Author note :

Greetings, dear readers! Contrary to what some of you might believe, I did not die, nor did I abandon this story. I just had a very, very busy year. so, here I am, with a new chapter of Rise of the Skulk. A little summary might be necessary, eh?

As a premise for this story, Hinata and Hanabi are twins, and were abducted during the Hyuga incident, before being injected the Kyubi chakra stored in Ginkaku and Kinkaku, resulting in fox tails and ears appearing on their bodies. In response, Hiashi put a bounty on any kumo genin to enter the chnin exams, and Danzo started an underground arena where he trains promising academy students in non lethal ways, while making a bit of coin thanks to a public. Hiruzen let it run while keeping an eye on him. At the same time, Danzo jumpstarts the rebirth of Whirlpool as a Fiefdom of Fire Country, and subtly trains Naruto in Lordship. Unfortunately, Naruto unconsciously separate his identity in the arena and his everyday self, out of fear to be excluded.

A few years down the line, the Mizuki incident happens, and the 2 Naruto start to merge. The class becomes genin, Naruto is introduced to his responsibilities and recruits a few clans to help hold his lands. After much manipulation, and the acquisition by Whirlpool of both the archipelago stretching along the coast of Lightning country, and Wave country itself, Naruto has more or less a monopoly over sea trade between Water Country and the rest of the shinobi world.

Chunin exams come, the Hyuga sisters are sent to Konoha in an effort to appease them and stop the continued slaughter of his genin. Orochimaru tries to mark Sasuke, but gets pushed back by a recently awakened, and Kyubi-chakra-charged Kushina. They reached the tower, the preliminaries happened, and those qualified left to train, while dark clouds gather on the horizon.

Sorry if the summary isn't top notch, but I really can't think of a better one, and it's about time I posted this chapter.

Hanabi looked in satisfaction at the finally fully healed arm. Now, she could train again. Quickly, she made her way to the training grounds the Hyuga family had been given, and began to go through the katas her sister and herself had established. It was far from the usual Hyuga kata, but it worked for them. She went through the slowly at first, then faster, until she completely abandoned the katas and simply struck out at high speed, fighting imaginary opponents in her acrobatic style, loosing herself in the beat of the battle. When she stopped, she was drenched in sweat, but smiling. It had helped to blow off some steam. She left the training grounds satisfied with her performance and activated her Byakugan to find her sister.

She immediately grinned happily and quietly celebrated this decision. As she made her way to her sister, who also had her Byakugan activated, she was treated to the most yummy sight of Naruto-kun, exercising and covered in sweat, but more importantly, topless. Damn, did he have some fine muscles. As she sat next to Hinata on the balcony overlooking the courtyard where their dream-boy was training, she couldn't help but lick her lips.

"We chose our man well." She said, a wide and lecherous smile on her lips.

"That we did." Answered Hinata with a demure smile, hiding the pure lust Hanabi knew she felt.

"Say sis, since Kushina-sama's out of town … how about we ambush Dream-kun in the onsen again?" She asked impishly.

Hinata licked her lips in an entirely too sensual fashion. "I like this idea."

Naruto felt a shiver go down his spine, and a tightening of his pants. 'Looks like my foxy ladies are onto me again.'

Kushina gaped at the man in front of her. He had red hair pulled back and falling to the base of his neck, a thick moustache, as red as his mane, purple eyes sparkling with mischief and a small, amused smile on his lips. He wore the traditional Uzumaki dark robes, his arms behind his back.

"D-Dad?" Kushina asked in pure, unadulterated shock.

"Ah, Kushina, it's about time you came. I was starting to cramp'ttebuno." He said humorously.

Kushina looked at Soburo the Unbroken, one of the mightiest fighters of his time, fallen gloriously in the line of duty, standing right in front of her in an expanse of pure white, cracking jokes.

"That was … anticlimactic." She said, her left eye twitching. A quick check of herself showed she was also in traditional Uzumaki robes. She heard her father chuckle and looked at him flatly.

"You'll have to excuse me; I couldn't help myself." He said with a calm smile. "Besides, you should have expected that, my little wildfire."

"Dad!" Complained Kushina, but both knew she was delighted to hear that nickname again. She had missed it.

Soburo's face sobered and he took a concerned expression. "Kushina, it's obviously been quite some time since the fall of Uzu … at the very least 2 decades … why … Did the war really last … that long?"

