The Rinnegan Maelstrom

Chapter Three: The Three Dōjutsu

"Why?"

Naruto looked up, "Why what, Ino-chan?"

Ino scratched her arm sheepishly, "Why are you being so nice to me now? I mean, I treated you like dirt in the Academy and then there was the last day when I was helping to beat you up…"

Naruto turned to face her as they walked down the street to find a good restaurant, "Have you learned your lesson?"

At the other blonde's nod he grinned, "Then we have no problem, do we Aiko-chan?"

Aiko shook her head, "No."

Naruto grinned, "There we go then."

Ino frowned, "But I…"

Aiko cut her off, "Do you want Naruto-sama to "punish" you, Ino-san?"

Ino went pink as the dark-haired girl approached her and began to whisper in her ears. A second later a trickle of blood started to flow from her nose as her complexion deepened to red.

Naruto chuckled at her look before turning and looking over at a restaurant on their right, "How about there? They might let us in."

-TRM-

At first, the restaurant's doorman was unwilling to let Naruto in, but Aiko gave him a Sharingan-enhanced glare and he soon folded and let them in.

It was as they were sitting down that they heard a voice say, "Hey, Naruto!"

Naruto and the two girls turned to see Kiba sitting at the table behind them with Kurenai, Shino and Hinata, who was turning pink and poking the tips of her fingers together. The dog-nin grinned at Naruto as Akamaru poked his head out of Kiba's jacket to see what was going on, "Can't you leave any of the pretty girls for the rest of us?"

Naruto grinned, "Hey Kiba, Shino, Hinata-chan, Kurenai-sensei!"

Hinata's face went a deeper shade of pink, "He called me –chan! Don't faint don't faint don't faint…"

Kurenai fielded for her female genin, "Hello, Naruto-san."

Shino simply nodded as Kiba grinned and leaned over to pull their table closer while Aiko went off to find the doorman to ask if it was alright.

"So," said Kurenai, once Aiko had returned with an affirmative and Naruto and Kiba had lifted the table over so that it was touching Team 8's original table, "What's Kakashi been teaching you?"

Naruto grinned as he put his arm around Aiko where she sat on his left with Hinata on his right, "We managed to activate Aiko-chan's Sharingan, so now we're working on our individual dōjutsu to improve on them!"

Kurenai's eyebrow hiked up a little, "You have a dōjutsu?"

Naruto nodded, flashing his Rinnegan on and off once before smiling at Hinata, "Shame we didn't get Hinata-chan on our team, three dōjutsu-users would be awesome!"

Hinata blushed at the smile from her crush, but forced herself not to faint as the blond genin reflexively slipped an arm around her shoulders as well.

Kurenai nodded, "Alright, so what has Kakashi been teaching you?"

Naruto smirked, "Taijutsu, teamwork exercises, hell I've just started working on learning to use my mother's sword."

Kurenai's eyebrow quirked, "Your mother's sword?"

Naruto nodded, "The… Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma?"

Kurenai's eyes widened, "Your mother is… the wielder of the Twin Crimson Devils?"

At Naruto's nod she gave a soft mutter of surprise, "No… it couldn't be a coincidence."

"Why…?" Naruto began, but she quickly cut him off.

"Your mother… was my jōnin-sensei."

Naruto tilted his head slightly, "Who were your team-mates?"

Kurenai's smile disappeared, "They died in the Kyūbi's attack."

Naruto glanced at the desk, "Oh sorry. Can… can I talk to you about her some time?"

Kurenai's smile returned, "Of course."

Naruto smiled, and they quickly settled down for their meal.

-TRM-

The next day, Naruto woke up to find Aiko, as usual, trying to put his blankets out of a job.

They got ready for the day, Naruto collecting all his assorted gear and strapping the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma onto his back while Aiko tied her long hair up into a ponytail and gathered her things.

Finally they took off for the training grounds across town. Kakashi turned up an hour after they arrived, and was surprised to find Naruto engaged in a free-for-all melee with about three dozen clones, all of them wielding unsealed double-swords and the air full of clashing metal.

Kakashi turned as Aiko approached him, her Sharingan already active and a small smile on her lips, "How long has he been doing this?"

Aiko shrugged, "Naruto-sama started the battle about half an hour after we arrived so… half an hour."

"Anyway," said Kakashi, drawing the blond genin's attention as he dispelled the clones and walked over, returning the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma to its sheath, "I've got a couple of D-ranks rigged up for us today."

Naruto grinned, "Alright, let's head out!"

-TRM-

"Back for another mission already?" said Sarutobi as Naruto and Aiko entered with Kakashi and Kakashi reported a successful mission.

Naruto grinned, "Any chance of a slightly more difficult mission this time? Please?"

Sarutobi flicked through the files and nodded once, "We have a C-rank mission in a town to the south. Apparently someone has been robbing their shops and they suspect it might be a bandit."

Naruto's eyebrow quirked up, "Bandit? Then why's it a C-rank?"

Iruka smiled, "Any missions that might involve combat are automatically C-rank or above, Naruto."

Naruto nodded, "Right. Well, tomorrow then?"

At Sarutobi's nod he turned and walked out.

-TRM-

They set off early the next morning, completely geared up for a lengthy mission since it was unclear how long capturing the bandit would take. All the same, Naruto was confident that between his Rinnegan and Aiko's Sharingan, capturing the bandit would be a cinch.

They reached the town by mid-afternoon to find the mayor in a flap. It transpired that another dango shop had been robbed earlier that day, and word was starting to spread. "You have to find this thief!" the mayor shrieked, causing Naruto to wince and dig into his ear before responding.

"You can count on us. Can we see the latest shop to see if there's anything we can pick up?"

The mayor nodded and led them across the town, where they found the owner of the dango shop (a man named Onimaru judging by the sign over the door), fretting in front of his shop. When he saw them he cried out in relief, "Are you the ninja mayor-sama hired to catch this thief? Oh thank goodness!"

After they had had a look inside the crime scene (where Naruto said he could detect a faint aroma of snakes but couldn't think of any reason why), Kakashi started issuing instructions.

"Naruto, I want you to put a henged Bunshin to observe each of the dango bars which haven't yet been hit. If they see anything out of the ordinary, they are to either activate their Rinnegan and try to get a better look or immediately dispel."

Naruto nodded and turned to the mayor to request a map. As soon as one was provided, he spawned a horde of Kage Bunshin, all of which henged into various insects and flew off to the other dango shops.

-TRM-

There was no sign of anything funny that merited the clones alerting Naruto, so they settled down in a hotel for the night.

Naruto and Aiko played a few games of cards before settling down to sleep.

-TRM-

When they woke up they found that Kakashi, who had taken a patrolling shift around the town during the night, had never come back to the hotel.

Deciding he was just out doing Kakashi things, the two genin prepared for another day of surveying the town when Naruto suddenly straightened up, the memories of one of his clones covering a dango shop in the next district slamming into his head.

"Let's roll out, one of my clones just got dispelled a few streets over!"

