I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.

I apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes.

Enjoy...

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INARI BLESSED

CHAPTER 7

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The first thing Naruto saw when he came to was the white ceiling.

'So we made it.' He thought relieved. He looked to the side and saw Kyoshiro and Yumiko, all of them made it. He sighed relieved.

The nurse who was tending to Kyoshiro turned to look at him. "Oh, you are awake. I'll inform the doctor." She said with a light smile.

"Umm, can you tell me the extent of our injuries?" Naruto asked.

"Well, when you got here you all were pretty banged up, but it looked worse than it really was. The main injury you had was the half healed wound on your stomach; luckily it didn't graze any major organs. But you were completely out of chakra."

"I was what?!" for the few people who knew about Naruto's chakra capacity, that statement was ridiculous. He had nine tails worth of chakra; for crying out loud. Chakra exhaustion was something he should never have to face.

"A severe case of chakra exhaustion." The nurse said confused as to what she said wrong. Naruto shook his head and, "Sorry, am still a bit disoriented. Please continue." The nurse nodded.

"Your friends had a couple of broken and bruised ribs. Other than that and a few bruises they were fine. We have healed all of you, there's nothing to worry about. It has only been an hour since you got here."

Naruto nodded.

Out of the three of them Naruto had the most chakra, yet he got a severe case of chakra exhaustion; how? He noticed the unusual drain in his chakra when he fought, but he thought that it was a technique that drained chakra from all three of them, clearly that was not the case. He needs to wait for the others to wake up.

He looked up when he heard a commotion from outside. To his immense surprise Sasuke burst through the door frantically, followed by the nurse who had just went outside to call the doctor.

"Dob... err Naruto"

This surprised Naruto, since when did Sasuke became so, polite to him? "Sasuke?" Naruto asked in a dubious tone.

"I need your help... pl...Pl...Please."

Okay that got Naruto's attention Sasuke Uchiha never pleads; never ever.

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Two hours later, Akemi Hyuga exited the surgery with a sleepy exhausted Naruto in her arms. Whatever chakra he had regained had been spent during the surgery.

Naruto, who was half conscious, saw Sasuke who stood anxiously to know about his mother. Naruto looked at Sasuke and gave thumbs up with a tired but triumphant grin. Akemi also gave him a smile; the Uchiha didn't even try to hide his relieved smile and the happy tears.

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A day later, the trio found themselves inside the Uzumaki household, along with Hiruzen, Kakashi and Jiraya.

"So what happened? I know that Mizuki couldn't even put a scratch on you." Jiraya started.

"You are right. It wasn't Mizuki." Yumiko said.

Then she described the entire fight to them, right up to the moment they retreated and passed out in front of Kakashi.

The three older men looked weary and grim.

"From what Itachi Uchiha has reported, it was the same masked man who massacred the Uchiha clan." The old hokage said grimly.

"There is one more thing." Kyoshiro said getting everyone's attention, "My memories from the time I've been... under control... is quite distorted. There are still large pieces I don't remember, but that masked man, when I saw him, a memory was triggered. He was the same Uchiha who released me from Kushina twelve years ago."

Most of them were wide eyed.

"I somewhat remember him using the same phasing technique back then as well."

"This is troubling." Jiraya said grimly.

"And there are a lot of things that happened during the fight that still doesn't make sense... like why Naruto's chakra drained so fast? And then, the phasing ability of that guy, it didn't work during the last time." Yumiko muttered.

"We have a lot to think about..." Naruto said.

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Naruto walked along the hospital corridor, he came here often either to visit Akemi or to help out at the hospital. The last two days he was still recovering from the chakra loss. Luckily there was still two days left for the day of team announcement.

As he turned a corner he locked eyes with a certain Uchiha. He was both surprised and pleased by the small nod of acknowledgement he got from Sasuke. It sounds strange, but the boy seems a lot less stuck up after his clan's near extinction. Maybe he realized what he had all along. He was still mourning for the death of his clans men, or perhaps only for Shisui.

