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Chapter Text

Sarutobi Hiruzen thought he had seen it all.

He had been the student of the legendary Senju Hashirama, the Shodaime Hokage.

Survived the First Shinobi War and was sworn in as the new Hokage by the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama.

Survived the second Shinobi War which ushered in peace between all of the Shinobi Nations.

Survived the Kyūbi attack only to be sworn back in due to the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, being killed by the demon.

But this had taken the cake.

Sitting before him were three individuals.

Sitting in the middle was a blonde girl with long pigtails and also one whisker mark on each cheek while on the right and left of her respectfully were two boys with spiky short blond hair, both also having one whisker mark on each cheek but while the one on the right wore a hiate-ite, the one on the left looked bored.

"Naruto…" Sarutobi said.

The three looked at each other but the blond on the left rolled his eyes and said with a bored tone "I think he means you," to the boy on the far right.

"Oh! Thanks," The fair left blond boy said. "What's up Jii-san?"

"Nice start," The blonde girl said with a sigh. "Obviously he's in shock over this."

"Well excuse me for trying to make this normal as possible," the right blond grumbled out. "How was I supposed to guess this was going to happen?"

"By reading what the jutsu did moron," the left blond said with annoyed expression on his face. "Instead, you decided to go into headfirst and now look at us."

"I didn't hear any complaints before I did it," the right blond said.

"Its called having second thoughts. Y'know, that thing you ignore at every chance," The left blond replied.

"Oi! You take that back!" The right blond exclaimed.

"Guys!" The girl exclaimed, which caused the two blond boys to look at her. "Can we just calm down. No use arguing with each other…our our self...This is confusing."

"Yeah, yeah," The left blond said as he leaned back on his chair. "Sorry old man. Continue with your questioning."

Sarutobi let out an exhausted sigh as he murmured "I'm too old for this," before he spoke up with "Tell me from the beginning, what happened?"

"Like…When we stole the scroll or the very, very start?" The hiate-ite wearing blond asked.

"How about the beginning of the day," Sarutobi said with a tired groan.

"I think we can handle that," the girl said with a cheerful expression on her face before she looked at the two boys and asked "Who wants to start?"

"How about I start," the blond on the left said with a raised hand. "Okay old man, this is how it started…"

Naruto let out an exhausted groan as he slapped the desk beside his bed twice trying to reach his alarm clock. The blond raised the upper half of his body off the bed and stared at the clock and sighed.

It was 7:45 AM.

Naruto's eyes closed as a despondent sigh left his lips. He swung his legs to the floor and sat there and stared at the clock for a moment before he reached for it and switched it off,

There was so much he had to do today but admittedly, he couldn't will himself to start it. Was it just nerves that he was doing the Genin exams today? He had failed that exam twice already, would he be looking at a third?

Or maybe it was the villagers. They had been more brutal to him lately. He was barely able to get three day old milk without being harassed and nearly kicked out.

But then again, this was his life.

Living in a condemned apartment building with only his dreams of becoming Hokage to keep him going. No friends or family to call his own.

Just him.

'I don't need to go down this road again...' Naruto thought to himself before he stood up and walked to his window to the view the Hokage monument.

It was then an idea began to form in his head.

As well as a mischievous smirk.

This'll take his mind off of things…

"Naruto, are you out of your mind?!"

Naruto looked up at the pissed off expression of Umino Iruka and couldn't help but flinch from the look. "You had ANBU chasing after you Naruto. ANBU! If I hadn't caught you, they would have eventually and you would have been in serious trouble."

"So…Does that mean I'm not in serious trouble?" Naruto asked with a sheepish grin on his face.

The glower from Iruka and the chaotic yelling from civilians in the distance told him otherwise.

"Well that answers that," Naruto grumbled out. "Had to give it a shot at least…"

"You are going to clean the monument from top to bottom," Iruka told him with crossed arms before his gaze softened slightly. "And if you finish fast enough…I'll treat you to some Ramen."

Naruto nodded with a small smile.

"I don't think the old man needs a full play by play of your day," The left blond boy said with a frown on his face. "He probably already knows how shitty your…well our life is."

"You got a point," the hiate-ite wearing blond replied with a sigh. "Let's just skip to after everything was said and done."

"Now now," Sarutobi said with a frown on his wrinkled face. "I do care about your welfare…All three of your welfare. It's important I know."

"What does it matter?" The left blond asked with a scowl. "Shit hasn't changed from last week. People still treat us badly, sell us old shit and then expect gratitude for doing it. Even after you talking to them, they are still doing it."

Sarutobi frowned.

"That's not fair," The blonde girl in the middle said with a frown of her own. "He's doing the best he can. He has an entire village to look after."

"Yeah, yeah…I know. He's taken good care of us. As much as he could anyway," the left blond murmured.

"But he..we…also have a point," The hiate-ite boy countered. "Jii-san is busy, I get that but it seems like nothing is changing for us. He at least needs to know that. Even if he is too busy to work on it now, he can always do it later."

"That's a good point," The blonde girl admitted with a nod. "Well then Jii-sama, you take that down?"

"I took it down," Sarutobi responded with a small frown. "Now continue."

"I'll take it from here. No sense in repeating shit," the left blond said.

Naruto was heartbroken.

He had lived through his worst nightmare.

He had failed the Genin exam for a third time.

'I truly am pathetic…' Naruto thought as tears fell down his eyes. He had tried hard to accomplish that stupid fucking Bushin technique but he couldn't do it.

If only he was better! He could have aced it. But now he had failed and with this being his third failure, the Hokage will ban him from becoming a shinobi period. But the worst part of it all was watching everyone celebrate their success in front of it.

He would never have that life. Being the succeeding child with proud parents watching him on. He was destined to be alone the Naruto the failure.

Just like he had said so long ago.

'Maybe it is fate…' Naruto thought to himself sullenly.

How stupid was he to fight against it.

"Hey, Naruto-kun," a voice said from behind him. Naruto turned around to see a sympathetic Mizuki behind him, "I heard about what happened. I'm so sorry…"

"I tried my best and it didn't work out…I'm just a failure…" Naruto murmured softly.

"Not quite. You see, after I heard you failed, I went to Iruka and convinced him to give you another shot," Mizuki said with a smile.

"Don't do that," Naruto said.

"Do what?" Mizuki asked.

"Give me hope," Naruto replied softly.

"I am telling the truth Naruto," Mizuki told him before he leaned close to the blond and whispered "He said if you are able to get the forbidden scroll and learn a jutsu from it, he will pass you."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.

The Forbidden Scroll...That thing was locked under several locks and keys. He would have to defeat the Hokage in order to get the keys and he doubted the old man would allow him to grab it.

But the allure of this challenge peaked his interested.

Get the Forbidden Scroll from the Hokage's clutches and actual escape with it…

"I don't know…It's a huge risk," Naruto admitted lightly.

"High risks for high rewards," Mizuki whispered. "You've said many times that your wish is to become Hokage, right? This could be the ultimate chance for you."

Naruto remained silent for a moment before he began to nod. Mizuki was right, Naruto's dream was becoming the Hokage and this would definitely show his skills was up there, especially if he was going to learn from the scroll itself.

"Alright, I'll do it," Naruto answered finally.

Mizuki grinned.

"So that is how he got you to steal the scroll," Sarutobi said with a cross of his arms. "How deplorable."

"Yeah, it was really bad but what can I say, I was desperate," the blonde girl admitted.

"Okay, we're going to have to sort this out. I need names," Sarutobi said suddenly, confusing the three blonds in front of him. "I can't keep calling one of you Naruto then having one of you three answer. It's confusing."

"I mean, sure but we're all Naruto," The hiate-ite wearing blond said sheepishly.

Sarutobi stared.

"Jii-sama has a point," the blonde haired girl said. "It's pretty confusing for us as well…"

"I guess…" The two blond boys said in unison.

"Well, since this was a henge to my Oiroke no Jutsu which I named Naruko, I'll go by that," Naruko said with a smile.

"Naruko. Alright," Sarutobi said before he eyed the two blond boys. "What about you two?"

"I'll stick with Naruto," the hiate-ite wearing blond said.

The left blond was quiet for a moment before he said "Menma."

"Menma? Really?" Sarutobi asked.

"What? It's a name. I never really liked "Naruto" as my name anyways," Menma said with a frown on his face. "But no one bothered to ask me what I would like my name to be."

"Very well. Naruto, Naruko, Menma…Easy to remember," Sarutobi said.

"I don't even see why it matters. We'll be one person again anyway," Menma stated as he glanced at the Hokage.

"Let's just continue," Naruto said.

"Holy hell, I can't believe I did it!" Naruto exclaimed as he sat down in the middle of the forest with the big Forbidden Scroll in his hands. He didn't realize how easy obtaining the scroll would wind up being.

All he had to do was perform his "Oiroke no Jutsu" and it took the Hokage down.

If he was an enemy shinobi, he could have killed the old man right then and there. Naruto shook his head of the surprisingly dark thought and opened the scroll and couldn't help but drool.

"So many jutsus…" Naruto moaned out. "Man, all of these look so cool! I wonder what I should learn first. Oh! Kage Bushin No Jutsu…Seems useful as hell. Guess you're first."

Twenty minutes went by and Naruto soon found himself face to face with a perfect clone. "He-he, success. Now I'm a guaranteed Shinobi…But…the scroll is still here…Let's see what else we got…"

Naruto peered down at the scroll and pulled out a notebook and copied down several more jutsu that would no doubt be awesome for him to try later but then his eye caught an interesting one.

Oh! What is this?" Naruto asked himself as he eyed a strange jutsu.

"Tamashī no Cerberus: Bunretsu (Soul of the Cerberus: Fission). This is a powerful Kinjutsu that allows the user to triple their power by splitting into three separate beings. So it's like cooler Kage Bushin Jutsu? Heh, I'd stupid enough to not try it out."

But something gave him pause.

There was a reason this jutsu was in the Forbidden Scroll. Maybe he should read more in its passage instead of just going through it.

Naruto tapped a pen against his notepad as he said "I did spend a lot of time on the Kage Bushin no Jutsu and there's no telling when Mizuki-sensei will show up. Not to mention I did learn a jutsu from it already to become a Genin. Maybe another one will bump me up to Chūnin. Oh fuck would that be awesome. From not a shinobi to a Chūnin in one night! A little greedy but fuck it, let's do it!"

Naruto nodded and looked down and said "Okay...The user must cut both of his palms and summon all of his chakra while performing these hand seals. After finishing, the user must slam his hands against the ground…Okay, seems simple enough."

Naruto took out a kunai and sliced open both his palms with a wince before he clapped his hands together and began to form the necessary seals and with a shout of "Tamashī no Cerberus: Bunretsu!" he slammed his bleeding palms into the ground.

At first nothing happened, which made Naruto believe that he had performed the jutsu incorrectly until he felt a pang deep inside himself. "What was th-" Naruto was immediately interrupted as another pang hit him but this one was sharper than the last.

Naruto hunched over as pain began to spread through his body as he began to pant rapidly, the pangs getting closer in length until his entire body was vibrating from them. Chakra began to swirl around Naruto, small wisps at first before thickening into large strands that rose high into the air.

The pain was beginning to be too much as Naruto balled his fists up tightly and gritted his teeth so hard he was afraid they would crack. Finally, Naruto lurched back and let out a bloody curdling scream as chakra exploded from his body, beams of chakra shooting from his eyes and mouth as he wailed.

Then two small white orbs with flecks of crimson with them shot out from his right and left side of his body and hovered in the air as he continued to scream. The chakra began to form around these two orbs, which began to take the shape of two humanoid silhouettes.

And with another burst of overwhelming pain, Naruto blacked out.

Thirty minutes passed and Naruto finally came to, his body, both inside and out, feeling sore beyond belief. "W-What happened?" Naruto mumbled out, unable to even open his eyes due to the intense pain he felt.

He then heard two people breathing. He turned his head to see an unconscious and very naked blonde girl with twin ponytails, curled in a small ball, sleeping soundly. He then turned his head to the right to see…himself, naked as well and also curled up in a ball sleeping.

Naruto stared up at the sky and murmured "Okay…I don't think clones are supposed to be naked…but I'm too tired to check...Fuck it." Naruto struggled to lean up from the ground but his body was still in so much agony from performing that jutsu so he laid back down on.

Naruto took a breath and rose up from the ground with a yell of pain but this time, he was able to stay up. He crawled over to the blonde haired girl and placed a hand on her shoulder and gently shook it.

"Oi…Wake up," Naruto urged in a whisper.

The blonde girl groaned and murmured "I don't wanna get up Iruka-sensei…Let me sleep…"

Naruto narrowed his eyes and shook her again, which caused her to groan and open her eyes only for her to become extremely aware of where she was. "Holy shit…did it work? Wait…Why do I sound different?"

"That's for me to ask," Naruto said.

"You to ask? You're just clone, not the real thing," the girl said with a confused tone.

Naruto snorted and replied "Sorry but I'm the real Naruto. Besides, you aren't even a guy. You're a girl."

"What?!" the girl exclaimed before she looked down and blushed in alarm. "W-What in the hell?! Why am I naked…And a girl?!"

"I don't know!" Naruto exclaimed. "I just woke up and you were here like this!"

"Can you both kindly shut the fuck up!" another voice screamed, which caused Naruto and the blonde girl to look back at the now awake naked blond boy.

"Like seriously, can I get a second of rest? I'm fucking drained after performing that jutsu," the blond huffed out but then he seemed to realize something and said "Wait…I'm the clone, aren't I?"

The pair nodded.

"Explains why I am naked," the blond replied. "Well fuck…But that doesn't explain why I'm naked. Don't Bushin copy whatever the user is wearing?"

"That is the least of our worries. Why am I a girl?!" The blonde girl yelled.

"I would think both of you being naked would be the main issue, especially since its night and if you both are my clones, you would know how the villagers treat me…us…at night."

The trio then grew quiet.

"Shit. When is Mizuki-sensei supposed to get here?" the blonde girl asked.

"No idea," Naruto replied.

"We need to look at that jutsu. Something is not right…" the naked blond boy said as he stood up only for his legs to shake and fall back down to the ground.

"I got it wobbly," Naruto said as he stood on two feet and walked towards the scroll and said plopped down in front of it and said "Found it…Oh fuck…"

"That doesn't sound good," The blonde girl muttered.

"I kinda stopped reading after reading the beginning part…" Naruto winced. "Tamashī no Cerberus: Bunretsu. This is a powerful Kinjutsu that allows the user to triple their power by splitting  into three different copies of themselves."

"So…we're not clones but different copies of one another?" the blonde girl asked.

"Keep going," the blond boy said with narrowed eyes.

"Skills divided more or less equally in terms of power but usually share a single lifeline…Wonder what that means," Naruto said.

The other two shrugged.

"The split beings will age like normal and has the ability to grow stronger separately but when able to recombine, all skills and power will triple in power. So we can combine back together and we would be stronger than ever!"

"Does it say anything else?" The blonde girl asked.

"Yeah, it says-"

"Naruto!" Iruka's voice shouted, which caused the three to look to the left, where Iruka came into view. "So this is where you a-" Iruka paused as the three gave a sheepish grin.

"Hey Iruka-sensei," the three said in unison.

"He nearly had a heart attack at the sight of us three. Especially Naruko," Naruto said with a snicker while Menma and Naruko smirked in amusement.

The Sandaime was less than pleased.

"Do you know how dangerous and reckless you have been tonight?" Sarutobi questioned with an angered tone, instantly wiping the amusement from the trio's faces. "You performed a Kinjutsu without reading it in its entirety! Many of died from misreading a jutsu they were learning!"

"Look, to be fair, we were looking at a pretty dim future already," Naruko said with a frown. "Nothing could have beaten out what we've already been through."

"Yeah, did you forget that little tidbit?" Menma asked with an angered expression on his face. "Then again, you probably didn't forget and just withheld that information from us, like you did the Kyūbi."

Sarutobi paled.

"Oh yeah, that's right," Menma said as a vicious smirk appeared on his face. "Yeah we weren't privy to that information despite it being about us!"

"It explains so much," Naruto murmured. "How everyone ignores us or glares at us with hate in their eyes, sells us old food…"

"How we live in a condemned apartment, paying outrageous rent and the dozens of graffiti that is calling us "Monster" or "Demon" and the like," Naruko added.

"And the beatings…Especially if we're seen at night by the drunkards or the brave men of the Konoha shinobi corps," Menma finished with a glare. "When were you going to clue us into that bit of important fucking information?"

"I know you three are upset about me withholding that information but I was keeping a promise from the previous Hokage not to tell you until you reach either Chūnin rank or a certain age," Sarutobi stated.

"Funny that because if Iruka-sensei didn't give us the rank of Genin and instead kept his word and failed us, we would have never found out for years while being subjected to this abuse by the villagers and some shinobi," Menma said before he let out a harsh scoff.

"But do you know the worst part?" Naruko asked. "That the adults knew this and instead of anyone telling us why, they just despised us. Hurt us physically, mentally and spiritually. Since as long as we can remember!"

"So they were able to know but we, the ones this impact, don't get to know anything about ourselves and why we're treated like trash? How is that fair?" Naruto finished.

Sarutobi looked at the betrayed expressions on the trio's faces and sighed. "I apologize to you…All three of you. I should have told you the truth earlier. And I should have been stricter with the villagers and how they treated you all…"

"Whatever," Menma said with a sigh. "It happened and we know now…Might as well not be so pissed about it."

"Yeah," Naruto and Naruko said in unison before Naruto said "After that, Mizuki came, spilled the beans. Iruka nearly died to save us. We performed Kage Bushin no Jutsu and sent Mizuki to the Shadow Realm and now we're here."

"Well…Despite the way it was done, I agree with Iruka's choice in making you three Genin. Now to deal with the main issue …The jutsu you performed to cause this complex problem was a Yamanaka Kinjutsu that was created during the turbulent era before Konoha was founded so while you three were getting clothing, I had the Yamanaka clan leader Inoichi study the jutsu. I'm waiting for him to return with results."

The door opened and Yamanaka Inoichi walked inside with a grim look on his face. "Ah, right on time Inoichi-san. So, is there any way to reunite them?" Sarutobi asked curiously.

"Before I begin, I should explain more about this Jutsu. Tamashī no Cerberus was developed by my great-great grandfather during the Warring Period. In order to keep our clan strong during that era, the jutsu was used in abundance to keep up our numbers as death was swift and very often," Inoichi began.

"It works like this. This jutsu allows us to make copies of ourselves. It is different from clones however. While certain clones, like the Kage Bushin for example, can use jutsu, they can be dispersed willingly or after taking a few hits. This jutsu is similar where it can create two copies of yourself but there is a big difference. These are infused with your soul and life-force aka your blood, which makes these copies remain."

"So we share a soul?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. With these two things and with a large amount of your chakra, it creates living, breathing beings with their own will and mind, despite sharing the same soul," Inoichi explained.

"Whoa," the three chorused out in unison.

"Right?" Inoichi asked with a grin. "They become a real human being. With your memories, skills and chakra levels intact. Our clan would take the recently deceased, heal all the wounds and then perform the jutsu and our copied consciousness and soul would go into them, effectively recycling them but they could also do it the way you did it Naruto, although that way uses a lot of chakra. Best part is that those copies could do any jutsu, this one included, without any drawbacks," Inoichi said.

"Sounds too good to be true admittedly," Naruto said.

"You're right because there is a huge risk and that is this. If one of you dies, all of you die," Inoichi said, which caused the three to blink.

"What?" Menma asked with shock.

"That can't be!" Naruko stated.

"It is true," Inoichi said. "Your three share a soul between you. Two technically due to the Kyūbi being sealed within you. A soul cannot live without a part of itself. If one of you died, the other two will only have minutes before their soul is forcefully ripped from their bodies. It's the risk of the jutsu…"

"Okay! That's a huge fucking risk!" the trio shouted in unison.

"It is. The peak of this disadvantage came near the end of the Warring period. Our clan leader at the time had over seventy of these copies and many different bodies. A powerful Uchiha came along and managed to kill him…Our clan's power was crippled significantly…" Inoichi said softly. "It nearly wiped us out."

"That's bad," Naruko said with a troubled expression on her face.

"Yes but I explained it this way to tell you that there is no way you can permanently re-unite. Once this jutsu is done, it's done," Inoichi said.

"So we're stuck like this forever?" Menma asked.

"Yes…However, there is a way you can reunite for a time and this is where the Jutsu truly shines. Tamashī no Cerberus: Gattai (Soul of the Cerberus: Union) is the jutsu you would perform to become stronger being. This jutsu not only reunites the three souls and bodies into one, the power that each holds triples. So for example, if you three are Genin level now separately, together, you would be low Jōnin."

"Whoa…the stronger we get separately…The stronger our combined form. The combined form, how long does that last?" Naruko asked.

"Reading the scroll, It depends on how strong the user is. Not just chakra levels but mental levels as well because it takes a lot of mental energy to keep the fusion going. It can be fifteen minutes at Genin level. Low to mid Chūnin would be thirty minutes. High Chūnin to Low Jōnin would be forty-five minutes and finally, mid Jōnin to Hokage level would be an hour, maybe an hour and a half."

"That seems worth it," Naruto said with a clap of his hands. "Wait, this fusion could only work when performing the Tamashī no Cerberus?"

"Yes. We've tried to create a version where two separate people could fuse into one but…That didn't turn out well…" Inoichi replied. "But that jutsu wouldn't benefit you now due to you just performing that jutsu to create the two copies. If you were to try now, it could fail and your soul would be destroyed."

"Well, that answers my next question," Naruko grumbled with a pout before her eyes widened. "Oi! Question, do these copies, when not done with a corpse, look exactly alike?"

"Sometimes, why?" Inoichi asked.

Naruko gave him a long look, which made Inoichi realize why she was asking. "A-Ah I see. Well, when doing this jutsu, it takes three of your strongest personality traits and attributes and splits them amongst the three. Sometimes a certain attribute can take on a different gender."

"Oh? Like what?" Naruko asked.

"I don't know. This is the first time I've actually seen this Jutsu in action. It was classified as Forbidden immediately after the Warring Period ended due to its risks. I just read this from the notes this jutsu had in our clan's history books," Inoichi told her.

"Maybe it could be because of the Oiroke no Jutsu. It was the only jutsu I did today before this one. Maybe it was able to draw that as inspiration for one of the bodies?" Naruto suggested.

Inoichi shrugged.

"Regardless, that's all I know about this jutsu Hokage-sama," Inoichi said.

"Thank you for coming out this late to assist," Sarutobi said with a nod.

"You kidding me? Looking at one of Forbidden Jutsu in action is amazing. It was the least I could do," Inoichi replied before he looked at the trio and said "Every so often, I will monitor you three for any changes and will teach you that fusion jutsu when its time. Until then!" Inoichi bowed before he walked out the door.

"Well shit…" Menma said. "Welp, this has been a long night. I am beat."

"Ditto. I'm really hungry too," Naruko said with a sigh.

"Is Ichikaru's still open?" Naruto asked.

"I hope so. A bowl of ramen would be beautiful right now," Menma said as the trio began to rise from their chairs.

"Hold up you three," Sarutobi said.

The trio groaned in unison before Naruto asked "Yeah Jii-san?"

Sarutobi stayed quiet for a moment before he shook his head and said "There is a lot I will need to do because of this incident so rest up. Be at the Academy first thing in morning."

"Yes sir," the three said with a salute before the trio ran out the room.

Sarutobi then lit his pipe and took a puff before he sighed and pressed a button on his desk. "Can you send for Umino Iruka? We need to have a talk."

"Right away Hokage-sama," his receptionist replied.

Sarutobi nodded and let out a long sigh.

What a night.

Chapter Text

It had been two hours since the original Naruto was split down into three and the trio sat in their ratty apartment in front of their scratched up wooden table, eating their dinner of cup of ramen.

"So…What happens next?" Menma asked suddenly after he slurped down his mouthful of noodles.

Naruto and Naruko looked up from their ramen cups at Menma with a confused look on their faces. "Oh come on," Menma said with a frown. "You two can't seriously be confused at what I mean. We were all one person and now we are three?"

"I'm just going with the flow of things," Naruko said with a raise of her cup of ramen. "Just like the breeze Menma. No sense in stressing about it."

