Tea Country

Blanket disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Tenjho Tenge

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

There are dangerous things everywhere! Here is chapter 27:

Last time:

About the time they got back to the entrance of The Skank they heard a commotion inside and a man in an elegant white business suit was being hauled out on a makeshift stretcher. "Clear the way, Ito-sama is really, really sick!" cried a man. "Let's get him to a doctor!" The stench of bowels permeated the air and the back of Fukui Ito's pants were badly stained…

The three genins stepped aside and about ten minutes later Yūgao came out with a smirk on her face and barely contained glee dancing in her brown eyes. 'Poison is a wonderful thing. It won't kill him, but he'll be sick in the bathroom for a week. They'll think it's dysentery. I'll have to thank Anko later for this.' She turned to her genins who were all standing at attention. "No trouble…?" she asked.

"Nothing we couldn't handle sensei." said Maya.

Yūgao nodded. "Good, good. I have our guide right here." she said as she held up a black book. "Let's get out of this village."

Her three genins couldn't have agreed more as they all blew out of town at ninja speeds.

…

Chapter 27

Tea Country, Forest

Team 11 didn't stop moving until they were several kilometers clear of Heiya Village. Their collective thought was, 'I'm never setting a foot inside that town again; those people are demented!'

Yūgao got out the small map book and said, "Hekison Village is about sixty kilometers east of here as the crow flies. The only real path up to it is a zigzag set of trails up in the mountains that are very isolated. From what I understand the only reason people go up there is the shrine and some sort of sacred pool. It's little more than a dot on the map. It should be an easy enough trip despite the terrain. Let's break for lunch. Heiya Village was a bit stressful."

Naruto flopped down looking a bit harried. "Yes sensei; I'd just as soon avoid that village on the way back if we can."

"I agree with Naruto-kun one hundred percent on that." said Hinata as she unpacked some food.

Their sensei nodded wondering why they reacted so strongly…not that she was complaining or anything. "What is your opinion, Maya?"

Maya swallowed a drink of tea and said, "For the sake of our client who is a Miko I believe it would be best to stay away from Heiya Village. It would be too corrupt for a priestess' tastes and she might end up in a position inappropriate for someone of her standing."

The group was just settling down to eat when Naruto and Hinata saw a gleam from behind their sensei. Hinata froze but Naruto yelled, "Hit the dirt!" as he tackled Hinata to the ground and shoved Maya back. I the same instant Yūgao dived clear. An exploding tag attached to an arrow hit their campfire and detonated at the same time throwing up an enormous amount of smoke and dust in the forest.

Hinata coughed and activated her byakugan to look through the dust in silence. She saw eight missing nins armed with swords arriving on the scene. One of them was putting away a bow that obviously was the source of the exploding tag. 'Yūgao-sensei, Maya-chan and I are roughed up but okay.' she thought. Looking down with tears in her eyes she saw Naruto was badly hurt and his right arm was mangled. He was bleeding profusely. Had she not had the byakugan to see his strong heartbeat Hinata might have mistaken him for dead…

…Which is exactly what Maya did. As the dust cleared she saw Naruto's bloodied body lying there lifelessly in Hinata's arms as the Hyūga heiress cried in silence. Maya screamed "NARUTO-KUN!" in anguish as hot tears streamed from her eyes.

Maya heard a gruff male voice say, "Well, at least we got one." The silver haired girl turned to the voice and saw a motley group of missing nin's standing there at the edge of the clearing. Maya drew the Reiki from her kneeling position on the ground. All of her sadness and anguish were channeled into white hot rage and the nin's saw her smile insanely through a bleeding lip before she vanished in a replacement jutsu.

The nin's were all distracted by Maya's outburst and Yūgao sized up the situation in an instant. She wasn't sure if Naruto was dead or just injured but she knew Maya thought he was dead and went berserk as a result. Hinata seemed to be in control of herself and the ANBU Jonin decided to gamble that her precious students could fight on their own. They were too spread out to effectively regroup and the purple haired sword mistress thought to herself, 'I'm going to take the offensive with Maya-chan. I'll trust Hinata-chan to take care of Naruto-kun. Naruto-kun, you'd better live damn it!' With that Yūgao also vanished using a body flicker.

