Naruto 1. Chapter 1

**Note: This was my NaNo 2013 challenge! I am going through and editing as I break apart the chapters, but I may miss an error or two. Also, I guess I should give you fair warning, there will be a major character death in the distant future of this story. By that, I mean it'll be near the end of this story and since I only have about half of it planned out, it'll be quite a while.**

**Also, there are no pairings in this story. There will occasionally be peripheral romances or crushes, but it will never be the focus of this story.**

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_Chapter 1_

The morning sun shone through a small crack in the curtains to shine directly on a preteen girl's face. She squeezed her eyes more tightly closed against the bright light and threw the blanket over her head. Just as she was about to drift back into sleep, the alarm went off. The sound was blaringly loud and startled her badly enough that she fell off her bed to the cold floor.

"Shit…" she groaned, fighting with the constricting blanket that had come with her.

Uzumaki Naruto blinked brilliant blue eyes and yawned. She ran her fingers through sleep-mussed golden hair, scratching at her scalp with dull fingernails. The alarm continued sounding throughout the small apartment until Naruto leaned over to smack it with the palm of her hand. It creaked ominously, but held together.

The silence was almost oppressive after the deafening loudness of the alarm and Naruto sat on the floor for a moment, enjoying the quiet. Then she remembered exactly _why_ her alarm had been set and she scrambled to her feet.

She rushed through showering, not even bothering to wait for the water to heat, and reemerged from the bathroom with one towel wrapped around her body and a second one draped over her head.

Naruto picked her favorite orange pants and jacket up from the floor and grimaced at the holes that liberally decorated them. She had nearly forgotten how the events of last night had ruined her clothing, and completely changed her life. Although learning about the kyuubi in such a way was devastating, Naruto actually felt kind of glad for the fox's presence. It was probably the only reason she was still alive.

After failing the genin exam because of her inability to perform the _bunshin no jutsu_, Mizuki had approached her with a highly suspicious 'secret' way to graduate. Once she heard him out, Naruto had gone straight to the hokage for advice. The old man hadn't seemed surprised at the information, but thanked her for coming to him. When Naruto asked if she could do anything to help, the Sandaime's eyes gleamed as if he had been waiting for her to make the offer.

Naruto had waited at the meeting place with a dummy forbidden scroll, but when Mizuki showed up, he completely took her off guard by spilling the beans about the bijuu sealed in her gut and then proceeded to do his best to kill her. By the time Iruka found her, after having heard the false story that she had stolen the scroll, Naruto was severely wounded. The kindly chuunin had immediately jumped to her defense but had taken a massive shuriken in the back while trying to cover her.

Hearing Iruka defend her as a person rather than condemn her as the kyuubi like Mizuki wanted was one of the happiest moments of Naruto's life. It was if her wounds no longer existed and she was able to use the jutsu that she learned earlier that night. The massive amounts of shadow clones that Naruto produced convinced Iruka to honor's Mizuki's lie and pass her. Of course, Iruka didn't know that the whole thing had been arranged between Naruto and the hokage, and that she hadn't learned _kage bunshin_ from the scroll, but from the hokage himself as a reward for helping trap Mizuki.

Last night, when she had gotten home, Naruto had a few healing scars to show for the multiple wounds she had been given by Mizuki; this morning, her skin was smooth and unblemished again. Naruto was pretty sure that the kyuubi's chakra was to thank for that and she patted her stomach gratefully.

"Thanks for not letting me die, fox," she muttered, feeling foolish for even trying to communicate with the beast sealed within her naval. She wasn't really sure what to think of it. On one hand, the fox's presence was the cause for practically all of the villagers hating her guts, but the kyuubi had definitely saved her life and, according the hokage, was slowly increasing her already impressive chakra reserves.

Naruto threw aside her ruined clothing and dug through her battered wardrobe for something else to wear for the team assignments. She couldn't decide whether to be disappointed at the lack of orange clothing in her drawers or not. While orange was definitely one of her favorite colors, she really only wore that jumpsuit so frequently because it had been a gift from her mysterious godfather.

She had once asked the hokage why her godfather hadn't ever come back to the village to take care of her or even visit and was told that he filled a very important role for Konoha that required him to travel extensively across the other countries. The Sandaime had assured her that her godfather would eventually return to the village to train her. She was disappointed of course, especially given her less-than-satisfactory treatment by the villagers, but understood that part of being a shinobi was putting the village before your own needs.

So whenever Naruto received a gift from her godfather, she wrote a letter in return that she entrusted the hokage to send. She hadn't gotten a response yet, but she liked to think that her godfather enjoyed her letters. She _did_ have the sneaking suspicion that he thought that she was a boy, based on the types—and sizes—of gifts that he sent her, but that was nothing new. Naruto was also pretty sure that everyone in her class thought she was a boy, but had long decided that if they were dumb enough not to notice that she was female then she wouldn't bother to correct them.

She dug through her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of dark grey pants that cinched just below the knee and a pale blue shirt with elbow-length sleeves and an orange spiral on the back.

Naruto wrapped her chest snugly before pulling on a long sleeve mesh armor top and the blue shirt over it. Although there wasn't much for her to bind, she had learned to use the thick material to protect her developing chest. She found out the hard way that it hurt like hell to be kicked in the breasts, no matter how small they were.

After she finished dressing, Naruto returned to the bathroom to hang up her sodden towels and brush her teeth. She didn't normally bother with her hair, as she felt there were better things to do than spend time making it look perfect before she was about to go work up a sweat, but today a small part of her wanted to make a good impression on her new teacher. Her hair really was too short to do much, so she just combed out the tangles and allowed her bangs to fall softly across her forehead. The locks of hair in front of her ears were slightly longer than the rest, making her grin at her reflection. With her hair styled this way, she looked a bit like the Yondaime hokage, whose face she could see perfectly from her window. She tied her forehead protector on snugly and tapped the metal plate with satisfaction. Although her bangs fell across the headband, the engraved leaf symbol was still clearly visible.

"I'm one step closer, jiji…" she murmured before turning away from the mirror and heading for the small kitchenette.

Naruto choked down an almost-bad apple and a dry ration bar, easing the tasteless mass down her throat with the last glass of cold milk. She peeked through her cabinets and sighed at the lack of food. It was definitely time to go grocery shopping. Hopefully her new sensei wouldn't keep them too long today so she would be able to get some food before the shops closed.

