't last for long. Now their father was gone from home more than he was there and even though Hito was considered one of the top Genin of his class, the expectations of his classmates and teachers at the academy just got...ridiculous. It was the main reason he started slacking off and even though he hated to admit it, it irked him that Mi and Yon easily met those expectations and Futa... He wanted to become more powerful, just to make them all shut up about it already. He just needed to find someone willing to teach him what he wanted since his own father didn’t seem to have the time to. Angry, Hito picked up his pace and Mi and Yon struggled to keep up with him. Once they were nearer to home, Hito's anger managed to run its course so he slowed and dropped to the street. When his brothers caught up, both were breathing hard and Hito realized he’d done it again.

“Sorry, guys…”

It’s okay…
Hito, we know…
why you stayed…
behind…
We’ll work…
really hard…
and promise…
not to hold…
you back …
anymore…

“What the hell are you two talking about? If you haven’t noticed the only one holding me back is…”

Who?

“Skip it, okay?” They nodded but it was obvious they were still skeptical so Hito added, “It’s not your fault guys. Anyway, last one home gets to tell Mom, Dad was a no show!”

What? No! Mi and Yon shouted. Hito laughed, as he took off up the street with his brothers hot on his heels.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hito slowed as they reached their house and took the rest of the fish from his brothers and headed out back. The yard was small and the path a bit overgrown, but it was home. Hito threw the fish on a small table covered with an assortment of pots then he stacked the pots neatly to the side and went about cleaning the fish. Mi and Yon turned up a few minutes later with a bowl of water and bucket.

“Mom's not home yet either?”

They shook their heads and both watched him intently as he quickly gutted the first one and placed it on a stick.

“Why are you two just standing there? Go start a fire already...”

But we
want to learn
how to
do this

Hito was starting to get seriously annoyed with his parents and his brothers looked so pathetic Hito just sighed and said, “Fine.”

All
right!

Both grabbed a fish and pulling out their Kunai immediately set about stabbing their respective fish.

“Gah!” Hito cried alarmed the pair would slice their fingers off, “Not like that you idiots! Geez!”

Damn Hito
you don’t
have to
scream at us

“Yeah, well if you keep that up you'll put an eye out! Now pay attention,” and he went about showing his brothers the right way to gut a fish. Once all the fish were cleaned and on their spits, the boys set about making a campfire.

“Field training, this time of night? Man, you three really are hardcore,” a familiar voice behind them said.

Three heads whipped around at once and shouted, “Konohamaru-kun!”

“Hey guys, how's the infamous Uzumaki genin trio doing?”

Great! We
just finished
our first C Rank!

“I heard, so how many days you got left?”

“Two,” Hito answered.

“Oh sure ignore your sensei...” Moegi said as she stepped up next to Konohamaru.

“Hi, Moegi-sensei, didn't see you standing there,” Hito said with a smirk.

“Nice,” she said, “By the way, you're dinner is on fire.”

"Crap!"

“So where'd you get the fish from?” Konohamaru asked.

“Uh the river, Konohamaru-kun,” Hito said as he adjusted the fish over the fire.

“Wow, I can't believe your dad let you leave the village by yourselves-” Moegi elbowed her fellow jounin hard to the midriff and Konohamaru doubled over in pain for a moment. “Geez,” she said as she added a smack to the back of his head, “What were you just told, not twenty minutes ago?”

“Yeah right, so what other deviltry you three been up to?”

The three brothers exchanged glances, but let it be for now. Maybe that weird chakra they'd felt had something to do with it.

“Nothing really, just training and stuff.”

Hito went back
to see the old
man again
Moegi-Sensei will
you tell us what
happened?

Hito went still. If anyone could get her to tell them it was Mi and Yon, apparently Moegi-sensei had a soft spot for (them.)

“What story?” Konohamaru asked.

Moegi dragged her attention away from the pair and said in a horrified voice,“The cake story.”

Konohamaru favored Moegi with an odd look, then his face went completely blank for a moment. All four ninja jumped back when Konohamaru suddenly burst out laughing so hard he was crying.

So will
you tell us
Konohamaru-kun?

“Oh hell no, your mother would kill me for sure. Besides, the old man tells it better than anyone.”

If it was that funny Hito was definitely going to find out the rest, even if he had to drag it bodily from the old man.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hito glanced at his watch it was already almost eleven o'clock and he still had no clue where the old guy could be. Mi and Yon seemed to think the old guy would be in that garden, but the Uchiha District no longer existed. The whole of it burned down to the ground almost fifteen years before, so finding that particular garden would be impossible and Hito dismissed the idea, but now...

Wait a minute...

Hito took off back toward the center of town and glanced at his watch as he neared his destination. ..11:53,

Damn it I'm still too far away, he thought and pushed himself into high gear. Hito barely touched the rooftops and was moving faster than he'd ever managed to in the past, but maintaining this speed was exhausting and he knew instinctively that stopping would be an even bigger problem. Spotting his target, Hito did his best to not tear up the street too much as he skidded to a halt in front of the old man.

There was no look of surprise or even an indication that the old man realized he was there until the geezer said, “You're late kid.”

Hito turned himself over and gasped out, “I know...I was too...too far away...when I remembered...where my father said they always...met before missions...”

“Well then I'll give you marks for genuine effort, but I'll see you later.”

“Wait! Since...you're giving...me marks can I...at least...” Hito paused as he sucked in a big breath “...at least... ask a question?”

“You're joking right kid?”

“No.”

More silence. “Fine, one question.”

“How...did that...happen?” he asked pointing to the old man's face.

There was a pause as the old guy looked out over the village. Hito thought for sure he was going to ignore the question but was surprised when the old man answered.

“It’s been awhile since that happened so I suppose there's no harm in telling you.” The old man's tone was oddly conversational...like he was discussing the weather, “Officially, the records say I lost them during a fight and the ensuing grand fireball. Was quite the explosion, much larger than I'd planned…a sort of overkill I couldn't seem to avoid back then.”

“That must have been some battle.”

“You shouldn't be impressed, it was a battle that should have never happened. While it didn't kill me, I think at the time...I really wanted it to. Anyway six weeks later after I came to, I discovered my eyes were damaged beyond repair.”

“Then how are you still alive?”

“That's a good question, too bad I only agreed to answer one.”

“Come on...why?”

“Why so curious?”

“I want...to learn how you...”

“Do you? What even makes you think you could? ”

Hito shrugged.

“You're just as stubborn as your old man, I'll think about it, kid.” Finally having caught his breath Hito turned to leave but stopped when the old man asked, “You hungry?”

“Huh?” was the only answer Hito managed to come up with.

“It's lunch time, you live around here don't you?”

“Yeah, kinda.”

“Then lead the way,” the old man said and Hito figured it was his lucky day...maybe he'd get more of the story out of him yet. When they reached his house, Hito opened the front door but the old man walked around to the back yard. Hito shrugged at the weirdness and followed.

The geezer sat himself on a rock near the pond and waited. Hito took that to mean he should be getting the food so went in the house and picked through the refrigerator. Grabbing a large leftover bowl of red beans and rice, he snagged a pot, a couple of bowls and a few pairs of chopsticks. As he was headed for the door, he almost dropped everything when he heard his mother say;

“Hito-chan, what are you doing with all that?”

“I'm going out back,” he said as if it weren't obvious.

“That's not what I asked, Hito.”

Hito recognized that dangerous tone in his mother's voice...If she found out about the old guy, she'd most likely forbid him from talking to him when he considered Konohamaru's and his Sensei's reaction to being asked about that stupid story.

“Sorry, Mom, it was such a nice day...I uh...thought I'd eat outside.”

“By yourself?”

He did not want to lie to his mother, that could end up being fatal. “Uh no.” Hito said and stared at the floor as he felt the heat rising in his face...This is not going to go well, he thought.

“Oh? Did you bring home a friend?”

Hito's head snapped up at the word, friend? Just who did she think he had back there...and a smile crept on to his face as his mother came closer. “Uh, Mom? Could you not go back there, I don't want my friend to...well you know.”

Apparently she did and she gave her son an appraising look before she smiled to herself and headed out of the kitchen. Hito almost fell over from relief and he went outside. The old guy was right where he'd left him and had already started a fire. While Hito wondered how he'd managed that, he set up the grill over the small blaze and as the food heated up, the old man started up his story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sasuke leapt from the rooftop and peered into the blackness Naruto just disappeared into. The first and most obvious thing he noticed was; it was just too damn quiet. It was decidedly odd that there were no shouts or curses coming from the blackness below him. Naruto truly was the noisiest ninja in all of shinobi-dom so there was no way Naruto would take a fall like that and not be screaming his damn fool head off and whether Sasuke wanted it to or not, that worried him.

Idiot, Sasuke thought and activating his sharingan he started down the ladder into the darkness. It wasn't until he was some ways down that he noticed the chakra residue next to the ladder. It was already fading so Sasuke picked up his pace a bit. The only thing working in his favor right at the moment was Naruto's inability to control the amount of chakra he used. He followed the yellow strafing until it stopped. Taking a careful look around he now saw the opening in the wall and climbed into it.

Sasuke took a few steps and slipped a bit on the wet tiles. When he saw the footprint, he smiled, and pulled out a kunai. Tying a wire to the end he jammed it into the wall where a few tiles were missing and gave it a tug to make sure it was secure. Sasuke checked how much wire he had with him. Three bundles, ought to be more than enough, he thought. Now with his wire trailing behind him Sasuke followed Naruto's fading footsteps into the tunnel.

When he heard Naruto's voice echoing ahead of him, he slowed down to listen. Naruto was chastising Konohamaru about the depth of a hole they were apparently digging.

“Oi, Konohamaru, watch what you are doing.”

“Okay, boss!”

“We can't bury your Princess in that, it's too shallow.”

Bury the Princess? What the hell is going on? Sasuke grew even further alarmed when Konohamaru asked, “How many limbs do you plan to cut off?”

“As many as it takes, you just mind the hole.”

Making his way a little faster toward the sound of the voices, Sasuke stopped when he reached the broken grating that led to the garden. Naruto and Konohamaru were hidden from view behind a rather large palm so Sasuke slipped quietly inside, sticking close to the wall as he edged nearer the pair.

“Is this deep enough, boss?”

“Aah, that will do. Now help me lift her.”

“Hai!”

Sasuke refused to believe the morbid thoughts that continually came to him as he moved closer. There was no way that those two had actually...Sasuke looked down when his foot ran into something. It was the bag Naruto had been carrying and curious now, he open it and peered inside. Eying the contents, Sasuke wondered what in the world Naruto would need such things for. As far as anyone knew, Naruto only ate instant ramen.

