Moonlight Blades (Patreon)

Moonlight BladesThe tale of Uzumaki Reika

(Essence CYOA)

Essences: Eastern Legend, The Grandmaster, Mover, Hentai World Defense Powers, Harem Protagonist

A/N: This is a crack naruto story with a OP Uzumaki female MC. Don’t take it too seriously!

***

Chapter 1

When I regained consciousness today, I didn’t expect to be shipped to Konoha by my great grandfather, Ashina. Sighing, I looked around the mainland’s docks leading to Uzushio, turning to look at the sea, I saw the island which was the birthplace of the Uzumaki clan from afar. I couldn’t believe that I was forced to live in this world. Turning toward the road and avoiding the people looking at me, I walked toward the exit of the small town.

The screech of the seagulls was unpleasant and other creatures that I could sense from the sea were running away from me as I walked on the road.

From the memory before my awakening, animals have never liked me. They could somehow sense that half of me was a… dangerous monster. It was my fault, I chose this path; my mother was an Uzumaki and my father… a special man. He wasn't human at all. We lived with my father before, but it was temporary; mother just dropped me off in Uzushio two years ago and I've been living with Ashina and my grandmother Tomoe since then.

And now I was being shipped to Konoha to be a deep cover agent for the village of Whirlpools. How did my life end up like this?

Lemme see…

***

When I was returning home from the supermarket, the street was full of pedestrians going to their business, entering and exiting the Mall. I was minding my own business and thinking about that movie I wanted to watch when I was suddenly transported in a huge cavernous room made of marble and Japanese flooring mats. The smell inside the room reminded me of Cherry Blossom and the sea.

One of the doors on the right was open, it was full of Naruto themed stuff. There were posters, manga, DVDs, and a complete library of other stuff. When I walked up to the center of the cavernous room, there was a huge throne with some women chained to it. I stopped walking and looking at the guy who smiled at me as if I was his long lost sister. I hoped that I wasn’t to be made into one of those slave girls at his feet.

Oh, there were a bunch of women clothed in french maid outfits who strangely looked familiar; they were cleaning or standing guard in the room with weapons at their waist or hands. I looked more attentively at them and… Yep, the maids looked like those big booty kunoichi from Kumo. The ROB clapped its hands and greeted, "Welcome player!"

The guy looked like a buff red-haired Naruto; I saw him pat a Hyuga Hinata looking woman at the right of his throne, she looked super happy. Her belly was swollen… ah the dude bred her good. Hinata waved at me, I waved back.

Then I suddenly realized that I was going to be fucking isekai'ed. "Oh, no…"

"Oh, yes! ‘Ttebayo!"

I winced at his verbal tic, I wasn’t the only one, some of the kunoichi maids did too. My eyes fell on Mitarashi Anko who walked up to Naruto’s throne and sat on his lap, she giggled when he kissed her cheek and then took a stick of dango out of nowhere and started to eat. I was kind of jealous right at this moment, I wished to have a ninja thot waifu too!

But I knew nothing would be easy, and I didn’t want to have to go to Naruto to get someone to love. Before Naruto the ROB could speak, I raised a hand, "Lemme guess, you want to send me on a grand adventure?"

"Well, yes… who wouldn't want to become a strong shinobi?! Gather all those Ninja babes and love them dearly?" He touched Hinata’s head fondly, making the light purple eyed Hyuga thumbs up at me.

*He is making a point.* I thought when I noticed Haku in a maid outfit next to Hinata, he or she was looking at me with a blank face. She nodded at me, and I waved at her? Him? This was confusing.

With a sigh, I said to the clearly Naruto turned ROB, "I would have totally been sold out on the idea ten years ago, dude. But no thanks…"

I waved away with my free hand not holding on to my groceries. Everyone in the room looked at me in shock, as if I was getting off script or something. Naruto stood up from his throne after making Anko sit on it. "Wait what?!"

"Now, if you were sending me to Fairy Tail or Strike the blood, I would totally go."

All the girls now looked insulted, as if I just said something bad about their hometown. Well not my fault if the planet the elemental nations were located on was a shit hole; well it’s still better than Earth Bet, I guess. Notice how I didn’t say Marvel or DC, I don’t like those places much since those SJWs from twatter made those comic universes unreadable with all the identity politics and the woke lenses they try to force upon the public.

Hinata looked at me with a sad gaze, and I felt my heart break. I mouthed “Sorry” to her. She just shrugged at me, and her smile came back, as if my refusal didn’t matter in the end… suddenly, I didn’t have a good feeling.

"But chakra, blood, and babes!" Naruto yelled, still trying to convince me.

I gave him a nod. "Yes, it's tempting. But I guess I'm in my fantasy sword and magic phase right now. By the way, why did you choose me?"

It wasn’t Naruto who answered, but Anko who shouted, "Because you know the setting like the back of your hand and you're hilarious!"

“From all the other candidates, you’re the most entertaining, and you’re the only one not wanting some cheaty doujutsu and going crazy because of the curse of hatred or the caged bird seal.” Naruto continued.

Huh, I felt the hate in his voice right at this moment; Naruto looked at Hinata who had a long stare, as if she remembered a bad moment in her life. I guessed that whatever dimension they came from wasn’t sunshine and rainbows compared to the canon timeline.

Naruto was suddenly before me and took my free hand, he looked at me with pleading eyes. “Please say yes, I promise you’ll have fun! ‘Ttebayo!”

Something was telling me that I wasn’t going to have a choice. I groaned, "You act like my friend Darwin… I guess there’s something you want from me?"

Naruto let go of my hand, then looked sharply into my eyes with his blue ones. "Just a tiny little thing."

I became tense. “What is it?”

All the Kunoichi, I noticed, have gone silent. “I want you to stop my father, Minato, from getting with my mom in the dimension I'm sending you to.”

My eyes widened and I stepped back, letting go of my grocery bag. Fortunately, it didn’t fall on the tatamis as one of the Kumo kunoichi was fast enough to catch it. I remembered her name being Samui, I nodded in thanks, she stoically nodded back.

I turned back to Naruto and asked with a commanding tone, “Why?”

Tears began streaming out of his eyes as he said sadly, “I can never save her, me and my wives, we tried everything! She always gets killed by Kurama who is being controlled by a brainwashed Obito.”

Wiping down the tears, Naruto said, “You’re the best candidate we have, out of the numerous ones we tried, please can you do this?”

I didn’t want to get into the death world that was about to get destroyed by a fucking family of aliens who treat everyone like livestock by siphoning the chakra from the people and the planet they infest with their fucking trees. But, one of my favorite childhood heroes was asking me for help… “Fine, I will. You’re lucky she’s my favorite heroine after Hinata and Anko.”

Then I just realized that Naruto just used Talk-no-jutsu on me. *What a dreadful weapon!*

And I thought Hiruzen was bad… Naruto signed me up for the death world with a proud smile and a pep-talk; did that kid always roll a natural 20 on his persuasion?!

Anko jumped up from the throne and shouted happily. “Score! I knew I was the best! You hear this Nai-chan?!”

A woman appeared from behind me, she had deep black hair and red eyes and a killer body in a maid outfit. Yuhi Kurenai, alright. “Why do they always go for the Ninja thots like Anko…”

Fucking ninjas like to jumpscare me… I sighed, as I couldn’t escape from being made into entertainment and an agent for this Naruto Ninja Jesus god, I decided to be smart about this.

“What do I get out of this?” I asked as I stared at him.

He instantaneously answered, “Lot of abilities, a new body with the Uzumaki bloodline as a base; and the girls went to that Dimension City where you can buy anything and came back with a bunch of essences.”

Karui, the dark skinned Kumo kunoichi appeared with a crate in the middle of the room. I heard clinking sounds coming from it, looking up, I watched Hinata hand a piece of paper to Naruto. “Here’s the list, Naruto-kun.”

“Thanks, Hinata-chan.” He slapped her butt, making her squeal a little.

Naruto spent a long moment reading the list, then when he was done, he handed the document to me and said, “Choose five of those.”

“But choose wisely, okay?” Karui said to me.

I nodded and started reading. The guy was offering me boons to save his mom. I looked at the list of essences, there were hundreds of them. But my eyes focused more on the utility and combat, training and masteries. I took off my coat and scarf, Samui materialized behind me with a chair and I sat on it. Spending two hours min-maxing and planning my build for this mission, this new life offered to me, I came up with the choice of the Essences of Eastern Legend, Grandmaster, Mover, Hentai World Defense, and Harem Protagonist; the synergy between those Essences were interesting.

I had mobility, training, a home, and my own variant of social-jutsu; if I worked for it, I would be able to basically overpower anyone in the Elemental Nations, even those damn aliens. After I've given the names of the Essences I chose, I looked at Naruto who put me before a mirror and in it different people who looked like anime characters appeared.

The Naruto ninja Jesus god turned me into a female Miyamoto Musashi expy with red hair and told me, "Okay now, let’s give you a name. But I am not good at them…"

I dreaded that moment… Naruto wasn't known for his naming sense… however contrary to my own expectations. He chose the path of wisdom. He turned to Hinata and the pregnant young woman who was sitting on all those comfortable cushions around the throne said, "Why not Reika? It means beautiful, lovely, and flower petal."

I really liked that name, it somehow clicked when Hinata said it. Smiling at the young woman I greatly admired, I nodded and accepted the name instantly.

"And that's why Hinata-chan is the first wife. She's smart and has an awesome sense." Naruto declared with a clap of his hands.

The redhead turned to me, then his eyes turned from blue to a purple gaze with a ringed pattern in his pupils. "Don't worry, Reika-chan! I will take care of everything, even if most of the setting will be AU for you!"

The guy was being considerate… at least he wasn't an asshole ROB. He snapped his fingers and I felt my body shrink, then I lost consciousness…

***

Yeah, I know I was setup to become become a fucking Mary-Sue by Ninja Jesus, but I needed all the help that I could get to survive this death world! I stopped to sit onto a bench, next to the exit of the town I was in. I opened the travel bag that had been given to me by grandpa Ashina.

