Third Person POV_____

"Umi-nee, Can you try playing this one?" Ryuu asked as he held out a scroll. Umi glanced up and carefully grabbed the scroll and began looking over it.

"Yeah, I think I can." She smiles as she picks up her pipa and began to pluck at the strings of the instrument. She cleared her throat before singing the song that was written on the scroll.

All of the children smiled as they listened to Umi play her instrument. "I wish I could play a Pipa as well." Fumiko smiled as she hummed at the music.

Mizuko couldn't help but glance over at the kids that had gathered around Umi. It had been almost a full month since Umi had moved in. The girl took care of the stand in the morning and the afternoons she spent helping around in the temple or helping the kids out.

The young girl was very talented in playing string instruments so Mizuko had let her see some of the music sheets and scrolls that she had found while going through the scrolls Riku had sealed on her body.

The young girl had taken to playing the old traditional Uzumaki music in the evenings while Mizuko worked or studied.

The kids watch her or began singing and dancing to the music Umi played. Mizuko also liked listening to the music and at times she would also watch the girl play.

"Mom, can you teach us the dance that goes with this?"Nanami asked as she skipped over to the table where Mizuko had dozen of scrolls spread out.

"Right now?" Mizuko turned and asked as Nanami nodded eagerly. "Yeah! Please mama!" She whined loudly. Mizuko sighed as she looked down at the dozen of scrolls she was studying.

"Well, I can show you a thing or two. But afterward, I'll have to go back to studying." Mizuko sighed as she got up. Everyone else quieted down as they heard Mizuko say she would teach them a few new dances.

Mizuko smiled as she took in a deep breath. She slightly spread her feet apart before she began to dance. Her feet moved swiftly as she went through a few motions. " You have to stay light and on your toes. Don't forget the most of the whirlpool dances are fluid and there are a lot of circular motions." She spoke as she slowly moved through the motions of the dance.

"You must also remember to breathe correctly so that your chakra flows. " She smiled as Karin got up and started to mimic her.

"Like this?" Karin asked as she tried to go through with the movements. "Hmm, yeah. Make sure you loosen your muscles or it will not look right." Mizuko stated as Naruto quickly got up and began to try it.

"Ya know when you break it down like this it almost looks like one of the Katas that we do in the academy." he stated and Ryuu hummed. "Nii-san is right, it kind of does." Ryuu stated and Kenta nodded.

"Well, I wouldn't know since I don't go to the academy yet." Nanami growls out as she tries to mimic the dance.

"I like this dance." Tadashi grins as he also tries it. Yukio simply watched his older siblings try to dance and he grinned and tried to do it as well, even though he was doing it completely wrong. Hayami simply pointed at them and giggled happily as she watched them try to mimic Mizuko.

"Here let me play." Umi grinned as she began to play the music again.

"I think I am getting the hang of it." Fumiko smiled as she carefully moved through the motion Mizuko had shown them.

"Nee-chan looks pretty." Hisashi smiled as he bounced on his heels and looked at Fumiko who was mostly getting the dance right.

Mizuko placed her hands on her sides and nodded. "Ya'll practice that." She smiled as she walked back over to the small table and began studying once more.

Another thing that was happening was that Mizuko spent a lot of more time going through the scrolls she had inherited. There had been a few pictures and some scroll containing either valuables or family heirlooms. Those had been put away in the temple.

There had been a few scrolls that had classified information that had once belonged to Uzushio. Those specific scrolls had been hidden away and she would go over them when all the kids were asleep. After going through them Mizuko would hide them away in one of the many secret rooms in the temple.

The only ones that knew where she was hiding them were Naruto and Karin.

Mizuko stretched her limbs slightly as she looked at the scrolls in front of her, the ones that she had found this time around went into more detail about seal functions and the micro chemical and physical reactions different kanji could affect the end results of a seal.

As for the seal she had gotten from Anko, she was still working on it diligently. There were a few factors that didn't make sense to her. She could tell that there was some chakra imprints that were probably bits of Orochimaru's raw chakra, but there was also some kind of chakra that seemed off. She could feel that the chakra was there but at the same time the chakra felt non-existant which seemed to throw her off.

She had bounced some ideas between Karin and Fumiko who were the highest ranked but even they had no idea what it could be that caused that kind of reaction. That and the fact that it was that same chakra that made it impossible for Jiraiya to remove it.

Even with seeing how hard it was to remove the girls (Fumiko and Karin) would still spend most of the time judging the sanin for his sealwork.

By the time Mizuko was nearly done studying for the night she stood up and stored everything away before shooing everyone off to wash their teeth and get to bed.
______

"So Shunichi-sensei says that I need to practice my Kata's more. But it's not fair everyone else has a head start!" Karin groaned as they walked home from the academy.