They made it over to the shop in question, only to see the culprit beating a hasty retreat. Naruto nodded to Aiko to pursue while he doubled around to cut them off.

-TRM-

Naruto dropped into the road and immediately decided to resort to one of the more… unorthodox… techniques in his arsenal. Calling up the memory of a random kunoichi he remembered seeing walking around Konoha before, he adopted a ram seal and called out the name of his jutsu, "Oiroke no Jutsu!"

There was a puff of smoke and every male in the street instantly keeled over backwards.

The bandit, however, did not move and instead raised their head.

The blood drained from not only Naruto's henged face but the rest of his body as he looked upon the face of the kunoichi he had chosen to impersonate, "Um… uh oh."

Behind the thief, Aiko wondered why Naruto suddenly looked so worried until she came around and saw that the original version of the person Naruto had turned into was standing there, gazing directly at Naruto.

Naruto swallowed; the henge dropping as he stared back at the woman, who had now straightened up and was radiating killing intent, "You little pervert… like taking my body and parading it around naked, do you? Sen'eijashu!"

Naruto yelped as he dodged the snakes that had appeared from the woman's sleeves before turning and running, Aiko and the woman in hot pursuit.

"GET… BACK… HERE… YOU… LITTLE… PERVERT!"

"I'M SORRY, I DIDN'T REALIZE IT WAS YOU!"

The woman's only reply was to send the snakes at him again and swear, before there was a puff of smoke and another one appeared which seemed to double around to cut Naruto off.

Aiko opened her mouth to shout a warning, but at that moment Kakashi reappeared next to her, "Relax, it's just a Konoha kunoichi. She won't hurt him too badly."

Aiko cast an anxious look after Naruto, but then relented as she watched the clone of the kunoichi catch Naruto and disappear with him in a swirl of leaves.

-TRM-

Kakashi and Aiko returned to the hotel, and Naruto came in about an hour later looking grouchy. The reason why he was grouchy was obvious was because he was in his Oiroke no Jutsu form (clothed), and the kunoichi was directly behind him looking cheerful.

Kakashi cast Naruto a one-eyed look from behind his Icha Icha, "What did she do to you?"

Naruto growled, "I'm not sure. Some kind of jutsu that locked me in my Oiroke form and I don't know how long it lasts."

Kakashi turned to the kunoichi, "Anko, how long will this last?"

Anko grinned, "A week and a half at the maximum. Should teach the gaki a valuable lesson about using my body without asking."

Naruto grumbled, "You wouldn't have known about it if you hadn't been stealing dango… ow!"

Anko had smacked him on the head, "I didn't steal it! I left money in the tills; they just freaked out and apparently never noticed!"

Kakashi sighed and started to put away his book, but at that moment a little monkey appeared in the window, "Hello. Is there a Kakashi Hatake here?"

Kakashi nodded, "Me. Is something up?"

The monkey scratched his tiny armpit, "The Sandaime wanted me to deliver a message. Team 8 were on an escort mission in the Land of Waves when they were attacked by ninja. You're supposed to head off to Wave and join up with them as reinforcements. Anko Mitarashi, meanwhile, is to return to Konoha at once."

Kakashi nodded and turned to his genin, "Gear up, we're moving out then."

(A/N: From this point onwards until the jutsu breaks, Naruto will be referred to as though he were a girl.)

-TRM-

Several hours later.

Naruto, Aiko and Kakashi dropped onto the road and looked around. Naruto sniffed, her nose crinkling up slightly before she turned around to Kakashi, "I can smell blood. Not enough for someone to die, but there's definitely a fair bit of blood. I'd say at least one person got hurt…"

Kakashi moved around the road, his single eye surveying the area. Finally he raised his headband and gave it another scan, "They were walking down the road with their client… two ninja attacked them." He crouched beside some score marks in the road, "Kiba and Akamaru used their Gatsūga, but were evaded."

He moved onto a series of marks which suggested a heavy body had hit the ground, "I think Hinata used her Jyūken here and managed to bring down one…" His fingers moved to a patch of slightly damp dirt, "Evidence of a Mist Shunshin here… two Kiri-nins and one managed to grab their friend and carried them off with a shunshin. Ah, here's the blood, and a kunai. It seems that Shino or Kurenai was able to throw a kunai and get in a non-fatal blow."

He turned to the two genin, replacing his headband. Naruto swallowed, "Can you teach me how to scan places and find out what happened like that?"

Kakashi eye-smiled, "Later. Now we need to catch up with Team 8."

Aiko frowned, "What about Kurenai-sensei? Wouldn't she have been able to fight?"

Kakashi pointed to a series of footprints on the ground some distance away, "By the look of it, she engaged the other with taijutsu while the genin dealt with the first one. Now come on."

Naruto sniffed and moved over to the mess of footprints before pointing at a slightly discoloured patch of dirt, "Blood. Kurenai-sensei got hit too…" She knelt down and sniffed the patch, "And I can smell poison. Whoever attacked them must've had poisoned weaponry."

Kakashi's face turned even more serious, "Then we need to catch up with them very quickly. I have absolute faith in Kurenai's abilities but there is still a chance she may not be able to properly counter the poison."

They headed off down the road at an open sprint, eager to catch up with their fellows.

-TRM-

They soon reached the shore (Naruto having eventually picked up Aiko on her back since she tired so much quicker than Kakashi and Naruto) and stepped onto what appeared to be the beginnings of a bridge.

Naruto allowed Aiko to climb off her back and sighed, "I guess there's only one way across this since we haven't started on water-walking yet." She flashed through seals and then slammed her hands against the surface of the bridge, "Kuchiyose: Tori!"

A huge drill-beaked bird appeared and Naruto climbed on, taking up a position just behind its head as Aiko and Kakashi climbed on behind her. They took off and flew through the air, following the bridge, until they reached what seemed to be an island.

The bird gave a soft call, and Naruto closed her eyes as the bird tilted its head and looked down.

A second passed before Naruto spoke, "I can see a fight going on down there." Without waiting for an answer she pulled the bird into a spiralling descent and leaned over the bird's side, "Okay sensei, if you jump off here you should be able to get the drop on the guy attacking Kurenai-sensei."

Kakashi nodded and vaulted off the bird. They heard a loud noise like crackling and chirping combined as he dropped, before Naruto flew on and said, "Aiko-chan, jump here. You should be able to help Shino against what I think is a clone attacking him."

Aiko nodded and jumped from the bird, while Naruto pulled it around and began scanning for Hinata. He finally found her standing beside a man he guessed must be the client with Kiba and Akamaru unconscious on the other side of him… and there was another clone creeping up behind her.

Naruto cursed slightly before pulling the bird into a sharp dive.

-TRM-

Hinata heard a loud snap behind her, and instantly pinpointed the noise as being directly in her blind spot. She whirled around, only to catch a punch to the cheek and fall over, whereupon her attacker raised his huge sword over his head and said, "Say goodbye!"