There were a bunch of clothes in the compartment, well packaged kimonos, shoes, a jewelry box and tons of food sealed in seals. This was cool, there was even a tent inside! How could a bag contain all this? It was like that special bag from the pokemon games with different pockets and modules.

I began rifling more through it and I discovered that I could read Japanese. It has been one of my dreams since I started watching anime and reading manga. I pulled some books and scrolls out of the bag.

Chakra and its mysteries, Uzumaki edition, written by Uzumaki Ashina

Traps, pranks, escape and tactics, the arts of running away and laugh at your enemies' misfortune by Uzumaki Raiga

Sealing for beginner, Uzumaki edition.

Beginner jutsu

Uzu style Taijutsu

Uzu style Kenjutsu

Kagebunshin' secrets

Sealed summoning scroll

Well, I can't say I wasn't prepared. Grandpa Ashina seemed to know that I could master all this in no time… did Naruto tell him about my abilities? It would explain why I was not made to go to the Academy in Uzu and why he had forbidden me access to the clan Library.

Well, or maybe it's because prior to my awakening I was a little pyromaniac and kept burning things even in my sleep. Sue me, I am a dragon! I placed everything back in the bag but the book about Chakra, I was going to read it while moving on the road. Or I could just enter my other form and read it while flying? No, I needed to keep pace with the hidden Uzu ANBU that were escorting me in secret and keeping a close guard on me.

I think they’d even try to stop me if I tried transforming in public and flying in the sky. I looked up into the sky, watching the fluffy clouds pass by; I longed to go up there and fly to my heart content. Lowering my head, I pulled my left kimono sleeve to look at the black tactical glove on my hand. There was a locator seal tattooed on my left palm drawn like the Uzu swirling symbol with a micro Fūinjutsu matrix.

At least that was how Grandpa explained it to me. He had forbidden me to be taught the art, apparently he really knew that I would be awakened later. That’s why he gave me all the basics of knowledge in my bag. It seemed that prior to my awakening I was an imp, and was pranking everyone left and right, stealing shiny things that I hoarded in my bedroom.

I’m not surprised, for dragons, hoards are an important part of their survival -- it asserts their dominance, and assures the continuation of their species with the strongest genes. Some hoard gold and silver, others magic and books… Me? I hoarded pearls, pretty shellfish, coins, books, jewelry and… Ramen ingredients.

I opened my book and started to read grandpa's book on chakra while walking out of the town's gate, "The Sage of Six Paths gave chakra to humanity through a practice called ninshū…"

While reading, I started avoiding any passersby, training my awareness…

~~~~ O O ~~~~

(Uzu ANBU Orca)

The little one was aware of the squad’s presence. How? Orca had no idea. All that the Uzukage had deigned to tell them about his granddaughter, Uzumaki Reika, was that she is a sheltered little girl with a penchant for pranking and stealing. To Orca, the girl seemed to be good at stealth work and had awareness of her environment that was unnatural for someone of her age who wasn't taught how to be a shinobi.

"It's dangerous, isn't she going to trip on something?" Seals, the only Kunoichi in the team, asked aloud.

They kept following the little miss as she avoided a fallen trunk while she entered the forest by jumping over it. They looked on as the young Uzumaki suddenly used the trees as a platform to move fast so as to not leave any tracks on the ground; the girl might not be a shinobi yet, but she sure moved like one. Was it his imagination or did the girl… glide into the air?

Seals was seeing the same thing as he commented, “She’s gliding? How is she doing this?!”

Just like Orca, she wasn’t seeing things; but there was a problem, the little girl was getting further and further away from the ANBU squad! This was not good, not good at all!

“Follow her! Don’t let her outpace us!” Orca commanded on their team radio.

“Sage damnit! I thought this was going to be an easy mission!” Seals grumbled.

~~~~ O O ~~~~

(Uzu ANBU Seals)

A clearing in a forest 1500 km from Konoha…

Seals laughed as she watched Reika stumble upon a wild boar; the beast charged her and tried to gore her with its tusks. The girl evaded it by jumping in the air, where she hovered for ten seconds and landed on the ground. This dance continued for over one minute, until Reika huffed and decided to attack. Seals could see it in her body language, she was going to fight.

The two beasts looked at each other, and then Reika had her fist out, covered in blue flame-like chakra. The big boar facing the young lady scratched the ground with its hoof. It lowered it and charged the little girl, who evaded the attack with a, "Ole!"

Reika bounced toward her prey with these air steps of hers that allowed her to glide, she made a fist and said, "It's over, Mister pig!"

"One. Inch. Killer. Punch."

"Ata!" Reika shouted as she hit the boar right on its right flank. Bam! The boar was sent flying thirty meters at the other side of the clearing.

It squealed with a ‘Buhiiii’ of pain and with a ‘flop’ sound, the poor boar spat blood and fell on the ground dead... The girl raised her hand and her fingers became clawed, her hand had shiny shiny blue scales growing on them. "Now become my boar cutlets!"

And she stabbed into the animal's belly… The men in the ANBU squad flinched as they saw how methodical the take down had been; but it was more the claws that Reika used that frightened them. They looked with fascination as she tore through the fur, flesh and bones. Seals wasn’t laughing anymore…

"Guys, I think we need to be more careful with the little miss." Orca said with a low whisper that everyone heard, even Reika who turned her eyes where they were hidden.

"Yeah I don't want to be gutted like a pig either." Seals nodded.

~~~~ O O ~~~~

(Uzu ANBU Whale)

It's been a week since they started escorting Uzumaki Reika toward Konoha. The girl was making good time to reach the hidden village, avoiding towns and cities; staying parallel to the road, she became stealthier and stealthier as time passed and mastered Chakra control. Each of Reika’s mornings consisted of breakfast, stretches, the Uzu style taijutsu katas, then meditation; she also used the trees and plains to quickly run to reach her objective, Konoha.

Thanks to his sensor ability, Whale estimated that the girl had almost total control of her chakra, she kept surprising them with the control exercises that she was reading from the book in her bag. In one day she mastered the leaf sticking technique and continued sticking leaves, weeds, flower stalks onto her.

Then she proceeded to do something that took the ANBU squad aback, she completely disappeared from their senses in a puff of smoke. Whale panicked and shouted, “Who taught her how to hide her chakra?”

“Was it you, Dolphin?!” Seals turned to her fellow swordmaster.

“Wasn’t me.” The dolphin masked ANBU said.

“Sage damnit.” Whale jumped into the camp where the girl had been sitting and playing with her chakra. The others followed him, forming a circle around him.

“Look for her.” Whale ordered and the squad spread.

~~~~ O O ~~~~

(Uzumaki Reika)

I knew it! They were tailing me, I wasn’t crazy. Those masks… they were Uzu ANBU, and they were looking frantically for me. This reaction to me discovering how to mask my chakra was anticipated. Concealing is super easy for me somehow, I just had to grab that special chakra that was all around me and present in the world; then wrap myself in it and boom, I disappear to those guys' senses. I knew exactly what this was, it was natural energy and it seems that by being a half dragon it was easy for me to sense it.

Not being an idiot, I decided to not inject it into myself. I would need training in Senjutsu from a Summoning Clan first. I sat down next to my tent and looked at the ANBU seeking me, it was funny; I came up with this ghillie suit after realizing that the leaf sticking exercise could be used to make myself a camouflage suit. It took a week but now I had complete control over my chakra.

I’ve been circulating it everyday; at first it was hard, it was like thick syrup moving through my chakra system. But now? It was more akin to kerosene circulating into an engine, I knew how to efficiently use my chakra, but the road to perfection never stopped. I resolved to do the tree walking technique soon. While the ANBU squad scrambled to find me, I opened the scroll in my bag about the shadow clone technique…

It was a rather simple technique from what I was reading…

*This jutsu allows the user to create one or more copies of themselves. The user's chakra is evenly divided between themselves and their clones: creating one clone will give it half the user's chakra, creating two clones will give each a third of the user's chakra, and so on…*

It took me one hour to memorize the hand seals for the technique, fortunately, I learned all the basic hand seals from my chakra exercise book. There were still the elemental hand seals to learn though, that’s going to be for tomorrow. When I took off the natural energy cloak, I was then suddenly surrounded by all six Uzu ANBU who looked at me silently.

“You’re in trouble, young lady.” The man with the Whale mask reprimanded her.

And my answer to that was to raise my hands to form the tiger hand seal and call out the technique, “Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

I shaped the chakra exactly like the technique scroll had shown me, and in a huge explosion of smoke, one hundred copies of me appeared. We were all smiling devilishly at the ANBU, then I ordered, “Get them!”

“Okay boss!” They all shouted in sync.