"No, no. It's just … It broke my heart to see the Shiro broken like that and … I … I couldn't bring myself to come back. And after that, the Third Shinobi World War popped up, and then I got busy with my love life, had a kid and … spent 13 years in a coma after watching my husband die before me." She said, her voice becoming dull and void at the end.

Soburo embraced his daughter, trying to give her comfort and help her. Kushina started to sniffle, then sobbed, before crying in earnest. Soburo only rubbed her back, letting her release her pent up emotions. "It's ok, little wildfire, let it all out. We have all the time in the world." He murmured. He had hoped the last time he saw his daughter would be more joyous.

Fu looked blankly at her now official boyfriend, trying to digest what the agitated boy just told her.

"Run that by me again, will you?" She finally said.

"It is tradition in the Aburame clan that the wife of the clan head manages most of the relations with the vassal clans. Introducing you to the heads of our vassal clans basically equals to saying we are engaged." Repeated Shino nervously.

Fu remained still after this, finding it to be easier to process after hearing it twice. "I see." She said. "And … how do you feel about it?" She asked, trying to hide her own feelings.

"I … I think it might be premature." Said Shino hesitantly. "I wouldn't want you to feel pressured into a relationship with me." Said Shino nervously, letting a few of his insecurities talk for a bit. And unknowingly scoring him lots and lots of brownie points with Fu.

The girl simply nodded and motioned for him to follow her. Shino obeyed and walked behind his girlfriend and hopefully future wife, exiting the mansion, reaching the clearing they favoured for star gazing and weapon study. It was filled with fireflies dancing in the air. Shino was particularly nervous when Fu stopped in the middle of the clearing.

"OK." She said, taking a deep breath, her back to Shino. "You're uneasy with this because … you feel it might be too fast for me?"

"Yes." Answered Shino, feeling his throat dry.

"But it's not too fast for you?"

"No." He was so nervous; he was certain she could see him shaking like a leaf.

"Am I to understand you wish to wed me, Aburame Shino-sama?" Said Fu in a playful voice, trying to lighten up the atmosphere. Shino felt like he was at a crossroad, like answering wrong would cost him dearly, but a good answer would be extremely rewarding. Not sure of what to do, he decided to follow his instinct.

"Yes." He said, after barely a second of hesitation.

The clearing was filled with an almost silence only disturbed by the soft buzzing of the fireflies, too busy with their matrimonial dance to worry abut human problems. Fu was shocked, she had not expected this.

"You … really want to?" She said, trying her best to keep her hope out of her voice. "You'd really have me? Biju and all?" The awe was starting to seep in her voice, along with a joy unlike any she had ever felt.

Shino decided to follow his instinct yet again, and walked up to the girl he liked – no, loved – and embraced her from behind.

"I wouldn't trade this Biju in you for the world, because without him, you wouldn't be you. The real question, I think, is would you have me, bugs and all?"

Fu was about to spin in his arms, deck him for saying stupid things and then kiss him silly for saying such sweet things when Chomei contacted her.

"Little one, since you gave me the role of father, I'll tell you this: you have until morning to stake your claim on this one as your mate. If you don't I'll nag you until you do. Now I'll cut the connection. Good luck."

And then Chomei wasn't there anymore. Fu smiled and decided her course of action. She pried Shino's arms from her waist just long enough to turn to face him, and then placed them back where they were.

"I was about to deck you for the stupid question." She said softly, looking straight into Shino's eyes. "But right now …" her face came closer to his. "I feel more like rewarding you for the sweet things you said to me." Her lips landed softly on his, and she slowly pulled him to the ground.

Hinata let out a shuddering breath, grasping the sheet around her tightly, a whimper escaping her lips when she felt the intruding (but so very welcome) appendage teasing her senseless brush against her again. They had only done that in dreams so far, and it felt so insanely good, so … a sharp gasp escaped her when it dipped inside, twisting sensually. Next to her, Hanabi was shamelessly moaning, her hands clamped on the bump between her legs and under the covers, her back arching, pushing her bare breasts up, with every passage of the beloved muscle. Hinata's observation of her enraptured sister was interrupted by her lover's appendage brushing against a particularly pleasurable spot, causing her to arch her own back, pushing her own bare chest up. Hanabi let out a keen moan, her body shaking with pleasure as she gave into the assaults of her own blond. Hinata managed to hold on a bit longer, but eventually succumbed to the delicious assaults, peaking with a sharp gasp, her body locking up in wonderful ecstasy.