With Hinata…

Hinata wanted to heal Naruto if she could (or at least set the bones in his arm) but instead she got up and prepared to fight as two of the missing nin's headed towards her. One had a narrow jian type sword and the other much larger one ahead of him had a broadsword. Hinata assumed her modified gentle fist stance and nailed the larger one with several strikes before the jian user said, "She's a Hyūga man! Get back and use your sword only, not taijutsu!"

Unfortunately for him his big friend had already been nailed and stumbled to the ground in pain with several chakra points closed. The smaller man drew his jian and said, "I've always wanted to fight one of you white-eyed freaks. I am a master of the blade. Without your hands being able to reach me you're nothing!"

Hinata was looking at both her opponents at once through her byakugan. The one with the broadsword was writhing in agony on the ground and was out of commission for the moment. (Groin shots hurt). Turning her attention to the jian user who was spinning his blade artistically to intimidate her with his 'awesome' skills; Hinata shrugged and drew her Hakutsume blades in silence. The arrogant jian user gawked and then said, "That's not fair! You Hyūga's always use tiajutsu only!"

Adopting her Grandmother Hanako's cold demeanor Hinata said frostily, "Life isn't fair, and neither am I. You all will suffer for hurting my friends." The jian user looked like he was about to throw a hissy fit because of her using swords but the two gleaming white kodachis came screaming at him at breakneck speeds so he had to defend himself…

With Maya….

While Hinata engaged her two foes defensively; Maya was raining hell on two opponents with extreme aggression away from the clearing. She had her sights on the one with the bow that launched the exploding tag. He also had a nodachi. With him was another missing nin wielding a katana. Seeing her crazed blue eyes and shivering at her killing intent the two were taken off guard as she axe kicked the katana user and shattered his right collar bone. He cried out and stumbled back.

Spin-kicking the katana using nin out of the way ruthlessly the Natsume heiress immediately engaged the nodachi wielder in a fearsome sword duel with the Reiki, nodachi verses nodachi. The man had an obvious edge in strength, but Maya had an edge in both speed and agility. In spite of her enraged state Maya had iron discipline pounded into her with the use of the Reiki and was gradually slicing her opponent up with great precision.

Finally, the nodachi wielder realized his katana using friend wasn't going to be able to aid him. With a feral roar he pushed Maya back and went for a brutal overhead strike that he was sure would shatter the silver haired beauty's defenses. However, instead of attempting to block or parry the overwhelming strike Maya flipped upwards and out of the arc of the blow. The nodachi ate nothing but dirt and the swordsman was left baffled as Maya landed gracefully on the flat end of his nodachi and had it pinned to the ground.

The man's eyes widened in terror and he cried out, "Wait!" as Maya effortlessly drove the Reiki strait through his heart with a vicious smile etched on her face. A gout of blood flew out of his mouth as Maya twisted the blade and used chakra to rip it out of the dying man as he fell to his knees in his death throes.

Hearing the katana user moving behind her Maya flipped off the dying nodachi user's blade as she avoided a weak one armed slash from the injured man. He groaned in pain from the movement as Maya landed behind him with catlike grace and spun with the Reiki in a horizontal slash that took the wounded man's head off in a textbook example of decapitation. Staring at the death she'd wrought for a split second; the Natsume heiress started scanning the battlefield for more targets…

With Yūgao…

A distance away in the forest Yūgao found herself facing three swordsmen armed with chokutos she'd drawn away from the others. The three were clearly very teamwork oriented. They had Rain Country headbands with a scratch through them and she wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't been a genin team together considering how well they moved in synch. She had to give these missing nin's their due. They were quite good and she gauged them all at being chunin level in experience. "To bad we have to kill such a hot woman." commented one of them.

"Yes it's a shame to destroy such a beautiful body." said the second.

The third added, "And such a pretty face too; such a waste."

