The Uzumaki Pair: A New Ninja Saga.

Arriving at the Hokage statues below, I saw him jumping while laughing and leaving everything painted.

"Hahahaha, dattebayo!" he shouted as he bounced off the building. Seeing him fall in my direction, I did nothing and watched him make hand signs a bit awkwardly, but still functional.

"Wind Style Jutsu: Levitation!"

The air surrounded his body and made him slowly float down, gently landing beside me, despite…

"Ah… my head…"

He still fell to the ground and hit his head.

"Come on, we need to get away from Iruka, right?"

"Yeah! Let's go!"

He grabbed my hand and started running. Over the years, I didn't push him too hard in training, but still, as much as possible considering his talent, interests, and style, I helped him build a solid foundation as a ninja.

However… he really isn't the best at using hand signs and transforming chakra into complex and diverse ninjutsus.

Despite our speed, my brother lost a bit of ground, which led us to be found by Iruka.

'Our stealth, infiltration, terrain study, and survival skills need improvement… Since I've never had missions, I couldn't train those either… though I've improved in other areas.'

"Naruto!! Come clean the paint!!"

He gave Naruto a soft punch on the head and started pulling him to come with us.

"Iruka-sensei, I'll come too."

"Akane, that's not necessary, you didn't paint. It's better to focus on other areas," the teacher said, giving me a softer look.

"I'm still going to help my brother. But thank you for caring."

I said firmly, without leaving room for further discussion, giving him a serious, intense look.

Sensing this, he knew there was no room for negotiation, so he let it be.

"Let's go, sister!!"

My brother was clearly excited to do something with me and pulled me along.

In the end,

with some cloths and brushes, we slowly cleaned each spot of paint and dirt on the statues. To make it easier, I made a small hand sign and spit out water bullets.

I used it in a way that wasn't destructive, but enough to wash away a reasonable amount of paint to help clean.

It was a good practice to reduce the number of hand signs and increase my affinity with the element.

"Good job, sister, this helps!!" Naruto smiled, and seeing him being so cute, I cast a few more different water jutsus.

As for the teacher, he was clearly conflicted, it seemed like he didn't want our "punishment" for painting the statues to be made easier, but at the same time, he seemed to feel that me using the jutsu this way was helping me practice my skills.

We continued for a while, and after that, Naruto and I went to buy some basic food for the house.

We bought noodles, meat, carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, cabbage, and some seasonings.

Luckily, in addition to the support offered to orphans, I made some extra money selling explosive tags and storage scrolls, and since all the materials were provided by the old Hokage, I was able to earn enough to buy more delicious food.

Inside our small apartment, I cooked the noodles in one pot while preparing a sauté with meat, mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, and other vegetables in another. I also used milk, cheese, and potatoes to make a sort of gratin.

"Sister, I've already set the table, I'm going to put on my pajamas! I'll also get yours ready."

"Okay." I smiled and finished preparing all the food. Each dish emitted an incredibly delicious aroma and looked so good that it could make anyone drool. At least in this life, with a lot of culinary effort, I managed to get my little brother to eat more diverse things besides ramen, although it was still one of his favorite and most eaten foods.

Clapping my hands, I looked back and saw my brother lying down in a penguin pajama. He looked incredibly cute, and beside his bed, on mine, was another set that was clearly meant for me.

I took it and went to the bathroom to change.

The whole pajama was made of warm, fluffy wool fabric in black and white with a small cute penguin head on the tip.

"Brother, let's eat. Dattebane."

"Yes!!" He had been staring at the food for a while, just waiting for me to say something so he could rush to the table.

Once we sat down, before eating, we looked at the photos on the wall.

In one, there was a handsome blonde man with a kind appearance, and in the other, a red-haired woman who looked lively and spontaneous.

When I pressed the Hokage for information, one of the things I was able to get was this photo. And before every meal, we would look at our parents, imagining and projecting them as if they were with us at the table.

"Thank you for the food. Mom and Dad."

We both said and started eating.

Through the window, there was a ninja with grayish-white hair, wearing green ninja clothing. Due to his stealth ability and chakra control, and since I was relaxed, my sensory abilities didn't pick him up at first.

He was calm, despite being tempted by the smell of the food.

His eyes were divided between three places: his favorite book, slightly perverted, the photo, and the dinner table.

When he sensed the warm, family atmosphere surrounding me and my brother, he smiled contentedly, and at the same time, he seemed relieved, feeling less guilty.