Her Naruto climbed up her body, pressing his chiselled body against hers and kissing her lovingly. Hinata was dimly aware of another Naruto making out with her sister, but she was far too focused on the lips pressing against her own. However, far too soon to her tastes, the blonde she kissed ran out of breath and popped.

Hinata pouted cutely, until Naruto settled between them, prompting her to snuggle into his side while Hanabi did the same on the other side.

"I don't know what I did to deserve you two, but I sure as hell don't regret it." Remarked the slightly out of breath Uzumaki.

"That doesn't matter sweety." Answered Hanabi with a naughty smile. "What matters is what you're doing to keep us. Speaking of which … You've been a good boy."

Hinata smiled lustfully and began to mirror her sister as she kissed her way down Naruto's body.

Tears of pride flowed down Soburo's cheeks, his fist raised in front of his face and shaking slightly from the emotion.

"A threesome, and with twins! Oh Naruto, I'm so proud of you!"

"Figures you'd say that." Grumped Kushina.

"Hey, can you blame me? My grandson is doing his best to revive the clan, what am I supposed to do? Frown?"

"That's not what I mean and you know it! They're too damn young! Can't they wait 2 more years? After that they can go at it like rabbits, but before that it's not safe for my grandbabies!"

"Ah, I understand. Well, maybe tell them to use protection? All that lust is bound to overflow at one point."

"And considering how much I doubt their self-control … *sigh* I might have to clear that up with Hiashi and Hitomi."

Hiruzen looked at the documents in front of him, puffing thoughtfully on his pipe. They were extremely detailed, as expected, and would help a lot to prep the defences.

"Thank you Jiraiya, you worked well."

"Thanks, I do my best. So … Kushina's awake, huh?"

"Yes. She was pleased with your work outside and inside the village. She asked that you go to Whirlpool if you have some time, she'll introduce you to Naruto there."

"I see. I'll do what I can." He muttered. "Back to the problem at hand. I don't know exactly who Orochimaru is working with, but I think it's safe to say that Taki is in on it. Their container had already 2 occasions to go to a chunin exam, and each time her team-mates were sent but not her. Pretty suspicious if you ask me."

"Hmm … Taki too …" Muttered Hiruzen, frowning in displeasure. "I'm already fairly certain Suna is involved in some way, they did send their unstable jinchuriki after all … if they cared for the relationship between our villages they'd have sent the boy to an exam in another village."

"They don't expect us to survive." It was no question.

"No. So, we can expect an attack from Oto, and most probably Taki and Suna. We'll need to send that intel to Kushina, she'll need to train Naruto correctly, we'll need an army killer. We'll also need to contact Shibi."

"Shibi? Why? Did his son turn into a war machine?" Asked Jiraya, his left eyebrow rising slightly.

"No, but he invited Taki's jinchuriki to join them on their clan lands for training." Mentioned Hiruzen amusedly as he started writing the messages. "Her teacher came by earlier today, asking if I could contact them and recall young Fu-chan for … 'training'. I had to explain to him I was currently unable to reach them because they had gone to a secret and secluded training facility. Most sad, really." Off-handedly concluded the Sandaime.

"Ah, I see, you want to see if you can make a turncoat out of her, don't you, you crafty old monkey." Smirked Jiraya.

"Flattery will get you nowhere young brat." Answered Hiruzen good naturedly as he finished writing his message with a flourish. Hiruzen summoned a monkey messenger and handed him the letter, giving him the instructions to reach the Aburame head couple. With a satisfied sigh, Hiruzen settled in his chair.

"By the way, what is Taki's time bomb doing with the Aburame?" Asked Jiraiya casually, clearly trying to sate the raving curiosity that made him such a good spymaster.

"I had ANBU keep an eye on young Fu-chan before the exams, they reported a very interesting dynamic developing between her and Aburame Shino. The girl craves positive attention like an Uzumaki craves ramen, and young Shino-kun has been giving her that by the cartload."

"Oh? A romance on the way?" Asked Jiraiya with no small amount of anticipation. The man may be a pervert, but he had a massive romantic streak, his bad luck in love had just buried it.

