Hard work
Karuma sighed, "alright you three, I think it's about time you tell me what happened after that day," he said folding his arms over his chest.
Naruto looked at Shikamaru and Gaara, then he looked at everyone else at the table, should he tell them? Shikamaru, seeing the hesitation in Naruto's eyes, and the way Gaara looked down at his empty bowl, he decided that it was up to him to tell them what happened. "You don't know this, but it took us somewhere," he stared, grabbing everyone's attention.
"Where did it take you guys?" Hinata asked.
"More importantly, why didn't we know that you let one-chan!" Came a high pitched cry that startled almost everyone at the table, they turned around to see Kohaku, Menma, and Neko standing at the doorway. Behind Neko, Kurama could see J and Maya hiding behind their curly-haired older brother, turning back to Menma, the one who yelled in the first place, "well?" He asked impatiently.
"Maybe you guys should tell us how you're here when you were supposed to be with Shukaku, then we might be inclined to talk," Gaara said narrowing his eyes at Menma, he suspected that the green-eyed blond was the one that had brought them here, despite all the times that he's acted dumb and playful, there was a underlying hint of genius there.
"Uh, hee hee, I guess I should," Menma said as he scratched the back of his head, he chuckled nervously, out of all the people that he could be scared of, Gaara and Naruto were by far the scariest when they were upset or angry. "Um, well, while we were still training with Shukaku-ojiji, we all started to miss you guys a lot, and um," he scratched his head some more as he tried to think of something else to say.
Koharu, being the kind little brother that he was, decided to help his sibling out, "what Menma means to say is that, we wanted to come to this realm to see if you guys were here for any reason," he explained.
"Hm? Why, is the training with Shukaku not going well?" Haku asked after a sip of tea.
"Uh, well, um...." Kohaku paused, he wasn't sure how to explain their situation to them.
Luckily Neko got tired of watching his older brother flounder in front of their older siblings, so he spoke up, ready to end the explanations, "Shukaku-ojiji's pregnant and he can't train us as well as he did before. We're here to get help with the rest of our training before we take our end of the season exams."
"Oh right, it is getting close to wintertime," A said from his side of the table. The end of the season exam is something new that the Kumo ninja academy started doing after Naruto and the others suggested a way to improve the results of their future ninjas. The end of the season exam is done twice a year around the time that the chunin exams are healed, although they are much shorter than the chunin exams, they are just as effective for providing positive results for academy students. The exams start after the first year academy students learn the basics of the ninja world, the exams are done in two parts, one part taijutsu and survival, one part ninjutsu and kenjutsu. The level of intensity is slightly different for each year of students, starting from 'somewhat easy' for first years, and going up to 'export level' for graduating students. There is also no ranking system as in 'Rookie of the year' and 'Kunoichi of the year', because honestly, what ninja would advertise their skill level so that their enemies could later figure out a way to beat them? When Naruto, Gaara, Hinata, Haku, and Shikamaru arrived in Kumo and started going to the academy, they all realized that, other than kenjutsu, Kumo's teaching wasn't much different from anywhere else. Kumo did give more details on what they knew about other villages, their weaknesses, their strengths, they gave information on how to treat wounds and how to survive when you're low on food in a foreign land. Kiri did much the same thing, but most of their focus was on ninjutsu and some kenjutsu for those that wished to use a sword in battle. However, unlike the chunin exams, the students that fail a test would have to take a remedial lesson on the thing that they failed on before they could continue to the next level of training. Now, since the suggestion of the end of season exams came to pass, Kumo has had a much higher graduation rate than before, which includes the few civilian students that joined the academy and made it through the exams. Most civilian children that want to join the academy are given extra classes in their first two years of joining the academy so that they may train to be on the same level as the rest of the students that come from ninja families. Also, during these two years of training, the civilian students are given the choice of continuing to program or to drop out and go to civilian schools instead. Later are given the choice to work in the missions office, since anyone that works in the mission office must have some years of ninja training to be able to work there. This is mostly in case of intruders that manage to infiltrate the village, they would be able to defend themselves and the village from anyone trying to steal village secrets. The end of season exams and thee civilian training options have given the rest of the village a grater respect for Hinata, Haku, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Naruto since they came, not just because of all the good they have done to improve the ninja academy, but also the village since stronger and better-educated ninja's mean more missions and more money sent their way. If A says anything about his younger siblings, its that they are angels sent from heaven, even when they do get on his nerves trying to copy Killer B's horrible raping skills. He sighed happily as he thought about all that had changed since their arrival, which brought about another thought that he had recently remembered, it made him frown.
