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Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine, he is Kishimoto's

"Dattebayo!" - normal speech

'Dobe' – Thoughts

'{Shannaro!}' - Inner Sakura

"Ningen" - Boss Summon/Tailed Beast Speech

'Brat' - Boss Summon/Tailed Beast Thoughts

"Kage Bunshin!" - Ninjutsu/Genjutsu/Taijutsu move.

Beta'd by BigCC

Chapter 42: Training, Trouble and Unexpected Guests

Several Hours after the Meeting in the Hokage's Office

Naruko's Bedroom, Uzumaki Clan Estate

It wasn't often that Naruko found herself utterly exhausted, with the most obvious exception being after one of Bushy Brows and Bush Brows-sensei's all-out workout routines, but today had been far more mentally tiring than most.

First, she'd seen her classmates kick ass and take names. Hinata, Shino, Ino, Sakura, and even that emo bastard Sasuke, had all beaten their opponents, most of which had at least a full year of experience on her and her former classmates.

Then there was her face-off with her own pair of opponents. While Naruko would admit that she had showboated a bit, the truth of the matter was that they had both been too overly specialized to be much of a challenge to her.

The Rain ninja, Kagari, was an ambusher whose team seemed to rely on a single strategy. They'd hide underground and use the Oboro Bunshin to distract and disorient an enemy before springing their ambush, emerging from underground amidst the clones and attacking from surprise. To be fair it was a pretty effective strategy, but there had been one big problem: all three of the Ame genin seemed to rely on the same tactic.

She admitted that the first member of the team (Oboro, she thought his name was) had simply had a bad match up. Using his insects, Shino was easily able to differentiate the real attacker from the fakes and then simply overwhelmed him when he tried to ambush him.

Then the other one (Mabi?) had simply been an idiot, trying that kind of trick against a Hyūga of all people.

After seeing the trick used twice against two very bad-match-ups, it had been easy to see through and find a way to counter the tactic herself. Without that trick, Kagari had instantly lost about 70% of his combat effectiveness.

Akadō had been a…decent opponent. His strategy had been pretty effective: snare someone in a genjutsu in order to close in and drain their chakra, leaving them vulnerable for either capture or elimination. It was a good tactic, she was simply stronger and had a good defence against low-level genjutsu.

If he'd had some ninjutsu to augment his ability to fight, or at least defend himself from a distance, then he'd probably been a better fight. As it was, she'd simply overwhelmed him before he got the chance to close in and use his chakra-draining touch.

Then there had been her little staring contest with Gaara. Honestly, the redhead scared her. He was constantly radiating bloodlust on a level that surpassed anything she'd seen before, and considering that she'd fought an actual demon and shared house-space with the 'Demon of the Mist' that was saying something.

The prospect of facing the unnerving boy in a fight sent nervous chill down her spine. He seemed to exult in drawing blood, in murdering people; and he seemed intent on walking down a dark and lonely path. She was going to have to train her cute ass off if she wanted to survive an encounter with him, let alone win.

And to finish the day off on a relatively high note, she could now add 'person who had met all three of the Densetsu no Sannin in less than a week' to her long list of credentials and accomplishments. Jiraiya the Toad Sage and her cousin, Tsunade the Slug Princess, the two strongest ninja that Konoha had on its roster, were both in Konoha, and both had requested a meeting with her!

Honestly, if she was more of a girly-girl, she'd have squealed in delight.

Jiraiya had seemed a bit goofy, but he'd told her he and Tsunade would be giving her training over the month before the Third Stage of the Exams, as well as a full check-up for some reason.

The fact that Tsunade was back in Konoha, opening up the old Senju compound even, was amazing. She was the best Med-nin in the Elemental Nations and her strength was the real deal, as when her old teammate had joked about something under his breath, Tsunade had lashed out with a punch that sent him flying through the windows of the Hokage's office and soaring across the cityscape of Konoha.

Her Ji-chan had just sighed, shaken his head and muttered how the pair of them hadn't changed in forty years.

'Why is it that all of the high-ranking ninja I meet turn out to be a bunch of weirdos?' the Uzumaki Heiress wondered. With Gai-sensei, Kakashi-sensei and even that weird pervert Ebisu, she really had to wonder about the power-versus-sanity ratio for Jonin rank and above ninja.

After the meeting, Naruko had gotten something from Tsunade to cheer up Tenten, who was probably feeling down after losing to Ino, and had arranged to meet with the two loyal Sannin members in a training field the next day.