"We can practice your Kata's in the training ground. Sure everyone has about three more years of practice but you can get it right if you try." Naruto patted Karin's shoulder in sympathy.

"Can I practice the Kata's with y'all? I know your Taijutsu classes are more advanced than mine, but I want to get a head start." Kenta stated as he kicked a few pebbles down the street.

"He has a point, might as well practice alongside you nii-san." Ryuu stated and Naruto hummed as he scratched the back of his head before nodding.

"I guess. I can run you through the Kata's Iruka-sensei has been teaching me." He shrugged as they started climbing up the stairs to the temple.

"So after we finish our homework we go out and train?" Karin asked and Naruto nodded. "We also have to pick some fruits for mom and Umi-nee. If we finish quickly enough we will have more time." Naruto stated and the other three nod.

"Then let's go!" Kenta grinned as he hurried up the steps of the temple as fast as he could.

"Last one there is a rotten egg!" Karin squealed as she followed behind Kenta.

Ryuu and Naruto glanced at each other with wide grins before following behind them.
______

After setting down a crate on top of a scroll that was on the floor, Naruto gave a firm nod and Karin went through the handsigns to seal the crates.

"Fuin: level five storage!" She yelled as she let her chakra activate the seal. They all watched as the crate vanished.

"Is that all?" Ryuu asked and Kenta nodded. "We only needed to restock that much. Umi-Nee says all of the other scrolls are filled up." Kenta shrugged as he lifted a stick in the air and swung it around.

"Kenta don't swing that 'round. You'll poke someone's eye out." Naruto scolded as he rolled the scroll up and tied the scroll it.

"We still have training. And I'm not planning on losing against my taijutsu partner. So let's go." Naruto stated as he placed the scroll in a bag and took it back to the temple.

"Karin get the kunai out and yall start warming up." Naruto called out as he hurried up the steps and dropped the bag by the door.

Karin rolled her eyes and led everyone to the training ground.

"So the Official Leaf style is what we are working on?" Ryuu asked as he bent down and started to stretch his muscle.

"Yup. But everyone in my class is already on the 5th kata. And I'm barely getting the 1st and 2nd ones right." Karin huffed in annoyance as she settled down in a punching stance and hit one of the training posts.

"Only clan kids know what they're doing in my class." Kenta shrugs as he starts to warm up with a few high kicks.

"Hmph, Well I'm not as far behind as you are." Ryuu glances over at Karin as she hits the training post with all her strength.

"They're not that hard after a while. I've been getting better at mine." Naruto says as he walks into the field.

"Let's do some punches and high kicks as warm ups." He shrugs and the other three give firm nods.
___

Nanami huffs as she watched her older siblings practicing in the back yard. All of them were going through some Katas and were doing a few mock spats.

"Why can't I go to the academy." She whined loudly glancing over to see if Mizuko could hear her.

Mizuko lifts both brows and glances at Nanami. "You'll start next spring. That's only a few months away you know." Mizuko says and Nanami pouts even more.

"Yeah but why can't I go now." She mumbles as she dramatically laid back on the floor.

Hayami seeing her sister sprawled out on the floor quickly runs over to her and plops down on Nanami's stomach. "Squish!" She squeals excitedly.

Nanami groaned slightly as her air was knocked out of her.

"Yamyam!" She smiles as she lifts her sister up and blows a raspberry on her stomach.

Hayami giggles and squirms as Nanami begins to tickle her.

Kaida looks over from where she was playing and quickly begins to crawl towards them while giggling loudly.

"Mizuko-sama. I'm making some tea, would you like some?" Umi asks from the doorway.

Mizuko nods absentmindedly as she watches the girls laugh and play by the sliding doors.

It isn't long before Umi comes in carefully balancing the tea set and tea kettle.

Mizuko slightly glances at her as she sets down everything on the table and begins to pour the tea.

"Mizuko-sama, I have a few questions." Umi mumbles as she sets down the tea cup.

Mizuko turns to her and nods as she carefully picks up the tea cup and gently blows on the hot tea.

"There's alot of rumors going on, is it true that you aren't married?" She asks and Mizuko cocks a brow.

"I've never been married before. Should I be?" She asks and Umi blushes slightly.

"Well they always say that a good upstanding woman needs to get married and take the Husbands name. When I'm older I want to be married, although I don't have parents so I won't be able to have an arranged marriage like other girls." She says with a slight shrug.

"You're too young to be thinking about that kind of stuff. Sure having a boyfriend or husband sounds nice, but at the end of the day it isn't all it made up to be." Mizuko says as she thought about the housewives she'd seen throughout the village.