"Yeah, what's done is done," Naruto replied with a shrug. "We became shinobi. That was the end goal remember?"

"We can't just go with the breeze on things like this," Menma said with a frown on his face. "This is just far too bizarre."

"You're far too uptight Menma," Naruto replied before he looked to Naruko and asked "Were we this uptight when we were one being?"

Naruko giggled and answered, "We had our moments but admittedly, Menma is right. We should be taking this more seriously."

"You guys are right," Naruto said as he sat down his cup of ramen, his carefree gaze becoming serious, as did Naruko's. "So, let's go with what we know. We are now three separate beings but we share the same soul and the same lifespan. If one of us dies, we all die."

"Not only that, three of our strongest personality traits were split between the three of us. Menma has proven he's more serious and little cynical. I'm more carefree and relaxed but not too sure about you Naruto," Naruko said.

"Who knows," Naruto said with a shrug.

"But regardless, that would mean some of the more nuisances the original Naruto had would be within us as well. But with that said, with us being separated, we have the ability to grow stronger and when Inoichi teaches us that combining jutsu, we'll be one again for a short time but our power would triple. It seems worth it," Menma continued.

"It seems fair. More power but more risks like splitting us up and sharing our lifespan," Naruko said as she crossed his arms.

"Speaking of which, you guys think I should change my name as well?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"What brought this on?" Menma asked.

"Well, Naruto was all of us right? I just don't feel right taking the helm with our shared name," Naruto admitted.

"I think it would be good if you kept it," Naruko said. "The villagers and our…Not friends but um…um…"

"Acquaintances," Menma said.

"Thank you! The villagers and our acquaintances will be shocked that there are three of us roaming around. One of us a female and one looking exactly like you. They need a familiar name to tack on one of you," Naruko said.

"Besides, what would you name yourself?"

"Arashi? Yusuke? Kuwabara? Hiei maybe?" Naruto suggested with a shrug.

"Hmmm all good names but you should keep it Naruto, for simplicity's sake," Menma said.

"Very well…However, there must be more to this jutsu than we know. How about we do some testing?" Naruto suggested with a playful grin on his face.

"Testing?" Naruko repeated.

"Yeah, we share a soul right? There must be some perks to that, I would think. Besides if not…" Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a notebook. Both Naruko and Menma soon shared the devious expression Naruto had on his face.

"Tomorrow morning before the Academy class starts in the afternoon. We'll do it then," Menma said.

"That's a good time to do it. Not many people would be out," Naruko said.

"It's settled. We'll do it first thing in the morning then," Naruto said with a smirk.

"Um, a thought occurs," Menma suddenly said. "Clothes. I mean, as nice as wearing orange goes, we only have one orange jump suit and there are now three of us."

"Good point," Naruko said. "I mean I don't think wearing pajamas outside will be suitable."

Naruto narrowed his eyes in thought before a mischievous twinkle appeared in his eyes. "Just chill here and leave that to me…"

Naruto quickly rushed out the apartment.

Twenty minutes passed and Naruto flew back into the apartment with two clones holding a bunch of clothing. "Thank goodness that old bag Himori didn't think to lock her backdoor," Naruto said as the clones placed the clothes on the table in front of them.

"Awesome. Looks varied too," Menma said.

"You even got Pajamas too and boxers too," Naruko said excitedly.

"That should hold us for a good while," Naruto said with a grin. "Now tomorrow, we begin our tests!"

"Okay what's the first step?" Naruko inquired once the trio arrived at a large area where the Shinobi Memorial Stone stood in the middle of it.

Menma wore a simple skin tight black shirt with a black vest on top of it, baggy black pants and black shinobi sandals.

Naruko wore a black shirt that stretched down to her knees, Naruto's goggles around her neck, dark blue bicycle shorts beneath it, dark blue gloves and dark blue shinobi sandals.

Naruto wore a navy blue shirt and his orange jumpsuit pants, with his orange jacket tied around his waist and navy blue shinobi sandals.

"Let's see if we can read each other's mind," Naruto said.

"Why are you jumping straight to that?" Menma questioned.

"Well…Since we share the same soul, maybe we're connected through that. Mind reading is the first thing I would think of so why not?" Naruto asked with a shrug.

"Good point?" Menma replied.

"Good then let's do this!" Naruto exclaimed before he shut his eyes. 'Vocal percussion on a whole 'nother level?' Naruto thought with a curious tone.

At first there was nothing until Menma's replied, 'Coming from my mind.'

'Vocal percussion on a whole 'nother level…' Naruto thought once again, with a hopefully expression to Naruko.

'Coming from my mind!' Naruko excited voice sang out as she leapt into the air happily.

'Haaaaaa haaaa-ah. We're Golden Wind!' The Trio sang out in unison before they burst out laughing outwardly.

"Okay, okay. Beautiful," Naruko replied. "So we can hear each other in our minds. Let's see how far out this can reach out now."

"I'll go to the east side of the village near Kikyō Castle. Menma, go to the Hokage monument and Naruko, you go to the west side of Konoha near the Konoha Mountain Villa and in twenty or so minutes, we come back here. Got it?" Naruto asked.

"Got it," Menma said with a nod before he dashed off to the west.

Naruko smiled and dashed off towards the monument before Naruto made his way to his destination.

"This place always gives me the creeps," Naruto frowned as he stared at Kikyō Castle. He had no idea why anyone would ever stay in this creepy ass place. "Well…I made it here, Let's see if it works..." Naruto said out loud before he thought, 'My private eye (We're never going to make it)...'

A few minutes went by until Naruko's voice replied, 'Look to the sky (Someone is out to get me)...'

Another few seconds went by before Menma's voice added, 'The Gemineye (I've had all I can take, I think)...'

'It's time...I go my separate ways!' Naruto finished with a wide grin. 'Yes! I can hear you both perfectly. Seems there's no distance we can't hear one another, This'll make us stay in contact without anyone overhearing us. Let's meet back up at the monument.'

'Understood,' Menma said.

'Gotcha!' Naruko added.

"Yo Uzumaki!" A familiar voice said behind him.

Naruto turned around to see an exhausted Yamanaka Ino and she was walking straight towards him. And she looked annoyed. What the hell did he do this time? Ino stopped before him and shouted, "I outta strangle you!"

"Um…What?" Naruto asked with a tilt of his head.

"My dad woke me and mom up at this ungodly hour talking about you doing this weird ass Yamanaka Jutsu. He and mom spent all night being hype about it and about how you succeeded in doing," Ino explained with narrowed eyes.

"I'm sorry?" Naruto replied with a confused toned.

Ino let out a deep sigh. "You lucky you're cute…" Ino replied tiredly, which made Naruto blink in surprise.

"You think I'm cute?" Naruto replied as a slow smile began to form on his face.

"It's too early," Ino moaned out before she tilted her head. "Hmmm you only have one whisker mark on each cheek…Don't you usually have three on cheek?"

Before Naruto could answer, Ino reached up and ran a thumb across the single whisker on his right cheek, which caused Naruto to back away with a deep blush on his face. "Oi! Personal space Ino!" Naruto exclaimed as Ino gave a smug grin.

"Sensitive," Ino teased. "That's for having my folks keep me up all night with their hype."

"Oi, what are you doing here anyways?" Naruto asked.

"Dad is making me do a flower run," Ino answered as she held up a scroll. to emphasize. "I just happened to see you and decided to give you a piece of my mind. Otherwise, I would have done it later after class lets out."

"I'm surprised you didn't just slug me in the face," Naruto responded with a raise of his eyebrow.

"That's more Forehead-chan's deal. But I will slug you if you do something that makes my parents freak like that again. Are we clear?" Ino said as she placed her balled fist beneath his chin. But despite the threat, she had a smile on her face.

"Crystal," Naruto confirmed with his hands held in a surrendering motion.

"Good. I better off then. Time frames, you know?" Ino told him before she walked around him and walked away. As Naruto turned to watch her leave, Ino paused and turned around with a curious look. Naruto took a chance to give her a wave, which caused her to grin before she walked away.

'That was the first time Ino and I actually had something akin to a pleasant conversation,' Naruto thought curiously.

'Seriously? Motor Mouth Yamanaka and you had a conversation?' Menma's voice asked. 'And I missed it? Next thing you know, Sakura-chan would fall in love with us.'

'We can only hope,' Naruko's voice murmured.

'Look, I know we all hold kind of a torch to her but we need to let her go. She likes Sasuke-teme. Besides, she treated us like trash when we were one person. Who's to say she won't do it as three separate entities? We should just stop chasing her,' Menma's voice said with a tired tone.

'I've been thinking about it a lot too,' Naruto said as he began to make his way back to the monument. 'As much as I don't want to give up, she's made her feelings painfully clear.'

'I don't know,' Naruko replied. 'I mean…She was the first person who was ever nice to us.'

'Now don't go telling that lie,' Menma replied. 'There was another…but there are dozens of Hyūga in the village. We'll never find her…'

'You really need to lighten up Menma,' Naruto told him with a grin on his face. 'Never say never, you know? That Hyūga is somewhere. We just haven't met her yet.'

'Ugh…Far too positive,' Menma muttered.

'Guys, speaking of Sakura…She's heading my way and she looks furious…' Naruko murmured.

'Oh boy,' both Naruto and Menma winced in unison.

"Naruto-Baka! How dare you show up in that perverted jutsu form?!" Haruno Sakura yelled angrily in Naruko's face.

'Just play dumb,' Naruko thought to herself before she replied out loud, "Perverted jutsu form? What are you talking about Miss…?"

"Don't play dumb! Break out of that jutsu!" Sakura yelled. "You should be ashamed of yourself for making that!"

"Well excuse me," Naruko defended. "First and foremost, I'm not Naruto. I am Naruko. Big difference."

"You can't fool me Naruto," Sakura warned, her emerald green eyes glaring daggers into Naruko before she reached up and landed a hard blow to Naruko's head. Naruko bent down with tears in her eyes from the hard impact.

"What was that for?!" Naruko angrily exclaimed only to see the confused look on Sakura's face.

"Y-You didn't change back…" Sakura stammered out as Naruko stood back up while she rubbed her head in pain.

"I told you, I'm not Naruto! I'm Naruko," Naruko stated with a hard glare.

"B-But that can't be," Sakura stammered. "You look just like it."

"I don't know what you're talking about. If I look anything like Naruto its because he's my…." Naruko paused.

'Cover story, cover story, cover story!' Naruko chanted within her head.

'Um…Um…Tell here we're siblings!' Naruto's panicked voice yelled out.

'And here we go,' Menma's dry voice added in.

"Brother…He is my twin brother in fact," Naruko said, sounding more confident in her answer.

"Twin brother?" Sakura repeated.

"Yeah. Part of a set of triplets! Me, Naruto and Menma," Naruko said with a grin on her face.

"But we've never seen you before," Sakura stated with confusion.

"Well the Sandaime separate us when we were born," Naruko informed. "He sent me and our brother Menma to different villages but after last night's adventure, Naruto found out about us and Sandaime reunited us. I was actually going to meet him at the Memorial Stone but I got lost…"

'That was super convincing,' Menma's dry voice stated.

'Well you think of something next time!' Naruko raged.

"Oh…Then that means I…Oh Kami I'm so sorry!" Sakura said as she bowed profusely to the now awkward looking Naruko. "I shouldn't have hit you! I just thought it was Naruto-baka pulling some pranks."

"That's okay…" Naruko replied. "But does that justify hitting him like that? You hit like a damn truck. I can practically feel the concussion coming on."

"Well yeah, the guy is such a pain," Sakura said with a frown as Naruko inwardly flinched. "But I'm not going to talk about him like that. Especially to his newly acquired sister. I don't want to paint the wrong picture about him to you. Hey! Why don't I show you where the Memorial Stone is located? This way you guys can meet up."

Naruko frowned and stammered, "T-That's okay. I don't want to hold you up."

"Nonsense. This is the least I could do for thinking you were Naruto-baka," Sakura said with a sheepish smile.

"V-Very well…" Naruko replied.

'Oh fuck, this outta be grand,' Menma's voice grumbled.

'Well what was I supposed to do? Just say no?' Naruko questioned.

'I don't know, I'm just a newly built human trying to make a living,' Menma replied.

'You ass,' Naruko told him.

Naruko heard Naruto snort in amusement.

'Well, I am on my way back to the Monument…plus one…' Naruko sighed.

'I'll be there shortly,' Naruto replied.

'Ditto,' Menma added.

Menma opened his eyes and found himself overlooking the village from on top of the Hokage monument. While Naruto and Naruko could brush aside what the Hokage had said earlier, Menma could not. Everyone in the village knew their secret of holding the Kyūbi and yet they didn't deserve the right to know it until someone blabbed?

It was insulting to him that the Hokage kept that secret.

'I wonder what else he kept from us,' Menma thought softly before he heard something rustle from a bush behind him. At first he shrugged it off as nothing but it was then he heard a shriek of surprise, which caused him to turn around to see Hyūga Hinata jump from the bushes.

And what followed her was a small little garden snake.

"S-stupid snake," Hinata stammered in annoyance until she noticed Menma staring at her. Hinata's face took on a shade of red as she stammered out "N-Naruto-kun…G-Good morning."

"Good morning. What are you doing out here so early?" Menma questioned, momentarily ignoring the name she had called him.

"I-I am u-usually out here m-meditating b-before class…" Hinata said with a shy smile. "I-I s-saw you c-coming and I-I hid…"

"But why? I don't mind the company," Menma replied. "I'm always by myself, you know?"

"I-I know," Hinata replied. "Y-You look different somehow."

"Do I?" Menma asked.

"Your c-clothes," Hinata said. "And your eyes…."

"My eyes?" Menma said.

Hinata nodded and walked up to Menma and said "T-There is sadness in them. Sadness is n-normally there but it's more pronounced than b-before. I-it's burying all o-of the other emotions that you usually have…" Hinata seemed to remember who she was speaking to because she suddenly looked nervous."O-Oh! I shouldn't h-have said a-anything. I-I should g-"

"How can you see this?" Menma interrupted with a curious look.

"H-How?" Hinata stuttered.

"Yes…How?" Menma asked.

"M-My mother says that I-I am an empath…" Hinata explained.

"Empath…What does that mean?" Menma asked her.

Hinata looked from left to right and licked her lips nervously and replied "M-Mom says that e-empaths are highly sensitive individuals, who have a keen ability to sense what people around them are thinking and feeling."

"I see…" Menma replied softly. "And you can sense my sadness?"

Hinata nodded.

Menma turned around and looked out at the village and said "Maybe I am feeling a little more melancholy. I shouldn't. I became a shinobi last night with my sensei's blessings and I stopped a traitor and yet…I feel…Like I've been lied to all this time by someone I trusted and deep down, I feel there are more things he's keeping from me. I just don't know how to deal with it. That's all."

Menma then chuckled and said, "I don't even know why I'm telling you all of this. Not even they know how I'm feeling about all of this…"

"I-it's good to let out a-all that hurts you. Even i-if t-they are a stranger…" Hinata softly replied.

Menma nodded and let a small smile appear on his face. "Thank you for listening to me."

"Y-You are welcome Naruto-kun," Hinata replied before she flushed and looked away. "W-Will you be in class today?"

"I will…Although not alone," Menma replied.

"W-What do you mean?" Hinata asked.

"You'll see…" Menma said with a teasing smile.

Hinata flushed and poked her index fingers together nervously before Menma said, "By the way, I'm not Naruto."

"O-Oh?" Hinata stuttered lightly with confusion.

"You called me "Naruto" twice now…I'm not him…My name is Menma," Menma told her with a small smile.

Hinata tilted her head and repeated, "M-Menma…" and then asked, "Did you change your name?"

"No, this has always been my name. The situation is more complicated and its better if you see it versus me explaining it. I'll be at the academy with the explanations so you won't have to wait long," Menma replied.

"Alirght. Then M-Menma-kun…I'll see you at the Academy," Hinata softly told him. "A-Also! C-Congratulations!…I-I knew you could d-do it."

But before he could say anything, she quickly ran away, leaving Menma alone on the monument but the heaviness in his heart began to lift slightly.

'Thank you Hinata…' Menma thought softly. 'I better get back to the Monument.'

"Whoa…Naruko-san you were telling the truth," Sakura said with awe in her voice as she saw Naruto and Menma sitting beside each other, both in thought.

Naruko let a small grin appear on her face and replied, "Yep, there they are."

Naruto looked over and felt a grin appear as he stood up and exclaimed, "Hey Sakura-chan! You found her!"

"I sure did Naruto-baka," Sakura said. "How about next time you meet up with her at a well known place. Who knows how long she had been looking for this place!"

"Sorry, sorry," Naruto grumbled.

"I think Naruko-san deserves the apology here, not me," Sakura said.

"Sorry Naruko," Naruto grumbled.

Naruko grinned and replied, "No problem. "Well thank you for leading me here Sakura-san. Naruto can take it from here."

"Anytime Naruko-san. Well I'm off. Nice to meet you!" Sakura said before she ran off.

"She didn't even ask my name," Menma noted with a raised right brow.

"No idea why," Naruto replied.

"I think you guys are right," Naruko said. "Sakura-chan can be nice but it took all her will power not to talk down about us…you, Naruto. Not to mention she hit me super hard and that shit hurt more than usual."

"Yeah," Naruto said with a sigh. "She'll be a great person in the future but maybe we should back off of her."

The three nodded in agreement. "Okay, now that the test is done, open up that damn notebook so we can get to the heavy duty shit!" Naruko exclaimed.

Naruto smirked and pulled out the notebook and read out, "Well…There are two of these. Tenohira no Soyokaze (Palm of the Soft Wind) and Bōfū Sōru (Hurricane Soul). These two look to be joint jutsu. Can't learn one without the other."

"Oh! Gimme," Naruko said as she snatched the page from the notebook.

"Alright. Next one up…This one looks good for you Menma. There are three of these. Mehana no Kōri (Eyes of Ice), Tōketsu Hāto (Frozen Heart) and Tsume no Nigai shimo (Claws of the Bitter Frost). Looks to be another joint jutsu," Naruto said before he held it out to Menma.

Menma took the paper and said "So it seems these are Taijutsu but it requires the jutsu in order to use it properly…Okay. Makes sense."

Naruto then looked at the next jutsu and grinned, "Yo, I want so badly. Hibana no Aoi honō (Spark of the Blue Flame) and Genkotsu no Tenka (Fist of Ignition). There are like six more Forbidden Jutsu in here but I think these would be a good start."

Three hours passed and the three blondes laid beside each other, all three panting heavily with their clothing torn in several places.

"Well…That was perfect…I don't remember the last time we were so exhausted," Naruto said before he leaned up off the ground, his hands and arms slowly healing from the burn marks that littered them.

"I feel like my limbs have been stretched to hell and back," Naruko murmured, the skin on her body showing various slices on them, also slowly healing.

"I can't feel my right eye…or my hands…or my feet…" Menma muttered, his right eye closed as mist of ice flowed from his frost bitten hands and feet, also slowly healing.

"Well that was time well spent. I think I have enough chakra left to summon some Kage Bushin to carry us to the Academy," Naruto said with a tired expression on his face.

Forming a familiar hand sign, three clones of Naruto popped into existence and each one carried the down blondes and began their trek to the Academy at top speed.

When the trio arrived at the academy, the three blondes were completely healed of the wounds they had caused themselves during their training and were somewhat refreshed. "Thanks guys, take a powder," Naruto said before dismissing the three clones after they sat the three blondes down.

"So…You guys ready?" Naruto asked his companions.

"I'd rather not be ready..." Menma muttered as he slipped his hands into pockets.

"If we gotta, we gotta," Naruko said as she placed her hands behind her head with a foxy smile on her face.

Naruto nodded and pushed the door open and together, the trio walked into their classroom.

The moment the trio walked into the room, the entire classroom went quiet with surprise.

Surprise that Naruto was here or the fact that he came with two people that looked exactly like him, the trio weren't sure but they were hoping someone would speak soon, otherwise they were going to lose their collective minds.

"Come on," Naruto said as he walked to his regular seat, with Menma sitting to his left and Naruko sitting on his right.

"Oi! Naruto! I get that you're alone but creating clones of yourself is not the way to solve it," Kiba stated with a grin on his face.

"Get bent!" Naruto told him, inwardly glad someone was able to talk.

'Well if anyone is going to talk, it was going to be either him or Ino,' Menma thought to the pair, who nodded in agreement. "Well if you are so sure about that, We can test the clone theory out," Menma challenged as he leaned forward toward Kiba.

Kiba grinned but then Akamaru barked. "What? They are legit people? Not clones?" Kiba asked Akamaru barked again and Kiba blinked in confusion. "No way…"

"Good job Akamaru," Naruko chirped with a bright smile to the puppy, who looked bashful in return at the praise. "Naruto is our brother. Our twin brother," Naruko explained. "The Hokage separated us but after last night, he brought us back to be with him."

"Yeah," Menma replied with a nod.

"How troublesome. One blond was enough and now we have three," Shikamaru muttered.

"Well I'm Akimichi Chōji. This lazy sloth beside me is Nara Shikamaru, the one next to him is Aburame Shino and that is Inuzuka Kiba," Chōji greeted with a friendly smile.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruko and this is Uzumaki Menma," Naruko introduced.

"Man, you look super like Naruto's perverted jutsu. Makes sense though since you're his sibling," Kiba said.

Shino turned his head and gave a polite nod, which Menma returned.

It was then the female shrieks were heard.

"Oh god, here he comes," Shikamaru moaned out as he lifted his head off this desk.

"Here who comes?" Naruko asked, keeping up the act.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Last of the famed Uchiha clan," Kiba answered with a flourish of his hand.

"I don't know who this Uchiha Sasuke is, but he sounds like a dick," Menma said with dry tone just as the Uchiha Heir walked into the room, a blank expression on his face while a myriad of fangirls, Sakura and Ino included, followed him in.

Sasuke walked to his seat, which was above Naruto's, but paused as he noticed Naruko and Menma. "Dope," Sasuke began as he looked to Naruto. "Who are they? More clones?"

"His siblings," Sakura corrected. "I meet Naruko-san earlier this morning. The other…I never thought to get his name."

"Menma," Menma replied with a stare before he looked away.

Sakura looked slightly miffed by the short reply but thought nothing of it.

"Naruto! You didn't tell me you had siblings when we met earlier," Ino said, which surprised Sakura.

"Honestly it's a brand new thing. I didn't even know about them until yesterday night," Naruto said with a sheepish grin. "It's taking some time to get used to it."

"Well then. I'm Yamanaka Ino. I'm sure it's a pleasure to meet me," Ino said while Sakura made a gagging sound behind her.

Naruko grinned and said "I'm Uzumaki Naruko and this is Uzumaki Menma. It's nice to meet you too."

"Can we stop introducing ourselves?" Menma asked with a hint of aggravation.

"Yes, if they are anything like the dope, they won't amount to much anyways," Sasuke retorted. "Actually, why are you here with your siblings Naruto? You failed the class yesterday."

"I'm surprised your keen eyes didn't notice Uchiha," Menma answered instead as he aimed a thumb at Naruto's forehead and said, "Take a look at his forehead. Look familiar?"

"I see…" Sasuke drifted off.

"Holy shit, congrats man!" Chōji said with a thumbs up and a grin on his face.

"Congratulations Uzumaki-san," Shino said with a nod to Naruto's direction.

"Yeah, yeah, congrats," Kiba said with a blasé tone.

Shikamaru merely nodded with an exhausted expression.

"And since Naruko and I are already Genin from out past villages, we are automatically shinobi here as well," Menma added. "Does that answer your question or did you have anymore I could answer?"

"None Menma-san," Sasuke said before he walked away, his group of fangirls following but Ino briefly stopped and gave Naruto a thumbs up before she followed as well.

Just then, Hinata walked into the room and she immediately blinked in surprise at the sight of the Uzumaki Trio. She then activated her Byakugan before she tilted her head at Menma in confusion before her faced heated up and she turned away to sit down.

"I'm going down there," Menma told his doubles, who nodded.

Menma stood up and walked down the steps to Hinata and asked, "Mind if I sit here?"

Hinata jumped and blushed faintly and nodded Menma sat beside her with a small smile. "See? I told you it was complicated."