"What a day!" Naruko whined. "And I don't even have Hinata-chan, Ino-chan or Anko-chan to cuddle! Stupid exams..."

Ino and Hinata were going back to their Clan homes to train for the finals, while Anko was being briefed on ongoing efforts to secure Konoha from whatever Orochimaru had planned, so the only people in the Uzumaki estate (Kage Bunshin aside) were herself, Haku and Zabuza.

A knock at the door made the redhead look up in surprise. "Naruko-sama? Hokage-sama is here." Haku said through the door.

"Ji-chan? What's he doing here at this time of night?" Naruko muttered. "He didn't tell me he'd be coming today...OK, Haku-chan! Serve him some tea while I get dressed!"

"Hai, Naruko-sama!" the girl replied and walked off to obey her orders.

"I seriously need to decide what I'm gonna do with her." Naruko muttered as she changed into a fresh set of her mission outfit. Haku had been through some pretty terrible experiences, and a report that the Yamanaka Clan had subtly given Naruko via Ino had not given her any sense of relief. Basically, all the trauma had damaged her sense of self-worth to a dangerous degree and she now saw little value in her own life compared to the desires of those she cared for.

She wasn't suicidal (the report had been clear on that), but she had a very clear set of priorities, and keeping herself alive was much farther down on that list than it should be on any sane person.

It didn't exactly help that Naruko, thanks to the intensive Injutsu training she'd been receiving from Anko, could tell that the girl was a natural born submissive, which got Naruko's dominant side interested. She kept the interest firmly under control, of course, because taking advantage of Haku's nature and mental problems would have just been wrong on several levels.

"Ji-chan, what's with the late-night visit?" she asked as she entered the living room, not having bothered to tie her hair up as usual, letting it fall down naturally.

She blinked as she saw the Hokage look at her with wide eyes, almost dropping his cup of tea.

"Hellooo? Ji-chan? Have I got something on my face?" she waved her hand in front of his face for a moment.

"Ah..." Sarutobi seemed to jerk awake and coughed into his fist. "No, Naruko, it's just that, with your hair down like that, the resemblance between you and your mother is truly striking, it…caught me off guard for a moment and brought back some fond memories."

"Oh..." Naruko wasn't sure how to feel about that. Honestly, knowing she looked like her mum made her kinda happy. "Ahem. So, what's with the late-night visit, Ji-chan?"

"Ah, yes." the Hokage coughed. "Do you recall the Otogakure team that you defeated in the Forest of Death?"

"Not really." Naruko replied as she sat down opposite him, noticing a cloaked figure hovering behind her surrogate-grandfather. "I was totally feral thanks to the, ah, kinjutsu that I used to purge the Kusanagi no Tsurugi's poison from my body."

"Naturally. I would advise only using that technique when you have absolutely no other choice." Sarutobi warned her seriously. "Sadly, your match with Gaara-kun will likely be one of those times."

"Yeah...that guy..." the redhead bit her lip worriedly.

"To return to the matter at hand, two of the genin have been convinced to defect to Konoha and have willing shared all the information that they know about Orochimaru's current plans." Sarutobi stated seriously. "Unfortunately, since both were merely genin, the amount of information they had was extremely limited, but we now have a far better picture of what is coming than we would have otherwise. Orochimaru's operational security seems to be lacking, but then again my wayward student always careless when it came to those he viewed as beneath him…"

"What happened to the third member?" Naruko asked curiously.

"His body was discovered, half eaten by the white tigers that inhabit the innermost area of the Forest of Death." the Sandaime sighed. "A sad happenstance that he had been knocked out in a cave they were using as a base camp. We buried the remains in the foreign Shinobi graveyard, as Team Dosu's 'Jonin-sensei' mysteriously disappeared at some point after his team was 'found dead' in the Forest of Death by one of the roving ANBU patrols."

"Brr." Naruko and the cloaked figure shivered in unison.

"Anyway, the point of my visit is that both of the former-Otogakure genin have been fully debriefed and I have decided that, rather than have them placed in cells, they shall be placed in places that are out of the public eye until after the Third Stage of the Chūnin Exams." Sarutobi said firmly. "Dosu-kun is going to be spending time with Morino Ibiki as a 'new intern' in T&I, while this lady shall, with your approval, become your newest Spoil of War."