'So, they distract their opponents by carrying on each other's sentences; very interesting…' thought Yūgao. 'Time to end this.' "Dance of the Crescent Moon!" she said. Two shadow clones of Yūgao sprang into existence and the three chokuto wielders suddenly found themselves assaulted from three sides. Though the technique was designed to overwhelm a single strong opponent with multiple attacks it worked admirably as the three weaker swordsmen quickly had their lives ended by the unexpected offensive.

As the dead chokuto users hit the ground the two shadow clones vanished and Yūgao flicked the blood off of her katana before she sheathed it. 'I need to see what my team is doing. I've taken out three but they could still be in real danger.' thought the purple haired kunoichi worriedly as she shot back towards the clearing where the ambush took place….

With Hinata….

The jian user was very good and would have ordinarily dominated a kodachi user but Hinata wasn't using ordinary kodachis or an ordinary style which had the arrogant jian user confounded and angry. What made him even angrier was the look of cold indifference etched on Hinata's beautiful face. The jian user hated that look more and more as she glided through his lethal strikes and didn't seem to even be paying attention to him. He was always at the center of attention. It was absolutely infuriating!

Finally the jian wielder got sloppy using a single left handed block and lost three fingers on his right hand as a result. He screamed, "God damn you fucking bitch! I'll kill you for this!" Blood sprayed from the stumps where his three fingers had been.

Hinata swung her blades back into a defensive position. "You are too arrogant." she said quietly.

"TOO ARROGANT?! I am a master swordsman little girl!" Seeing his broadsword wielding partner was getting back up he laughed maniacally and yelled, "It's over for you bitch!" and he charged her.

Hinata saw the other man getting up too and channeled chakra into the Hakutsume blades. 'I need to finish this one with the jian.' she thought to herself. The jian user charged headlong in order to force Hinata back towards his friend. They exchanged several blows and he was cackling gleefully until he noticed something was terribly wrong.

Ghostly, chakra images of Hinata's blades extended out another third of a meter from the blades themselves and he stared in open horror at his sliced open gut as his intestines fell out. He dropped his jian and used his good hand to make a futile effort to pull his innards back in.

Falling back on her training under Hanako; Hinata quickly stabbed a blade between the man's eyes and ended him forever…

…

Red eyes angrily sparked to life. The broadsword wielding missing nin had just gotten back up from Hinata's earlier gentle fist attack and he saw Naruto rise like something undead growling in anger. "Aren't you dead?!" asked the nin in shock. The bloodied Naruto answered with a crushing foot to the man's stomach as he drew Kurimuzo-kougou and lashed out drawing blood from the nin's left shoulder before the missing nin could roll clear of the slice meant to cleave off his head.

Kurimuzo glowed gleefully as it tasted human blood for the first time in centuries. It became enshrouded in mist like red chakra as the seals on it awoke from their long slumber. The missing nin was shocked was a narrow rivulet of blood started streaming continuously from his deep shoulder wound to the seemingly demonic wakizashi in Naruto's hand while the bleeding from Naruto's body seemed to be slowing down.

Naruto felt the power of Kurimuzo feeding his body with chakra as it channeled through him and directly into Shippuuhime. Feeling his right arm was now mended Naruto grasped Shippuuhime and saw it was also glowing but was enshrouded blue chakra. Wordlessly Naruto forced the chakra to the leading edge of Shippuuhime's blade and it unleashed an expanding blade of wind. The missing nin tried to block with his broadsword. but the large weapon was scored deeply by the wind blade and a second later Shippuuhime cut through the damaged broadsword like butter.

Within a millisecond the missing nin tried to dive away seeing his weapon demolished but the wind blade cleaved his torso in half from his neck to his waistline before he could react. A look of disbelief and horror were etched onto the missing nin's face as he saw his remaining blood soaked up like a sponge into Kurimuzo and the light left his eyes.

Naruto felt a bit sick at this spectacle but didn't give the corpse a second glance because a battle was still going on. Naruto's eyes faded back to blue and he hissed, "Son of a bitch…your friends will soon be in hell with you." Then the blonde ninja turned to join Hinata and the others in battle.

