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Shy Fox Chronicles
Chapter 8: The Way of Eternal Friendship
"Momma, why do I have to keep coming to these old people meetings?" Naruto groaned, so lethargic that the Hokage had to drag him along the ground.
"Because Momma has to do very important things, Naruto. And you can't be trusted to stay out of trouble for five minutes." Kushina explained to her son.
"That's nothin' but lies and slander. I can at least go for six minutes." Naruto pouted, puffing his cheeks indignantly.
"Hyperbole, Naruto." Kushina replied simply.
"What's a hyper bowl?" Naruto asked, confused at the new fancy word in his midst.
"A hyperbole, son. It's an exaggeration to get a point across." Kushina explained.
"Exagger… what?" Naruto asked in further confusion, as his brain was on the verge of crossing wires from all the unfamiliar words.
"It means saying something to make something seem way worse than it actually is." Kushina explained further, happy to be expanding her baby boy's vocabulary.
"Then if I'm not as bad as you say, why do I still have to go to the ancient gallery of decrepit shinobi?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Wow, Naruto. That is a lot of big words. I guess those vocabulary lessons really are paying off." Kushina teasingly replied.
"They aren't. I just heard Grandpa Oda say those along with a bunch of words like fucking…" Naruto said, before being cut off by Kushina.
Kushina's eye twitched at that. "Naruto, never say that F-word again. That is a word only used by bad, naughty adults." she sternly told her son.
"I heard you say fuck last night to Uncle Rea." Naruto said bluntly to his momma.
"Do as I say, not as I do." Kushina told him.
"If you don't do it, then why should I?" Naruto asked.
"Because I said so and I am your mother." Kushina replied.
"But, if momma does it, then it can't be that bad…" Naruto said placatingly, as if trying to get to her.
Kushina sighed. "How about this: Momma will try to not use those words anymore as long as you don't say them." She offered in an attempt to get her son to stop.
"Deal." Naruto chipperly answered.
Kushina smiled. "Good. Now come along, Naruto. Your new friends will all be there too." she told him.
"Yay… wait… I sense a catch." Naruto said, squinting his eyes suspiciously.
"You have to stay out of trouble. Someone new may be at the meeting and I want you to make a good first impression." Kushina explained to the blonde toddler.
"There's always a catch…" Naruto sighed.
"If you wanna be a big, strong ninja, you'll have to get used to that. No one in our world ever does anything for free out of the goodness of their heart, Naruto. Even when they really should." She told him sadly.
"Well, I will." Naruto said, puffing out his chest to try and make himself look bigger.
Kushina smiled at that. "And that's why you're mommy's sweet little man." she replied, pinching his cheek gently.
"Momma… you'll make me look like a dork…" Naruto groaned as his cheek was stretched a bit by his mother.
Kushina giggled. "Oh hush, Naruto. I think it's cute that you're so honest." she replied.
"Just don't let Kakashi get a hold of him then, Kushina-sama." A familiar, cheeky sounding voice called out.
Turning to look, the two saw the telltale sight of Kakashi, Rin and Obito walking towards them. The three had grown taller and looked more physically mature. Rin had filled out to become the mature, near motherly figure the two strong personalities on the team needed. Obito had even lost some baby fat and ditched his goggles, having a leaner and more mature looking face. Donning an eyepatch with the Uchiha symbol to cover his donated eye, and a face that could conquer the shinobi nations. As for Kakashi, he had the headband of his forehead protector covering his Sharingan eye, having shed his aloof pride and replaced it as a snake would its own skin with a distant, yet visible kindness. Naruto soon got a smile as he broke free from his mother's grip and rushed over, leaping into Obito's awaiting arms. As Rin giggled at the now snuggling Naruto, and Kakashi a hint jealous at it not being him that he ran to.
"No hug for your Big Brother Kakashi, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, sounding a hint of jealousy.
"You still have yet to pay the toll." Naruto ominously said to Kakashi.
"Ah, of course. How silly of me." Kakashi replied, pulling out a bar of chocolate.
Naruto then, in the blink of an eye, faster than even the Sharingan could perceive, snatched it out of the white-haired cyclops' grip and devoured it. Then, like a frog, he leapt out of Obito's arms and into Kakashi's.
"When did this start?" Kushina asked, raising her eyebrow at the curious custom.
Rin rolled her eyes. "His Big Bro Obito started sneaking him extra sweets in exchange for being good during our lessons with him." the brown-haired medical ninja explained.
"That explains why Naruto's been getting fat…" Kushina muttered.
"I'm not fat!" Naruto yelled in indignance.
"You could stand to exercise a little more, baby brother." Rin said playfully.
"Whose side are you on, Big Sis Rin?" Naruto asked, squinting at the Jōnin nin.