There was a loud voice from above, "Goodbye! Banshō Ten'in!"

The sword was ripped from the man's hand and shot up out of the way, before a bird suddenly swooped out of nowhere and Naruto jumped off it with the man's sword in his hand and landed in front of Hinata.

"Hinata? Are you alright?"

"Naruto-kun? What happened to your voice?"

Naruto frowned, "A run-in with a Konoha kunoichi who thought it'd be a cute idea to lock me in my Oiroke form for an indefinite period of time."

A tick-mark appeared on the jōnin's forehead, "Hey! Don't ignore me!"

Naruto cast him a look, "Be quiet. Me and my friend are talking here- urk!"

The jōnin drove his fist into Naruto's stomach and took the blade back, before swinging at them again.

There was a loud clang as Naruto drew the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma in both hands and blocked the blade. Her arms shook slightly as the man's blade pressed lower and lower.

The two swords ground against each other for a long moment before Naruto suddenly channelled chakra through the hilt, releasing the kodachi and thrusting it towards the attacker's side.

He dodged out of the way and retreated to a safe distance, "Well, well, well, unless my eyes deceive me that is the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma, the weapon of Konoha no Aka Shibyō Bōseki (Spinning Red Death of Konoha). Are you related to her then?"

Naruto straightened up, "She was my mother."

The man grinned underneath the bandages over his face, "Then let us fight; the daughter of the Spinning Red Death of the Leaf against the Demon of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi!"

-TRM-

Kurenai blinked as a lightning-covered hand went straight through the chest of the shinobi she was fighting before he melted into water, revealing himself as a Mizu Bunshin and Kakashi standing behind him, "Hello, Kurenai-san."

Kurenai smiled, "I assume you're our backup then?"

Kakashi nodded, before there was a loud clash of metal from somewhere close by and the two jōnin looked around. Exchanging a quick glance, the pair headed off in that direction.

-TRM-

Zabuza snorted as the duo he was fighting were joined by four others, half of which were also female, "Is this why Konoha is weak? They have too many kunoichi!"

A certain killing intent began to emanate from three of the females, and Zabuza began to sweat slightly before the blonde female suddenly whipped out a brace of kunai and shouted, "Shinra Tensei!"

In the treeline, Haku had reacted at the female killing intent and thrown his senbon with pinpoint accuracy.

-TRM-

Zabuza was just moving out of the way of the kunai when two senbon hit him in the neck and caused him to stumble, which in turn allowed the kunai to sink into Zabuza's chest one after another.

The shinobi and kunoichi looked left as one, before what appeared to be a Kiri hunter-nin emerged from the trees. "I thank you for your assistance in the apprehension of Zabuza Momochi."

Naruto's eyes narrowed as the Rinnegan deactivated, sensing something wrong but unable to work out exactly what it was, "No problem. I'm sure you would do the same for us if the positions were reversed."

The hunter-nin picked up Zabuza's body on their back and nodded, "By your leave…" Then they disappeared with the body.

Aiko blinked, "That was odd… but let's keep moving before something else happens."

-TRM-

They gathered up Kiba and Akamaru before heading off to the house of the client, whose name turned out to be Tazuna.

Kiba woke up halfway there and immediately started hitting on Naruto, until Aiko disabused him of his conceptions that (male) Naruto had been replaced by someone else. The boy was utterly horrified to discover that the cute blonde he'd been hitting on was Naruto. At least, until he heard the story of how Naruto had wound up in his current situation and laughed so hard he was almost sick down his front.

On the other hand, Hinata had blushed at the thought of Naruto using his Sexy Jutsu (while also trying to suppress a sudden nosebleed at the thought of a little action with the blond "female"), Shino had had no reaction and Kurenai, after a brief thinning of her lips which showed her disapproval of Naruto's jutsu, had decided that Naruto's punishment was both fitting and satisfactory.

-TRM-

When they arrived at Tazuna's house, the first thing that Naruto did was fire off a set of clones which scattered around the house, changing to various henged forms in order to stay below the radar.

Tazuna introduced them to his daughter Tsunami and her son Inari, and after the little boy shouted about how they were all going to die the ninja settled into a spare room for a conversation.

"So," said Kakashi quietly as he finished spreading some of Hinata's anti-poison balm on Kurenai's cut and started bandaging it up, "What happened after I jumped from the bird to assist Kurenai-san?"

Naruto swallowed, tapping a finger against her chin, "I dispatched Aiko-chan to assist Shino, then scanned the ground looking for Hinata. I finally found her with what I now know to have been the original Zabuza creeping up behind her."

Hinata nodded when Kurenai looked over at her before Naruto continued, "I saw her turn and him raise his weapon to attack, so I utilized one of my Rinnegan techniques to disarm him. After that, I jumped from the bird to go to Hinata's defence, only to be disarmed and engaged by Zabuza."

Kurenai frowned at him, "You mean you actually tried to fight him? He's one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, did you really think you could fight him one-on-one?"

Naruto scowled, "I said he engaged me, not I engaged him. When he swung at me, I drew my own blade in order to block before releasing the second blade and attempting to strike him in the side. It failed; he recognized the blade and then proceeded to attack again in an attempt to prove the Seven Swordsmen's superiority over the Spinning Red Death of Konoha."

Kurenai sighed, understanding the logic. As Kakashi withdrew his hands, she flexed her arm and smiled at Hinata, "Thank you Hinata. That balm of yours is a lifesaver."

"Well," said Kakashi, "I'm afraid that Zabuza might still be alive." At the mystified looks from the genin, he explained, "Kiri hunter-nin are trained to kill missing-nins and destroy their bodies on the spot where they fell to ensure that their secrets are kept. That hunter-nin took the body, what does that tell you?"

Naruto clapped her hands together, "We didn't see Zabuza's dead body be destroyed, so we can't know for certain that he's dead!"

Kakashi nodded, "Then there's the fact that senbon are rarely lethal weapons. Even when they are wielded by a master of their use, the spots I saw those senbon hit didn't coincide with any points that I know would cause instant death. That means that that hunter-nin wasn't who they appeared to be; they were in fact an accomplice of Zabuza."

Kurenai surveyed them, "As such all of you must begin training at once to ensure that you are ready for Zabuza's return. What do you and Aiko know?"

Naruto cracked her knuckles, "I have my Rinnegan techniques. Aiko has her Sharingan and a few Katon ninjutsu."

Kurenai nodded, "Very well. How good are you at chakra control? Can you tree-walk?"

Naruto frowned, "Not quite, but we're getting close to being able to stay stuck to a tree-trunk upside down while sparring with taijutsu."

Kurenai nodded, "That's very good. Much better than Kiba," she gave the dog-using genin in question a harsh glare, "Who would rather goof off and teach Akamaru to pee on command than practice his chakra control."

Kiba scowled, "It's a legitimate strategy! It's called Dynamic Marking!"

Naruto frowned, "You ever pull that off on either me or Aiko and I will Shinra Tensei you into the women's hot springs… while it's full of ANBU kunoichi."