"Yes, probably. I am also quite pleased with how she treated her match against Rock Lee. She treated him like a comrade, ensuring his safety to the best of her abilities. I believe this will ensure a smooth transition into our forces. Her role during the invasion could also cement her place. If she stays out we can spin a story about how she refused to strike against us out of love for Shino, that will make her look like a tragic princess and earn her some sympathy."

"And if she joins in on the ass-kicking and help us fight her village?"

"Then we can launch a stellar campaign of propaganda involving love, the Will of Fire, Shino and a healthy dose of patriotism. If we play our cards right, we'll have a generation of heroes rising to prominence, with Naruto and Fu at their helm." Said Hiruzen, a satisfied smile on his face. "If Shibi and Shino play their cards right, we'll be a shining beacon of hope for Jinchuriki across the world, and get out of the fight all the more powerful."

Jiraiya nodded, but deep down he feared it wouldn't be that simple.

Kushina sighed heavily as she removed her helmet. That had been emotionally tiring, but in a surprisingly good way. Her father had helped to sooth a lot of mental pain, and she felt now more at ease. She still yearned for Minato, but she now accepted that he was dead. She was more at peace with herself. Soburo was now waiting for Korruantu to be summoned near Shiro Uzumaki so that he may speak with Naruto. Kushina didn't even want to think of all the unholy ways in which those two might bond. Let us just say that she didn't put them above organizing ritual pranking in honour of a heathen deity.

Leaving the portal room, Kushina marched to the mess, intent on getting food in her. And checking up on the wounded of course. She'd need to go back to the outpost several times, both to make sure there weren't any other entrance points, to check on the amount of living seals available, and to get intel on the local fauna from Korruantu. Who knows, if they found the instructions to make living seals, they might be able to start refilling the ranks with even more vicious creatures when a kid talented enough in fuinjutsu popped up.

Getting the scrolls out of the outpost might be a bad idea though, not because someone might steal them and learn their secrets, no, those scrolls were written by Uzumaki teachers, for Uzumaki students, so they were as good as gibberish for anyone outside the clan. Uzumaki minds worked weirdly to quote Inoichi. The main risk was for the scrolls to be destroyed. Until Kushina had a secure building she could stuff floor to roof with traps, the scrolls would remain where they were.

Shibi looked at the orders from his Hokage, frowning softly. This … could be a problem. Taki turning hostile was indeed very problematic. The letter was quite clear on what fate awaited Fu in the coming war, and that was something Shibi wanted to avoid. The girl completed Shino splendidly, and his dear Hasako had a soft spot for her. He himself already considered the girl family. With a sigh, he got up from his seat at his desk and started to look for the teens. He needed to talk to them before morning training. He hoped the strategy he had decided on would work.

He found the two quickly. They both looked a bit sleepy, but exceptionally relaxed and happy, Fu in particular. In fact, the girl was leaning against Shino, her arms wrapped around his, regularly shooting amorous glances at him. Shibi sighed, he hated to ruin the joyous mood, but they needed to talk.

"Shino, Fu-chan, could you please follow me?" He asked softly. The two teens instantly focused on him and nodded uneasily. They walked to Shibi's office and sat down. Shibi could feel their uneasiness, he uttered a quick prayer, hoping the conversation would go smoothly.

"I received word from Hokage-sama. It seems the relations with Taki are … strained." Shibi paused to gather his thoughts, trying to find a way to pull Fu to their side.

"They're going to attack, aren't they?" Asked Fu calmly, looking resigned. "I knew they had something in mind when they sent me to Konoha. I know they see me as a bomb." She added, anger seeping into her voice. Shino grabbed her hand and gave a light squeeze, prompting Fu to give him a grateful look.

"Hokage-sama asked me to see if you would be open to … changing allegiance." Said Shibi, seeking to exploit the opening he saw. "I won't hide that I hope you will join Konoha, and I know Shino does too." He said, shamelessly using the feelings card. "It would allow you to continue your relationship." He noted they both blushed but denied nothing. "It would also earn you a chunin rank. You would have to participate in a propaganda campaign afterward to foster goodwill and patriotism, but it would only help your image."

"Tell Hokage-sama that if he gives me a paper confirming that I'll be able to pursue a relationship with Shino-kun signed by his hand, I'll burn my Taki headband and put on a Konoha one on the spot." She answered with complete seriousness. Shibi could only smile.