…

Hinata had just finished her opponent when she saw Naruto destroy his simultaneously. She also saw both Maya and Yūgao-sensei returning. Sheathing her kodachis Hinata turned to Naruto. "Are you alright Naruto-kun? You were badly hurt."

Naruto nodded. "I'll be fine in a little bit Hinata-chan. How many more are there?"

The Hyūga heiress expanded her field of vision. "One enemy swordsman is fleeing to the west but Yūgao-sensei and Maya-chan are coming back quickly. I don't think we should pursue without Yūgao-sensei's input first. Besides, you need to fully heal Naruto-kun. It may be better to just continue our mission."

Maya came into view and saw Naruto was standing. Tears of joy rushed down her cheeks as she raced over and kissed him passionately and cried, "Naruto-kun; you're okay! Thank the gods!"

It was to this scene of Naruto and Maya in a passionate lip lock that Yūgao came into the clearing. 'Well, I guess that settles it, those two are involved and-' That's when she saw Hinata gently turn Naruto and also give him a loving kiss; tongue and all. 'Now wait just a minute! I-' Then the three advanced genins hugged each other closely. 'I really feel a headache coming on…' thought Yūgao morosely as she came into the clearing. 'I love Naruto-kun like a little brother but I believe a good beating from Cat nee-chan may be in order…after I make sure he's alright.'

"Report!" yelled Yūgao as she made her presence known to her three students. They sprang apart and Hinata said, "Seven of the eight missing nins which attacked us are dead. Maya-chan killed two, Naruto-kun and I slew one each and you put down three. The remaining one is retreating rapidly to the west."

"What are your conditions?" asked the former ANBU. "It's obvious Naruto is hurt. Have you calmed down Maya? You obviously lost it back there."

Maya looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry Yūgao-sensei; I thought Naruto-kun was killed…I; I couldn't bear it!" She burst into tears and held on to Naruto's less injured left side.

Yūgao could see the emotional exhaustion in the silver haired girl's blue eyes. Sighing, Yūgao thought, 'They're still so young…' "Alright, Naruto-kun is still injured no matter how fine he says he is and the adrenaline rush has run out for Maya-chan; she's exhausted. Hinata-chan, how much chakra do you have?"

"I have about half sensei." answered Hinata.

"Well, that's about all I have left." said Yūgao. "We're in no position to pursue our enemy so our best option is to continue our mission and cover our tracks. We'll be taking a different route on the way back. Now which of you three can tell me the best way to hide our tracks?"

All three advanced genins said morosely, "We destroy the bodies."

"And given they're missing nins; what do we do before we dispose of them?" asked their sensei.

"We cut off their heads to collect the bounties and strip the remains of anything useful to Konoha." droned her students.

Yūgao nodded. "That is correct; after we check ourselves over for injuries let's all eat some rations and have some water to replenish our bodies before we get to work. That way if you throw up you won't waste any real food."

The group of four hunkered down out of sight and ate in silence before they got to the grisly work of stripping the bodies. By some minor miracle none of the genins threw up although they all looked rather green afterwards. Yūgao taught them an earth jutsu to hide the bodies deep although she didn't have them use it and took care of that herself. Then Naruto sealed up all of the seven heads and all three genins had to behead the ones they'd killed.

In the eyes of a normal fresh genin this would have been too much but Yūgao was not going to sugarcoat ninja life for them. Considering they did all this without complaint and did it well; the purple haired ANBU was very proud of her students…

…

Konoha, Natsume Clan Home

Hanabi was finishing doing some calligraphy practice. Aya had arrived from the Ninja Academy a couple of hours ago and went to soak in the Natsume Family hot springs. That had been quite a while ago… Hanabi wondered if her adoptive nee-chan had fallen asleep in the springs and activated her byakugan to see if Aya was all right or if she needed to wake Aya up. Looking, the younger Hyūga sister saw Aya seemed to have her head lolling back and forth disturbingly and had chakra streaming to her eyes much like the byakugan… Only, Aya didn't have the byakugan.