The cloaked figure lowered their hood, revealing the scowling, uncertain face of Kin Tsuchi. She then ditched the cloak, throwing it to the side, revealing a plain white t-shirt along with her old camo-patterned trousers. There was a conspicuous absence of her Otogakure Hitai-ate on her forehead.

"Hey." Kin said blandly.

"Hey." Naruko said flatly in return. She could appreciate how pretty Kin was, but the defector was someone who had hurt one of her friends and tried to kill Sasuke. Despite the fact she wanted to kick the duck-butt-haired boy's ass, she was still a loyal kunoichi of the Leaf, meaning that Sasuke was her comrade and deserved some level of loyalty.

Turning to her surrogate grandfather, who had a knowing expression on his face, she asked him flatly, "Why me?"

"Because similar to the high-security areas under direct military control, the new Uzumaki Estate is a veritable fortress." the Hokage admitted frankly. "Even if Orochimaru knew that she was here, he would have to deploy a sizeable force to breach all of the defences. The passive defences are enough to keep any curious people out, while if the active defences were brought up, it would take an army to soak up the losses needed to get through to her. And that assumes that your Guard-Captain doesn't get involved."

Seeing Kin looking confused, Naruko smirked at her. "My Guard-Captain is Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Hidden Mist. My first Spoil is Yuki Haku, the last living member of the Yuki Clan and Zabuza's apprentice, while my second Spoil is Shikiki Tomoe, formerly a Shōkin Kubigari Kunoichi."

"How did you...?!" the brunette asked in shock.

"Honour and debts were involved." the redhead shrugged before turning back to the Hokage. "I don't mind hiding her here, but why make her a Spoil? I thought that Spoils had to be taken in the field anyway?"

"A rarely used section of the rules allows a village to assign a fresh defector as a Spoil to a trustworthy shinobi of standing until their trustworthiness is fully ascertained." Sarutobi explained. "What my former student has planned for the last round is an invasion, Naruko-chan. He wishes to make me watch Konoha burn. And he will doubtless wish to tie up any loose ends in Konoha before the end of the invasion. Kin-chan will be safe here, under the protection of your fūinjutsu and traps. After the invasion, there will doubtlessly be those willing to lash out at any Otogakure personnel left in Konoha, including Dosu-kun and Kin-chan here. Ibiki's reputation will be more than enough to protect Dosu-kun, while your aegis will be more than enough to protect Kin-chan."

"Err...Hokage-sama, do you have to call me with '-chan'?" the former Otogakure genin asked with a look of absolute confusion on her face.

"Indeed I do." the Hokage said with a small smile. "Call it one of an old man's eccentricities if you like, my dear."

Clearly off-balance when one of the five most powerful Shinobi in the land was teasing her, Kin looked away with a small blush on her face.

"You do realise that An-chan isn't gonna be happy that she's here." Naruko pointed out. "What with her wanting to kill the snake bastard in the most excruciating manner possible and everything."

"Anko will accept her presence." the Hokage stated firmly. "If only because I say so, but hopefully she'll realise that Kin-chan is blameless for bowing to the wishes of one so far above her in strength."

"Especially since I was six when he grabbed me off the streets." Kin muttered under her breath.

"So do you really want to be my Spoil?" Naruko asked her, one delicate eyebrow raised inquisitively.

"Given a choice between being turned into one of Orochimaru's lab rats, which is one of the least horrible things that could happen to me if he gets his hands on me, and being made a Spoil, I'll choose the latter every time." the Genjutsu specialist replied dryly.

"Not an answer." the redhead narrowed her eyes at her.

"To be honest...no." Kin slumped slightly. "Every shinobi is Otogakure is treated like Orochimaru's personal property, tools and slaves to his will. Spoils with proper Spoil Collars have to obey their masters like slaves, or so I hear."

"Kinda-sorta." Naruko shrugged. "Some Spoil Collars have a pleasure/pain response training seal built into them, so that obeying feels good, while disobeying feels bad. At least among the Uzumaki, outright slave training collars like that are illegal. I would be dishonouring my ancestors by making one of those."

"A kunoichi concerned about dishonouring her ancestors?" Kin gave her a cold look, scepticism written clearly across her features.

"Don't allow Orochimaru and the village he's built to act as your sole example for how the shinobi world works, young lady." Sarutobi cautioned the obviously jaded kunoichi. "He has no respect for the traditions of the ninja world. Orochimaru has always been the kind to disregard anything that got in the way of him obtaining his desires, honour and tradition were simply some of the first things he threw away."