Kurama shook his head, "you guys really shouldn't travel here without someone knowing," he said with a frown at the younger children.
Neko nodded his head, "we know, that's why we asked Shukaku-ojiji if he would come with us."
"And where is he now?" Shikaku asked as he wondered if they meant to say that Shukaku was a person that was named after the sand demon, not the chibi. But since in one of Shikamaru's letter said something about Kurama being the actual Kyuubi, he had a feeling that they were talking about the chibi.
"He's in the bathroom taking a bath, he said he hadn't been feeling well for a while now," Neko said as (fox) Hinata handed him a tuna sandwich and a drink.
"What do you mean by 'not feeling well'?" Asked Shikamaru as he played with J's hair, "I've never heard of a tailed beast getting sick before."
Kurama nodded, "neither have I," he said with a thoughtful look, he was had a feeling of what was going on with his younger brother, but he wanted to be sure. Meanwhile, a quick look around the table made him aware that there was one person that wasn't paying attention to the conversation, "A?" He said softly, getting the attention of the dark-skinned male, "what's wrong?"
A was pulled out of his thoughts by his 'mother's' worried voice, "oh, nothing, nothing."
Mabui took one look at A and knew what he was thinking about, "you're thinking about the letter that you received a few days back, aren't you?"
Everyone looked between her and A, "what letter are you talking about?" Kohaku asked as he took a seat next to Haku, they were usually very close, you could hardly ever find one without the other unless Haku was on a mission.
A folded his arms, "about a day after you and father left for suna, a letter arrived at the kage tower," he glanced at Naruto and the other's worriedly, "it was from the leaf."
The air around the table was suddenly tense, "what the hell do those fuckers want now?!" Hidi all but yelled, breaking the silence and startling the younger children.
"Hidi, there's no need to get so worked up," (fox) Hinata chastised her friend.
"But-" Hidi started, but the look coming from (fox) Hinata shut her up, "fine, have it your way, Foxy," Hidi sat back down in her seat with a pout.
(fox) Hinata nodded, she turned back to A, "as you were saying?"
"A few days back, Konoha sent us, or rather me, a letter, it was an invitation to next year's chunin exams." A explained, "they want Naruto and the others to come to the chunin exams next year as contenders in the exams, they're expecting out a reply in the next few days."
Again, the table was silent for a long time, allowing the new information to sink in, "I don't want to go back there," Neko said in a small, sad voice."
"Same here," Shikamaru said as he looked into his half-empty cup, J sat still on his brother's lap, sensing the sadness around him. Tears started to well up in the little boy's eyes and he started to cry, who could blame him? He was one and a half years old, he was able to sense chakra better than anyone at the table, even Naruto and Hinata. Shikamaru comforted him the best he could, but Jay still sniffled now and then. Once the toddler was calmed, Shikamaru asked, "what should we do?"
"We have until next year to plan," Gaara started.
"Yes, but only a day or two to reply," Hinata stated.
Naruto looked around the table, "I think we should go," he simply said.
"What! But one-chan, why?" Menma exclaimed.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, I don't remember anything from there, but it couldn't hurt to go back. If it's just for the exams, there's no harm in going, right?" He asked innocently, although Shikamaru and the others didn't see it as such, they thought that it was a plan doomed to fail, but they didn't want to tell Naruto that. Instead, they stayed silent, the curly-haired blond saw that no one was responding to his idea. "C'mon guys, I know that the people that gave birth to us may not have done a very good job of it. I don't know what they have done up until we left, but I know that if they are already inviting us there to rise in the ranks, then-then why not just do it for the exams? I mean, it's not like we have to go back to the life we had before we left, but still..."
