Naruto's Kit

Chapter 3

"Could you repeat that? I must have misheard you." Tsunade said to Team Eight and Naruto as she used her pinkie finger to dig out the obstruction she was sure she had in her ear.

Tsunade was sitting at her desk in the hokage office with Shizune and Tonton at her left. In front of her were from her left to right Kiba, Shino, Hinata, and Naruto, who had just given her the news of the mission. The Kyuubi was currently sitting outside the room, guarded by a shadow clone and Akamaru. She still wore Naruto's jacket as her only clothing and it kept her tails hidden as long as they were curled up against her back. Her ears were pressed against her scalp and her hair had been moved to cover them for now. She was nervous, since Kiba told her they were seeing the 'alpha' of the whole village and it was up to her on what her fate was. Too nervous to even keep a proper henge on.

Shino, being the most diplomatic and tactful of them all, chose to answer the hokage. "We did our mission to check Ame for any remnants of Akatsuki as you ordered, with minimal interference. While there we found nothing, implicating that whatever remains of the criminal organization is either too well hidden for us or they have relocated their headquarters. On our way back we encountered a Kiri nin that attacked us. In the fight his sword cut the seal on Naruto's stomach, and he soon retreated afterwards. The seal disappeared before our eyes and red chakra leaked out of the wound, healing it in the process. The red chakra then condensed and took on the form of a young girl of about seven or eight years of age with nine red fox tails."

"Basically, you heard us right the first time." Kiba added.

Tsunade laid her head in her crossed arms and sighed wearily. 'I really need a drink and a day off, in that order.' Then she slowly raised her head back up, deciding to start off small. "Can you describe the person you encountered and fought?"

"Yes. He wore a Kiri hitai-ate, blue-toned camouflage pants, and one glove. On his left arm were symbols of several hidden villages carved into his skin. His sword was shaped like a boomerang and could be thrown like one." Shino described the assailant using the most unique and descriptive details he could remember.

"Hmm... sounds somewhat familiar." Tsunade mumbled as she reached for her copy of the bingo book. She shifted thru several pages then stopped. "A-ha! Thought so." She then showed them the page she had stopped on. "Would this be him?"

The four shinobi took a look at the picture on the page. "Yeah, that's him. Who is he?"

"His name is Kashou Ryuutake, and he's supposedly another of Kiri's Seven Swordsmen. He was actually a long-range fighter and his sword, named Hiraito, pretty much was a bladed boomerang. According to the records he could channel chakra into it from a distance, somehow without any real connection to the blade, to make it more lethal. Records also say he's a bit of a killjoy and had killed in Kiri, Kumo, Taki, and Kusa before."

"Well, that explains those scars on his arms." Naruto commented.

"Now, onto the more important subject." Tsunade said as she put the book away. "Tell me about the Kyuubi child."

"Well, we kinda named her Akane, since calling her 'Kyuubi' here would be a horrible idea." Naruto told her. "We asked her what she can remember, but she can't really remember much. She does remember meeting me before and being in a cage, but not why or how she got out or anything before that. Oh, and she said something about a man with red eyes."

"Red eyes, huh?" Tsunade asked. "Is she really acting like a kid?"

"Actually yes." Kiba answered. "We kept an eye on her constantly on the way back. Mostly she just played when she could and always did as we told her. Especially when Naruto called the shots." The Inuzuka pointed his thumb at the whiskered blonde when he said that last part. "She asked a lot of questions and we were careful answering her, but she never attacked or tried to run off."