"I-I can see…I-It's not a Genjutsu nor is it a clone…" Hinata murmured.

"They are my siblings," Menma said.

"S-Siblings…" Hinata stuttered but Menma could see a thoughtful expression on her face. Did she see something no one else could?

"Alright everyone!" Iruka announced as he walked into the room. "Take your seats. Today is your final day of class and the day of team assignments…" Iruka then turned around and glanced at Menma, Naruko, and finally Naruto himself. "Due to some recent changes, some last minute shuffling had to occur."

"Team 1…"

As Iruka began to read off the time, Menma leaned to Hinata and asked, "Why do you look so confused?"

Hinata stiffened for a moment before she looked back and whispered "When I activated my B-B-Byakugan…There were two very f-faint lines a-attached to you, Naruto-kun and your sister... One was thick and red and the other was a shimmering platinum silver. I-I never s-saw something l-like that before…"

'A faint shimmering platinum, silver strand…Is that the link?' Menma curiously thought .

'She was able to see it?' Naruko's voice asked.

'I wonder…After the team assignments, we should inquire more about this strand,' Naruto's voice replied.

"Team Seven will have Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Kuroi Sai. Lead by Hatake Kakashi," Iruka said. Team Eight will have Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino. Team Nine is still in rotation so Team Ten will have Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chōji, and Nara Shikamaru. Lead by Sarutobi Asuma. Final team is Team Eleven will have Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Naruko and Uzumaki Menma. Primarily lead by-"

Just then, the window beside Iruka's desk was shattered and a smoke began to form around the window. When it faded, an excited Mitarashi Anko was the first to appear, holding a "Welcome to Team Eleven" banner in her hand while an amused Yamanaka Inoichi stood by her side.

"Hello Uzumaki Trio," Inoichi began. "We are you Jōnin Sensei. Welcome to Team Eleven."

"This is going to fun!" Anko exclaimed.

Chapter Text

"Look, Uzumaki Kuwabara! It's a good sounding name," Naruto said as Anko nodded in agreement beside him. "It may seem goofy at first but it also holds strength in it."

"I mean, it's not a bad name. I think Uzumaki Yusuke is a pretty strong name too," Anko said. "It just sounds headstrong and cocky. My type of guy really."

"What about Uzumaki Hiei?" Naruto asked.

"If anything, I would give that to sulky back there," Anko said as she pointed at Menma, who flipped her off in response.

"I don't know why you two are having this discussion anyways, Naruto is a perfect name," Inoichi said.

"That's what we said," Naruko and Menma said in unison.

The newly christened Team Eleven walked along the dirt road of Konoha with Inoichi in front, Naruto and Anko in the middle and Naruko and Menma taking up the rear. The team of five were currently heading to their assigned training ground.

"Well, I just don't think I should have this name, that's all," Naruto said. "I mean Menma and Naruko got to choose their names. I didn't have that luxury. Just seems unfair really."

"I know but like I said, it's just easy to keep your name the same," Menma said.

"Bleh," Naruto replied.

"And we are here are. Team Eleven's training ground!" Inoichi said proudly.

"Oh, right!" Inoichi said. "So normally there would be a test for teamwork but considering who you three are, we don't have to worry about that. Instead, we're going to go to do something a little different."

And without warning, the world went black for the trio.

Water splashed against Naruto's face, jolting him awake from his slumber. "W-Wha? Where am I?" Naruto quickly realized that he was tied to a chair with a blindfold over his eyes.

'Naruko? Menma?' Naruto asked within his head.

But shockingly, there was nothing.

"Do not bother looking for your comrades, they are not here," A rough male's voice said. Naruto turned his head at the location of the voice. "Not at the moment anyway."

"Where am I? Who are you?" Naruto asked.

Suddenly, his head whipped to the side as a fist collided with it. "You don't ask the questions, we do!" a high pitched male's voice exclaimed.

"Fuck off. Where am I?" Naruto asked.

Naruto then hunched over as a fist collided with his stomach. "This little shit doesn't follow the rules," the high pitched male said again, with an obvious sneer in his voice.

"What we want is real simple kid. We heard you did the impossible and stole the Forbidden Scroll," The first voice said. "Would fetch a high price in the black market-"

"-Something we are very interested in," the high pitched male voice said as Naruko scowled darkly, also tied up in a chair with a blindfold on her eyes.

"We want you to steal the Forbidden Scroll again," The rough voiced male finished.

"Wow…And why do you want it?" Naruko asked.

"We have a buyer in Kumogakure no Sato that wants it. If you agree, we'll make it worth your while," the rough voiced male said.

Naruko tilted her head in thought before she said "How about eat a dick because I'm not betraying Konoha for money. Besides after last time-"

"-I'm not going anywhere near that thing again," Menma said with a frown on his face.

A punch collided with the left side of his head, which caused him to bow his head and shake it briefly before he smirked. "Come on? That all you got? I think Old woman Keiko has a stronger right hook than you."

"Oh-hohoho…We got a little bad-ass on our hands," the rough voiced male said with a mocking tone. "We do love breaking your kind. Kakarot…If you please."

Menma grunted as a fist slammed into his stomach and fist repeatedly, each blow causing stars to flutter behind the blindfold that covered his eyes. "Steal the scroll for us and the pain stops, real simple."

"Gonna have to do worse to me," Naruto said as he spat out blood.

"Interesting…Oi! Vegeta? Can I try the Senbon thing?" The high pitch voiced male asked.

There was silence before Vegeta replied "By all means."

"Hehehe, you're gonna regret your answer boy," Kakarot said as he began to laugh.

"Do your worst…It's not like the village hasn't," Naruto said as blood dripped down his bottom lip.

Naruto then felt a thin metal slide through his skin and between the joint in his wrist and scoffed. "Is that it? I would have expected m-" Naruto then let out a scream of pain as a small he felt another metal hit its side, causing the senbon to vibrate against the bones.

"Steal the scroll kid," Kakarot said.

Naruto could feel the breath of the man in his face and scowled. "Fuck you! I'm not doing shit!" Naruto shouted.

"Then another senbon goes in," Vegeta said.

Naruko wailed in pain as Kakarot hit both senbon with a kunai in the side, causing the painful vibrating to go up both of her arms. "Steal the scroll," Vegeta's voice said.

"Fuck you!" Naruko scowled through gritted teeth.

"Still going strong…We'll break you yet," Kakarot said with glee before Naruko felt two senbon slide between her shoulder blades and then the vibrating began, causing her to scream out.

"N-Not doing it!" Naruko hissed out.

"You are really durable aren't you cutie pie? Well, I suppose we'll have to up the ante," Kakarot said before Naruko felt two senbon slide into the joints of her knees and soon, the agony of the senbon overcame her, causing her to scream louder.

"Go suck a dick," Menma hissed through gritted teeth as blood flowed from his wrists, knees, shoulders and now his ankles, his body trembling from the agony he was going through but despite it, he would not bend or break.

"Impressive…He's not breaking. That means we can amp it up…" Vegeta stated. Suddenly, the blindfold was removed and Menma found himself in a dark room but in front of a mirror, where he could see Naruto slumped off, suffering from the same wounds he was.

"Now since you're big and bad on your own, let's see what happens when you watch someone get tortured…" the voice of Kakarot said before a hooded figure walked into the room with two senbon but he noticed that the senbon had some sort of purple liquid on it.

The figure then stabbed Naruto in both of his elbows before tapping the kunai, which caused Naruto to wail.

"Come on tough guy-"

"-will you steal the scroll for us?" The voice of Vegeta asked as Naruto watched Naruko squirm in scream in agony, tears falling from beneath the blindfold.

Naruto shut his eyes and shook his head with gritted teeth. Naruko's screams echoed within his mind as he felt sweat pour down his face. "Come on kid," The voice of Kakarot said. "All you have to do is steal one scroll. Is that-"

"-worth the life of your comrade?" The voice of Kakarot said as Naruko watched Menma scream in agony as another senbon was placed between his ankles. Naruko had tears streaming down her eyes at the sight of Menma's squirming, trying to escape the pain he was in but she couldn't

She couldn't let him go through this pain.

But then she realized something.

If she was in this position, she wouldn't want him to betray the village because even through this village hated her and wished she was dead for something she, nor Naruto and Menma, could control, she would protect it.

she wouldn't no matter what price she had to pay.

"I won't-"

"-do it," Naruto finally said. "Konoha is my home and even if they despise me, hurt me…Even want to kill me. I can't betray them-"

"-so you'll have to kill them," Menma finished. "And me because I won't do it no matter what so-"

"-you two can go fuck yourselves," Naruto said. "Long, deep and hard with-"

"-a rusty, nail covered kunai!" Naruko shouted angrily before she panted. "Boy did that feel good to say…"

"So...You won't do it? Well, there is only one thing left to do…" Vegeta's rough voice said from all around her. All was silent for a moment before the hooded figure appeared before her. "Well then kid…You pass!"

And with a burst of light, Naruko found herself sitting in the middle of Menma and Naruto, where both of them quickly opened their eyes and looked around to see a smiling Inoichi and Anko in front of them.

All of them sitting in the middle of Team Eleven's training ground.

"Congratulations Team Eleven. You passed the test," Inoichi said with a proud tone.

"What the hell was that?!" The three shouted with a mixture of anger, betrayal, confusion, and a lot of pain..

"That was a genjutsu," Inoichi said. "A strong one as well. What you three experienced in that genjutsu is one of our strongest torture techniques. We placed a chemical in your system that causes the body to vibrate and when it does, we insert senbon into the pockets between your joints and with a tap of the kunai, the chemical begins to make the body part involuntary vibrate which causes the senbon to grind into the joints."

"It's our favorite down in T&I," Anko interrupted with a bloodthirsty smile, which made Menma and Naruko shuddered but Naruto looked enraptured by the look.

'Um Naruto? You alright there?' Naruko asked curiously.

'I think I'm in love,' A dark voice grumbled, which caused the trio to look around in confusion.

What was that?

"You would not believe the amount of spies that break down for that," Inoichi said with a wistful smile on his face. He then blinked when he saw the fierce scowls on the trios' faces. "Anyway, Most Jōnin when they do their team tests tend to focus on teamwork and trickery. Considering who you three are, you passed in aces. However, we needed to test you on something more and that is the mental aspect of being a shinobi."

"There will be times when you are captured and held at the mercy of enemy shinobi, who will torture you to the extreme. So we decided that the test would be how long you can remain loyal," Anko explained, picking up where Inoichi left off.

"When you passed that, we then wanted to see how far we can push that and to our excitement, despite this village not being loyal to you three for your burdens, you remained loyal to it, even though it would cost you three your lives and that is more than enough to say you three passed," Anko finished, also with a proud smile on her face.

"You three are officially shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato," Inoichi said with a grin.

"Well, it was nice for Inoichi-sensei and Anko-sensei to give us the rest of the day off," Naruto said as he walked in the middle of Naruko and Menma, his hands behind his head.

"Despite the torture," Menma sourly muttered.

"Yeah, I didn't really appreciate the mental attack but at least it was that and not anything else," Naruko offered, trying to find a bright side to the torture they endured.

"Yeah, it could have been worse," Naruto said. "They could have had us read Fate Stay Night while doing that torture."

The three shuddered.

"So I wonder what missions we'll do tomorrow," Naruto pondered. "Think it will be anything worthwhile?"

"Here's hoping," Naruko said.

"I agree. Besides…Oh great," Menma sighed.

Naruto and Naruko glanced at Menma in confusion only to flinch as Sasuke, Sakura and Sai came into view, their clothes torn in several places and their body mostly covered in dirt and grime.

"Hey guys, rough day?" Naruto joked.

"Get bent," Sasuke angrily muttered.

"Kakashi-sensei was brutal but we passed," Sakura said with an exhausted smile.

"No thanks to dickless-chan," Sai said as he motioned to Sasuke, who scowled in reply while the Uzumaki trio snorted in reply.

"Stop calling him that!" Sakura exclaimed as she swung to hit Sai, who stepped back swiftly, which caused Sakura to stumble and fall behind Sai to the ground.

"I don't think he's going to allow that, Sakura-san," Menma said with a cool tone as Sakura scowled and rose to her feet to try and hit Sai again but he moved forward to avoid it, which made Sakura stumble and fall behind the tall, pale boy.

"Forehead-chan can never touch me. You should have avoided her blows as well, spineless-kun," Sai said to Naruto, who shrugged in response while Sakura stood up and angrily pouted.

"You gotta point," Naruto agreed. "But we kinda have to get somewhere so we gotta jet."

"Very well," Sai said. "Come along Forehead-chan. Dickless-chan."

"I'm going to burn you…" Sasuke muttered.

"You guys go ahead, I want to ask Naruko something and then take a shower," Sakura said.

The two boys nodded and walked out while Sakura turned to Naruko and said, "Hey Naruko-chan! Piggy-chan and Hinata-chan are having a girls night to celebrate us becoming Kunoichi. I felt bad for hitting you earlier so I wanted to know if you wanted to come."

"Um…sure," Naruko replied with a small smile.

"Awesome. It's this Saturday!" Sakura exclaimed before she reached into her pouch and pulled out her notepad and pen to quickly write her address, tore the paper from the notebook and handed it to Naruko, who took it.

"I'll see you then," Sakura said with a bright smile and before she looked to Naruto and Menma said, "Bye Naruto-san. Menma-san."

"Bye Sakura-chan," Naruto happily said while Menma stared at her for a moment before he looked away.

Sakura stared at Menma for a moment with a frown on her face. Naruto and Naruko could tell she wanted to say something to but she shook her head instead and she smiled at Naruto and Naruko and ran off to join her team.

"Memna, would it hurt you to be polite to her?" Naruko asked once Sakura was out of sight.

Menma rolled his eyes and began to walk again, which caused the other two to walk alongside him. "I don't have to explain anything. Remember, we were one person. There was always some resentment to how she treated us. I can just show it more openly now," Menma said.

"We didn't make it quite easy for her either," Naruko remarked. "We were like a pesky mosquito to her. Always buzzing around her, not giving her any space of anything. We're much to blame for her treatment of us."

"Were we always so forgiving?" Menma asked with a frown.

"Not always but we are known for our brutal honesty. Even to ourselves," Naruto replied. "Not to mention, we shouldn't blame it all on her. She could have learned to hate us from her folks, like almost every other civilian and their child in this place."

"But keep in mind Menma, I don't blame you for feeling that way. She hits really fucking hard and did treat us pretty badly," Naruto continued. "A part of me doesn't like it either but I just want to put it behind me."

"Same here," Naruko said. "Besides, we'll always have a soft spot for Sakura-chan. Just who we are."

"Soft spot huh?" Menma murmured. "It seems I took more of the negative aspects of our original self."

"I could see that," Naruto agreed as he put his hands behind his head. "I wish we could have shared that between us."

"Weirdly enough, I kind of like it," Menma revealed with a small smile. "It feels more like…Me than us."

"You like being a sour strawberry?" Naruko asked with a scrunched up face.

Both Menma and Naruto exploded with laughter at the comparison.

"You think I'm cute?"

Ino scrunched up her face in annoyance as Naruto's words echoed in her head.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Why did she say that out loud?!

And that baka heard her say it too!

That motherfucking, goddamn Baka!

"I'm such a blabber mouth," Ino whined to herself as she placed white roses in a vase at her family's flower shop.

Ino always thought that Naruto was cute. Most of the girls at the Academy did but his personality was the problem. He was so hyper 24/7 that it turned everyone off from him but in her case, it was because she saw something more in him.

There were times where his hype was genuine and those days, it made her smile at him but on most days, it seemed forced or even outright faked. Ino didn't know why he hid himself sometimes and she didn't want to know. Anyone that could fake their emotions she didn't care for.

She preferred someone that showed who they truly were, which is why she was into Sasuke. He didn't have to fake his aloofness or that bad-boy aura, he just had it naturally and it made her want him.

But there was something about Naruto today that was different. He seemed more at peace than he did before and admittedly, he did look handsome, despite not changing. He was still the cute, short blond boy with the whiskers but there was a certain…confidence in him that wasn't in his movements before.

He had caught her off guard.

It only became worse with the wink.

It gave her a feeling she hadn't gotten before.

It felt like butterflies were fluttering in her stomach.

"Damn baka…" Ino muttered. "I should have never looked back…"

She then heard the bell attached to the flower shop's door ring and without looking, she dryly greeted, "Welcome to the Yamanaka Flower Shop. I will be with you in just a second."

"No worries Piggy-chan. I can wait," Sakura's voice said from behind her.

Ino turned around and narrowed her eyes and asked, "What are you doing here Forehead-chan?"

"I came to invite you to my place on Saturday as a little celebration," Sakura explained as she hopped onto the counter.

"Sure, I think we can have a truce to celebrate becoming Kunoichi," Ino said with a smile. "Who else is coming? I swear if you Invited Asuka and Rei, I'm so gonna kill you."

"Nope, just you, me, Hinata and Naruko," Sakura replied.

"Naruko? Naruto's sister?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, I kinda…hit her thinking she was Naruto-baka," Sakura said. "It's kind of my way of apologizing. Besides, she's kind of nice…Different from Naruto."

"I can't wait to talk to her then," Ino said.

"But while Naruto is still the same, his brother…Menma…I don't think he likes me very much," Sakura pouted. "There's something in his eyes that made me feel…I don't know. It's hard to explain."

"Hmm…He seems more aloof than Naruto and maybe Naruko," Ino said. "But you like Sasuke-kun and he's super aloof and dark."

"I know but something in his eyes…It makes me feel…I don't know…" Sakura said. "Maybe I'm reading too much into it."

"You may be right," Ino teased then added "Don't worry too much about it. Since you guys are on different teams, you probably won't be seeing any of the Uzumaki Triplets all that often."

"Y-Yeah. You're right," Sakura said.

"Of course I am," Ino bragged.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's go to the Hyūga compound to invite Hinata-chan," Sakura said.

"Alright, alright," Ino said.

"By the way, I'm not Naruto."

"O-Oh?"

"You called me "Naruto" twice now…I'm not him…My name is Menma."

Hinata opened her eyes and let out a sigh of confusion and stood up on her meditation mat.

She couldn't stop replaying the conversation she had between herself and Menma.

When they spoke, he never let on that he was Menma at all. He spoke as if he was Naruto but then he revealed himself as Menma and the real Naruto and his sister were siblings.

And while she could see hints of Naruto in Naruko and "Naruto's" eyes at the brief moment she looked at them, Menma felt as if she was speaking to the true Uzumaki Naruto.

But then there was that platinum silver strand between the three of them. Where did that come from?

Hinata found herself frustrated for the first time in a long, long time.

Finally, she muttered, "I-I need t-to know m-more…"

So Hinata quickly left the meditation chamber located from beside her home and walked down the road towards the main road of Konoha and almost if fate dictated it, Hinata saw the Uzumaki Trio walking down the road talking.

She quickly darted into the green bushes nearby and listened to them as they talked.

"So Hinata-chan saw a platinum-silver strand between us?" Naruko's voice asked.

"Yeah…That could be our life-force…She did say it was very faint though," Menma said. "Do you think we should talk to her about it?"

"Why do you ask?" Naruto asked.

"Well…We spoke earlier today and I…kind of told her what was on my mind about a few things," Menma admitted. "She kinda thought I was you and I didn't exactly correct her until the end."

"I mean technically, you're not wrong," Naruko shrugged. "But that wasn't wise at all. I don't think we want our secret to be exposed. I kind of like it this way."

"I know…" Menma groaned.

Hinata watched them pass her position and quickly darted from bush to bush as swiftly as possible, making sure to keep up with their conversation.

"But she kind of caught me off guard…" Menma said.

"It should be fine. I mean, you're not wrong for thinking about how Konoha treated us back then but maybe it'll get better," Naruko offered.

"There's that optimism again," Menma noted.

"There's that negativity again," Naruko teased.

"So what should we do now? We have the rest of the day to do whatever we want?" Naruto asked."I was hoping maybe we can do more training."

"Fuck yes!" Menma and Naruko chorused in unison.

"I was hoping you two would say that!" Naruto exclaimed before the three ran off.

Hinata finally stepped out of the bushes and narrowed her eyes curiously.

Secret…What secret could that be?

'Just w-when I think I f-figured you out…' Hinata thought with a smile on her face.

"Yo Hinata-chan!" Ino and Sakura's voice screamed from behind her.

Chapter Text

"Naruko-chan, I think Menma hates me," Sakura said as she held up a lime green dress. "Is this good?"

"Nah too bright," Ino said with a disgusted frown.

After the fun sleepover the group had two weeks ago, Sakura decided to keep up the fun by inviting her group of friends shopping.

It was tough due to the training schedules and D-Rank missions they all had to do but Sakura was finally able to take her friends on a shopping spree and while she was having a blast, something had been on her mind...

And that someone was Uzumaki Menma.

Ever since the day they met, anytime she saw him, he wouldn't say a word. He would stare at her with these disappointed, cold eyes which made her soul shiver. She didn't know why he looked at her this way anytime she looked his way and it was starting to get to her but while it was bothering her, she didn't mean to blurt it out on their shopping day.

"What makes you think that, Sakura-chan?" Naruko asked as Hinata subtly stared at her with a curious frown.

"His gaze…It makes me feel…I don't know," Sakura said with a conflicted expression. "It's been bothering me since that the other day when I invited you to that sleepover two weeks back and anytime I see him, it just gets worse..."

"Perhaps he knows you or something?" Ino suggested.

"Perhaps," Sakura muttered. "Like, I didn't do anything wrong and insult him did I?"

"Well…You didn't ask for his name when you first met…But he's not petty like that," Naruko answered.

Sakura then held up an orange dress and asked, "What about this?"

"I like it," both Naruko and Hinata said in unison but while Naruko sounded confident, Hinata was more subdued. Hinata then turned her head and looked at Naruko with...was that suspicion?

Nah, Sakura was seeing things.

"Well of course you two like it," Ino laughed. "I mean you're wearing orange now like Naruto and Hinata has a thing for orange-wearing boys."

"I-Ino-chan," Hinata whined with a blush but Ino winked at her.

"No worries. I won't spill the beans," Ino replied.

"What beans?" Naruko said with a clueless look.

Sakura smiled before she lowered her head, her mind flashing back to Menma's face.

It was funny to her that while he looked like both Naruto and Naruko, that look in his eyes made him stand out to her and made her feel both ashamed of herself as well as drawn into them.

But why?

Sakura shook her head and muttered, "It's nothing…" She then looked at Naruko and asked, "So Naruko-chan, how do you like Konoha?"

"It's…nice…" Naruko said after a pause. "I don't like how people are treating my brother Naruto, however. They treat him like some sort of monster. Just the other day, I went to get some milk and I got chased out."

"Well, Naruto was a huge prankster up until you and Menma showed up. Maybe it's due to that?" Ino suggested.

"I don't know but it seems like everyone hates him and doesn't want him around and when he is, they either try to beat him, chase him, or ignore him. Doesn't that seem severe for just some pranks?" Naruko asked.

The three girls were silent but Sakura replied, "Actually...You're right. Naruto was super annoying and kept pestering me for dates when I was clearly not interested but ultimately, he was harmless for years, Kaa-san told me to stay far away from him and I don't know why."

"M-My Okaa-sama wanted the same thing," Hinata murmured.

"My Kaa-san wanted me to hang out with him but I didn't want to," Ino admitted. "Not so much because I hated him but he was always so hyper and a lot of the time, it seemed forced. If he was more true to himself, I would have been friends with him...But it's funny I say that now because two weeks back after we became genin, I bumped into him in the morning and something changed in him."

Sakura noticed that Hinata perked up and let a small smirk appear on her face.

"He seemed more subdued and relaxed and there was this…confidence that was oozing out of him. It looked and felt so natural. Like this was the side of him that he always wanted to show... It was actually kind of hot and I never thought Naruto could be hot."Ino admitted.

"H-Hot…" Hinata stammered out.

Naruko smirked and it was then Sakura remembered that this was his identical sister and suddenly a smirk appeared on her face. "So does that mean Naruko-chan is hot to you too, Piggy-chan?"

Ino blinked in surprise before a hot blush appeared on her face and said "A-Ah…Um…Shit, I forgot you're sister for a moment. Don't go telling Naruto that. He already has a big head cause I told him he was cute that one time."