The six ANBU looked startled by my technique, in particular that whale masked guy, he knew that he fucked up.

~~~~ O O ~~~~

(Uzu ANBU Otter)

Otter evaded a Reika clone performing a flying kick toward him by lowering himself to the ground. They were lucky the girl didn’t know any Doton technique, this situation would be worse if it was the case. She didn’t know any elemental Jutsu, but this might change in a matter of days. Otter was interested to see what Reika would do armed with just one Jutsu.

The blue and red clad ANBU entered into combat with two clones who tried to ambush him. They were endless, it was like a tide of genin level shinobi attacking him. Otter used a doton technique that allowed him to escape into the ground, but not before using a water clone through which he could see what was happening on the surface. He wasn’t disappointed, the little monster was mowing down the ANBU team with sheer numbers and taijutsu.

“Uzu style, Waterspout!” The clone (?) delivered a jumping rising kick to Seals face.

“Argh!” The woman fell on the ground, her mask half broken and her long red hair completely untied.

“No! Seals!” Orca shouted.

“Uzu Ring Beheading Layered Leg!” But just at that moment he took a chakra enhanced kick to the crook of his neck. He fell like a bag of potatoes on the ground, unmoving.

“Let me catch you, brat!” Whale threw himself at the original Reika.

“Uzu Face breaking fist!” Only to receive a fist into the face.

Slam. He slammed into the ground, and his mask completely shattered.

Otter looked as the girl turned him on his back with a foot. “Eh, not so tough.”

His clone was still fighting and evading the attacks of the army of little girls. The others were not faring really well, they couldn’t harm the escort target, that’s why when Reika took them by surprise, they couldn’t go all out against her. The girl was monstrously strong, fast and had more powerful combat senses than the usual Uzu genin.

Otter turned toward where Sea Lion was fighting against ten Reika clones, he was strong and used his halberd to pop five of them with a downward strike that knocked them over with a shockwave. But somehow the girl adapted fast to his technique; two Reika in particular played the human catapult and threw the other at Sea Lion.

“Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken! Wait! Wrong technique!” She missed the blue and black clad ANBU who twirled his halberd and tried to stab the clone. But she evaded in the air with that strange movement technique they’ve been using that didn’t need any type of surface.

“You nerd!” Another clone of Reika shouted at the one who evaded the Sea Lion’s attack.

*Why are they dissing each other?* Otter asked himself.

Then the clone substituted with the real Reika whose body was covered in blue chakra; Otter barely saw her move as she launched herself at Sea Lion and broke his Halberd handle. But the onslaught of attacks didn’t stop as she took on a stance and launched a series of fast hitting punches at the man. “Atatatatatatatatatatatata!”

When she landed behind him after having punched him so fast, Sea Lion turned toward her and moved toward her, attempting to entangle her with a bear hug.

“You’re already asleep, night night, you know.” The girl giggled.

The buff ANBU stopped and asked out loud, “What?!”

Something improbable happened, Sea Lion fell face first on the ground like a brick. One of the Reika clones started counting, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5… there’s one missing boss!”

Some of the clones started tying up the Uzu ANBU while another one spoke to the original. “Yeah, I saw him, there’s a water clone here who looks at us, where is he?”

*She won’t find me, I’m underground and she doesn’t know any Doton Jutsu!* Otter tried to reassure himself.*I will knock her out and win this impromptu sparring session.*

But Otter’s hopes were dashed when the girl jumped twenty meters into the air and flames wreathed around her body. Reika used her feet to propel herself with jet-like flame toward the ground where Otter was hiding. “Uzu Swift Attack Beak Slash!”

*Who the hell taught taijutsu to that girl?!* Otter thought in panic, he didn’t have any choice he exited the ground and jumped just as the girl cratered into the earthen ground with an explosion; dust raised when the impact hit.

Otter jumped and while airborne, threw a bunch of dull senbon and kunai at the girl who yawned and raised her two hands. “Two-Fingers Nil-Space Grasp.”

The Uzu ANBU couldn’t believe what he was seeing, she deflected all the projectile weapons back at him; she completely targeted all his chakra coils non-lethally when she did that! Otter fell on the ground, unable to move.

“Yatta!! I won, you know!” Was the last thing he heard the girlish voice of Ashina’s granddaughter say before the dark took him.

~~~~ O O ~~~~

(Uzu ANBU Sea Lion)

“All targets are secured and tied, boss!” A Reika clone saluted.

The original looked at the Uzu ANBU with a critical eye, they were all tied up with some kind of vine which is as strong as steel somehow. Sea Lion struggled as much as he could, even reinforced his muscles with chakra, but the vines were getting tightened when he did that.

The little girl, Reika, jumped in the air and stayed hovering one meter from the ground. “Great! Now we can play the interrogation game! Like in my trap book, you know!”

Defeated by a little girl who just started learning taijutsu and chakra control… Sea Lion felt humiliated and crushed. What had he trained for for all these years? He had gone serious against Reika in that last fight and she simply ignored his best…

The smell of food came from the camp which had mysteriously stayed intact despite the intense… spar they had with Reika. Sea Lion saw the feet covered by cute blue sandals; looked up and saw that it was the little girl who created a heart demon in his heart.

“Hello there.” She waved at him with an innocent smile who wasn’t out of place on her pretty face.

But Sea Lion knew better now, she was a dangerous girl. He said nothing, didn’t greet her back, her smile turned into a sad one. “Huh, the silent treatment? why? We’re all people of the same nation, guys.”

No one said anything, but the pervasive smell of delicious Ramen floated in the air. It was like the chef of a Ramen stand was cooking some wild meat… six clones appeared behind Reika with six balls of ramen in hand.

"Look, I even cooked Ramen for everyone." The little girl began to say as her clones placed the bowl under each ANBU’s nose.

"You… y-you won't make us t-talk!" Sea Lion said with bravado as he squirmed in his restraints. How did she know how to interrogate Uzu shinobi?! Sea Lion thought only their T&I division knew that trick.

The other ANBU said the same thing as the Sea Lion and tried to get free; but were mystified by the girl’s next comment. "But… I don't want to make you talk? I just want to know my guards better. Traveling alone is lonely, you know?"

*Wait, she made us reveal ourselves and attacked us to not be lonely?* Then he tried to see the situation from the little girl’s point of view.

She was sent alone out of her home toward Konoha, a place she barely heard about in the safety of her home in Uzu; but suddenly, her grandfather was sending her there without training and under guard by an escort of ANBU who didn’t socialize with her at all.

Sea Lion felt a peculiar sensation in his chest, guilt. The girl wanted to attract their attention, and only by disappearing she did. He looked at the others as they seemed to have gotten the same conclusion as him.Seal whose face was completely uncovered was tearing up, *Damn woman! She’s giving away the game.*

A clone approached her, smelling weakness. "Don't you want that Inoshishi Ramen bowl?"

The original Reika took some chopsticks, and was given a bowl. She plunged the eating utensils in the soup and caught some noodles and brought them to her mouth and slurped with a moan of pleasure. "Slurp. Hmm, Delicious."

The Sea Lion masked ANBU heard a stomach grumble, it was Seals who caved in first. "Shit, okay, you win…"

He will never reveal that he was about to cave in as well.

~~~~ O O ~~~~

(Uzu ANBU Otter)

1200 Km from Konoha…

Everyone realized that they started this relationship with Reika on the wrong foot. They were currently keeping pace with Reika who was in the middle of their formation. Otters had noticed that the only way to keep her busy was to help in her training. Piddling man, when idle, does evil, or so goes the saying.

Currently she was wearing 90 Kg of weight thanks to seal weight that Seals… the seals mistress has created for her.

Since then Seals was buttered up into becoming the kid’s sealing teacher; Reika had a terrifying level of comprehension and went past the beginner level when she realized that Seals are just: "Will shaped intent directed by chakra, using a form of mystic writing in standardized belief as a method to focus and direct complex intent into a more manageable form."

That was word for word what the little girl had said when Seals had questioned her when Reika had finished reading the beginner seal book. It had impressed Seals and everyone how smart the kid was; then the prank war with sealing jutsu started between Seals and Reika…

Otter didn’t want to think about how those two went overboard… who came up with that zombie maze idea? Or cheese Tornado seals? Now they could keep up with Reika's running speed, she somehow couldn’t fly or glide with all that weight on her. Whale was thinking of teaching her more swordsmanship to keep Reika from doing anything cute; the kid was like a sponge, and quickly mastered the sword arts, so much so that she had started making her own style from the Uzu Kenjutsu style.

Why was the Uzukage sending the kid to Konoha? It was like giving away their biggest genius since Uzumaki Mito. But orders were orders, it was a damn shame though. Otter was curious about what Reika could do, that’s why he resolved to give her a gift of the simple water manipulation technique.

When the group stopped near Hachō Village which was surrounded by an oasis in the wasteland of this part of the Land of Fire. It was time to start Reika’s Water Walking exercise. They avoided going to the place called ‘The hole’. They didn’t have time to explore and avoid all the traps there for the so-called legendary treasure there.

Everyone started to make camps, and when they were done scattered to do a reconnaissance run; leaving only Otter and Reika alone for their training session. Reika stood unmoving before the otter masked ANBU and asked in a chirpy tone, “What do we do today, Otter-sensei?”

Otter stood straighter when the eyes full of trust of Reika looked at him. “We’re going to visit the Water-Walking Technique.”

Was it what being a Jounin-sensei felt like? Maybe he was missing out when he joined ANBU. “This technique allows the user to walk on water. The shinobi must build up chakra in the soles of their feet. When they get on the water, they must adjust their chakra outage to match the ever-constantly changing depth of the water.”

Reika turned toward the body of water behind her and Otter walked at her side, putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not easy at first, but I'm sure you’ll get it!”

“What’s the exercise after I master this, Otter-sensei?” The little girl asked.

Today she wasn’t wearing her purple kimono, but a blue one piece swimsuit with her sandals; on the front of her swimsuit, Uzumaki Reika was written. Her hair was down, not in the usual updo hairstyle it was always in.

Otter appeared over the water, his feet not sinking into the water. He made jazz hands and said, “The Water-walking technique!”

Reika perked up at Otter’s announcement and said with bright interested eyes, “Another basic chakra control exercise. Let’s do this already! I’m hungry, you know?”

Before she could even dip her fit in the water, Otter caught her arm. “Reika-chan, wait.”

“Yes, sensei?” She turned to Otter with a frown. The girl didn’t like being interrupted.

“If you can master this technique before the others come back, I will give you this?” Otter presented a scroll to Reika, on the side was a band of blue color and there was a water symbol written on the paper.

“A Water Jutsu?!” Reika looked really surprised, then happy as she jumped into the air.

“Yes.” Otter nodded.

Before she could take it from his hands, Otter used a trick to make the scroll disappear in a puff of white smoke.  Reika, who had gone to grab the scroll, saw it disappear and pouted. “Consider it done!”

With a tiger hand sign, the girl called out, “Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

Fifty Reika duplicates appeared in a puff of smoke, and started the water-walking exercise. Otter didn’t know it yet, but he would come to regret giving incentive to Reika later. Some of the clones sank into the water, others stood on the water for ten seconds before sinking too.

They squealed as the water was cold or giggled as they splash others. As time passed, Reika dismissed ten clones every ten minutes and she was making progress faster than he could believe. Her chakra capacity and recovery scared Otter…

Then, one hour later, the little girl was standing on the water and taking tentative steps upon it. Problem, Reika wasn't just water-walking, she was surfing on the surface by using jets of fire out of her shoulder blades to propel herself on top of the body of water. He was still mystified by Reika's fire manipulation, usually, Uzumaki didn't have control over the element.

Otter asked himself who Reika's father was? He knew the Uzukage's daughter eloped with someone, but there's no information about him. Reika’s mother, Tomoyo was a seal master and user of Chakra sealing chains, that's all he knew about her.

Just in case, Otter decided to write a scroll about the Sealing Chains and their use for Reika. Otter has a cousin from her branch family who got them…

~~~~ O O ~~~~

500 Km from Konoha…Forest

It was the third week since they left Uzu. They’d stayed longer near Hachō Village, more than they needed, but Reika learning the Water Manipulation Jutsu slowed the group down considerably. The girl insisted that she was working on a new Jutsu and that she was at the best location to test it. Three days later, they were back on the road and Reika was back to being faster than them and gliding in the air instead of having her feet on the ground.

