Kurama watched with curiosity as Kushina-sama examined the seal on its cage. She was muttering to herself as she did it, and it felt a wave of affection for her.

"Are you sure that it works that way?" she asked it.

Kurama nodded back to her. "Yes, I believe that you can modify the seal here without the modifications being evident in the seal on your body in the outside world. At the very least if you attach supplementary seals to it in here they should leave no traces upon your body," it answered.

"I'll have to test that before I make any changes to the main seal," she stated. "It's too dangerous to do anything rash with sealing, as you know."

"What are you planning on doing to the seal, Kushina-sama?" it asked her with curiosity evident in its voice.

"If I'm decoding this properly than it looks like this seal is slowly consuming you, and feeding your chakra into my chakra coils. That's abhorrent, I can't believe that Minato-kun would have used such a horrible thing," she explained with disgust. "Instead of that, I want to alter it to help you accumulate more power and to allow us to communicate while I'm awake instead of having to wait until I'm asleep."

"You could add some of the seals that summoning contracts are made with," Kurama suggested. "I would be honored to become your personal summon, although you would be able to bring forth only a small portion of my power that way."

She nodded, looking at him with wide eyes. "Are you certain, Kurama?"

"Very much so, Kushina-sama. It would allow me to protect you far more directly than simply healing your injuries after you are hurt. Not being hurt in the first place is the best form of healing," it answered.

She nodded again, then left the seal to lie back against its side, running her fingers through its fur. "Was there anything you wanted to talk about in particular tonight?" she asked.

Making a sound of pleasure it curled around her, and nodded. "You told your new teacher, or should I say your new student, a lot more about your situation than I was expecting. You have an amazing ability to tell a story that is nearly the truth without actually being true. It was quite devious of you," it rumbled. "Uzuki asked if you could teach her the physical transformation I've gifted you. It isn't something that can be taught, but I could help you make a seal that would anchor a part of me within someone else and allow them to take on a fox form like the one you have."

"Wouldn't people notice if someone suddenly started exhibiting your chakra?" she asked after some contemplation.

"Not if we design the seal properly. In addition, I believe that we could design it to allow a link similar to the one that you've developed with your clones, although perhaps more detailed. The way you've encoded hand signs as pulses in your chakra is ingenious, though," it said.

She smiled. "It took the better part of a decade's worth of time to make that work properly and to learn to do it to the point where I don't need to think about it consciously. Being able to have a link like that without all the work would be wonderful," she said as she scratched under Kurama's chin.

It rumbled in pleasure at her attentions. "I believe that I could also use it to heal the people you grant it to, although to a lesser extent than I can heal you. Still, it should be enough to help mitigate the use of your clone technique. I should also be able to increase their chakra capacity," it further explained.

"It looks like some testing on the seal is in order, then, and a lot of seal designing in addition," she said. "I'm glad that you took an interest in my memories of sealing theory, I would be worried without having someone around to check my work over for errors."

With that decided, Kurama settled back to watch her think. Her expression was just so endearing.

oOo;

"We must act preemptively, Hiashi-sama. If we're going to ally ourselves with the Uzumaki clan, we must make a show of good faith," one of the Hyuuga elders said. The others nodded in agreement.

"Right now that clan is just one person. If Naruto-sama's unpredictability and genius breed true than we are perilously close to losing it forever. We need to help him invoke the Clan Restoration Act!" another stated vehemently. "With Hinata-sama acting as our clan's heir apparent she would be unable to help him provide his clan with children. Hanabi-sama would be the perfect person to help him in that regard." Unspoken was the fact that any children Hinata-sama had by him would bring his strong abilities into their own clan.

Hyuuga Hiashi nodded in agreement with all the points raised so far in the meeting. "What kind of 'a show of good faith' did you have in mind?" he asked the first elder.

"We know that the village civilians treat Naruto-sama poorly," he explained. Looking slightly ashamed he added, "Until Hinata-sama explained the gravity of the mistake we were making we did the same. This must stop! We must, as a clan, publicly show our support for him by avoiding those shops and suppliers that discriminate against him. We must become the face of a village that likes and trusts him."