"The side that keeps you healthy and strong." Rin replied, ruffling his hair.
"Obito, how many sweets are we talking about?" Kushina asked, turning her attention to the Uchiha in question.
"Only one… for every subject he behaves during…" Obito reluctantly admitted.
"At least you aren't reading Jiraya's literature in public this time, Kakashi…" Kushina sighed in relief.
"Some people don't appreciate good literature…" Kakashi sighed, shaking his head.
"Can I read it?" Naruto asked curiously.
"No." All of the adults, including Kakashi himself, simply told Naruto.
Naruto began to pout as Kushina was forced to part ways, leaving the boy in the care of the team. Obito let Naruto ride on his shoulders to help cheer him up as they headed off to the predetermined meeting point. All of Naruto's friends were there, with their own guards and chaperones for safekeeping. However, Naruto noticed another familiar face and the new face of a young lad he had not met before. One of them had long brown hair, bandage wrappings over his forehead, and the same eyes as Hinata and Enten. He also had what he had heard Big Bro Obito once refer to as "Resting Bitch Face." He immediately recognized him as their cousin Neji.
The other boy, on the other hand, looked very bizarre. He had long black hair tied up in a martial artist style braided ponytail, perfectly round eyes like a bug's, and big, bushy eyebrows. He also had what Naruto could only describe as a "youthful" air about him, as he had heard Big Bro Kakashi's friend Guy once call it. Despite their disparate appearances and demeanors, they both wore amazingly simple attire. The Hyūga boy had very traditional robes of the clan, while the other boy wore deep forest green.
"Um… who are you?" Naruto nervously asked the green clad boy, being forced in front of the comforting leg of Obito.
"I am Rock Lee of the Lee clan! It is a pleasure to meet you!" The boy, now identified as Rock Lee, said exuberantly before bowing to Naruto in respect.
"Big bro Obito! Help me! He's weird!" Naruto huskily whispered back to his brotherly protector.
"Just go along with it, Naruto! He seems like a good kid! In fact, he… actually reminds me a lot of Guy… gonna need to ask him later if he 'spread his youth' with some girl…" Obito replied before muttering to himself.
Almost immediately after saying that, Rin smacked Obito across the back of the head. As Obito soon cowered over the scowling face of a protective big sister, Kakashi shook his head.
"Gods above, he's spreading…" Kakashi said, pinching the bridge of his nose, earning Kakashi smack upside the head from Rin.
"Both of you, shut your face holes! Let Naruto make new friends uncorrupted by your weirdness!" Rin screamed at the two.
"Sorry, Rin…" The two young men replied, rubbing the backs of their heads where they got hit.
"Despite his eccentricities, I can vouch for him being a good and reliable friend." Neji plainly and coldly said.
"I knew you liked me!" Lee yelled happily before crushing the poor Hyūga in a vigorous bear hug.
"Lee…! Too tight…! Need… air…!" Neji groaned out, his vision beginning to blur.
"Who needs air when you have youthful friendship flowing through your body!!" Lee yelled, crushing ever tighter.
"The… affection…! It… burns…! Passing… out…!" Neji groaned, his vision beginning to go dark.
Enten sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Lee, as much as my cousin annoys me, can you please stop killing him through extreme affection? You can have a youthful friendship a lot longer with him if he's alive." Enten ordered Lee, who seemed to understand her logic.
"Fair enough, Enten-san! That is an exceptionally good point!" Lee replied, dropping Neji in a crumpled heap on the floor as the Hyūga boy took in deep breaths of life-giving air.
"N-Neji! Are you okay!?" Hinata yelled, rushing over to check up on him.
"I… I swear I saw my life flash before my eyes! It was so boring…" Neji noted as he began to get his breathing under control.
"Right, can we move on from attempted rib cage crushing to actually doing something?" Sasuke asked, looking around the vast group of peers.
"Um… sure. Let's play a game of some kind. Anybody got any ideas for something that'd be fun with all of us here?" Naruto asked a bit uncomfortably.
"I suggest a youthful game of Onigokko!" Lee called out enthusiastically.
"Oni!" Enten giggled, poking Naruto on the cheek before running off.
"No fair, Enten! I wasn't ready!" Naruto called out before chasing after the exuberant sister among the Hyūga twins.
"All's fair in love and war, Naruto-kun!" Enten cackled, playfully running away from the Uzumaki Prince.
Meanwhile: During the Meeting
"Thank you for meeting with me Mr. and Mrs. Lee… I'm terribly sorry, I didn't catch your names." Kushina said as if she was led into the depths of the Lee Clan compound.
"'S cool, Lady Hokage. The name's Jazz. Jazz Lee." The woman with long black, wearing a pair of circular sunglasses and a fedora, replied smoothly, pointing a finger gun at the Uzumaki Hokage.