They started to run on the river, leading inland, not paying any mind to the fishers being there; they didn’t even see the ANBU and Reika pass, as they were going so fast.

Otter couldn’t believe that Reika was still calling how fast they were going slow; they covered one thousand kilometers in one day for sage’s sake! They clearly passed the sound barrier long ago as they moved toward Konoha. The Uzu ANBU had to say it, but watching Reika move like a graceful panther walking in the air was awe inspiring.

The movement technique she was using, she called it Air-Steps and Otter was convinced that it was definitely a form of wind release technique. Otter couldn’t believe that no one had come up with this before; it was too bad that he wasn’t wind attuned like Reika obviously was, or he would have attempted to master it. Seals and Whale attempted to copy it, after Reika explained how she did it, but they failed; Otter, now suspected that it was part of a bloodline limit at this point.

“We need to make her seal weight heavier.” Otter spoke out loud as Reika was getting further away from the ANBU squad following her.

Seals ran to his side and asked in surprise, “She already adapted to her current set?”

Otter jumped over a floating log, and there were more and more obstacles appearing on the running river. “Yeah, you know what that means, right? Reika needs to be constantly challenged or she will get bored and be up to no good..”

Every Uzu ANBU shivered at that, the girl could do mean pranks. Showing two fingers, Seals said, “200 Kg, that’s the best I can do.”

Otter asked himself if it was too much? Then he looked back at the little girl… Reika was doing front flips in the air, using her air-step to move in three dimensions to zigzag and dance left and right while being weighed down by 90 Kg of weight...

"Nah, she will be okay." The girl was having fun and felt less lonely with them at her side, but they were almost to Konoha, did Reika realize that the time of their separation was coming?

The young girl finally reached the river's shore but still stood on the water. On this side was a forest, one leading to Konoha's closest satellite town called Tanzaku Quarters. It was a city not too far from Konoha, it was a touristic spot famous for its gambling establishments, its red-light districts and the festival happening here every year.

The group stopped and decided to camp on the riverside. Reika was observing attentively, Sea Lion using the Body Flicker Technique to go scout the surrounding of their camp. Otter watched as Reika raised her hands to form the Tiger hand seal and… move from the other side of the camp.

Orca noticed and he swore. "Shit, she can pick up things just by watching?"

"Orca, language, don't swear. And don't worry, this is just more to keep her occupied, it should take her more time to master. The Body Flicker Technique isn't an exact science…" Otter glared at his teammate, but the mask stopped his expression from being seen.

Reika continued to spam the Body Flicker and appeared on top of the river, then at the top of the tree near the tents one second later. Meanwhile, Dolphin discreetly left as well, not wanting to associate with the bullshit Reika always did. Since she beat him the last time, even though he wasn’t fighting seriously; he always went to train his swordsmanship by training alone.

Orca raised his mask to let his face be visible to Otter, he had brown eyes with a scar over his right eye; his hair was golden brown. He looked a bit scared as he said, “Otter, that's what I fear… that she masters it!”

It was at this moment that Orca’s fear manifested, when the little girl decided that she liked the technique and that she wanted to be proficient in it, she used her go to cheat. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Puff! One hundred and fifty clones manifested and Reika separated them into three groups; those who will continue the chakra control exercise in the form of tree climbing, water-walking; the one who will work on her seal mastery training and those who will proceed to master the Body Flicker technique. Fifty clones moved to the river, another fifty stayed in the camp and broke out the writing kit from Reika’s storage seal and worked on their calligraphy.

Otter then focused on the group with the original Reika who disappeared and appeared like ghosts in the sky while using the air-step movement technique combined with the body-flicker technique…

"Yay!"

"Wee!"

"I have a need…"

"A need for speed!"

"Meep meep!"

"Arriba arriba Andale Arriba!"

"I am speed of sound sonic!"

Otter decided that the girl arriving trained at Konoha didn’t matter to him; she was going to be Hiruzen’s problem when they finished their escort mission. *Reika is going to be thrown to the wolves in Konoha, and there were rumors that Mito-Sama was on her last legs. Was Reika going to reside with the Senju, her immediate family in that village?*

There were too many questions about why the Uzukage, Reika’s grandfather, was sending the little girl there. Maybe the blank scroll she had in her bag had the answer, but he wasn’t tempted nor nosey enough to break operational security. In the meantime, Otter continued to oversee Reika's training and helped her clones practice chakra control technique; it wasn’t perfect yet.

This state of affairs continued until the sun came down and the other ANBU who went to scout around and in Tanzaku Quarters to resupply came back. By this point, Reika could use clones and body-flicker seamlessly in her fighting style. Otter was fighting with Reika empty-handed at high-speed, the little girl refining the body-flicker fighting style she was developing with the army of clones at her beck and call.

Otter evaded a spin kick and targeted Reika’s abdomen with his right fist, the girl used his fist as a spring and like a snake climbed on him and was about to claw at his mask. Using the substitution technique, Otter avoided losing his mask. Reika landed on the ground, her clawed hand was stabbing into a wooden log. The ANBU looked on as the little girl channeled fire into her hand and the log started to burn to cinder.

Then Reika breathed in, Otter felt danger coming to him, he jumped in the air just as a great ball of blue flame appeared where he had been standing. *She can fucking do Katon Jutsu?!*

It was akin to the great fireball jutsu; the girl body-flickered toward him with flaming hands. Otter didn’t want to be hit by whatever Reika was doing with those flames, he recognized that smile; the girl was up to no good. He put distance between the two of them, his danger sense was going crazy. The little girl stopped running after him and her hands ceased to burn with fire.

"Yatta! Otter-sensei, I will finally show you the water jutsu I invented on my own! Thank you for giving me my first water jutsu to use as an example, you're the best sensei ever!" It started with the hand seal for water release, then it went with Dragon, horse and boar.

Meanwhile the gallery didn’t react well to Reika’s revelation, he had given her a jutsu scroll to the troublesome imp.

"Otter, tell me you didn't!" Seals shouted in a horrified tone.

"Sage, please, no!" Dolphin who proved to be the smartest of the ANBU fled toward the river; Orca, Seals and Whale followed him with Body-Flicker.

Reika’s hand started to glow blue as she said, "Lemme show you! It was so simple, you know."

Otter jumped into the sky as he heard, “Suiton: Nanosuraisā no jutsu (Nano-slicer technique)!”

A thin high pressure water jet cut horizontally where Otter was located previously in barely a blink. SLICE!!!

When Otter landed on the ground, all the trees that were standing behind him fell on the ground, there were at least thirty of them.

Reika giggled. "Wow! Hey look at all that lumber!"

"Otter, this is all your fault." Seals shouted from the river where she was standing with the others.

Reika was about to start again, and Otter said in a little voice, "I'm doomed…"

He decided to let go of honor and pride and raised his hands up. “I surrender, Reika-chan. You win!”

“Yatta!” The little girl was happy, she had won her first spar against her sensei. She began to dance in the air.

*That girl was going to be a nightmare on the battlefield…* Otter thought in the privacy of his mind.

~~~~ O O ~~~~

(Uzumaki Reika)

The next day100 Km from Konoha…

This was a nice morning, because I finally mastered Body-Flicker in combat; now it was time to train the body replacement and transformation technique. From watching Seals-sensei, I already know how to do it, but I wanted instruction about it from her.

After a good hearty breakfast, I asked Seals-sensei to teach me. We started with the body replacement technique and devoted ten clones to it. And another ten for the transformation technique. I made two clones who got a box full of sharpened wooden kunai that we carved one week ago, they will help with mastering the technique Seals-sensei just taught us.

Tiger, boar, ox, dog, snake were the hand seals to practice this Body replacement technique. I made another ten clones whose mission was to master all the hand seals and eventually stop using them as I study how chakra moves as we mix and shape it through the chakra system. This way, I will be able to do it fast and sealessly and do it at a moment’s notice.

This training regiment continued well into the morning until the sun was high in the sky; we didn't make breakfast as we were really close from Konoha and we wanted to eat there. Thanks to my monstrous reserve of chakra, I wasn't tired at all by all the exercises I did to master the body replacement technique and decided to continue with the transformation jutsu.

Dog, Boar, Ram. Then I visualized my old adult body. "Transformation jutsu!"

Puff!

I was back to looking like what I did before this sketchy reincarnation thing, Naruto made me go through. But it was fake, I didn’t grow up, I was still the same size, it was just an illusion overlaid on me. I guess I will default to using my Dragon polymorphy.

“Huh, why did you transform into a Kumo-nin?” Otter suddenly asked.

I tilted my head, not understanding what he meant. “Kumo-nin?”

“People with tanned skin are generally from Cloud Country.”Otter informed me.

So black or Arabian people were akin to inhabitants of Cloud Country, that's good to know! Not like I cared. “I see.”

I use my transformation jutsu again to make it seems that I gave myself wings, angel wings and I focused for a second and told gravity to fuck off. "Yatta! I can fly now!"

I beat my angel wings and soared, but as I did that, my ANBU escort reacted like this:

"By the sage! No!"

"Catch her!"

Then they used the trees to jump in the sky and try to catch me, it was so funny! Seals-sensei was the closest to catch me as she did something by cutting gravity and jumped higher and used water jet jutsu to propel herself. I nearly got caught, but I swooned right and said, "Eh, you can't get me, you know."

She jumped up from the tree branch she landed on and almost touched me but I flew higher. "Hahaha, Seals sensei you missed me!"

However something shiny caught my eyes, my eyes turned from human to golden yellow as I switched to my Kirin vision. There was a flash of red hair, catching my eyes and my Kirin instinct immediately compelling me to go there as I felt someone was in need.

“Hey, what’s this?” I said aloud as I flew at high speed toward what I saw.

I heard Seals-sensei run after while shouting, “Reika-chan, wait!”