After washing out her glass and setting it out to dry, Naruto strapped on her thigh and hip pouches. She double checked that they were fully stocked before sliding her feet inside the sandals by the door and leaving the apartment, making sure to lock up behind her. Slipping the key inside a small hidden pocket in her thigh pouch, Naruto steeled herself for the unpleasant walk through the village.

She would love to be able to jump across the roofs like the other ninja. She had tried once, a few years ago, and nearly killed herself when she slipped off the tiles. Naruto knew now, of course, that she probably wouldn't have died, but it was still painful enough that she hadn't tried again. Instead, she would have to walk through town where everyone pretended that she didn't exist until her back was turned, when the glares and hostile mutters began. She made a mental note to ask her new sensei first thing about the trick to sticking to the roofs.

By the time Naruto reached the Academy, she was tense and a little depressed. Even though she should have been used to it and now knew the reason for their behavior, she still felt ostracized and achingly lonely. Aside from a small handful, there were very few people in the village that even acknowledged her existence. She had a few buddies in her class, but they never seemed to want to hang out when school was over. Everyone else was either rude, demeaning, or both.

Naruto had carefully cultivated a cheerful and slightly idiotic reputation as a way to protect herself from the hateful jabs of her classmates and avoid suspicion from the adults, who were often afraid and angry when she seemed too strong or too smart. She certainly wasn't stupid, however, and after doing her best on the graduation exam, the hokage had told her that her other test scores were high enough that she should have graduated even without properly creating two bunshin. Mizuki had been in charge of the taijutsu and weapons portion, however, and had obviously done something to make Iruka think that she needed the bunshin to pass.

She decided to take a shortcut to the classroom, hopping through the window instead of going through the main entrance, and stifled a yelp as she landed directly on Uchiha Sasuke, who had unfortunately chosen the window seat this morning. They crashed to the floor in a tangle of limbs and the loud clatter of upturned chairs.

Sasuke's elbow caught her hard in the diaphragm on the way down and Naruto struggled to breathe. When she finally managed to suck in much needed air, she realized that someone was talking to her. She coughed and looked up into a pair of annoyed black eyes.

"Will you get off me?" Sasuke repeated, sounding extremely irritated.

Naruto's skin crawled as she registered their entangled legs and the way their torsos were pressed tighter. In a slight panic, she struggled wildly to free herself, only managing to get them both caught in the legs of Sasuke's upturned chair. She barely noticed the Uchiha's angry exclamation as she narrowly missed kneeing him in the groin.

Instead of freeing herself, Naruto only managed to attract the attention of the two girls who just entered the classroom. Both Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura shrieked furiously at the sight of their idol entangled with the village pariah and joined the fray, clawing at Naruto to get her away from Sasuke.

Having three people now touching and grabbing at her was too much for her and Naruto began to hyperventilate, her bright blue eyes opened unnaturally wide as she tried to fight off the two fan girls and get away from the Uchiha. She wasn't used to people touching her outside of the few glancing blows she received in taijutsu practice. Even the hokage rarely did more than a gentle pat on her head. In fact, other than the Sandaime, Naruto couldn't remember ever having received a kindly touch from anyone in her entire life.

"Hey! Break it up, you four!" Iruka's voice cut through the two furious fan girls' screeching protestations and the chuunin quickly pulled them all apart.

As soon as she was free, Naruto fled to the middle of the aisle to get away, wide eyed and breathing too quickly. She rubbed her arms, resisting the urge to use her nails to scrape at her skin. Iruka scolded Ino and Sakura, instructing them to sit on the other side of the room, and helped Sasuke to his feet. He turned a concerned look on the upset blonde and reached out to give a comforting pat on her shoulder, but Naruto jerked away from the contact.

"I'm okay, Iruka-sensei," she said a little too quickly, clenching her fists and trying to bring her racing heartbeat under control.

Iruka sighed, his soft brown eyes sad and filled with understanding. "I'm sorry, Naruto. Won't you take your seat?" He moved out of the row and gestured toward the empty seat at the end. Both Ino and Sakura started to protest loudly, but were silenced instantly by Iruka's scathing glance.

Naruto edged around him and sat heavily in the chair. She could feel Sasuke's curious gaze burning into the side of her face, but she stoically ignored it and focused on taking deep, calming breaths. When she felt a warm flush creeping up her neck, Naruto buried her face in her arms on the desk. She was completely mortified and hoped that the rest of the class didn't notice her near melt-down.

She could still feel someone staring at her; Naruto was certain that it was still Sasuke. She really wished that he would just mind his own business.

"…maki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."

At the sound of her own name, Naruto looked up, realizing that Iruka had been talking up at the front of the classroom. And apparently announcing team assignments.

"You will be assigned to Hatake Kakashi," Iruka continued, glancing at Naruto before looking back to his clipboard. "Team 8, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame…"

Naruto tuned him out again and frowned at the information she just received. Her new sensei's name sounded vaguely familiar, but she wasn't sure when or where she had heard it before. And she just _had_ to be on a team with Sasuke, of all people. Naruto wished that she had caught the name of her other teammate and she looked around curiously to see if she could guess by her classmates' expressions.

Sakura looked particularly ecstatic while Ino looked mutinous. It didn't bode well and Naruto bit back a groan of despair. She really hoped that she was wrong about that one. Having to deal with Sasuke and his holier-than-thou attitude was going to be trying enough, let alone adding one of his most rabid fans into the mix.

She peered through the corner of her eye to find Sasuke still frowning thoughtfully at her. Naruto dug her nails into her palm to staunch the rising irritation and turned to face him. "Please tell me that the pink one isn't on our team."

Sasuke's expression soured, giving Naruto the answer she had been dreading.

"Great…" she sighed, facing forward again and propping her chin on her fist. She tried to focus on Iruka's speech about ninja life, but the man really was accomplished at sounding as boring as possible.

He finally finished and opened the door to let a handful of shinobi into the room. Naruto perked up at the rather eclectic group of jounin. There were two women in the group and they looked badass enough that Naruto wished that one of them was her teacher even though 'Kakashi' was unlikely to be a women's name.

As each ninja left with the groups of three genin, anxiety fluttered in Naruto's stomach. When Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji followed behind the last jounin, a man who smelled strongly like an ashtray, Naruto glanced uncertainly at Iruka.

The man sighed and gave her a reassuring smile. "Your teacher will be… a little late," he explained, a pained expression crossing his face. "Why don't you three have some lunch and get to know each other a little better?"

Naruto's mouth twisted in distaste, but she turned to ask her new teammates to ask if they wanted to go to the ramen stand. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Sasuke stood and slouched out of the room without a word.