"Don't you worry, boss lady. We all can lose track of each other's names in the vast waves we call life. Ma' name's Reggae Lee, mon. And yes. I am quite straight." The man, eerily similar in looks to his son but wearing a rasta hat, said as he wrapped an arm around his wife.
"Noted… why did Rea have to stand outside?" Kushina sighed. Though other Uzumaki and Kamishini had followed her in, she felt a miss without her cousin to strangle.
They eventually were led into a large if plain meeting hall. Though Kushina could not fault them for that, they were not the richest of clans. After everyone was assembled, Seishin had prepared visual representations of what they needed to bring up to the clan, having heard of their… simple reputation. Once it was set up, Kushina stood up in front of the clan elders.
"I thank you all the Lee Clan Council for being able to be here today. Today's topic is of paramount importance, and I believe due to your clan's unique skills, your clan will be essential to helping to solve these issues." Kushina said, pulling out a pointer from her robes.
"We-hee understand, Lady Hokage! Please, go ahead and explain!" One of the Lee clan elders, an older man in a suit, a fedora, and white gloves, replied as he tipped his hat up and looked at her.
"Thank you, Pop Lee. Now Seishin has, in the previous weeks, got you up to date on the current state of affairs with the seals to the other realms. To ensure that any potential strategy we do go with works, we will have to work with other villages." Kushina explained, pointing to an equivalent point on the board.
Jazz Lee nodded in understanding. "The seals on the other realms could break and let untold horrors into our world. Not cool. We may have issues with the other villages, but we need to set those aside for now." Jazz replied smoothly.
"Which is why I have chosen your clan to be the foremost ambassadors to the other villages and their daimyō." Kushina said, pointing to Jazz in the process with her pointer, leaving both her clan and the Kamishini nervous.
"Don't worry, mon! We'll get to the other villages on side. The vast ocean that is our world must be kept clean of the sharks that would plague it." Reggae assured his village's leader.
"Well, that went better than expected. I was almost expecting immediate objections to that idea…" Kushina nervously said.
"Are you certain it's a good idea to allow the Lee clan to handle diplomatic relations?" Shikaku asked a bit nervously.
"Agreed. How do you think the Second Great Ninja War started?" Hiashi added, looking at Pop Lee.
"Oh, sure. You get a daimyō's daughter pregnant one time, and you never hear the end of it…" Pop Lee muttered.
"Only one?" Oda asked, raising an eyebrow. "Son, that's rookie numbers."
"Great-grandfather!" Kushina called out indignantly.
"Right, right. Moving aside from the fact that the current daimyō may or may not be descended from me, does anyone have any questions?" Oda said, pivoting back to the meeting.
"How will we be organizing our forces to deal with each individual seal?" Shibi asked, raising a logical question of tactical importance.
"No concrete plans have been made at this time. The Kamishini are still scouting on the seals to get a better idea at what is leaking through from what realm. When we have sufficient data, we will be able to make a plan." Kushina explained, which got Shibi frustrated, but pressed the Hokage no further on the matter.
"In that case, we will need to prioritize whichever seal is the weakest according to their findings. As soon as we know which one is going to break soonest, we will arrange for a contingent of our forces to head out to ensure it gets reinforced." Shikaku noted with a nod.
"I have every force I have available scouting the seals. However, getting close to one is not easy even at the best of times. You will all have to be patient." Seishin said with a sigh, crossing his arms.
"Agreed. For now, all we can do is wait patiently for the Kamishini's findings. Once we know which seals we need to prioritize, we can begin strategizing before we make our move." Hiashi added, backing up Seishin's words.
"What I wouldn't give for our cousins Iron Feather forces right now…" Seishin muttered under his breath, sinking back into his seat.
Before anyone could say anything further, the doors burst open as two blurs shot around the room. One clad in orange and red while the other wore a deep forest green. And two very familiar voices called out to each other as the two raced around the room.
"Stay away, Lee!" The orange blur called out as he ran around the table.
"Nonsense, Naruto-kun! The rules of Onigokko say I must tag you in order to not be it! In this springtime of our youth, we must enjoy it to the fullest!" The forest green blur called out.
"I do not consent to this!" Naruto called out as he and Lee ran out of the room.
"Naruto! Lee! You little brats stop interrupting my meetings!!!" Kushina roared down the hall after them.
"Play it cool, Lady Hokage. Boys will be boys." Jazz smoothly told her leader, trying to calm Kushina down.
"Me wife's right, mon! Let the boys enjoy this time of youth while it lasts!" Reggae replied, trying to back Jazz up.
Kushina sighed before pinching the bridge of her nose. "You win this round… this once…" Kushina sighed out before composing herself to continue the meeting. A long day was indeed ahead of her.
To Be Continued…