~~~~ O O ~~~~

(Uzumaki Kushina)

Kushina kept her gaze downward and plucked a bit of her hair and let it fall on the moss covered ground. She’s just been captured by Nins of the Hidden Cloud, but was carefully left a trail, but… as she was an outsider in the village, Kushina didn’t hold up much hope that she’d be rescued by Konoha. Kushina has never clicked with the people in that damned village beside granny Mito, Princess Tsunade and the Ichiraku family.

Tsunami wasn't home, she was on a mission with her boyfriend. Only Granny Mito was left, and Kushina was hoping that she would raise the alarm. There were three cloud-nin forcing her to walk toward the border to the land of hot springs.

But something happened that baffled Kushina, there was someone with blue and white wings in the sky looking at the three Cloud-Nins and herself. In the tree there were five Uzu ANBU. The girl with the purple kimono said, “Hey guys, look. We have an Uzumaki captured by Cloud-Nins.”

The girl has tanned skin with black hair and amber colored eyes covered by a blue fire cloak, and it was blinding, despite that Kushina could see that she wore a purple kimono with a red spiral emblem on her left shoulder showing that she was from Uzushio.

“A rescue party?!” one of the Cloud-Nins exclaimed in panic.

“Shit, formation three!” The three Cloud-Nins surrounded Kushina, then she saw another three of them surge from the trees.

The girl raised her hands and formed the tiger seal with them and her voice rang in the late afternoon. "Shadow Clones Jutsu.”

Puff! Hundreds of clones bloated the sky, they were floating in the air and an evil laugh rang. “Muhahaha, abandon all hope ye who have come here.”

With her elemental chakra cloak on, the clones all came to surround the cloud-nins and started approaching the reinforcement who weren’t idle and started casting jutsu right from the start.

“Raiton: Lightning Bolt!” The man released a lightning bolt that didn’t do anything as the clones just evaded it.

"Raiton: Lightning Ball!" The man gathered chakra in his hand and launched it amongst the army of clones.

"Raiton: Electromagnetic Murder." It launched a wave of electricity toward the clones, ripping through the landscape.

Puff! Puff! Puff! Some of the clones started to be popped as the cloud-nins started spamming lightning jutsus on the field. Kushina just blinked for one second and the girl in the sky disappeared and was behind the men who tried to get rid of her clones, she landed on the ground with a foot that cratered the little clearing they were in. “South Dipper Hell Slayer Fist!!”

As if by a delayed action, they fell one by one on the ground on their knees. “Gakh!”

“But… it’s a kick!” One of them complained as he fell holding on his bloody chest with blood pooling from his mouth.

“Aaah!” One lost his arm and held the stump in the air as blood erupted from the artery.

Kushina didn’t even feel when one of the clones appeared over the nins guarding her. She just heard, “Ooooouwatta!”

Crack! One of the men behind her was flung away from Kushina and she felt herself being hugged. “I got you!”

They moved away from the small three men team at high speed that boggled Kushina’s mind. She also noticed how the fire chakra cloak didn’t burn her while she was held by the other girl.

“She came by the air!” The nondescript male cloud-nin shouted and threw himself at the girl in purple. The man threw himself at the girl but she just poked his sternum and he stopped moving. Kushina saw how he started shaking as if he tried to move despite being paralyzed.

“Get them girls!” The tanned girl shouted excitedly.

“Alright Boss!” The clones shouted back.

Kushina didn’t expect to be rescued so fast, and by someone so strong that she is her own army. The other Uzu ANBU didn’t do anything and let her fight for reasons that Kushina couldn’t understand.“Who are you, guys?”

“Not now, lemme finish those guys first.” The girl said as she patted her head and focused on the fight.

She let go of Kushina and started making hand seals at high speed, so fast that Kushina couldn’t see them. “Otter, get out of the way!”

But she was sure that she saw the seals for Yin release. The girl dismissed her clones that were fighting the men by keeping them busy and shouted, “Yin Release: Netsu Nusumi no Jutsu (Heat Stealing Technique)”

It was as if someone was leeching the colors out of the world and dying everything blue and ice spread on the ground and inevitably the entire cleaning. Kushina was cold. The Cloud-nin started to move sluggish and the more they moved the more ice spread on their body.

“What’s happeniiiing…" One of them shouted but he was quickly engulfed in a pillar of ice.

Kushina saw the ANBU finally move their asses as the cloud-nins were all encased in ice. The one with the Otter mask ordered, "Subdue them and save them for interrogation!"

The tanned girl was surrounded by two Uzu ANBU, one of them, a woman pleaded, "Reika, whatever you're doing, we need them alive. Can you stop?"

"Must I?" The girl tilted her head.

"Yes child." The woman nodded vehemently.

"Kay, sensei!" The technique suddenly stopped and the colors were injected back into the forest, but… the clearing became a dead field. This girl who saved her was completely terrifying.

The female ANBU created her own shadow clones, body flickered to the downed men and those  in pillars of ice. She took care of each and checked their vitals. Then screamed, “All targets are neutralized and still alive, sir!”

Before the redhead could ask questions, Puff! The tanned girl was replaced by a height challenged little girl with crimson red hair and violet eyes that was familiar. She jumped with a fist in the air as she declared, "Back to normal! Yatta! I won my first ever fight! "

That voice reminded Kushina of the little trollish girl who kept stealing her toy and ramen ingredients. "Huh, Rei-chan?!"

The other redhead turned and the blue fire cloak around her dissipated, she smiled at Kushina and said, “Aye, Shina-chan~”

Kushina remembered the pranking, the fist fights and the eating contest they had; there was also a crying Reika when she was taken away by boat to Konoha. Kushina didn’t expect to see her rival and cousin again; she could scarcely reconcile the image of the strong shinobi and the rambunctious little demon of Uzu. “B-but how are you here and how did you get so strong?”

Reika walked up to Kushina and patted her on the cheek, her head barely reaching her chest. “Shina-chan, I’ve always been strong. I’m a dragon, remember?”

Again that silly declaration of her being half monster… Kushina wrapped her arms around the little girl and her eyes flowed rivers of tears. “I-I… waaaaaahhhh!”

Reika patted her cousin and said, “Here, here, don’t cry. I got you.”

The ANBU surrounded the girls and started guarding them, they even noticed when a blonde boy with blue eyes arrived. They subdued him and brought him to the circle, Seals held him with her own chakra chain. She didn’t want the little guy to interrupt the cute moment.

~~~~ O O ~~~~

(Namikaze Minato)

Minato realized how he arrived too late, the beauty was saved by someone else already, another redheaded child and a bunch of… Uzu ANBU. This wasn't what he had expected, the little girl spoke with Kushina as if they knew each other before and Kushina's voice gained the same accent she had started with at the academy.

The girl called Reika kept creating clones and used them as advanced sentry and scouts almost sealessly. Her sensei, an ANBU with a Seals mask, was teaching her à technique called telepathy that she picked up… rather fast. Minato could feel that the girl compared to Kushina possessed complete control of her chakra.

"Yatta! I can communicate with all my clones now! Thanks Seals-sensei!" And she proceeded to produce hundreds of clones that she scattered in all directions.

*How much chakra does that little girl possess?!*

The ANBU sweat dropped and with a tired voice said, "You're welcome… Reika-chan."

Cough. The man with the Otter mask landed next to the little girl. They stopped walking in the forest and he broke out multiple privacy seals. “Yin Release: Netsu Nusumi no Jutsu (Heat Stealing Technique)... How did you come up with this, Reika-chan?"

The little girl tilted her head cutely, and made a one handed seal and a ball of flame hovered on top of her palm. Then suddenly it disappeared and the flame turned into ice. "Heat manipulation jutsu, it was in the basic jutsu book Grandpa gave me, it's so awesome. You can keep yourself warm! But I just do the reverse on people and the land. I can steal heat and turn everything into ice."

Everyone understood the repercussions of such a jutsu, she could do that to an entire battlefield. Kushina didn't seem to mind and was still holding on to Reika. What was this pain in his chest that he was feeling? It was supposed to be him that she needed to cling onto! But he carefully hid that thought inside of him. The little girl was terrifying and more deadly than he thought, but she was no threat to his quest to get the redheaded beauty.

"This child is… frightening." Minato spoke out loud.

Everyone turned toward him, even Kushina. Reika raised her head and lifted her chin proudly and beat her chest. "Hehehe."

He sighed. "This wasn't a compliment!"

"Music to my ears, you know." Reika said.

Kushina ignored Minato and said, "Kei-chan forget the wimp, can you tell me what are you doing here in the land of fire? Weren't you supposed to be in Uzu with granny Tomoe?"

Minato felt his heart break when he was so easily dismissed. He decided to just shut up and listen to the Uzu-nin and later make his report to the Hokage about how the plan failed.

Reika turned from Minato to Kushina and she said with a whisper, “Oh, I’m on my first super secret mission that Grandpa sent me on!”

Kushina rolled her eyes, she must be thinking that the little girl was playing ninja. “Right, no really, why are you here?”

She tilted her head, frowned and shouted back, “I just told you, we need to meet the Hokage!”

Minato thought, *At least, we're all going to the same place…*

~~~~ O O ~~~~

(Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage)

The AcademyThree hours later…

An ANBU exited the ceiling and landed before the desk of the Hokage, he lowered his head, his mask was that of a tiger. The Hokage who was working on some paperwork sighed and said nothing, waiting for the ANBU to report whatever he was about to say. “Hokage-sama, Namikaze-kun is back with young Uzumaki-san.”