"Sasuke-kun, wait for me!" Sakura called, scrambling out of her chair and hurrying after him.

Iruka winced in sympathy as Naruto let her head fall face down on the desk. "This team is going to suck…" she groaned.


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: Thanks everyone for the favs/follows!**

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_Chapter 2_

When all three genin returned to the classroom, they found that even Iruka had gone home and that Hatake Kakashi had yet to arrive. Sasuke resumed his customary position by the window, stoically ignoring Sakura's attempts to start a conversation. Naruto took advantage of all the empty seats and sat far away from her new teammates. As time slowly passed and another hour had gone by with no sight of their sensei, Naruto began to get a little jittery.

Her leg bounced impatiently and she gnawed on her fingernail. Naruto had a lot of chakra. A _lot_ of chakra. And she spent most of the day cooped up in a classroom. There was a faint crunch as she accidentally caught her nail between her sharp canines. Coppery blood coated her tongue and she jerked her hand away from her mouth, frowning at the cracked bleeding nail on her thumb.

She watched in slightly fascination as it healed within minutes and then jammed her hands in her pockets to resist the temptation to continue chewing her nails. Naruto lasted another fifteen minutes of trying to tune out Sakura's chatter before she stood, pushing away from her desk with frustration. Her abrupt movement caught the attention of her teammates, who both frowned at her.

Naruto ignored their scrutiny, hating them for looking at her like she was a pest to be exterminated. She hopped lightly down to the front of the classroom and began to pace quickly.

"What are you doing?" asked Sakura distastefully.

"I can't sit still any longer," Naruto admitted.

The pink haired girl rolled her eyes. "I don't know why you can't just control yourself. _Sasuke-kun_ doesn't have any trouble waiting patiently."

"He's probably just entertaining himself with ways to make you shut up," Naruto grumbled under her breath. She then said more loudly, "if you ever bothered to pay attention to anyone other than Sasuke, you would remember when we tested chakra capacity this year."

"What does _that_ have to do with anything?" Sakura asked flippantly.

Naruto bared her teeth in a semblance of a smile. "The _point_ is, I have more chakra than everyone in the entire class combined, _including_ the teachers."

As Sasuke glanced over at her with sharp interest, Naruto's mood soured even further. Apparantly _no one_ paid any attention to her if this was news to him. Iruka had been so shocked at her results that he called in two other teachers to confirm her chakra capacity.

"Yeah right, dead last," Sakura scoffed, turning her back on the blonde with a huff.

Naruto's gut clenched as she fought back anger and hurt feelings. She took a deep breath as she paced away from the pair by the window. By the time she turned back at the door, she had managed to regain her usual pleasant expression. Propping her hands on her hips, she stopped by the desk her teammates shared.

"I didn't place last, Sakura," she said lightly. "After the exam, I came in 4th in the class."

"If that's true, then why did you get assigned to the same team as me and Sasuke-kun? The dead last _always_ gets placed with the top shinobi and kunoichi," the pink haired girl retorted, clearly not believing Naruto's self-proclaimed class standing.

Naruto ground her teeth tighter and fought to maintain a non-caring expression. "Maybe our sensei requested me," she suggested lightly.

Sakura burst out with cruel laughter. "Who would want _you_? You are such a liar," she accused. "Everyone knows that you failed the exam yesterday. Why are you even here?" She suspiciously eyed the hitai-ate displayed proudly on the blonde's forehead.

Tears prickled at the corner of Naruto's eyes. She blinked them back furiously, baffled and devastated by Sakura's cruelty. She risked a glance at Sasuke to gauge his reaction. The dark haired boy was looking at Sakura with disgust, making her feel a little better. At least the other girl's behavior wasn't going unnoticed.

"If you must know, _Mizuki_ fudged my scores," Naruto ground out through clenched teeth, not really sure why she was even bothering to explain to someone who clearly hated her. "That's why he isn't here today. He's a traitor who tried to steal from the hokage. He hoped that I would be so desperate to pass that I would do it for him and take the blame."

Before Sakura could interrupt with another nasty comment, Naruto continued quickly. "I know what you're going to say, and that isn't true either. I've never failed an exam before."

"Then why weren't you a genin two years ago?" Sakura asked mockingly.

"The same reason wonder boy over there isn't," Naruto replied sweetly, jerking her thumb at the Uchiha, who appeared to be doing his best to ignore them both. "I don't have a guardian to sign the release form for early graduation."

The pink haired girl bristled at the imagined slight toward her idol and started to rise out of her seat aggressively. But before she could do anything, the door slid open with a quiet snick, turning all three of their heads.

A tall man with gravity defying silver hair stood in the doorway. He wore his hitai-ate at an angle over his left eye and a mask covered his face from the nose down to the collar of his jounin uniform. He stared at them impassively with one lidded eye.

After a moment of tense silence, a pleasant smile crossed his face, turning his visible eye into a happy crescent. A chill ran down Naruto's spine and she had the feeling that he actually wasn't happy at all.

"My first impression… you are all a bunch of brats." He looked at them in turn, dark eye lingering on Naruto's clenched fists.

She followed his gaze to her hands and let out an irritated sigh as she realized that her nails had cut deeply into her palms. It didn't really hurt and the little half-moon cuts were already closing, so she wasn't overly concerned.

"Maa, Naruto, why don't you go clean up and meet us on the roof," Kakashi suggested, his tone making it clear that it wasn't really a suggestion.

Naruto stilled, halfway to wiping her hands on her pants, and frowned slightly at the blood that coated her palms. "Yeah, I guess I should."

She edged past the jounin, glancing over her shoulder at her teammates, and headed down the hall toward the bathroom. Opening the door with her elbow, Naruto slipped inside and headed straight for the sinks. She scrubbed the blood from her hands and under her nails before splashing cold water on her face. Naruto leaned on the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. Her reflection stared back warily.

"Just ignore her," she muttered to herself with a sigh. "It isn't like you haven't heard worse walking through town."

But it _felt_ worse than the vitriol from the strangers in the village. Sakura was someone whom she had known since they first entered the Academy. Despite that, the other girl had never shown any interest in getting to know Naruto and was one of those who didn't even know her gender. Sakura had always been rude to her, but never so deliberately cruel.

Naruto took a deep, steadying breath to ease the pain from her expression. She slipped her forehead protector down around her neck and patted her face dry with a handful of paper towels. After tossing the wad of damp paper in the trashcan, she pulled her headband back into place and tapped the metal plate with a wry smile.

"I won't give up that easily, jiji," she promised, determined not to let Sakura's jabs get to her. Surely if she didn't rise to the bait, the other girl would stop picking at her.