Turning to the second elder, Hiashi asked, "So you propose sealing Hanabi with the Caged Bird seal and arranging for her to marry into the Uzumaki clan?"

The elder shook his head. "With how much Naruto-sama has helped Hinata-sama with her Byakugan so far it would be counterproductive to seal away her sight. Imagine how much more he might advance our abilities if it manifested within his own clan!" he said. "Hinata-sama has made it clear that she will oppose the use of the seal when she becomes clan head. Perhaps we should take her stance to heart and cease its use beforehand?"

The rest of the elders muttered amongst themselves. Although outrage was the first reaction, the suggestion did have merit. The discussion continued on far into the night, and the radical suggestion that would reshape the Hyuuga clan and abolish the Branch house if it was adopted would be discussed for many more nights in the future.

oOo;

Temari, now known as Sabaku no Temari in honor of the memory of Gaara, looked up as her brother entered her office. He, like her, had adopted the name of his deceased brother and was now known as Sabaku no Kankurou. "It's official then? Our father never even made it to the chuunin exams in Konoha?"

Kankurou nodded grimly. "It seems that Orochimaru not only was the ultimate cause of Gaara's death, he also took our father away from us. They need to pay, both Orochimaru and Konoha!" his voice raised in volume, almost shouting at the end. She glared, and he quieted down with a muttered, "Sorry..."

"And what was the decision made by the council?" she asked.

He smiled sardonically at her and bowed saying, "I greet you, Godaime Kazekage. As our father's eldest child and one of the stronger ninja in our village it was decided that only you would be able to bring together the various factions and lead us back to prosperity."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Right now the only thing that I seem to be able to bring together is paperwork. It's amazing just how much can accumulate over the course of a week," she said, gesturing at the tabletop in front of her.

"Better you than me, Kazekage-sama," he said. More gently he added, "I think they made the right decision, sister. Suna can be great again, and you're the perfect person to lead us to that greatness."

She smiled back at him, eyes shining.

oOo;

Tenten walked into the bar, glaring at the huddled shape in the corner. "There you are!" she said loudly as she walked towards it. The other patrons of the bar muttered disapprovingly at her but she ignored them in favor of her prey. "Hatake Kakashi, I've been looking all over Konoha for you for the past day and a half. I need to speak to your team member Naruto," she said firmly.

Hatake Kakashi looked up at her through drunk and bleary eyes. "Naruto? He's not on my team anymore," he said, "the Hokage reassigned him before he disbanded my team. I don't know where he is anymore, but his jounin-sensei is Uzuki Yuugao. Now go away." He turned back to his drink.

She nodded and left without a further word. 'I don't know how many people would recognize the kenjutsu style he was using from only a description, but I'm not just any person. He was using the same style that Kushina the Red-Hot Habanero used! I don't recognize the name of his jounin-sensei, she must be new...' she thought as she headed home. 'I'll track down his new team tomorrow after training is over,' she decided.

oOo;

Uzumaki Naruto Kushina woke up to a knock on her front door. Yawning and stretching she flared her chakra internally to render herself instantly awake and alert. Frowning she changed into her male form before answering the door. Hinata-chan smiled sheepishly at him.

"Naruto-kun, my father wanted me to invite you to breakfast with us," she said. "Would you like to come and eat with me this morning?"

Shrugging he considered, then nodded. "If you don't mind waiting for a few minutes I'll go get ready now," he said.

At her nod, he went into the bathroom to perform his morning ablutions, totally missing the muttered 'byakugan' that Hinata-chan said under her breath.

oOo;

Hyuuga Hiashi smiled as Hinata came into the room trailed by Uzumaki Naruto. "Welcome to our home, Uzumaki-san," he said. Indicating a place at the table between Hinata and Hanabi he added, "I'm glad you decided to join us for breakfast. Please rest and eat."