"Hello Sasuke."

"Naruto." he greeted back politely. "I never got to properly thank you for what you did for mother."

"It's okay really. I really like your mother; she's a very kind woman. So I am happy that I got to help her. No need for any thanks."

Whether Sasuke knew it or not, his face softened and his lips quirked in a slight smile as he thought of the kind woman that is his mother.

"Still... I owe you one."

"Well, if you are so adamant... then treat me to some ramen sometime later and maybe a spar or two." Naruto said still smiling.

"You know... the students at the academy say a lot of things about the three of you, at first even I believed them... but now, I find myself disagreeing with all of them except one rumor." Sasuke said seriously, but Naruto could both see and sense the playful nature.

"Oh! And what's that?"

"That you are ramen obsessed pranksters."

Naruto cracked a wide grin, causing Sasuke to smile as well. "You should smile more ya know. Your mother would like that... and so would the others. See ya later, Sasuke. I'll come visit your mother after I go meet Akemi nesan."

Naruto left Sasuke with a wave.

Sasuke quickly hid the forming smile from prying eyes and went inside his mother's room.

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"Naruto... you're here. How are you?" Akemi asked with a smile.

"I am fine nesan. The others are fine as well."

"Good. I was going to come and check on you later. Now... are you ready for today's lesson?"

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True to his words Naruto went to see Mikoto that evening. She truly was a pleasant woman, though he never actually got the chance of properly meeting her. Mikoto was happy that he came to visit her; she was shocked that Naruto knew about Kushina being his mother. She was surprised that the boy had no resentment towards her because she never visited him despite being his mother's best friend. The boy had inherited his mother's kind heart, she mused.

The only reason she hadn't visited him even when she knew he was suffering was because of Fugaku. He had prevented her from doing a lot of things in life. Most of her regrets had risen from having to obey him, in fact now with her husband dead, as cruel as it sounded, she felt happy. Happy and free, for the first time since her marriage. After Naruto left she had a lot to think about.

Soon, Itachi would become clan head; the Uchiha clan never gave any position of power to woman. So she would not become clan head. That was fine; her son Itachi was a good choice for a clan head. The Uchiha clan would prosper under him.

To be honest had this happened a few years ago, she wouldn't have been surprised. The clan had been planning a coup six years ago. She knew the hokage was aware. It was only a matter of time before the clan was exterminated by the hokage's ninjas for the safety of the village. Back then her only fear was for the children in the clan. But the hokage is a fair man, he would never harm children. That was when a golden opportunity was presented in form of the resealing.

It was the genius idea of some stupid clan member to turn one of her children in to a jinchuuriki; she was furious but had no say in it. It was not the fact that she hated jinchuuriki or anything, in fact her best friend had been a jinchuuriki and she had known all along. It was the fact that the clan intended to use her child as a weapon that didn't sit well with her. There were two options in front of the clan. Either Sasuke or Shin.

Sad as it is, the only reason they chose Shin was because he was expendable. The survival chance of the new jinchuuriki was very low, and Sasuke was a growing prodigy, his naturally strong chakra said he would have a sharingan of greater potential and he was a growing prodigy. If the resealing failed, they could not lose Sasuke and even if the beast broke free, the combined power of all their sharingan can subdue it, or that was what the fools believed, she knew better. The number of sharingan mattered not, if none had the advanced stage of it. It was this arrogant and power hungry approach that caused her to hide her own Mangekyo; the result of having to kill her traitorous sensei during a mission; from them.

She hoped and prayed that the hokage doesn't allow Shin to become the jinchuuriki. But Hiruzen had been out of choice. From what she heard, none other had stepped forward to become a jinchuuriki and her son had been too determined to prove himself to his father to back down. Hiruzen could not have forced any other to give up their child when one was willing to become the jinchuuriki. Danzo and the old crones had supported it and she knew why. A jinchuuriki with sharingan meant a jinchuuriki who could attain full control of the bijuu chakra with time. The lull of such a powerful weapon might have been too much. Danzo's followers and the civilians readily agreed, out voting the opposition (if there was any).