As soon as she got to the rooftop, it was apparent that Kakashi had said something to the pink haired kunoichi. Sakura was downcast and shamefaced and didn't even look at Naruto as she took the open space between her teammates. Sasuke was as inscrutably surly as usual and Kakashi was… beaming at her.

"Now that we are all here, let's get to know each other a little bit. Why don't you introduce yourselves and share your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future… that sort of thing," he said, waiting expectantly for someone to volunteer.

Naruto looked at her teammates, and seeing that they certainly weren't going to go first, sighed and broke the silence. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, plants, and the people I care about. I don't like being touched or when people judge me based on rumors and…" she paused, looking for the right word to describe the senseless hate of the villagers, "ignorance. My dream is to be hokage… and for people to acknowledge me."

"Thank you Naruto," Kakashi said with an eye smile. Unlike in the classroom, this smile seemed genuine and she gave a small smile in return. The jounin indicated Sasuke. "Next?"

The Uchiha grunted and dropped his hands away from his chin. "Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like much and I dislike a lot of things. I don't have so much a dream as a goal… that is to kill a certain man."

Naruto frowned at the boy, wondering if his 'goal' had anything to do with the mysterious massacre of his clan. She had always thought that the culprit was unknown. Maybe Sasuke didn't know either and that was why he hadn't named any names.

"Hmm, interesting," Kakashi intoned blandly. But Naruto thought he looked a little concerned and definitely disapproving. "And you?" he gestured at Sakura.

The pink haired girl fidgeted. "My name is Haruto Sakura. I like flowers and…" she glanced at Sasuke with a blush, the thought of her crush reviving her spirits somewhat. "I don't like Ino-buta. My dream…" she looked at the dark haired boy again and giggled.

"What about you, sensei?" Naruto asked curiously, inwardly shuddering at Sakura's embarrassing display. Girls like her and the rest of the Sasuke Fan Club gave kunoichi a bad name and were why Naruto had never felt the urge to correct anyone when they assumed incorrectly about her gender.

Kakashi smiled again. "Well, depending on what happens tomorrow, I will tell you. The first thing you three should know is that you aren't really genin yet."

"What?"

"Why not?"

Sakura and Naruto cried aloud as Sasuke glared mutinously, as if by sheer willpower he could revoke Kakashi's words.

The jounin chuckled. He always loved this part; they were always so tiny and outraged. "I mean that there is still another test to pass. You remember the kids who came back for a review year, right? Well they're the ones who didn't pass the second test."

"Why is there another test, sensei?" Sakura asked, concern edging her words. Despite her harsh words to Naruto earlier, she knew very well that she wasn't the top ranked kunoichi. Even though it burned to admit it, Ino had beaten her in nin- and taijutsu, assertiveness, and team cooperation. Sakura had blown her out of the water in the written test scores, chakra control, and genjutsu, but both girls still lost out to Sasuke in all three jutsu areas.

"Hmm, well there is a lot more about being a ninja than just what you are tested on in the Academy," Kakashi replied. "So I'm going to ask you a question. Tomorrow, you will meet me at 9:00 a.m. in training ground 7 to give me your answers. Whoever answers this question correctly will pass and the others will have to go back for the review year." He paused dramatically, seeming to relish the anxious expressions on the genin's faces. "What is the most important aspect of being a shinobi?"

Kakashi waited long enough to see the confusion set in on their faces before forming a single hand seal and disappearing, leaving behind a swirl of bright green leaves.

Sasuke stood with an incomprehensible mutter and headed back for the stairs, raising his hand lazily in farewell. Rising quickly, Sakura hastened to follow him, but stopped short at the door leading back down into the building.

"I'm… sorry for being so rude, Naruto," she said softly, without turning her head to look back at the surprised blonde.

After the pink-haired girl made her escape, a small pleased smile spread over Naruto's face. "Well, that's a start," she murmured. Even _if_ the apology had only been spurred by Kakashi's scolding, it still meant a lot to her. People didn't usually apologize to Naruto, even when under pressure. A handful of shop owners had been put out of business for by trying to smack her around when she was little and then refusing to apologize for it even when the hokage himself spoke with them.

She wondered why she _really_ had been placed with this team. Now having seen him, Naruto knew for sure that she had never met Kakashi before, so it was highly unlikely that he had requested her. And she definitely would have gotten along better with Shikamaru or Chouji, or even Kiba's team.

Naruto decided that it wouldn't hurt to go talk to the hokage about it, given that he had the final say in the team assignments. She shimmied down the side of the building, rather than take the stairs back inside (and risk running into her new teammates, if she were to be completely honest). It might not be a bad idea to ask him for advice on Kakashi's question too. Naruto felt sure that the question was just too straightforward. There had to be a catch.

She made her way through town, ignoring the usual hostile glares directed at her back by the majority of the villagers. The Hokage Tower was only a few minutes away from the Academy and she took her usual route to the office located at the very top—through the back door.

It wasn't so much a back door as a hidden ANBU entrance, so she had to be sneaky to use it. If she was noticed, someone would intercept her and then she'd be directed back to the front entrance. But if she reached the secret door without being seen, the ANBU left her alone, even though she knew that they were aware of her once she was inside. She hadn't been taken back to the front since she was 9.

As usual, the ANBU were invisible, but Naruto always knew that they were there. They always made the hairs on the back of her neck bristle and now she thought that maybe the kyuubi could sense them somehow.

The passage spiraled through the tower to lead directly toward the hokage's office. Naruto thought that it must be a secret escape route, given that the entrance was concealed by a false panel behind the desk. Just as the door to the office came into sight, an ANBU dropped into Naruto's path.

"You must wait 3 minutes," the ANBU whispered precisely, voice pitched in a way to make discerning gender all but impossible. Normally, Naruto could tell just from the body shape, but this ANBU was wearing the all-concealing cloak that was sometimes a part of the uniform.

"He finishing up a meeting?" she asked, leaning against the wall. At the affirmative nod, she squinted through the dim light to study the ANBU's mask with interest. The white masks were a trademark of the elite group and were always stylistically painted to resemble some animal. Naruto always liked to pay attention to the markings so she could remember who she encountered. The material of the mask looked like porcelain, but she was sure that it was probably something much less breakable, and much _more_ breathable. This mask looked like some kind of rodent and was unfamiliar to her.

"Rat or mouse?" she questioned with a grin. The ANBU always tried to remain silent around her, so she made it a personal goal to make them speak.