Naruto sat on the bench, resting for a bit, as he watched Hinata spar with the daughter of the Okami clan head. Okami Izumi was relatively good at taijutsu, but nowhere near as good as she was with a blade. However, that was not Naruto's focus. What Hanabi was saying was his focus.

"I'm really worried she'll go overboard." Said the pretty girl nervously. "Hinata may look sweet and harmless like that but …"

"She's very protective of you?" Asked Naruto gently.

"It goes beyond that. When I get hurt, she tends to get very, very violent. She's the main reason people stopped messing with us pretty fast. When it comes to someone hurting her family, the concept of overkill means nothing to her. She beat a bully into a 3 days long coma for punching me when we were ten. Gaara almost killed me …" Admitted Hanabi uneasily.

"Yeah … She'll probably look for a way to slaughter the fuck out of him."

"No. She'll find that way, and then she'll send Gaara six feet under. And she'll be very brutal about it."

Naruto remained silent, looking at Hinata who was helping up Izumi and complimenting her on her fighting style. What Hanabi said seemed hard to believe … but she knew her sister well. Naruto suddenly wondered exactly what scroll Hinata was studying in the evening …

Fujikawa Ritsuko looked at his jounin impassively.

"If you weren't one of our rare jounin, I'd have killed you already. By the Rikudo's BALLSACK, what made you think sending that little bitch with the Aburame was safe?"

"I … I didn't think much of it sir." Answered the man honestly. "I figured they'd want to learn her chitin technique and then discard her. I hoped it'd keep Konoha off our backs."

"You IDIOT. Her loyalty may very well be compromised now! We may have to use the contingency seal and forcefully detonate her! That will reduce the Shichibi's effectiveness massively! And what if she gives the summoning contract to the Aburame? WHAT THEN? We'll have lost our air superiority, that's what! We're lucky she's not aware of the plan!"

With a sigh, Ritsuko got up from his desk and looked at the village from the window of his office.

"We'll have to keep her in the dark, act like nothing's wrong. Then we'll take her by surprise and activate the seal. You'll need to tell her to help escort Konoha villagers to the shelters and lay low until our forces come in. Then, I'll activate the seal and detonate her, that will eliminate a large portion of their population and cripple any possible recovery if they're not outright slaughtered."

"Yes sir." Said the jounin, saluting.

"Good, now get out of my sight. It is shameful enough that both of your students failed to get anywhere while she got to the finals."

Danzo sat in his office, meditating. The Aburame had done Konoha a great service, securing the loyalty of the Shichibi container. The speed at which their answer had returned was surprising and pointed at interactions of greater meaning than anticipated, and a failure of the Taki leadership to ensure the loyalty of their weapon. Danzo felt contempt for the fools, but certainly wouldn't bemoan their lack of intelligence. It allowed Konoha to grow stronger. With two strong containers, Konoha would be uncontested, and Kumo would make a good replacement for Suna as their ally once reparation had been paid for the abductions. The fact they got two pseudo jinchurikis out of the deal was a nice bonus.

Their relationship with young Naruto guaranteed that the reborn Uzumaki clan would be able to house the Kyubi and ensure Konoha's strength. And with them safely behind Konoha's walls, the tragedy of Uzushiogakure would not repeat itself. Yes, the fall of Uzushio had been a disaster, loosing such steadfast allies, ones so willing to share their discoveries and reinforce their defences, had been a hard blow to Konoha. While Danzo's general stance on allies was to never trust them, the Uzumaki clan had been a special case, supplying Konoha with information, new seals and military support with a diligence that allied clans inside Fire Country failed to equal.

The ascension to the Shinobi council of the Uzumaki clan was but a matter of time. Young Naruto probably wouldn't sit at the council as a clan head, and neither would any of his children, but one of his grandchildren just might reach the council, if the Uzumaki produced enough famed shinobi. Influence and wealth were a non-issue as it was. Even if they were not on the clan council, the Uzumaki WOULD be consulted, simply because of their hold over Whirlpool. Some of Konoha's minor clans may hold more lands than them; but Whirlpool was still, and by far, superior economically. Idly, Danzo wondered how much it would take to convince the Hyuga twins to mother as many children as they could. The bigger the Uzumaki got, the better.