Naruko gave an impish smirk and replied, "I won't tell him but you didn't answer the question Ino-chan. Do you think I'm hot?"

Ino stammered as her blush deepened and muttered, "Eat shit and die Haruno."

"Eat shit and live Yamanaka," Sakura said with a good-natured smile.

Naruko snorted before she let out a loud laugh and Sakura had to admit, the laugh was cute. Naruko then paused and said, "Oh shit, I have to run! Training time. I can't be late!"

"Catch you later Naruko-chan. Say hi to Naruto and Menma for me," Sakura said.

"Same for me!" Ino said.

Naruko nodded and yelled, "Bye you three!" as she rushed out of the store.

"S-Speaking of training…I must get going as well," Hinata said before she stood up and bowed to the two girls, and rushed out as well.

"Later Hinata?" Sakura muttered.

"They rushed off quickly. I wonder why," Ino said.

Sakura shrugged before she looked at Ino and slyly asked, "So you told Naruto he was cute huh?"

"Hibana no Aoi Honō (Spark of the Blue Flame)!" Naruto shouted as he clapped his hands together, suddenly, two rings of cobalt blue flames exploded to live around his wrists and ankles, his eyes turning a royal blue color with a flicker of cobalt blue flames within them.

"Here I go!" Naruto exclaimed as he dashed forward, a trail of blue flames streaking behind him as he dashed towards a shadow clone of his. Naruto jumped forward and spun his body two rotations before he slammed his foot against the clone's face, causing it to explode in blue flames.

Naruto landed and launched himself forward and landed two rapid-fire blows to the second clone's face, each blow causing a mini explosion of blue flames to burst against the face before Naruto turned around and shouted, "It's done!" and landed a hard haymaker to the clone, causing it to explode into flames.

The flame rings around his wrist and ankles began to blink and Naruto yelled, "Crap!" He clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Hibana no Aoi Honō: Ringu no Shōkyaku (Spark of the Blue Flame: Ring of Incineration)!"

Naruto then spread his hands apart slowly as the flames around his wrists and ankles swirled into his palm and began to expand into a burning fire ring that stretched to Naruto's width and height.

With a shout, Naruto launched the ring at three clones, causing the entire area to explode. When the smoke faded, all that was left was the scorched Earth and small pockets of blue flames burning.

"Whew…that looked brutal," Naruto said before he looked at his darkened and blistering hands, wrists, and ankles. "Aw, shit."

Menma stood on the far west side of the training site in a meditative state. "Tōketsu Hāto (Frozen Heart)" Menma muttered softly.

The air around him shimmered with frost before he murmured "Mehana no Kōri (Eyes of Ice)," he then opened his eyes, which revealed his right eye frozen over with icy blue chakra flowing from it.

He stood up clapped his hands together and said "Tsume no Nigai Shimo ((Claws of the Bitter Frost)." A pair of ice gauntlets in the shape of fox claws formed around his hands.

Several of Menma's clones suddenly charged toward him.

The first clone was instantly stabbed in the chest by the frost-covered claw before it froze over, which allowed Menma to grab the clone and launch it toward the group of other clones, freezing them upon impact.

Menma then ran forward and repeatedly lunged his arms out, shattering the first two clones upon impact, and then kicked the remaining icy clone to another group of clones to his right.

He then turned around leaped into the air and shouted, "Burizādo Ejji (Blizzard Edge)!" He then twisted his body rapidly as the icy gauntlets left his hands and formed a large angle ring made of ice, which sliced through any of the clones that came in contact with the sharp ring.

He then landed on the ground and turned around to see a clone running his way and smirked before he shouted, "Tsumetai Bīmu (Freezing Beam)!" Menma's right eye began to glow before a beam of chakra shot out from it and encased the clone into a solid block of ice.

Menma blew out breath and the cold around him faded away, returning the air around him to a normal temperature but his hands still had a tinge of blue and they were numb. He then closed his right eye and grimaced as a frozen tear fell from it.

"Damn…" Menma softly swore.

"Bōfū Sōru (Hurricane Soul)!" Naruko exclaimed as her eyes took on a platinum blue color as a faint sapphire blue aura of chakra flowed from her body.

Naruko leaped into the air and said, "Kaze Suteppu (Breeze step)," and hovered in the air. She grinned and dashes from left to right through the air and then shouted, "Kūki Doriru (Air drill)!"

Naruko began to spin rapidly as the chakra swirled around her body before she shot down to the ground hard, which caused the earth to splinter beneath her feet with the wind slicing against the ground at the point of impact.

Naruko then back flipped away from the impacted ground before she hopped into the air with a twirl and hovered in the air. She gripped her right wrist with her left hand as she stuck out her thumb and index finger and shouted, "Reppū Jūdan: Saisho Dangan (Gust Bullet: First shot)!"

Through her index finger, a shockwave of wind launched from it and slammed into the ground, causing a small-sized crater within it.

She then landed on the ground and muttered, "Now to work on my taijutsu. Tenohira no Soyokaze (Palm of the Soft Wind)!" With a burst of chakra, a faint shimmer of sapphire blue chakra flowed from her hands as she held them forward.

A shadow clone of Naruko walked up to Naruko balled up her fist and threw a right jab, Naruko's hand glided towards the fist and deflected it to the left, which caused a ripple against the clone's arm before it was forced from its feet and sent spinning down to the ground.

Another clone ran up behind Naruko and performed a roundhouse kick but Naruko turned around and caught the clone's ankle with her left hand. Another ripple went through the clone before the clone was sent twirling into the air, where Naruko jumped up with a spin of her body and kicked the clone to the ground hard

Naruko landed on the ground and swayed from left to right from two clones jabbing at her head before she lifted her palm to deflect one clone's wild haymaker, which slammed into the second clone's face, which sent that clone spiraling down to the ground.

The first clone turned around and threw another haymaker at Naruko but she ducked and slammed her palm into the clone's stomach, which sent it spiraling backwards into a tree where it dispersed.

The sapphire blue chakra faded away and Naruko stood upright and looked at her palms, which had slice marks on them."It still hurts but it's coming along great…" Naruko confidently grinned.

"Alright, guys. How is the training?" Inoichi asked.

"It's coming along but the wind is still slicing up my palms and feet," Naruko winced.

"Hands are numb and my right eye still feels cold but they are warming up," Menma muttered.

"Still rough on my end but I'm getting there as well," Naruto said. "You'd think after two weeks we should be able to do this without these bothersome injuries."

"All of you had shitty chakra control until I got my fine-ass hands on you three, my little Guinea pigs," Anko chuckled. "It'll take time. Plus, my cute dimwits, you three are studying forbidden techniques. You're lucky the Hokage allowed you bunch to keep the jutsu you copied down, especially after the last jutsu you three tried caused you three to exist in the first place."

The Uzumaki trio frowned at this.

When the Hokage found out about them learning and copying down a few more forbidden justu, he nearly tore their heads off but when he saw how far they had gotten, he allowed them to continue with the copied jutsu because they could handle them and then gave them more techniques that were tied to the jutsus they already copied down.

The trio had a feeling that the Hokage was allowing this for more than the reasons he stated but they let it go, just to be glad to continue with what they have plus more.

"But considering these wounds are far better than the ones you all had at the start, you'll have these perfected in no time," Inoichi said with pride. "Now that your training is complete for the day, we have a mission."

"It's not Tora again is it?" Naruko asked with a frown.

Menma and Naruto smirked.

For some bizarre reason, that demon cat hated Naruko but adored Naruto and Menma and it drove Naruko mad.

"Don't smirk assholes, its not funny," Naruko growled out with a scowl on her face. "We're the same damn person! Why does that cat hate me but love you two?!"

"Relax Naruko, no Tora. The Hokage has given us a B-rank mission. We are to go to Takigakure no Sato," Inoichi explained.

"A B-Rank?! So soon?!" The three exclaimed in unison.

"I knew they'd freak," Anko said. "Yeah. It's a rescue mission. We are to find a girl named Fū. She was kidnapped by some rogue Jōnin of their village and none of the shinobi want to retrieve her weirdly enough."

"But why that rank?" Naruto asked.

"I bet it has something to do with Anko-sensei and Inoichi-sensei being our squad leaders, right?" Naruko asked.

"Exactly. Since there are two of us, the Hokage feels a B-rank would be more appropriate but still a safe one," Inoichi said. "So, do you three accept this mission?"

"Hell yeah, we do!" The three shouted happily.

"I knew it," Anko said with a grin.

"But there is one more question I must ask…Is she cute?" Naruto asked.

"That's a pretty good question," Naruko asked. "Is she cute?"

Menma also looked interested in this.

Anko snorted and held out a picture of the person with a smirk. "Is she cute? I didn't realize a mission's importance relied on how cute our mission objective was," Anko commented.

The three looked at it but while Naruto and Menma nodded with an impressed look, Naruko felt himself stare at the picture.

'She looks beautiful…' Naruko thought.

'You think so?' Naruto thought back.

'Yeah. What do you think Menma? She looks beautiful?' Naruko thought as she eyed Menma.

'I suppose she is,' Menma replied in thought with a wry grin. 'But keep it in your pants, Naruko. She's for protecting. Besides, she could be another Sakura.'

Naruto and Naruko frowned at this.

'You hold a lot of resentment toward Sakura-chan,' Naruko noted to Menma.

'Why shouldn't I?' Menma replied. 'We all did or did you two forget that when we separated?'

'We resented her for wanting to be with Sasuke so much,' Naruko replied. 'And we all agreed to let her do just that and leave her alone in that way. Why are you so angry with her still?'

'Just leave it be,' Menma thought and then said out loud, "It's settled, let's save this girl."

"Good, we leave tomorrow so get prepared," Inoichi said before he and Anko disappeared in a flash of leaves, leaving the trio alone.

"I hate that she threw that stupid jutsu in our face," Menma said with annoyance.

"Well she had a point," Naruko said. "Us meddling with that jutsu did take us from one person to three. We should be more careful. It's a blessing we're allowed to continue learning deadly jutsu and Taijutsu like this."

"Yeah, yeah," Menma said with a scowl on his face. "It just bugs me. It happened, we screwed up. Screw-ups happen but we learned from it and it will only make us better in the future."

"That's the spirit," Naruto said with a smile. "Besides, we're making the best of this. I mean, the worse is our shared life force. Other than that, we're doing great. We just have to keep positive and make the world know our names."

"But what about our dream of becoming Hokage?" Naruko asked. "Three people can't be the Hokage you know?"

"Then we'll have to change that," Naruto said.

"There's being positive and then there's being foolish," Menma said. "You think they're going to change the rules and make all three of us Hokage? You think we're that special?"

"I do," Naruto said. "Think about I-"

"No you think about it," Menma angrily said. "We were already disliked as a sole Naruto because of the Kyūbi being sealed in us and we were even stupid to think we could become Hokage then and now when there are three of us, you still think it's feasible?"

"I do," Naruto said with a stubborn frown. "Yeah this village doesn't like us and yeah, it's because of bullshit that isn't our fault but you know what? This is our home and I'm not just going to roll over and die because they despise us. Nor will I give them the satisfaction of hating them. I'm…No…We are going to prove them wrong. We are more than the demon that we have inside of us. We are Uzumaki and we will earn respect."

Memna looked away as he grumbled, "I still think it's stupid."

"And yet you know that's what you want to do," Naruto said with a smirk.

Menma chuckled and said, "Yeah, yeah…"

"Well, with that argument done what should we do no-" Naruko was interrupted as a bush shook violently, followed by some silence. "What was th-" Naruko was interrupted again as Naruto raised his hand to stop her, much to her eye-twitching annoyance.

Naruto crept up to the bush and without warning, he knelt and pushed the leaves aside to see Hinata's unconscious body.

"Huh," Naruto said. "Well…This is something…"

"Got any fives?"

"Go fish."

"Damn it!"

Hinata began to squirm and open her eyes. What she thought she would see when she opened them was the clear blue sky but instead, she found herself looking at a dull gray ceiling.

"Got any tens?"

"Go fish baby!"

"Aww damn it. Here you g—oh, she's waking up!"

Hinata turned her head to see Naruto, Menma, and Naruko at the table, each of them holding cards in their hands. "Hey Hinata-san, come join us!" Naruko exclaimed with a wave of her hand.

Hinata blinked in confusion and slowly rose from the couch she was sleeping on and muttered "Where am I?"

"You're at our humble abode," Naruko cheerfully said. "You gave us a huge scare when we found you fainted so we brought you here."

Hinata blushed.

She was in Naruto-kun's home?!

"I-It looks nice and cozy," Hinata said and she wasn't lying. The apartment was slightly small but it had orange-painted walls with a gray sectional couch that she was currently sitting on, with pale orange and red pillows.

The kitchen looked to be furnished with brand new equipment with marble counter tops and it was a nice bright white paint on its walls. And the trio sat at a cherry wood circular table with six chairs around it, three of which were occupied.

"Thanks, we really worked hard to make it look nice," Naruko replied.

"Had to steal a damn bunch though," Naruto grumbled.

"Y-You stole all of this?" Hinata asked.

"We did," Menma said. "But I'm pretty sure you already know why."

Hinata grew quiet as she thought over what she had heard.

"Y-You three were originally the true Naruto-kun…And you three have the Kyūbi sealed within you all…" Hinata murmured.

"Man, you have some really good hearing," Naruto said with an impressed smile.

"You bozos were also pretty loud," Naruko said.

"Yeah, yeah," Menma mumbled.

"But yeah, that's the gist of it," Naruto said. "Come on. Take a seat. Play cards with us."

Hinata nodded and slowly walked to the table and pulled out the chair and sat down. "We were about to start a new game. Menma, do your magic," Naruko said.

Menma took the cards and began to shuffle them as he looked at her and said "So Hinata, what you heard was true. The three of us used to be Uzumaki Naruto but a jutsu went wrong happened and split is up into the three you see before you forever."

"B-But how c-could that be?" Hinata asked. "There isn't a jutsu that can do that…Is there?"

"There is and it's called Tamashī no Cerberus: Bunretsu," Naruto said as Menma began to dole out the cards. "So this jutsu is a Yamanaka Kinjutsu that Inoichi-sensei's great-great-Grandfather created during the Warring Period before Konoha was founded essentially to keep their clan strong since death was very abundant during that time."

"It essentially works like a Bushin jutsu where we could make copies of ourselves but where they differ is while a clone can be dispersed, any copies that come from this jutsu don't," Naruko said.

"They d-don't?" Hinata asked with surprise.

"Nope, not at all. Instead, they become one-hundred percent real and independent of the caster of the Jutsu," Menma said. "But they don't start as a blank slate. From what Inoichi-sensei explained, it takes our strongest personality traits and attributes and splits them into three independent beings but all the memories from the original Naruto are still remembered as well as his skills and chakra level and this jutsu even allows us to be stronger than ever. There is the downside of sharing one life force so if one of us dies, we all die but other than that? All upsides."

"S-So you three were Naruto-kun and now because of the jutsu, there are three of you…But why is Naruko-chan a g-girl?" Hinata asked as she looked at Naruko.

"Well we have a theory that when we did the jutsu, the jutsu used his Oiroke no Jutsu form as inspiration for one of the bodies it had to form," Menma answered.

"I-I see…" Hinata murmured. "S-So who is the closest to the original Naruto-kun?"

"Honestly? I would think Menma," Naruto said. "The OG Naruto was pretty sad and bitter about a lot of things. Menma is bitter but a bit of melancholy is still there."

"You think I'm the closest to the real one?" Menma asked with surprise. "What about you Naruko? You think that too?"

"I mean all of us were close to the original but the emotions we see you have is a lot closer to him. The only difference is that we aren't lonely anymore," Naruko replied.

"Just melancholy and bitter," Menma stated.

"But at the same time, in different ways, we are closer to the OG Naruto as well," Naruto said.

Menma and Naruko nodded in agreement.

"So…Do you three recognize yourselves a-as separate people?" Hinata asked.

"Yes and no," Naruto said. "I mean, we are the same person. We share the same soul and life-force but personality-wise, we are pretty different. As Menma said earlier, we're independent beings with our thoughts and emotions but…Well, these are the same thoughts and emotions the OG Naruto had. I mean the OG Naruto always found you, Sakura-san, and Ino-chan cute."

"Y-Y-You f-found m-me c-cute?" Hinata stammered out in alarm, her face growing a deep red.

"Yeah. We weren't blind," Naruto said.

"Yeah, you're very cute to us Hinata-chan. especially your eyes. They are like pearls!" Naruko added teasingly.

Hinata silently stared at Naruko and Naruto with her face redder than before.

They found her eyes cute?!

"O-Oh…U-Um…A-Ano…S-So if I decided to…Um…" Hinata paused as she began to blush harder. "I-If I decided to date one of you…W-Would I be dating you two as well?"

"I mean…If you wanted to be shared betw—" Naruto began but Menma smacked him upside the head immediately. "Ow! What was that for?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Pervert," Menma said but Hinata saw his cheeks redden lightly. "Admittedly I wouldn't think so…If any of us dated you, you'd be dating a part of Naruto, not the full OG one so no...However, If we ever combined back into one, however, then yes?"

"So, I'd like to point out that all of your questions so far have been about us being a trio instead of a one-some…And not about the Kyūbi," Menma said.

"Well, w-why should it be?" Hinata asked with a confused tone. "I-In hindsight, the Y-Yondaime defeating a powerful d-demon w-without any backup seems o-odd so sealing him w-would be a good method…Also, You aren't big and red with n-nine tails…N-None of you are so why should it m-matter? The d-demon is sealed in you, i-it doesn't mean you a-are the demon."

"Holy shit..." Naruto said. "Y-You're like the second person to say something like that…"

"A-Am I? I mean, i-it's obvious you are human…" Hinata said.

"Not to many it isn't," Menma said with a frown. "They all think of us as the demon out there."

"Well t-they are wrong," Hinata said. "None of y-you are the demon and if anyone says different, I will hurt them!"

She then shrunk in her chair as her blush deepened. She didn't mean to sound so angry but it was true.

"Well look at this little spitfire," Naruto teased. "If she's brave enough to fight for the three of us, maybe she's brave enough to actually ask us out next."

And that was the trigger where Hinata lost consciousness.

"Did you have to say that?" Menma asked Naruto with a sour expression.

"I couldn't help it," Naruto said. "She was so precious and adorable. I had to but she brings up a good question. I mean, we are separate people with our own thoughts and feelings but we're also three parts of OG Naruto and we still think of us that way but if we did decide to date, should we share?"

"It doesn't matter because who would want to date us of all people?" Menma asked.

"Apparently Hinata-chan," Naruto said. "Considering she just fainted when I asked that question."

"She got you there," Naruko said. "But I kind of think this. If we are forever three beings, then yeah, we shouldn't share because even though we feel that we're all Naruto, they'll see us as different people, and no sense in confusing them…but if we ever become one, our feelings for those we date would be shared between us anyways and they would have to share us in return right? Boy did that give me a headache…"

"So it's complicated is basically what I'm getting here?" Naruto summed up.

Menma and Naruko both nodded but it was Naruko who said, "But I'm surprised honestly. She was more concerned with how we became three than the Kyūbi. She brushed that off so quickly."

"I wonder why she was so concerned with that over our bigger secret?" Menma asked.

Naruko shrugged and said, "Because Hinata has a crush on us."

"I'm sorry what?" Menma asked with alarm.

"Cool," Naruto chirped. "She proved you wrong again Menma but what makes you say that Naruko?"

"Well considering she followed us, listened in on us, and actively said, "What if I went on a date with us" and the whole thing about worrying more about us being triplets than the fucking Kyūbi?" Naruko explained. "Not to mention, Ino kind of hinted at it earlier when she said and I quote "Hinata has a thing for orange-wearing boys" and guess what? We all wear orange."

"And thinking back even further, she was always watching us and following us...How the hell did I not see this?" Naruto said with a blank look on his face. "Like seriously? Are we that stupid?"

"Holy shit," Naruto said. "But why would she have a crush on us?"

Menma and Naruko shrugged.

"So if this is true, what do we do?" Naruko asked.

"Well…She's super cute," Naruto said. "And I kind of like her."

"She is cute," Menma said.

"Yeah…I agree with both of you" Naruko added. "So…What do we do?"

"I don't know…We could be looking too deeply into this and she may not like us at all," Menma said.

Both Naruto and Naruko stared at him for a moment. "Every party needs a pooper, that's why they invited you," Naruto sang with a dry tone.

"Party pooper…Party pooper," Naruko sang, her voice equally dry.

"Yeah, yeah, blow me," Menma said as he picked up Hinata off the floor and carried her to the couch, and gently laid her down but his eyes rested on her face, and hesitantly, he caressed her face and murmured, "Yeah…We must be looking too deep…There is no way…"

Menma turned around to see Naruto and Naruko smirking at him. "We saw that," they said in unison.

"Saw what?" Menma asked with narrowed eyes.

The smirk the pair had merely grew but they remained silent.

"Well if it's true, how about we each take her out on a date? Wouldn't hurt anything and if she likes one of us and one of us likes her back, awesome but if not, at least we have a friend," Naruko suggested.

"What if all three of us like her?" Menma asked.

"Then she's our girlfriend," Naruto said.

"But wouldn't that be weird? I mean for us, who the fuck cares but out there…" Menma drifted off.

"Who the fuck cares, whatever makes us happy, right?" Naruko said.

"Right!" Naruto said. "So when she wakes up, we can each ask her out. Simple and effective."

"But we schedule it after the mission tomorrow," Menma said.

"Then let's ask her after the mission then," Naruko said.

"After the mission, we shall ask Hinata-chan out on a date!" Naruto said. "The Uzumaki Trio meeting is adjourned."

Chapter Text

"I was lying on the grass on Sunday morning of last week. Indulging in my self-defeat," Naruto sang as he slipped on a white shirt before he tossed a brush to Naruko.

"My mind was thugged, all laced and bugged, all twisted, wrong, and beat. A comfortable three feet deep," Naruko sang as she brushed her long ponytails straight before she launched the brush to Menma, who rolled over the couch to grab it and brushed his hair.

"Now the fuzzy stare from not being there on a confusing morning week. Impaired my tribal lunar speak," Menma sang as he brushed his hair to a some-what tamed style then kicked up a pair of orange jeans and tossed it to Naruto, who flipped up a wall and grabbed the pants by the leg with his teeth before he twisted around and sat down on a chair to slip it on.

"And of course, you can't become if you only say what you would have done, so I missed a million miles of fun," Naruto sang as he stood up and hopped twice to get his pants on before he kicked over a chair with Menma's black shirt and pants on it, where Menma leaped up and surfed on the chair, spinning it slightly as he slipped on his shirt.

"I know it's up for me," Menma sang as he tugged his shirt down and somersaulted off the chair and landed on one foot, and kicked up Naruko's orange bra and white shirt with a large orange spiral in front and kicked it to her, where she caught it with her foot and kicked it into the air.

"If you steal my sunshine," Naruko sang as she pulled off her button-down pajama gown, and hopped up to slip on her bra and shirt. When she landed, she caught her thrown black skintight shorts with her foot from Naruto and slipped them on.

She kicked up both of Naruto's orange and white sneakers and round house kicked them to Naruto, who back-flipped and caught the shoes, and landed on his feet to put them on.

"Making sure I'm not in too deep," Naruto sang before he pulled a chair by his foot sharply and sent it skidding to Naruko, who flipped on it and caught her black and orange sneakers from Menma.

"If you steal my sunshine," Naruko sang before she kicked her chair back, which made it skid towards the couch where she grabbed her orange shorts and Menma's orange jacket with long black sleeves and tossed it into the air, where Menma flipped over the couch and slipped on his jacket and landed in a crouch.

"Keep me versed and on my feet," Menma said before he reached behind him to the kunai pouches that hung on the wall and tossed two of them to Naruto and Naruko, who caught them and placed them on their right thighs, while Menma did the same.

"If you steal my sunshine," Naruko sang as she slipped on her shorts, which were barely visible beneath her long shirt, and tossed on her sleeveless orange jacket with a black star on the back of it. She then tossed Naruto his orange bomber jacket, which he caught and slipped on before she slipped on a belt over her fairly long shirt.

Menma slipped on his black and orange shoes and black fingerless gloves and asked "We got everything?"