Frowning, Kin looked down before eyeing Naruko. "So...no slave-like things on the collar?"

"Closest thing is a chakra chain restraint that can be deployed by me if you act out and need to be physically restrained." Naruko replied. "Also, as you are coming in under more contentious circumstances than Haku-chan, your collar will prevent you from willingly leaving the boundaries of the estate. If you are taken unwillingly, it will alert me immediately and I'll be able to track you up to twenty miles away."

"Why bother with that for me?" Kin asked, blinking slightly in disbelief.

"Those are all standard features in most Uzumaki Spoil Collars." Naruko refuted. "I didn't add any of them but the tracking seal to Haku-chan's collar because she isn't a flight risk, only a possible kidnapping risk."

Sighing, Kin palmed her face in thought for a moment before looking at Naruko again. "Fine. Only until I'm judged to be loyal to Konoha, OK?"

"Fine by me." Naruko nodded. "I guess she'll be interviewed every so often by a member of the Yamanaka Clan to make sure she is actually living up to her part of the deal?"

"You assume correctly." Sarutobi nodded. "Given the level of secrecy needed, Yamanaka Inoichi will be the one to do it, coming here under the excuse of talking to you about his daughter's training."

"Not that she needs much of it; she beat Tenten!" Naruko boated with a smirk.

"By playing on Tenten-chan's complacency and hiding her true skills." Sarutobi pointed out.

"Ninja." was Naruko's rebuttal.

"True enough, but now that her skills have been shown, your teammate will need more than the Shinranshin to emerge victorious in the Third Round." the Hokage pointed out.

"I have confidence in Ino-chan." Naruko said with a sniff.

"A good thing to have." her surrogate grandfather chuckled. "Do you have a collar ready or should I return with Kin-chan another time?"

"I ended up making a few spare after I finished Haku and Tomoe's, just in case the originals were damaged or needed to be altered, or something like this turned up." Naruko admitted. "Haku-chan!"

"Hai, Naruko-sama?" the last of the Yuki Clan said as she seemed to materialise out of the shadows, making Kin jump in shock.

"Kin-chan here is going to be your new collar-sister for a while. Can you go to my fūinjutsu workroom and retrieve a collar from the worktable." Naruko requested.

"Please wait here while I do so, Naruko-sama." Haku bowed as a life-size rectangular mirror of ice appeared behind her. Stepping back into it, Haku's shadow vanished and the mirror shattered.

"What the heck was that?!" Kin exclaimed with wide eyes.

"That? That was Hyōton: Hyōshō Kagami Shunshin (Ice Style: Ice Crystal Mirror Body Flicker)." Naruko replied with a shrug. "Haku-chan is the last living holder of the Hyōton Kekkei Genkai, after all. She uses it fairly often to go to various parts of Konoha for shopping. No one without her Kekkei Genkai can travel with her though; not unless you like the feeling of been doused by ice-water."

"Nope. Not me." Kin shuddered. "I hate being cold."

"I only travelled that way once. Never again." Naruko agreed, echoing the shudder.

When the mirror of ice returned, Haku stepped daintily out of it, a metal collar carried in her hands. With a bow, she presented it to Naruko, who grinned at her.

"Thanks, Haku-chan. Make sure you tell Zabuza about our new guest tomorrow so he doesn't try to slice and dice her with Kubikiribōchō." she said as she opened the collar with a click and started examining the fūinjutsu inside of it. Most of the stuff on the outside was pretty minor, with the most important sections etched into the inner side of the collar.

Kin peeked at it before her eyes crossed. "Urgh, I can't make head or tails of that. And here I thought I was good at fūinjutsu..."

"You practice fūinjutsu?" Naruko asked, looking up at her in surprise.

"I've dabbled in it, mostly because Orochimaru disapproved of anyone who wasn't at least jonin-level learning anything about it." the genjutsu user replied sourly.

"Orochimaru has always been a creature of immense pride." Sarutobi snorted tiredly. "Despite all his other talents, he never truly showed any such inclination with Fūinjutsu and was never able to advance beyond a certain point with it. To have one of his subordinates, one who is beneath him, show any talent with an art he struggled with would offend his pride."