With a sigh, Danzo picked up the latest information his (officially disbanded again) ROOT network had picked up. They may not act too visibly anymore; they still did gather information for him. And what he was seeing was very interesting. The youngest incarnation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio was showing a lot of promise, apparently young Ino's near rape had gotten them fired up. Good. Young Choji picking up the mass augmentation technique so easily was surprising, and very good, it would make him powerful. Any shred of power they gained would be needed to face the coming invasion. It was too bad they couldn't just booby trap the entire forests around Konoha, it was simply too dangerous for the future. So sad. Now, where was that bingo book with Suna and Taki's jounins? He had a few assassination missions to assign.

Fu rubbed her right shoulder yet again, knowing full well that she couldn't reach the seal between her shoulder blades to rub it. Well, it wasn't really a bad urge; it was just that her new seal felt weird. She had to trust that Jiraiya fellow on the security of the seal, at the very least it looked far less dangerous in her mindscape. Normally, she shouldn't face any problem like the seal collapsing and releasing a berserk Chomei, which was very, VERY nice. She was kind of partial to staying alive (and hopefully having Aburame babies later on). Right now, she was following Shibi and Shino through some tunnels; they said they had something to show her.

When they reached the end of the tunnel, she realized that yes; there was something to be shown. She stood in the middle of a gigantic cavern shaped like a chimney, the sky and some greenery was visible high up. And the walls were covered in silk, mile after mile of silk, with thousands of insects flying around, emerging from cavities in the rock. It was both breathtaking, and ominous.

"This is the Aburame's contribution to Konoha's defences." Said Shibi. "There are 56 kikai hives in this cavern. Their parasitic behaviour is dormant, instead they are conditioned to produce the silk we sell. Should we will it, however, they can be activated as full kikai hives, and reach Konoha through small tunnels reaching all the way to the Aburame compound. We have 12 caverns of this size, and 3 twice as large spread out everywhere on our land."

"That … is a lot of beetles." Said Fu. Already, she was considering the possibility this provided. "Say … you wouldn't happen to have a large cavern in stock? I'd kinda like to keep my contract, so …"

"The Beetle clan is willing to follow you away from Taki?" Asked Shibi in surprise.

"I think so, yeah. I'm their only summoner, they aren't all that liked in Taki, and the jinchuriki is often the only summoner. I just have to offer them the option, and they'll come here."

"Would they be … open to … more summoners?" Asked Shibi cautiously. Adding Fu to their ranks was proving to be more and more rewarding, Shino truly had inherited his luck.

"You kiddin' me? They'll jump at the chance, especially guys like you, who respect insects."

Shibi couldn't stop the smile that spread on his lips.

Chakra blazed along her fingertips as she pummelled the dummy, the wood skeleton creaking under the strain, the leather of the outside blackening from the intensity of her fury. 64 times she struck, leaving burn marks each time, until the dummy simply collapsed, its armature shattered. She frowned, she had failed again. A simple chakra burn was not her goal. More practice was needed. A dangerous gleam danced in her eye as she turned to the next dummy. Retribution had to be delivered.

Asuma ducked under the short blade, sending a kick to Ino's stomach and sending her flying. He jumped above Choji's punch and landed behind him, noting the deep crater left in the earth. He couldn't follow up on his plan to knock him unconscious however; Choji had felt it coming and rolled forward as soon as his fist touched ground. A spear of shadow flew at Asuma forcing him to lean out of the way. The tip of the spear turning into a blade and suddenly changing direction to scythe through the air towards him was a surprise, and this kind of change meant he couldn't leap over the blade. However, he was a jounin, so he simply jumped aside, covering far more distance than Shikamaru could cover. It wasn't until he landed that he realized he had made a mistake. Ino seemed to materialize out of nowhere and placed her wakizashi dangerously close to a piece of his anatomy he wanted to use some more with Kurenai. So, he stilled completely.

"Congratulation, you managed to trap me with my hands in my pockets, you're progressing. Ino, I'm guessing you used a clan technique, correct?"

"Yes sensei." Answered the blonde, while sheathing her weapon, much to Asuma's concealed relief. "it makes something slip from your notice, in this case I made you stop noticing me. I casted the jutsu when Cho made you jump."

"And then Shikamaru sent me straight to you … Clever. Alright, next week I'm using my hands." He announced with a smile. The three groaned a bit but didn't back down. They were growing up just fine.