Putting his pen next to his file, Hiruzen Sarutobi sported a jovial satisfied smile. “Oh, he succeeded then.”

The kneeling ANBU didn't answer right away, as if he was trying to find the words. "Hokage-sama… the plan failed."

He was about to reach for his tea set when he heard the news; Hiruzen’s hands froze as he asked, "How?"

"Uzumaki-san was rescued, but not by Young Minato." The kneeling Tiger ANBU explained quickly.

Putting his hands flat on his desk, Hiruzen reached for the privacy seal under it and let his chakra flow in the formation. "Who did it?"

Tiger felt the privacy seals kick-in and stood up to look as his direct superior. "A passing ANBU squad from Uzu that was on mission in Konoha."

Hiruzen realized that this wasn’t good, Kushina was related to Uzushio’s main clan and they just proved that they couldn’t protect her; this was going to turn into an international incident and affect their relationship with their main allies. Allies, who dedicated a large portion of their seal masters and let Konoha commission for barrier, storage, offensive and defensive seals.

"When it rains it pours…" Hiruzen closed his eyes and leaned against the back of his chair.

The tiger masked ANBU didn’t say anything; he wasn’t paid to think about the ramification of this blunder. Hiruzen, at times despised this office and its function; he should have just foisted the dumb hat on someone else, like Tsunade and retired to become an active Jonin again. "They want to see me, I bet?"

Straightening his stance and looking more alert, Tiger said, "They already are here."

There were loud exclamations coming from behind the closed door leading to the Hokage office. Then the doors slammed wide open; and the perpetrator was a little girl, who looked like a carbon copy of a certain Uzumaki who has been making her name in Konoha.

After her, Hiruzen’s blonde Yamanaka secretary with the big knockers tried to stop the little girl. “You can’t do that!”

The little girl giggled. “Watch me, Obasan!”

“O-oba?! I’m in my twenties!” The blonde secretary looked outraged.

And to put a nail in her coffin, the little girl looked at the Yamanaka lady up and down and snorted. “Let me guess, 29 years old forever?”

The Yamanaka secretary flinched and acted as if she’d been slapped by the little one. Then she started growling. “Grrrr.”

Despite being amused by the bold little girl who appeared in his office, Hiruzen has a reputation to hold onto. He raised his hand to his mouth and interrupted the two. Cough.

Instantly the big titted mature beauty turned to Hiruzen and Tiger. The Hokage looked at her impassively. Yamanaka-san pointed her finger at the little girl and Uzumaki Kushina. “Ho-hokage-sama, I’m sorry they forced their way in.”

The middle-aged man asked himself how they did that, Yamanaka-san was still a retired chuunin who kept herself in shape.

“It’s alright, Yamanaka-san, let them in.” Hiruzen smiled and said this in a magnanimous tone.

A shinobi with a white and blue mask appeared behind the two young girls, she was wearing the blue vest of an Uzu ANBU. She caught the little girl by her collar and lifted her in the air and turned her to look into her eyes.

“Reika-chan you can’t just force your way in!” The ANBU with the seals mask reprimanded.

The girl though didn't look repentant, she smirked and said, “Eh, but I just did it.”

The ANBU put the girl on the ground with a sigh, knowing that she wasn't going to win somehow. To Hiruzen it seemed like the girl was a problem child on par with a certain white haired toad Sanin. What was worse she seemed to have no filter… and spoke bluntly.

The little girl looked left and right in the office and loudly declared, "This place sucks, too much green and hidden ANBU in the ceiling, and look at the security seals, they're all outdated, sensei."

Hiruzen almost spit out blood when he heard the little girl judge his office; and how did she notice the hidden ANBU? They were his best and could even evade ROOT agents and people from the Hatake and Inuzuka clan.

"Kei-chan it's not polite to point it out!" Kushina yelled in recrimination at the little girl, Reika.

The Hokage raised a hand and held onto his chest, a little thread of blood flowed from the side of Hiruzen's mouth. *E-even you, Kushina-kun?*

The Hokage can’t believe a cute little girl like this could be so bold; then again, there was a reason why Konoha didn’t have more Uzumaki inhabiting it, they were quite the rowdy and impish ones. As if to prove him right, Hiruzen saw the little girl argue with the older girl; but what she did next stumped him, she just waved her arm and a part of the matrix of the privacy seals on the wall next to her revealed themselves and unfolded like a flower. She was rewriting them before the Hokage’s eyes. "But Shina-chan, look, I can already hack into those easily."

“Don’t do that!” Kushina’s hair rose in the air as her anger flared and she slapped the back of the head of the other girl.

Slap! “Hak!!” The writings and symbols disappeared when the girl’s hand controlling the seals went to her head.

The ANBU team was finally here in its entirety, distracting Hiruzen from the byplay between the two little girls; they all looked weary and tired, but stood straight before him. It was a man with a gray and red otter mask who slightly bowed before him with his hand joined. "Greetings, Hokage-sama."

The other did the same and Hiruzen solemnly nodded. “Welcome to Konoha. What may-”

He was interrupted by the wild little girl once again. "Yo old man! I am not happy with you, you know!"

Kushina caught the little girl’s arm, holding her back and putting a hand on her mouth to shut her up. "Reika-chan… please at least be respectful to the old man, I know it's his fault that I got kidnapped but…"

This Reika-chan girl was quite disrespectful, Hiruzen asked himself what gave her confidence to act like she did. The little girl took back her arms from Kushina and whirled toward the Hokage and pointed her finger at him. "But nothing, Shina chan! This would have never happened in Uzu. How weak is their barrier that it can't distinguish between the people inside and intruders?"

Hiruzen stumbled back, did the little girl just describe how Uzushio’s barrier worked to them? Suddenly, the Hokage understood why the little girl called the seals in his office outdated; they were leagues ahead of Konoha in the art of sealing. It was all that little girl’s fault and Hiruzen would have preferred not knowing that Konoha was way behind Uzu. *Do the Uzumaki think we’re country hicks?*

“Reika-chan be more respectful!” Otter commanded.

The girl ignored him, waiting for an answer from the Hokage; he could understand why she was angry, when he saw the familial resemblance between Kushina and her. His gaze suddenly sharpened. No, Hiruzen couldn’t allow himself to be pulled at the Uzumaki’s pace. He raised his hand from his chest -where it still felt painful- and gathered his wit with a small cough. "We don't have the abundance of seal masters that Uzushio enjoys, miss?"

The little girl thrust her chest forward and pointed at it, "Uzumaki Reika. And…” She took something out from the messenger bag. “I came to give you this…"

The thing in her hands was a large scroll that she unrolled and let fall onto the ground; ink appeared on its surface and started turning into a circle of cuneiform symbols and runes and suddenly forming a one meter in diameter circle that shone with blood red light. Hiruzen knew his way around seals, but was never good enough to be considered a master, however, he could recognize a space-time formation when he was looking at one.

This was similar to the Hiraishin and he was baffled that such a similar technique could exist, didn’t Tobirama make it a S-class secret? *Knowing those Crazy Islanders, they heard about its effects and reproduced a version of it.*

Puff! A lot of smoke appeared because of the summoning and when it dissipated, standing there was a man with a similar hat as Hiruzen with the whirlpool ideogram and he was wearing a gray armor under the white cloak with blue water patterns swirling.