Mizuko closed her eyes for a moment and thought. She couldn't help but dislike the thought of arranged marriages and having to be married off at a young age.

She had noticed that amongst the civilian, wives usually followed and did everything their husbands told them too. The only exception she had been seeing was with the Kunoichi who did whatever they wanted.

"Wait until your at least seventeen or even eighteen. I think I heard somewhere that mens brains don't finish developing until they're like 25 or something. Womens finish developing at around 21. Also your body is also still growing, that's why so many women have issues with their pregnancies you know." Mizuko states with a sharp nod.

"Wait, what?" Umi couldn't help but be confused.

"You aren't finished growing until your at least 21. Sure here in the village your considered independent at 12 and all but that's because most kids try and become ninja. Why do you think the drinking age is 18. At least then your nearly all grown up." Mizuko adds as she sips her tea.

"Mizuko-sama aren't you like fifteen?" Umi asks confused and Mizuko gives her a sad look.

"Well I had little choice in many matters. I had my first kid when I was your age. I don't regret it... but it wasn't easy or by choice." She says as she glanced over to the kids wrestling on the floor. At some point Yukio and Hisashi had joined in.

"Was it hard? I mean having a baby. Did you know the father?" Umi asked in a near whisper.

Mizuko sighed and set down her tea cup as she thought back to it.

"I didn't... I don't know the father. Nor was it by choice. I was... it was in captivity and it was very hard. Very hard times as well." She sighs as she looks down at her tea cup.

"I try not to think about it. There's no point in making a big deal about it. Women are worth more than their abilities to have kids or being the wife of some man. We think, we are intelligent and we can do almost everything a man can do and at times we can do it better." Mizuko says with a resolute nod.

Umi looks at her and nods. "I'm sure you have dreams. You can be anything you want to be." Mizuko says with a kind smile as she places her hand on Umi's shoulder.

Umi seemed to perk up at this. "I want to play the pipa. Someday I'll be famous for it." She says blushing as she looked down at the tea and nodded.

"That's the spirit Umi-chan." Mizuko grins as she pats Umi's shoulder.
_______

It wasn't long before September came around and Mizuko's birthday was just around the corner.

Naruto was excited, usually Mizuko had taken to taking everybody out to eat when it was someone's birthday.

This time around though it was Mizuko's and Naruto wanted to make it memorable. She was his mom now and ever since he had been with his new family he was happy. In a few months it would be a full year since he moved to the Uzumaki temple.

"So what are we going to do? Ryuu asked as he kicked a pebble down the street.

"Well, she really liked that new fall kimono that came out. You know the one with the pretty orange and that pretty design." Karin stated as they walked back home from the academy.

"Where would we get the money to get that? It's made from silk that was imported from suna it's got to be at least a few hundred ryo." Kenta stated as he looked over at the other three.

"He's got a point where would we get the money? Besides you know ma is pretty frugal and doesn't like to spend money." Ryuu points out and Karin smirks as she glances at Kenta.

"What ever you are thinking.... no." Naruto states narrowing his eyes at Karin.

"We could like sell some seals at the academy... nothing dangerous. Maybe a sealing scroll." Kenta whispers and Ryuu frowns.

"Absolutely not. Only mom is allowed to sell seals like that. And we could get in ALOT of trouble. Like we could go to jail or something." Ryuu states as he glares at both Karin and Kenta.

"We could go ask Naruto's God father. If we beg hard enough he might do it." Karin pipes up.

"Yeah, no. The old pervert is cheap. That is unless we ask Jiji or Pervy Sage if we can run some errands for them and they pay us." Naruto says as he crosses his arms.

"He might ask us to babysit Konohamaru." Karin pipes up.

"I like Konohamaru, hes pretty chill." Kenta shrugs.

"Or we can beg... that might work. Jiji might give us free money." Karin grins and Naruto sighs.

"I doubt it. But let's to the tower and ask." He says as he takes the lead and takes them to the Hokage tower.
______

"Please Jiji! We need the cash!" Karin begs while letting her eyes swell up with tears.

The boys were also asking and the old Hokage let out a long sigh as he looked over the small kids. He couldn't help but feel nostalgic, he could remember Kushina acting out like they were at certain times.

"Money is not just something given. Its earned. You know the Sarutobi gardens need to be tended to and Konohamaru needs a babysitter for the weekend." Sarutobi stated cocking a brow as all four kids perked up.

"Consider it done old man! We are always helping ma with the fields at home!" Naruto grinned.

"And we don't have class on the weekends! We can watch Konohamaru!" Karin squealed as she bounced up and down.