"Sensei, Kushina-san… Your children have grown well, and I'm sure they'll continue to do so. I will finally try to do something for them, sorry for my cowardice and slowness regarding this matter."

His words were followed by a calm sigh, as if speaking to someone near and far at the same time.

At that moment, a gentle breeze blew, as if trying to respond to him and ease his burden.

…

The next day was one of frustration.

My brother and I failed again in the exam, although in my case, the teacher had already mentioned that I would have passed, though he didn't know the full extent since I kept certain things hidden from the academy and from the ANBU spies under Danzo's supervision. Iruka knew that I could use body flicker, three elemental affinities, some genjutsu, and fuuinjutsu, not to mention my strong taijutsu, which was enough for me to pass. Of course, we had that conversation separately because I didn't want to increase Naruto's frustration.

After leaving the academy, I used my martial arts speed and the body flicker jutsu to quickly find Naruto.

As I imagined, he was in the place he sometimes hid.

When I got there, I reduced my chakra significantly and used the immaterial state technique from my martial arts to make it extremely hard to detect me.

I saw the guy with bluish-gray hair approaching Naruto.

"So, this is Mizuki…" I murmured and continued to observe them talk and make a plan. I didn't intend to do anything except follow my brother and ensure his safety, in case any ANBU from Danzo or other forces attacked him, turning the story into something different.

Luckily, everything went smoothly. Of course, I preferred to ignore him "defeating" the great teacher and powerful Hokage with a sexy jutsu that embarrassed me.

It also proved that ninjas have great acting skills…

Still, I kept following him and soon saw him quietly reading the supposed forbidden scroll.

"Brother, I see you're busy, huh?"

I spoke and approached him.

"Ah, sister, I…" He said, looking away, seeming extremely guilty.

I gave him a playful flick on the head and smiled.

"Did you steal something from Grandpa? Let me read it too."

His eyes lit up, and he had a mischievous and excited smile on his face.

"Come on. Dattebayo!!"

Soon, I started reading the scroll.

I saw that it had the shadow clone jutsu, the multi-shadow clone jutsu, the shadow clone explosion jutsu, as well as the Rank A, great waterfall jutsu.

Looks like Grandpa knew I'd be nearby.

I used my memorization skills to quickly understand everything contained there. Not only that, but I made two quick hand signs and created two water clones.

The water clone jutsu costs me two signs currently, while the wind clone jutsu only costs one.

Two water clones appeared and quickly started copying what was written.

Of course, a spy was using an orb to watch the whole event. And when he saw me copying the scroll, he was speechless and muttered to himself.

"That girl… she certainly noticed that the scroll was fake, so she took the opportunity to copy what was written. After a while, I'll have to ask her to return it… in a few weeks. In the meantime, I'll install a sealing and destruction jutsu on her scroll."

The Hokage sighed and continued observing.

As we continued reading, Mizuki appeared. Upon noticing my presence, he clearly tensed up, but I didn't mind.

"Naruto, you have a visitor. Did you learn the jutsu?"

"Yes, I learned. But the visitor… Mizuki-sensei!!"

He said excitedly, but I didn't pay attention.

I continued learning; at the very least, I wanted to memorize all the signs. Even though I had copied them, I knew the old man would probably retrieve the scroll, as well as its copy, although he would keep it somewhere I could access.

"The most complicated is the A-rank waterfall one; the signs and the internal energy change in my body are very complicated… the other three are a bit easier… given my experience with some other jutsus," I murmured, letting my brother handle his own matters.

I also hid a bit behind while reading.

The clones had already copied the scroll, and I stored the copy.

Each water clone contained about 10% of my chakra, which, given that it was comparable to or even greater than the Hokage's level, was still a reasonable amount.

The two used my combat art and sensory ability to hide nearby and reduce their presence.

In case of emergency, they could use some water jutsus to help my brother.

The events were similar to the original plot.

"Do you know why everyone in the village hates you two? It's because of the fox sealed inside you!! A demon that caused the village's destruction, killed countless people, including the Fourth Hokage himself. If it weren't for your sister, who frightened everyone and has so much talent, the situation would be even worse."

It's true; I released killing intent towards civilians or ninjas who cast hostile or prejudiced looks at my brother or me. Not only that, I even placed some genjutsus on some of them, which made them avoid treating us badly, while also reducing my brother's pain. However, he still noticed this.

After delivering his grand speech, which truly had no real purpose and was an attempt to harm my brother, Mizuki had no results.

"I already know," my brother said calmly.