“Konohamaru! What are you doing? If you bury her like that, she’ll break loose!” Naruto cried as he came out from behind the palm. Sasuke's head snapped up and dropping the bag he instantly jumped for the cover of a large shed. The hell! he thought and quickly covered his nose. Naruto was not only covered in a layer of mud, but he smelled awful and it took Sasuke a moment to realize Naruto was carrying something. He never got a good look at it since Naruto chose that moment to turn back to Konohamaru, but if it was what he thought it was…

Sasuke shook his head, No way...he thought, but was unable to look again as Naruto approached the shed and he had to duck back again. There was a loud crash from inside the shed as Naruto sorted through whatever was in there. After a few minutes he reappeared, arms weighed down by several small pots as he wandered back to the palm.

So engrossed with what Naruto was doing, Sasuke failed to hear the tell tale sound of the rotting wood splitting beneath him before it gave way. He smacked hard on the dirt floor and cursed under his breath. Getting to his feet, he listened for any sign that Naruto or Konohamaru were approaching, hearing nothing he leapt back through the hole he'd created in the roof and immediately jumped into the nearest tree.

He now had a bird's eye view of the goings on in the garden below and was strangely surprised by what he saw. It wasn't the gruesome murder scene he first envisioned...Naruto and Konohamaru were potting plants. At least ten good sized palm shoots were laid out on the grass as Naruto showed Konohamaru the best way to separate the roots without tearing them.

Dropping a little lower in the tree to get a better view of the goings on, Sasuke froze when Naruto suddenly stood and looked up. Sasuke deactivated his sharingan in an effort to mask his chakra and leaned closer to the tree. It never occurred to him that Naruto had learned to read chakra signatures, but then he never considered that Naruto could do much of anything without screwing it up.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hito's anger flared. As much as he was interested in finding out how it all ended up, he really was getting tired of the old man calling his father an idiot. However true, he was still his father and once again Hito interrupted the story and asked, “Can I ask you a question?”

“Again?” the old man snapped. Hito nodded and ignored the look of irritation that crossed the old man's face.

“Why did Sasuke hate my dad so much? Weren't they supposed to be teammates?”

The old man went still and said quietly, “It wasn’t just Sasuke, kid, for a very long time, everyone with the exception of old Sarutobi Sandaime hated your father.”

Hito's mouth dropped open, “Everyone?”

“Everyone.”

“But why?” When his question was met with silence he said, “You’re not going to tell me...”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because the why of it no longer matters.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting near her bedroom window, Sakura watched her son as he set up his makeshift stove. It worried her that Hito was spending so much time with that one, but she supposed it was her own fault she should have realized something was up, the first time Hito failed to graduate from the academy. While it made her wonder, she wasn't overly concerned. When he failed two more times...she got suspicious and forced the truth out of her daughter and that’s when she found out about Hito and Futa’s little ‘agreement’. At that point she wasn’t sure if she should be angry or proud of her two oldest. Though it was more than apparent it was more than just concern for his brothers that was motivating Hito now.

When Naruto told her about Hito’s recent jump in chakra activity, it was not what she wanted to hear, but it was also something she couldn't deny either. Somewhere around the time his sister was named as a candidate for the chuunin exams, Hito must have decided he was falling behind. More than once she'd overheard Mi and Yon complaining to their Sensei about Hito's attitude, so she started to keep closer tabs on her oldest son. So far, Hito was keeping his temper mostly under control, but she wondered how much longer he'd be able to do that.

Still it concerned her how his foul moods were slowly getting the better of him. Whenever it happened, he simply stopped listening and she knew Moegi was doing the best she could with him, but Hito could be so hard to rein in when he got like that...he was so like his father in so many ways. When she suggested to Naruto that Hito needed to find an outlet to put all that extra energy to good use, she'd hoped he'd handle it himself. But, as usual, the world outside of Konoha was making its presence felt within the village and the Hokage had his hands full not just the usual mechanizations of the feudal council but the chuunin exams as well. There was just no way for him not to be in attendance for the upcoming main matches in Suna. She was actually relieved when he told her he had someone in mind to give Hito the extra training...but why that one?

“Naruto, I hope you know what you're doing,” she said to herself.

The sound of the doorbell pulled her attention away from the pair and Sakura reluctantly left the window to answer it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The old man did not look toward the window, he knew she was there and resisted the urge to growl. To do so would likely inspire more than a few questions from the boy that the old man had no intention of answering. Like his father, this one had a habit of asking disconcerting questions so the old man sat quietly, waiting. When Hito looked up again, the familiar presence from the house faded and the old man pulled his senses back and returned his full attention to the task at hand and the boy in front of him.

He listened to the boy's heartbeat and the rhythm of his breathing. Hito was unusually upset, while this was not completely unexpected considering how little the boy knew about things, it was worrisome. From what the old man had gleaned from the boy so far, it was obvious that Hito's motivations were often good ones. He really did care about his family and friends, but the boy was too easily controlled by his misdirected anger, something the old man was all too familiar with. It was a dangerous condition for any shinobi, but potentially lethal in this one. Instead he focused on the fact that the boy was so easily distracted that he'd yet to ask the old man his name, so there was still a good chance of correcting that.

“So what happened next?” Hito asked as he handed off a plate of food to the old man.

Not quite the question the old man was expecting but he decided not to think about that and started up his story as if Hito's previous outburst had never happened.

Naruto looked up into the oak tree trying to decide if the chakra he felt was dangerous. It was familiar but he couldn't quite remember why and since it wasn't attacking he decided there was no threat. Shrugging, he sighed and looked around. While he was not at all sure where they were, he was almost positive they were in the Uchiha District...somewhere.

There was a standing rule in the village that this place was off limits...to everyone. He and Konohamaru were definitely not supposed to be here. Still...Naruto looked back at the palm, the larger tree was most definitely dieing, even after everything they'd done, but the shoots were healthy. Almost as if the mother plant had used all its energy to keep the younger palms alive and healthy. Looking back at the palms he and Konohamaru laid out, Naruto determined that he'd gone this far with it, there was no point in not taking the palms with them, but to do that they'd have to leave the garden by the gate. He thought again of his cake and sighed.

“Is something wrong Naruto-niichan?”

Naruto spared his groceries one last look before answering, “No, Konohamaru, let's finish this up.”

“Okay, boss!”

As Konohamaru and Naruto finished their work and loaded the now potted palms onto a cart they'd found, Naruto asked, “So why was it so important we save your 'Princess' Konohamaru?”

“Don't you remember, boss?” Konohamaru asked as he picked up Naruto's bag of groceries and stuck his nose inside. “You were the one who told me about her.”

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. He had a tendency to tell Konohamaru all sorts of random stuff and said a bit warily, “How 'bout you refresh my memory, Konohamaru.”

“Okay!” the boy shouted and handed the bag off to Naruto. Together they opened the large gate and the pair paused to check the street. There was no one around and Naruto decided they were definitely in the District. Just before they headed out, Naruto felt that chakra again, but this time he didn't stop to look around. If he was going to be the Hokage some day he'd have to start thinking like Kakashi-sensei was always telling him. So Naruto tried to ignore his nervousness as he stepped out into the empty streets. Konohamaru led the way and Naruto followed dragging the palm-laden cart behind them. He'd just have to be ready if it did attack.

“She's like the Princess...” Konohamaru continued. His voice cut through the silence and Naruto felt his heart skip a beat. “You know Naruto-niichan, the one who turned into a palm...I can't remember her name...”

But weirdly enough, Naruto did and stated confidently, “Her name was Kannonchikushima, and she wasn't a Princess, Konohamaru, she was the daughter of a poor farmer.”

This was a story Naruto actually knew and it made him smile. It was one of the few old Sandaime told him that Naruto paid enough attention to that he 'got' most of the details. The old man must have noticed since he wrote it out for Naruto, complete with pictures. When questioned by others about its making the old man claimed that it was just a way to encourage Naruto to practice his reading. He even timed it so that it would be ready for Naruto on his sixth birthday, which surprised Naruto at the time. Finding it at the foot of his bed that morning with a small tag that read, 'Do your best!' It was odd to say the least since no one ever gave him anything on that day except possibly a colder than usual glare.

The gift had the desired effect and after reading it over and over, Naruto eventually committed it to memory. Once he’d accomplished that, he didn't want to take the chance that something would happen to the scroll and he pondered where he'd stashed it, he'd have to find it when he got home.

“Hey that's right!” Konohamaru cried, “they just called her Princess cause she gave up her life so the children of her village wouldn't get taken away and devoured by the evil tengu that found them in its forest.” And the boy jumped as he lifted his hands in claw-like fashion.

“That's right, and her father was no ordinary guy either, he was once a great and wise shinobi...Sarutahiko, he was some kind of mountain ninja...anyway Kanhichishi... Konokushi... I'll just call her Kushima for short, she lived by herself-”

“Are you sure about that Naruto-niichan?” Konohamaru asked.

Naruto thought about that for a moment. “Yup,” he replied. “Her mother died when she was still a baby and when she was five years old her father got very sick.”

“I don't remember any of that, how did she live? “ Konohamaru asked.

“Aah, the farmer had a super secret bird jutsu,” Naruto said and paused for a moment to pull the name of if from his memory, “Keigetsu no shima, I think. Anyway the jutsu gave whatever bird the farmer wanted to the power to talk.”

“No way!”

“Hmmm now that I think about it, maybe it made Kushima able to understand the crow...”

“What crow?”

“I thought you said you knew this story, Konohamaru? The farmer had a pet crow named Suke and before the farmer died he cast two jutsu on Kushima, the first one let her talk to the bird and the bird could talk back, the other was a seal.”

“What kind?”

“I don't remember right now, but it sealed up the rest of the old farmer's chakra onto Kushima's skin that left a mark in the shape of a silver tear on her left cheek. The crow stayed with her, looking after her and teaching her lots of stuff, like how to read and other boring things. It even taught her some of her father's jutsu. Kushima only went into town every once in a while, but she always had the bird with her. ‘Cause of that, the people in the village were afraid of her and stayed away from her and her bird friend.”

“Is that why you live by yourself Naruto-niichan?”

“Aaaahh, Konohamaru, I told you before I have people who recognize me now, like you, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Sakura-chan and…” Naruto stopped short of adding Sasuke to that group and said instead, “and old Sandaime.”

“But glasses teacher said-”

“Who you gonna believe, Konohamaru," Naruto asked angrily,"me? or the closet pervert?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The old man abruptly stopped the story. His head snapped up and he looked toward the house and said, “It's time for me to go, kid.”

Hito cocked an eyebrow and said, “I know my Mom can be scary, but she promised not to come back here.”

