Chapter 50

— Naruko —

"ARGH!"

She ripped the chakra paper in half, reinforced more chakra into it, and sent it hurling into a nearby tree. She looked at the copy of the scroll she was learning a jutsu from and would have done the same to it, if not for how cool it was.

It had been a week since Lei woke up and six days since he started training with Gramps. On the second day of his training, he called her, Hinata, and Satsuki together and they talked.

— Flashback —

"So what did you wanna talk about, Lei?" Naruko asked, sitting down on the couch with an eager smile. Typically, whenever Lei wanted to talk to them, it was for good things, like new training methods or a gift!

It would work out if he got them a gift. She and Satsuki got Lei a little something in the Land of Waves, and while they wanted to wait before giving it, they wouldn't mind giving him an early present. Hinata got hers from them already, and she was in on giving Lei…a little surprise.

"A lot of things actually, some of them good." He admitted, sitting down next to her. She had been waiting for that! Now it was time to claim her spot in his-

Before she could move, Satsuki had beat her to it, taking a seat in their boyfriend's lap.

"I…Satsuki!"

"The early shinobi gets the kill, as they say." Satsuki teased, leaning back into Lei's chest.

Naruko was ready to bite back, but one look at Hinata told her such a thing would not bode well for her. So she silently vowed to get Satsuki back later and looked to Lei.

"Alright, I have a lot to say, so I'll start by telling you that I'm training with Gramps." He announced.

That…wasn't news. They didn't know who he was training with, only that he was training, but with him heading to the Hokage's mansion, it wasn't hard to figure out who he was learning from.

"Of course you are." Satsuki frowned. "What have you been doing?"

"Yeah, I guess it was kinda obvious. Nothing too interesting just increased weight training." Lei waved off with a distant look. "If you girls know that I'm training with Gramps, do you know why?"

Why? They had never thought about that, or at least Naruko hadn't. She brought a hand to her chin and closed her eyes to ponder.

Lei was strong and had a lot of potential, it made sense for Gramps to go out of his way to train him. Was there any reason besides that?

"I have a few guesses," Satsuki said after a moment and Naruko looked at her like the Uchiha had grown a second head. How? How the hell did Satsuki figure out something she couldn't?!

Naruko looked down at Satsuki's washboard of a chest and then back to her own full chest. A proud smirk tugged at her lips.

"Looks like that lack of boob meat has gone to your brain!"

Satsuki glared down at her. "Looks like those cow tits of yours are compensating for your lack of brains."

"Ouch! Critical hit!" Lei gasped. Meanie! He was supposed to take her side in this!

"No, that doesn't make any sense." Naruko shook her head, standing up and pointing at Hinata. "If my chest makes me dumber, then what about Hinata?! Both of our chests are the same size!"

Hinata gave an innocent smile as she always did, not wanting to be involved in this, but Naruko needed a scapegoat, and Hinata was the perfect one.

Naruko smirked at Satsuki's glare. They both knew insulting Hinata was out of the question, less they fear her wrath.

"Hinata is an exception, she has the brains and the looks, while you only have one of those." Satsuki frowned, looking down.

"Ooh, a weak blow!" Lei threw his hands up dramatically and Naruko's smirk grew.

She won!

"Alright, enough of that. Lei, tell us why you're training with Lord Hokage." Hinata spoke up, getting to the root of this talk. Lei liked to dance around topics and build dramatic tension. Something that Naruko both hated and loved.

"Right." Lei rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before his gaze hardened.

Naruko sat up straighter, as did Satsuki and Hinata, whatever he had to say…was important.

Lei took a deep breath before he spoke. "This is all unofficial as of right now, but Gramps…he named me his successor."

Silence.

Naruko's heart stopped as she looked into the green eyes of her boyfriend.

Lei was going to be the next Hokage?

What about her dream? She wanted to spread the Uzumaki name far and wide, but she also wanted to have the hat of Konoha's leader as she did it.

"Congratulations, Lei!" Hinata broke the silence, wrapping their boyfriend in a tight hug, her cheeks pressing against his as he returned the hug. Satsuki didn't stay idle either, joining in on the hug.

Naruko shook her head, it was a bittersweet moment for her. She shouldn't be upset, if anyone could lead the village well, it was Lei.

She too joined in on the hug and it lasted for several minutes before they all parted. All of them asked him questions regarding his successorship.

"Did Gramps tell you when you're gonna take over?" Naruko questioned.

"What about a public announcement, did Lord Hokage mention anything about that?" Hinata chimed in.

"I wonder what will change…No point thinking about it now, this can only be a good thing!" Satsuki smiled.

"No, no, and I hope so." Lei chuckled before his eyes widened slightly in remembrance. "Oh, I almost forgot, there was something I wanted to give you three." He moved to get up and Satsuki got off of his lap so he could.

Lei walked out of the room, leaving the three alone.

"How are you feeling, Naruko?" Hinata asked with concern. They had spent years together and knew each other's dreams like the back of their hand. Naruko wasn't surprised to see that Hinata cared about her feelings in the moment.