"Are you sure you four can handle it? You do have the academy and your chores." The old man cocked a brow.

The four of them glanced at each other and nodded.

"You bet! We can get our normal chores and the gardens done at the sarutobi estate!" Naruto nodded excitedly.

Hiruzen nodded as he puffed on his pipe. "Theres our gardener. He'll tell you everything you need to do. You'll have to meet up with him after class." He says placing a scroll down.

"Show him this and he'll get you started." He says and Ryuu eagerly picks up the scroll. "Thanks Jiji." He grins and bows.

"Yeah! Thanks old man!" Kenta nods as he bows.

"The four of you will have to be there. Since it requires four people to do the job." The aged Hokage adds and the four kids glance at each other nervously.

"You can count on us." Karin stammers out before the four of them scrambled out of the room.

"The four of us?! We won't be able to do our chores and the Sarutobi estate." Kenta panicked as they were out the door.

"Yeah, we still have homework, dinner and practice after school and mom wants us studying seals at 7 till bedtime." Ryuu added as they all looked over at each other.

"Well, we made a promise and we have to keep it. And it's not like we can't rope Nanami and Fumiko into this." Naruto says and they all perk up.

"Its still alot." Karin mumbled as she played with the hem of her kimono shirt.

"They'll help. 'sides it's for moms birthday. They won't have a gift either." Kenta says and they all hurry back home.

_______

"We're home!" Naruto yelled as they all walked in. He slipped off his shoes and bowed at the shrine that was by the door.

"Nii-chan!" Hayami squealed as she ran out and jumped on the closest person.

"It's you!" She hugged Ryuu as he caught her and lifted her up.

"Heya yamyam!" He laughs as he kisses her cheeks.

"Wheres Yukio? He always greets us?" Karin asks as she looks around.

"Yuki takin wash wash." She smiles as she wiggles around in Ryuus grasp.

"Oh. That makes sense." Kenta shrugs as he tosses his sandals and hurries inside.

"I'll get Nanami and Fumiko. We will meet in the passage way by back rooms." He says as he runs off to find his younger sisters.

"Ma! What's for dinner!" Karin yells out.

"We are having green curry with rice and pork chops. It'll be ready in a bit! Do your homework first though!" Mizuko yells out from the kitchen.

"Kay!" Karin yells out as they all hurry to the dining room to set down their school supplies.

All three of them kept an eye out for Umi and Mizuko who were in the kitchen before scurrying to the passage way that was by the hallway.

They all hurried in and through the passage ways. "Naruto hurry up!" Karin groans and Naruto rolls his eyes.

"I'm moving, geesh." He grumbles as they move along the small hall.

"Over here." Naruto hurries up as he hears Nanami.

"So what's up." She says as she sat cross cross on the floor at a small clearing.

"So we have a plan. For moms birthday." Karin grins and both Fumiko and Nanami pipe up.

"We're listening." She says as they all plop down.

"Okay so here it goes. Ya know that one kimono that just came out for fall fashion?" Naruto asks and Fumiko pales.

"It was marked at 782 ryo." Fumiko stammers out.

"Yeah, where the hell you gunna get that much money. That's almost two weeks of work." Nanami points out as she looks at her four older siblings.

"Yeah, but we went to talk to Jiji and he says we can make some ryo by working at the Sarutobi Gardens." Karin says.

"Anndd! We can babysit Konohamaru for two weekends." Kenta adds.

"Okay, so we aren't stealing the money from law abiding citizens or starting a black market for storage seals? Wack." Nanami huffed and Ryuu smacked her arm.

"Course we ain't. That's like illegal ya idiot." He huffs in annoyance.

"Just sayin." Nanami whimpers and she rubs her arm.

Fumiko twiddles her fingers. "So what do you need from us?" She asks shyly.

"We can do it, but we won't have time to do all of our chores without ma noticing. So we were wondering if you and Nanami could help us cut the branches for the sealing paper and pick the fruits for the next two weeks." Ryuu stated and Nanami blanched.

"Its alot of work. It usually takes all six of us to get it done in the afternoons." She says and Karin huffed.

"You'll have all day to do it. Ma will be at home making seals." Karin tries to play it off.

"We have to help make seals too. Especially Fumiko since she's really good." Nanami says.

"We can do it. You guys will be gone most afternoons right?" Fumiko asks and the four of them nod.

"Yeah, it's a two week job with the old man and he said the four of us needed to be there." Kenta shrugged.

"I guess we can pick up your slack." Nanami huffs. "But we have to place the order now if we want it to get done." She adds as an after thought.

"Place the order now. Maybe we won't need a down payment." Fumiko says and they all glanced at each other.