Things that occurred after Shin became jinchuuriki were out of her hand, but a lot of good things came out of it. She had been horrified when her 'husband' announced her son's jinchuuriki status to the whole village. But her fears were put to ease when the people treated him as a hero, and even if anyone had any problem with her son, a few factors kept them subdued. The fact that the death of her child meant the release of Kyubi was a fact that saved his life. People believed Shin would never be influenced by the beast due to the sharingan, also the fact that no one in their right mind would mess with the Uchiha; a powerful founding clan, also helped her son become the hero instead of a pariah. The fact that Naruto survived was icing on the cake.

The coup was later discarded, because the Uchiha clan got the much needed recognition from the villagers after the resealing. Whether it was fear that the Uchiha now had the power of a demon, or gratitude that the Uchiha had prevented the fate of being a jinchuuriki from any of their (the civilian's) children; she didn't know. But the village treated the Uchiha with rightful recognition and not isolation.

But Fugaku then started ignoring her other two children. Instead of sadness she was relieved; Itachi would be much more relaxed without his father's pestering. And Sasuke kun would be away from Fugaku's influence. Shin... she had nothing to do with him... even before, he was a bitter child. She used to pay a lot of attention to him to ease his pain of being ignored by his father for his prodigy brothers, but Shin was never happy. Once he became jinchuuriki however, he began treating her and Sasuke (Itachi was out of his reach) like trash and no one but Itachi cared. Maybe now that Fugaku is gone, her baby could see the light, she hoped even though she knew it was too late.

She had to visit the grave once she could move properly. She didn't care about the adults who died (most of them deserved it); the only ones she cared to pray for were the children. She had much to do once she got out of the hospital. That included dealing with a certain ex-Hyuga.

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Two days later

The trio once again found themselves at the academy, waiting for the team announcements. Naruto kept fidgeting with a kunai, while Kyoshiro and Yumiko were engrossed in two scrolls.

To everyone's surprise the Uchiha twins were also present; after all it had been only a week since their family was murdered.

Iruka came in with a proud smile. He then gave some speech about ninja life, responsibility and will of fire and stuff. Then came the team announcements.

"Team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Shin Uchiha and Sakura Haruno." There was shouting of true love and some insults thrown around. Sasuke was silently fuming in his seat; shin was also scowling in displeasure.

Yumiko was the only one who paid attention to other teams, but the boys only cared to pay attention when their team was called.

"Team 11: Naruto Uzumaki, Yumiko Uzumaki and Kyoshiro Kazama." This bought on a new set of murmurs.

Most were bothered about how Yumiko became an Uzumaki. While Kiba who was jealous about a girl like Yumiko hanging with the losers and getting 'married' to the same loser proclaimed that the dead lasts were put together. Iruka was quick correct the dog lover.

"No Kiba. Those three are the top three students with perfect scores in every test. Naruto and Kyoshiro have tied for the Rookie of the year and Yumiko is the Kunoichi of the year."

This caused almost everyone to look at the three of them in surprise. There were many protests of cheating, that was promptly ignored by the trio and Iruka.

Iruka told them to wait for their sensei and left after wishing them luck.

As soon as Iruka left murmurs broke out, an annoyed Kiba jumped out of his seat and was about to go 'talk' with Kyoshiro and Naruto, when a red eyed raven haired jonin kunoichi entered the class room grabbing their attention. following her another jonin entered, this time a male with black hair and beard along with deep brown eyes and a cigar dangling between his lips.

"I am Kurenai Yuuhi and I am sensei of team 8. Team 8, please follow me." The red eyed woman said and walked outside.

"Team 10, with me." The smoker drawled and followed Kurenai out the door.