"And I'm an Uzumaki." Naruko said, returning her attention to the collar in her hands. "While it isn't a Kekkei Genkai, most Uzumaki possess an instinctive and intuitive understanding of sealing techniques. What usually takes years to understand and master most of my Clan can learn in a matter of weeks or months. It also makes teaching it fairly easy. Once you have proven yourself, I might just teach you a bit of fūinjutsu if you want."

"Really?" Kin looked at her in surprise. "Sure. Once I'm not considered a flight risk or whatever."

Once Naruko was satisfied with the collar, she clamped it in place around Kin's neck and channelled chakra into it, sealing it closed. To test it, the Uzumaki Heiress activated the chain restraint seal, wrapping the brunette up faster than she could blink before releasing it.

"OK, that's the collar fully active." the redhead said in satisfaction. "Give Haku-chan the sizes for all your clothes and underthings and she'll go buy them tomorrow. Also, Ji-chan, can you send her ninja gear over as well. If she's going to protect herself from a mob or from invading shinobi, I don't want to leave her helpless."

"A fair point." Sarutobi nodded. "I'll have Inoichi bring them over when he visits you next week."

"Wait, how're you gonna explain him coming over if Ino-chan isn't here?" Naruko asked.

"I've quietly directed that Team 8 undergoes a mandatory counselling session after encountering Orochimaru in the Forest." the Hokage replied.

"Y-You met Orochimaru? And lived?!" Kin asked, eyes wide.

"Heh. Made the snake bastard bleed when I cut his hand off." Naruko smirked at her newest Spoil. "Course, after that he stopped playing around and proceeded to kick my ass before stabbing me with the Kusanagi. The only reason I'm still kicking is that I used a jutsu of...a questionable nature in order to purge the poison. It also put me in that feral state you saw me in."

"Your chakra was so dense that it was visible, you cut through Dosu's Melody Arm like it was made of paper and you used Zaku as a human flail like it was nothing." Kin said dryly. "Whatever the heck kind of kinjutsu it was that you used, I never want to be on the receiving end of it again...Naruko-sama."

"Well, stay loyal to Konoha and you never will." the redhead said lightly. "Haku-chan, show Kin-chan here to the servants quarters a level down and set her up with a room. We'll sort out duties tomorrow."

"Hai, Naruko-sama." Haku bowed. "This way please, Kin-san."

Casting a brief look back at her new mistress, Kin followed Haku out of the room. She wasn't going to lie; she was somewhat terrified of being under the thumb of the person who had effortlessly beaten her team single-handedly. The feeling of such powerful and evil chakra made her shiver at the memory. Still, if the girl had the gumption and skill to make her former master bleed as a genin, so Kin wasn't adverse to hiding under her aegis until she was considered a loyal Konoha kunoichi.

It beat being on the receiving end of the girl's berserking kinjutsu, after all.

"I had better head home." Sarutobi sighed tiredly. "These old bones need all the sleep they can get."

"So why'd you come at this hour anyway, Ji-chan?" Naruko asked.

"The paperwork of granting asylum to two defectors isn't short or easy, Naruko-chan." the Hokage replied with a snort. "Add into that my regular paperwork, the paperwork from the exam and dealing with a couple of idiots who were of the opinion that barging into the Hokage's Office is their right as members of the Civilian Council and you're lucky I managed to make it here today at all."

After seeing her surrogate grandfather out, Naruko yawned. "Hoo-boy. My bed has never sounded more attractive than it has after four days roughing it in the woods." she said before trotting off to catch some shut-eye.

The Next Day

Training Field 3

"So then, gaki, what jutsu do you know?" Jiraiya asked. He was curious, mostly because his sensei had omitted any mention of what jutsu the girl was capable of in the Shinobi Registration File that he'd shown Tsunade.

"Err...lessee." Naruko frowned and started ticking things off using one hand. "Doryū Taiga, Doro Kawara and Kansō-chi from earth, Teppōdama, Mizu Bunshin and Hōmatsu Rappa from water, Reppūshō, Kaze Shunshin and Fūrō from wind, Endan, Karura and Takibi from fire, and Hekireki and Jibashi from lightning. A few sword techniques and taijutsu techniques...a couple of fūinjutsu techniques that involve explosive tags...Shuriken Kage Bunshin, the regular Kage Bunshin, Kawara Shuriken, Tajū Gen'ei Shuriken, Kongō Gekisa, Kohenkyo and a few dozen pieces of fūinjutsu. Oh, and the Kawarimi no Jutsu as well."