"Food Scrolls are in the pouches," Naruto confirmed as he tied his Hiate-ite on his right knuckle.

"Along with our recently acquired tents and sleeping bags," Naruko said as she tied her Hiate-ite around her neck.

Menma tied his Hiate-ite around his right sleeve on his bicep and said, "Well turn off the radio and lets G-O."

Naruto walked to the radio, which sat in the kitchen, and flipped it off with a grin. "Let's jet guys!"

The trio flipped out of their window and wall-climbed down their apartment building before they landed on the ground and began to walk toward the gate.

"So I've been thinking," Naruto began. "Should we get personal weapons?"

Naruko tilted her head and inquired, "What brought this on?"

"Well think about it, every awesome shinobi has an awesome weapon that everyone knows that theirs. I mean look at the Seven Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist. Tell me you guys wouldn't want something like that," Naruto said.

"I mean to be fair, they were damn awesome when we learned about them from Iruka-sensei. You think we should all get swords or something?" Naruko asked.

"Not swords, just something that suits us. Like me, I want some badass gauntlets and a huge axe," Naruto said. "What about you guys?"

"Hmm…If I had to choose, I'd take a bo staff or a spear or something. I think it should compliment my Taijutsu style pretty well," Naruko said. "What about you Menma?"

"Thinking about it, I'd like a bow and arrow or maybe a chain whip sword," Menma said. "It would be pretty neat to freeze my opponents from afar while piercing them…We should talk to Anko-sensei and Inoichi-sensei about it later."

"Heh, another good idea from Uzumaki Naruto, success!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin. "Now, onto other affairs, once Hinata-chan dates us three, who do you think she would choose to continue dating?"

"Honestly, it could be any one of us," Menma said. "If she liked us in that way."

"At this rate, "Denial" should be your middle name," Naruko dryly noted. "I don't know. I mean I don't think Hinata-chan likes girls."

"I kinda hope she does so I can view a little bit o-" Naruto was interrupted by Menma smacking him upside the head. "Ow! Why?!" Naruto asked.

"I heard something perverted coming and stopped it," Menma said. "God, maybe you should change your name to Miroku."

"After that perverted Monk on Inuyasha?" Naruto asked. "Hmmm not too bad of a name. Uzumaki Miroku…"

"Oh Kami, he's actually thinking about it," Menma muttered. "In all seriousness, if Hinata likes us, you have a strong chance just like Naruto and I. I mean, we are a part of the OG Naruto and that may be just enough for her."

"I suppose but I can honestly see her going for either one of you more than me," Naruko said. "Which is why I think one of you should ask her out first, I go second and then the other one goes last."

"An excellent idea," Naruto said. "I nominate myself to go…last."

"W-What? You want to go last?" Menma asked with surprise.

"Yeah, I mean I personally think she's going to go for Menma since I firmly believe he's closer to the original and she will see that as well. Besides…" Naruto then smirked. "Haven't you heard of "Saving the best for last" Menma?"

"You cocky asshole," Menma noted with a somewhat impressed tone. "Then, in that case, I will go first since the better always does."

"Oh-ho-ho, is that a challenge I smell?" Naruko asked as Naruto and Menma smirked at one another. "I shall officiate this challenge then. This outta be good."

"Speaking of good, look who's also awake during this time of morning," Naruto noted as he motioned ahead.

Team Seven was walking ahead of them.

"Oh, awesome! Yo Sakura-chan!" Naruko yelled.

Sakura looked back and the trio could see her face morph into a smile before she tapped both Sasuke and Sai to make them slow down, which they obliged, much to Menma's annoyance.

The trio caught up to Team Seven, with Naruko and Sakura sharing a brief high-five before Sakura asked, "You guys going on a mission too?"

"Yeah, we going to Taki to rescue someone," Naruko explained with a grin. "What about you guys?"

"It's some mission to protect some noble woman from these guys, nothing too big," Sakura replied.

"For you maybe," Sasuke grumbled.

Meanwhile, Sai wrote in his notebook as he expanded on this by adding, "Kakashi-sensei thinks highly of us in completing this mission. Personally, with dickless and fangirl, I think we're bound to fail."

"Sai you moron!" Sakura said before she lifted her hand to punch Sai but Naruko caught her fist and shook her head. Sakura frowned at her but took a breath and lowered her arm, something Menma caught with disgust but remained silent.

Sasuke merely remained silent, above petty insults.

"Jeez Sasuke, you just gonna let him insult you like that?" Naruto asked.

"I am superior to him so why should I let his meager insults bother me?" Sasuke asked.

Both Naruto and Menma snorted at this.

"Something funny you two?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh nothing, I didn't think eunuchs could be superior," Naruto noted with a grin, which caused Sasuke to halt briefly while Sai let a small smile appear on his face. "But hey, you learn something new every day, right Menma?"

Menma smirked.

"Naruto! Stop talking about Sasuke-kun like that," Sakura shouted as she lifted her arm again to strike him.

"He could talk to Sasuke however he wants, you aren't in control of him," Menma's cold voice replied, which caused Sakura to look at him.

"You heard what he said about Sasuke-kun. I'm not going to take that lying down," Sakura replied.

"Oh shit, it's about to come to ahead already," Naruto murmured to Sai, who looked enraptured by this.

"You act as if the Uchiha needs a bodyguard," Menma said. "He is capable of holding his own. Hell, he ignored both insults thrown at him since he's so "Above" them after all. Why can't you let it go? Neither Sai nor Naruto are insulting you personally so why want to hit them?"

"They insulted Sasuke-kun!" Sakura angrily exclaimed. "He's gone through so much in his life with losing his clan. He doesn't need anyone calling him names or putting him down!"

"Let me clue you in on something," Menma began. "The Uchiha has lost a lot and I won't sit here and act like he hasn't but unless you lived their life, you have no right to think anything about them. All you see day in and day out is just a mask in that person's image. You don't know what they've lost or what they've been through."

Sakura balled up her fists angrily, which caused Menma to smirk.

"What? You going to hit me because I disagree with you?" Menma questioned as he stopped and faced her and tapped his face. "Well here I am and unlike Naruto, I'm giving you permission to strike me."

"Sakura-chan…" Naruko slowly warned.

"I sense a fight coming," Sai said while Naruto began to fish around for something. "What are you looking for blond?" Sai asked.

"Some fucking popcorn because it's about to go down," Naruto replied.

"I can create popcorn with my ink if you'd like," Sai suggested.

Naruto stared at him for a moment then said, "You…I like you."

"I'm not going to hit you Menma…" Sakura stated.

"Oh? Is that because I'm telling you to? Because I seem to remember Naruto telling me you would hit him at a drop of a hat when he did anything you disliked, especially when he insulted the Uchiha," Menma said. "Do I have to insult him as well to get you to do it?"

"Stop egging her on, Menma," Naruko warned.

"Just because you are friends with Sakura and Naruto can't hold a grudge against her doesn't mean I am either of those things," Menma shot back.

"You know what…Then enlighten me Menma. What have you lost?" Sakura asked suddenly, which surprised the entire group.

"Oh shit," both Naruto and Sai said.

"Sakura-chan…You don't want this, just back down," Naruko warned.

"No, he wants to stand here and preach down to me, telling me how to feel and what to say and who to defend so I'm going to call him out on his bullshit," Sakura said to Naruko.

"Sakura," Sasuke said. "I do not appreciate being the catalyst for what is going to occur so before things get any more severe, let us just go."

"No Uchiha…" Menma said as his hair shadowed his eyes. "She asked a question right? It's only right to answer her."

Menma then turned his head to Sakura and declared, "Naruto, Naruko, forgive me but I'm going to spill a few things, I hope you understand."

"Dude, I am so fucking entertained by this, I don't even care, spill it," Naruto said.

'Menma…' Naruko thought. 'I know you're about to snap but at least stick to the story of us being in separate villages and don't go so hard on her…Please?'

Menma didn't respond. Instead, Menma took a step toward Sakura and said, "From the moment we were born to a few weeks ago, we were separated and told nothing. Nothing about our past, our family, why everyone hated us, not disliked, not annoyed, hated us. Hated us to the point that we, in separate villages, were sold nothing but rotting and expired foods."

Both Naruto and Naruko could feel anger filling their veins at the memory of OG Naruto suffering at the hands of the villager's neglect and hatred of them but they remained silent.

"Imagine being alone from day one. Waking up to your caretaker at the orphanage denying you basic essentials like food and clothing, only to see them willingly give it to the other orphans. Imagine waking up and seeing a look of rage in the eyes of the person that is supposed to take care of you every hour of the day…Imagine watching all the other orphans being hugged and cared for and adopted while you sit there in your own filth being treated worst than a mangy cat in the street!" Menma shouted with anger in his voice, which caused Sakura to flinch and look down at the ground.

But Menma scowled at her and shouted, "Don't look down. Look me in the fucking eyes and Imagine it, Haruno! Imagine being four years old, kicked out of the only home you had, and begging the man you look up to for answers about your past. Imagine begging to know if your parents loved you. Did you have siblings, any other family, a clan, or anything?! Imagine begging this man you see as a grandfather about why everyone hates you?! And imagine being told that the past is the past and nothing can change it!"

"Menma…That's enough," Naruko said as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Imagine being alone in a dingy and rotting apartment for most of your life, clinging to some sort of hope that you had people who cared about you and that they didn't abandon you or betray you to try and to ki—hurt you. Until one day, you met someone you think likes you and seem to think you're cute but then the very next day, they betray you and humiliate you in front of everyone else when all they said was fucking "Hi" but you're so lonely, so craved for attention, that anything is better than nothing! That you would rather take the abuse because it means someone cares enough to feel something about you when no one did!"

Both Naruto and Naruko flinched at this but Menma continued.

"But that person doesn't see it nor do they care. They just take their abuse out on you, the kid no one likes because who is going to defend you? The civilians? The teachers? The other kids? No, that person can see they don't care about you! So for years, you allow them to abuse you because that's all you, the sad, neglected pariah of the village is so used so you decide to say "Well fuck it, might as well give them a reason to hurt me," so you turn to pranking and being the obnoxious clown to at least get people to see you as that than nothing…But all the while, all you ever wanted was to have a friend…A single fucking friend!"

"Now add all of that…And multiply it by three and you're looking at Naruto, at Naruko, and me. We each did something so dangerous that the Hokage had no choice but to bring us together and hope that three lonely, abandoned, disrespected, pariahs can offset one another and finally not be alone…Now ask me Haruno, ask me what not only I, but we have lost, what we had to endure? Ask me!"

Naruko and Naruto slowly looked to Sakura, who had a stunned expression on her face but the duo could see tears building up in her eyes. "That's what I thought," Menma said before he turned and walked away.

"I-Is he telling the truth?" Sakura asked. "…N-Naruto…Is he telling the truth?"

"Yeah…He is…" Naruto softly admitted.

"W-Why didn't you tell me? All this time I…" Sakura stammered as she fell to her knees.

"I just don't know how to hold a grudge. I was a pest to you and I deserved every hit that I got," Naruto said with a smile.

"N-No! Don't brush this off like its nothing!" Sakura tearfully exclaimed. "You felt like this your whole life…And I…I added to it…When he spoke about that person betraying you…I did exactly that…"

"You did and it hurt like hell," Naruto admitted. "I'm not going to brush it off. You, and a lot of other people hurt me, a lot. And on some level, I hate you and the village at large, save for a couple of people. But I like to think I became stronger because of the adversity. Same with Menma and Naruko. Besides, if I didn't go through that, I wouldn't have them. So, worth it, I guess."

"You are a bigger person than I, blond," Sai said.

"I…I…" Sakura whispered as tears fell from her eyes but Naruko knelt in front of her and brought Sakura into her arms in a light hug, which Sakura returned as she began to sob.

"To think you three experienced that…" Sasuke said to Naruto. "I lost my clan but at least the villagers like me and the council protect me…To think you three didn't have that and were separated. It's eye-opening…"

"We've been through a lot and it's a sore point with us but Menma…He took it a lot harsher than most of us," Naruto said as he watched Sakura sob against Naruko's chest.

"If it is worth anything, I'm sorry," Sasuke said.

"Hakuna Matata. It means no worries," Naruto replied.

"It's okay Sakura-chan…I'll talk to Menma. It wasn't fair for him to say all of that to you," Naruko said as she patted Sakura's back.

Sakura shook her head and murmured, "No…I deserved to hear the truth…I needed to hear it…"

"We can talk about this when we come back, okay?" Naruko gently asked.

Sakura pulled away and wiped her eyes and nodded.

"We need to get moving to our training field Sakura," Sasuke said softly as Naruko stood up.

"Well, it's been dramatic but I gotta run. Come on Naruko," Naruto said before the two walked off after Menma, who was nearly out of sight of the Uzumaki Duo.

"You guys are on time. Impressive," Anko proudly noted once the Uzumaki Trio stood in front of her.

"Thanks, Gotta be ready for our first mission," Naruto said. "We would have been earlier had something not happened…"

Naruko shot a look to Menma, who looked at his nails with a bored expression.

"Lot of orange between you three," Inoichi noted.

"Um…Did you not see OG Naruto?" Naruto questioned with a humored tone.

"I-I did but at least you guys have more color?" Inoichi questioned himself. He then shook his head and said "Well, you guys are all stocked and ready to go?"

"Got our tents, sleeping bags, kunai, shuriken, the works," Naruko proudly said.

"Very good. Now, it'll take a day and a half to get to Taki so we're going to go top speed, got it?" Inoichi questioned. The trio nodded with excitement on their faces. With a smile, Inoichi said "Then let Team Eleven's first official mission…Begin!"

And with those words, the five-speed off past the gate and onto their first mission.

The Sun was starting to set when Team Eleven made it to the outskirts of Takigakure no Sato and the squad looked as tired as they felt but the first thing that stunned the Uzumaki Trio was the large tree that seemed to stretch into the sky above.

"Holy hell…" Naruto breathed out. "This thing is huge!"

"How did that happen?" Naruko asked with a stunned expression on her face.

"There is a myth that the tree holds a special property that can boost one's abilities," Anko explained. "If the myth is true, then it would cause the tree to be as big as it is. Admittedly, this is only my second time seeing it and it looks bigger than the last time…"

"Come on, there is a cave that acts as the entrance to this village," Inoichi told them. The squad quickly found the cave entrance and walked into it and after various twists and turns, Team Eleven found themselves walking out of the exit to the sight of a large lake.

In front of the cave was a bridge that lead to the gate of a fairly large village that surrounded the large tree, which was currently letting in dull orange sunbeams through its thick leaves and branches, causing the village to seemingly glow.

"And this is Takigakure no Sato…" Inoichi said with relief but it was then he noticed that there was a lot of smoke rising from the village.

Then the sounds of combat were heard against the breeze of the wind, horrifying both Anko and Inoichi. "The village is under attack," Anko said to Inoichi.

"We need to move, now!" Inoichi commanded. The group of shinobi ran across the bridge into the entrance of the village. The five could see dozens of shinobi clad in midnight blue masks and black clothing attacking the various civilians. "Do not hesitate to kill," Inoichi commanded the group.

The moment they got close enough, Inoichi leaped into the air and delivered a flying kick to the first shinobi that ran towards him to attack.

Anko skidded on her knees to avoid a large naginata taking off her head and quickly rose to her feet and twisted around with a leap and stabbed her kunai into the neck of her attack.

Naruto jumped over Anko and landed a kick to the shinobi behind her while Naruko and Menma ran past them, hopped into the air, and landed a knee to two of the invading shinobi's faces, sending them to the ground.

The two rolled on top of their downed opponents and both reached into their kunai pouch and stabbed the two shinobi in their necks.

Menma removed the kunai and immediately launched it at another invading shinobi, who was about to kill a mother and child.

But he also caught the attention of two more invading shinobi.

Menma smirked and ran forward and launched two kunai at the two shinobi, who deflected them only for Menma to skid in front of one of them and stab him in the gut with a kunai before he ducked the second's roundhouse kick, which nailed the first invading shinobi in the face.

Menma rolled behind the second shinobi and then leaped up and stabbed him in the throat with a kunai then pulled it out.

Meanwhile, Naruko ran towards a house where two invading shinobi were busting their way through and delivered a kick to both of their backs, sending the duo in. Naruko landed on the ground then flipped to her feet and shouted, "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"

Two clones of her quickly appeared and ran to the downed men and stabbed their backs repeatedly as she turned around only to catch the fist of another invading kunoichi and twisted her arm, sending him off her feet and onto the ground where Naruko quickly stabbed her in the neck twice.

Anko and Naruto let out a shout as they leaped into the air and delivered a double flying kick to an invading shinobi but when they landed, Naruto ducked the right fist of a kunoichi and kicked her in the face, sending the shinobi off of her feet and onto the ground before he launched a kunai into the masked kunoichi's head.

"Is that all of them?" Naruko asked as Anko finished off a shinobi on the ground. Menma and Inoichi joined seconds later.

"Seems like it but I'm betting there are more deeper into the village," Inoichi replied.

"But who are they anyways?" Menma questioned.

Inoichi looked at one of the downed bodies and answered, "I can find out. Keep watch." Inoichi then walked to one of the dead bodies and knelt beside it and performed several seals before placing his index and middle fingers on the deceased's forehead.

"Saiko Denshin," Inoichi whispered as he shut his eyes and began to focus.

Just five seconds later, Inoichi removed his fingers and informed the team, "There wasn't much but I did find out something. These shinobi were hired as an army to take over this country to get the Heroes Water…"

"The Heroes water?" Anko asked her partner.

"No idea what that is but I have the names and faces of the four shinobi. Suien, Kirisame, Murasame, and Hisame. There is another figure there but I can't make out the face…" Inoichi said as he stood up from his knelt spot. "They must still be in the village somewhere."

"So what now then?" Menma asked.

"It means we get to fight these bitches," Naruto said with a cheeky grin with his hands behind his head.

"That should be quite the learning experience," Naruko said excitedly.

Menma smirked and replied, "Well I'll take that."

"You won't take anything," Anko said.

"She's right. First things first, we look for survivors. If any of you are attacked, defend yourselves," Inoichi said.

The three Genin nodded and took off in different directions but Anko remained. "They were able to kill," Anko noted. "They didn't even hesitate…"

"I know," Inoichi said. "They don't even look shaken by it…"

"You don't think they have murdered before, do you?" Anko questioned.

Inoichi narrowed his eyes in thought before he and Anko glanced at each other.

"You can stop hiding now. We know you're there," Inoichi challenged.

There was silence before a bored voice announced, "And here I thought you two were dumb. Should've known better from Konoha shinobi."

From the roof behind the pair of Jōnin, a muscular, tough-looking shinobi stepped into sight.

He wore a black, sleeveless shirt, grey pants, ninja sandals, and brown-colored arm warmers. He had about chin length grey hair which is spiked at the top. He also had a teal line marking that goes over his nose.

"Hard to not notice the stench of blood coming from you," Anko said with a scowl.

"So you must be Murasame, The eldest of the Same Siblings of Amegakure," Inoichi said. "You do realize who you face, right?"

"I know," Murasame replied as he pulled out a bottle of water and held it up to the pair as he said "That's why I came prepared. To defeat the famed Yamanaka Inoichi and Mitarashi Anko will put me down in history."

The man smirked and drank the bottle and both Inoichi and Anko immediately felt a pulse of chakra flow from the man. Ethereal blue flames flowed around the man as he placed the bottle back on his belt and let a wide smirk appear on his face.

"Don't blink now," Murasame said before he flickered out of existence.

"I can't believe we killed again…" Naruto heard Naruko say in his head with a soft tone.

"It was us or them," Menma replied. "Simple as that."

"It's just after that night I…We swore to always find a different path, you know?" Naruko murmured.

Naruto paused on the roof and thought, 'I know…I hate the fact that we did it as well…We broke our promise but you heard Inoichi-sensei at the start. Use lethal force. We are on a mission now and we can't afford to not listen…Besides, if any of us die, we all do. We can't take that risk…'

"Looking at all the carnage around us shows they didn't care about human life…They earned what they got. They are the bad guys here," Menma replied with a growl.

"I guess…" Naruko faintly replied.

'Hold on,' Naruto thought as he heard crying in the distance. 'I hear someone crying…' Naruto jumped down from the roof and dashed forward through the streets of the ruined Taki, trying to ignore the various dead bodies that littered the streets.

Naruto skidded to a stop when he noticed a lone figure on his knees in the middle of the street.

The figure had long, dark brown hair, which was tied in a lower ponytail style, and fair skin. The man wore grey pants, a green shirt, and shinobi sandals with a grey shoulder pad on his left shoulder with a brown strap over.

And he was holding what looked to be a deceased child in his arms.

Naruto, who had removed a kunai from his pouch at seeing the figure, slowly put it away as sadness filled his heart. The man was grieving heavily as the sobs indicated.

Naruto walked up to the kneeling man and asked "Are you alright?"

The man turned around and Naruto could see anger and fear in his dark brown eyes, as well as the tears on his face. "D-Don't hurt me!" The man exclaimed.

"I won't hurt you," Naruto said as he pointed to his forehead. "I'm from Konoha. We had a mission here to find-"

"T-To find Fū," The man said.

"Yeah, that's right. How did you know?" Naruto asked.

"I-I was the one who requested the mission," The man said. "My name is Shibuki…I am the leader of this village…"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "The leader…What happened here?"

Shibuki shook his head with a broken look and said "I was coming to welcome you to the village but we were attacked…Suien-se…Suien decided to perform a coup for the Hero's water…So many slain…S-So many lost…"

Naruto opened his mouth but a voice from above exclaimed "So this is where you were hiding Shibuki!"

Just then, a man vaulted from the roof across from the pair and landed on the ground in a crouching position.

The man wore a black hat-like forehead protector with the Amegakure symbol on the front of it, tied in the back of his head.

He also wore a black skin-tight suit underneath all of his clothing, which also covers his mouth and nose, a grey scarf around his neck, a white T-shirt over his black suit, a blue-colored strapped suit that acts as his pants, and a shirt over his grey one. He was also wearing his weapon holster on his right thigh and black shinobi sandals.

The man turned around and Naruto could see that he had tiny black eye irises, messy, chin-length brown hair coming out from under his forehead protector, part of it covering his left eye.

And no eyebrows.

"Kirisame!" Shibuki exclaimed with terror.

"Suien-Sama was wondering where you escaped to," The man said. "He told us to find you and bring you back to him…But he didn't say to bring you back alive," Kirisame said with a sadistic gleam in his eyes.

"Is he one of the guys that attacked this place?" Naruto asked.

"Y-Yes…" Shibuki stammered out.

Naruto smirked and replied, "That's all I needed to hear…" Naruto made his way in front of the broken Taki leader and stared at Kirisame and quipped, "Never in my life have I seen an eyebrow-less being but here I am."

"A little pipsqueak from Konoha wishes to fight me?" Kirisame asked.

"I have a feeling this won't last long at all," Naruto replied. "For what you and your other teammates done brow-less, I'm going to stomp you out until there's nothing left."

Kirisame laughed wildly and shouted, "I'm going to enjoy showing you your heart before you perish!"

'Hold on, I hear someone crying…'

Menma darted from left to right on a roof, his eyes scouring for any survivors. So far, he had managed to find ten people hidden but nothing short of enemies quite yet.

He landed on a roof and crouched down on it and thought 'Naruko…Anything?'

"Nothing yet," Naruko replied. 'Naruto, you find out the cause of the crying?'

"Little busy at the moment!" Naruto's voice exclaimed. Seconds later, the sound of explosions reached his ears.

'Naruto? Were you the cause of—' Menma was interrupted as a foot collided with the back of his head, which sent him soaring through the roof and crashing into the second floor of the house, thankfully on a nice and comfortable queen-sized bed.

Menma shook his head and looked back from the corner of his eye only to roll off of the bed and onto one knee to avoid his head sliced by a water whip.

"How lucky you were able to avoid that," A female's voice commented.

Menma narrowed his eyes and seconds later, he heard her voice shout, "Suiton: Mizu Buki (Water Style: Water Weapons)!" Just then, a spear made of water shot through the roof right in Menma's direction. Menma rolled backward to avoid it, only for the spear to retreat and then pierce through the roof again in his direction.

