The Siblings

Chapter 4

"Hokage-sama, the squads are back!" Shizune rushed through the wooden door to deliver the news.

Tsunade's eyes flickered with interest as the black-haired woman caught her breath. "Were there any casualties?" she asked, propping her chin on her intertwined hands.

Shizune's face was washed over by sadness. "The entire mission was finished with, astonishingly, only one death. However, we've lost one of our top notch shinobi to this vile organization" she dutifully reported.

The Hokage seemed to lose her patience. "Who did we lose, Shizune?" she boomed.

"Sarutobi Asuma" came a whispered reply.

Tsunade sat back into her seat, sighing heavily. "Shizune, send in Squad Asuma" she ordered and turned to me as soon as Shizune left the office. "As for you, Naoto, go out on the training fields and announce Kakashi, Yamato and Naruto"

I nodded, the metal headband heavy on my forehead.

"And I ask this of you. Wait a while before telling Naruto about your relationship with him. The Nine-Tailed Fox is unstable right now, and it might take advantage of the shock such news would cause" she called out, just as I reached the door. "In fact, tell no one just yet" she continued.

I nodded again and made my way out of the Hokage Mansion and through the village, approaching the isolated training ground, where I knew that the three ninja were camped out and training from sunrise till sundown. As soon as I entered their perimeter, however, the soft breeze changed direction, apparently carrying my scent towards them. A spiky-haired blond boy, whom I recognized as Naruto, turned towards me, and I could see his face contort in a painful grimace, an orange shroud immediately covering him from head to toe. Kurama was showing his fangs, probably because he sensed Kuronuma's powerful chakra, his senses immediately switching to defence. But in the blink of an eye, he switched to offence and launched himself at me. The other two were dumbstruck for a second, but then redeemed themselves and raced after Naruto's Kurama-controled body, but they were no match for his speed.

"Let me be in charge!" Kuronuma fiercely growled within me, and I found my feet carrying me backwards and my hands performing hand signs.

A black shroud quickly covered my right arm, and when the last hand sign had been performed, I took it as a cue to place my palm over Naruto's forehead, knocking the shroud back into the depths of his seal.

"Are you okay, Naruto?" I asked, as he shook his head in confusion.

He looked at me with a pair of big blue eyes. "What just happened? Who are you? How do you know me? How come I've never seen you around?" he bombarded me with questions.

"Naruto" a deep voice, which I immediately figured was Yamato's, as it was not muffled by a mask, spoke, stopping the blond from asking more questions.

"Naruto, this is Naoto, the newest kunoichi in the village" Kakashi explained, as he finally caught up.

The blond snapped. "I don't care who she is!" he yelled. "I want to know what the hell just happened and why has the Fox just popped up and attacked her"

I kept calm, although the looks on the older ones' faces gave away the expectation of me slapping Naruto. "I don't really know why I was attacked, but what I did was knock Kurama unconscious for a while, sending him back to his seal" I replied.

Three jaws dropped.

"But that is inhuman! No one can just bare-handedly knock a Tailed Beast unconscious" Yamato exclaimed. "I can feel the powerful chakra that flows in your system, but it can't be that powerful. That is unless..." he started ranting.