This wasn’t a genjutsu, nor a clone from what Hiruzen’s senses were telling him, the man who was before him truly was the Uzukage. He cupped his fist and said respectfully, "Ashina-dono… I’m happy to see you."

~~~~ O O ~~~~

(Uzumaki Ashina)

For weeks he had watched the girl and waited for her to arrive at Konoha through a monitoring telescope technique; so much so that he and his wife Tomoe literally camped in his office to see what Reika was doing and if she was safe. Looking at her fight against ANBU and winning after unlocking her chakra and practicing the shadow clone technique and some basic Taijutsu was amusing. Just like he was told by the girl’s father, Reika would be exceptional at everything if she trained.

The Kirin who seduced his daughter, Tomoyo, was a powerful being gifted with great insight and the power to peer into the future. He had warned him how his spawn, Reika, would be difficult to raise. Dragon species only respected strength and Ashina had to show himself to be firm with the girl. That is why he has always kept his vigil on the girl and not allowed her to gain chakra related skills to become more of a headache than she already was.

Reika didn’t have many friends, mainly some old librarian who taught her how to read and write better, the biggest penny pincher in Uzu who won her friendship by being the owner of a Ramen establishment and Kushina, the daughter of Ashina’s second son.

Lending one of their people to become a Jinchūriki has never sat well with the old Kage, and doing it a second time to imprison a chakra beast and further angering it or should he say his enemies was foolhardy. But dammit, he had been overruled by the elder council. However, he had a plan and Reika as the little troublemaker that she was was gonna help him.

At least more than she did already.Without his granddaughter’s short attention span and trickster-like behavior, the ANBU and the barrier team would have never discovered those treacherous Konoha agents who have been fiddling with the security barrier around the island, the waters and the shores. If Reika hadn’t stolen the Uzukage’s hat, they would still be in the dark about what happened to their barriers.

Enemy action? Konoha? Their erstwhile allies? The Uzukage needed to ascertain the threats and the situation. Ashina recognized the vaulted ROOT agent by their seal on their tongue after those men took their own lives. After long deliberations with the clans representatives and the governing council it was decided to send someone to Konoha and appraise the situation there.

What wasn't Ashina’s surprise to see Kushina being taken by a kidnapping team from Cloud. He knew that he needed to do something after Konoha dropped the ball this hard. So he sent a signal to the ANBU and filled them in about Reika’s mission to Konoha and they obeyed without questions.

This mission consisted of sending another of his special granddaughters to Konoha, learn shinobi arts and to infiltrate Konoha military to ferret out ROOT and inquire about feelings toward Uzushio, if they were planning to break their alliance for short time gain. Ashina expected this to be a multi year mission, but contrary to his expectations he discovered that Konoha didn't take good care of his people at all.

When he felt the pull of the space-time teleportation technique on him he let it do its work. The ANBU had told Reika to pull the scroll, fortunately. Ashina opened his eyes and he found himself before the Hokage, in his office. He looked and sensed the chaotic feelings of everyone around him, it was obviously due to him appearing here. Immediately, the boy that Tobirama had chosen to replace him greeted him like a sycophant.

*Bah! I have never been for those formal etiquette niceties.* Ashina was already cross with what had happened with Kushina, so it wasn’t abnormal that he was in a really bad mood.

He glared at Hiruzen. "Silence, young man.”

The smile that almost formed on the Hokage’s face fell off; Ashina looked around him and immediately saw the seal work in the office. “Huh, your security seals suck here…”

Ashina heard a familiar laughter; he looked behind him and saw the little demon of Uzu. "Ah! I told him the same, grandpa!"

He smiled back at her, just like he had expected the girl was shining even more with chakra. Three weeks away and an intense training workout changed her a lot.The girl had always wanted to prove herself, and she succeeded in this in a major way by saving her cousin and friend. "Reika-chan! You're here. So did you… train? Show me your clones."

With a tiger seal, Reika proudly shouted, "Shadow Clones Jutsu!"

Three clones appear in a puff of white smoke, they were perfect and had no flaws. Ashina passed his hand into his beard. "Good good, I hope that you took advantage of having a seal mistress, a kenjutsu master and ninjutsu specialist on your escort."

The little girl tilted her head. “Well yeah, it was so easy to…” And looked at the ANBU with a smirk. “make them teach me everything I know."

Each ANBU flinched away when they saw the sharp toothy smile and impish light in her eyes directed at them; some people in Uzu learned not to anger her or they would get harassed and pranked till they snap. At least those who were smart enough to understand that it was retaliation for a slight they did to Reika. That ANBU escort team must understand now that simply giving her what she wants makes their life easier; as a bonus they were kept on their toes as the little girl pushed their own limits.

Ashina patted the head of the original Reika in a grandfatherly way. He looked at Kushina who understood right away and placed herself at Reika’s side and the Uzukage patted her head in turn. He frowned when he saw the forehead protector with the Konoha symbol on it.

"Good! Reika, I’m glad that you rescued your cousin, and became a strong member of our family. That’s why… as the high-elder and Uzukage, I formally induct you as a shinobi of Uzu, and a Genin.”

Ashina pulled two forehead protectors out of his seal space, one for Kushina and the other for Reika. He handed both to the girls. “This is your forehead protector,” Ashina said as Reika looked at the shinobi symbol piously, she immediately tied it around her neck while Kushina undid her Konoha protectors and placed the Uzu one on her head while tying the Konoha one on her right arm.

Ashina was proud of the statement that the girl was making right now; she viewed herself more as a Uzu shinobi than a Konoha one. Ashina looked at Hiruzen who had a neutral expression on his face, but there was anger and apprehension making his chakra roll in chaotic waves out of his body. This was a good way to maybe stop them from putting that chakra beast into Kushina.

Ah! He had almost forgotten, he knew that Reika was good at sealing, enough to notice the matrix around them. “Oh and this is your certificate as a Seal-journeywoman and in this seal that I’ve prepared for you is your mother’s personal armory." He pulled a silver brush brooch and put it on Reika’s kimono and he also handed her a sealed scroll.

He had it prepared just in case the girl would be interested in sealing, knowing her thirst for knowledge since he deprived it of her for so long; he wasn’t surprised that she wrung the seal mistress on her escort of her knowledge.

Reika was literally vibrating in joy and she finally exploded with, "Yatta! I am a real ninja now!"

Kushina wrapped herself around the younger girl. "Congratulations, Rei-chan!"

It hurt Ashina that he couldn’t shield the two little girls from this cruel world, but to live happily in the elemental nations, strength was needed. He had hoped to have Reika and Kushina be normal girls, or just become seal masters who never saw combat, but their talent for it couldn’t be ignored. He sighed when he heard Reika say, "We can be in the same team now!"

She had missed her cousin terribly, it could be seen. Ashina finally turned to the Hokage when the younger village leader asked, "Is this wise?"

Ashina’s face became sterner. "Reika is going to stay here with Kushina-kun as her escort and future team member. Mito has already been appointed as her guardian as well."

Thanks to the communication seals that his niece had kept she was now aware of the situation. Despite the woman being on her deathbed, they had a way to save her and Reika had accepted to do it, with the permission of her father and mother.

Hiruzen, that stick in the mud retorted, "But Lady Mito will soon die…"

Ashina turned to Hiruzen and simply looked at him neutrally, he didn’t bother to explain what was going to happen. "Reika-chan, it's time for you to leave for the Uzumaki compound. Kushina-kun will guide you. Oh and leave your clones for me here."

*You know what to do for Lady Mito, I assume?* Ashina said through telepathy to her.

Reika nodded. She raised her Tiny fist in the air and said, "Aye aye! You guys stay with grandpa." The little demon said to her clones who each saluted.

"Aye boss!"

"Ready for grandpa sitting duty!"

"Yes boss!"

Reika then turned to the Ambu escort who she in her own way liked. She waved at them and said, "Later, Seals-sensei, Otter sensei, Orca, Dolphin, Whale and whatever your mask is Lion guy!"

The little girl put a hand on Kushina’s shoulder and disappeared with the body-flicker technique. He was surprised how she did it without a seal, it showed her high proficiency in using that technique. He smiled jovially, the girl was going to be a boon to work with; though he needed to get someone to teach her shinobi stealth arts.

The ANBU with the seal mask muttered, "She's like a hurricane…"

The atmosphere in the room shifted from energized to a more somber one as the girls left. Ashina passed his hand in his beard as he looked at Hiruzen. “Now that Reika and Kushina are headed to the compound, we can finally sort out this entire mess.”

Ashina sensed the moment when Reika and Kushina arrived at the Uzumaki compound, how did he know? Uzumaki could innately feel each other when they developed their sensor abilities. It was a familiar sense of belonging in the essence of their chakra. The biggest source of Chakra with Uzumaki signature was mixed in with chakra beast’s. The Uzukage showed his displeasure with a rant, “Hiruzen, is this how you treat your guests and allies? You let my granddaughter be kidnapped and to be turned into a broodmare for Cloud?”

The boy -at least to Ashina- raised his hand in placation. "I can explain."

Ashina doubted it, there was no level of explanation that Hiruzen could make to explain how he used one of his allies’ family members as a chess piece. But maybe there were more layers to this situation, so the elderly man tempered his rage and indignation and summoned a chair and sat before Hiruzen’s desk. "Let's hear it, if I don’t like what you say…”

Gulp. Hiruzen loudly swallowed and then started explaining his plan to cement Kushina’s loyalty to Konoha with a honey trap-like plan. They let the Cloud-Nins enter the village to take Kushina as she was a precious bloodline holder, they had leaked her presence to the enemy nin. The plan was to get matchmake Kushina with the blonde ponce behind him; Ashina looked at the child and didn’t find any redeeming quality in him.

The old Uzukage turned toward Hiruzen and said in a disappointed tone, "You're an idiot."

Hiruzen frowned and defended himself. "It was a solid plan to buy her trust and loyalty."

Ashina rolled his eyes, put his hands on his crossed knees and said with a mocking tone. "Let me guess, this was a plan proposed by your illustrious friend, Danzo Shimura?"

Hiruzen flinched at Ashina’s guessing correctly. "How do you know?"

How could this boy be this incompetent?

"I will tell you a story, son." Ashina grabbed a chair and put his hat down.

But before saying anything, Ashina turned toward his ANBU and asked, "Grab us some whisky, Seals."

The seal mistress saluted. "Yes, sir!"

Poof! An alcohol cabinet appeared with a set of crystal glass engraved with aquatic animals. Seals then took out a square bottle and poured the amber brown liquid into two glasses and then handed them to each Kage.

It was after taking a swig that Ashina began saying, "For the last six months we noticed some of Konoha’s agents acting strangely in Uzushio, they kept popping up in places they had no business being in."

There was no reaction from Hiruzen until he realized where Ashina was going with this, and remembered how he had mentioned Danzo earlier. "Oh no."

"So you caught on, good." Ashina took a last swig of whiskey.

Placed his glass loudly on Hiruzen’s desk and started ranting. "Your friend… that Shimura boy, he's been colluding with Kiri, Iwa and Cloud. His job was to weaken Uzushio's defense, early warning system and barrier around the island. Was it on your order, boy?"

The Hokage answered immediately, putting the glass on the table as he said, “I have nothing to do with this, Uzushio and Konoha are allied through the marriage of the founders of this village! I am not crazy enough to jeopardize that!”

Ashina cracked up, Hiruzen looked like a kid caught red-handed with a hand in the cookie jar. “Well, it seems that your friend isn’t on the same page as you.”

Ashina believed him, however he needed to make sure… and there was a reason why he asked the clones of Reika to stay. “Reika-2, is he lying?”

The clone of the little girl sniffed the air and she said with certainty. “No, he is being truthful, Boss’ grandpa.”

Dragon could sense lies, Kirin even more so. Ashina smiled and turned back to Hiruzen who watched Reika with interest. *Oh no, you don't.*

He didn’t like how Hiruzen looked at his little granddaughter, her bloodline was even more precious than the Senju’s or Uchiha’s; and the reason why he gave her a Uzu headband was to make it clear that she was loaned to this village and not part of Konoha. Before Reika got to Konoha he had made sure to give her a book about how Ninja operated, even more so big villages; how they brainwashed their students in the academy. Ashina hoped that it would be enough to help her make her own decision if Hiruzen decided to make her go into Konoha’s Academy despite her being a full Genin already.

The old Kage nodded. “Good, Reika-2.”

“What can you tell us about the men you noticed sleuthing around on the island?” Ashina demanded as if he was interrogating one of his ANBU.

Hiruzen interrupted. “Why are you questioning her about this?”

Ashina remembered that he wasn’t in Uzu where he couldn’t be criticized or challenged. “Ah, yes Hiruzen, sorry for not having warned you about it before. It was Reika who discovered the ROOT agents.”

Hiruzen’s gaze turned to Reika, eyes widened. Ashina smiled, his granddaughter was genius beyond genius. When she didn’t have Chakra, she developed mundane ways to be stealthy, she was the biggest Prankster of the Uzumaki clan and could even get at the Jonin level shinobi.

His train of thought about the superiority of the Uzumaki bloodline was interrupted when Reika-2 started her tale. “It was while I was eating Ramen with granny Tomoe that I caught the strange smell of these men. They didn’t look like any Uzushian. I started following them as a game at first. That’s how I paid attention to what they were doing. At the time, I didn’t know much about seals, but I have spied on the work of the Sealing Guild, and I know how to destroy a seal without Chakra… They started messing with the defense seals on the coast and the walls. Then I started following them even more and started compiling a list of what they were doing and made a report. They sabotaged some of the rescue ships as well as if they didn’t want anyone to be able to use them at all.”

And she didn’t even take a breath to say all this, what a motormouth… It was a normal thing for Uzumaki children. Ashina praised, “You’re going to be a great Ninja, you can report like a champ you know?”

“Yatta! I’ve been praised!” She raised her fist in the air and started dancing, the other clones too…

Everyone sweatdropped and decided to focus on the business at hand. Ashina turned to Hiruzen who looked thoughtful. “So, here it is, young Hiruzen. You’ve got a traitor on your hand, what are you going to do?”

Silence was Hiruzen’s answer for over a minute, until he leaned into his seat and began to say seriously, “Danzo… must have had his reason, he isn’t a-”

Ashina was about to stand up and start beating up Hiruzen when a set of two small hands stopped him. One of the Reika-clones advanced next to Hiruzen’s desk and with dexterous movements unlocked the seal on it at record speed and pulled something out of it. “Boss’ grandpa, there’s a weird smell coming from his drawer.”

It was a metal disc with sharp and jagged seals written upon it. It smelled foul as well, as if someone had dipped shit into blood. Ashina recognized this immediately… “Ah, a mind altering seal. That’s unexpected. Thank you for stopping me, Reikas.” Ashina thanked the two clones.

“It smells like mold and blood.” One of the Reika let go of the seal on the ground.

His seal’s mistress immediately stood next to Reika and placed the metal disc into another seal on which it was written, ‘Evidence.’

Ashina then threw a dismissive glance at Sarutobi Hiruzen and said aloud, “So, Hiruzen is the Hokage in name only, and Danzo has been running the show since the start. It explains some things.”

A bunch of ANBU jumped from the ceiling and brandished their weapon at the Uzukage and his own ANBU at the offense toward their Hokage.

“Are you sure you want to do this, youngsters?” Ashina looked at all the little ANBU surrounding him, and his subordinate. He could wipe them out, he was sure of it, but he would be also forced to destroy Konoha if they dared to attack, even after discovering that their Hokage wasn’t himself.

The Hokage jumped and landed next to Ashina and spoke loudly with a commanding tone with a hand raised in placation. “Please stop all of you, you’d lose. He may be old but he is not someone you can take on.”

The ANBU all lowered their weapons; Ashina laughed, not a lot of shinobi were left alive who knew what he was able to do. But it seemed that Hiruzen still was aware of what a nightmare he could be with swords and seals. But they entirely dismissed the fact that Reika was here and was about to fight them all, he doubted Konoha’s ANBU team was a match to her. The little girl was currently high Chunin and Low Jonin level; and he had his best Uzu ANBU team with him…

Placing his hands behind his back and standing up from his chair, Ashina’s eyes focused on Hiruzen who turned to him. “Oh oh, boy. Not only did your friend try to start a war by taking Uzu out first, but he even befuddled you with a mind altering seal.”

“I… this can’t be true.” Hiruzen started to say.

Ashina clicked his tongue. “Face reality, boy, you’ve been a puppet for your friend.”

The old Uzukage turned his attention to a group of high chakra users exiting the East Gate, they were running at full throttle. “Ah, the rat is fleeing the sinking ship.”

Hiruzen turned in the direction where Ashina looked. “Danzo is running away?”

Ashina nodded. “Yes, it seems that he was warned.”

One of the clones jumped toward a wall, turned their hand into scally black sharp claws and stabbed it into a wall, demolishing part of it. “Here Boss’ grandpa! There’s one of those funny smelling ANBU there.”

The wood parted as she pulled a man out of the wall, there was blood raining all over her. Everyone looked at the little girl with new eyes and saw how decisively she had acted.

Gurk…. The man died while she was still holding onto him.

“Mind the blood girl.” Ashina sighed.

The Reika clone lowered the man on the floorboard, even more blood pooled at her feet or gushed from the wound in the man’s chest.

“Sorry!” Reika apologized as she smiled cutely, a bit embarrassed by being so messy.

Ah, his grandchildren were too cute; fortunately, Ashina knew that distance wasn’t a problem for Reika and that she could come to Uzu when she wanted. He knew most of her secret and how she got to dodge Shinobis after all. The old Kage focused back on the issue at hand. “What are you going to do Hiruzen?”

“We will pursue him of course! Take him dead or alive.” As he said this, Hiruzen’s ANBU mobilized and disappeared with body-flickers.

Ashina turned to the clones of his granddaughter; he nodded to them, they smiled impishly and wings spread from their back. They were bat-like, and blue in color, claws sprouted from their hands and a single horn speared from their forehead. Everyone present looked at the young clones with trepidation. “I will send the Reika-clones after him with my ANBU.”

“Seals, Otter.” The ANBU saluted, but before they could leave, Seals, Reika’s sensei turned toward the clones and said, “Reika-chan! You can lift your weights!”

The clones started laughing. “Yay! Come with me!”

One of the clones took Ashina and Seals and Otter in their claws and they started exiting the Hokage’s office through the window, breaking all speed records.

“Sage, she can fly?!” Hiruzen exclaimed.