Sensing something was very wrong Hanabi jumped up and ran over towards the hot springs. Natsu saw her young charge dash by and wondered why she was running inside the house. Following after her, Natsu said, "Hanabi-sama slow down! It is unseemly to be running around the house this way for a Lady of your stature."

Hanabi stopped and turned back to Natsu with a glare in her eyes. "Something is wrong with Aya nee-chan! She's in the hot springs and I'm going to help her!" With a frown on her cute face Hanabi said, "-And you are coming with me Natsu-san! Let's go!"

Natsu was puzzled but using her byakugan she saw something was indeed wrong with Aya. Rushing into the hot springs a minute later Natsu and Hanabi saw Aya seemed delirious and her eyes were slitted and glowing red. Natsu gasped, "Is this the ryugan?"

Hanabi jumped in the hot springs clothes and all and shook Aya. "Aya nee-chan, snap out of it!"

Aya blinked in her dreamlike state and said, "H-Hanabi-chan, is that you?"

"Of course, it's me Aya nee-chan!" said Hanabi panicked. "Your eyes are glowing and your chakra is really low. Stop channeling chakra to your eyes!"

"Chakra in my eyes?" asked Aya absentmindedly. "I don't know how that happened. I'm so tired…"

Hanabi turned to Natsu who was standing there concerned and said, "Help me get her out of the water Natsu-san! She's really out of it!"

Soon the two Hyūgas managed to pull Aya up onto the floor and got a towel on her. "This is bad." said Natsu. "She is bordering on chakra exhaustion. Hanako-sama is out and we need to do something. Aya-sama, can you hear me?" she asked the delirious girl. Aya just laid there muttering out of her head. Seeing the ryugan was rapidly draining Aya's chakra Natsu said, "I hate to do this but better a headache later than dead now. Stand back Hanabi-sama, I'm going to close the chakra points above her eyes."

Hanabi stood back a step and watched as Natsu delicately tapped the chakra points above Aya's eyes and they faded from red back to Aya's normal brown. "Owww… What happened? Why does my head hurt?" asked Aya irritably. Hanabi and Natsu both let out a sigh of relief seeing Aya coherent.

"Aya nee-chan, you're alright!" said Hanabi. "You were talking crazy and wouldn't deactivate your eyes."

The younger Natsume sister tried to sit up and then groaned, "I'm so tired and weak; what's going on?" before she rested on her back again. "What about my eyes Hanabi-chan?"

Natsu said, "I believe you activated the ryugan Aya-sama. You couldn't seem to deactivate them and were delirious."

"No wonder I was seeing so many spirits…" muttered Aya. "Is that why my head hurts Natsu-san?" she asked tiredly.

"Forgive me, I had to close the chakra points above your eyes to deactivate the ryugan Aya-sama." said Natsu apologetically. "You were in danger of chakra exhaustion and your life would have been at risk otherwise."

Aya sighed, "I wish Maya nee-chan was here. I don't know much about using the ryugan. I wonder why it activated. Maya nee-chan has the family scrolls on the ryugan locked up tight."

Hanabi said, "Let's wait for Obaa-chan to get home Aya nee-chan. Maybe there's something she knows about the ryugan that will help."

Nodding tiredly Aya said, "I want to take a nap until Hanako Obaa-chan arrives."

"Let's get you dried off and then we'll get you to bed Aya-sama." suggested Natsu.

Within the hour Aya was sleeping peacefully in her bed in a sleeping yukata and both Hanabi and Natsu had changed into some dry clothing. Now they just had to wait for Hanako to get home…

…

Tea Country, Forest

Team 11 was exhausted. It was hours after destroying the evidence of their battle and a lot of travelling that they stopped and set up camp for the night. They hadn't made it to Hekison Village as planned and were all completely worn out. Naruto had numerous seal barriers set up and they were all very much on guard against ambush all that night taking shifts in twos. Yūgao had a small talk with each of them individually in her tent about their first kills and was very supportive with each of the kids as they broke down in tears. Unsurprisingly, Hinata felt the worst but all three genins were (understandably) miserable about the matter and Yūgao knew that it would simply take time.