"Fumiko and I can go scout out the shop. I'll see if we can get the order placed. You four get the money. " Nanami nods and they all continue to plan on how they would trick Mizuko from noticing that they were wandering off.
______

The next day the four kids were at the Sarutobi estate with a scroll in hand.

"So you are the brats the esteemed Lord Third sent?" The gardener asks cocking a brow.

"Ain't ya a little young to be genin?" He asks and the four of them blanche. "We are still in the academy but we are almost out and we do alot of outside work for our ma." Naruto stammers out and the man cocks a brow.

"Mom has a merchant stand in the village. We want to buy her a fancy Kimono so we're working for Ji- I mean Lord Third." Ryuu says with a polite smile.

"Well you have the scroll as the Hokage sent you. Anyways, you need to weed out those patches over there. I'll show you what to pick out." The man waves off his concern and get them started on the garden.
_______

They were tired by the time they got home. Nanami and Fumiko didn't look much better. It was about 6 in the afternoon before they got home.

"We got all y'alls chores done. It took us almost 5 hours." Nanami groaned. Usually it took an hour or so because it was all six of them working on one task.

"Sorry about that, we ended up cleaning one of the six Koi ponds. Why do they need six!" Kenta groaned. He was tired from carrying buckets full of water.

"Y'all smell." Fumiko wrinkled her nose at them and Naruto laughed.

"We must smell like fish." He giggled.

"Yeah you do. Go take a shower ya nasty." Nanami grinned at them as they hurried to take a shower.
_________

"This Sucks! Who's idea was this?!" Karin groans as she carrys a bucket full of dark smelly water.

"Probably yours!" Naruto calls out from the pond as he scoops another bucket out and hands it to Kenta.

"We are NEVER getting Koi pond at the temple! I hate this!" She snaps in anger as her hair fell into the bucket.

"We are almost done with this one and then we have like five more. It's only our second day." Ryuu huffs as he takes a bucket from Kenta and starts walking to the place they were dumping out at.

"Yeah, and we are almost done. Once it's done we just scrub it, put clean water and return the koi." Kenta shrugs.

"And Nanami said she was able to secure the order. The lady is using the measurements from the last time we went." Naruto pointed out as he picked up another empty bucket and passed this one to Karin while she sat an empty one down.

"I guess. But do we have to train while smelling like this?" She asked and Naruto sweatdropped.
__________

"Man, you know how tired I am from sealing all the crates." Nanami grumbled as she soaked in the hot water.

"Yeah, well at least it wasn't smelly." Karin snapped as she jumped into the water.

" My whole body hurts. And we are suppose to do this for another twelve days?" Fumiko asked with a small groan.

"Nah, we don't work week ends and Konohamaru is coming over." Karin shrugged as she sunk into the warm water.
___________

"390, 391. That should be enough to cover the first half." Naruto nods as he hold up the small bag full of ryo.

"So let's pay off the deposit. The lady only gave us a week or she's canceling the order."Nanami stated as she poked Naruto's side.

"Ouch." He grumbles as he rubs his side.

"I'll tell mom we are going out to play." Karin smiles as she scrambles down the hall. "Meet me at the front of the temple." She calls out loudly as she hurries off.

" Let's wait up front." Ryuu nods as they all followed behind him.

Mizuko didn't mind letting them wonder off as long as they stayed together and came home before sundown.

Karin quickly hurried out to meet her siblings outside.

They were standing by the massive red tora gates at the entrance of the temple.

There were also two massive stone lanterns by the entrance where everybody was standing.

"Let's go!" She grins and they all hurried down the steps.

"Now that I think about it. How did you convince the lady to put in the order without a down payment?" Ryuu asked as they made it down all of the stairs.

Nanami smiled widely and giggled. "I can be very convincing if I have to be." She says with a smirk as they start to walk down the road.

Soon enough they passed the Hyuga compound and then the akimichi compound.

"So which seamstress did you guys pick?" Karin asked as they walked down the street.

"The one that has the same name as Grandma." Fumiko says.

"Oh, Riku-San right? She was really nice to us last time we were there." Naruto pointed out and Nanami nodded.

"Hence why I picked her." Nanami grinned

_______

"So this is the deposit. We would also like a receipt." Nanami grinned happily as she set down the money.

"Of course. Also the kimono is almost done. A few more days and it will be ready for pick up." She says as she takes the bag and starts to count the money.

"Its made with this fabric?" Karin asked as she looked at the new fall fabrics.

"Its pretty, ain't it." Fumiko smiled.

Naruto nodded. "It is, I hope mom likes it." He grinned as Riku handed Nanami the receipt.