~~~~ O O ~~~~

(Shimura Danzo)

Foiled, decades of planning foiled by a little meddling kid! Danzo was fleeing with all his might with his ROOT agents following him, all fifty of them in the village, even the deep cover ones. He couldn’t leave anyone else out there, he had already activated the autodestruction seals of the ROOT HQ to slow down Hiruzen’s teams. They now will not find any proof of ROOT’s involvement with the other countries' shinobi villages.

Danzo could come back from this, all was not lost! He just had to say that Hiruzen was the one doing everything. That little girl who destroyed his meticulous planning was going to die one day! “ONE DAY I WILL KILL YOU, REIKA UZUMAKI!!”

The next moment, Danzo regretted having yelled this out loud, as his location was discovered and a terrifying roar rang out in the silence of the night.

ROAAAAAR!!!

A gigantic ball of fire hurtled from overhead right before the fleeing shinobi. FWOOOOOSH!!!

BOOOM!!! It exploded and created a crater dozens of meters deep. Danzo and his agents stopped right before it and… looked up.

In the sky three forms circled them, they were bearing something that Danzo couldn’t quite discern. He heard the same roar from earlier and a bunch of people landed around them; surrounding his group of ROOT agents and himself in the middle of them.

ROAAAAAR!!!!

FWOOOSH!!! Blue fire streaked from the sky and cut way out to the East.

ROAAAAR!!!

FWOOOSH!!! Another streak cut the way out to the West.

The two streams of fire then unite to form a ring of fire around the fugitives. The forest around them was starting to burn and there wasn’t even a stream to help them put out the fire. Danzo could scarcely believe that Konoha had air superiority assets that he didn't know about. Surrounded, they were now surrounded by a cage of blue fire. On a background of blue fire, a white haired old man in gray armor and swords in each hand stood. "Shimura Danzo, you're accused of High Treason. How do you plead?"

With his uncovered eye, Danzo glared at the old Kage. "You."

Uzumaki Ashina began to laugh. "Did you really think you'd get away with it? That you'd be able to take down Uzu with your small tricks? What for? To become Hokage? You, the coward who has to resort to schemes and backstabbing your best friend?"

Danzo tightened his fists. But Ashina wasn’t done with him and continued to mock him. “Even still now, you hide behind your squad of little puppets because deep down you know you’re one of the weakest Jonin of your village.”

The traitor couldn’t take anymore of that treatment and placed himself before the group of ROOT agents. “What do you know, you old monsters? I trained hard to get where I am today. Just because monsters like you are out in the world doesn’t mean that I-”

Ashina raised a hand, stopping Danzo from saying anything more. “I know that you won’t get out unscathed from our little tête-a-tête.”

As if a signal had been given, Danzo felt something coming from each side of him; two red haired girls with blue horns and wings surged from each side and breathed blue fire onto the ROOTS agents.

FWOOSH!!

FWOOSH!!

They didn’t have the time to even scream, twenty or so of the agents died as they made their pass. ANBU surged from the fires surrounding ROOT and started fighting against them. Ashina charged Danzo who evaded the blade strike trying to take his head.

“You killed them.” The traitor said between his teeth and unsheathed his own blade from his walking staff, he launched himself at Ashina who simply grinned at him.

The old Kage didn’t even move from his potion, he had waited for Danzo to overextend and be mad as hell. SLICE!! The next thing happening was a shadow passing over him, he felt pain as his bandaged arm fell on the ground. All of a sudden, there were hands on him that slammed him on the ground. Danzo heard the voice of a child. “Hold him down!”

“Cut the other arm!” And they did just that.

Danzo felt agony as they continued to cut out part of him, he vigorously resisted when he heard, “Pluck out the eyes.”

His eyes widened when they held onto his head and undead the bandage on his head. “Stay still effing mummy.”

“Noooooooo!!” The Sharingan, they plucked it right out of his socket. Was it how he was going to die? His plan turned into ash as he lost the arm made of Hashirama’s cell and his Sharingan. Even the mocking of the little girl continued to assault him mentally.

“Eh, that guy is super weak, are you sure he is a boss?”

“Don’t jinx us, number 2!”

“DANZO-SAMAAAA!!” Danzo felt himself grabbed and transported elsewhere and he knew no more.