"Whoa, Naruto... You're trying to climb the tree not destroy it..." Anko said the next morning as Naruto's first step created a foot shaped hole straight through the trunk of one tree.

"Note to self, this uses very, VERY, little chakra." Naruto mumbled from where she had fallen on the ground.

"Normally I'd be laughing my ass off since you fucked up, but you fucked up in such a way that makes me never want to be under your feet." Sakura said.

"Right... Too much chakra and you get blasted off, or in this case you blow a hole in the tree, while too little and you fall right off. I'm expecting you guys to get this by tomorrow morning at the most since it uses so little chakra compared to your normal high chakra jutsu. You need to emit a steady rate of chakra. Zabuza and I are heading to the bridge, see you later." Anko said.

"Why am I not surprised you did it your second try?" Naruto said as Hinata smiled at them, swinging her legs, as she sat on the topmost branch on her tree.

"Because stuff like this come naturally to a Hyuuga..." Sakura growled as she got up from her most recent failed attempt.

"I can't believe they didn't teach you wall walking in that Hunter-nin training." Naruto said to Haku.

"They taught us water walking and expected us to be able to figure that one out ourselves... Normally I'd just stick myself to a wall using ice or something." Haku said.

"Hinata-chan can you help us?" Sakura asked the girl as she dropped to the ground.

"It's really just a lot of fine tuning and measuring the chakra usage depending on the surface you're trying to stick to and memorizing that amount and keep it stable." Hinata said.

"English please?" Kori asked.

"I think I get it... It's like a flame." Naruto started, creating a small ball of foxfire. "Too little energy and it shrinks and dies, yet too much and it becomes unstable or too big. The only time you want to pump all your Chakra into something like this is if you want a lot of destruction, yet the perfect amount yields the perfect flame." Naruto said, the flame demonstrating her words.

"So the concept is very simple, yet execution and keeping a steady flow is difficult." Haku said.

"Exactly." Hinata said with a smile.

"Alright, let's try again." Naruto said.

As night fell, Anko and Zabuza returned to the forest to collect their charges. They found Naruto and Hinata chasing each other in the trees while Sakura told Haku and Kori about Konoha.

"Come on everyone, Tsunami-san has dinner ready." Anko said.

"We'll catch up!" Naruto called.

"They've been at it for an hour..." Sakura said.

"I can imagine, come on then." Anko said, motioning for the rest of them to follow.

It was a good ten minutes before Naruto and Hinata entered the house, they were supporting each other slightly but they were grinning.

"Did you finally catch her Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Yep, Ookami are fast as hell..." Naruto giggled.

"It still took her over an hour to do it." Hinata giggled in return.

"Give her a break, you got that tree climbing thing like right away." Sakura said. Before anyone could continue, Inari slammed his silverware on the table and glared at them.

"You all are acting so happy and joking around... You're all going to die!" He yelled and ran out of the room.

"The fuck was that all about?" Anko asked.

"He lost his father to Gato's men..." Tazuna said after a few moments and told the story.

"I'll talk to him." Naruto said and followed where the boy ran off to.

"Is she going to...?" Tsunami started.

"Don't worry, she won't hurt him." Hinata said.

Out on the dock, Naruto sat down next to the boy. He glanced at her and chose to ignore her, so she sighed and reclined as she hung her feet over the water.

"Why are you here?" Inari asked.

"Because I either need to knock some sense into you or you need to talk about something." Naruto said without opening her eyes.

"Grandpa told you about my dad didn't he?... The same thing will just happen to you..." Inari said.

"No, it won't. Gato uses fear and brute force to get what he wants. He doesn't scare me and he sure as hell can't beat me with thugs." Naruto said.

"He can and he will... My dad was the strongest man in the village and he didn't stand a chance!" Inari yelled.

"Alright listen, do you really think you're the only one that's ever had something bad happen to them?" Naruto asked, staring at the boy with blank eyes.

"You don't understand!" Inari retorted. Naruto replied with a smack from a tail.

"You're the one who doesn't understand. You lost your dad to an ass hole. You have your grandfather and your mother with you still. I don't know if you haven't noticed, but I have scars older than you are. My birth mother and my father died when I was born. People from my own village have been trying to kill me since then. I got my first kill when I was four. The person who's like a brother to me lost not just his mother and father, but his entire clan just over a year ago. There are people who have it exponentially worse." Naruto growled.

Inari just stared blankly at her. Naruto sighed and pulled the bottom of her heavy mesh undershirt up to reveal the large scar on her stomach.

"Over a year ago, I was stabbed with an electrified blade. I took the hit while protecting Hinata. I was also slashed by a Kunai." She said, tapping the scar on her face.

"Why did you do all that?" Inari asked.

"Because if I didn't stop the bastard that did it then he would have taken Hinata-chan and stolen her eyes. Do you know why I'm telling you this?" Naruto answered.

"No..." He replied.

"I'm telling you this so you know that people endure any pain to protect what they love. Your father died because he was protecting you and his friends and family. He died an honorable death protecting what he loved... He could have been a Ninja. I don't love you or anyone in this village, but it's my mission to protect all of you so I treat it the same. That's why Gato and his thugs won't kill us." Naruto explained.

