"So, my Clan's sacrifice was one of the cause of Konoha's victory?" Naruko questioned. Sarutobi nodded. "Then why haven't we heard any of this in class? I know I'm no Sakura-chan, but I think I would have remembered mention of my own surname during a lesson, and I think my friends would have mentioned it as well."
Sarutobi smiled at her mention of friends. She had been friends with the Ino-Shika-Chō trio's children for years and was friendly with the Hyuuga Heiress as well.
He then frowned as the rest of what Naruko had said registered. What she said was true. He distinctly remembered adding the history of Uzushiogakure and the Uzumaki Clan to the syllabus personally after the end of the War that had all but destroyed the once proud Clan.
"That…is an excellent question Naruko-chan. I'll look into it." Sarutobi said slowly, "Anyway, the shinobi forces certainly remember the Uzumaki Clan. We wear the Clan Symbol as a mark of friendship and remembrance. The Shodaime integrated the symbol into the Konoha Leaf symbol so that the Uzumaki would be impossible to forget."
Naruko grabbed the Uzumaki spiral that hung from her shoulder and held on to it tightly. After a moment, she whispered, "Arigato, Ji-chan."
"The Uzumaki deserve all I have done for them and more." Sarutobi said sincerely, "The reason I bring your family up is because they have their own taijutsu style. Not to mention their own kenjutsu style and Clan jutsu. I had originally intended to wait until you were a Chunin to even tell you about your mother's family, but with what happened with Mizuki, I decided that you deserve to inherit this early."
The young kunoichi's eyes were swimming with tears. "I…thank you, Ji-chan." she rasped.
Sarutobi smiled gently as he got up and walked to a part of the wall that looked no different from the rest. His hands blurred as he hit sixteen points in a specific order in under ten seconds, causing a section of the wall to fall down, revealing a safe door. Placing his hand on the door, Sarutobi sent a pulse of his chakra through it. A series of clicks, clanks and whirring sounds came from within the door, which popped open.
Naruko craned her neck to see into the safe. The only things in the safe were three boxes. One Red, one Yellow and one Orange. They were about half the length of the Forbidden Scroll. Sarutobi took the red and orange boxes out before closing the safe again.
Sarutobi handed Naruko the boxes. After attempting to juggle them for a minute, Naruko made a pair of Shadow Clones to hold them.
"Don't open them until you're in your apartment." Sarutobi warned Naruko, who nodded. She knew that Clan Styles and Jutsu were protected by law, but most Ninja operated under the rule 'finder's keepers.'
[BOOM!]
A massive explosion bloomed in the village, causing a startled Naruko to shield the Hokage and draw a kunai by instinct. After a moment, Naruko lowered her guard when no further explosions came.
"ANBU!" Sarutobi called, prompting his four bodyguards to apparently teleport into the room. "Find out what and where that explosion was. Go!"
The ANBU vanished in puffs of smoke.
"I have got to learn how to do that." Naruko muttered to herself as she sheathed the kunai she had drawn.
"Catch." Sarutobi said and tossed Naruko a standard sized scroll. "That has the basics of the Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Jutsu) on it. A reward for your quick reflexes."
"YES!" Naruko cheered. She quickly deposited the scroll in one of her jackets many pockets. She jumped slightly as another ANBU appeared in a swirl of leaves.
"Inu (Dog)." The Hokage greeted the ANBU with a terse nod.
"Hokage-sama. The explosion originated at the building that Uzumaki-san used to live in. It is now merely rubble, with minor damage to the surrounding buildings and a few minor injuries to passing civilians." Inu reported briskly.
"No…my home…" Naruko said hollowly, falling to her knees at the revelation that her home of seven years was gone.
Sarutobi dismissed Inu and knelt next to Naruko. "Don't worry Naruko-chan. None of your stuff was in the house when it exploded."
"Huh?" Naruko looked at the Hokage blankly.
"After you left this morning, ANBU operatives removed all of your possessions from the apartment and took it to your new residence." Sarutobi explained.
"New…Huh?" Naruko said her expression puzzled.
"When you defeated Mizuki, you defeated the last of the small, and relatively unknown, Toji Clan." Sarutobi explained, "That alone would have won you all of his ninja gear. Add in the fact he was about to become a nuke-nin after stealing the Scroll of Seals, and you won all he owned -including his house and any shares in businesses he had. It is your right as the member of a Clan to take possession of all he once owned."
"I…won his house?" Naruko said disbelievingly.
"Indeed. I… {AHEM}…acted in advance of your knowledge of the laws because I thought it would make a nice graduation present." Sarutobi's face twisted sourly, "Now it's far more a necessity than anything else -meaning I still owe you a graduation present."
Thinking for a minute, Sarutobi's face brightened. "Aha! I know what to give you!" Sarutobi stood, made five handsigns, drew some blood then slammed his hand on the floor.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu- Saru Tan'ya: Enki! (Summoning Jutsu- Monkey Blacksmith: Enki!)" He shouted.
A plume of chakra smoke appeared where the Hokage slammed his hand and cleared to reveal a white and brown monkey about Naruko's height, wearing a leather apron, gloves and an eye patch over his left eye. His upper body was bulging with muscles and had a no-nonsense air about him.
"Sarutobi? Why have you summoned me?" the monkey asked in a rasping voice.
"Enki. I would like the gauntlet if you please." Sarutobi said politely.
The monkey made an odd sound that Naruko thought might be a laugh. "Why do you need that old thing?" he asked the Hokage, "It rejected you."
"For Naruko-chan." The Hokage replied, indicating Naruko with a small gesture, "She just graduated from the Academy and I thought it would make an excellent gift."
Enki looked Naruko up and down and snorted dismissively. "I doubt she has the reserves to even put the thing on, let alone use it."
"Oi!" Naruko said, a tick mark appearing on her head, "I have so much chakra that I have to make hundreds of regular Bunshins in order for the damn jutsu to work. Whatever it is you're talking about, I can handle it-dattebayo!"
The monkey raised his only visible eyebrow at the anger Naruko put in her voice. "You really shouldn't say that until you know what you're talking about, Kozō (Brat). The item Sarutobi wishes to give you doesn't work for people who do not have the right skills, chakra and mindset. It is my best creation, only one person in the last thirty years has worn the damn thing, and she died using it. Since then, no-one has been able to even put it on, even Sarutobi here."
"I won't die until I become Hokage." Naruko said stubbornly, "So bring it on, Enki-san."
Enki studied her for a moment before nodding. "OK, Kozō. But don't say I didn't warn ya." He disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Now we wait." Sarutobi told Naruko. He sat back down at his desk and fought his enemy once again while he waited. Naruko dispelled her clones as she now had to wait here for a while but still threw longing glances at the boxes that held her heritage.
A puff of smoke signalled Enki's return. He was holding a box that was just over a foot long and half that wide. He placed it on the floor before him reverently and motioned Naruko to sit opposite him.
"I swore twenty years ago that no-one beneath the rank of Jonin would ever even try to wear this gauntlet again." Enki said solemnly, "Now, I find myself breaking my word to myself."
Enki removed the lid slowly to reveal one of the most beautiful things Naruko had ever seen. It was a gauntlet, similar to a samurai's, but far more ornamented. Made from finely wrought steel, it was covered infighting monkeys, with a snarling monkey head over the part that protected the back of the hand. Just behind where the wrist was, the armour was bronze and seemed to be able to rotate.
"Behold." Enki whispered hoarsely, "En'ō Kago-te (The Gauntlet of the Monkey King)."