The old man grunted, she wasn't the reason he was leaving, but it still amazed him how little this kid knew about his parents’ pasts. An itch between his shoulder blades reminded the old man he’d used too much chakra and had definitely spent too much time out. A second twinge brought him to his feet and he guessed it was going to take at least a few hours for him to recover, assuming he made it back to his apartment.

Still, he thought, he hadn't meant to be seen and did a mental double take as he realized maybe he did. It was always difficult for him to tell. But she was only half of an old problem he'd never really come to terms with.

Over the years the old man managed to steadfastly keep himself apart from them and to this day it surprised him the lengths they'd gone to, to keep him from the death he'd so conveniently arranged for himself. There was a reason he’d never paid particular attention to the children and it wasn't just because to do so would admit there was still a connection between them. Even now, he was the only one to see the disturbing pattern of death that followed whenever their paths intertwined. It was a large part of what was making this little task more and more unsettling for him, and it remained a mystery to him why he'd gone to Naruto in the first place. Why would he do it knowing full well, something bad was going to happen? Maybe it would be better if Naruto dealt with this himself he was perfectly capable.

“So…”

“So what, boy?”

“Why are you still here?”

“That's an excellent question, boy. Why am I here?” the old man asked and Hito watched in confusion as the old guy got up and walked away. Glancing back at the house Hito noted his mother was no longer in the kitchen and something in the old guy's face made Hito wonder how well he knew her. As he was cleaning up, Mi and Yon appeared and immediately started up with their questions.

So?
“What?”
Tell us
Hito

Sensing a rare opportunity Hito said, “I'll tell you everything, after, you guys clean all this stuff up.”

Damn it Hito,
that's not fair!

“Take it or leave short rounds,” Hito said holding out the dishes. After conning his brothers into doing some more of his chores, Hito took them down to the playground near the park and sitting in the shade of a large palm he told them the latest. The three brothers discussed things and decided they still needed more information. Hito decided he'd take on the task of questioning their father. If the story was true then there was always the possibility he'd just tell Hito what he wanted to know. Yon was more interested in whether that scroll the old man talked about still existed and volunteered to search their house for it. Mi took on the most dangerous aspect, pulling some info from their mother. Having decided on their course of action, the three split up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On his way to his father's office, Hito spotted the old man sitting on a bench in the park. Over the past few weeks Hito had been trying to decide what would be the best way to ask his father for some extra training. The opportunity to do so hadn't come up. His father being the Hokage was always busy and the whole thing was a serious pain in the ass. Hito approached the old guy carefully. It was pretty late in the afternoon but if he was still out there was no reason not to ask.

"What do you want boy?"

Hito heard the irritation in the old man's voice but plowed ahead with his question anyway. “Do you think I can learn how to...” Hito's voice failed under the scrutiny of the old man's unblinking gaze.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“You're not ready.”

“What kind of answer is that?”

“The best kind and the only one I'm giving.”

“You won't teach me cause you think I stupid like my old man, right?”

“You are a cocky boy, ne? You can add that to the list of reasons. I personally don't think your father is as slow as you claim. People change from when they are children and he is the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village after all. Not the easiest title to achieve.”

“If you knew him you wouldn't say that.”

“You think so?”

“Just forget it.”

“Tell me then Hito why did you choose to become a ninja? Even if you are the son of the Hokage there's no rule saying you had to be.”

“I don't know, I guess I want to get more powerful...stronger-”

“But which is it? Power or strength?”

“They're the same thing.”

“No, they aren't.”

“Huh?”

“And that's exactly why you're not ready to learn anything from me. You should never make the mistake of confusing power for strength. You make think your father a fool, but he at least understands the difference between the two, you do not and that boy, is the real difference between you and your father and it is also why you're not ready to learn anything from me.”

Hito's anger did a slow burn, what was with the preachiness all of a sudden? The old guy was lying, Hito wasn't sure about what but just as quickly decided he wasn’t going to be ignored any longer; besides the old man’s superior attitude was really pissing him off. It bugged him since he met the old guy. Hito was ready enough and he was sure the old man knew it.

“You can’t scare me off old man,” Hito said evenly. He did not like being made a fool of and even though his brain shouted at him to just shut the hell up, Hito's anger tumbled out of his mouth anyway. “You're the coward! Face it, you ran from your supposed power, well I'm not afraid! I'll figure it out on my own, to hell with all of you!” Hito shouted.

The old man didn't stop walking, but Hito thought he saw a slight hesitation in the old man's step. He was tired of getting the run around from this guy, his parents and every other adult he'd had to deal with lately but he was totally unprepared for what happened next.

Moving far more quickly than Hito could track the old guy moved his hands through a series of hand signs and fixed an unwavering stare on Hito that stopped the boy in his tracks. Rattled by its intensity, Hito abruptly lost his nerve and tried to take a backward step but found he couldn't move at all as intense fear gripped him.

Grabbing Hito's still outstretched hand the old man plucked out a glass eye and curled Hito's fingers around it and hissed, “Not afraid? Do you know what happens to shinobi who travel the unknown paths in search of power?” Hito tried to pull away as the warm and slightly sticky glass was made contact, but the old man shoved Hito's hand up in front of his face forcing Hito to look at it. “Power alone will blind you to your strength. Just what will you do when you finally lose sight of those closest to you? Will you become willing to kill even them to gain more? Tell me, Uzumaki Hito…is this the power you crave?”

A red substance that looked a helluva lot like blood, began to ooze through Hito's fingers and he was struck then by an image of himself killing his family in a most horrific fashion.

The blood dripped down his arm and the old man drew him close and whispered, “Or is it your greatest fear? I know what you felt. Why do you wonder what it’s like to know you hold someone else's life in the balance? Is it the rush of adrenaline you want or something else? A feeling of intoxication? You'll become addicted to it and not even know it.”

Still unable to move Hito closed his own eyes to shut out the frightening images, it didn't work.

“You’re a fool if you believe yourself a better shinobi than the man you call father, boy. He’s faced down much worse than me and at an age even younger than you. So tell me again how you're not afraid, eh boy?” The old man's tone mocked him, daring him to do anything but Hito was frozen in place. The iron grip loosened and Hito felt himself falling and just as quickly as it had manifested, the menacing presence vanished and the old man walked away leaving Hito sitting on the ground rubbing his wrist.

Looking at his hand, Hito noticed there was no blood, none at all. What ever power the old man possessed, Hito realized the old guy only let it surface long enough for him to understand there was real power behind those sightless eyes. Now what? Hito's eyes wandered in the direction of the Hokage's tower. The light, he knew was to his father's office was still on, so chances were, he was still there.

Mi and Yon returned home with their mission purpose well in hand. Find the scroll and pump their mother for more information. Yon headed for the attic, it was creepy, but there were lots of boxes up there, so that was probably the best place to start. Staring at the pile of boxes neatly stacked in the corner, left the boy wondering just where he should start…his parents sure had a lot of stuff.

While both boys were technically deaf, they’d learned a way of ‘hearing’ that was a bit unconventional, but effective just the same. As they often did before the started any operation, the pair 'synced' their chakra streams. Since they’d been doing it since they were very young, they didn’t have a clear idea of exactly how it worked, though lately they’d been trying to figure that out, since not everyone could hear them when they did choose to speak. It didn't matter how far apart they were but it was also why their voices were nearly identical. This not only allowed them to keep track of where the other was, but each could 'hear' what others said around them.

Mi made his way through the house, wondering where his mother was when he spotted her in the back yard. She was sitting on a low stone bench next to the pond, near the place Hito was when they'd returned home earlier. Taking a deep breath he walked out into the yard. Expecting her to turn as he approached, Mi was surprised when she didn't. Instead she just sat staring into the water watching the koi as they swam about. When she did turn toward him, Mi was a bit alarmed by how very sad she looked.

Mom, are you alright?

Her expression softened as he came nearer as she smiled and said, “I'm fine Mi-chan, how was your day?”

Okay, I guess.

Mi found himself at a loss as to how to ask the questions he'd come up with, this was going to be harder than he thought. Sitting down on the ground next to her, he rested his head on her leg and thought it over. She absently stroked his hair and Mi realized there probably wasn't the good way to ask, so decided he'd do what Hito always did; just spit it out and figure out the rest later.

Um, Mom, has dad ever uhhh, cooked anything for your birthday?

Her hand stilled only briefly and she answered, “That’s an odd question, Mi-chan, where did that come from?” Mi didn’t respond and his mother then asked, “Were you planning to ask him for a recipe? If it’s not instant ramen we all know your father's cooking tends to end up badly and since my birthday is a good six months off, why do you want to know?”

Mi sat up and tried hard to come up with an acceptable answer, it wasn't coming to him so he replied, I dunno, just wondered.

“I see,” she said and rose from the bench. “It's almost time for dinner, why don't you come inside and root your brother out of the attic for me?” As she walked back toward the house she added, “Mi-chan, be sure you two put away everything when your done. Dinner will be in an hour.”

“Hai...” Crap, that did not go at all how he'd hoped.