Kiba paled and nodded fervently, "Yes, ma'am."

"Don't call me ma'am."

"Yes, sir."

-TRM-

The five genin turned out into a clearing behind Tazuna's house the next morning for training (after Naruto had replaced the clones; a number of which had been attacked by various night animals), to find that only Kurenai was standing in front of them.

"Where's Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

Kurenai smiled, "He's guarding Tazuna at the bridge today."

Naruto nodded as Aiko spoke, "So what are we doing today then?"

Kurenai smiled, "The four of you may finish practicing your tree-walking and then move onto water-walking. Kiba…" she gave the boy in question a look which made him shiver, "will be practicing his tree-walking under supervision."

Kiba whined, but his response was cut off as Naruto, Aiko, Hinata and Shino set off to find a patch of trees in which to practice.

-TRM-

Their tree-walking practice was over quickly; the four genin either achieving the milestone they had set for themselves or helping one another achieve it. They also located a spot where four thick branches on different trees overlapped and proceeded to engage one another in a vicious four-way taijutsu spar.

It transpired that they all had different styles, which made it even more interesting. Aiko's style was more smooth and graceful but was able to adapt as her Sharingan picked up her opponent's moves. Hinata's was like a more flexible version of the Jyūken; relying mostly on gentle taps and palm strikes more than punches and kicks. Shino's style was more conservative than any of the others but was equally as effective, while Naruto's outdid the rest by way of pure force.

-TRM-

They moved back to the house and began water-walking from the jetty just outside it. Tsunami came out to watch them as Naruto finally got the trick after Kurenai came by to check on them. She watched her with the Rinnegan active and soon came to the conclusion that the trick was to keep the chakra flow fluctuating constantly. She quickly shared this with her comrades before starting on his theory. Before fifteen minutes had passed, all four had got the technique down pat.

It was as they were taking drinks from Tsunami that she dropped the tray and stared over their heads. All four genin turned to see a massive craft cutting through the water less than five hundred feet from their position. "What is it?" said Naruto.

Tsunami swallowed, "That's Gatō's private yacht. He won't be on it; it got damaged in a storm a couple of weeks back and was taken off to a shipyard in Kawa no Kuni for repairs."

Naruto grinned, "Then let's send a little message." She created a clone, which henged into a bird and flew off to the yacht.

"What's it doing?" asked Tsunami of the blond genin, who grinned.

"Just watch."

There was a sudden pause, before a flurry of voices echoed across the water from the yacht. A second later the yacht spontaneously imploded, crumpling in on itself like a paper cup and sinking from sight.

Tsunami gasped, "What did you do?"

Naruto laughed somewhat maniacally, "Banshō Ten'in. An attack that manipulates gravity to pull things towards me. If I have a Kage Bunshin execute the attack, he can pull everything in the vicinity towards him, including the hull of that yacht. He triggered that technique in the hold, with the result you have just witnessed."

Aiko gave a quiet giggle, "Awesome."

-TRM-

Kyūbi flicked his tails and grinned as he put the finishing touches to his little brainchild. He had decided that since he had outdone himself with the Rinnegan and Sharingan (to the point where he arrogantly gave the Sharingan the ability to control him, which still made him wince at his own hubris all these years later), he was going to see what he could do with the Byakugan. As such he had created a clipboard and pen before turning to a human form and beginning to write.

He finally lay down and curled his tails around his body, waiting for his vessel to fall asleep so that he could begin setting things up.

-TRM-

That night, Kyūbi waited until very early in the morning to make sure that everybody was asleep before he tugged on Naruto's chakra, creating a Kage Bunshin and possessing it.

Sneaking out of the bedroom door, he crept along to the girls' room and slipped inside.

Hinata was lying asleep under the window, so Kyūbi tiptoed across the room and bent over her, touching a single finger, glowing red with his chakra, to her forehead.

Hinata stirred, "Mmm… Naruto-kun?"

Kyūbi forced down the urge to giggle; the girl was dreaming of his vessel. Instead he traced the finger over her left eyebrow, down around her eye, along her cheekbone and up the side of her nose to where he had started.

He repeated his pattern another two times around her left eye before doing the same thing around her right eye.

Finally he drew his hand back before delivering a hard poke to her forehead before dispelling the clone.

Hinata's eyes opened, her forehead tingling slightly, just in time to catch a quick glimpse of Naruto disappearing from where he… he… had been standing over her.

Smiling for a second at the thought that her crush had been watching over her, albeit by proxy, she rolled over and fell asleep again.

-TRM-

Back in Naruto's mindscape, Kyūbi cackled to himself, "Let's see how you do with this little gift, Hyūga girl. Next time you get forced to throw down for real, you might find a little surprise waiting for you."

-TRM-

"Kuchiyose: Inu!"

An enormous dog appeared in front of the group of genin, growling and snarling before it dispelled again.

Naruto grinned, "Kuchiyose: Kamereon!"

A large chameleon appeared behind where Naruto stood, flicked its tongue out and hit the top of a tree before dispelling.

"Kuchiyose: Ushi!"

A huge ox appeared and pawed the ground, snorting as it tossed its head before it too dispelled.

"Kuchiyose: Panda!"

A gigantic panda poofed into existence and looked around before disappearing again.

"Kuchiyose: Sai!"

A rhino the size of a house appeared under Naruto before snorting and dispelling again, leaving Naruto to flash through seals again in mid-air.

"Kuchiyose: Kani!"

Aiko grinned as a large crab appeared underneath Naruto and caught her before dispelling and depositing her back onto the ground at high speed.

As soon as she'd pulled her head out of the face-shaped dent and cast a glare at her comrades, who were all giggling (with the exception of Shino, who was simply regarding her with just a raised eyebrow), she flashed through the seals one more time and spoke, "Kuchiyose: Mushi!"

Shino's other eyebrow ratcheted up as Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing a second later on top of the biggest insect he had ever seen.

Kakashi appeared out of the trees, "Naruto, get down here."

The insect dispelled and Naruto landed on the ground, "Hey Kakashi-sensei. Where's Kurenai-sensei?"

Kakashi frowned, "In bed back at the house. It seems that the balm was at best a temporary measure, so she's feeling a little under the weather at the moment." He saw Hinata's crestfallen expression and quickly backtracked, "I'm not saying she's going to die; the balm worked to that extent. She's just feeling ill from the residue."

Naruto folded her arms, "So, what are we going to do then?"

Kakashi nodded, "What have you been doing?"

Naruto grinned, "I can do all my Kuchiyose summonings now. Just one more to try… Kuchiyose: Aiko!"

Aiko gave a yelp of surprise as she suddenly vanished from her position beside Hinata and reappeared beside Naruto.

Naruto whooped, "It worked!"

Aiko smacked the "girl" upside the head, "Indeed it did, Naruto-sama. Now never do it again."

Naruto grinned, ignoring the stinging in the side of her head, "Of course, Aiko-chan."