"Thank you for inviting me this morning, Hyuuga-sama," he responded in kind, taking the indicated place. He fought not to roll his eyes at the blatant attempt at matchmaking. 'So Hinata-chan was right,' he thought, 'the Hyuuga elders really were serious about arranging a marriage between me and both her and her sister.'

"Oh, I must not have been clear when I instructed Hinata to invite you," Hiashi-sama said. "The invitation wasn't only for today, it is for today and every day in the future. We'll always be happy to see you join us for any meal. Also, you can be a little less formal, Uzumaki-san. Clan heads such as ourselves would never get anything done together if we didn't occasionally relax our formalities."

'Clan heads? Yes, Hinata-chan phrased it like that, didn't she? The Hyuuga and Uzumaki clans. They're really serious about this, then. A formal alliance with the heir apparent of the clan as one of my betrothed. Whatever Hinata-chan said to them must have really shaken their views of me,' he mused. "Hyuuga-san, then? Thank you for the invitation," he bowed his head to Hiashi-san.

As they ate, Hiashi-san asked him, "Have you given any thoughts to the future of your clan, Uzumaki-san? As the last of your clan you would qualify for the Clan Restoration Act, and some might regard it as your duty to repopulate your clan and see it prosper into the future."

'The Clan Restoration Act? And he's really right about it being my duty, as much as I would like to avoid thinking about it. Whether as a male or a female, my duty to my clan demands that I have children,' he thought. "I... hadn't considered it in that light before, Hyuuga-san. Until very recently I had believed that there was no way that I would be considered to qualify for the CRA. I'm actually still not sure if the council would agree to it," he said. "Doesn't it require a majority of the clan heads to agree for it to be invoked?"

"It does, yes. The Hyuuga will back you fully when you bring it before the council, Uzumaki-san. We believe that several of the lesser clans will follow our lead as well," he responded. "Have you considered yet our offer of one of the unused buildings in our compound as a place for you to live temporarily until your own clan holdings become available?"

"I don't really have any clan holdings to be made available," Naruto pointed out. "The Hokage tells me that my parents are unknown."

Hiashi nodded, but said, "Yes, if your parents are unknown you might not have any existing clan holdings, but Konoha has given clans their own land before. That's how we Hyuuga acquired our compound. And with effort perhaps your parentage will come to light, and we may find that you have clan holdings that nobody is aware of."

Naruto nodded. 'So, he knows about my heritage but can't speak of it openly. There must be another law about that, just like the one covering speaking of the nine-tails. Just what is going on here, Sarutobi?' he thought irritably. "I would like to look at the building before I decide, Hyuuga-san," he said.

Hiashi-san nodded placidly. The rest of the meal passed in relative silence. The food was actually quite good.

oOo;

The building they were offering was acceptable, though that was understating how nice it really was. It was currently unused, but was quite spacious and had room enough for a large family. Naruto found himself seriously contemplating accepting their offer.

"Might I examine your sword, Uzumaki-sama?" Hanabi-san asked him.

Nodding, he unsheathed it and held it out to her. As he did so, he said, "You can call me Naruto if I can call you Hanabi, Hyuuga-san."

She looked at it with her byakugan active, seeming disappointed. Knowing what she really wanted to see, he began his Sword Concentration. When her eyes widened in surprise he smiled at her.

From behind them both Hiashi-san asked, "What exactly do you do to get that effect, Uzumaki-san? It is very interesting-looking to our sight, especially up close like this."

"I call it Sword Concentration. I originally meant to use it as a simple chakra control exercise, much like Leaf Concentration, but Hinata-chan and I were able to find a use for it in combat as well. I can't actually see tenketsu, so it's less useful for me than it is for Hinata-chan," he explained. "It's still not totally useless to me. Although it doesn't make the blade sharper, it does make the sword itself much more tough, and I can expel chakra from it to deflect or even outright dispel some ninjutsu."