"Alright. Part one, is done now we have half more." She grins holding up the receipt.
_________

Naruto felt tired. They had just finished the last Koi pond.

There were just three more days left.

They had gotten most of the money.

He knew that by the time they got home it would be to take a bath, have dinner, study and sleep. But they were all proud of themselves.

"Alright, so we only have to weed the front gardens and we should be finished." He grinned as he turned to his three other siblings.

"I never want to see another Koi pound." Kenta groaned as he was trying to catch his breath.

"Kenta! Put your back into it!" Konohamaru yelled from the porch. "Konohamaru you brat! Why don't you come out here and try working for once!" Kenta yelled back as he waved his fist at Konohamaru.

"He thinks that cause he's a year younger than me, I won't climb those stairs and smack him. He's so wrong! I'm Uzumaki Kenta!" Kenta snarled playfully.

"Your lucky the maid doesn't let me up there!" Kenta added while Konohamaru laughed.

"Yeah right! I'm taller than you so good luck reaching up to my face shorty." Konohamaru laughed as he stuck his tongue out.

"What! You're only like 5cm taller! And I bet it was your shoes! I ain't short " Kenta yelled his face turning red.

"Stop yelling. Your gonna get us in trouble." Ryuu hit Kentas arm.

"Ouch!" Kenta exclaimed and Konohamaru laughed even louder.

Naruto couldn't help but grin at Kenta and Konohamaru's playful banter.

"Well, let's just go home for today and start on the front gardens tomorrow." Ryuu stated as he patted himself making sure to get most of the dirt off his clothes.

Naruto hums and nods at Ryuu's comment.

______

"Tomorrow is moms birthday! If the raining doesn't stop we won't finish the garden and we won't have enough to pay for the kimono!" Nanami half yells as they were all crowded into one of the many secret halls of the temple

"We've been lucky that she's been distracted with Anko-sans seal and the new scrolls shes run into. But that won't last long." Ryuu states calmly as he tugged on one of his braids.

"Hopefully tomorrow it doesn't rain. Otherwise, we won't be able to pay in time." Fumiko meekly stated as she fiddled with her fingers.

"We will get it done! Don't start giving up now." Naruto says encouragingly. His younger siblings slowly nodded although they weren't as optimistic anymore.

"Nii-chan. Ojisan sage is here." Tadashi crawled in as he flashed them a smile.

The six of them glanced at each other and grinned. "Let's rob the old perv!" Kenta and Nanami grinned mischievously and Karin smacked them both upside the head.

"Or we can ask him to help us out. I swear you two are too troublesome!" Karin hissed angrily as steam seemed to come from her mouth.

Both of them rubbed their head. "You're a brute karin." Kenta groaned making Karin bristle.

"Tch! What did you say ya shrimp?!" She hissed out and Ryuu pulled them apart.

"Not the time or place." He sighed as he played peace keeper.

Naruto rolled his eyes, the three of them either got along really well or were a disaster when they were together.

"Let's go." He hurried out of the passageway and opened the closest door.
____

Jiraiya cocked a brow as a panel on the wall moved and Naruto crawled out of the wall.

"Are you telling me there are passageways in the walls?" Jiraya deadpanned as Naruto grinned.

"Hmm maybe." He shrugs as he stands up and quickly launches himself towards Jiraiya and hugs him.

"So what have you little crotch goblins been up to?" He asks as the rest of them hurried over and joined in giving the older sage a hug.

Nanami was about to respond but Ryuu elbowed her to shut up.

"We have a plan. Can you help us?" Ryuu asked as they all pulled away and Jiraiya chuckled.

"What are you planning?" He asks and Naruto grins.

"Its mom's birthday tomorrow. We gathered 636 ryo to buy her a gift. But with the rain, we haven't been able to work for the remaining 146 ryo. Can ya help us?" Naruto asked giving him the puppy dog eyes.

Jiraiya hummed. "Hmm, I wonder if I can." He teased and Nanami sighed.

"I told you we should have beat him up and taken his money when he wasn't looking." She huffed and Kenta nodded.

"Bah, stop that you wanna be delinquents." Karin snapped as she smacked them both upside the head.

Jiraya stared at them before laughing.

"Well if it's just 146 Ryo I might have the spare change. But I want to see all of your report cards. I can't be giving out money to you kids if you aren't doing your best in school." He says and they all grin.

"Wait here!" They all scurry off to get their report cards.

Jiraya chuckled as he leaned down and picked up Kaida who had crawled over to him.

"Well, kid I guess it's just us two." He sighed as he walked to the kitchen as he easily dragged Tadashi and Yukio along with him. They were both latching on to his legs and giggling.