"I'm fine- I'm better than fine, ya know?" Naruko's lips twitched upwards. Sure, she wouldn't be Hokage…yet, but the next best thing was the man she loved taking the hat. "I'm happy that Lei gets to accomplish his dream, and just because he succeeded doesn't mean I failed. Whenever Lei brings peace to Konoha and the Elemental Nations, I'll take his hat from him, believe it!"

"That sounds about right." Satsuki grinned. "The number one knucklehead can never stay down for too long."

"Yup, and who knows, maybe if you can grow a chest as big as ours, you may accomplish your dream of repopulating the Uchiha clan." Naruko teased, pushing her chest together. "With how much Lei's eyes drift over to these, I'm sure he's more interested in chests of the larger variety, ya know?"

Satsuki's grin disappeared in an instant, and a scowl replaced it. "Do you wanna go, Naruko!" The Uchiha girl shot up out of her seat, ready to take this outside and settle it.

Naruko was more than happy to oblige, so she stood up as well.

"Stop fighting and sit down." Lei groaned, walking into the room. "Seriously, I leave for two minutes, and you two are ready to throw hands."

"She started it." Naruko pointed at Satsuki with the latter girl glaring.

"Sit," Lei ordered, and with a huff, both girls followed his command.

Lei reached into his pouch and pulled out a seal. Holding up a hand seal, he released the contents of the seal, and once the puff of smoke cleared, the three of them looked at the three scrolls that appeared with confusion.

"Scrolls?" Naruko asked.

Lei gave a nod and grinned at them, handing each of them their own scroll before stepping back.

They all looked at each other before unraveling the binds on the scrolls and opening them. Naruko's eyes barely scanned the scroll for long before they widened.

This…This is the-

"The Hiraishin?!" Satsuki shouted, standing up.

Lei winced at her loud voice and brought a finger to his lips to keep her quiet. Satsuki blushed and sat back down, but the excitement was still there.

"Gramps gave it to me in case Orochimaru ever came after me again. Also, the old elder guy, Danzo. They're both declared as missing shinobi in the village who have me in their sights." Lei explained, and things started making sense.

Naruko inspected the scroll with unconcealed excitement. This jutsu was the reason why she got into fuinjutsu in the first place! Now, she had it in her possession, and she was free to learn as she pleased!

She could catch and surpass all of them!

"Wait, you said what about Lord Danzo?!" Hinata stood up, shock on her features.

Who the hell is Lord Danzo?

— End of Flashback —

Over the six days, she had several things to do besides learning the Hiraishin. One of them was that stupid meeting about the stupid man with a stupid eye.

Uchiha and their stupid, powerful eyes…Satsuki would be getting an upgrade like that any day now; Naruko couldn't fall behind!

She hasn't progressed much with her time learning the Hiraishin. Deciphering the seal was something that took a great deal of effort since it was created with the Fourth Hokage's exclusive use in mind.

It was a good idea in the grand scheme of things. Even if an enemy shinobi got a hold of this scroll, it would take a fuinjutsu master with a great deal of experience to decipher his seal and rework it in a way that allowed others to use it.

This was a challenge that much was certain, but Naruko welcomed it wholeheartedly!

— Lei —

I dropped to the ground once again. I was doing that a lot these days.

"You have made a great deal of improvement, Lei. Thirty-six laps when you started with a meager eleven just six days ago. It reminds me a great deal of your father's abnormal physical capabilities." Gramps-sensei complimented me, and my cheeks grew a tad red as a smile formed on my lips. I always liked being compared to my dad, even if I didn't know him. He was an amazing shinobi if Gramps and Asuma are to be believed.

"You put me through hell; I'm glad my body could take it." I patted my body. There weren't any noticeable changes to my muscles, but then again, it's only been six days. In that short amount of time, I could feel my body growing stronger, and as I felt my biceps, the invisible muscle beneath my skin was hardening my arm. My body was starting to become rock solid.

"A necessary action; we need you prepared for anything." Hiruzen's eyes drifted over to one of the trees, and I expanded my senses and felt a familiar ANBU. I guess they had something to report.

"Well, that concludes our training for today; prepare for an even harder day tomorrow."

"Will do, Gramps-sensei." I saluted and walked my sore body back home. Once I turned the corner, I considered waiting around to listen in, but I knew I'd be caught trying to do some shit like that.

The truth was Danzo was by no means gone from the village. Sure, physically, he wasn't here, but he had ROOT in the ANBU and was a former Konoha elder.

He knew the security, patrol routes, and any hole in either of those, like the back of his hand. I could tell Hiruzen was scrambling to change that, to alter such things to prevent an all-out assault, and I considered Jiraiya's disappearance ever since the first day of my training as proof of that.

Jiraiya was Hiruzen's most trusted shinobi, and if I had to guess, he tasked Jiraiya to lead this shift in security.

Everything that was happening with Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Danzo, all of it. It screamed for me to get stronger, to pull my own weight, and clear up this threat.

There was no use thinking about these things; I couldn't do anything as I was, but I felt like I was running out of time.

The chunin exams are a month and two weeks away, and I felt like these exams would be…eventful.