-TRM-

That night, Naruto woke up to hear Kyūbi laughing his ass off inside her head. As she sat upright and looked towards the window in an attempt to find out what time it was, she became aware of an odd, warm dampness between her legs.

Frowning, Naruto slipped a hand inside her sleeping bag and felt around, withdrawing it a second later to see it covered in blood.

A few seconds later, every ninja in the house was awoken by a scream of "AHHHH! MY CROTCH IS BLEEDING!"

Kakashi and Kurenai were instantly on the scene, and it only took a few seconds for each to work out what was wrong. Kurenai's first reaction was, predictably, incredulity. "Impossible… his henge can't be that advanced, can it?"

Naruto was, predictably, freaking out, "What the hell's happening?"

Kurenai frowned, "Naruto, how advanced is this henge of yours?"

Naruto's brows furrowed, "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Please answer the question."

"Um… I'd have to say it's advanced enough to pass for the real thing up close."

Kurenai nodded, "You may have a more accurate model there than you think. Kakashi, I'll handle this; it requires a female touch."

Naruto gulped; somehow that didn't sound good in the slightest. Kakashi nodded and headed out of the room.

Kurenai turned to Naruto and tugged a sealing scroll from… somewhere… (Naruto being unable to see any pockets on her outfit), before producing something which resembled a little cotton tube with a string on one end.

Kurenai noticed the boy-turned-girl's confused expression and decided to explain, "Naruto, this is called a tampon…"

-TRM-

Naruto was moving oddly gingerly the next morning, and simply went red whenever anybody asked her what the problem was. It was for this reason that she was relieved when, later that evening after training, Inari drew attention away from her.

"Why are you doing this? It's useless! You're all just going to die; you can't beat Gatō!"

Naruto got up and grabbed the small boy by the collar, "Maybe you've given up, but we're not. Is your grandfather giving up? No! He's continuing to build the bridge regardless, because he believes he can save his people even though he could die while doing it! He hasn't given up!"

She dropped the boy back onto the floor and strode towards the door. "Naruto-sama?" Aiko said tentatively, "Where are you going?"

Naruto gave a hiss of anger as she opened the front door, "To blow off steam."

As soon as Naruto had made it into the trees, she created two dozen clones and drew the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma before releasing the kodachi-part and charging into battle.

-TRM-

Haku walked through the trees looking for herbs, only to see a figure lying on their side on the ground.

Walking over, he saw that they looked suspiciously like a male version of the blond girl he had had to save Zabuza from a week before.

Walking over, Haku crouched down and poked him awake. A second later he found himself held by the shoulder of his kimono with the blade of a katana resting against his collarbone.

Naruto blinked the sleep from his eyes, "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

The black-haired person smiled, "It's alright. I ought to have known better than to startle a shinobi. I'm Haku, by the way."

Naruto withdrew the katana and returned it to its sheath. "Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. So, do you live in the village, Haku-san?"

Haku nodded, "Yes. But my tou-san was injured by some of Gatō's goons a few days ago and I ran out of medicinal herbs this morning. I'm just collecting more."

Naruto smiled, "Let me help you."

The pair of them started gathering herbs until Naruto said, "You know, your voice isn't as indistinctive as you think it is Haku-san, or should I say, hunter-nin-san."

Haku stiffened briefly before his hand flashed out and hit Naruto across the throat, causing him to gasp for breath before Haku pulled a senbon from his yukata and stabbed it into Naruto's wrist. The serum quickly took effect and Naruto collapsed onto the ground in a limp heap.

Haku straightened up, "I'm sorry, Naruto-san. But I'm afraid that I cannot allow you to get in my way."

-TRM-

"Naruto isn't back yet," said Aiko in a very worried tone.

Kakashi shrugged, "We'll have to make do without him. Everyone, form up around Tazuna and we'll make a move towards the bridge. With luck, the bridge will be done today and that means that Gatō will probably make his move today."

Aiko nodded, but her face kept its worried expression as they all headed out the door.

-TRM-

Naruto groaned as he rolled over and coughed before rubbing the slightly inflamed spot on his wrist, "Damn it, I should have been expecting him to do that."

Standing up, he ran through the trees back towards the house as fast as he could.

-TRM-

The four genin and two jōnin arrived at the bridge with Tazuna to find all the bridge workers lying strewn around in various degrees of pain.

As Tazuna looked around anxiously and bent to shake one of the workers awake, mist rose all around them.

"So you're back up then, Zabuza?" said Kakashi out loud.

The bandaged missing-nin stepped out of the mist, his masked hunter-nin ally by his side and the two Demon Brothers flanking them.

Kakashi instantly took charge, "Aiko, Hinata, you take the hunter-nin. Kiba, Shino, you protect Tazuna and take the Demon Brothers. Kurenai, help me with Zabuza."

They split up.

-TRM-

Naruto skidded to a halt and looked around. The trees and bushes around him seemed to have been slashed up very badly, and some way away he could see a dead pig.

His eyes followed the footprints in the dirt until they came to a gap in the trees. In the distance he could see a pier he instantly recognized, "Gatō's goons… they're going after Tsunami and Inari."

He closed his eyes and focused on his Kage Bunshin, immediately receiving four different eye-views on two goons cutting Tazuna's front door in half. One of them turned and shouted before the clones suddenly shot in at high speed and the goons hit the deck covered in bruises.

Naruto opened his eyes again and turned towards where he knew the bridge was before flashing through seals, "Kuchiyose: Tori!"

A bird appeared, Naruto hurdled onto it and it took off.

-TRM-

Kiba and Shino stood on either side of Tazuna, parrying the Demon Brothers' claw gauntlets with kunai as they kept the duo away. Finally the two missing-nin retreated and produced their chain, whipping it straight towards the trio.

-TRM-

Naruto looked down from the bird to see two ninja whipping a long chain towards Kiba, Shino and Tazuna.

Adopting his cross-seal, he created three clones and jettisoned them from the bird.

-TRM-

Below, Kiba and Shino were just preparing to parry the chain when three figures dropped in front of them.

The middle one brought down a sword, slicing the chain in half down the middle. As the Demon Brothers continued running the clones on either side of the one with the sword turned in opposite directions and yelled, "BANSHŌ TEN'IN!"

The Demon Brothers were wrenched off their feet and sent crashing into one another, their heads banging together sharply and sending them to the ground, where they were both flipped over, had their claw gauntlets removed and hands bound back-to-back so that they couldn't do seals.

"Naruto!" shouted Kiba, "You made it!"

One of the Bunshin turned, "Yup. The boss is above on a bird. Where are the others?"

Shino pushed his glasses up, "Hinata and Aiko are fighting the hunter-nin, Kakashi-sensei and Kurenai-sensei are fighting Zabuza."

The Kage Bunshin nodded, "Got it. Keep an eye on these two." A second later all three dispelled.

Naruto scanned the bridge, looking for Hinata and Aiko and finally spotted a dome of what looked like mirrors. Turning the bird towards it he waited until he was directly above and then jumped.