"That's a good spread of techniques." Tsunade observed. "Aside from the Kage Bunshin and Shuriken version though, I notice that you don't have any B-Rank or higher jutsu in your arsenal."

"I did in Morimura, but I forgot it because of the Kyūbi restricting how many times I could use it." Naruko pouted. "It's a shame; the Koenryū was a kick-ass jutsu."

"It's a jutsu that eats chakra." the Toad Sage said dryly. "Morimura Forest didn't stop burning for three days after you set it aflame, gaki. Keeping that kind of firepower under lock and key until it's do or die is not a bad idea."

"True." Tsunade agreed. "According to your file, thanks to your tenant, you can't learn Iryō Ninjutsu. That's something I've never seen before; even your mother knew some basic healing techniques."

She could see why it was though; unlike Kushina, Naruko's entire chakra network was inundated with some the demonic chakra of the Kyūbi, which was literal corrosive poison to anyone aside from the host who had adapted to, since she'd been born.

By comparison, Kushina's chakra network had possessed almost no traces of the Kyūbi's chakra thanks to her seal being far tighter than Naruko's. It had allowed the Kyūbi even less influence on her, but limited Kushina's ability to draw on the Bijū's chakra to an almost entirely passive state.

"I can make seals that produce Iryō ninjutsu chakra?" the redhead offered.

"Those are pretty advanced ones, if what I remember from talking with Kushina is right." Jiraiya remarked with a raised eyebrow.

"They are." Naruko grimaced. "The only ones I can make at the moment are the ones for small cuts and slight muscle fatigue, but it's better than nothing."

"I wish more people felt the same, even the basics can save a life in emergencies." Tsunade sighed. "I can only hope that Sarutobi-sensei lets me set up my Med-nin program after this business with Orochimaru is over with."

"He will. We're at peace, so the funding isn't being eaten up by military operations, and there's plenty of time to set it up, fine tune it and get things established as a fact of life." Jiraiya said reassuringly before turning to Naruko. "Now, your elemental affinities are Wind and Water, right?"

"Yup." the redhead nodded.

"A couple of B-Rank jutsu for them is a good way to start off; you're a regular chakra powerhouse thanks to both your Uzumaki heritage and the Kyūbi, so they certainly can't hurt." the old sage mused aloud. "After that...if memory serves, you have the Monkey Contract so long as you have the En'ō Kago-te, as well as the Crow Contract, right?"

"Yeah. I'm still waiting to hear back from Yatagarasu-sama on my status as a Crow Summoner, but summoning regular crows shouldn't be a problem." Naruko nodded again.

"The old crow on Nikkōyama will take a while to get back to you." Tsunade snorted. "Lady Katsuyu's told me about how long he takes to deliberate on even the smallest issue."

"Gamabunta's told me the same." Jiraiya agreed. "But as this is about the clan the Crow Tribe's been bound with for generations, I think it'll take two weeks rather than two months. Anyway, I'll give ya the chance to sign the Toad Contract once I see what you've got."

"Re-really?!" Naruko looked shocked at this.

"You need the Toad Contract because the Yondaime stored the key to the Kyūbi's seal in a Storage Toad." the Toad Sage informed her. "To fully master that power, you'll need that key at some point."

"Huh...I was wondering about that..." Naruko nodded. "So, what jutsu am I gonna learn?"

"For Fūton jutsu, the Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Cutter Jutsu) and the Fūjinheki (Wind God's Wall) are ones you need to have." the Toad Sage stated. "Kazekiri is a sharp, precise mid-range Fūton jutsu that allows you to target one area of an opponent's body, while Fūjinheki manipulates the winds into a tornado around you, blocking enemy attacks similar to the Hyūga Clan's Kaiten. As for Suiton, how about Suiryūdan (Water Dragon Bullet) and Bakusui Shōha (Explosive Water Collision Wave)? You have Momochi Zabuza as your Guard Captain, right? He can give you tips on those two; they're two of his go-tos when it comes to ninjutsu from what I hear."

"Good choices on the Suiton ones; this Gaara character uses sand, and it becomes harder to manipulate anything like sand or cloth if it's wet." the Slug Princess remarked. "Once Jiraiya's finished with you for the day, we'll be heading to the hospital to do a complete physical on you; I trust those quacks about as far as I could throw them back when I was your age."

"Aw man! More hospital time?" Naruko whined. She hated the place.

"Yes. I want to make sure that you aren't suffering any side-effects from being cut twice by that damn sword." Tsunade said firmly.