Before Jiraya could even make it to the dining room Hisashi launched himself from the side and clung onto Jiraya. "Ojisan!"
_____
Umi stared at the legendary Sanin in awe.

"Jiraiya-sama! I hadn't expected you to be here. Would you like something to eat?" She asks as she gently placed a hand on Umi's shoulder.

"Go ahead and get a pot of tea ready." She says and the younger girl nods.

"Well, I was just around so I figured I'd visit the brats." He grins as he placed a hand on top of Naruto's head.

"I see, well I have something I'd like to show you." She eagerly says as she began to pick up the scrolls she had been using to study.

"Is it a seal?" He asks and Mizuko nods.

"I had a request to get this seal removed from one of the tokubetsu Jonin. I get the mechanics but there is something about it that I cannot get right." She rambles as she seals away the work.

"I'll be right back with it. Umi-chan will serve the tea so make yourself comfortable." Mizuko stated as she hurried out of the room.

As she left everyone was shoving their report cards into the sanins hands.

Jiraya grabbed the four report cards and looked over them.

'So he has improved. Comparing this to all of his previous years he's doing great. And the younger ones are definitely talented as well.' He thought to himself as Naruto had A's and B's. The other kids also had high grades being that they always studied together.

"Wait is mom going to show you the seal?!" Karin asked as she looked over at Jiraiya.

He simply shrugged. "She mentioned she'd show me one." He stated and both Fumiko and Karin glanced at each other as they ran off to go grab their notes.

Everyone else looked q bit excited. "They're pretty obsessed with it ain't they." Ryuu sweatdropped as the two girls ran off.

Jiraiya cocked a brow but instead of replying he dug into his pouch and pulled out a wallet.

"Here." He says handing Naruto 200 ryo. "Get a cake or something as well with the remaining money." He says and Naruto eagerly took the money.

"Thanks! Ryuu, Kenta let's go. Ojisan, tell mom we went out." Naruto quickly said as the three boys rushed out of the room to get their raincoats and umbrellas to go out.

"Sorry for the wait." Umi stated as she walked in and set the teapot and teacups down.

"Haven't met you before. Do you work with Mizuko?" Jiraiya asked and the girl nodded.

"Yes, I work at the produce stand for Mizuko-sama. But for the most part, I'm a retainer for the clan." Umi bows and Jiraiya looks over at her in amusement.

"So you are looking to be a servant of the Uzumaki clan?" He asks and the girl nods.

"Mizuko-sama took me in, it's only fair that I pledge loyalty to the clan." She says and Jiraiya nods slowly.

Although it was mostly done by civilian aristocrats clans or older shinobi clans, someone would be taken into the clan and the person would swear their loyalty to the clan. Although for shinobi clans they swore loyalty to both the village and clan.

"I didn't know Mizuko was taking in retainers already since they haven't been here as long." Jiraiya pointed out and the girl smiled.

"Mizuko-sama has earned my loyalty and I am very grateful to her." She says as she pours the tea.

Mizuko stumbled in carrying a large scroll and a few smaller ones. She was also balancing a few ink bottles and sealing supplies.

"So very recently I had a woman come in trying to remove a seal that was on her neck. The seal itself is.." she trailed off as she opened the large scroll.

"Its an atrocity! It sucks and whoever's made it should be ashamed of it!" Karin yells out as she also hurries into the room holding a few scrolls and notebooks.

After saying that they both had Jiraiya's attention. The only person he knew that had a seal on their neck and that needed it removed was Anko Mitarashi. That seal had been placed there by Orochimaru.

"Karin, mind your language." Mizuko warned knowing that Orochimaru had once been the teammate of Jiraiya.

Both Fumiko and Karin sat down at the table.

"The curse mark?" Jiraiya asked, his face became stern and his usually playful antics gone.

Mizuko meekly nodded as she showed him the opened version of the curse mark.

"It's taken a few weeks but we have broken the seal down. But I'm having issues with this part. The chakra here isn't normal. Here, here and here are filters that limit the chakra gathered by this part. These overhear store the chakra gathered and send it through the user's body. This part here would be where Orochimaru stored his own chakra." Mizuko states as she points at the seal.

Jiraiya nods and glances at Umi and Mizuko nods.

"Umi-chan if you could wait outside. These will be private discussions. Please watch over the younger kids. They are on the porch." She says and the girl blushes and bows deeply before leaving the room.

Jiraiya glances at Fumiko and Karin. "They should be fine. They helped in working through the seal." Mizuko points out and Jiraiya lets's out a long sigh.

"I have tried to unravel the seal and its functions but it is above my skill level." He says as he looked down at the seal.