…mission failure...

~~~~~~~~~~~

Yon already went through several boxes when one in particular caught his eye. It was covered in random writing and doodles but it was also near the back of the pile and Yon sighed as he began moving the others out of the way. After dragging it out he sifted through the papers inside. Most were what looked like old homework...and a lot of them displayed remarkably poor grades. Setting that stuff aside, Yon reached in and pulled out an old ratty looking stuffed ninja doll. Yon snorted, it looked a lot like the Rokudaime Hokage, complete with hitate pulled down over one eye. This box was starting to get interesting. Reaching in again, he came out with three different color forehead protectors, all tied together at the ends. Only the blue one appeared damaged though. It had a deep scrape that ran completely through the leaf village symbol. This surprised him a little since he knew how they were made. He traced it with his finger and was surprised by how deep the scratch was.

Still that wasn't what he was after and set them aside and reached deeper into the box. When his fingers came across the smooth metal of a scroll cylinder, Yon quickly yanked it out. The tag that was still attached, did have some writing on it, but it was faded.

She's on to us Yon.

Yeah, I heard, but check this out. I think this may be it.

Yon tapped the scroll case and both sat staring at it until Mi said, The geezer wasn't lying.

Nope.

What now?

Mom said dinner wasn't for an hour, I say we read it.

What if it's not...

What if it is.

Mi nodded and both sat in down near the window and opened the scroll.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hito’s attempt to slip quietly into the Hokage’s office failed when he somehow managed to catch his foot on a decorative rug near the door and fell with a grunt to the floor. When he lifted his head the amused face of his father met him and Hito sighed inwardly. This was not how he wanted this to go. Running his question through his head again and having a chance to actually think about it, Hito realized, it really was a dumb question but knew his father really was the only one likely to give him a straight answer. Everyone else...standing up, he pushed the door closed and noted his father was already back to glancing over the documents in front of him, moving them to different piles after either signing them or not. He never liked interrupting his father at work, but it was already past dinner and he did come all the way here.

“Pop?”

“Hmmm?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Will it take long?” his father asked not looking up from the mound of papers. “As you can see, Nara’s all but buried me in paperwork again.”

So that's a no, he thought. Hito's temper flared and turning to leave he yanked the doorknob hard. There was a snap and Hito stared dumbfounded at the lump of twisted metal in his hand. He continued to stare at it in disbelief until his anger and frustration spilled over and Hito punched the door. The sound of cracking wood brought him back to himself and Hito gaped as the door split in two and collapsed around him hitting the floor with a pair of loud whumps.

Standing on the other side of the now missing door, Nara Shikamaru stood with a several scrolls wedged under his arm, an almost shocked expression on his normally bored face. His other arm was raised as if to knock, but when he caught sight of the boy in front of him, Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow. Hito glanced at his father and groaned. No longer signing papers, his father sat behind the desk with his chin resting on his hands that amused look back on his face. Hito dropped the remains of the doorknob and sighed as his shoulders drooped.

“How troublesome,” Shikamaru said stepping past Hito and dumping the scrolls into the already voluminous pile on the desk.

“Aaaahh...you're killing me Nara,” his father said eying the mound with a twitch.

“These are the last. You also wanted to know when Team 4 got in. They're in the second debriefing room waiting for you and I am out for tonight.”

With his father's attention on his assistant, Hito decided now would be a good time to leave, but stopped when his father called him back.

“Hold on Hito, you said you had a question.”

Hito's eyes flicked from his father to his assistant. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow as his attention locked on the genin for a brief moment. Hito remembered his father saying that Nara Shikamaru was most likely the smartest man in all of the Konohagakure and there was something decidedly disturbing in the way his father’s assistant studied him. Hito wondered if the man was calculating his worth in that short space of time. There was no indication of what, if any conclusion he came to since his face remained impassive. Hito watched the man as he headed for the door and Hito stepped aside as Shikamaru passed by and Hito heard him mumble, “Troublesome...” as he exited the room shaking his head. Hito watched him as he disappeared around the nearest corner and all but jumped out of his skin when he turned to find his father in triplicate right next to him examining the doorway.

“That's one helluva right hook, ne?” his father asked the bunshin on the right.

“Cause he's my son!” the bunshin declared.

“Damn right,” the other piped in. All three stood with arms crossed, nodding their satisfaction and Hito sighed. His father was such a goof. It made Hito wonder why he was ever selected to be Hokage. Still Hito smiled in spite of himself when his father's hand dropped onto his head giving his hair a tousle. That really was a good punch.

“You,” his father said to the first kage bunshin, “Go talk to Team 4, make sure to remind Konohamaru they're not to discuss what they were doing with anyone outside of my office.” The bunshin nodded then disappeared through the door in the same direction Shikamaru had taken earlier. Hito took it to mean that Konohamaru must have said more than he was supposed to last night, not that he'd said much. His father then pointed a disdainful finger at the desk and said to the other bunshin, “You, go see to that mess and make sure you read them completely before you sign them this time.” The replication sighed as he nodded and headed for the desk. “Alright Hito-kun, let's go.”

“But...”

“But what?”

“Is it alright to leave him...by himself?”

“Why not? He's me.”

Hito certainly couldn't argue with that so he followed his father out the door toward the outer stairwell. It was easy to forget the nature of his father's bunshins. They were more than just the chakra shadows he could manage; they were actual physical copies of his father. Each was quite capable of independent thought and it made Hito wonder how many times his father had pulled that trick to get out of doing the paperwork he so despised. As they continued down the stairs, Hito noticed his father's hair had already changed color, going from blond to a deep black and by the time they reached the bottom, his face had changed as well. Black eyes now replaced blue and Hito blinked, he'd seen that face somewhere before and recently.

“I'm feeling rather hungry,” his father said coming to a sudden halt, “and I'm guessing you wanted this conversation to be uninterrupted, right?” Hito nodded, his father's voice changed along with the rest of him. It was much deeper and again familiar but Hito couldn't place it. Just weird, he thought as his father continued, “Then I suggest you do the same, it's good practice and then we'll go find some food.”

Hito snorted, find some food, usually meant a stop at his father's favorite ramen shop. Trying to copy his father's 'look' Hito smirked as at the last second he decided to take it a step further and transformed into a strikingly pretty blue eyed, dark haired...girl.

His father's mouth dropped open and after shaking himself out of it said, “Whoa, not bad son, but you might want to tone it down a bit.”

“Do I have to, Poppie?” Hito pouted and was inwardly pleased at how girlie his voice sounded. Poppie was a name Futa used on their father whenever she wanted something she'd been told no about, it never worked but his father's expression just then was priceless.

“Yes you do, believe me, those all by themselves will attract attention.”

Hito realized just what his father was on about and rolled his eyes but complied as a plainer less voluptuous girl appeared in its place. “It's creepy when you stare like that, Pop.”

“Be glad your mother isn't here,” he said and shuddered.

Moving down the street, the disguised Hokage and his oldest son made their way toward restaurant district. To Hito's surprise they did not go to the ramen shop, instead they stopped at Hito's favorite kaiten-zushi restaurant. His mouth was already watering as they stepped into the brightly lit dining area. The green on blue tiled walls gave the aura of being underwater and Hito grabbed a pair of chopsticks from a nearby container. They took seats at the large circular counter and Hito eyes were locked on the conveyor belt in front of them. Every kind of sushi he could imagine trundled by and Hito immediately snagged three plates of nigri, two of temaki and another one stacked high with norimaki.

“Itadakimasu,” Hito murmured as he snapped the chopsticks apart and began eating.

His father pulled a few plates over and waved to the attendant for some drinks. “Tea for me and milk for...eh...her.”

“Comin' up!”

“So what's on your mind that couldn't wait for a few hundred hours of mindless paperwork?”

Now that he had his father's full attention, Hito wondered if he should even ask his original question. It was pretty stupid, but damn, he really wanted to know the answer. So he swallowed down the temaki he was chewing and took a sip of his milk while trying to figure out the best way to ask. His father was giving him that 'spit it out already' look but at the last second Hito decided maybe he really didn't want to know and made up a completely different question.

“Did you really blow up the Third Hokage's office with a cake?” Hito asked in a rush.

His father's response was not at all what Hito was expecting. Instead of telling him it was none of his damn business his father looked thoughtful as he tapped his chin with his chopsticks and asked, “Cake? What kind of cake?”

I knew it, the geezer was lying, there probably never was a cake, Hito thought. “It doesn't really matter, Pop.”

“Of course it does. Otherwise we wouldn't be sitting around stuffing ourselves with sushi.”

“Ooookay...it was a birthday cake-”

“Birthday cake? Tch, give me a minute to think about it. Anyway your Sensei tells me you've mastered tree climbing.”

Hito was momentarily surprised his father even knew about that. “Yeah, it was a lot harder to learn than I thought it would be. I mean Mi and Yon picked it up with no problems at all.”

“Try not use those two as a measuring stick, Hito-kun, from what I gather they have chakra control almost on par with your mother. I had to train a hundred times harder than her to pick up that trick.”

“Really?”

“Mmmmf,” his father said nodding with a mouth full of sushi. Hito noticed his father's small smile and wondered again about his original question. What could his father have done to make everyone hate him? No one hated him now...his mother certainly didn't and he wondered whether he should get his brothers involved, but discarded that idea. He'd just have to figure it out on his own. Besides didn't the geezer say whatever it was didn't matter anymore?

Hito was pulled back from his musings when his father said, “By the way, your sister passed the second exam.”

“She did? Ha...I knew Futa could do it.”

“Well, she hasn't done it quite yet, there are still the main matches to get through, but I'm sure your sister will manage.” He took a sip of tea and added, “While we’re on the topic, your mother and I will be heading for Suna in a few weeks, so I need you to make sure you keep a close eye on your brothers while we're gone.”

“No! Come on, Pop, can't Sensei do it? I wanted to go too!”

“That's not possible, and they are your brothers, not hers,” his father said. They went back to eating their meals in silence until;

“Oii!...” his father's eyes went wide. “Aaahh,” and Hito gaped as his father actually blushed.

“What?”

“I remember the cake now. Damn bastard...”

“Really?”

“Yes, but I don't recall blowing up old Sandaime's office. Where would you get an idea like that? You must not have heard the whole thing.”

Hito shrugged.

“I meant for it to be a surprise. It didn't work out quite the way I planned, but I can definitely say it surprised her.”

“So, Mom really did hate you-” Hito stopped when his father choked and Hito realized what just came out of his mouth. He hadn't meant for it come out that way or even at all and his earlier misgivings came back to life as an odd smile slid onto his father’s still transformed face and henge or no, Hito recognized it. It was that weird sort of forced smile that only appeared when his father was working to control his temper. The silence stretched and his father took a long sip of his tea to clear his throat and after a moment of contemplation said, “Hate is such a strong a word, Hito-kun. Let's just go with, back then she didn't feel the same way about me as I did her. There was also the fact that she was head over heels in love our team mate, Uchiha Sasuke.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes,” his father said returning to his former humor, “she was quite the fan girl, but to be honest most of the girls were. I guess it’s just lucky for us both I managed to change her mind.”