The shinobi tilted their head as if to say that they knew _exactly_ what Naruto was doing and that it wouldn't work. Instead of replying verbally, the ANBU held up two gloved fingers.

"Mouse, then," Naruto confirmed. "Nice to meet you! Can I go in now?"

The ANBU was still for a moment before turning to swing open the door and stepping aside to allow Naruto to pass.

She turned to thank the ANBU, but they had already disappeared back into the gloom. Naruto shrugged and slid the panel back into place.

"Hi, jiji," she said, moving to stand beside his chair. When the old man swiveled to face her, she flung her arms around him in an exuberant hug.

"Hello, Naruto," Sarutobi chuckled, returning the hug, "what can I do for you today?"

Naruto pulled back and leaned on the desk. "Well, I actually have two questions for you," she said, scratching at her cheek. "Why did I get put on a team with Sasuke and Sakura?"

The hokage reclined in his chair and took a long draw on his pipe. "There are several answers to that question, Naruto. Most importantly, Kakashi requested you to be on his team, the council wished for Sasuke to work with Kakshi, and Sakura was chosen to fill the gap because her strengths compliment the pair of you. I also believed that you three would be helpful to one another."

Naruto gaped at him. "Sensei really asked for me? But… why? I've never even met him before…"

Sarutobi smiled warmly. "I think that is something that you should ask him yourself. You should have more faith in yourself, Naruto," he said, slowly laying a hand on her shoulder. "Several of the jounin expressed an interest in you this year."

"You aren't just saying that to be nice, are you?" Naruto asked, peering at the old man suspiciously. While she flinched away from most contact, the hokage was someone that she didn't mind touching her. He had always been gentle and kind, never raising a hand toward her in anger.

The Sandaime laughed and patted her shoulder before releasing her. "I meant it! Some people long at you and see only a promising ninja. Now, what was your second question?"

Naruto willed the blush to leave her cheeks, mentally thanking the hokage for changing the subject. Compliments like that were few and far between, causing her to have no clue how to react when she actually received one. "Um, Kakashi-sensei asked us a question to think about for tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure it's a trick. I mean, like it is a lot more complicated that it seems."

"That _does_ sound like something he would do," Sarutobi agreed, puffing on his pipe again. "Why don't you tell me what he said and talk through the answer for me."

"Well, he wanted us to tell him what is the most important thing about being a shinobi, and at first I would say one of the jutsu styles, or a log for kawarimi, but I think he means something more…" she trailed off, searching for the right word.

"Having a log at hand is certainly important, but you are right in that it is not quite the answer he is looking for," the hokage laughed. "So, which areas were you tested on in the exam?"

"Nin-, gen-, and taijutsu, assertiveness, a written exam over history and tactics, chakra control, and cooperation," Naruto recited dutifully. As she said the last test area, her brow furrowed. "Wait… Kakashi-sensei said that he could pass some of us and send the others back to school, but Iruka-sensei gave this huge speech about being in a team. Maybe he means… we should work together?"

She was surprised that she could remember Iruka's words, given that she had been doing her best to tune him out in the aftermath of her panic attack, but as Sarutobi hummed noncommittally, Naruto was glad that she had absorbed the lesson.

"I mean, even the ANBU don't usually work alone, do they?" She deflated a little as she thought about who exactly was on her team and released her breath in a long sigh. "I don't think that Sasuke or Sakura will want to work with me though."

The hokage blew out a ring of smoke and nudged Naruto's chin up. "Be more confident in yourself, Naruto. I know that you can bring them together."

"Thanks, jiji," Naruto said with a small smile. She wasn't nearly so sure that she could convince the other two members of her team that they needed to work together. Hopefully, they would come up with the answer on their own and she wouldn't have to try to persuade them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Note: I am so glad you are all enjoying this! I've always wanted to do a femNaru and I am having a lot of fun with this one!**

**Edit: Thanks, Kedo, for pointing out that I got my wars mixed up! Uzushiogakure was wiped out in the Second War, not the Third.**

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_Chapter 3_

Naruto's stomach churned with nerves about Kakashi's second test all night and she had slept poorly. After hours of tossing and turning, she had given up on sleeping any longer and sat against her wall to gaze out the window at the pre-dawn village. With her knees tucked under her chin, Naruto took peace in the still, quiet rooftops and the Hokage Monument, which was just visible through the faint light.

When her battered alarm went off, the shrill sound startled her and she quickly unfolded to turn it off. Naruto stretched with a faint groan. Her eyes felt puffy and a faint headache throbbed in the back of her head. The kyuubi had healed every wound, but never bothered with the tired headaches that Naruto suffered when she slept badly.

With one last crack of her back, Naruto got up and shuffled into the small kitchenette. She had been able to get a little shopping down yesterday, so her cabinets were full of a variety of ingredients. Naruto felt sure that Kakashi would be atrociously late again, so she decided on a hot grain cereal and a large piece of fruit to keep her full.

After a quick shower, Naruto peered into her wardrobe critically. Her favorite orange outfit was still in tatters, which was depressing in more ways than one, given that she really could have used the emotional comfort it provided. She had a lot of casual clothing, but none of her t-shirts were made with shinobi fabrics, so they tore and stained extremely easily. There was a canvas bag slumped over at the bottom of the wardrobe and Naruto peered into it curiously.

"I can't believe I forgot about this," she muttered. She dug through the bag and withdrew her graduation gift from the hokage. The present had slipped her mind because of everything that had happened in the last couple days. Inside the bag was an outfit that the hokage claimed reminded him of what his old student wore.

The top was dark orange, sleeveless, and hit her at mid-thigh. It had to be secured with a black sash and the wrap style reminded her a little of the yukata provided at the baths. Naruto examined the fabric critically and was surprised to find the material extremely sturdy despite being so soft. The shirt came with a pair of black cropped pants that hid a surprising number of pockets. Naruto slipped on the new clothes over her under gear and stepped into the bathroom to scrutinize the outfit.

Her view was limited due to the small size of the mirror, but Naruto had long discovered that by standing on a stool in the shower, she could see her lower half. The outfit was flattering and functional and she really appreciated the orange.

Naruto hopped off the stool and kicked it out of the way before heading back to the kitchen. After washing her dishes, she looked at her clock and sighed. It was still too early, but she supposed it wouldn't hurt to get a little warm-up in before everyone else showed up. She affixed her pouches, tied on her headband, and stepped into her sandals before heading out to the meeting place.