Mizuko shakes her head. "It's not even complicated. You are about a level 4 or 5 correct?" She asks and Jiraiya nodded.

"It is not that you don't understand it, because you do. You just can't fathom why it's set up like this. You mistakenly think this is a higher level when in reality it is a lower level. It doesn't make sense because it's badly crafted." Mizuko points out and Jiraiya stares at her for a moment.

"For example the spacing here and the way the seal comes together in these five areas. It's improper and wrong. It's unstable and you can tell." Mizuko began explaining.

Jiraiya furrowed his brow and looked over the seal.

For the next few hours, the four of them were going over notes and bantering about the possibilities of the seal.

At first, jiraiya seemed to be against the kids even knowing the seal and it made him slightly paranoid that any of them could remake the seal and make it work properly.

By the time Naruto, Kenta, and Ryuu came back they were dragged into listening in and learning from what Mizuko went over.

Even Jiraiya learned a bit from the seal review on what NOT to do.
_______

The next day everyone woke Mizuko up by singing happy birthday to her.

Since it was a Wednesday they all helped her and Umi make breakfast and hurried off to school.

Mizuko couldn't keep the smile off her face as she worked on the seals.

Kaida was busy trying to learn how to walk.

And both Yukio and Hisashi were playing with a large blue ball.

Hayami and Tadashi were busy playing in the passageways that were hidden in the temple.

Mizuko made sure to try and keep an eye on everyone as she, later on, started to cook a hearty lunch.

The kids would usually stay close to her and at times she had to scold them when they played too rough, especially with Kaida who was only 10 months old.

Soon enough Umi arrived. "I'm home." She called out and Hayami and Hisashi ran out of the room to greet her. Tadashi picked up Kaida helping her walk as he led her over to the front door to greet Umi.

"I'm in the kitchen! Lunch is ready." Mizuko called out as she began serving rice and soup for the kids.

"Mizuko-sama, happy birthday." Umi walked in carrying Kaida.

She set the girl down and held out a small box. Mizuko wiped her hands on her apron and picked up the small box.

A small hairpin was inside the box. It seemed to be made of gold and the water lilies that were crafted by small Crystal's and crochet.

"Thank you." Mizuko's eyes widened as she placed the gift down and pulled the girl into a hug.

"Your welcome Mizuko-sama." The younger girl smiled.
________

"Ryuu is carrying the cake and I'm taking the kimono." Naruto stated as he narrowed his eyes at Karin and Kenta.

"But I want to carry the Kimono." Kenta huffed.

"You two fight too much and you'll drop it." Ryuu stated as he agreed with Naruto.

The other two just pouted as they followed behind Naruto as they hurried back home.

"They're here!" Fumiko yelled and Nanami hurried down the steps of the temple.

"You guys are finally here. Look who we picked up!"Nanami squealed as she pointed at Konohamaru who gave them a bright smile.

"We snuck away from my genin babysitters!" He grinned and Kenta laughed.

"Great! Wait did we invite Jiji?!" He stops and they all stare at each other.

"We invited Ojisan when he was here yesterday." Naruto pointed out and they all kind of glanced at each other.

"We can save him a piece of cake." Karin points out as they started to climb the stairs and they all nodded.

"Anyway, what have you three been up to while we were at school?" Ryuu asks and the three of them grinned.

"We played at the Sarutobi estate and then went to the park." Nanami stated as they reached the top of the stairs.
_______

Mizuko was smiling and tears brimmed her eyes as she gave everyone a hug.

" You guys are so thoughtful." She says as she places the gift on her lap and starts to open it.

"That's..." Umi trailed off her eyes widening at the beautiful orange colored kimono.

"The silk is beautiful!" Umi exclaimed as she looked at it and touched the fabric.

"I hope I'm not too late for the celebrations." Jiraiya called out from the doorway as he removed his sandals and held up a gift.

"Ojisan!" Yukio squealed as he went to give Jiraiya a hug.

"Jiraiya-sama." Both Umi and Mizuko bowed.

Soon enough they ate dinner and cut the cake making sure to save a piece for the Hokage.

______

Sorry for the late update.

I had authors block. After naruto's birthday ,I feel like I can speed up the story again.

Since after Naruto's birthday they will finally be out of probation and full-fledged Konoha citizens. Mizuko will join the council after that I might do a time skip.

I also want to wait off making Mizuko a level 12 seal master and I want to incorporate the masks a bit more.

Jiraiya will also learn a bit more sealing

Umi is NOT a character available for shipping. She sees Mizuko as a mentor and older sister and Mizuko sees her like a younger sister!

Rosymalik/rosyhatake