Hito sighed and made a mental note, not to bring the subject up like that again. He went through another plate of norimaki before he asked, “What ever happened to him anyway?”

“That's an even longer story, but I'm sure you could tell me better since you've been having lunch with him every day since you got back from your mission.”

“You knew about that?”

“There's very little that goes on in this village that I don't hear about eventually-”

“Hey wait a minute, Pop, you mean that blind guy is...he's freakin ancient!”

“We're actually the same age.”

“No way.”

“Way...” his father said trailing off. Hito looked over to see his father pop more sushi in his mouth and close his eyes. After a brief moment his father's eyes opened and his expression changed. Hito recognized the irritation that had crept into his father's face, and was a bit surprised when it shifted suddenly to one of concern. Had something happened? Hito got even more worried when his father said, “I am very sorry Hito, I was rather enjoying myself, but I have to go.”

“Now?”

“Yeah, duty calls, but I need you to do something for me. It's important so I also need you to do it as quickly as possible, no stops on the way.” Hito nodded so his father continued, “Go home and tell your mother, I forgot the password again.”

“You forgot the password?”

“Yes, I forgot the password again and make sure you say exactly that, she'll understand.”

“Ooookay...” Hito replied. It was a stupidly random request, but then this was his father. After stuffing the last few norimaki into his mouth, Hito ran out of the restaurant and headed up the hill toward his home.

Turning back to his plate the Hokage swallowed down the last of his tea before paying for their meal. He walked calmly out of the restaurant and took a deep breath while releasing his transformation jutsu. The empty air beside him shimmered and four kage bunshin appeared. The bunshin nodded then split off in opposite directions. The Hokage didn't immediately recognize the oily feeling chakra, but he knew it was in his memory somewhere. A decidedly disturbing turn of events and if its presence was this deep in the village...that was a very bad thing. How many...one...two...three? He paused when the chakra he felt, vanished only to be replaced by the approach of another well-known presence from behind.

“So you felt it too?” the Hokage asked not turning around.

“Yes, unfortunately, but where's the fourth one going?”

“Home, there are at least three and whatever it is that's crawled into the village, I want to be sure nothing happens before Hito gets there. He's actually a very capable ninja when he needs to be. He's just a bit of a hot head if he thinks you're messing with him, but I'm sure you know that. Nothing pushes those buttons faster than a mouthy genin, eh?”

“Is that supposed to be some kind of knock?

The Hokage favored the other with a quizzical glance and answered, “Not at all.”

“And I'd appreciate it if you didn't borrow that face.”

The bastard was definitely upset about something, but as usual it was going to he difficult to tell what. Deciding to push a little harder the Hokage asked, “Why not? You're not using it and you've been perfectly happy behind that mask you’ve created for yourself.” Walking at a leisurely pace the other fell into step beside him. He's definitely upset. “I warned you, what would happen if you talked too much, but even you can't blame him for looking the way he does, can't fight genetics. I am ever curious as to how he ended up with that color of hair though.”

“He's your son.”

“What's with you today, teme, of course he’s my son.” When the other did not respond, the Hokage said, “Since you started this conversation, why don't you tell me what's on your mind? It's not like you to turn up out of nowhere just to chat.”

“I'm not here to chat I'm just letting you know I've changed my mind, Naruto, you should train him.”

“Eh? What's brought this on? Isn't this what you said you wanted? It's too late to stop now.”

“I know what I said, but I have my reasons.”

“Is it because of that? And don't ask what 'cause I know if I can sense it you can too. But even that doesn't worry me half as much as his growing irritation with the pace of his training.”

“There are plenty of other jounin, you can't force me to, Naruto.”

“Force? tch, the last time I tried to force you to do something it almost killed me. Nope. I have no intention of forcing you to do anything.”

“Then we're agreed?”

“No, we're not and you already know why. You were the one that came to me and even if I didn't want to admit it then, you were right.”

“No, I was wrong.”

“It's not like you to lie, teme, so what's made you so stubborn about this? Hito clearly needs to learn how to deal with that power of his. He still doesn't even realize it's there. I'm not so dumb that I don't see the problem and I can’t help him with that, but I know you can.”

“No!”

Naruto turned and came to a dead stop blocking the other's path. “Before you get worked up or I do something really stupid I think I best remind you of a few things you seem to have forgotten, teme. Believe it or not, your continued presence in the village isn’t exactly welcome. I've already put my position at risk by allowing you to remain in Konoha as the council puts it: unfettered and unsupervised after your last disappearing act. There are plenty loudmouths on the feudal council that would just as soon see you dead as gone, Sasuke.”

“Don’t talk at me like you know what you’re saying, you idiot, we both know better. I don’t need your protection.”

“I’m not offering it, you dumbass!” Naruto shot back. “The only reason I mentioned it and the only reason I agreed to any of this is because of that promise you made to Sakura-chan, and no one is allowed to break a promise to my wife, least of all you.”

“Is that supposed to be a threat?”

Naruto didn’t answer and the silence dragged as the two men stood stock still in the middle of the street glaring. One of Naruto’s bunshins ‘checked in’ reminding the Hokage how this would be a really bad time to lose his temper with the bastard…really bad so Naruto unclenched his jaw as he threw his hands up in mock surrender.

“Meh, it's whatever you want it to be. If a threat is what's required...feel free to think of it that way.” When the other didn't respond Naruto turned away and continued up the street. He’d only taken a few steps when he added, “Aaaah Sasuke, there is one other thing that I almost forgot. Since you thought it was a good idea to tell Hito that damn cake story, you might as well know I may have let your name slip.”

“You what?” Sasuke said behind him.

“Sorry, but being the idiot that I am, it never occurred to me that you hadn't told him. Unlike me, Hito remembers stuff. He can also be a bit obsessive, so you can expect lots of questions the next time you see him. Think of it as payment for the cake,” Naruto said and somehow managed to suppress a smile as he continued walking.

The other stopped and when his presence vanished, the Hokage sighed, once again amazed by his own stubbornness. It was an aspect of his personality that hadn't changed much and it was probably why almost every conversation with Sasuke ended so badly. Hito must really be getting under his skin and it worried Naruto that the teme was trying to ditch his son already but he had no intention of letting Sasuke off the hook that easy, somethings spooked him though. Naruto was still lost in thought when he turned the corner where his assistant joined him.

“It's good to see your sessions with Hyuuga have done you some good,” Shikamaru said as they continued up the street.

“Not really...I still wanted to pound some sense into him.”

“Ah, but you didn't Hokage-sama. So what's happened that your bunshin couldn't tell me?” Shikamaru asked.

“I hate when you call me that, if I didn't know better, Nara, I’d swear you were mocking me. As for the other,” Naruto said looking at the open window of his office. “I don't know, but something just attacked me at my desk.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Hito remembered his promise to go straight home, he still made one stop. It was only a short bit out of the way, so he didn't think twice grabbing a few magazines at the newsstand near his home. Entering the house through the open kitchen window, Hito dropped the magazines on the counter and opened the refrigerator. Snagging some leftover chicken legs, Hito bit into one and while holding it with his teeth, pulled the milk out. Grabbing a glass, he filled it to the edge and left the carton on the counter. Milk sloshed over his hand and he paused only long enough to take another sip as he headed to living room to find his mother. Pushing the door open, Hito came to a dead stop as senses were assaulted by that nasty chakra he'd felt the other day. Looking to his left he cringed at the sight of whatever it was that had his mother and brothers backed into a corner and let go of the glass. All three were breathing heavily and the room was a wreck, but no one looked seriously injured.

The glass shattered on the tiled dining room floor and the monstrosity's head whipped around to face him. It hissed in his direction through some of the nastiest teeth Hito had seen in the twelve years he'd been alive. Shaggy brown mottled fur covered ever inch of its small dog-like body and Hito dropped to a crouch, but never got a chance to move. It was always a mistake to take your eyes off an opponent, especially if that opponent was his mother. She smashed into it with kick that sent the creature straight through the wall smashing into the thick brick walls that made up their home. Before the dust even had time to fall, she followed after it, punching it hard enough to finish the hole, sending it rolling into the street. Calling for the boys to follow, they dropped into their practiced formation and followed their mother out of the house.

Still the creature still had some fight left in it and was struggling to its feet even as all four of them attacked at once. His mother laid into it again sending the monster straight up into the air and all three boys launched themselves after it. Hito smiled as his brothers punched the creature as it passed by chanting; Uz! U! Ma! Ki! As Hito turned in the air he focused as much chakra in to his foot as possible and brought it down on the creature's head as he shouted, “Rendon!”

With great satisfaction Hito watched...whatever the hell it was, smash into the street hard enough to dent the cement. Nobody messes with my family he thought dropping back down to the street the three circled it, preparing to finish it off.

“Don't kill it! And make sure you stay clear of it's mouth!” their mother ordered and the boys backed off. “Hito, Yon, you two secure it, we need to figure out what that thing is, help should be here soon. Mi-chan, come here so I can have a look at that bite.”

It wasn't a big wound and Mi looked a little miffed at being singled out, but did as he was told. The skin on his left lower arm around the bite was already very red and swollen. “Please sit for a moment,” she said.

The boys finished tying up the unconscious creature and found they were surrounded on all sides by dozens of Konoha ninja. Without looking up from what she was doing, his mother said, “Please someone go find Yamanaka Ino and ask her to come to the hospital.”

Hito watched as his mother pushed at the wound causing a small amount of yellowish fluid to dribble out. “Why is there so much discharge already?” she wondered out loud. Ripping off a small piece of her medic uniform and yanking a hair tie and pencil out of her pack, she held the pencil in her teeth as she carefully wrapped Mi's small arm with the cloth before slipping the tie over the wound and up his arm. Placing the pencil between the cloth and the tie she turned it slowly.

“Hito, please come hold your brother's arm for me. Yon, I need bandages and at least a liter of clean water.”

Yon disappeared through the wrecked wall of their home as Hito came up close and supported Mi's arm while holding the hastily constructed tourniquet in place.

It doesn't hurt

Hito could hear Mi's words, but they sounded even more wispy than usual. His mother's answer was more to herself than to Mi but what she said surprised Hito.

“Probably an anesthetic in the saliva, which means there's some sort of poison involved...” She leaned closer and whatever she smelled made her frown deepen. She pulled a knife and small bottle of clear liquid out of her pocket as she held Mi's arm firmly. Dumping some of the alcohol directly on the wound, his mother then cut along the bite mark. Hito felt his brother tense up as she continued with her incision.

That's really cold and it still doesn't hurt... Mi said this through clenched teeth. His breathing was only slightly heavier, but he was starting to sweat. The worry in his mother's face increased as Mi fidgeted and looked for all the world like he was getting ready to fall asleep.

“Ne, ne, Mi-chan, I know you are a strong ninja, so please stay awake for me.”