"OK..." Naruko groaned. She was so not looking forward to that.

"OK then kid, get your keister over here so I can start explaining the Kazekiri and the basics of the Suiryūdan to you." Jiraiya called.

"I'm coming already!" the girl rolled her eyes before trotting over obediently.

Later

Streets of Konoha

"I hate hospitals." the Uzumaki Heiress muttered to herself as she walked along the street, absently rubbing her arm, which had suffered from the dreaded needle. Blood samples for testing this, that and the other had been taken by a nice lady named Shizune, who was her cousin Tsunade's apprentice apparently.

Apprenticeships were very serious for ninja and kunoichi with no close family; the apprentice was the legal heir to their Master so long as the Master had no one else who could possibly claim to be a descendent of them. In return for that gift, the apprentice was expected and required to put 110% into their studies, as well as looking after their Master.

Dismissing the memories of the hospital (and, horror upon horror, the needles!), Naruko instead turned her mind back to learning ninjutsu with Jiraiya of the Sannin. He had shown her the basics of the Kazekiri jutsu, which was made easier by using a sword or a fan, to generate a blade of wind and fire it at a target. With practice of the jutsu and elemental affinity training, so the old man had said, she would eventually be able to create a blade of wind just by using the five handsigns of Tiger-Rabbit-Dog-Ram-Dragon.

As for Suiryūdan, she actually had a bit of a leg up in that regard. The official amount of handsigns needed to cast it was forty-four, but she remembered from the Academy's lessons that the Nidaime Hokage had only needed a single handsign to use this jutsu, and Jiraiya had explained that it was because of three factors. First, Senju Tobirama had possessed an ungodly high natural Suiton affinity. Second, he had massive chakra reserves. Third, he had used the jutsu so many times that he could safely omit certain handsigns.

Quite a few of those forty-four handsigns were to give proper directions to the form, speed and size of the dragon and thus she couldn't drop any of those. What she could eliminate were the seals that merely added to the control of the dragon. Once she had enough practice, she'd be able to control it fairly well anyway. That dropped the handsigns from 44 to 25, still a lot, but not nearly as much. Five more were dropped as they were Suiton affinity amplification seals to reduce the chakra cost.

Dropping all of those left twenty handsigns to get through, which was still the most out of any jutsu that Naruko had in her arsenal. It would take some tricky timing and planning to pull of using it, as her handsign speed wasn't anywhere near fast enough to pull of while facing an opponent directly.

Not yet, anyway.

Naruko grinned as she came up to her destination, Ichiraku Ramen. She may have cut down on the frequency that she ate her favourite food, but she still came here fairly often. Old Man Ichiraku and Ayame-nee had been looking after her since she was a kid on the streets, giving her free food and bearing with the dislike of the civilian populace. The Hokage had quietly subsidised the business and encouraged those who knew that Naruko wasn't the Kyūbi to eat there whenever possible, helping them out when they had been embargoed by the civilians.

'Seriously, when will the civilians stop being a pain in my pretty ass?' she thought in exasperation.

"Ayame-nee, Teuchi-ossan, the usual please!" the Uzumaki Heiress called as she slipped into her usual seat in the centre of the counter.

"Coming up!" the chef called back as he stirred a pot. "I hear tell you got through to the Third Round, Naruko-chan! Not many rookies do on their first Chūnin Exam!"

"Hehehehe...of course I did, Teuchi-ossan. I'm all kinds of awesome like that." Naruko joked. How's business been?"

"Suffering from my best customer being away in the Forest of Death, but business has been ticking up recently." Teuchi replied as he prepared Naruko's bowl. "We should get a nice little boom when the Third Round comes around, the day before and day after are always turn into a bit of a festival as guests and observers arrive and get ready to depart respectively."

"Good to hear." the redhead said happily. "Hey, where's Ayame-nee-chan?"

"She's out getting some ingredients that we were running low on." the ramen chef replied before placing the finished bowl on the counter in front of Naruko. "First one's on the house to congratulate you on getting to the finals."

"Thanks, Ossan!" Naruko smiled brilliantly before she tucked into the bowl full of noodles and soupy goodness in front of her. Many a time, it had been a bowl of this food, served by this man, which had stopped her from starving before she had learned how to hunt in the less-dangerous training grounds, the ones without large predators in them.