"He has a point," Kurama spoke up.
"But mama, this could be dangerous," Haku said, "there could be people there that recognize us."
"Don't worry, from what I understand, you all left before you were taught anything much from your clans, or the academy." Mabui informed, "Hinata, from what I heard, you've improved greatly from when you were in the leaf village, so much so that if you were to go back, then your fighting style would no longer resemble the style of your former clan." She turned to Shikamaru, "you've trained in your style and come up with new ways to blow up the competition," she turned to Gaara, "you no longer rely on Shukaku's power to defend yourself." She turned to Haku, "you can do much more with your kekki genki now than ever before, you've also learned how to control other elements, you all have, you've all become much stronger than before, but...." she finally turned to Naruto, "you are the one that has improved the most."
Naruto pouted, "how can you tell when someone's improved when they don't know how they used to be?" He asked solemnly,
"She may not know," Kurama started, "but I do."
"So do I," Shikamaru said, "you kick ass when you fight."
"Yeah, Onee-chan's the strongest girl I know, other than Hinata-onee-chan," exclaimed Maya happy as she sat next to Neko.
Maya may have lifted Naruto's spirits and placed a smile on his face, but deep inside, he still felt down. Every time he tries to remember the village he came from, to think about the good things that might have happened to him and his friends before they left, but it's all coming up blank. He supposed that he might have blocked it all out, he remembered that he used to have bad dreams about something, but he could never remember them. Any dream that had to do with memories of his past or his treatment in the village, was immediately erased upon waking up. Naruto didn't know why, but maybe if he went back to the village, he may recall something, he knows the reason that he left the village was that he was mistreated. However, he would like to remember the reason why they did it, why did they do what they did to push him over the edge. He sighed "thanks imouto," he said and ruffed Maya's hair, unlike most girls, Maya was very much a tomboy, she likes training with her big brothers and learning new moves from her big sister. She liked training with Naruto and Shikamaru the best because they were wild and unpredictable, she likes blowing things up just as much as they did. Although Kurama and E sometimes worried that she may become too much like them, or even worse, she may turn into the mad bomber boy they met once when he came to kumo on a mission.
Hati cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention, "now that everyone's gathered and had something to eat, I think that it's time to move on to what you've all come here for." He stood up on his four legs and started towards the door, a second later, everyone at the table followed him, why the other servants cleared the table. Outside, Hati transformed into his human form, "I will allow the younger kits to fight as well if they wish," he said as h stretched out his arms and legs. "Kurama-sama, would you like to help with their training with a light spar?"
Kurama shrugged, "sure, why not?" He looked at Jay, "Jay, would you like to learn some taijutsu with your brother and sisters?"
J looked up at his mother, "I watch, you fight," he said in his childish voice, (fox) Hinata came over to watch over him while the others spared.
Kurama chuckled, "okay then buddy, watch closely then," he walked over to stand next to Hati, "ready?"
"Ready when you are," Hati said getting into a pose.
"Ooh, eight against two, that doesn't seem to fare, now does it?" Hidi smiled as she walked over to the two men, "mind if I join you?"
"The more the merrier, "Kurama said as he looked over his kits, "matter of fact..." He looked over at A, "let's make this even more interesting, what do you say, A?"
A smirked, "that's fine with me," he said as he shrugged off his kage robe, "I may go easy on Maya, but that doesn't mean that I'll go easy on the rest of you." He cracked his knuckles and stood with Kurama and Hati.
Hati nodded, "give it all you got, show me how much you've grown," taking the invite, Naruto and the others took a stance of their choosing. Hinata took the stance of the Hidden Fist, Naruto took up the stance of the elemental Force, Shikamaru took the stance of the of a style he made up called Shadow Wind. Gaara took the stance of his style he called Earth Demon, and Haku took the stance of his style, Mist Fire. Since they were still young, Maya and the triplets didn't have their style, so they took up the stance of the Striking Paw that they learned from Hati and Hidi. They all took a moment to gauge their opponent before they rushed forth, kicking and punching with all their strength.