Mi nodded and settled back against Hito. Pulling off more material from her uniform, she wiped away the yellowish mess that was now steadily oozing from the bite. Yon appeared with the bandages and water while his mother continued to work on the wound, using her chakra to stop the bleeding and rebuild some of the tissue she's cut away. She continued in this fashion until the yellow discharge slipped back to a occasional trickle. Without looking away from what she was doing she said, “Hito, I want you to start easing up on the tourniquet, but only a slow half turn every 30 seconds, understand?”

“Hai.” Hito did as he was told until the pencil slipped free.

“How did that thing get so far into the village?” Someone behind him asked.

“Mi-chan, stay awake, it's not time for bed yet,” his mother chided. Hito could tell she was trying very hard to keep the emotion out of her voice.

“Mmm'kay...” Mi said, but it was obvious he losing that struggle.

When his father stepped out of the crowd, Hito suddenly remembered the errand he'd been sent on

...It's important ...
...do it as quickly as possible...
...no stops...

No stops...Hito caught his father's eye and knew he was somehow aware of his little detour. Hito opened his mouth to apologize, but that fake smile was already on his father's face as he knelt next to them. Taking hold of Mi his father gently lifted his brother out of his son's grasp and when their eyes met Hito went numb. It wasn't his father's thinly veiled anger that kept Hito silent, it was the disappointment in his father's eyes. Hito looked back at the tied up heap behind him realizing he'd screwed up royally this time.

...no stops...

His father stood up slowly and leaned closer to his mother as she continued to tend to Mi's wound. Hito wanted his father to shout at him and get it over with, but he didn't. Instead he said in a quiet voice, “Head to your sensei's house with Yon and stay with him until tomorrow and Hito, no stops.”

Unable to speak, Hito's eyes fell to the ground as he slowly nodded. When he looked up again his parents and brother were gone and the crowd began to disperse. In fact the creature and every shinobi that was there previously were gone.

Will he be okay? Yon's voice was so full as anxiety, that Hito automatically pulled his brother closer. What if...

“He'll be fine, Yon. Mom's the greatest medic nin in the history of the village, ne?”

Yon nodded then burst out crying, he'd never been separated from Mi for more than a few minutes.

No stops...

“Let's get going, little brother,” Hito said as he coaxed his brother onto his back and together they headed up the street toward his teacher's home. All the way there Hito was left to wonder if this would have turned out differently had if he'd gotten home that five minutes sooner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto sat across the bed from his wife in Mi's hospital room discussing the day's strange events. Since all but one of his bunshin had checked in, he filled her in on some details. Only the creature that attacked his bunshin in his office was unaccounted for. Shino, Kiba and Akamaru were tracking that one. It escaped when his kage bunshin 'poofed' itself out of existence, alerting Naruto to the problem. One creature was located and captured on the other side of town; the last and only one to do any harm was the one that infiltrated their home and injuring Mi. Shikamaru was quite sure the creatures were some sort of summons, since one of the two they’d captured disappeared on route to the holding facility.

Sakura stopped him and after a moment and asked, “Naruto, do you know exactly what part of town?”

“No, do you think it’s important?”

“If the second was any where near Sasuke’s apartment then maybe… from what you said, the boys and I were the only ones to come into actual contact. We were also the only ones not wandering outside of our normal routine. Like you, that one wasn’t where he should have been. Whoever did this knows our daily routines well enough that they were confident they would have the element of surprise and if it was a summons they may likely still in the village.”

Perfect, Naruto thought. As a precaution he'd already ordered all entrance and exit activity halted. A light knock on the door made Sakura frown but she made no move to answer it. The door slid quietly open and Shikamaru used hand signals to let the Hokage know the shinobi he'd requested, were in one of the doctor's offices at the end of the hall on the right. Naruto nodded and when the door closed, he frowned.

“Sakura-chan, I'm going to meet with the others, but I'll be back as soon as I can.”

Sakura nodded, “I know, please try not to be too long this time, Naruto.”

“I won't.”

Stepping into the hallway Naruto created one bunshin, it nodded and continued up the hallway. The original quickly jumped through an open window nearby and disappeared. The bunshin Naruto walked down the hall and as he pushed open the door, he was shoved roughly from behind. The bunshin was thrown off balance for a moment and turned in time to see not just the sword as it swung toward him, but also the identity of his silent attacker.

“You!” the bunshin Naruto cried in surprise easily blocking the sword. “You’re still alive…who’d have thunk it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hito stood on the roof of Moegi-sensei's apartment building looking out over the village. The clear night air held a chill that the genin tried to ignore as he examined the hospital, wondering which of the lit up windows was his brother's.

“Hito-kun.”

Hito's head snapped up at the sound of Moegi’s voice, Here it comes. I don't need this right now.

“I thought-”

“You thought?” Hito snapped back. His voice betrayed far more sarcasm than he intended, and Moegi growled but at that moment Hito didn’t really care. As always it was out of his mouth before he could stop it and this time his sensei didn't even try to control her anger.

“Don't interrupt,” she snarled as he shoved him. Hito flew backward and hit the rooftop hard enough that the wind was knocked out of him and even before he could cough, Moegi was there grabbing hold of his shirt. The jounin yanked him to a sitting position and said evenly, “I thought you were told you needed to stay with your brother?”

“He's fine, he's asleep!”

“That wasn’t the question Hito.”

“Moegi,” his father's voice brought the jounin to a halt. Hito smirked but went still when he saw his brother curled up in his father's arms. “I'll deal with the genin from here.”

“Hai, Hokage-sama,” Moegi said and released Hito's shirt as she turned and asked, “How is Mi, will he be alright?”

“The doctors think he’ll be up and around in a few days, but he may not be able to resume his duties right away.”

The jounin visibly relaxed and the knot in Hito's stomach he didn't even know was there, unclenched. The Hokage of the Hidden Leaf then handed off his youngest child to his jounin-sensei and as she walked toward the exit, Hito caught the look of concern in her eyes and Hito's eyes went wide when he realized that concern was for him and not Yon. It was strangely quiet as his father approached and Hito felt a moment of panic as he wondered what his father was thinking. From the look on his father's face it was probably nothing good.

Picking himself up off the roof Hito did his best to keep his eyes straight ahead as he tried in vain to quell his growing anxiety. In some ways this was even scarier then what the old man did him. The only thing apparent to him at that moment were the two very important truths he'd somehow managed to forget. One he really needed to learn to keep his big mouth shut and two; the strongest ninja in all of the Fire Country was really pissed...at him.

His father's tone caught him off guard. He was expecting his father to shout at him, but he didn't. Instead his voice was deathly calm, it was a tone Hito had never heard before. His father never used it at home.

“Uzumaki Hito, don’t you agree it's about time you adjusted your thinking?” Not waiting for an answer the Hokage continued, “By choice you are a shinobi now, a soldier in the Hokage's army and my subordinate. You are expected to do as your told, without question, especially in these types of situations.” Hito blinked and realized the person his father was at home, was not the person who led the village. At this moment his father was all Hokage and Hito really was just another genin and as far as the Hokage was concerned, not a very good one. “I’m going to put you on notice. That means that if this sort of situation happens again, I’ll have your name removed from the active shinobi listing and you'll be sent back to the academy, or if it warrants,” and the Hokage paused as if what he was saying hurt, “I’ll strip you of that status completely and you’ll no longer be a ninja. Have I made myself clear?”

Shocked by the statement Hito didn’t know what to say so he remained silent. Would he really send me back? he wondered and if he'd been paying attention he would have seen the tiny narrowing of the Hokage's eyes at his lack of response. But as it was, he didn't and cried out when the Hokage flicked his hitate. The headband clattered to the ground and Hito wobbled to maintain his balance. There was only enough force behind it to get his attention, but it hurt nonetheless and averting his gaze, Hito stared at leaf symbol carefully engraved into the piece of metal on the ground and thought, He really would do it. For all his personal bitching of late, Hito really did want to be the best shinobi he could and he bit down on his tongue to keep his mouth in check as Hito stood straighter than he had for some time and responded to the Hokage's question, “Hai, Hokage-sama.”

“I know what your capabilities are, Hito. Do you really think I would set that sort of task for you otherwise?”

Hito knew his father wasn't talking about baby sitting his brother. If he'd made the effort he would have made it home a lot damn quicker than he did. I really am a dumb ass... and Hito decided the geezer was right; he wasn't ready to learn anything. He couldn't even follow simple directions given by the Hokage himself.

“No, I am sorry, Hokage-sama.”

“I've been keeping a close eye on your training lately, you’ve made good progress but what’s disturbing Hito is your impatience with your team mates and the disrespect you've shown your Sensei. You’re going to end up killing everyone if you continue on the way you are, so I’ve decided I'm turning the task of your attitude adjustment over to the teme, I mean Uchiha Sasuke.”

The geezer? While in its way this made Hito secretly happy, he wondered how his father was going to get the old man to co-operate, he'd already basically told Hito to go to hell. His pensive expression made the Hokage smile in an odd way and Hito wondered what was so damn funny.

“What?” Hito asked. “You know he hates me, right?”

“That is unlikely Hito, if he did hate you, you'd be dead by now. The teme usually just kills the people he hates so it’ll be in your best interests to do your best. I sort of have a standing agreement with him about such things and I won’t interfere. Believe me when I tell you, being my son is not a plus. He and I…well that’s not actually important but there’s a good chance he won't go easy on you. Just make sure you watch your back with that one.”

Watch my back? Shit… Hito’s happy feeling about training with the old man went seriously sour, and he reminded himself the old guy wasn’t as old as looked. He knew before it was going to be a lot more difficult than he originally anticipated and thinking of their encounter earlier, Hito wondered just how his father could get the old man to do something he'd already said he wouldn't…and he stopped himself again, his father was the Hokage, even the geezer admitted that much. I am so screwed.

They slipped into that awkward silence and Hito’s mind wandered back to the one question he been afraid to tackle earlier. What could have made everyone in the village hate his father? If the old man was going to train him, there was probably no chance he’d tell him the rest of that stupid cake story. It just sounded so unreal, so impossible that it made zero sense to him. His father was now his only source of information and thinking back to his father’s earlier reaction he was that much more hesitant but Hito being Hito just had to know.

“Pop?”

There as a long silence before his father sighed and answered, “Yes, Hito-kun?”

“Remember before when I sort of said…uh…that mom…hated you?”

“My memory isn’t that short, son.”

“Uh…heh…what I said before…that didn’t come out right and I wanted to…”

“To what?”

“Ask if it was true…did she?”

His father cocked his head and asked, “And that came out better?” Turning toward the stone monument carved in the cliffs, he smiled. “When I was a kid, my first data card listed my hobbies as pulling pranks and eating instant ramen. I was loud, impatient and desperate for attention. In other words, I was seriously annoying. Did I ever tell how I painted up the face on the stone monuments?” his father stopped when he caught the disbelieving stare Hito was throwing at him “What?”

“If you weren’t going to tell me, you should have just said so.”

“Wow, I guess Sakura-chan was right…” his father said to himself and almost looked as if he were going to argue that point but just as he did earlier in the evening his expression flipped and Hito tensed up. “I have to go back to the hospital.”

“Are Mom and Mi okay? What do you want me to do?”