The training ground was quiet and peaceful when she arrived. It was equipped with fairly standard training materials: a small stream for water jutsu, three upright logs for kunai or taijutsu practice, and of course, plenty of trees. Naruto pursed her lips as she mentally judged the size of the open clearing at the center of training ground seven. She always liked to start her warm up with a bit of running to loosen up her muscles, but the field was small enough that it would probably take about 500 laps before she even started to sweat. Her immense chakra capacity ensured that she also had an absurd amount of stamina.

Instead of laps, since she had to run to the far side of the village to even _get_ to the training fields, Naruto decided to have a light spar. She brought her hands together in a cross shaped seal and created a single shadow clone.

"Okay, I'm going to do defense only for now so I don't pop you too quickly," she said to the clone, squashing a twinge of embarrassment for _literally_ talking to herself.

"How do you want to call it, boss?" the clone asked as it dropped into an aggressive taijutsu stance.

Naruto lowered into a defensive crouch and hummed thoughtfully. "Let's start at 5. Critical hits only; glancing blows don't count."

The moment she finished speaking, the clone launched its attack. Naruto rolled her eyes at her own impatience and blocked several quick punches. She catching a fist aimed at her face and used the momentum to throw the clone over her shoulder.

Naruto skipped away as the clone rebounded off a training log and flew back at her. She resisted the urge the throw a jab at its exposed side, instead making a mental note of the hole in her form. The clone kicked high at Naruto's head and snuck a hard blow to her torso when she reached up to block.

"That's one," it said smugly, leaping back to create some space.

"Yeah, and it'll be the _only _one," Naruto retorted, rubbing irritably at her ribs.

As she fell back into a defensive stance, something moved at the edge of her peripheral vision, disrupting her attention long enough to land a palm strike to her face. There was a terrible crunching sound and blood gushed from Naruto's nose.

She swore and lifted a hand to assess the damage. It was definitely broken. She glared furiously at the clone, pupils dilated in fury.

The clone gulped, knowing its own temper well enough to realize that it was screwed. It seriously considered dispelling, but knew that unless Naruto got out the aggression, she would be in a black mood for the rest of the day. It came from taking one too many sucker punches without being able to defend herself or retaliate.

Naruto launched herself at the clone, tackling it to the ground and popping it in a single vicious strike. As she kneeled on the ground, her pupils constricted to a more normal diameter and she let out a shaky breath as the rage induced fog faded from her mind. She waved the lingering smoke from the dispelled clone away from her face with a scowl. Her irritation lingered, caused both by the broken nose and her own reaction to getting hit. Naruto knew that flying into a rage was a terrible weakness, but she wasn't sure how to go about stopping it.

She straightened and used her forearm to wipe her face. Blood continued to flow steadily from her nose and she grimaced at the amount now coating her arm and splattered down the front of her shirt. Fortunately, shinobi fabrics were highly stain resistant and there was a perfected method of removing blood from clothing. It was one of the first skills taught in the Academy.

"Great," she muttered under her breath. As she turned toward the small stream, Naruto startled badly at the sight of Sasuke leaning nonchalantly against one of the training logs.

"Um… morning?" she offered, trying to force her suddenly tense muscles to relax.

"Hn," he replied shortly, watching her intently as she knelt by the water.

Naruto splashed her face and scrubbed her skin clean. The blood still trickling from her nose felt scalding hot compared to the cold steam water and she wiped it away again, probing her nose gently. It was crooked and she knew from experience that it wouldn't stop bleeding completely and start healing unless she straightened it back out. She really hated having to straighten her nose when it was broken.

"When did you learn how to make a shadow clone?"

_Crunch_.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth. Tears streamed reflexively from her eyes as her nose throbbed angrily from being jerked back into place. Pinching the bridge of her nose to staunch the remaining blood, she rummaged through her hip pouch with her free hand and withdrew a scrap of cloth. She submerged it in the cool water and then carefully wiped her face clean.

A small jar was thrust into her field of vision and Naruto looked up to see Sasuke offering it to her. She raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"It'll help with the swelling and pain. There's a numbing agent in it."

"Oh, thanks," Naruto replied, taken aback by the kind gesture. She accepted the jar and opened it, peering curiously at the contents. It appeared to be a standard healing ointment, but with her nose currently out of action, she couldn't be certain that there wasn't something special in the formula. As she dabbed the salve on and around her nose, Sasuke repeated his earlier question.

She hesitated, wondering how much she was allowed to tell him. The hokage hadn't really said whether that mission was classified, which is why she mentioned it to Sakura the day before. But while Sasuke hadn't been openly rude to her, he also didn't do anything to stop Sakura's verbal abuse. Naruto wasn't sure that she really _wanted _to tell him anything. Unbidden, the hokage's confidence that she would make the team work rose to her mind and she sighed quietly, deciding to bury the past and extend an overture of friendship.

"Like I said yesterday, I helped Hokage-jiji with Mizuki. Since I can't make a regular bunshin, he taught me how to make shadow clones instead of cash as payment."

At Sasuke's blatantly interested expression, Naruto grimaced.

"I'm forbidden to teach kage bunshin to anyway," she explained, wincing internally at the disappointment on her teammate's face. "It's technically classified as a kinjutsu."

"Why did he teach you shadow clones instead of an elemental clone?" he asked, interest still glimmering in his eyes.

Naruto felt her cheeks heat from the focused attention. "Um, well kage bunshin is considered a kinjutsu for two reasons: it takes the user's chakra and splits it evenly among the clones, and when dispelled, the clone provides you with a memory feedback. So if you don't have large enough chakra reserves, it could kill you. I have a lot of chakra."

As Sasuke stood quietly, looking thoughtful, Naruto returned the little jar of ointment. He blinked several times and accepted the jar, slipping it back into his hip pouch. "Can you only make the one clone?" he asked, focusing sharply on her.

"Oh no, I can make a lot more than that," Naruto replied, watching her teammate warily. He was eyeing her oddly, almost as if he were sizing her up for a fight.

With an exasperated sigh, the dark haired boy gestured with his hand as if to ask _how_ many.

"Well, the night I learned it, I made about a thousand," she admitted reluctantly. "I could… probably make more, if I really tried."

Sasuke stared at her incredulously. "How is that even possible?" he burst out, completely breaking out of his usual stoicism.