"Uzumaki-san?" a voice asked from behind her. Turning around and swallowing her first mouthful of noodles, Naruko blinked as she saw the blonde Sunagakure kunoichi, Temari, looking at her curiously.

"Temari-san...isn't it?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes. Just finished training for the day?" the other kunoichi asked politely.

"Yup, followed by a check-up at the hospital." Naruko shuddered, one that wasn't feigned at all. "I would have thought you'd be on your way back to Suna by this point."

"It takes two days to reach Sunagakure if we move at full speed, three if we travel normally." Temari stated as she sat down next to Naruko. "That's one-way. So if we went back, we'd be wasting four-to six days that could otherwise be spent training, so Kazekage-sama decided that we should stay within Konoha and focus on preparing for the finals. Hokage-sama has been kind enough to offer us the use of a private training area."

The slight venom when she mentioned her father's title made Naruko want to wince. Evidently, Temari wasn't overly fond of Sabaku no Rasa.

"Sensible. As was the decision of Kankuro to forfeit before Gaara could kill him." Naruko noted blandly.

Temari winced openly at that. "Er...what would you recommend to eat here?"

"Anything's good. Ichiraku Ramen sells the best ramen in the Elemental Nations!" Naruko proclaimed proudly. "My personal favourite is Miso Chāshū Ramen."

"I'll have one of that then, please." Temari nodded to Teuchi.

"Coming right up." the chef nodded. "Anything I should leave out?"

"No narutomaki please, or seafood at all, actually." the Suna Genin replied instantly.

"Gotcha." Teuchi headed back to start cooking again.

"You don't like seafood?" Naruko tilted her head to the side, unaware of how cute it made her look.

"It's mostly octopus and squid I dislike, actually; I got food poisoning from one of them, can't remember which, when I was a kid, couldn't stand either afterwards." Temari admitted. "Steering clear of seafood is mostly a reflex to stay away from them. That, and seafood's expensive in Suna, so I don't often see it there."

"Huh." Naruko hummed as she continued to eat. Swallowing, she eyed the girl, who was every bit as attractive as she had been the last time Naruko had seen her. "So, what can I do for you?"

"That...Katon jutsu that you used during your match in the Third Round Prelims..." the other girl started uncertainly.

"Katon Renkeijutsu: Karura?" Naruko blinked. "What about it-dattebayo?"

"I was wondering if you would sell me the jutsu scroll for it." Temari admitted.

"...why?" Naruko asked blankly after a moment. "The Kazekage's family historically has the twin natures of Wind and Earth, which the Sandaime and Yondaime Kazekage have used for use in Jiton Ninjutsu. You're like me, a Primary Fūton Affinity, while Gaara's definitely a Jiton user. No clue about Kankuro though. A Katon jutsu would be very difficult for any of you to learn, and this one requires three users working in sync to make it work."

"Our mother died giving birth to Gaara." Temari admitted. "Her name was Karura."

"Oh..." the Uzumaki Heiress blinked before her suspicious look softened. "That's a good reason, I suppose. It's only a C-Rank jutsu, so...call it a jutsu exchange. Fūton jutsu are pretty rare here in Konoha, so a C-Rank Fūton jutsu would be more than acceptable as a trade."

"I can do that." Temari nodded excitedly. "I have one that I don't need due to the fact my other techniques can do what it does better. It's called Fūton: Kami Oroshi (Wind Style: Divine Mountain Wind). It sends a large vortex of wind at the target. It's a mid-C-Rank and can be useful if you have someone with a Katon jutsu around; combo them both and you have a flaming vortex for your enemies to deal with."

"Sounds pretty cool. Deal." Naruko nodded. "Do you have the scroll with you or are you going to have to send to Suna for it?"

"I always carry my ninjutsu scrolls with me, just in case I have time to practice." the older kunoichi replied.

"OK then. We'll meet here tomorrow and trade scrolls." Naruko said with a grin. "Here comes your bowl. Prepare for the best ramen you've ever eaten."

Blinking at the topic change, Temari's mouth did start to water as she inhaled the scent of the food as it was set in front of her. Pulling her hashi apart, she muttered 'Itadakimasu' and tested the waters with a single noodle. Eyes widening, she started to eat more as the taste hit her tongue. It made the proprietors of the ramen stands in Suna look like amateurs by comparison!

"I think you've got another dedicated customer whenever she's in Konoha, Ossan." Naruko smirked as she started to eat again.

Life was good.

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Next Chapter: Summoning to Nikkōyama

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