Naruto rolled aside, only to be kicked in the side, sending him flying and skidding along the training area.

"Naruto, you told me you were good. I only see a passable chunin, not a good one." Admonished Kushina. "You are too confident, too brazen. You take too many calculated risks, and you calculate them poorly. Against bandits, so far below your level, it doesn't show. But against a jonin? It is glaring. Make no mistake, you WILL fight opponents far stronger than you, and with your current thought process, you will be slaughtered. Now, again."

With a grunt, Naruto pulled himself to his feet, and reassembled his staff. Cautiously, he approached, looking for openings in his mother's stance, and seeing none. He frowned, in the Gauntlet he had participated in exercises against jounin, and they showed at least one or two subtle openings, even when going all out. This was a completely secure stance as far as he could tell, and his mother was simply standing there with her arms crossed.

"We'll need to work on self-control too. I can almost read your thought process on your face. I bet it has to do with that little underground arena Danzo has going on, hmm? Maybe you're thinking of previous exercises? Against jounin perhaps?" She smirked at Naruto's unnerved expression. "You think I don't show any opening, am I right? Don't compare me to these guys. Most of Danzo's puppets that managed to reach jounin were too set in their own way to completely rid themselves of their flaws, it comes with the traumatic experience."

Naruto didn't see the link, but tried to keep the curiosity from his face. He was doing a damn good job at that if you asked him, his face set in a stone mask of indifference. "Curious, huh?" DAMMIT!

"Your eyes, my boy. They say everything. Danzo's training involved killing your best friend, someone that was basically raised with you, like a brother. That kind of trauma completely disoriented the survivor while blocking off feelings to keep their mind functioning. But it also made them latch onto elements of familiarity, like loyalty to Danzo and Konoha, or a certain way of doing certain things."

"And … what happened to those that didn't pick loyalty as an element to latch onto?" Asked Naruto. Instead of answering, Kushina casually picked up one of the rocks littering the training ground (to be used as improvised weapons if the occasion presented itself she had said) and casually crushed it. She raised an eyebrow while Naruto's eyes widened and his skin paled.

"Now, let's resume." Cheered Kushina with an entirely too enthusiastic smile. Then she pulled her wooden tanto from its sheath and dashed towards Naruto. Quickly, she stabbed forward, forcing Naruto to spin his weapon to parry the blow. With a flurry of lesser strikes, she kept him on his toes until he got a bit too confident and changed his stance slightly. Then, she sidestepped him entirely and slashed at his side, throwing him off and causing him to dive to the side. Since the jump had been so sudden, he hadn't been able to stop the momentum of his weapon, and it bounced away. "Stop trying to be flashy, it'll get you killed. Be efficient." She admonished.

Naruto looked at her as she stood between him and his weapon. He was clearly looking for opportunities, but not hard enough. Thankfully, it seemed he had located the hidden opening she had left AND the trap that accompanied it. There was progress. That thought was put into question when he dashed straight for that opening head first. With a mental sigh, she prepared to give its just retribution to his foolishness, only to be surprised when he sidestepped at the last moment and dived into a forward roll that brought him to his staff, allowing him to recover his weapon.

"Not bad." She admitted while he spun around to face her, his staff whirling around him defensively. Another sign of progress, he didn't get cocky after she praised him, and did not lower his guard, though she could almost see him file the moment for later celebration.

Naruto dashed forward, snapping his staff apart. With thankfully far less flashy moves, he began his onslaught, and Kushina had to admit that any chunin, maybe even a few jounin, would have been hard pressed to fend it off. As it was, she managed that effortlessly. "Too slow." She off-handedly mentioned, and was satisfied to see it failed to get a rise out of her son. Good boy.

He suddenly snapped his staff back together and switched from his high-speed stabbing tactic to a fast paced onslaught based around whirling strikes of his staff to form a relentless assault. To test him, Kushina used her tanto to block one of his blades, putting just enough force in her move to stop the blade on the spot and following with a stab. She was satisfied to see Naruto use her block to bounce his staff and start his momentum in the opposite direction, using it to slap aside her stab. Still something most jounin could overcome, but better. Trying to see if he had learned his lesson, and if he could learn another, she sent her tanto in a stab, leaving her neck wide open. As she expected, he had not learned and estimated that he could strike her before her stab struck, preferring offence to defence … again. Casually, she lifted her left hand a summoned a fuinjutsu shield to block the strike, her tanto reaching his neck, the wooden "edge" pressing again his skin.