Naruto chewed her lip uncertainly, trying to think of a reason that she could give him for having more chakra than any human really had a right to have. After learning about the kyuubi, she had begged the hokage for anything he could share about her parents. He finally relented and told her that her mother's name was Uzumaki Kushina and that the Uzumaki used to be a large clan famous for their fuinjutsu, incredibly long lifespans, and massive chakra reserves. She felt fiercely protective of the tiny amount of information she had managed to get, but given that the alternative would be to take a flying leap of faith and explain about the biju sealed in her gut continuously bolstering her own reserves, Naruto thought it was easier to talk about her mother. Besides, it was mostly true. Even if she didn't have the kyuubi, she would have had an obnoxious amount of chakra anyway.

"It's something like a bloodline," she said finally. "Jiji told me that the Uzumaki clan was practically wiped out during the Second Shinobi War because they were feared for having so much chakra that they lived for _decades_ longer than usual and they were brilliant with deadly sealing techniques."

Naruto cleared her throat awkwardly and stared at her feet.

Sasuke inhaled quickly, no doubt preparing to continue his interrogation, but the arrival of their third teammate halted the query in his throat.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called, hurrying over to them.

Naruto had never been so glad to see the pink haired girl. She was starting to regret being so open with someone she was pretty sure didn't like her. It hadn't felt right to tell him to mind his own business and the hokage had definitely encouraged her to try to make friends with her teammates. She thought that maybe if she took a leap of faith and let them have a glimpse of who she really was, they would do the same with her.

She quickly stuffed the soiled cloth that was still clutched in her fist back into her hip pouch, sniffing experimentally to gauge how her nose was doing. It didn't really hurt very much anymore, even though she could tell that it still wasn't healed yet. She made a mental note to ask Sasuke where he got that medicine when she had the chance. Naruto didn't want to bring it up in front of Sakura mostly because she didn't feel like rehashing the entire event.

"Morning Sakura," she offered with a faint smile.

The pink haired girl turned reluctantly away from her crush and gave Naruto a semblance of a smile. It didn't seem genuine, but Kakashi's words from yesterday still seemed to be affecting her.

"Hi," Sakura replied, green eyes lingering on the blood dotting the front of Naruto's shirt. Her brow furrowed and for a moment, Naruto thought she would ask about the dark stains. Instead, Sakura shook herself lightly and turned back to Sasuke.

Naruto sighed softly. It seemed that was as good as she was going to get for now, but it was definitely a start. And it was a huge improvement over the pink haired girl's behavior yesterday.

She meandered over to one of the training logs and hopped up to sit on top of it. Humming quietly under her breath, she wondered if she should broach the subject of Kakashi's question with her team. It felt like the right thing to do, given that she was fairly certain that the answer was teamwork, but Sakura was blatantly projecting a 'don't talk to me' aura and Sasuke had already retreated into his stoic bubble.

The choice was taken away from her, however, with Kakashi's arrival. The jounin was accompanied by a generous puff of smoke.

Naruto pulled a small field watch out of her pouch and gaped at it. Both Iruka and the hokage and given her the impression that Kakashi was known for being chronically late to everything that wasn't a legitimate emergency and according to her watch, he was five minutes early! He glanced at her briefly and Naruto remembered with a slight jolt that he had specifically requested her to be on his team. She still didn't think she had ever met him before, even if his chakra _did_ feel slightly familiar, but she couldn't help wonder if maybe he was here on time because of her.

"Good morning," Kakashi greeted with a smile, eyeing all three genin equally now. "I trust you have all given my question consideration?"

"Yes, sensei," Naruto replied as Sakura and Sasuke both nodded.

"Excellent! Here is what I would like you to do," the jounin said. He flicked two small bells that were tied to his belt. "Using your answer, you will try to take these bells away from me. You will have until noon to get a bell," Kakashi explained, withdrawing a small alarm from his hip pouch. "When this alarm goes off, whoever has managed to get a bell will pass. If you can't get one, you'll have to go back to the Academy.

Now Naruto was _sure_ that teamwork was the right answer here. There was just no way that a fresh-out-of-school genin could get _anything_ from a jounin alone. She glanced at her teammates and suppressed a pang of disappointment. Sasuke's eyes were focused single-mindedly on the bells at Kakashi's hip and Sakura was downcast, twiddling her fingers. Getting them to work together may be even harder than she initially thought.


	4. Chapter 4

**Note: Thanks so much for all the favs/follows and reviews! It's really encouraging to know that y'all are enjoying this :)**

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_Chapter 4_

The genin waited in tense silence as Kakashi approached the training logs, where they were crowded on one end, to perch the clock on top of the log in the middle. He hummed thoughtfully and then adjusted the clock with no discernable effect. Naruto startled as the jounin abruptly vanished and reappeared in the middle of the clearing, back facing the steam.

"Begin!"

As soon as Kakashi finished speaking, both Sakura and Sasuke leapt into the trees. Naruto deliberated anxiously. Her teammates had gone in opposite directions and she wasn't sure who would be more approachable. While she had managed to establish somewhat of a rapport with Sasuke, he was so stubborn about doing everything by himself that she wasn't sure the tentative connection would be enough. Sakura had made it abundantly clear that she only tolerated Naruto's presence, no doubt a lingering effect of whatever their sensei had said to her. But the pink-haired girl was more likely to listen to logic and she definitely wasn't as confident as Sasuke about her skills. Sakura could potentially be more open to working together.

Keeping a wary eye on her smiling sensei until she was in cover, Naruto crept into the trees to search for her teammate. Once she was marginally safer in the dense cover of foliage, she extended her senses in preparation for seeking out the pink-haired girl's chakra. However, before Naruto could even start looking, Sakura's perfume flooded her senses. She pinched her nose to hold of a sneeze and then snorted softly to clear the strong scent from her nostrils. How had she not noticed this perfume before? It was cloyingly sweet and now Naruto could actually_ taste_ it, having tried to avoid the smell by breathing though her nose.

She moved silently through the brush, trying simultaneously to follow the perfume and not inhale too deeply and risk choking—had Sakura bathed in it? Naruto made a mental note to tactfully ask the other girl to take it easy with the scent; an enemy nin would be able to find her from a mile away. Finally, as the perfume intensified, Naruto spotted pink and crept up behind her teammate.

"Sakura," she breathed, hoping that the kunoichi didn't scream in surprise.

To her credit, Sakura made no sound beyond a soft gasp, but she did startle violently and shoot a reflexive elbow toward the Naruto's head.

"Stop, stop," she hissed, "it's just me!" She deflected the strike and held on to the other girl's arm to prevent any further attacks.

"Naruto, you idiot! What are you doing?" Sakura shot back in an angry whisper, jerking her arm out of the blonde's grip.