As an example he stepped away from Hanabi-san and spun into one of the shorter kata of the Shi no Uzu, expelling chakra as he went. To their eyes his blade left a glittering wake that coalesced into something like a half-formed kaiten, but unlike the kaiten it didn't dissipate. Instead it persisted for a while, swirling around him.

"So you can't use it to block a physical attack, but it will disrupt most chakra-based jutsu?" asked Hiashi-san. Naruto nodded in return, and watched with bemusement as Hanabi touched the sword carefully and almost reverently.

"Hinata, can you perform this maneuver as well?" Hiashi-san asked her.

"Yes, father. I can't perform it with senbon yet, but Naruto may have found a way for me to make it possible in the future," she answered. To demonstrate she charged a senbon with Senbon Concentration and then flicked it toward the nearby pond, then used the chakra thread she had attached to it to guide it into the target behind her. "I'm not very good with it yet," she said apologetically, completely ignoring the fact that the senbon had hit the target in the exact center of the bullseye. With a twitch of a finger the senbon came spinning back into her hand.

Naruto watched bemusedly as Hiashi-san swallowed almost audibly and then asked her, "How long have you been able to do that, daughter?"

"Naruto helped me figure it out yesterday during training, father," she said happily. She didn't mention that it was the work of fifteen clones practicing for eight hours yesterday evening that had helped her learn this quickly.

"I see...," Hiashi-san's voice trailed off as he contemplated Naruto speculatively.

Naruto hid a small smile as he caught Hanabi looking at Hinata and himself in awe.

oOo;

Uzuki Yuugao looked up as she heard her last name being called. When she saw that it was one of Might Gai's students, she tilted her head in confusion. 'Why would one of his students be seeking me out? Does he need me for something?' she wondered.

Tenten walked up to the table she was eating at, and asked, "You're Uzuki Yuugao, right? Uzumaki Naruto's jounin-sensei?"

She nodded. 'Of course. Lately it seems that everything revolves around him,' she thought. With an internal grimace she added, 'Even my love life.' "That's right," she answered. "What can I do for you? I'm not sure where he is right now, but we're meeting for training tomorrow morning at training ground 23."

"I was hoping to find out more about the sword style he was using during the exams," Tenten answered. "Based on the descriptions I've read it was very similar to the one that one of my heroes used, Kushina the Red-Hot Habanero."

'This is surprising, someone recognizing the Shi no Uzu from only a written description. It is fairly unique with the reverse-grip, but most people haven't studied the various styles enough to have ever heard of it before,' she thought. Aloud she said, "She was my hero when I entered the academy, too. I always tried to talk her into teaching me, but then the nine-tails attacked and she died."

Tenten's eyes sparkled. "You actually knew her?" she asked.

Yuugao nodded at her. "Uzumaki Kushina, the Red-Hot Habanero. Naruto-kun has agreed to show me what he knows of her style. I now have both him and Hyuuga Hinata on a team. It's not a full squad, but I suspect that we'll do very well together," she said.

"You have a space free in your squad? And you're concentrating on weapons in your training?" she asked in a rush.

"That's right," answered Yuugao.

"I've got to go then, before someone else takes that spot! Hokage-sama, here I come!" she said, jogging out in the direction of the Hokage's tower.

Yuugao blinked. 'I wasn't expecting this team to be quite so popular...,' she thought bemusedly.

oOo;

Lunch after training at the Hyuuga compound was much less strained than breakfast had been, Naruto decided. He had been asked to train Hanabi-san by Hiashi-san later that day, and so that's what he was currently trying to do.

"We can't just start with Sword Concentration," he explained to Hanabi-san. "It's the next step after you master Leaf Concentration, Tree-Walking, and Water-Walking. Trying to go straight to it without doing the other steps just won't work."

She pouted at him for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. "How long do you think it will take me, Naruto-sama?" she asked hesitantly.

"Please, just use -san or perhaps even -kun, Hanabi-san. You have an advantage that I don't, since you can actually see the chakra you're using. I would guess less than two months, but that mostly depends on your chakra reserves. One of the next steps after Sword Concentration requires that you have very large reserves," he told her.