Yūgao was honestly shocked at the Kurimuzo-kougou apparently drinking blood. From what Naruto described the blade absorbed the life essence of Naruto's opponent and converted it into chakra. The wakizashi then fed chakra through Naruto's body and charged the Shipuuhime as well as enhancing Naruto's already unbelievable regeneration. It was both creepy and fascinating to the sword mistress. She wondered what else Naruto's swords could do. The blonde ninja pretty much used the blades instinctually from what she could tell so they would need to study the blades carefully if he was to master them. They weren't considered legendary for nothing…

The purple haired swordswoman also considered talking to her three charges about the exact nature of how they were involved romantically be decided it could wait until they got back to Konoha. If Naruto needed a beating, then Yūgao would wait until it was safe to do so. Besides, all three advanced genins were emotionally spent. Yūgao didn't want them having sex on the job or anything but if they needed each other emotionally then it wouldn't be right to interfere. (That and she and Hayate had gotten carried away more than once having sex on missions when they were alone. They totally ruined a tent that way once).

Getting her thoughts back on track; Yūgao pushed the thoughts of what she could be getting if her Hayate-kun was here out of her head and settled into a light sleep until morning.

The rest of the night passed peacefully…

…

Konoha, Natsume Clan Home

Hanako arrived home rather late. Since Tsunade was announced to become Hokage earlier this week Hanako had been going on a few more dates with Hiruzen. The elderly couple was bidding each other goodnight with a sweet kiss when Hanabi opened the door. Hanako raised an eyebrow and said, "Well good evening to you Hanabi-chan; a young lady such as yourself should be getting your beauty rest right now wouldn't you agree?"

Hanabi bowed formally and said, "Forgive me. Obaa-chan, Hokage-sama; I need your help and Natsu-san and I waited up for you."

Hiruzen and Hanako heard the seriousness in Hanabi's seven-year-old voice and the Hokage said, "Whatever is the matter child?"

Seeing a nod from her Grandmother in the darkness Hanabi said, "We think Aya nee-chan has activated her ryugan and it drained a lot of her chakra. Natsu-san and I were unable to find any way but closing the chakra points above her eyes in order to deactivate them since she doesn't seem to be able to activate or deactivate them on her own."

Hanako activated her own byakugan and saw Aya was sleeping peacefully with a mild case of chakra exhaustion. Natsu seemed to be on standby in the kitchen to listen in case Aya needed anything. "It seems Aya-chan is sleeping. Hiruzen, would you help…?"

Hiruzen smiled. "Of course I'll help; I insist."

"Let's head inside and see what we can do Hanabi-chan." said Hanako. She was a little surprised when Hanabi gave her a hug right then and there in front of Hiruzen. Hanako smiled gently and returned Hanabi's hug. "You've been really worried about Aya-chan haven't you?" Seeing Hanabi nod and tear up a little Hanako kneeled down and kissed her granddaughter's forehead and said, "Everything is going to be fine little one."

Two hours later…

Hiruzen, Hanako and the recently drafted Jiraiya were standing in front of a concealed safe in the study that the exhausted Aya told them about as Jiraiya puzzled over a colossal sealing array that kept it sealed shut and protected. Mito was sitting in the front room with Hanabi under the supervision of Natsu. Both little girls were dead asleep and snoring adorably as they leaned on each other on the couch.

Jiraiya yawned and looked up from the seal work on the safe tiredly. He turned around and said to Hiruzen and Hanako, "Sarutobi-sensei, Hanako-sama; this is an outstanding piece of work that Naruto has created. To make a long story short there isn't a chance in hell I can open this seal tonight. It will take some serious study. The seal matrixes are very complex and many are traps or false leads. I've already been shocked three times."

"What do we know so far Jiraiya?" asked Hiruzen.

The toad sanin sighed. "There is a blood seal that I assume is keyed to the Natsume heiress' blood but in order to even get to it there's an advanced, multilayer chakra seal that is also attuned to her specific chakra. Even if we were able to get a blood sample of Maya's from Konoha hospital to fool the blood seal we couldn't use it to open the safe."