Menma rolled to the left, crashed out of the closed window, clung to the wall with his chakra, and quickly darted up the side. Without warning, the woman fell off the side of the roof with a water sword in her right hand.

The woman had short light brown unkempt spiky hair, azure blue earrings, red lipstick, pupil-less black eye irises, short thin light brown eyebrows, and wore a white hair band over her head, holding the hair out of the way from her eyes.

She wore a pink tube top that has dark red linen along with an open, light blue shirt, navy blue pants, and ninja sandals. She wore her shuriken holster on her right leg. She fell towards Menma and swiped the water-made sword but Menma pulled out a kunai and clashed weapons with her.

"You were quick to escape that trap, boy," The woman said with a gleam in her eyes. "You will be a good challenge to see where I stand."

"I was about to say the same to you," Menma hissed.

The woman smirked and replied, "When you meet the Shinigami, tell him that Hisame sent you to him."

"Took the words right out of my mouth!" Menma yelled before he broke away from the clash and leaped up to deliver a roundhouse kick, which sent her flying from the side of the house and crashing into the wall of the house to their left.

'Naruto? Were you the cause of—'

Naruko's eyes widened in horror when Menma was suddenly cut off but she knew that he was still alive.

Otherwise, she would have been dead already. The sounds of explosions and fighting rang in the distance and for a moment, Naruko was glad.

It was so eerie standing amongst the dead that she felt that she was about to lose her mind.

'Just like that night…' Naruko thought to herself before she heard crying from three houses down. Naruko immediately sprang into action and ran down the body-filled streets as quickly as possible and when she made it to the house, she quickly threw open the door to see a cloaked figure standing in front of two small children.

Naruko's eyes widened and she sucked in a breath.

"W-Why are you doing this?"

"You *hick* killed my family and left me like this!"

The image of the children instantly flickered to a bloody five-year-old Naruto as he cowered in the corner as a hulking man stood before him, a bloody dagger in his hand before it flashed back to the scene in front of her.

And Naruko immediately sprung into action with a scream and tackled the hooded figure out from in front of the children and through the wall, sending both of them outside.

The two slammed to the ground but the figure kicked Naruko in the chest, sending her skidding backward against the ground but Naruko placed her hand against the ground and pushed herself off and onto her feet, which skidded against the ground.

"Bōfū Sōru (Hurricane Soul)!" Naruko exclaimed as her eyes took on a platinum blue color as a faint sapphire blue aura of chakra flowed from her body.

The figure flipped up to their feet, held out both hands in a placating motion, and said, "Wait, I'm not here to—"

Naruko dashed forward with an enraged shout.

The figure's orange eyes widened beneath their mask.

Chapter Text

"That was easy," Anko complained as she let out a sigh, her foot pressed against the neck of the deceased Murasame. His body was held down by three cobra snakes and there was a single kunai sticking out from his eye.

"It was almost pathetic. Whatever he drank was strong but in the end, he overestimated himself," Inoichi said as she knelt at the head of the dead shinobi. He stood up and stretched his limbs and added, "However, it was a good warm-up for us. Now to find our students."

"Judging from the explosions, Naruto is over there," Anko said as she pointed to the east.

"And judging from the cold breeze, Menma is over there. Let's collect them first and then we find Naruko and finish this up," Inoichi said.

Anko nodded and together, the two darted off.

Menma skidded to a stop and swayed to the left then to the right to avoid the water-made blade that Hisame had swung before he leaped up and landed a solid knee to her upper chest, which sent her skidding backward but she immediately changed the sword to a whip as she shouted, "Suiton: Mizu Buki (Water Style: Water Weapons)!"

The whip shot out towards Menma but he rolled to the left to avoid the whip before he muttered, "Tōketsu Hāto (Frozen Heart)," which caused the air around him to shimmer with frost, icy blue chakra wisps flowing from his body.

"Oh-ho-ho. An Ice user. This will be more interesting," Hisame stated. "Suiton: Mizu Buki (Water Style: Water Weapons)." The whip changed into a large sword before she dashed forward.

"Tsume no Nigai Shimo (Claws of the Bitter Frost)," Menma muttered as a pair of fox-shaped claw ice gauntlets formed around his hands and forearms before he dashed forward and slashed his right arm down towards Hisame but she blocked it with her water-made sword before she pushed it away and aimed a kick to his chest.

Menma smacked the leg down with his left leg, causing a thin sheet of frost to appear on her leg, and landed a swipe of his claw at her chest, causing her blood to flow before it froze against her skin. Hisame hissed and swung her blade at him again but Menma ducked the strike and swiped his arm and clawed her right arm.

The sword went flying into the air and her right arm began to bleed…only to freeze her arm in place. Menma then swiftly delivered three swipes of his gauntlets, one on the right side of her hip, one on her left shoulder then finally one on her right elbow.

Hisame gritted her teeth as the blood that fell from her wounds began to freeze over, slowing her movements to a standstill as Menma let a small frown appear on his face. "Unfortunately for you Hisame, you were woefully unprepared to fight me," Menma said.

Menma eyed for a moment before he turned around and said, "The minute I activated my Tōketsu Hāto and Tsume no Nigai Shimo, this fight was finished. You have lost."

Hisame fell to one knee and growled, "You're right…You've beaten me. I have failed Suien-sama…So do it. Kill me. Let me die as a proper shinobi."

Menma remained silent for a moment, his cold gaze staring down at her. "There has been enough death for one day," He finally answered. "I will not kill you. However…"

Inoichi suddenly appeared behind Hisame and delivered a chop to her neck, causing her to fall to the ground, unconscious. "You won't be going free for all you've done," Menma finished to the unconscious Hisame before he looked at Inoichi and said, "Thank you for arriving, Inoichi-sensei."

"You could have killed her like the others we encountered," Inoichi noted.

"I could have. But what would that do in the end?" Menma asked. "People are still dead. The best we can do is keep her alive to atone," Menma replied. "No matter how long it takes…"

"Rightfully said. But tell me Menma…You three have killed before, haven't you?" Inoichi questioned. Menma remained silent before Inoichi let out a soft sigh."Kami…How old you were at the time…"

"Five years old…" Menma replied.

"Oh, Kami no…" Inoichi whispered with a choked tone. "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it…Later, okay?" Menma asked, his voice slightly hitching up but he forced it down to add, "We have a mission, remember? We must complete it to the best of our abilities…"

"You are right," Inoichi said. "But once we are done, all of us are going to have a long talk," Inoichi said with a tone that Menma couldn't argue with. "Now, let us depart and search for your siblings, yes?" Inoichi questioned.

Menma nodded and after Inoichi picked up Hisame's unconscious body, the two darted off.

Naruko launched herself off the ground and aimed a roundhouse kick at the figure's head but the figure ducked it but when the figure stood up, Naruko turned around and landed the second roundhouse kick, which sent the figure flying through the window of a house.

Naruko held her right wrist as she stuck her right thumb up and pointed her right index finger at the house with her and shouted "Reppū Jūdan: Saisho Dangan (Gust Bullet: First shot)!" a shockwave with faint wisps of sapphire blue colored chakra flew from her finger and slammed into house and through the other side, the figure bounced against the ground before skidding to a stop.

Naruko dashed forward then jumped into the air and spun rapidly, her opened hands placed in front of her in a clawing motion as she shouted "Kuki Doriru (Air Drill)!" Sapphire-colored chakra flowed around Naruko's body as she shot toward the figure at the speed of a bullet.

The figure moved their cloak to reveal their slender right arm and twisted their body around, wind swirling around their right fist."Takigakure no Senpū (Takigakure Whirlwind)!" The figure shouted as her fist and Naruko's open palms collided, causing a powerful burst of wind that separated the pair.

Naruko was sent backflipping into the house while the figure skidded backward on the heels of their feet.

Naruko ran forward then jumped into the air while she aimed her right index finger at the figure and shouted, "Reppū Jūdan: Saisho Dangan!"

The figure rolled to the left to avoid the bullet, which caused a small crater to appear beside the figure. The figure ran forward and attempted to land a knee strike to Naruko, who blocked the knee and delivered a head-butt to the figure, which caused them to stagger back from the blow.

Naruko ducked the figure's left hook and moved forward and slammed her right palm against the left side figure's chest then leaned up and landed a left palm strike to the figure's right shoulder.

The figure stumbled but managed to catch themselves and blocked two more palm strikes from Naruko before ducking and nailing the blonde Uzumaki in the side with a right hook, which made Naruko stagger to the left only to get hit in the face by a left hook.

Naruko stumbled to the right and used her right palm to smack the next punch of her opponent away then twisted her right hand and delivered a hard palm strike to the figure's stomach then took a step forward and delivered a palm strike to the face, which caused the figure to skid backward against the ground.

Naruko then dashed forward and landed a strike with her right elbow against the figure's upper chest then took another step forward as she turned her body and delivered a second elbow strike to the figure's face before she twisted her body around, a shimmer of sapphire blue chakra flowing from her left palm.

"It's over! Tenohira no Soyokaze (Palm of the Soft Wind)!" Naruko shouted as she slammed her palm against the figure's chest. The moment the palm struck the figure, the figure shot backward as their cloak was shredded, revealing to Naruko her opponent.

'Our target?!' Naruko thought as Fū slammed against the wall and fell onto the ground.

Fū rose to her knees and coughed out blood, her shirt ripped to reveal several slice marks that were bleeding. "Fuck…That hurt," the teal-haired girl whined as Naruko walked up to her.

"You traitor," Naruko hissed out. "We come here on a mission to find you and you're here killing your own civilians? What kind of shinobi are you?"

"P-Please…" The Taki kunoichi whispered as she held her chest in pain. "I-I wasn't…"

Naruko stared at the girl long and hard before she held her right hand forward and formed a finger gun, her right index finger bleeding with slice marks in it. Slowly, sapphire blue chakra began to flow from her fingertip as Naruko said, "That was a hypothetical question, you lowlife…"

"J-Just stop and listen…I was trying to save them," Fū said.

"I've heard enough of your lies!" Naruko shouted. "I'm not a fool to believe you when I saw the destruction of this village. Reppū Jūdan: Saisho Dangan!"

The shockwave flew from Naruko's fingertip and towards the kneeling Fū but the teal-haired girl barely managed to switch herself with a fruit cart, which was destroyed immediately by the shockwave.

Fū suddenly appeared in the air beside Naruko and landed a roundhouse kick to Naruko's face, which sent her sailing backward and colliding with a wall.

Naruko stumbled onto her feet as Fū shouted "Mōjōrō (Net-Shaped Prison) and with her mouth wide open, she shot out webbing towards Naruko.

"Kaze Suteppu (Breeze step)!" Naruko shouted before sapphire chakra began to flow from her feet. Naruko flew into the air to avoid the webbing before it could hit her and then flew down towards Fū as shouted "Kūki Doriru (Air drill)!"

Naruko twisted her body so her feet were pointed at Fū and began to spin rapidly with sapphire chakra flowing around her.

Fū quickly formed several seals and then shouted "Hiden: Rinpungakure no Jutsu (Hiden: Hiding in Scale Powder technique)!" Bright, shimmering white mist flew from her mouth and surrounded the immediate area just as Naruko slammed into the ground on her feet, causing a gust of wind to cause the mist to expand away from her, and slice marks on the ground around her.

The mist quickly surrounded Naruko again, causing the blonde kunoichi to close her eyes due to the brightness around her but kept her guard up. "You don't understand anything. I wasn't trying to kill them. I was trying to save them!" Fū's voice exclaimed through the bright mist.

"Save them?" Naruko asked with an astounded tone before her eyebrows furrowed in fury. "Looks like you did a lot of saving then."

"I had to go along with their plan or else they would have killed not only everyone here but me as well," the voice said.

Naruko gritted her teeth and began to focus. The first thing that Anko-sensei had the trio was when one sense was lost, the others would heighten.

She just needed to focus and keep her opponent talking.

"The minute I came back, I warned as many people as I could but they wouldn't listen to me!" Fū argued.

"Of course, they wouldn't! You're working with evil people!" Naruko shouted.

"No! Because I'm a Jinchūriki!" Fū wailed through the mist.

Naruko paused.

"What?" Naruko softly asked.

"I hold a demon inside of me…The Nanabi…" Fū 's voice weakly replied. "No one would listen to me because of it…"

Naruko was shocked.

There were others like her?

"I tried so hard to warn everyone but no one listened and I failed…" Fū 's voice said with a tearful tone. "All they could see was what I held and not my intention to save everyone…Those two kids were the only ones I could save…"

Naruko slowly felt the fight leave her veins as she sat down on the ground and asked, "So tell me then…What happened?"

"Suien-sama asked me if I wanted to train to learn more Suiton jutsus. I jumped at the chance. Next to Shibuki-sama, he was always nice to me so I had every reason to believe in him…" Fū explained.

Despite the shimmering mist still surrounding her, Naruko knew that Fū was sitting right behind her due to how close the orange - eyed kunoichi sounded.

"Next thing you know, I was attacked by three shinobi and they kidnapped me. They told me their plans and said if I didn't go along with it, they knew of someone who would love to know about me holding the Nanabi…So I did…" Fū sadly finished.

Naruko stayed silent. Now that her anger had worked itself from her system, she could hear the heartbreaking truth in Fū 's voice and it made Naruko sad for her. Slowly, Naruko turned around and gingerly took the kunoichi's wrist and pulled her into a hug.

She felt the girl stiffen from the touch before Naruko felt hands at her back and Fū 's face pressed against her chest. "I-I looked up to him and trusted him…And he betrayed me and despite this village, I still cared, you know?" Fū whimpered against Naruko's chest as she began to sob.

"I know how you feel…All too well," Naruko replied softly as she shut her eyes. "Our fight is done… Just let it out."

"Man, I knew you were a freak but that whip takes the cake," Naruto said as he swiftly avoided another strike from Kirisame's water whip.

At first, the shinobi was giving Naruto a run for his money. He was quick with the whip and kept at a distance to keep Naruto from attacking but the moment Naruto insulted him about his eyebrow-less features for the third time, the shinobi lost focus and began sloppy.

Which gave Naruto a new plan.

Enrage him enough to slip up to bum-rush him and then capitalize.

"Like do I have a sign on me that says "Whip me harder, Daddy?" because if I do, you certainly don't deserve that role," Naruto taunted, which caused Kirisame to glare hatefully at the Genin.

"Stop moving and start dying!" Kirisame exclaimed as he sent another whip strike towards Naruto, who ducked the strike and stuck his hands into his pockets.

"I'm ashamed of myself that I thought you were going to be tough," Naruto said as he hopped to the left to avoid another strike of the whip. "Anko-sensei can whip me without trying and yet you're getting mad for missing. I don't know whether to applaud my training under her or be ashamed of your lack of training."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Kirisame screamed as he dashed towards Naruto. Naruto, with his hands still in his pockets, jumped up to avoid a shot of the whip and nailed Kirisame in the face with his right foot then kicked himself off of it, sending the shinobi to the ground and Naruto back flipping in the air before he landed on the ground.

"Tell you what, I'll give you a free shot," Naruto said as he slipped his hands from his pockets turned his back to his opponent while performing several seals, and then muttered "Hibana no Aoi Honō (Spark of the Blue Flame)…"

A ring of cobalt blue flames exploded to life around Naruto's wrists and feet but Naruto merely suggestively slid down his jacket and said "Here's my back. Come on and whip me. Maybe if I let you do it, you'll manage to land a hit."

Kirisame scowled before a crazed look appeared on his face. "Suiton: Mizu Buki (Water Style: Water Weapons)!" Kirisame shouted as he flipped to his feet and with a water katana and ran towards Naruto, who kept his jacket off.

However, Naruto heard the oncoming footsteps and let a smirk appear on his face before he slipped the jacket on and moved to the left to avoid the attack.

The playfulness that showed on Naruto's face soon became a fearsome grin as the blue flames covered Naruto's right fist. Naruto pivoted his body to look at the stunned-looking shinobi and shouted, "Got you, Bakuhatsu Nakkuru (Eruption Knuckle)!"

And without hesitation, he landed a brutal punch to Kirisame's face, which caused a massive explosion of blue fire to erupt against Kirisame's face, sending the shinobi crashing to the ground hard, his entire head covered in blue flames.

Naruto watched as the man tossed and turned as the flames burned at his face and slowly walked to the man and crouched down. "You know something about the Hibana no Aoi Honō? I should have the ability to control the intensity of the flames. I tried to make it light so I didn't cause you so much pain but you really pissed me off."

Naruto watched as the man slowly began to stop moving and said, "Because of how pissed I was at the senseless slaughter, I couldn't control how intense that punch would be. And yet while I feel guilty for your agonizing death…A part of me feels that your death is justified for what you and your friends have done to this place…So I guess this is goodbye. I'm sure I'll see you in Hell…"

The man soon stopped moving and when the flame faded away, only his brittle and burnt shrunken skull remained.

'Past me would be ashamed at breaking my promise immediately after breaking it the first time…' Naruto thought as Naruto stood up and spat as the flames extinguished themselves from around his fist and ankles, leaving his right hand slightly charred.

Naruto looked at his messed up hand and thought 'Can these hands only bring death?' Naruto turned around to see the horrified-looking Shibuki staring back at him. "I'm sorry that you had to see that but knowing he took the lives of so many here really made my blood boil…"

"I-It's okay…" Shibuki said with a fearful tone.

Naruto sighed and said "I know his death won't bring them back and I'm sorry you had to experience all of this…No one should suffer this fate…"

Naruto eyed the deceased girl in the leader's arms and said "Most of all someone so small…" Naruto felt a burst of sadness at the sight of the little girl and felt a tear fall down his face but he took a breath and said "Come on, let's get you to Anko-sensei and Inoichi-sensei so we can figure out our next plan…"

"Relax Gaki, I'm already here," Anko's voice said, which prompted the two to look at the roof of the house to their left. "Sup," Anko said as she leaped down and landed beside Naruto. "Nice job with the battle. A little too playful but you got into what is left of his head."

"Thanks, Sensei," Naruto said with a small smile.

"Now come on you two. Let's go find Naruko," Anko said.

"Are you feeling better?" Naruko asked as Fū separated from her, a sad smile on her face.

"I didn't realize that I was crying so much," Fū admitted with an embarrassed smile. "I'm sorry, I got your shirt all wet."

"This old thing?" Naruko asked with a grin. "No worries, I stole it."

The two shared a small laugh before Fū asked "Really?"

"Yeah. I am a shinobi after all," Naruko teased as she stood up and held out her hand.

Fū took her hand and Naruko pulled her off the ground, wiped a stray tear from Fū 's cheek, and whispered, "No more tears okay? You're amongst a friend that shares your same burden."

Before another word could be spoken, a cruel voice shouted, "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu)!"

Without hesitation, Naruko grabbed Fū and shouted, "Kaze Suteppu (Breeze step)!" And with a mighty leap, the pair found themselves in the air before the water dragon exploded in the spot they were in previously.

"What the hell?!" Naruko shouted. It was then Naruko saw a middle to late-aged man with long spiky hair, small dark eyes, and a goatee. He wore a dark blue jacket, grey pants, sandals, and a bandanna that held his hair out of his face with two water bottles on each side of his hips.

But on top of his clothes looked to be see-through armor made of water.

Fū paled and whispered, "That's him…That's Suien…And it looks like he has his Mizu āmā (Water Armor) Jutsu activated…It's just that much harder…"

The man smirked and held his right hand back and shouted. "Suiton: Suiryuusou (Water Style: Water Flowing Lance)!"

Just as Naruko landed on the side of the building, she performed a powerful leap off the building to avoid a water-shaped lance, which caused the wall to break and scatter into the air. Naruko held her right hand up with her middle and ring finger out and shouted, "Reppū Jūdan: Saisho Dangan (Gust Bullet: First shot)!"

A shockwave flew out of her fingers with the blowback causing Naruko and Fū to fly further into the air while the shockwave headed straight to Suien, who smirked and announced, "Suiton: Kamisori Enban (Water Style: Razor Discus)."

Water flowed from the front right container and up into his open palm where it then took the shape of a buzzsaw disk and with a yell, he launched it through the shockwave, cutting it in half and sending the halves slamming into the roof beside him.

Naruko's eyes widened in terror as the water discus flew towards her and performed a front flip in the air, barely able to avoid it cutting through the pair. The minute the two came upright, Suien was in the air on top of them, water forming in his hands.

"Suiton: U~ōtāhanmā (Water Style: Water Hammer)!" He yelled as a large water-shaped hammer formed in his hands before he swung it down towards the pair.

"Tenohira no Soyokaze (Palm of the Soft Wind)!" Naruko shouted as wind formed against her palm and with a thrust of her right hand, the front of the water-made hammer slammed and then swirled around the wind before the wind in her palm and the water hammer exploded, sending the pair soaring backward to the ground while Suien went further into the air.

Naruko slammed to the ground back first as Suien landed on the rough on his feet.

"Fuck…" Naruko groaned out as she leaned up and looked down at the green-haired kunoichi on top of her. "You alright?" Naruko asked.

"I'm okay," Fū responded. "What about you?"

Naruko looked at her right arm, which was now bleeding from the various slice marks that were on her palms, fingers, and upper arm. Despite the pain, Naruko let a grin appear on her face. "I'll live…" She replied.

The two rose to their feet as Suien said, "Oh my dear Fū …I should have known that heart of yours would make you betray me."

Naruko narrowed her eyes and motioned for Fū to step behind her and snarled, "So you're the cause of this senseless slaughter!"

"Senseless?" Suien questioned with a smirk. "I was always meant to rule this quaint little village but the villagers made it so hard. Along with that pathetic Shibuki so if I wasn't able to rule it, I would crush it…Using the same water that many tried so hard to protect."

"I was wrong before," Naruko admitted with a dark tone in her voice. "I called Fū a traitor and a lowlife…When in reality she was being forced into this by scum like you…" Naruko balled up her fist and narrowed her eyes, fury burning within them.

"You…" Fū whispered, her eyes softening as Naruko looked back at her with a serious look on her face.

"Fū, I want you to run as far as you can and find either a black-ish-haired woman or a tall blond man," Naruko said.

"I'm not leaving you to fight him on your own," Fū argued.

"Go," Naruko repeated. "I'll be fine. Just go find one of those two." Fū looked concerned but then Naruko gave a smile."I will make him pay for his treachery. Trust me…"

Fū nodded and smiled before she ran off, leaving Naruko and Suien alone.

'Naruto…Menma….Bad things…Suien, the leader that caused this mess is here and I am in combat with him. Physical damage is a no-go but my wind was able to hurt him but I don't know how long I got before I wind up in deep shit. So um…Help would be nice!' Naruko thought.

"Fucking hell! We're on our way with sensei!" Both Naruto and Menma said in unison.

Help was on the way but for now, Naruko found herself alone with a powerful opponent. "You are very foolish to fight me, a Jōnin level shinobi, all alone," Suien advised with a smirk.

"Heh, Jōnin, Chūnin, Genin, levels don't matter to me," Naruko boasted, despite the bead of sweat falling down the left side of her face. "I'll defeat you all the same."

"The hero water will be wasted on an upstart like you," Suien noted with a laugh. "A little charity from me to you before you die. So come and back up those words!" Suien ordered.

"Kaze Suteppu (Breeze step)!" Naruko shouted as slammed her foot to the ground and took flight towards Suien.

Suien smirked and clapped his hands together and began to spread them apart as water from one of his containers flowed in between the space while he said "Takigakure-Ryū: Mizukiri no Yaiba (Takigakure Style: Watercutting Sword)."

He spread his hands completely as a water sword hovered before he snatched it and leaped off of the building towards Naruko and swung his blade down at her Naruko managed to avoid the swipe and landed a punch to Suien's face but he while he took the blow, he shrugged it off immediately.

"Nice try!" Suien shouted as he kicked Naruko in the chest, which sent her sailing down to the ground but she quickly flipped onto her feet and held up a sliced-up and bleeding right index finger.

"Reppū Jūdan: Saisho Dangan!" She yelled and fired off a shockwave of wind towards Suien, who smirked and sliced through the wind, causing it's two halves to collide and explode against the building behind him.

Suien landed on the ground and dashed towards Naruko, who sneered as her bleeding and cut right hand shook before she ran forward and ducked the swing at her head and landed two palm strikes to Suien's gut, which made no indication that it hurt him.