“Tell the teme, I need to speak with him directly and to come to the hospital as soon as possible…and Hito don’t leave your brother alone for another minute, understood?”

“Hai!”

“Hopefully the teme will explain, I have to go, Hito.”

“But he’s not here!” Hito said in a panic.

“He's right over there,” his father said sending an irritated wave toward a rooftop across the street.

“What? When did he get here?”

“He was here when I got here, Hito-kun.”

“What? Shit...”

“No swearing...unless you’re in a fight...gotta go,” his father said and ‘poofed’ out of sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sasuke leaned against a nearby wall as he listened in on the goings on one building over via the short wave as Naruto's bunshin talked to Hito. Sasuke barely suppressed a smile when the bunshin flicked off the boy's headband but he had to admit, Naruto certainly had a flair for the dramatic. If the boy wasn't listening before, he was definitely paying attention now.

"You're on, teme," Naruto said as the bunshin made its 'exit'.

"I'm curious why would you have one of your bunshins henge into Moegi?"

Naruto continued watching his son and said, "Right now, Moegi is on assignment with Konohamaru, Hito doesn't know that and I wanted to see for myself just how mouthy that boy of mine has been." Naruto turned toward him and frowned. "Apparently Moegi's been holding out on me. Kakashi-sensei would have knocked me into next week if I talked to him the way Hito does. Anyway it’s likely he'll figure it out before long and if nothing else goes wrong tonight, those two should be back in a few hours. I'll fill her in when she arrives, either way Hito-kun should be a little less cocky...if only for few days."

"Hn." The painful twinge that sent him off earlier was turning into a dull throb and Sasuke took in a deep breath, amazed at just how far he’d pushed himself today.

"Thank you for returning Yon-chan, my children can be so…single-minded at times and to think they were so cute when they were small…make sure you come to the hospital after you terrify the boy some more. I'll have Sakura-chan take a look at you."

"I'm fine, Naruto."

"Aaah, don't be stubborn, besides there's something else I need to talk to you about.”

“Why not just talk about it now?” Sasuke asked.

Naruto looked back across the street and said, “It's complicated...”

Noticing the strange expression on the Hokage’s face, Sasuke’s curiosity was piqued. He nodded in reply and Naruto gave him almost a smile in acknowledgment and disappeared. Another puzzle. For all the years that had gone by it was odd to see that look; it was a closest to confusion as he'd seen on Naruto's face in sometime, and if Naruto was willing to irritate Sakura, then it was likely something extremely unpleasant. This amused the Uchiha for some reason he couldn’t quite understand, and decided to care about later and returned his attention to his reluctantly acquired student.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hito looked in the direction his father indicated but didn't see anyone on the darkened rooftop across the street. Still if his father said the old man was over there he'd best wait where he was for the geezer to show up. Bending down, he picked up his hitate and noticed a small slice in the corner that wasn’t there before. Hito hissed in pain, dropping it, after he ran his finger across scratch. The metal along the nick was a lot damn sharper than he expected and he stared as a small drop of blood oozed from a cut it created. How could he do that just flicking it off?

Moegi-Sensei's appearance surprised him since he didn’t recall sensing her chakra, but he just figured he was distracted, not that he was doing what he should have been anyway but if he'd heard it once he's heard it a thousand times:

Distracted equals Dead.

Still why would he be that angry? It’s not like he heard... Hito paused in his thinking; it really did all depend on when his Father actually arrived. Moegi-Sensei's worried face popped up in his memory and Hito looked back toward the roof exit. Hito groaned remembering Moegi-Sensei never called him Hito-kun…ever…especially after the fit he thrown about it. Ah, crap. That meant...he thought about his reaction to Moegi's question and Hito took a really deep breath as he came to the realization that Moegi-Sensei wasn't Moegi-Sensei. She was one of his father's bunshin. Having a big mouth was one thing, having a big mouth and shooting it off to your superior was something completely different and he thought, No wonder I’m on notice…I am in way more trouble than I thought... Even still, Hito’s anger flared knowing how easily his father had tricked him. He’d been caught off guard but his anger stifled itself as he caught sight of the headband again. Picking it up, Hito examined the nick and thought; He did that with barely a flick of his finger…crap, I'm lucky my head is still attached. It made him wonder what his father had done with his chakra to cause it.

Hito returned his attention to the world around him when the old man’s chakra turned up near by. He also didn’t dare ask any of the four hundred questions currently jumping around in his head and reminded himself he better not push his luck...The whole 'on notice' had rattled him a bit. Somehow Hito doubted even his father would make up something like that, so he relayed the Hokage’s message and waited for a response.

“You’re unusually serious, boy, something wrong?”

“My fath-,” Hito stopped himself and his hand tightened around the hitate. Shoving it into his pocket, Hito decided whatever he said to the old man would likely end up being heard by his father somehow and said, “The Hokage put me on notice…I can’t afford another screw up today.”

“I see…I’m guessing the Hokage also informed you of your new training schedule?”

Hito took a deep breath and strained mightily to keep from asking the obvious question of why the old guy changed his mind. Since the chances of the old man not knowing what just happened were pretty damn slim, Hito instead gave a curt nod of his head. He wasn’t at all sure what the bastard was smiling about now but the old man appeared to be taking a great of delight watching his internal struggle and Hito thought, Great now I get to be goaded by a geezer who isn’t…damn, this is gonna suck!

When the old man said, “Fine, then we’ll begin in the morning. This time you’ll need to find me by 9am…oh, and bring your brother, apparently you two are a set.” Hito suppressed a growl.

Like he needed another reminder of what he was supposed to be doing and bit down on his tongue to hold back another smart remark. Again he nodded then turned and headed for the door.Just as he was about to leave the roof, Hito hesitated, there was only one way his father could have known the geezer was on the adjacent roof and now that he thought about it, only one reason the old guy would be there at all...Hito sighed, Okay, Pop, I get it, you’re not so stupid…but didn't turn around as he said, “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“Bringing my brother back.” and Hito disappeared down the steps.

Sasuke waited a few minutes before heading toward the exit. Hito would likely get an early start in the morning, so as to not lose any time looking, while 'keeping an eye' on his brother. That meant he had two pursuers instead of just one this time, but since he’d already picked out a spot to wait, he wouldn’t deviate from his original plan. It was a bit surprising to him that Naruto had guessed rightly since Sasuke was not expecting the boy to put together all that random information that quickly.

Up until today Sasuke thought Hito envious of his talented younger brothers. Hokage's son or not, people talked and it wasn't easy having siblings that managed by age nine what you didn't by age twelve. It made sense though, from what Naruto told him, Hito could have graduated from the academy when his sister did but the boy had purposely let himself lag behind. Now though, Hito was determined to make up for what he viewed as lost time, therein lay the problem.

The boy was definitely a loudmouth, but it was obvious he wasn't the overly cocky sort, that was good, but he tended to act without thinking and if he did hold any real jealousy for his brothers...still they were an interesting combination of instinct and intelligence, and it made Sasuke wonder if they were put under any real stress, would they be able to perform. Of course there was only one way to find out. Sasuke let out a snort, One just as smart as his mother and the other almost as stubborn as his father…damn, this is gonna suck…

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Futa heard the howl of some animal in the distance, but she ignored it. Sitting at a small desk, she looked out the tinted round window at the lights of Suna. She really missed the forest that surrounded her home. Maybe that was why Futa stubbornly sat in the room she shared with her teammates. The hotel she was staying at was hosting a dinner for all the participants that had made it to the finals, and most likely her Sensei would ream her later, since the Kazekage was supposed to be in attendance, but she wasn't particularly hungry.

Instead, for the past hour and a half she'd re-run that match through her head, picking it apart an attempt to weed out her mistakes. She knew there were way too many of them. It was only luck and that last ditch genjutsu that hit upon the one thing that terrified her opponent the most...spiders. Being the daughter of the Fire Country Hokage, expectations for her were pretty high, even if she was the only one on her team to make it through the prelims, she knew she barely made it through that match. Now with less than a month left to prepare, Futa was wishing she were any place else but here. She’d been here for almost three weeks and discovered she’d no liking for the desert…sand just got into everything.

A strong wind rattled the window of the small hotel room briefly startling her out of her thoughts. Futa frowned and went over to her bed. Pulling out her knapsack she dumped it and sifted through her belongings until she found what she was looking for. Why she was dragging around a picture of the four of them made her wonder, since the only thing that came in handy about having three brothers was the inordinate amount of time they spent trying to scare the bejeezus out of her. Still it surprised her how much she missed Hito's big mouth and her younger brother's mini traps.

Everything was too damn quiet now and the restless nervousness she'd felt earlier returned as she looked out the window in the direction of the leaf village. Futa told herself it was just her imagination, told herself it was just her nerves on edge...still it wouldn't go away and she just couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was happening at home.

Futa wasn’t given much time to think about it though when the window she’d been sitting next to a few minutes earlier shattered and a small furry something came flying into the room. Futa cringed at the chakra that flew at her in waves from the little monstrosity. It reeked of oily death and Futa immediately stumbled back, whatever that thing was she knew instinctively if those nasty looking teeth touched her, she’d be dead.

Struggling up, she got momentarily tangled up with the chair she was just sitting in. Hitting the floor she landed on her back and scrambled to turn herself over in what she hoped was the opposite direction from what ever the hell that thing was. She came to an abrupt halt when her back bumped up against the wall. The creature wasted no time and launched itself from the floor directly for her head. Futa ducked and dove over the bed in the direction of the door. It snapped at her legs, but only managed to get itself a swift kick as Futa passed beneath it. It smacked into the wall with a thud but immediately regained its feet.

Reaching out Futa snagged a kunai in one hand and a small pouch in the other from the pile as she passed by the bed. Still off balance Futa threw the kunai and cursed when it thudded into the wall as her target managed to dodge the lethal object. This room was too small for a fight, she need to get out of there so Futa tucked and rolled as she gathered enough chakra in her fist to smash the door open and without slowing down sprinted up the hallway with the fuzz ball in hot pursuit. Having been built into the cliff face, the building itself had few visible windows and at the rate the fuzzy was gaining ground, Futa knew she’d never make the stairs so made a mad dash down the long main hallway for the window she remembered was around the next corner.

The damned fur ball was still catching up with her and Futa pushed herself to go just a little bit faster even though she knew it would make taking that corner a real bitch. Channeling what she hoped was enough chakra into her hand to make it stick to the decorative molding; Futa propelled herself at top speed around the corner. The molding creaked but held long enough for her to make the turn but at least she was going in the right direction when the wood snapped and her feet left the floor. Futa landed hard but rolled out of her fall to continue toward the window. She didn't remember the hall being this long, but then the last time she'd wandered down this way she wasn't being chased either.