Inari silently looked at the water. After a while Naruto got up, patted him on the head slightly and walked back into the house.

-1 week later-
"Hey, you hear that?" Kori asked. Everyone was on the bridge on guard duty, though Sakura and Hinata were practicing water walking on the water below.

"Signal the others to get back up here." Anko said. Naruto nodded and caught the two's attention in the water below and signalled them to be ready for a fight.

"If he knows where we're staying then he won't hesitate to ransack it." Zabuza warned.
"Naruto, Hinata. Get back to the house and make sure Inari and Tsunami are alright." Anko ordered, Hinata having just arrived with Sakura.

"Hai." The two said and sped off back towards the house. Soon, the natural mist that surrounded the bridge was beginning to reveal people. There was a little man with a frown on his face with an army of mercenaries behind him.

"How did I know you would betray me 'Demon of the Mist'?" Gato growled.

"Because you'd do the same." Zabuza replied, shouldering his Zanbato.

"Can't argue with you there. Boys! Let's teach these kids not to mess with the adults!" Gato exclaimed. The mercenaries all yelled as they charged. The group of ninja didn't flinch as they prepared to hold their ground.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Hinata had the heads of the four mercenaries that were ransacking the house away from their bodies and were currently on their way back towards the bridge.

At the bridge, the group was almost having fun slaughtering the weak ninja mercenaries.

"What the hell?! You guys are losing to a bunch of kids!" Gato exclaimed.

"You're the kid ass hole." Sakura said, launching a flaming kunai at the man. It hit a ninja dashing at her though, sparing the short man's life for a few more moments.

"Hey you two guys get the hell out here!" Gato yelled back in the mist.

"You're even dumber than we thought." They heard a familiar voice as Naruto and Hinata returned coated in gore.

"Hey that sounds like..." Naruto started as two shadowy figures stepped out of the mist. Wearing black cloaks with red clouds stood Itachi and a man that looked like a fish.

"Kill them!" Gato yelled, ignoring Itachi's comment.

"No." Itachi said.

"W-what? Why not?!" He yelled, stepping back from the Konoha ninjas as they finished the last mercenary.

"Yo Itachi, how's Sasuke?" Naruto called out with a grin, waving.

"Successfully completed his mission." Itachi smiled.

"Good, let's make this one a success too eh?" Naruto replied.

"What?" Gato asked.

"The Akatsuki are the servants of the Bijuu you dumbass. And that girl right there is technically the Kyuubi." Kisame said, pointing to Naruto. Gato paled as he realized just how fucked he was.

"I've been waiting a long time to do this." Zabuza said, suddenly in front of Gato. He swung his Zanbato and cleaved the man in two.

"Uh, Naruto? What are you doing?" Itachi asked when he saw Naruto licking her claws clean.

"Exactly what it looks like." Naruto replied before she and Hinata used a burst of chakra to clean themselves of the gore on their clothes.

"Geez and I thought I was a psychopath." Kisame said.

"Servants of the Bijuu? I thought the Akatsuki was an organization trying to control the Bijuu." Anko said.

"They were, but my infiltration mission changed things. They knew I was from Konoha and asked me about Naruto and the Kyuubi. I told them the truth and after two weeks of discussion they pretty much turned around." Itachi said.

"How do you completely turn your ways like that?" Hinata asked.

"It's simple really. When they realized how powerful we were they grew wary of trying to take them. Then I told them the truth about a Bijuu's death. The only way they could have any hold over a Bijuu is if they could have power over the physical and spiritual form at the same time. And only those with the blood of a demon can even think of entering the Demon Realm. They made amends for most of the wrongs they've committed in the few years they've been around." Itachi explained.

"While this is all really important news, I really want to get out of here. We skipped lunch." Naruto said.

"Hey Hinata, you missed a spot." Sakura said, using a strip of cloth to wipe at some red on her face.

"Thanks Sakura-chan." Hinata said. After a few moments, it wouldn't come off.

"Hey wait a minute, Naruto do you have seven tails yet?" Anko asked.

"Only six, why?" Naruto replied. Anko pointed at a seventh white tail that seemed to be coming from Naruto as she stood next to Hinata. Naruto took a few steps back and they realized it was Hinata's.

"Your tail finally grew in!" Naruto exclaimed, glomping the girl. She noticed two small wolf ears were hidden in Hinata's hair.

"Well that explains the tail, but what about those red marks?" Sakura asked.

"It looks like they're on your body too." Haku said, pointing to the bottom of Hinata's shirt, where there was a tear revealing red on her back.

"A white wolf with red markings on the body... Amaterasu?" Itachi said.

"Wait, do you mean that goddess of sun or whatever?" Kori asked.

"I do. It would appear she is real, and her incarnation is your girlfriend Naruto." Itachi replied.

"That is so cool!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I wonder how Father will react." Hinata said.

"Who cares? It's fucking awesome." Naruto retorted.