He smirked and announced, "Suiton: Mizu āmā (Water Style: Water Armor). Always battle with it," before he landed two knee strikes to her stomach and then one to her face, causing Naruko to stagger backward on her feet.

Naruko rolled behind him to avoid the stab from his blade and hopped backward off the ground to gain some distance but she wasn't quick enough to avoid his water blade slicing her back from lower left hip to right shoulder blade.

Despite the pain, Naruko landed and twisted her body around only for him to appear beneath her, his water sword swinging upwards. Naruko leaned back to avoid it enough to not be killed but she was sliced upwards from her right jaw to the bridge of her nose.

Naruko dashed backwards but Suien smirked and shouted, "Suiton: Suiryuusou!" Suien then created a water lance and then launched it at the retreating Naruko, which pierced through her right shoulder. Naruko held back a scream that wanted to leave her mouth but instead, she held it back.

She crashed through a window and rolled into a living before she pushed herself onto her feet and stumbled out the back door into another street where she fell to one knee, panting heavily.

He had caught her twice now, each time could have ended it but she was quick enough to escape it. how could she land any damage on him when that damned water armor was on?

She blinked and rolled her eyes with a "Duh," before gathering chakra in her left hand and said "Regular attacks won't work. Let's see if the wind does…Tenohira no Soyokaze…"

Without warning, Suien dashed out of the house towards Naruko, who then launched herself towards him and delivered a flying roundhouse kick. Suien ducked it and aimed a slash at her stomach but Naruko slammed her left palm against the sword, dispersing the sword while the water swirled around her palm.

Suien eyes widened as his now empty hand swung past Naruko's head. Naruko smirked and slammed her palm against Suien's face, sending him spiraling into a building as she landed on her feet and aimed her left index finger at the building but then a water lance shot out, aimed right at her.

Naruko flew to the left to avoid it only for another water lance to shoot out where she had moved. Naruko flew above it while going upside down before she floated right side and shouted "Reppū Jūdan: Saisho Dangan!"

She was then blown backward into the air as a shockwave flew towards the building but a water discus flew out and cleave through the shockwave.

With only seconds to act, Naruko bent backward with an alarmed scream and watched it sail inches above her before crashing into a house behind her. Naruko quickly rose upright only to see Suien running towards her with two water blades in his hands.

Naruko landed on the ground and swayed from left to right to avoid each swipe of his two blades before he managed to land a kick to her chest, making her stumble back before he aimed his sword at her and extended it, causing it to pierce her stomach.

Naruko's eyes bugged out in bright white pain from the water blade piercing her stomach but when she saw him swinging the second blade towards her head, she aimed her cut-up left index finger at his feet and shouted, "Reppū Jūdan: Saisho Dangan!"

With an explosion, both Naruko and Suien were sent backward into the air but Suien managed to extend his water blade and swung it before they left the ground, which caught Naruko from her left hip to her right shoulder, barely avoiding her right breast.

She landed on the ground and fell to one knee as blood fell from her second wound.

Naruko knew that she was getting lucky that her wind techniques were beating out his water ones but with her right arm too damaged to do another attack and her left hand getting there, how long could she last before she was unable to defend herself?

She had to deal with him as best she can…And there was one other jutsu that could help her. "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Naruko shouted and with an explosion of smoke, ten clones stood in front of her.

"Five of you, remain behind. The other five, Go!" Naruko ordered five of the ten clones.

The five clones then shouted "Kaze Suteppu!" And then flew towards the building at top speed while the remaining five stood in front of her.

Naruko pulled out a piece of paper and flipped it open as best as she could with the use of one hand and hastily said, "Okay…Any other special jutsu that can help me out of this?"

Naruko then saw a particular jutsu that was derived from her Tenohira no Soyokaze and said "Whew…That looks good…But I'll be sacrificing my left hand…" She looked down at her left hand before she snorted and said "No pain no gain. Only one shot at this anyways!"

With some difficulty, Naruko formed six hand seals and finished as she pointed her left palm to the sky. Almost immediately, grey and sky blue chakra began to form in her left palm before a streak of lightning slammed into it, causing Naruko to lower her left hand in alarm and pain.

She hunched forward and used the last of her strength in her right hand to grip her left wrist as bolts of lightning streaked across her left hand randomly along with slice marks cutting against her left hand, causing Naruko to wince with each one.

She could hear the sounds of the first five clones falling to Suien and soon, he dashed out of the building as he exclaimed, "Now it's time to end this!"

"Go!" Naruko shouted.

The five clones nodded and began to engage him, each one swaying from the swings of his blade as Naruko fell to one knee, drips of blood rapidly falling from her left palm but as the chakra warbled in an unstable manner.

"No! No! I can't lose it here!" Naruko screamed in terror as Suien sliced through the third of the remaining five clones.

Panic filled Naruko's heart as she looked at her failing jutsu. She was already wounded enough. No one was going to get here in time to save her. She was going to die which meant Naruto and Menma were going to die as well.

"You humans are far too loud…" A voice whispered in her head. At first, she thought it was Menma or Naruto but it sounded so much more menacing for it to be them. Not to mention, she could hear the feminine tone in it.

Naruko then felt a burst of chakra fill her veins and explode outwards from her body as thick crimson wisps of chakra filled her jutsu, seemingly helping to stabilize the chakra enough to complete the jutsu.

"I helped you with this brat now shut up and finish this so I can sleep!" The voice said as a fierce wind blew around her hand and forearm, crimson chakra shaped as lightning crackling from around the fierce wind that was slicing her hand and forearm and onto the ground below.

Naruko looked up to see Suien sliced through the last of the clones with a furious look on his face "Enough of these games, child!" Suien exclaimed as he launched himself towards Naruko, who quickly rose to her feet and smirked as she dashed forward as well.

The moment they got close, Suien took a swipe at Naruko but Naruko lifted her right arm and winced as the water blade cleaved part way through it Naruko shouted "Tenohira no Soyokaze: Gōzen Arashi (Palm of the Soft Wind: Roaring Tempest)!"

Her left palm crashed against the water armor that surrounded Suien's chest, where it began to swirl rapidly before it exploded and with a yell, her palm slammed into his chest, causing a funnel of wind and lightning to explode through his chest and out of his back.

Naruko felt the blood splash against her face as Suien gasped out, his pupils fading away until she only saw the faint outlines of them before his body rocketed away into the building behind them, causing it to crumble upon impact.

Naruko was blown back from the impact and crashed through a window where she slammed into a fridge, denting it upon impact. Naruko then slide down the fridge door and landed on the kitchen floor, both forearms and hands bleeding heavily as her head slumped forward, unconscious.

"Where the hell is she?" Anko asked with fear in her voice as the group, now joined by Fū, ran toward where Naruko was last seen.

"She's not responding," Naruto told Menma with a scared tone in his voice.

"We're alive so she isn't dead but I fear we will be if we don't find her," Menma replied.

"Menma is right," Inoichi said calmly as he turned to look at the worried Fū and asked, "Are you sure she was this way?"

"I'm positive," Fū said as they turned a corner that lead to a new street.

The second they did, however, both Naruto and Menma heard a female's menacing voice in their heads, prompting the pair to skid to a stop.

"You hear that too?" Menma asked.

Naruto opened his mouth before the voice added, "I helped you with this brat now shut up and finish this so I can sleep!" And not a second later, the sound of rushing wind met their ears and the house to their left exploded, causing them to shield their eyes from the debris.

When the smoke faded, Shibuki and Fū let out an alarmed gasp and when Team 11 looked, they found Suien's upper body in the remains of the house, his eyes a bright white and his mouth wide open, blood spilling from it.

"T-That's Suien!" Shibuki shouted.

"He's dead…" Fū breathed out in relief. "Then that means she was able to do it!"

Naruto and Menma exchanged glances before they heard another crash and when the ran to the house and looked across it, they noticed there was another house in front of it with a hole in it where they saw a flash of blonde.

"Naruko!" The two yelled as the group ran past the dead Suien and across the road and into the house where they found Naruko's body hunched over. With a puddle of blood around her.

"Oh, Kami no…" Fū whispered as she skidded into the blood and smacked her cheek. "Wake up! Please wake up!"

She was still breathing but there was no response.

Naruto and Menma both shook their heads as a light-headed feeling overtook them both momentarily. Inoichi seemed to notice this and shouted "You two sit down now!"

Fū pulled Naruko forward only to feel blood seeping from the wound on her back and said "Shit…This is worse than I thought. Luckily, I can heal her…"

Keeping Naruko's body hunched over, Fū quickly formed a set of seals and then whispered, "Chakra no Ito: Hīringu Kumonosu (Chakra threads: Healing Web)…." Fū then lifted her arm and pointed her hand and light green webbing flew from her wrist and landed against Naruko's forearms, shoulder, and the entirety of her chest.

Fū then aimed her wrist at Naruko's face to heal it and the completed the webbing by getting the entirety of her back.

The group watched as the webbings glow began to ebb from dim to bright with worried anticipation until one by one, the webbing dimmed into a pale white before falling off of Naruko's wounds where they were now healed.

Fū checked over the wounds before Naruko let out a weak groan and slowly opened her eyes to see everyone around her. "Oh…hey…" Naruko said with a weak laugh, only for Fū to wrap her arms around her tightly.

"You idiot. You motherfucking, goddamn idiot!" Fū angrily shouted as she tightened her hold on Naruko's body but the group could see tears falling from Fū's eyes and knew that she was relieved to see Naruko alive. "Leave you alone you said! You'll be okay, you said! Well, you nearly just died you idiot!"

"Sorry…" Naruko replied as she shut her eyes and allowed her head to rest against Fū's shoulder. Just then, she was jolted awake by both Naruto and Menma sliding to her side and hugging her as well with relief on their faces.

"You dumbass," Menma said. "Thank you for not killing us all!"

"But damn did you end that guy! Sweet Job!" Naruto said with happy tears falling down his eyes.

"That Kami you're okay," Inoichi said. "I'm going to save the hour-long screaming session for a later time. Just relax for now."

Naruko nodded tiredly and drifted off to sleep.

"But while that has been settled, there is something else that needs to be settled…" Shibuki said with a disappointed tone while Fū lowered her head.

This was going to be bad for her….

Chapter Text

"So we all heard the voice," Naruto stated as he sat beside Naruko's bed. Across from him, Menma leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

"I mean, we all know who the voice could belong to but why would they help?" Naruko asked with a frown. "What would they have to gain in helping us?"

"I mean, self-preservation obviously. We die, they die," Menma replied. "Simple as that."

"Should we try talking to them?" Naruto asked.

"Since I'm not getting any sleep anytime soon, let's have a chat…" A dark voice said suddenly within their heads. Without warning, there was a flash of crimson in the trio's eyes before Naruko and Naruto's bodies slumped while Menma fell face-first to the ground, all of them unconscious.

The trio woke up in unison and found themselves in a sewer in front of a large gilded jail cell. "Where the hell are we?" Naruko questioned with a frown on her face.

"My current home," a voice explained. The trio looked to the cell and saw the silhouette of a large hulking figuring, a pair of glowing crimson eyes staring down at them.

Naruto raised his arm with his mouth wide open before he lowered his arm while Menma took a step backward and Naruko outright began to shiver. They could feel so much power radiating from the figure behind the cell.

They then watched as the figure began to glow then shrink until it took on a humanoid form and with an explosion of energy, the trio then saw a woman.

The figure was a tall and lean woman with pale skin that glowed with crimson scars across her chest and shoulders. She had waist-length, spiky blood-red hair that was tied in a pony tail with two cheek-length bangs that framed her face, revealing her three whisker marks on each cheek and her crimson eyes.

The figure was shirtless but wore black Hakama pants and had red medical tape around her bare muscled stomach and chest. "Hello Kits," The figure said with a smile, revealing her fanged teeth. "I don't need to introduce myself, do I?"

"What the fuck is this?" The trio asked in unison.

"As I mentioned, since I'm not getting any rest, might as well talk and save some curiosities," The Kyūbi said as she summoned a chair in front of the bars and sat down on it. "So let me start. Yes, I am the Kyūbi no Kitsune. No, I'm not such a bad guy but I can be a bit of a battle-hungry brute as you can tell by my battle scars. And I think that Anko woman is very attractive and I wish to have my way with her."

"I'm sorry, what?" Naruko asked.

"Ok…I think I like her," Naruto said with a grin.

Menma remained silent.

"Now onto serious business...I love to fight. I love the feel of my nine-blades slicing through opponents, as well as having my nine-tails crush mountains and causing general chaos among you humans. Well, that's how it used to be before…" The Kyūbi then paused as she leaned back into her chair.

"Before what?" Naruko asked.

The Kyūbi stayed silent for a moment then elaborated, "Well I saved you, not only to save my life because you right were Menma. If any of you three die, I die. But I have a deeper reason and that is your mother…"

"Our mother?" Menma questioned as Naruko and Naruto looked on in shocked.

"Yes…Uzumaki Kushina…She was my jailer before you three," The Kyūbi replied.

"Bullshit!" Naruto yelled as he took a step forward. "I can't believe that!"

"It is true…" The Kyūbi gruffly replied. "Despite that outburst, you hear the truth in my word, don't you?"

Naruto paused before he looked down to the ground as Naruko said "She's right…I don't sense any lies in his words…"

"Tell us more," Menma said.

"She and I didn't get along in the start but somewhere along the way, I began to see her as my daughter and someone that I swore to use my chakra to protect…But instead, I lead her to the Shinigami's embrace," The Kyūbi replied. "I won't dare to deny that…However, the night of your original self's birth is not what it seems."

The three were silent for a moment, unable to figure out what to say to this woman next. Finally, Naruto spoke up and shouted, "Then tell us. Tell us everything about that night!"

"Tell you? Why would I need to do that when I could show you?" The Kyūbi asked with a toothy grin.

Anko and Inoichi stood small chamber with a remorseful Fū sitting in front of a saddened Shibuki. Almost immediately after Naruko fell unconscious, the remaining villagers hailed the Konoha shinobi as heroes.

However, their jubilation changed into fury when they saw Fū was still alive. Despite Fū's claims of innocence, the villagers called for her blood. It was then Naruto and Menma took Naruko to the hospital while the pair of Jōnin led Fū and Shibuki to the latter's office, where they all now sat.

"Fū…" Shibuki began after Fū explained all that had occurred. "What happened today is a horrible tragedy. Many lives were lost and the villagers, despite you trying to warn them, want you dead due to your involvement in all of this."

"But that's not fair," Anko said. "She tried everything to try and save them and yet they want her punished?"

"There must be more to it than that," Inoichi said. "The way they looked at her, yelled at her…There's more to this."

"There is," Shibuki said to the two Jōnin. "Fū holds the Nanbi inside of her."

Both Anko and Inoichi looked surprised by this but then saddened as well. "I see…" Inoichi said. "I understand now."

"Really?" Shibuki asked.

The Jōnin nodded and replied "We know that containers for the tailed demons exist. I can understand why the villagers treated her so terribly. However, that should not cause her to be executed."

Fū put her hands into her face and said, "I did everything that I could…This isn't fair…"

"I know," Shibuki said. "However, despite my personal feelings on the matter, I have to do what is right for the village…"

"So that's it?" Anko asked. "You're going to kill her for doing the best she could under those shitty ass circumstances?!"

"Shibuki-san," Inoichi said. "I understand the heavy circumstances of all this. The grief and fear that the villagers are facing are blinding them to the good she tried to do for them. There must be a way to solve th-."

"It's okay," Fū said, interrupting Inoichi softly. "The villagers never liked me because of the Nanbi…It's been like this my whole life. Every time I did something wrong. No matter how minuscule the problem, I would be unfairly punished by everyone…I screwed up and I need to atone…"

"Fū…" Anko murmured with a frown on her face.

Fū took a deep breath and looked at Shibuki with watery eyes and said, "I'll take whatever punishment you'll give me. Even if I am to die. I have nothing left to live for anyway."

Shibuki shut his eyes for a moment then opened them and said, "I will not take your life. You were forced to do what you did despite trying to work it to save everyone. However, you still worked with a group of traitors and I can't let that slide. Fū, with a heavy heart, I herby revoke your status as a shinobi, along with your citizenship to this Takigakure no Sato."

The two Jōnin stood in silence as Fū's body began to shake before a soft sob was heard.

"I am so sorry," Shibuki said. "I wish there was some other way that would keep you save and keep the villagers happy through their grief…But this is the only way…Please relinquish your Hiate-ite."

Through heavy sobs, Fū removed her headband and placed it on the desk in front of the leader. "You have three hours to vacate this village," Shibuki said.

Fū nodded, her face pained but understanding. "Inoichi-san. Anko-san…It would be best for you and your team to leave as well but I request that your team guard Fū until she is clear of the village."

"We will," Anko said. Fū stood up and walked to the door, tears streaming down her cheeks while Anko and Inoichi turned around but Shibuki's voice rang out.

"Fū…Thank you for your service and I wish you all the best…"

"I fucking knew it," Menma whispered. "I knew that old bastard was lying to us. I knew it…" But there was no smug-ness in his voice, just emptiness.

"I gave him the benefit of the doubt…" Naruko murmured with a heartbroken expression. "I trusted him…"

Naruto merely remained silent but there was a look of absolute fury on his face.

The three had just gotten back from a very involved trip through memory lane with the Kyūbi no Kitsune and the three were handling it like champs.

"Our father was the Yondaime Hokage," Naruko whispered. "We had a family…No matter how short it was…"

"Our mother looked beautiful…" Menma mentioned.

Naruto still remained silent but the anger was building in his veins.

"What do we do?" Naruko asked as tears filled her eyes. "He was our-"

"No, he wasn't!" Naruto suddenly screamed, his anger reaching a boiling point. "That old fucker lied to us! Deceived us! He said we had no family! That we were always orphans to some no named family and yet our father was the fucking Yondaime and the Mystical Chain Mistress of Konoha who, get this, was the previous holder of the demon we hold?!"

Naruto stood up and grabbed the chair he was sitting on and launched it across the room, shattering the glass to the picture that hung on the wall while he yelled, "It's fucking bullshit!"

Both Menma and Naruko were stunned at the amount of anger Naruto was expressing. "Fuck him! Fuck him for lying to us! And fuck us for actually believing in that piece of shit!" Naruto yelled.

"All the times we asked "Who were our parents" and that fucker refused to tell us the truth! Maybe you were right all along, Menma! Maybe he doesn't fucking care!" Naruto raged. "Fuck, it could go deeper than that! He knows we're going through hell in that fucking place. Who's to say he isn't to blame? What if he-"

"Please don't say it," Naruko interrupted with a desperate tone. "I don't think I could live if he sent those men that night…"

Naruto growled furiously but kept silent.

After three minutes of silence, Naruko asked, "You guys think we should stay quiet about this?"

"Fuck that," Naruto replied as he panted. "The Hokage lied to us. We should scream it out all over the village out of pure fucking spite."

"Who would believe us?" Menma questioned. "The holder of the famed demon is the son of a Kage and a former shinobi that held mystical chains and the previous holder of the demon…We'd be killed on the spot for such sacrilege."

"So what do we do?" Naruto asked with a heated tone.

"Keep it to ourselves…" Menma said. "As much as I want to get revenge, he's a Kage and we're not…We'd be killed by him…Keep it quiet and grow stronger. When we are…That's when we strike."

Naruto let a toothy, rage-filled smirk appear on his face while Naruko looked shocked. "W-Wait…You two really want to fight the Hokage?"

"Yeah," both Menma and Naruto replied. "You in?"

Naruko was silent before determination shined in her eyes. "I don't like it but I hate being lied to more. You bet your asses I'm in." She replied.

"Then we have an agreement…" Naruto stated as he held out his right fist.

Menma placed his right fist on the left side of Naruto's fist and said, "We become as strong as possible then take him down."

Naruko slipped out of bed and slowly approached Menma and Naruto and placed her right fist against the right side of Naruto's fist and said, "To justice…"

Ten minutes passed and Naruko was alone in her room, getting dressed when she heard a noise on her window. She turned around to see Fu outside of it. Naruko's eyes lit up in surprise and she walked towards the window and opened it.

"Hey, Fu-ch-" Naruko stopped immediately when she saw tears in the teal-haired girl's eyes. "W-What's the matter?" Naruko asked.

"Shibuki-san…He kicked me out of the village…" Fu said before being taken into Naruko's arms, her sobs echoing in the room. Naruko felt her heart ache at the sight of her. Fu had been through so much and once again, she was being let down.

"Where will I go Naruko-chan? What will I do? I can't survive on my own," Fu whimpered as Naruko felt Fu's hands grip her shirt tightly.

Naruto returned the tight hug and placed a kiss on the top of the kunoichi's head and soon, the two found themselves laying the in the hospital bed, Naruko's arms still wrapped protectively around Fu's smaller body.

The sobbing had stopped but Fu remained against the blonde. Naruko gently pulled away from Fu only to place her forehead against Fu's. "You'll come to Konoha with me and my team," Naruko whispered. "You will come there and become a Konoha shinobi…And I will protect you."

"What about your Anko-san and Inoichi-san?" Fu mumbled.

"I'll fight them every step of the way to make them agree," Naruko replied.

"What if the Hokage won't allow someone like me in his village," Fu said with a bitter tone in her voice.

Naruko let out a faint laugh. "I've lost a lot of love for the Hokage but I won't life. He cares about his other shinobi and the life of many and that old fool wouldn't hesitate to have more in his ranks. Especially someone like you…"

"A-And what if he doesn't?" Fu asked.

"Then I will force him to," Naruko said sincerely. "Because I'm not going to let you be left behind on your own…" Naruko took Fu's hand and placed it against her chest then covered her hand on top of Fu's.

"I promise on my heart that I will protect you and do all that I can to get you into our village," Naruko told her with a determined expression on her face.

Fu stared at her for a moment before she lowered her head and placed it against the base of Naruko's neck. "Why?" She asked. "We fought just hours ago and now you're willing to protect me? Why?"

"Because you, my brothers and I…We're the same…" Naruko replied tenderly as she placed a hand on Fu's cheek, making the girl look straight at her. "My brothers and I…We each have a part of the Kyūbi no Kitsune inside of us…The Hokage knows it and so does every older person. Sure we get treated lousily but he wouldn't kick us out of the village…We can tell him what you hold or not. He'd take you in regardless," Naruko explained.

"You say you hold no love for him and yet you speak highly of him…" Fu whispered.

"I found out about some things he hid from me, which made him drop considerably from my favor but there is a good man in there. Just not towards anyone with the surname of Uzumaki," Naruko replied vocally but thought 'Or Namikaze…'

Fu stayed silent for a moment and said "You're the first person to ever treat me differently…The village never trusted me and while Shibuki and the previous village rulers were kind, I always felt they just didn't want to anger me…But you…After hearing me, you've treated me so nice…so gentle…" Fu looked at Naruko and slowly placed her hand on the blonde girl's cheek. "I don't know if I could be in your village and see them treat you and your brothers so poorly…"

Naruko laughed softly and said, "I don't care about them. As long as I have friends and my brothers, I'll be okay…"

Fu placed her forehead against Naruko's and murmured, "I trust you…I don't know why my heart is saying this…Especially because of how we met but I do…"

"As long as you let me…I will never let you down…" Naruko whispered back as she shut her eyes.

Naruko felt Fu touch her bottom lip with her thumb and Naruko was slightly taken aback. The gentleness of the touch made her own body tremble slightly with anticipation.

But despite this, Naruko could feel Fu's body tremble against hers as well. Naruko felt Fu's hand move to her face and without warning, she felt Fu's lips press against hers in a ghost of a kiss.

Naruko felt her body heat but leaned her head forward to return the kiss with a firmer one. Fu let out a tiny gasp as her hand reached back to Naruko's neck to pull the blonde closer, something Naruko wanted as well so she pulled Fu closer by the hips.

Their once shy kiss had become a little more intense as Fu let out a breathy "Naru…" as Naruko leaned up off the bed to press herself more against the teal-haired kunoichi.

"Yo! What the hell?" Menma's shocked voice echoed in her head.

Naruko slowly broke apart and opened her eyes to see the blushing yet confused look on Fu's face, their breathing in sync, and their slightly puffy lips inches apart from one another.

"Wow…We leave for three minutes to get some drinks and you two are kissing?" Naruto's amused voice said. "Such a shame I missed it."