"You lost." She simply said before frowning. "What did I say about calculated risks?"

"B-but you said you wouldn't use Fuinjutsu." He said, gobsmacked and a bit revolted.

"And you believed me?" Asked Kushina in a flat tone, clearly indicating how stupid she found the notion. "You'll fight shinobi, not samurai. Expect your opponents to fight dirty."

Naruto lowered his head defeated.

Yukobumin Senku stood before Naruto, wondering what the young Lord planned to do exactly. He already guessed it would have to do with his clan and their habit of being nomadic, but not much further than that.

"You requested me?" He asked, signifying he was ready to listen.

"Yes. I have several possible positions I'd like for some of your clan members to occupy."

"Oh?"

"Are there people in your clan already associated with Whirlpool?"

"Some old veterans and their children. Not much though." Answered Senku, wondering where the boy was headed.

"Excellent. Would it be possible to convince them to take on the role of travelling representatives for some of Whirlpool's companies?"

"That … could happen." Nodded the clan head, starting to see a possible path.

"Excellent. Now, as you no doubt know, I … appropriated … a good part of Gato's possessions. Right of conquest."

"Of course. I am guessing there are companies that are not officially linked to Whirlpool among the reclaimed possessions?"

"You are correct. It would be most fortuitous if some of your clansmen could occupy some of the positions in these companies too."

"Perfectly acceptable."

"Excellent. Now, you told me you had made contact with some clan members on the southern continent, correct?"

"Indeed. At least 5 city-states are under control of Yukobumin families. They are, however, fiercely independent and refuse to submit to either my authority, or yours."

"Yes, you mentioned that in your report. However, they ARE open to commerce, hmm?"

"I'm starting to like where this is going."

"Heh. Here's what I plan to offer them: exclusive trading rights with this continent, with basically non-existent importation taxes. Of course, the customers don't need to know that."

"Huh, they'd likely accept. They'd be able to make big profits on relatively common goods where they are. What counterpart would you ask of them?"

"Technologies. There's bound to be ideas in these foreign lands we do not have here, and it could very well turn the tides of war in our favour."

"They'll ask for something equivalent, knowledge isn't cheap."

"Neither are Uzushio's seal blades."

Senku's eyes widened, and he nodded slowly. That … would of course balance the deal. A lot.

"I think they'll accept that kind of deal, my Lord."

"Perfect. Thank you for your opinion Senku-san."

"Of course." He said, bowing respectfully. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes, here." Naruto retrieved a scroll and gave it to Senku. "Six seal blades for your clan. That should reinforce your hold on your people, correct?"

"Indeed." Confirmed Senku, slightly disbelieving at how easily the boy had given him such powerful weapons.

"Let this be a reminder to the doubters of just how … beneficial … working for Whirlpool can be." Said Naruto. And Senku could see the message wasn't only for the "doubters". The boy was growing to be an appropriately shrewd Lord.

Jiraiya was a bit dazed by the view. It was … staggering. He had never been to the Shiro Uzumaki himself, but he had heard stories. They had done no justice to the actual view. It was incredible, awe inspiring. Idly, he wondered if he could use that view to inspire one of the action scenes in his next book. Getting himself back on track, he began to walk across the giant bridge, keeping his ears open to get a feel of the land, and of what his godson was like.

"Yeah, he actually participated in the festival."

"Just like a true Uzumaki. He may be blonde, but his heart's Uzumaki alright!"

"Damn, those two fox girls were hot as hell, I'd tap that."

"They're thirteen you sicko."

"So?"

"And they're with the Lord."

"What? Aaah fuck."

Now that was an interesting piece of news. His godson was on a fine way if he already had 2 girls with him. Looks like he'd have more than just ninjutsu to teach the kid. And since they were talking about "fox girls", it had to be the Hyuga twins, Kumo's two pseudo-jinchuriki. Honestly, Jiraiya wasn't sure how it had all turned out so well, but he wouldn't complain. He noticed a group of samurai walking towards him, decked in green armour their leader pointing straight at him and no doubt evaluating his reaction. With a grin, he changed course to meet them head on, amused at their surprise. Might as well get an escort for his extremely gallant self.