Her expression firmed and she nodded eagerly.

"But you have to be careful not to exhaust your chakra in training, Hanabi-san!" he said firmly. "Don't overdo training or it will take even longer!"

The look he got in return told him that he'd accurately read both her expression and the emotions he could feel from her.

oOo;

Tenten knocked on the Hokage's office door. His secretary was looking at her encouragingly but she still felt hesitant about approaching him directly like this. She opened the door and entered at his command.

He looked expectantly at her, and she flushed before asking, "Hokage-sama, I would like to request a reassignment."

"Is there a problem with your current team or jounin-sensei?" he asked with grandfatherly concern in his voice.

She shook her head and answered, "No, no problems, but I just found out that there's a team focusing on weapons training that has an open spot, and I'd like to join that team and concentrate on my kenjutsu."

"Ahh, yes. Team Uzuki is indeed not yet a full team, but what would you suggest I do about your current team? They won't be at full strength if you leave them," he noted, leaning forward.

"They focus more on taijutsu than anything else, Hokage-sama. I really don't want to miss this chance to get better with my kenjutsu," she explained, almost begging.

He shuffled through some papers on his desk and then pulled one out of a pile. Looking it over carefully he thought for a while, then nodded to himself. Tenten kept herself at attention the whole time, hoping that there was a way.

Finally he spoke, "There is one possible way. There is a girl that could benefit from special training in genjutsu much as your teammate Rock Lee has benefited from your jounin-sensei's taijutsu training. If you convince the jounin-sensei Yuuhi Kurenai to take this girl, Kurama Yakumo, on her team then I'll reassign the other person on her team to Team Gai and reassign you to Team Uzuki. Do you wish to try this?"

She nodded with some relief. It was possible!

The Hokage scribbled something onto another paper and handed it to her. "If you convince her, give her this paper. It authorizes the reassignments but is contingent on her agreement to take Kurama-san onto her team," he said.

She bowed and said, "Yes, Hokage-sama. Thank you!"

He smiled at her as she left his office.

oOo;

"No," stated Yuuhi Kurenai firmly.

Tenten wasn't about to give up. "But...," but before she could continue her arguments for accepting the Hokage's requirement, yelling broke out behind her.

Turning, she saw that the Inuzuka, Kiba, was yelling at the boy with the creepily wide, fake smile. His teammate, the Aburame, was backing away from them both carefully.

Beside her, Yuuhi-sensei cleared her throat. "And if I do accept then Sai will be reassigned to Gai's team?" she asked carefully, not taking her eyes off of the confrontation.

"Here," Tenten said, handing her the paper the Hokage had given her. "This should say, I think."

Glancing it over Yuuhi-sensei nodded. "Well then it looks as if I have a new teammate to collect, and we both have to visit your team, and then Gai, and then the Hokage afterwards," she said with a smile. Then Kiba started yelling even louder as Sai spoke in his monotone voice, and she frowned. "I think that the sooner we get this done the better off we all will be," she said decisively.

oOo;

Gai looked at her somberly, then broke out into his 'Nice Guy' pose. "Seeking to further your training like this is most youthful, Tenten-chan! I heartily approve." Turning to Yuuhi-sensei he said quietly, "So Uzumaki Naruto is no longer on Kakashi's team, and furthermore his team was actually disbanded? And Sai-kun here will be my new team member?"

Yuuhi-sensei nodded with a smirk. "He actually tried to argue that the other two 'weren't ready' to take missions alone," she confided. "I'm sorry, I know that he's a close friend of yours, but none of the rest of us approve of how he's been handling the situation or his team."

Gai nodded to her. "I was there when Uzumaki was nominated too," he reminded her with a frown. "He's not the same person he used to be." Shaking himself out of his funk, he continued on in his normal booming voice, "Yosh! Let us head onward to the Hokage's tower, my fellow comrades! The fires of youth will guide our way!"