Two seconds later…

"Ow! Damn it, Menma!" Naruto's pained voice shouted in her head.

"I-I'm so sorry…" Fu said. "I don't know what came over me…"

"Stop being a pervert then and I won't smack you," Menma's voice said in her head.

"Don't be," Naruko replied with red cheeks. "I mean it…That was my first kiss…"

"But dude…Oh shit, there is Anko-Sensei and Inoichi-sensei…we need to distract them," Naruto said.

"M-Mine too…" Fu replied. The two let out a gentle laugh, their hands intertwining.

"You can distract them, I'm just going to watch," Menma's voice replied.

Naruko slowly cut the mental connection off just as the Kyūbi yelled, "Oh my Kami…Just shut up. I'm trying to sleep!" and pressed her forehead back against Fu's, who let out a shuddered breath.

"C-Can I do it again?" Fu asked.

Instead of responding vocally, Naruko leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss on Fu's lips, who met her with a tender one of her own.

Just as the door opened to reveal Inoichi and Anko, with an apologetic Naruto and amused Menma behind them. "Hey, Naruko-chan we're….Oh my," Inoichi said, which caused the two to break apart but this time, both girls pouted.

"Awww, we interrupted their kissing," Anko said.

"I tried to stop them/He tried to stop them," Naruto and Menma said in unison, with Menma pointing at Naruto.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Naruko asked as Fu buried her face into her neck, causing Naruko to blush due to feeling the heat on Fu's face from her own.

"I guess not…" She heard Fu mumble softly.

"Inoichi-sensei…Anko-sensei…Fu comes with me," Naruko said with a frown on her face. "I know we'll have to clear it with the Hokage but I will not leave her alone."

"Well, it's a damn good thing we agree Female Gaki," Anko said with a smirk.

"We decided that immediately after leaving Shibuki's office," Inoichi explained.

"Whew…That's good. I would've hated to fight with you guys…" Naruko said with a sigh of relief.

"Well, now that's covered…We need to get out of here before the villagers stop mourning and see her," Anko said.

The two girls nodded before Naruko glanced back at Fu and couldn't help herself by placing another kiss on the orange-eyed girl's lips.

Anko and Inoichi looked at each other before they both shouted, "We mean now!" in unison.

Two days later, Team Eleven, Minus Naruto, and Mena but plus Fu, stood in front of the Hokage, Naruko's fingers intertwined with Fu's.

"After hearing all of that…I can see how rough of a place you were in. After recently dealing with something similar, it would be unkind to kick you out of this village."

"D-Does that mean?" Naruko asked.

"Yes. I would be happy to welcome you to this village Fu," The Hokage replied.

"Oh, Kami…I was so scared," Fu said as she released Naruko's hand only to hug her tightly, which caused Naruko to return her hug happily.

"I also grant your request Inoichi-san and Anko-san to have Fu on your team," The Hokage said with a nod to the two Jōnin, who gave a subtle fist bump. "Now that this aspect is done, Naruko-san, please escort Fu-san to the records hall so she can start her paperwork in joining this village and the shinobi corps."

"Okay Hokage-sama," Naruko said with a nod, which prompted a confused expression to appear on the Hokage's face.

Naruko looked to Fu and together, the two walked out of the room. Outside the room, Naruto and Menma sat and Fu said, "I'm on Team Eleven."

"Yahoo!" Naruto said. "Looks like you two lovebirds get to stick together."

"Shut it," Naruko said but couldn't stop herself from smiling.

"Welcome to the team Fu-san," Menma said with a supportive nod.

"Thank you…Both of you," Fu said before she turned to Naruko and said "And a most special thank you to you, Naru-chan…" Fu leaned in for a kiss but noticed that Naruto's eyes were locked on them and surprisingly, even Menma was glancing at them from the corner of his eye.

"Later," Naruko replied with a whisper and a smile.

Fu nodded.

"Awww damn it," Naruto said. "Well anyways, how about we get some ramen to celebrate!"

"Ramen? What's that?" Fu asked.

The Uzumaki trio merely smirked and shouted in unison "Only the food for the gods!"

"You'll love it," Naruko added.

"Then let's have some," Fu said happily. The foursome walked out of the tower and onto the main street but the moment they did, Menma found himself colliding into Haruno Sakura, which caused them both to stagger.

"Oh…This should be fun…" Naruto said with a grin.

Haruno Sakura had a rough four days.

First was the incident with Menma.

She didn't expect his past, along with Naruto and Naruko's pasts to be as brutal as they were, with her actively participating in making Naruto's life a living hell and despite Naruko and Naruto forgiving her, the guilt she was carrying was heavy.

The second thing was her mission. What went from protecting a noble turned into a battle for survival, with her having to take her first life. She felt as if her innocence had been robbed from her.

She knew being a shinobi wouldn't be easy but it boiled down to her life or theirs opened her eyes. She had told Kakashi that she wasn't sure if she wanted to remain a shinobi.

Being the understanding guy that he was, Kakashi gave her the week off of shinobi duties to think things over and while she was glad for this, she felt even more guilt at wanting to leave after one mission.

So now she stood face to face with one of the reasons for her guilt and she knew eventually that she would have to apologize to him but she didn't think it would be so soon.

"We should leave them alone…" She heard Naruko whisper to Naruto and the teal-haired girl beside her. The two nodded and Naruko said, "Welp, time to hit the old dusty trail. Later Menma, Sakura-chan!"

The three then ran past her at top speed, leaving Menma and her alone.

"M-Menma-san…" Sakura said with a slight stammer before she cleared her throat and began to say "Hello" but only managed to get "He-" out due to Menma walking away from her, his shoulder bumping into hers on the way past, making her stumble back.

Sakura was stunned at the blatant disrespect.

She couldn't even say "Hello" to him without him just walking away. Without thinking, she shouted, "Oh how mature of you!"

Menma paused as Sakura continued to yell "I know we parted on terrible terms but that doesn't mean being a dick!"

Menma slowly turned around and asked, "What makes you think I want to talk to you?"

Sakura paused.

It was so odd that despite looking like Naruto and Naruko, his attitude made him look so different. Sakura took a deep breath to steady herself before she looked at Menma and said "You don't have to talk to me because all I need you to do is listen."

Menma didn't reply or move so Sakura took that as a cue to continue.

"I…I just want to apologize for how I acted," Sakura told him. "I said some things that were out of line to intentionally hurt you and that wasn't right of me because you going through your past hurt both Naruto and Naruko as well because it brought up theirs…With me being one of the people in Naruto's life that you described in your past…I was an idiot for doing that and I am so sorry."

Menma stared at her for a long time and the confidence that Sakura had built up was slowly crumbling under Menma's cold gaze. After what felt like years to her, Menma finally asked "If I hadn't blown up at you that day, do you think you would have come to this conclusion on your own?"

Sakura blinked in surprise.

"The reason I ask is that when I make a mistake, it doesn't take someone exploding at me to make me realize that I was wrong. I come to that conclusion on my own and then act accordingly," Menma told her. "So with that said, do you think you would have apologized on your own without my interference or would you have continued if I had said nothing?"

Sakura was silent.

Admittedly, if Menma had stayed silent, she wouldn't be faced with this issue at all and she would still be hurting Naruto and Sai or really, anyone that pissed her off.

Was she that horrible of a person?

"That silence answers my question. Farewell Haruno," Menma said as he turned around and walked away.

Sakura watched him start to walk off and felt anger building up in her heart. He didn't even give her a chance to answer him. "What do you want me to do Menma?!" She shouted as he continued to walk away from her

"Do I have to grovel at your feet and beg for your Oh so important forgiveness?! Do you want me to hurt myself to satisfy you…Or is it you want me to go out with you? Maybe even kiss you for you to forgive me?!" Menma paused mid-step, which caused a smirk to appear on her face. "Oh, so that made you stop? Me throwing that kiss out there made you stop and want to listen!"

Sakura watched as Menma turned around to look at her seemed to confirm her thoughts.

Feeling emboldened, Sakura shouted, "Well you know what?! It doesn't matter how it happened but I saw that I was wrong and I apologized. I don't need to beg, plead or fuck you to get that forgiveness! I have too much on my mind to waste with the fact I fucking killed someone to worry about you anymore so if you don't want to accept that apology then fuck you!"

Menma continued to stare at her before an understanding smile appeared on his face and despite her anger, Sakura felt her knees go weak from it.

Menma walked back towards her and once he stopped in front of her. All of the courage she felt seemed to fade away into the breeze as he observed her for a moment. Finally, he asked, "You have killed someone?"

Sakura was confused at the sudden question.

"Y-Yes…It was on my mission…The Noble we were protecting…Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke and Sai were fighting and one of the shinobi had gotten past them and was coming straight to me…He leaped in the air with a kunai…He tackled me but I managed to wrestle the kunai out of his hands and stabbed him in the neck…." Sakura explained softly.

"I see…" Menma responded and it was then she saw understanding in his eyes.

Something she never thought she would see before.

"Come with me," Menma said as he began to walk away.

Confused, Sakura followed.

Chapter Text

"This is so precious…" Naruko said as she, Fu, and Naruto stood at the door to their apartment.

Sitting on the couch sleeping was Hyūga Hinata and all around their apartment were various orange and blue balloons, orange and blue streamers across the walls and there was even a cake on their counter.

"Wow…I wasn't expecting this when we got home," Naruko said to Naruto only to see a warm expression on his face.

"Who is she?" Fu asked Naruko.

"She's a friend of ours that has a crush on Naruto," Naruko replied, leaving out the complex nature of her and Menma being a part of Naruto. "But still…For her to do this was sweet."

Hinata let out a small groan only to squeak in surprise at seeing the trio. "O-Oh, Naruto-kun…Naruko-chan. Welcome home. I-I'm sorry you found me like this. So u-unbecoming…"

Hinata then looked to Fu and gave a small bow. "Oh hello, I-I'm Hyūga Hinata, Heiress to the Hyūga clan," Hinata introduced.

"I'm Fu…Just Fu…" Fu replied. "Newly minted Konoha Shinobi."

"Wow. W-Welcome to Konoha! Have you guys taken her on a t-tour yet?" Hinata asked.

"Not yet," Naruko replied with a smile. "We were going to rest up before actually looking for you to let you know we're back."

"I-I'm glad," Hinata said with a smile.

"So…What's all of this?" Naruko asked the Hyūga heiress.

"W-Well I figured I'd welcome you all back from your first mission…I-I found out yesterday by Sakura-san, who stopped by to see if you guys returned yet. I figured I'd welcome you all back in a nice way."

"This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for us…Thank you, Hinata-chan," Naruko said with a bow but when she looked at Naruto, he was still staring at her.

'Naruto…What's your deal?' Naruko asked through their link but he didn't answer her. He instead kept his gaze on Hinata.

"I-I just realized, where is Menma-kun?" Hinata asked.

"He's currently talking with Sakura-chan," Naruko said.

Hinata nodded with a pleased smile. "I'm very glad. She was looking forward to speaking to him regarding some matter that occurred between them. Hopefully, she cheers up. She was pretty down when I saw her la—"

"Hinata-chan, would you like to go on a date with me?" Naruto asked suddenly, startling everyone in the room.

"Geez, a little warning before you suddenly speak after like five minutes of nothingness?!" Fu exclaimed while Naruko could only laugh.

"A-Ah," Hinata stammered.

"I know it's rather sudden but I was going to ask when we saw you again but seeing you do all this just for us…I couldn't hold back," Naruto admitted with a blush on his face.

"O-Oh," Hinata responded bashfully, her face beat red. "I-I'd love to."

"Really?!" Naruto excitedly exclaimed.

"R-Really…Oh my! I-I have a date with Naruko-kun!" Hinata exclaimed before she slumped back on the couch, unconscious.

"Ah! Hinata-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as he rushed to her.

Naruko chuckled as she looked at Fu and murmured "I believe there was something you were going to give me earlier before we saw those two perverts staring at us…"

Fu blushed and took Naruko's hand and said, "Lead the way, Naruko-chan…"

"Another mission? Already?" Anko said in disbelief as she looked at the Hokage. "It hasn't even been an hour since we got back."

"Yes. It is pretty urgent. Team 10 has encountered some trouble during their mission and they will need all the help they can. With Team 7, Team 9, and Team 8 going on important missions tomorrow and the other teams currently on their missions, Team 11 is the only team that can go," The Hokage said.

"What is the mission?" Anko asked.

"A group of Ronin have been terrorizing some villages in Hi no Kuni for a while now. Each shinobi team we sent out there was defeated and killed. They call themselves the Shichinintai," The Hokage explained.

"The Band of Seven?" Anko said. "Wait…I heard about them. They were a group of powerful samurai from Tetsu no Kuni. I thought they were beheaded or something?"

"That is what we've heard but unfortunately, we were mistaken," The Hokage responded. "For a while, we didn't even know we were dealing with them but when a shinobi returned near death, he was able to confirm to us that they were the assailants."

"So you sent Team 10 to stop them?" Anko asked.

"No, they were sent on an assignment to gather Intel for a target when that shinobi returned here. He and his team had just met with Team 10 at that village before they were attacked," The Hokage explained.

"Shit…Well, Alright…I'll go grab the rugrats and Inoichi," Anko said with a grumble.

"Inoichi is currently on another assignment I had assigned for him before I summoned you so he won't be able to join you on this mission," The Hokage said.

"Really? We ju-Oh fuck a duck. Alright, I'll go gather them up!" Anko said.

'I guess Dango is going to have to wait for later…' Anko bitterly thought.

"Wow…What a beautiful sight…" Sakura said as she gazed out over the entire village. Menma had led her to the top of the Hokage monument. She wondered why she never thought of coming up here before.

"Naruto showed me this spot," Menma explained. "It's become our spot when we need to clear our heads."

"I see…" Sakura whispered. "But why bring me here."

"You said you took a life, right?" Menma asked.

Sakura nodded.

"You probably feel unsure about yourself and your position as a shinobi. You probably feel less pure, right?" Menma asked.

"Y-Yes…How did you know?" Sakura asked curiously.

"It was my birthday. I had just turned five years old, I wasn't allowed to go out on my birthday but I did anyway. I was lonely and I wanted to talk to people. Of course, I was ignored and ridiculed. On my way home, a drunk shinobi cornered me in the alleyway. Called me all sorts of cruel names before he tried to murder me. He fell and the kunai slid to my feet. He pulled out another one and came barreling into me. I held up the kunai and he stumbled and fell on top of me. The Kunai I was holding was in his chest. He died," Menma explained.

Sakura gasped out in horror.

He was only five years old and he killed someone…

"Oh Menma…" Sakura breathed out.

"When the village elder came to me, I was covered in his blood. I remember feeling as if something died in me but my elder told me that I was defending myself from someone that intended to harm me. I did nothing wrong but I still felt like a monster. I had killed someone…they had family, friends…people that cared. I was just no named orphan and I took away a family member….I felt horrible."

"That's exactly how I feel," Sakura softly admitted.

Everything that Menma had told her, she had felt and it was messing with her.

"But one day, I met a kind old man with long white hair with red lines going down his eyes. He was a goofy and a pervert but a nice guy. He took the time to talk to me when my elder did not…He said that it's natural to feel that guilt and it is what makes us human. If I didn't feel that, I would become the very monster that I feared I was…But what he said next spoke to me. He said "Kiddo, in my long line of work as a shinobi, death is always there. It could come for me at any time. Whether by enemies, my own hands, or my health. It'll always be there. But just because the shroud of death is around me, doesn't mean I have to become that shroud myself." And I realized what he was trying to say."

"That I don't have to kill my enemies….I can spare them," Sakura summarized.

"Exactly. After we spoke, I made a promise to myself. If I could, I would never kill again. I know there will be times when I need to break that oath but it helps me remember that killing doesn't make me an unfeeling monster. I can show mercy and you can as well," Menma finished.

"Wow…I-I never thought of it that way," Sakura said. "I feel better…But why talk to me about this? You hate me…"

"I dislike you, yes. But that doesn't mean that I'm an unfeeling monster," Menma told her.

"Well…Thank you all the same," Sakura said with a grateful smile.

"I haven't forgiven you, you know?" Menma told her. "I can't…Not yet."

"Why?" Sakura softly asked as the pair looked at the village. "I'm not her…I'm not the one that hurt you so why take it out on me?"

Menma remained quiet for a moment then answered, "Every punch you landed on Naruto told him things about himself. That he was stupid, pathetic, and worthless. You made him feel that he was nothing. You caused him pain that you will never be able to heal with words alone…"

Sakura lowered her head in thought.

"Then…I'll prove it somehow," Sakura whispered. "I'll prove to you that I mean everything that I said. I don't know how but I will…I promise."

"I look forward to seeing you try, Haruno," Menma simply replied.

"What a wonderful oath," Anko's voice said from behind, which prompted both Sakura and Menma to turn around and launch kunai at her. Anko caught them both with her index finger after ducking them and twirled them around.

"Nice reflexes kiddos," Anko said with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" Menma asked.

"The Hokage has us going on an important mission to help Team 10," Anko explained. "I got lucky that I saw you with my 20/20 vision." Anko winked but seeing the serious expression on Menma's face made her sigh.

"We just returned an hour ago..." Menma said.

"I know but orders are orders," Anko said.

"Tch…I'll gather my siblings," Menma told

"No need. Just replenish your wares and head to the gate. I'll snag them. Besides, they can't be far," Anko said before she vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Menma snorted and said, "Well…Looks like the welcome home is short. I better prepare."

"Yeah…I guess you should," Sakura replied before the two stared at one another. Menma stared down at her emerald green eyes and tensed for a moment.

Those eyes…He couldn't let himself be drawn in by them.

Not again.

Menma nodded and started to walk away, but when he gained a good distance, Sakura shouted, "Menma!"

He turned around and gave her a curious look. "We may not get along but I don't want you to die before I can fulfill my promise so come back safely. I'll be here!" Sakura shouted at him.

Despite the words, Menma could hear the seriousness and worry in her voice which made him chuckle.

'Worried for me? Never thought I'd see the day,' Menma thought. Instead of replying vocally, Menma turned around and continued to walk but raised his hand in a lazy wave before putting his hand into his pocket.

And if had turned around again, he would have seen Sakura smile in relief.

Naruko and Fū were in the middle of cuddling on the bed, just basking in their new…whatever it was they were in when they heard a knock on the window. Both Naruko and Fū looked up and shrieked in horror at Anko peering through their window, her face pressed up against it with a wide, goofy smile.

Anko let out a hearty laugh, which was muffled by the closed window before Naruto busted into the room with a kunai. "What's the problem?!" Naruto said as he looked around before he saw Anko, immediately put together the issue and laughed as well.

"Look at it this way, at least you two weren't getting it on," Naruto said as he waggled his eyebrows only to duck a pair of kunai thrown at him. "That was close," Naruto said with a cheeky smirk.

Once Naruto let Anko in, they all sat in the living room but Anko was looking at Hinata's unconscious body curiously.

"I asked her out on a date. She said yes and well…She fainted," Naruto summed up.

"O-Okay…." Anko replied. "Well, the reason I am here is because we have a mission."

"What? We just got back!" The trio shouted, which caused Hinata to stir.

"W-What? What's going on?" Hinata mumbled out.

"Hey, you're awake," Naruto said with a bright smile.

"Mhmm…W-What was the shouting?" Hinata said.

"I was just telling my Gaki trio that we have another mission," Anko said.

"B-But they ju—" Hinata began.

"I know, they just got back," Anko said with a sigh. "You think I like ruining shit like this kids? Cause I don't but Team 10 needs some help and we're the only team that can get them what they need."

"Team 10…That's Shikamaru, Chōji and Ino, right?" Naruto recounted.

"Nice job kiddo," Anko replied with a grin.

"Well hell, looks like we have to help them," Naruko said.

"Y-Yes…I do not wish for a-any of our friends to perish…" Hinata said.

"Damn it, Hinata-chan, when I come back, we'll go on our date okay?" Naruto asked.

"O-Of course," Hinata said with a stammer and a blush but there was an adorable smile on her face that made Naruto grin.

Just then, Inoichi appeared in the room and said "I should have expected you three would be here."

"Hey, Inoichi-sensei. You bummed about this mission too?" Naruko asked.

"I wish I could be but I'm bound to another mission," Inoichi said with an apologetic smile. "Fu, the Hokage said you and I are going on a mission for some Intel. I was originally supposed to do this alone but the Hokage figured that having you with me will show you Konoha does things."

"I-I see…" Fu said as she looked to Naruko, who looked mighty disappointed. Fū leaned over to kiss her cheek and said, "I'm sorry Naruko-chan…I hate to leave you and my other new teammates but if the Hokage wants it, no sense in denying it…"

Naruko shook her head, took Fū by the face and softly kissed her.

Hinata looked stunned.

"I'll explain in a second…" Naruto said.

The two broke apart and Fu stood up walked to Inoichi and said "Let's do this Sensei!"

"Sorry guys but I'll keep her safe. I promise," Inoichi said as he grabbed Fu's shoulder, and with a swirl of leaves, they were gone.

"So things happened between Naruko and Fu during our last mission," Naruto said as Naruko blushed.

"How o-odd…So to make sure I-I understand. You, Menma-kun, and Naruko-chan are the original Naruto-kun but now Naruko-chan is taken? Does that mean you're all taken?" Hinata asked.

"Nope," Naruto responded. "We may share a soul but lately, we've all had different wants."

"G-Good…I-I would have felt really guilty if all of you w-were with Fu-san…" Hinata said.

"Don't be," Naruko said with a grin. "We share the same lifespan and soul but there are some differences between us."

"And while Fu is cute…" Naruto said. "I don't know, I just don't have an interest in her like I do you but I mean I guess I do since Naruko likes her…This is all a work in progress but I say, while we share the same life force and soul, we are different in some ways so treat us as our person?"

Hinata blushed deeply but nodded. "I'm glad to see you two are as c-confused as I am," Hinata commented with a small smile.

"I mean, we've only had this going on since like…three weeks?" Naruko asked Naruto, who shrugged in response.

"Honestly, the days just blur together…" Naruto replied.

"While I am deeply amused by this," Anko said with a stare that showed her own confusion. "We need to get a move on."

"Oh right," Naruko said.

"Man…I'm guessing you already told Menma because he's not here, right?" Naruto asked.

At Anko's nod, Naruto sighed. "Damn it, there goes our tradition…" Naruto grumbled.

"I know, I'm so bummed," Naruko said.

"I'm sorry?" Anko and Hinata asked in unison.

"We'll explain but let's get a move on, yeah?" Naruto asked.

Anko and Naruko nodded and Naruto turned to Hinata and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Our house is your house. You can chill here until we get back if you want to. And when I come back, you and I are having that date."

With a wink, Naruto began to pull away but the red-faced Hinata caught his shoulder and boldly kissed his cheek, which caused Naruto's face to redden to the point that Naruko and Anko thought steam would come out of his ears.

"That's a new reaction," Naruko noted in amusement while Anko let out a laugh.

"F-F-For luck," Hinata said with a smile.

"T-T-Thanks…." Naruto stammered back.

Naruko saw Anko tilt her head curiously as a faint smile appeared on her face before her sensei shook her head and shouted, "Let's get a move on!"

"R-Right!" Naruto said. "S-See you later Hinata-chan!"

"Bye Hinata-chan!" Naruko said.

"Later Pearls!" Anko said before the trio walked out. The second the door closed, Anko said "She's so going to faint."

Seconds later, there was a thump, which caused Naruto to look through his window only to see Hinata on their couch, unconscious again. "Jinx…" Naruto said to Anko, who stuck her tongue at him.

Naruto frowned and stuck his tongue back at his sensei.

Naruko watched for two minutes as the two continued to stick their tongues out at each other and merely sighed before she focused her thoughts on Menma and said, 'Menma…Inoichi-sensei is not going to be on this mission and we instead may have to deal with Anko-sensei and Naruto being a bunch of idiots…'

"Kami help us all," Menma replied.

"Guys!" Naruko said.

"Hm?" The two replied while glancing at her.

"The mission," Naruko said.

"Oh yeah," The two said in unison before they said, "Jinx, you owe me a ramen/dango!"

Naruko sighed again but funny enough, she smiled as well.

What a strange but happy life….