Training and Attacking
"Is there something that you would like to tell us? Shikaku?" Said man turned around at the mention of his name, he found a tall male wearing the usual ANBU uniform, his gravity-defying hair unkempt and his mask hid his facial features well. Kakashi Hatake, last of the Hatake clan, stood before the leader of the Nara clan, arms folded, still as a statue as he leaned on the far wall. Shikaku stayed quiet for a while as he took in everything about the room, and those he sensed in it, he saw Kaskhi in front of him but felt others hiding in the shadow. Waiting, ready to move on a moment's notice, silent as the night and all the more frightening in away. "Well? I'm waiting, Shikaku? Or do you always stall for time when asked a direct question?"
"Hmm, I might be more inclined to talk if we were alone," Shikaku said in his usual board drool.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "we are a-"
"C'mon Kakashi, you find that I was born yesterday or what?" Shikaku cut in, "I'm not saying a word until you get rid of the extra company in the room."
"Hm, seems reasonable enough," Kakashi sighed, "fine, I'll get rid of mine if you do the same."
For a moment, Shikaku was confused by what he meant by that, but then he felt someone behind him, he turned around to see no one was there. The only thing behind him was a painting of some sunflowers, wait, sunflowers? Walking over to the painting, Shikaku inspected it for a few seconds, every line, detail, memorizing it and filing it away for later. Then he noticed it, there was some chakra leaking from the painting, he touched the painting with the tips of his finger and heard small giggling, coming from the painted object, "alright, the gigs up, you can come out now." Hikaru took a step back from the painting to see who would appear from it, he was half expecting his son to come from the smoke cloud that surrounded the person when the jus was dispelled, he also half expected to see Naruto because the painting was of sunflowers. He also, almost, expected to see Hinata or maybe even Haku, but not Gaara, that would be a stretch, even for him. However, with all those that he expected to pop out of the smoke, he did not expect to see two small little foxes standing in the place of the smoke cloud, he blinked his eyes once, twice, three times for good measure. "Wha- uh what's this?" He whispered to himself as he got down to eye level with the foxes, "uhm, you two wouldn't happen to be Kubo and Jin, would you?"
The two foxes before him grinned, well the golden one did, the reddish one just smirked ever so slightly. "You got us pops, we're the leaders of the Foxy Tricksters from Trickster Ally, maybe you've heard of us," said the gold fox with a bubbly attitude.
Shikaku smiled a small smile, "ah, yes, I have heard of you two," he started. Kakashi cleared his throat from his spot on the opposite wall, Shikaku looked back at him and waved him off before turning back to the two foxes. "So, what can I do for you two while I still have the time?"
The reddish fox tilted his head a little, "are you about to go somewhere, Mr.Nara?"
"Oh, well you never know, it seems that someone's got a bone to pick with me tonight, so who knows. Now, is there something that you two need, a message maybe?" Shikaku asked as he petted the foxes' heads.
Kubo purred happily but then jumped up in surprise, "oh yeah, there was something that we were supposed to tell you."
"Really, what could that be?" Shikaku asked.
"Oh, well um, hm, I forgot most of it, but it was from our masters, all of them," Kubo stated.
Shikaku looked to Jin for more information, Jin sighed, "what he's trying to say is that our masters have sent the two of us to give you a message." Jin's eyes turned towards the masked figure behind Shikaku before continuing, "he said that the doves will lead the way, and the Kitsune clan will be waiting at the southern gates of dreams."
Shikaku nodded, "thank you, please tell them that I have the ravens package and will find the rabbit on the mountain soon."
Kubo and Jin both nodded in response to the message that they were given, they soon puffed away into smoke as if they were never there, to begin with. They could have been good ninja hounds if they weren't foxes. Then again, foxes are the best ninjas there are. "Now then, Kakashi," Shikaku stated as he stood back up straight, he paused, waiting as the silver-haired ANBU signaled something with his hands before he went on, "what did you want to talk about?"
Konoha- same time
Ryu was walking up and down the hallway trying to think about what his father meant. What had his mother been keeping them? What did she do when he was just a child? How did it involve Naruto? The questions just kept piling on, the more that he thought about it, the more that he wondered. What was it that he needed to know about her? Was it good, bad, did it even concern him? The questions, they went on and on, when you thought you answered on, there was always another one right next to it, but why? Why all the secrets? If his parents were all about family and letting each other know everything, why didn't they know this big thing that happened so many years ago? Was it because they were just kids at the time and wouldn't have understood what was happening at the time? What was the deal with that? And if that was so, when Naruto left with Hinata and that Nara kid he was always hanging out with, wouldn't that have been the right time to clue them all in on what had happened all those years ago? Maybe it would give us a clue on why Naruto ran away with those two in the first place.
While Ryu was trying to figure out the meaning of his mother's secrecy, just down the hall, Minato was sitting alone in his bedroom. He was sitting on the bed that he used to share with the woman that he thought he loved, but now he couldn't even sleep in it anymore. It felt like a bunch of lies built up with a soft covering so no one would question it. He signed, wondering where everything had gone wrong. Suddenly, without warning, a rock crashed through his window, the sound was so loud and sudden that he did not doubt in his mind that Ryu and the others in the house had heard it too. Proving his suspicion to be true, Ryu, along with Shion, Narumi, M.J., the quadruplets ad their nanny, came rushing in. "I heard something, is everything okay daddy?" Narumi asked as she ran up to her father, looking around the room for the intruder who had made the noise that caused everyone to drop what they were doing.
Minato looked around the room, seeing everyone there made his heart feel ten times lighter. A small smile graced his lips, "don't worry everyone, the thing that made the noise was just this rock, see?" He said as he walked up to the thrown object that was now surrounded by bits of class, he picked it up carefully and turned it over. Thankful that there wasn't a paper bomb attached to it, but note, he detached the note from the rock and read it:
Dear Minato,
I am sorry that I have kept this from you for so long.
This was a secret that I had to hide from you all in fear that you would hate me for it.
However, that wasn't the case, as you would find out, that would be the least of our worries.
Please meet me at the park in the center of the village in ten minutes.
I promise that I will explain everything to you about that day.
Nothing will be left out, I swear on my name as an Uzumaki.
Yours truly.
Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze.
Minato read the letter out loud for everyone to hear, he looked up at them for their reactions. Ryu and M.J. were looking at the note as if their very gaze alone would set ablaze, while everyone else had varying looks on their faces. The quadruplets where confused and curious about what was going on, Narumi looked lost, and the nanny seemed to not care so much for Kushina's note. It was somewhat well known that this nanny, a young girl that retired from shinobi life because of a mission incident, had the biggest crush on Minato Namikaze known to man. However, she did her work well and didn't let the younger Namikaze children fool her with one, or any, of their little tricks.
"So, are you going to meet, dad?" M.J. asked.
TBC......