Shikaku stood back with J and the other Hinata, who transformed into her kitsune form so that J could pet her fur. He sat down next to the two, "I still can't believe that my son has learned so much without me there to teach him anything." He sighed sadly as he watched his son perform move after move that he had never seen used before, by anyone, let alone a child who's not even twelve years old. He remembered reading that Shikamaru was already a genin in Kumo, he sort of expected as much, but to find that Naruto, Hinata, Gaara, and Haku have all passed on to become genin before anyone their age in the leaf village. Now that he thought about it, Naruto and the others have shown how different Kumo and Konoha are.
"What did you expect, human?" Hinata asked in her soft voice as she looked at him with her purple and white eyes.
"What do you mean?" Shikaku asked, leaning forward he looked into the little fox's eye, "what are you trying to say."
"I know the kind of village that you are from, but I also know the kind of people that are born into you clan," the little fox said.
"Which means what to you?" Shikaku asked.
"Nothing much, although, the Kitsune clan is known to be very good friends to the Deer and Tanuki clans, what's not to say that yours and mine can't be friends as well?" Hinata flicked her tail lightly, wrapping it around a sleepy J, "your clan is filled with knowledge, as well as some tricky planning. We could get along well, you and I."
Shikaku looked at Hinata for a moment, "your offering...what exactly?"
Hinata chuckled, it made a sound like wind chimes being blown around on a fall morning, "don't get the wrong idea human. I am simply offering you a service that doesn't come along every day."
"Again I ask, what are you offering me?" Shikaku asked.
"Not just you, but all of your clan, your bloodline, your kit." Hinata clarified, "for many a generation your clan has been partnered with the deer clan, but what if that was to change? What would you do?"
Shikaku leaned back on his elbows, "are you trying to replays the deer th-"
"No, no, silly human, you have it all wrong, as I said, the deer clan and mine have been friends for many years. Lifetimes for you might have been a few weeks or months to us, a bond like that is not easily broken, so no." Hinata readjusted herself so that J was now laying down on her side, "there is a contract between us summons that dates back to the time of the sage of six paths. The contract states that no summons can steal or kill another's summoner, however, if one or more summons head were to accept an alliance of emergence, then our summoners are allowed another summoning clan. This is what I offer to you, do you accept?"
Shikaku thought about the offer for a few moments, "you said that this needs to go through the summoning head. Who would that be?" Hinata turned her head in the direction of the fight and pointed her nose Kurama as she took down Gaara and Shikamaru at the same time, "hm, makes sense."
Hinata nodded her head, she hears suddenly perked up for a minute or two as if she heard something then they flattened against her head, "We should head inside now." She said getting up from her spot, her tail secured J on her back so he didn't fall when she got up, she took a couple of steps forward before looking back to Shikaku, "follow me" Shikaku took another look at the spar, no one seemed to notice their leave, he put his hands in his pocket and followed the little fox back inside.
Back in Konoha-same time
Minato walked onto the training field that he was supposed to meet Kushina at, in plain view, he was the only one there, however, he knew that they wouldn't be alone. In the bushes, he could just make out the tip-top of Shion's blond hair, his eldest son, M.J. was in the treetops not too far away from his right, and Ryu was hiding behind some trees further away and to the left of where Shion was hiding. The quadruplets were at home being taken care of by their assigned caretakers for the day, Narumi (I forgot about her while I was writing this, oops) was out training with the pervert, and after waiting for two extra minutes, Kushina finally arrived. "Mina-chan, I see you've brought the kids, that was...considerate of you," she said in a casual voice.
Minato didn't pay her casualness of the situation any mind, even though it bothered him greatly. "Kushina, I came here to find out what you've been keeping from me back then, but since the video revealed so much already, I thought that I should come and get the full story from you. The woman that started it all, so tell me, why'd you do it? To our son no less."
Kushina looked down at her feet for a second, she took a deep breath in and let out slowly before turning to the blond kage, "why don't you call out the rest of the family first? I'm sure that they would want to hear this too."
Minato signaled to the hidden three, in a flash the trio were standing next to their father, staring down their mother, "start talking."
To be continued.....