The Swirling Tides

Chapter 23: Undistinguished

Nami no Kuni

A wide grin crept up on Naruto's face as he came face to face with the bridge builder's house. "Finally! We're here…"

His mother and sisters followed him to the door where the blond boy proceeded to knock. He was answered shortly by a dark haired girl who gaped at them like a fish out of water.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at her before clearing his throat. "Hello, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, we used to be classmates back at the academy, remember?"

"That was only for one day Onii-chan…"

The blond male chuckled sheepishly. "Hah, yeah, you're right. I forgot…"

Realizing that she was making herself look like an idiot, Ami shook herself out of her shock induced stupor. "Uh-um… I'm SO sorry, please come in. I know all of you," she smiled shyly, "Kasumi-chan talks a lot about you guys."

Team Eleven walked inside the house, which seemed well maintained as compared to the rest of the town. Though, that really wasn't saying much considering the state the rest of the town was in. This was about the same time that Ami noticed the small dark brown haired girl hiding behind Naruto's golden haired sister Natsumi.

Her gaze didn't go unnoticed by anyone, and Naruto decided to answer her unspoken inquiry. "This is Ageha-chan… She's going to be staying with us for now." His blond sister patted the small girl on the head before giving her a sweet smile. "Say hello to our friend Ageha-chan…"

The little girl didn't come out in Ami's full view, preferring to stay behind her saviors. Nonetheless, she obeyed Natsumi. "H-hello…"

Ami smiled as she knelt down in front of the small girl. If she hadn't gone through ninja training, she would've probably missed the greeting completely. "Hi Ageha-chan, let me know if you need anything. I'm Ami."

Even though she didn't show it, inwardly she was shocked. 'So they do have a soft spot for children… Perhaps Kasumi-chan is just different. Naruto-kun seems so friendly compared to her, and Natsumi is almost KIND…? In contrast Kasumi-chan is just so… cold…'

A clearing of throat brought her out of her musings, though it took her a moment to realize that it was Kushina making the sound. She immediately stood at attention, looking extremely embarrassed and scared at having basically ignored the powerful kunoichi's presence until now.

Luckily for Ami, Kushina was too preoccupied observing Naruto to be angry at her for being ignored. 'Fascinating, neither of my daughters have noticed but Naruto-kun has not once touched the ground directly. For a while it is a thin layer of air, and then it is... nothing, I suppose he's using gravity manipulation? He acts like he's walking normally, but it's actually a very complicated chakra exercise. He never wastes time, does he? Even while he looks like he's fooling around, he's refining his chakra control, and who knows how many clones he has practicing something right now? I'm so proud!'

By the time she had finished her thoughts, a small proud smile was gracing her face. She gave Naruto a pointed 'I know what you're doing' look. The boy looked confused for a moment before he nodded at her in acknowledgement, silently commending her for noticing his actions.

'So Kaa-chan noticed... ah well, I didn't expect it to go past her for too long anyway, she is one of the best after all...'

'You weren't really trying to hide it though...'

The blonde chuckled. 'True.'

"Would you mind if we move on to dealing with the clients and the rest of your team? We came here to help you out of whatever mess Kakashi got you into. And the sooner we get done with it, the better."