Team 7 and 11 remained seated. Shin was softly growling to himself about not being the rookie of year and having to be put on a team with his useless brother and pink haired thing.

A slight breeze of wind was all they felt. Yumiko's head snapped up as she sensed a very small flicker of chakra from an unknown source within the classroom. Naruto and Kyoshiro followed her example.

There at the centre of the room was a beautiful woman.

She had black hair with purple highlights that reached past her waist in long thick strands with small unruly bangs framing her forehead. Her eyes deep royal blue colour and contained a certain warmth and she had the body of a goddess. Her ruby red lips were curled in a gentle and pleasent smile as she observed the three that was now staring at her. She was wearing a black dress shirt with the top two buttons open revealing a little of her amazing cleavage and khaki pants. She also had a pair of black high heeled shoes on. There were no visible weapons (although that did nothing to fool the trio, as they themselves kept all weapon including kunai hidden in the multiple storage seals along their arms). If it wasn't for the fore head protector with the leaf insignia that was tied snuggly in her waist like a belt, they would not have taken her for a ninja, they couldn't feel any chakra from the woman at all, so they weren't as easily fooled.

Team 7 was yet to notice the extra presence in the room.

"Training ground 29" the woman said looking directly at the trio and by the time team 7 looked up, she had vanished like a ghost.

Yumiko, Naruto and Kyoshiro looked at each other and nodded, and then they vanished in a shunshin.

"Who said that?" Sakura said and looked around. "Hey! They are gone."

Shin and Sasuke looked back to see that team 11 had vanished.

The appeared a little away from training ground 29, it was an isolated training ground close to the forests and had a small stream passing through it. They walked the rest of the way to the training ground.

"She could be a stealth specialist... I never felt her chakra." Yumiko said thoughtfully. Among the three Yumiko was the best sensor there is. Her sensing abilities were far beyond ordinary, they believed that her Hyuga gene must have expressed in such a way instead of the byakugan. And when she had been blood adopted in to the Uzumaki clan, her sensing ability had gone of charts, after all the Uzumaki were great sensors naturally.

"She's good... that shunshin she used... there was no sound, no smoke, nothing. She appeared and disappeared like a ghost. that takes alot of chakra control." Naruto said in amazement.

"It's perfect for stealth. Her dressing is also very strange for a shinobi... those clothes didn't look they would allow much flexibility, or any flexibility for that matter. They looked too restricting and the material doesn't look much durable either..." Kyoshiro suggested.

"She would easily pass for a civilian with that appearance... if it wasn't for the fact that we could sense no chakra at all, even civilians have little chakra and the absence of any chakra at all, would cause suspicion."

"The ability to suppress chakra at its entirety is amazing. She could give a Hyuga a run for his money."

They noticed that they had already reached the training field. The woman was sitting at the bank of the stream with her legs in the running water. Her shoes were placed beside her. She turned to look at them with a quiet smile, "The conclusions you made are impressive for fresh genin."

They were surprised that she heard what they talked about.

"I already know everything about you and I don't feel like talking about myself to you. Only that my name is Uzume Suiren. You may call me Uzume sensei." She had a bright smile on her face, a smile fitting for one named after the goddess of joy. "Now come join me." She called out to them. She looked like a nice woman.

They looked at each other quizzically and then shrugged and took of their sandals before sitting beside her with their feet in the water.

The trio had no idea what to say, but Uzume sensei started talking still with that gentle smile.

"I know that your team work is quite proficient, I heard a lot from the hokage... so why don't you show me how good it is..." with that she jumbed out of the water and on to a the other side of the bank and three three kunai at them, even before they could blink. they tried to dodge by jumbing out of the water as well, but tendrils of water kept them trapped where they sat. there was no time for a shunshin, the kunai came right in front of their face and exploded in to neon pink paint and glitter, covering all three completely.

They looked at their sensei in confusion and at that moment, the didn't think that her smile was quite so pleasent.

What followed; was undeniably, a very one sided