Two years ago, when I told my brother about our parents, I also mentioned the Kurama incident and even helped him use his consciousness to enter the unique space created by the Eight Trigrams Seal, which allowed him to meet the fox and even have different conversations with her from time to time. However, I still had the urge to cut Mizuki into pieces, but I restrained myself.

The fact that my brother knew shocked not only Mizuki but also Iruka, who had just arrived.

I (water clones, since the MC is focused on reading) remained silent.

Soon, Iruka began to fight, and Naruto "escaped" with one of my clones, while the other stayed to protect my original body.

"Brother, do you really want to retreat?" I (clone) asked.

My words made him stop and stay in place silently.

"I know you're not like this. And the future Hokage can't exactly run away without at least trying to correct things? Obviously, if it gets too dangerous, run and then come back and strike him from behind." I spoke with great pride; as a ninja, attacking from behind, from a distance, or stealthily is not a problem, although it's not quite my brother's style.

"NO!! I will help Iruka-sensei!!!"

He shouted proudly and ran to the battlefield; my clone followed him in the same manner.

There, we saw Iruka at a constant disadvantage.

In the end, they made up, and my brother said,

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!! I WILL BE THE FUTURE HOKAGE!!! A TRAITOR GENIN LIKE YOU WILL NEVER BEAT ME!!"

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

With the hand signs, more than a thousand clones were made.

"Wow… that's really a lot… I should also be able to do this… although I don't see real use… since each one has a small amount of chakra," I said, surprised to see more than a thousand copies of my brother.

They quickly began to attack Mizuki, and a scene of intense beating occurred.

He also used Wind Bullet and Gale Palm, both D and E class, to cause reasonable damage. Despite his attacks not being very powerful and taking time to use, with hundreds of clones providing cover, the other clones had enough time to do this.

In the end, he was severely beaten and lay on the ground covered in cuts and other forms of injuries.

My water clones approached him and performed hand signs extremely quickly.

When they finished, both placed their fingers on different parts of his body; soon, sealing jutsu characters spread across his body. One used a simple paralysis jutsu, while the other applied a C-rank chakra sealing jutsu.

After that, I raised my hand and dispelled the water clones, while the brothers dispelled theirs.

And I said,

"Well, the Anbu members who should be around here will take us to Grandpa."

With my words, two Anbu appeared: one took Mizuki and the other took me, Naruto, and the teacher to the Third Hokage's office.

There, he said he would allow us to graduate as Genins, though he reprimanded us for the "scroll theft" and emphasized that in the ninja world, it's always important to stay alert and never trust others blindly, especially with the genjutsus and transformation jutsus that exist in this world.

Then he released our group.

"Akane, stay."

"Okay."

I listened to him and positioned myself in front of him.

"And the copy of the scroll?" he asked, without breaking eye contact.

"And the original forbidden scroll," I responded, matching his rhythm.

Our smiles and eyes locked in a small conflict. In the end, Grandpa gave up.

"You'll leave the scroll here. You can come anytime to study its jutsus," I heard him say, and despite wanting to resist, I decided to take a step back. But before I left, I said,

"Okay, but Grandpa, can you leave some extra Fuuinjutsu here?" I smiled cutely and persuasively.

Grandpa started to sweat, as I negotiated and pressured him in various ways, especially after my "discovery" of my parents' identities.

The reason I asked for this is that sealing and curse jutsus are considerably more complex and restricted, and since I would only have access as a Genin for a limited time, it was useful.

Additionally, I made this request because in order to unlock my parents' inheritance, I would need to reach a certain level of expertise in this field of knowledge. At least, I would need to become a Master of Fuuinjutsu, one level below a Grandmaster, which implies mastering a significant portion of B-rank seals and some A-rank seals, not to mention the ability to create my own seal. Obviously, this was arbitrary and not exactly set in stone.

"Cough, cough… fine, but not too many. Hurry up, girl," he dismissed me quickly, afraid I might try to take something more from him.

I smiled and used Body Flicker and my high speed to disappear from the area.

Seeing this, he smiled.

"Her talent is undeniable… If the next ninja war comes soon, her potential is undoubtedly excellent… Besides, it's something I need to do for her parents. I was too absent before." The Third Hokage sighed and went back to dealing with some documents.

NOTE: Some jutsus and events will happen differently from the canon because it makes more sense to me. Apologies to those who don't like changes in the story. Also, I won't repeat certain dialogues, especially in the exact same way they were transcribed. After all, it's not exactly the same (the FL has already changed many things to be different).