-TRM-

Hinata and Aiko were standing back to back, each of them looking at the mirrors surrounding them and the masked hunter-nins reflected in their surfaces. Each girl had a number of senbon embedded in their arms from using them to protect their faces, and their eyes were bleeding badly; Aiko's from activating her second tomoe and Hinata from something she couldn't identify, but her eyesight was sharper when her Byakugan was active, she no longer had a blind-spot behind her head, when she raised her hand to wipe the blood from her cheeks she had discovered that she no longer had the pronounced veins characteristic of an active Byakugan.

The hunter-nin produced some more senbon from their pocket, "So you both have dōjutsu. Interesting, but against my Hyōton kekkei genkai there can be no victory, especially when I use my Makyō Hyōshō."

Aiko was about to reply when something heavy landed on the mirror directly above them. As the two girls looked up, a figure swung in from the mirror and landed directly in between them. It was Naruto, seemingly back in his normal form and with his arms spread wide, "Drop and roll!"

Both girls immediately dropped and rolled as Naruto looked directly into the hunter-nin's mask and bellowed, "SHINRA TENSEI!"

The mirror dome survived the onslaught for about half a second before the mirrors exploded outwards in millions of fragments. Haku flashed out of one of the fragments and landed in a puddle of water, immediately stomping and yelling, "Sensatsu Suishō!"

A storm of ice needles rose from the puddle and shot at Naruto, only to be taken back out of the fight by Aiko who shouted, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

Hinata was into the fight again in a matter of seconds, striking Haku hard in the centre of his chest.

Haku instantly felt all his chakra be sealed off as the girl hit him directly at the outlet of his chakra coils, sealing it off entirely and rendering his body numb.

Hinata smiled as Naruto flipped Haku over and bound his wrists back-to-back, "It's nice to see that you're back to normal, Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded, "Nice to be back to normal. Only problem is…" he winded and reached into his waistband before tugging, "Gotcha you little bugger!" He pulled out something small and white and threw it over the side of the bridge.

Aiko couldn't help her curiosity, "What was that?"

Naruto shrugged, "The tampon Kurenai-sensei gave me after the other night. I don't understand how women handle those things, they're so uncomfortable."

Aiko smiled benignly, "We manage just fine."

Naruto snorted, "Yeah well us poor male mortals, on the other hand…"

He straightened up and looked at Aiko, "I see you got your second tomoe, Aiko-chan."

Aiko nodded, "One more and I can have Kyū-sama upgrade it to the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. I think Hinata-sama has the bigger surprise however."

Naruto met Hinata's eyes and gasped, "Hinata-chan, your eyes…" Creating a Kage Bunshin and having it henge into a mirror, he held it up for Hinata to look.

Hinata inspected her reflection. The obvious difference was that the veins around her eyes no longer stood out, but there was also a flower motif with one azure petal around the faint line bordering her pupil.

"Alright, fox," Naruto thought, "You know anything about this?"

A chuckle echoed from the recesses of his mind, "An experiment to see how I could improve the Byakugan. I'm pleased to see it worked."

Naruto growled, "You don't experiment on my friends!"

Kyūbi snorted, "What are you so grumpy about? She's fine! By the way, did you know that your little Hinata-chan dreams about you?"

Naruto stopped dead and the two kunoichi could only guess at what was causing the rapid flurry of emotions crossing his face.

Finally he shook his head and said, "Let's go help our senseis…"

Before either girl could say a word, Naruto created a couple of Kage Bunshin to watch Haku and ran off into the mist.

"What was that about?" Hinata wondered.

Aiko shrugged, "I sometimes wonder if Naruto-sama is not in denial about being a pervert…"

She walked off, leaving Hinata with an odd expression on her face. Finally the Hyūga girl seemed to come back to herself and followed.

-TRM-

Zabuza was just about to slash down on Kurenai with his blade when a sudden cry of "Banshō Ten'in!" ripped it from his grasp, followed by a mass of Kage Bunshin dogpiling him and, by the sudden weakness he felt, absorbing his chakra.

The original Naruto walked up a second later with the Kubikiribōchō leaning on his shoulder, "Hiya Kakashi-sensei, Kurenai-sensei."

"Naruto," said Kakashi irritably, though he was unable to keep a note of relief out of his voice, "What have I told you about getting into fights where the odds are stacked against you?"

Naruto gave him a deadpan look, "What have you told us about following the rules and abandoning teammates and such? I prefer being scum to worse than scum. Besides, I had it all planned out."

Kurenai sighed, "At least the threats on Tazuna's life have been neutralized. Now he can finish the bridge."

"Not so fast!" said a snide voice.

The shinobi and kunoichi all turned to see a short man with a bandaged arm at the head of what looked to be a small army of thugs. The man smirked as he tapped the end of his cane against the ground, "I'll give you twice what the bridge-builder paid if you just kill him now."

There was a cry of "Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" and about five hundred clones appeared and drew their swords.

The original Naruto stepped up to the head of the clone army and smirked, "Still think you outnumber us?"

Gatō laughed nastily, "Kill them all and you can have the women for yourselves! They should still fetch a good price when they've been properly tamed!"

Naruto's face hardened, "Not happening, Gatō. Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The clone army doubled and the new five hundred clones drew their own weapons.

The thugs looked at each other and wisely began to back away.

"CHARGE!" yelled Naruto and the clones did exactly that.

-TRM-

Four days later.

"So… I guess this is goodbye," Naruto admitted as he shook Tazuna's hand and ruffled Inari's hair.

Tazuna grinned and ruffled the blond's hair in return, "Yeah, I guess so. It was good to meet you, kid."

Behind them, Haku hugged Zabuza, "I'll miss you, tou-san.

Naruto smirked, "I'll be back to see you some time. See how Wave is handling!"

Tazuna nodded before he turned and announced, "I guess there's just one order of business left; naming the bridge!"

Inari yelled, "The Great Naruto Bridge!"

Naruto opened his mouth but his protest was lost amid the cheering as the people of Wave demonstrated their liking of the name Inari had put forth.

-TRM-

"Well," said Aiko cheerfully as they stepped off the bridge and turned to bid Wave one last goodbye, "That was fun. What are we going next?"

Kakashi eye-smiled, "The Chūnin Exams are coming up soon. Do you two think you're ready?"

Naruto grinned, "Hell yeah!"

Kurenai frowned, "You need a third genin to be able to compete. Do you have anybody in mind?"

The two genin of Team 7 thought for a minute before Aiko said, "We'll cross that bride when we come to it."

Naruto smirked, "Maybe we could steal Hinata-chan away from you. A full team of dōjutsu-users would be awesome!"

Kurenai chuckled, "I'm afraid that Hinata is not available."

Naruto's smirk widened, "Hinata-chan? I'll give you some cinnamon rolls if you defect to Team 7 until the Exams are over."

Hinata blinked once, "You play dirty Naruto-kun, but I can't abandon my teammates."

Naruto laughed, "Shame. The idea was cool while it lasted."