Hiruzen and Hanako both sweat dropped and Hiruzen said, "You know; there is such a thing as being too good at what you do. This safe is probably more secure than ANBU headquarters or the Hokage Tower."

Hanako had her hand on her forehead as if to ward off an oncoming migraine. "I always encouraged Naruto-kun to excel but if it's completely out of Jiraiya's league then I wonder what the true level of defense this house has."

"What do you mean Hanako-chan?" asked Hiruzen as Jiraiya nodded along in the background.

"What I mean Hiruzen-kun is Naruto has ten levels of security on this home." explained Hanako. "It is always at a minimum of level two unless deactivated so a wall could be taken down or the place remodeled or repaired. The highest I've ever seen it was level six and that trapped several ANBU inside and prevented them from body flickering out in or out because of a chakra shield. Every square inch of the walls, ceilings and floors has a seal or seals of some type. Most of them I'm not even aware of."

Jiraiya asked, "What about that chakra drainage seal that was used when you executed Danzo?"

The Hyūga matriarch just shook her head. "That's just one of the many 'little' traps that Naruto-kun set up as a defense for a family member to activate. He never actually said it but Naruto-kun implied that the full house defenses made that seem trivial by comparison."

"I'm at a loss for words." said Hiruzen in a harried voice.

"So am I." added Jiraiya with a sweat drop. "That chakra drainage seal was unbelievably effective…"

Hanako sighed. "Well, if it's any consolation Jiraiya, Naruto-kun is the last Royal Uzumaki. That kind of brilliance with seals is in his blood. Even given that I believe Naruto-kun is beyond gifted though. If he'd grown up under the tutelage of Uzu seal masters, then think how incredible he'd be by now. All that he's done here has all been from reading and learning through experimentation and imagination. I'd say even by Uzu standards the boy would be renowned. Unfortunately, that leaves us no closer to opening that safe and getting the ryugan scrolls."

About that time Aya drifted in tiredly with her yukata wrapped around her warmly. "Did you have any luck opening that safe Obaa-chan?" she asked sleepily.

"I'm afraid not Aya-chan." answered Hanako. "What are you doing up? You must be exhausted child."

"I just wanted to see." said Aya as she rubbed her eyes sleepily. The girl sleepwalked around Jiraiya and moved to grab the handle to the safe. "Maya nee-chan says it turns up to the left."

Jiraiya said, "That handle may as well be cast as part of the door my dear. It won't budge."

'CLICK'

There was a flash and the safe handle turned ninety degrees and the door to the safe opened silently the second Aya's fingers gripped it. Aya yawned. "I guess it must have been stuck Jiraiya-sama." She yawned again and said "Well, I'm going to go back to bed." She drifted out the way she'd come in as the three adults in the study stared in disbelief.

After Aya closed the door behind her there were a few seconds of silence before Jiraiya face faulted and cried with anime tears, "It's just like Kushina-chan's black box all over again!"

As Hiruzen comforted his blubbering student Hanako shook her head irritably and reached into the safe where a few unsealed scrolls were regarding the ryugan. Stifling a yawn of her own she closed the safe which once again made a 'click' sound and said, "Hiruzen, send Jiraiya home once he gets done sobbing. I'm taking these scrolls to the kitchen to read them. Join me when you're done with your brat." Then she stepped out of the study.

'What a woman!' thought Hiruzen to himself. "Calm down and stop being so dramatic Jiraiya-kun. It's not like somebody died or anything."

Jiraiya sniffled, "Only my pride as a seal master was brutally assassinated by a genius Uzu killer…"

Hiruzen just sighed. 'Some things will never change…'

…

POSTSCRIPT:

Well, mainly an action-oriented chapter. Yūgao's Team got blooded a lot sooner than she planned and are currently trying to get their heads level again after that experience. The Uzumaki Royal blades have also given us a peek at some of their hidden abilities. On the home front Aya has awakened the ryugan and Maya is away so it's up to Hanako and Hiruzen to puzzle things out for now. What does that portend? See you next time. Blue out. 6/23/23