She heard a satisfying thud when the creature, being unable to stop, smacked into the wall as it attempted to follow behind her. Futa now scattered the contents of small pouch she managed to grab on her way out of her room. The painful high pitch sound the fuzzy let out made the girl smiled as small explosions sounded as the creature ran over them.

The window she was heading for was only a few meters away and Futa hoped she would have enough time to gather the chakra she needed to break through the thick glass. She still wasn't able to come close to the type of damage her mother could, but damned if she wasn't going to try. Throwing her fist into it full force, she realized too late, she wasn't wearing her gloves...shit! Too late to stop now and she had a really bad feeling that if she didn’t make it in one blow, she was toast.

The window turned out to be made of sturdier stuff than she was expecting and only cracked while Futa’s hand screamed at the abuse. Smashing at the window again with her foot, she widened the crack some, but only managed to create a small hole. Now she was seriously pissed off and Futa let loose a stream of curses that would make even a stalwart anbu blush.

A snarl behind made her spin around in time to see the nasty had caught up to her and she tried to duck as it launched itself toward her again. This was not the best tactical move, trapped as she was in this damned corner. The fuzzy hit the window, again widening the crack, rebounding at her. With nowhere to go Futa snagged the nearest piece of furniture in the otherwise empty hallway and struck the furball in hopes of slowing it down. The damn thing clamped its teeth down into one of the chair legs and Futa shook the chair in an effort to dislodge it, but that was not working. The fuzzy had bitten down so hard its teeth were stuck so Futa sent it flying away from her back up the hallway.

The chair shattered and the fuzz ball hit the opposite wall, bouncing once before it managed to get its teeth loose. The acrid smell of acid burning through the wood only confirmed Futa's earlier suspicions about those damned teeth. It watched her with its beady red eyes and snapping jaws. The damn thing knew she was trapped, weaponless and worse, jutsuless. The blow to the window had broken at least three of her knuckles and her wrist; she couldn't make hand signs even if she could have thought of one right then.

Gathering itself, the little monster commenced its attack with frightening speed. Futa however, had no intention of going down without doing some serious damage to that...that...whatever the hell it was and launched herself in turn.

In the moment before they collided Futa felt a strange gritty substance suddenly impeding her progress. Alarmed she struggled against it only to realize the fuzzy that should have reached her by now…hadn't. Looking in its direction she saw the sand that stopped her attack was at the same time engulfing the creature's small body. Futa watched in horrified fascination as the fuzz ball struggled in vain to free itself from the sand. This was something she'd only heard stories about and the panic in the little animal's eyes made Futa, in a perverse way; feel really bad for the fuzzy.

Futa stumbled back when the sand abruptly released her and began to form a wall in front of her that blocked her view. Futa slid to the floor, at the same time covering her ears as the fuzzy menace on the other side of the sand let out a painful sounding high pitched keen before it went suddenly silent. Lowering her hands, she took a deep breath to get control of her breathing. Futa leaned back against the wall as the sand in front of her collapsed and retreated around the corner. The slow approach of footsteps pulled Futa's attention away from the floor as a tallish, red haired man came to a halt in front of her.

Futa stared up at the Kazekage as he stood quietly arms crossed ignoring the crumpled mass of flesh and blood on the floor only a few meters away. She had no idea why he of all people was here, but then, that didn't really matter and Futa let her muscles relax and blinked at the proffered hand in front of her. As the last of the sand made its silent journey back into the large gourd on his back he said, “Uzumaki Futa, you're late for dinner.”

While her mother claimed that Gaara was actually quite funny, Futa didn't see it, but had to admit that was as close to a joke as she'd ever heard from the seemingly emotionless Kazekage.

“Hai, Kazekage-sama, I apologize for not leaving sooner.” He helped her off the floor and she winced when she accidentally bumped her hand.

“You're injured?”

“Aaah, it's nothing serious, just a few broken bones and maybe my wrist...” Futa trailed off and stared at the floor. This was just too embarrassing.

“What the hell was that?” another voice said, making Futa start. Gaara cocked an eyebrow but didn't turn to face the speaker.

“I wouldn't touch it, Kankuro, even my sand rejected it.”

“Eh? Yeesh,” Kankuro said as he pulled his hand away, instead he reached back pulling out a scroll. Once activated eight tiny mechanical ninja emerged and circled the mess. None were more than 10cm in height and to Futa's surprise they didn't touch it, instead she watched intrigued as they arranged themselves around the mess and unrolled even smaller scrolls. Each clicked or clacked in turn making an odd sounding rhythm. A net, she assumed was made of chakra appeared and became increasingly complex. The rhythm and tempo sped up dramatically as the net finally encased the body before all eight little ninja stopped and the 'package' along with the mechanical ninja dissipated into smoke before being drawn into the scroll they'd recently emerged from. Futa stared at the scroll as Kankuro cast a seal. He then rolled it up and put it away.

“So it was after you,” Kankuro stated looking past his brother. Futa pulled her eyes from the floor and nodded, noticing the Kazekage was again quietly watching her. While Futa was used to a certain amount of scrutiny, she always felt nervous around the Kazekage, even if Gaara was a long time friend of her father, she always found talking to him unnerving. Already close to her limit she still felt unusually light headed and blinked when she looked again. Now there were two Gaara's in front of her and the world started to dim. She shouldn't be this tired, thoroughly confused now, the thought was lost as the girl could no longer resist the sudden urge to take a nap and was unable to stop herself as she toppled over.

“What happened?” Kankuro asked. Futa was suspended just centimeters from the floor, sound asleep. “She was fine a minute ago.”

“That creature was some sort of chakra leech. It's surprising she managed to last as long as she did,” Gaara said, “That's why the sand rejected it once it was dead. Take her to the infirmary, have them make sure she doesn't have any other wounds besides the broken bones in her hand. I'll have Temari contact the Leaf, perhaps they will have more information.”

"Why bother them with this?" Kankuro asked.

"We have well over 200 ninja on duty and perhaps a hundred or so stray foreign genin in the village but it was only after her and she's barely large enough to rate being a snack for a summons of that strength. Today was also the first time I allowed the names of any of the participants in the exams to be listed publicly. I made a point of keeping the names of the candidates secret until the list for the main matches was settled."

"So whoever did this can control a strong summons, but likely isn't a ninja from Suna, eh?"

Gaara nodded.

Kankuro adjusted the chakra strings until the unconscious Futa was right in front of him. He deftly caught her as he released them. "I'll set a guard and get Baki working on it."

“It would be better if you watched over her yourself, the fewer who know about it, the better.”

“Got it,” and with a nod, Kankuro disappeared around a corner.

Looking back at the spot where the creature's oily chakra signature still lingered, Gaara frowned. If not for that, he wouldn't have known it was in the village. Closing his eyes, the Kazekage concentrated as a stream of chakra infused sand slid from the gourd. Dozens of eyes of varying colors formed and Gaara opened one eye. Covering the other with two fingers he concentrated on each in turn causing the unblinking eyeball to shoot off down the hall or through the hole in the window.

Gaara knew he'd felt chakra like that only once before, but the encounter was only a blurry memory in his head. The experience had not been a pleasant one though and the Kazekage decided not to return to the dinner but instead went to his office to think on it some more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Hito entered Moegi’s darkened apartment, he was more than a little nervous. This was heightened by the fact that he couldn’t feel his brother’s chakra, his Sensei’s, or even his father’s. It was like there was a wall around him that his senses couldn’t push through.

“Hito…”

The whispered voice nearly made Hito jump out of his skin. It sounded female but unfamiliar and Hito's fear immediately shifted to anger. His father really needed to give it a rest already and without thinking, took a swing at the speaker. His fist didn’t come even close to connecting, in fact, the woman easily dodged the attempt and slipped behind him, grabbed him by the hair and Hito abruptly felt his feet leaving the floor. His eyes went wide as the floor rushed up to greet him and Hito grunted as the assailant stopped his fall by snatching the back of his shirt. Struck momentarily speechless as he was carefully lowered. The woman behind him now pressed her knee into his back and covered his mouth as the wood beneath him groaned at the unaccustomed pressure. Hito immediately started struggling, the person only pressed a little harder and hissed, “Listen.”

Being unable to do anything else Hito did as he was instructed. Whoever she was, if she'd meant to kill him she would have done it already...or at least he hoped so. The footsteps out in the hall became more obvious as Hito lay his head on the floor. Keeping his eyes glued to the crack of light at the base of the apartment door, he sighed when the footsteps passed it and continued up the hall. He was just about to move when the hand returned to his mouth and the voice said, "Wait."

The footsteps returned and this time stopped in front of the door. The doorknob twisted, but the door was locked. Hito started when he heard the knob snap off and hit the floor. The shadow outside the door disappeared briefly, but after a moment they were back. "Your brother is five steps back, four left, two back, three right. You are to let nothing touch him."

The pressure on his back vanished and Hito got to his feet and pulled out a kunai. The woman was gone or at least Hito couldn't tell where she'd concealed herself. The wall that had dulled his charka senses earlier was still in place. Shit...he never realized how dependent he was on that ability. No time to worry about it now though and Hito stuffed it in the back of his brain to work out later...if there was a later. Okay, time to get moving again. Five steps back...four left...two back...three right and Hito's leg touched an overstuffed chair. They weren't in the bedroom. Hito's eyes adjusted to the darkness and Hito looked down at his brother.

Hito sat on the edge of the chair but Yon didn't move or even acknowledge Hito's presence. Instead his brother remained curled up in tight ball with his face shoved into the cushion. Mi being gone was affecting Yon a lot worse than Hito thought it would, but he'd have to worry about that later. Right now they needed to move to a safer place.

Come on squirt, let's go visit Mi together this time.

Hito sub vocalized this as he gently touched his brother's shoulder. He knew Yon could hear it, it was one of the ways he and his brothers communicated on missions when using a shortwave wasn't practical. Yon looked up from his curled position and nodded. The smaller boy climbed on to his brother's back and both headed toward the door. The silence of the apartment shattered along with the window in the bedroom next door and Hito gripped Yon a little tighter. The block on his senses was still there but Yon had much better chakra control, so maybe he could tell.

How many?

Yon remained silent and Hito shook the passenger on his back.

Come on Yon, this is no time to go deaf on me.

The boy on his back stiffened at the term deaf, Yon hated it and Hito knew it, but at least Hito knew his brother was paying attention. It would get iffy if Yon decided to get stubborn on him now though.

How many?
Two
Where

There was a pause before Yon responded, Kitchen, bath

That meant the main exit was out and Hito turned back toward the window and his eyes went wide. The window was open now, it wasn't when he came in.

Where?
Up, left
Shit!

Hito jumped to the right as a body landed in the spot he'd just vacated.

No one outside!
Got it!

And out the window they went. Sasuke smiled. Still standing on the rooftop, he felt the boys presence fade as they bolted at top speed in the direction of the hospital.

“Not bad.”

“Was that alright, Sasuke-chan?” asked the smaller of the two figures that landed nearby.

“Not too much?” the other asked.

“No, I've learned what I needed to, thank you,” he said and bowed to them.

The figures dissipated and left behind two cats of varying size, the smaller of which said, “Anytime, Sasuke-chan. Until tomorrow then.”