Aiko smiled, "Maybe you should take Hinata-san on a date to make up for it?"

Hinata went red and giggled to herself at the thought.

"Hush, Aiko-chan," Naruto playfully admonished, but he didn't deny the idea had some merit as he kept walking.

-TRM-

Their return to Konoha was without much pomp and circumstance, as was to be expected; the genin of Teams 7 and 8 went their separate ways while Kakashi and Kurenai escorted Haku, Gōzu and Meizu before the Hokage (Zabuza having remained in Wave to assist in dismantling Gatō's holdings) and issue their reports.

Naruto and Aiko chose to go and get some food to celebrate the successful completions of their first missions outside Konoha. Therefore it was no surprise that they ended up at Ichiraku's, where Naruto regaled Ayame with the story of how he took down four missing-nins in under ten minutes.

"Wow," said Ayame once he was finished, "You've really come a long way since the Academy, haven't you? Seems like just yesterday you were in here complaining about failing to perform the Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Naruto winced as Aiko laughed openly, her onyx eyes sparkling as she regarded her master affectionately.

"Ayame-chaaaaaaaaaaaan!" he whined, prompting a laugh from the ramen waitress.

"You're still too easy to wind up, Naruto-kun."

She ignored his pout as she took his and Aiko's empty bowls into the back to be washed up, prompting the blond genin and his raven-haired compatriot to leave their bill on the bar and depart.

-TRM-

That evening proved to be an important milestone in the duo's personal training. Haku, now happily wearing a Leaf headband, came over to visit after getting Sarutobi to divulge their address and found them working on the water balloons that comprised the first stage of their Rasengan training.

Once Naruto had told him what they were trying (unsuccessfully) to do, the ice-using nin had watched for all of five seconds before taking Naruto's balloon and bursting it directly over the blond's head.

After Naruto had dried himself and Aiko had stopped laughing, Haku proceeded to explain that the trick wasn't to just move the water in one direction but to rotate it in multiple directions at once.

When Naruto called him on how he knew this, Haku had simply shrugged, "Some of my Hyōton techniques require a great deal of chakra control. After a while you start to pick up on this stuff at a glance."

After that both genin succeeded in bursting their balloons and moved onto trying to burst the rubber balls.

Naruto managed this step in seconds as his ball exploded, sending bits of rubber everywhere and making a noise like a cannon going off. Aiko, on the other hand, only made a hole in her ball, so she got a new one and started over.

Naruto moved onto normal balloons and trying not to pop them, so the sounds of bursting balloons interspersed with curses filled the rest of the evening before Haku bid them goodnight and headed off back to the apartment he now shared with Gōzu and Meizu.

-TRM-

Kakashi got them started on elemental manipulation or, as he called it, "Nature Transformation" the very next day. They already knew that Naruto could use all the elements because of the Rinnegan, so Kakashi handed Aiko a piece of chakra paper to test her affinities.

The paper crumpled before bursting into flames. Kakashi tapped his chin in thought, "Fire, I understand; you are an Uchiha. But lightning as well? You will be a terrifying kunoichi in later life, Aiko."

Aiko smiled, and Kakashi picked up a leaf from the ground, "Try to crumple this with your chakra."

Aiko nodded and sat down with the leaf in her hand, staring at it.

Naruto looked around at her before addressing Kakashi. Once he had the information he needed about elemental training, he created about sixty clones and separated them into groups of twelve. Once each group had a leaf each, Naruto directed them to practice different things; one group to cut the leaf with wind chakra, another to burn it with fire chakra, and so on.

As the groups settled in to their work, Naruto created a dozen clones and directed them to sit in a line before he walked behind them and put his hand on the first one's head.

Kakashi recognized this as the interrogation technique that he had been told could be used by the Human Path, though he could already tell that Naruto's particular method of practicing it wasn't going to work since he already learnt what the clones did when they dispelled.

As he watched Naruto's expression became steadily more irritated, and finally he made a mental note to ask Ibiki and Anko if they would be willing to allow Naruto to practice that technique on the prisoners.

Finally Naruto dispelled the two remaining clones and produced a balloon from his pocket. Kakashi's single visible eyebrow went straight up as Naruto focused on the balloon, only for it to pop a second later.

Kakashi's visible eye went almost comically wide as he caught a glimpse of a ball of chakra before it dissipated.

"How do you know that technique, Naruto?"

Naruto cast him a puzzled look, "It was in the letter kaa-san left for me. She left me the scroll containing the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma and information on where to find the scrolls containing the katas. Tou-san left three scrolls; the instructions for the Rasengan and the Hiraishin and a sealing scroll containing a load of Hiraishin kunai. I haven't started working on the Hiraishin yet, that'll wait until I master the Rasengan."

Kakashi nodded, "How far along with it are you?"

Naruto shrugged, "We managed to complete the first stage last night. Aiko-chan's still on the second stage; I completed the second stage on my first try."

Kakashi chuckled, "Sometimes I think you're more of a prodigy than your father was. It took him three years to master the Rasengan; you've come closer to mastering it in only about a month."

Naruto simply grunted and returned to staring at the balloon.

"Well," said Kakashi, drawing Naruto's attention away from his balloon to where the jōnin was holding a spinning ball of chakra in one hand, "If you saw the jutsu in action, would that give you a bit more incentive?"

He walked over to a tree and slammed the ball into the tree trunk. Chips of wood flew everywhere as the attack ground a perfectly circular hole into the bark.

He turned back to see Naruto openly gaping before the blond snapped out of his daze and got back to work on the balloon in his hand.

-TRM-

"What did you need me for, Hinata?" Naruto asked as she took up her position across from him, the girl having come over early that morning and asked for his aid.

"Kurenai-sensei mentioned yesterday that I needed somebody to help test my new Byakugan on. She suggested you, and since nobody in my clan knows anything about it yet and my team-mates have their own training to do…"

Naruto nodded, "Say no more." He settled into a taijutsu stance and activated his Rinnegan as two clones appeared on each side of him, "Shall we begin then?"

Hinata's pupils slowly cycled into view, the single azure petal denoting her unique Byakugan showing up prominently against her lavender iris. She looked straight at him and suddenly gasped, "Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked down to see her staring at his navel, "What?"

Hinata moved closer, her eyes fixed on what she could see illuminated against Naruto's black jacket; a large nine-tailed fox, curled up and waving one paw idly in her direction.

"What do you see?" Naruto murmured.

Hinata looked up at him, "A nine-tailed fox…"

Naruto's clones immediately went straight off to scan the field for anyone around while the original sat her on the ground and said, "Hinata, this is officially an S-rank secret that you've uncovered. The real truth is that the Yondaime wasn't able to kill the Kyūbi, instead he was forced to seal it into a newborn baby; me."

Hinata covered her mouth, "Why would he do that?"

Naruto smiled, "Best guess? He couldn't in good conscience use somebody else's kid for the task of being the Kyūbi's jinchūriki when he could use his own child."

Hinata's jaw dropped, "What? You're the Yondaime's son?"

Naruto nodded, "In the flesh. Come on, has nobody seen how much I look like him?"

Hinata giggled, "I guess that's true. So… shall we get back to our little spar, now that we've obviously gotten around our secrets?"

Naruto nodded as his clones returned to his side and settled into their taijutsu stances, "Let's begin."

Hinata dropped into the Jyūken stance before jumping forwards and striking out at the blond.

-TRM-

They started to discover what Hinata's enhanced Byakugan was capable of during their spar, aside from being able to see through spectacularly complex fūinjutsu. One of the first techniques they discovered was the lack of a blind spot that Hinata remembered as being common to those with a Byakugan. Naruto, having been told of this blind spot seconds before by Kyūbi, attempted to exploit it but instead received a powerful Jyūken strike to the abdomen for his trouble.

A few seconds after that they found that the enhanced Byakugan could quite easily pick up an entre range of pressure points and tenketsu that the normal Byakugan apparently could not pick up. As a direct result, Naruto had to learn to fight with numb limbs, and once or twice it was only Naruto's intervention with a burst of chakra that kicked Naruto's heart back up to its normal rate of palpitation when Hinata, still inexperienced in the use of the complete omniscience concerning her opponent's body she had been granted, accidentally shut off his chakra coils or, on one memorable occasion, just shut his heart down entirely.

The last thing they discovered was that by initiating eye contact and shaping some chakra, Hinata was able to trap her target in a genjutsu of some kind of reverse world where all the normal brain signals were messed up so that, as Naruto discovered (and had great fun with), trying to move your left arm moved your right leg and vice versa. Kyūbi called the technique "Sakanade", proudly fluffing his tails at what he saw as "one of his finest works".

They finally said their goodbyes and headed back to their own homes, Naruto walking Hinata to the Hyūga compound and bestowing a gentle kiss on the back of her hand on the spur of the moment before departing.

Hinata giggled to herself all the way back to her room, drawing smiles from the Branch Hyūga she passed, who were happy to see that the heiress to the Main Branch was so obviously in love.

-TRM-

Naruto walked into his home to find Aiko already cooking dinner. She smiled when she saw him, "Welcome back, Naruto-sama."

Naruto smiled, "Hiya Aiko-chan. Any news?"

Aiko slapped his hand away as he tried to steal some of the meat she was slicing, "Haku-san stopped by with Kakashi-sensei. He's to be our third teammate for the Chūnin Exam."

Naruto nodded as he picked up a wooden spoon and began stirring the stew on the stove, "That sounds good. What do you think they'll have us do?"

Aiko dropped the meat into the stew pot and took the spoon, "I don't know. Kakashi-sensei advised me to look "underneath the underneath" for the first one when I asked though."

Naruto opened the cutlery drawer and began laying the table, "I wonder what that was meant to mean. Maybe the first test is some sort of trick."

Aiko shrugged, "Maybe. Unless we can coerce the exact details out of Kakashi-sensei, we won't know until we get into the test."

Naruto finished laying the table and went to get two glasses from the cupboard for milk. If there was one thing he had learned from having Aiko live with him, it was that she had an endearing (and somewhat painful) habit of making everything very spicy.

When he asked her about it, she said it was an old family tradition to make everything as spicy as possible in order to accustom trainees in the use of the Uchiha Katon techniques to the sheer heat produced by the technique. Since Aiko fully intended to teach Naruto all the Uchiha fire techniques once he could access his fire chakra, she reasoned that it was best for him to get used to the heat while she was able.

Her reasoning for forcing him to eat a lot of spicy food was that back before the massacre, she remembered a cousin of her mother's who, back before the Kyūbi attack, hadn't undergone the spice training and yet insisted on trying one of the Uchiha clan's most powerful Katon ninjutsu. It was apparently only the good fortune that Tsunade of the Sannin happened to be in the hospital when he was rushed in that saved him, though he was rendered mute and had to retire as a shinobi afterwards.

Remembering the clan turned her thoughts to Itachi, and she gripped the edge of the worktop as tears long restrained crept forth and rolled down her cheeks. "Why, nii-san?" she whispered to herself, closing her eyes, "Why did you do it? Why did you kill everybody we loved and cared about?"

Without thinking she turned off the heat and grabbed the metal handle of the pan.

Naruto jumped and spilt milk on the table as Aiko gave a cry of pain and leapt backwards, "Aiko-chan!"

Aiko found herself supported by Naruto as he sat down on a comfortable armchair and put her on his lap with a first-aid kit at his side, "Naruto-sama it's just a small burn, I'm fine!"

Naruto tutted, "That's a matter of opinion, now sit down and let me bandage your hand!"

Aiko smiled to herself and snuggled against Naruto's chest. Yes, she would eventually have to bring Itachi to book for his crime, but that could wait. Her Naruto-sama needed her now.

-TRM-

Two weeks later.

Naruto, Aiko and Haku stood in front of the building where the first phase of the Chūnin Exams was to take place.

"Well," said Naruto, cracking his neck and caressing the handle of the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma, "Let's go."

Aiko nodded, "Yes, let's go Naruto-sama."

They walked inside, stopped for about twenty seconds to diffuse a situation involving two chūnin under a henge and a minor genjutsu and finally proceeded to the third floor where Naruto kicked the doors open and looked around, "Hell yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!"

Killing intent poured on from all sides, but Naruto ignored it and replied with a blast of his own which sent all but about four people aside from his teammates scuttling for cover.

Before anybody could say anything there was a yell of, "QUIET DOWN YOU MAGGOTS!"

Everybody turned to see a tall man standing in front of a pair of doors, "I'm Ibiki Morino, proctor of the first test!"

-TRM-

Naruto shifted in his chair and looked around. He was seated beside Hinata and had a dozen or so clones orbiting around the room, henged into flies and with their Rinnegan active. All he had to do was activate his own Rinnegan and he would immediately have a perfect view of everyone else's answers once the test began.

Aiko was seated some distance to his right and just behind him. Haku was sitting quite a way behind her, looking around curiously.

"Right," said Ibiki, "I have explained the rules, so you don't need to hear them again." He glared around the room at them, meeting Naruto's unwavering return glare before turning to look at the rest of them, "The test will now… begin!"

(A/N: …At last, at long last, I finished it. The rewrite of Maelstrom's Chapter 3 is done, with not a somewhat superfluous OC in sight! Sorry about that the first time… Anyway, now that I've finished this I can actually start work on some new chapters, since I neglected to begin them so I could concentrate on this one; though we know of course that it didn't work as I just ended up coming up with new story ideas. Damn muses being insatiable…

Eight or more voices from the next room: Oh Leo-kuuuuuuuuuuun…?

Oh crap. Anyway I'll just quickly wrap this up. Depending on what I can start writing during my lunch break at work tomorrow that will decide what I can start on next, though I'm inclined to guess it will be Reign because I have an idea on how to start that next chapter. Until then guys, this is Leonineus saying GOODNIGHT!)