"We need to work together to get the bells," Naruto said softly. She ruthlessly suppressed the pang of hurt from the faintly disgusted expression on the pink-haired girl's face. Before Sakura could argue, Naruto quickly shared the hints she had gotten from the hokage and why she thought they should work as a team.

"Besides, can't you feel his chakra?" she asked, grimacing. "There's no way we could get a bell from sensei on our own."

"That does make sense, I guess," Sakura agreed. She looked extremely reluctant and it didn't take long for her concern to turn to the object of her affection. "But what about Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "That's not going to be easy. He isn't going to want to work with us, but we've got to convince him. I don't even think getting the bell is all that important; I bet he just wants to see us working together."

The pink-haired kunoichi hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe when Sasuke-kun tries for a bell, we can just jump in and support him without involving him in the planning process at all."

"That's… not a bad idea," Naruto said. She wouldn't have thought Sakura could be so practical about the Uchiha. "He won't even have the chance to turn us away. Let's keep a close eye on him so we know when to help."

The two girls crept back up to the edge of the clearing and peered through the gaps in the leaves at Kakashi, who was still standing in the center with bored posture. While they waited for Sasuke to make his move, Naruto gathered her courage.

"Hey, Sakura," she whispered. "Can… can you possible use a little less perfume next time? I'm not sure if you knew, but it's really, really strong," Naruto said quickly, hoping she wasn't about to become victim to one of Sakura's enraged beatings again.

To her surprise, the other girl blushed and hid her face in her hands. "I know," she groaned. "I was running late this morning and accidentally spilled the whole bottle on my dress. There wasn't any time to change."

"Oh. That's good," Naruto sighed. "I thought that maybe you just couldn't tell."

"Is it really that bad?" Sakura asked, peering at her through spread fingers. Her cheeks were bright red.

"I think it's really just me," the blonde said, taking pity on the mortified girl. "I have a really sensitive nose."

"You don't think Sasuke-kun noticed, do you?"

"Um, it's hard to say," Naruto whispered. "I can't really tell what he's thinking most of the time. But I think he would have said something."

Sakura released a shaky breath in relief. "Thanks, Naruto," she said softly, turning her eyes back to the clearing.

Naruto blinked at her in surprise before facing forward again with a small smile.

It took another fifteen minutes for Sasuke to get tired of hiding while Kakashi stood there looking like he was about to nod off. The dark haired boy leapt out and immediately engaged the jounin in taijutsu. Sasuke appeared to be holding his own, but when Naruto looked more closely, she saw that their sensei was hardly even trying.

She signaled to Sakura, who quickly cast a basic perception altering genjutsu on Kakashi. It was extremely subtle and weak enough that the jounin might not even notice it, given his large chakra reserves. The jutsu always worked on Naruto because of how much chakra she had, which was why she thought they had a chance with it against their sensei.

Kakashi stumbled almost imperceptibly, indicating to the girls that the jutsu had taken hold. Before he could recover, Naruto burst into action. Four shadow clones erupted from the stream and leapt at their sensei, restraining his limbs.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed angrily at the interference, but he took advantage of the opening and lunged for the bells. But just before his fingers could make contact, Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving a short log in his place.

"Damn it, we were so close!" grumbled a clone.

The real Naruto emerged from the tress with Sakura trailing behind her and dispelled the clones with a hand seal. Sasuke glared at them both.

"I could have gotten a bell on my own," he insisted irritably. "I don't need your help."

Before he could retreat back into the woods, Naruto caught the back of his shirt. "He was playing with you," she said bluntly, letting go of his clothing and backing away slightly.

"What do you mean?" the Uchiha asked with a scowl, brushing imagined dirt from his shirt.

"We were watching the whole time and sensei was barely even paying attention," Naruto explained, holding her hands up in supplication against the dark glower. "Look, you're good. Really good. But Kakashi-sensei graduated from the Academy at _five years old_. When he was our age, he was already a jounin. Hokage-jiji told me that he's one of the strongest ninja in the entire village. Sensei could wipe the floor with all three of us in his sleep."

Sasuke scowl deepened at the insinuation that he wasn't good enough. "Then what do you suggest?" he asked begrudgingly.

"We almost got him and that was without including you in the planning," Naruto replied. She could hardly believe that he was sticking around and actually listening to her.

"If we work together to come up with something better," Sakura chimed in, "I think we can get the bells."

The Uchiha crossed his arms across his chest stubbornly. "Even if we do team up, one of us is still getting sent back to the Academy," he pointed out.

Unease suddenly crept along Naruto's spine and she looked around nervously. "Let's get into cover," she suggested quietly. "We're sitting ducks out here."

The three hopeful genin retreated back to the trees, where Naruto repeated her suspicion that the bells themselves didn't really matter as much as working together as a team. Sasuke reluctantly admitted that her theory made sense and agreed to try it their way once.

"If this doesn't work though, I'm going alone again," he warned.

Naruto nodded, knowing that this was probably the best she was going to get out of him. "The one time is all we need," she said more confidently than she felt. "Okay, does anyone have any explosive tags?"

It took nearly all of their remaining time to track Kakashi down and when they finally found him lounging near the K.I.A. Memorial, there were barely fifteen minutes left on the clock. He was nose deep in the same little orange book that he had been reading earlier but he glanced up when a herd of genin came charging from the forest. Dozens of Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke clones massed together and swarmed toward the jounin.

Kakashi slipped his book into his hip pouch and defended himself, sending several clones flying away to pop in midair. He thrust a palm strike at a Sakura's face, but his hand when straight through her head, throwing off his balance and allowing a shadow clone of Naruto to land a solid hit to his ribs. The bells tinkled quietly.

The jounin recovered ridiculously quickly and he leapt back for a little time to assess the situation. He threw a handful of shuriken at the crowd, popping several shadow clones and passing through the illusionary bunshin. From within the mass, a huge fireball erupted, destroying the clones in front of it and forcing Kakashi to use a quick water jutsu to defend himself. A dozen kunai burst through the resulting steam, all of which the jounin either dodged or deflected with his own weapon.

The alarm sounded shrilly; the remaining shadow clones popped and the bunshin faded away. The three genin emerged from the tree line, proud grins on Naruto and Sakura's faces and a slight smile upturning the corner of Sasuke's mouth. Kakashi's eye narrowed at their expressions and looked down at his hip to see two frayed strings. Sakura and Sasuke each brandished a bell smugly.

"Very good," Kakashi praised, brushing a bit of soot from his flak jacket. "But what about you, Naruto?"

The blonde glanced at her teammates, hoping that they would stick to the rest of the plan now that they each had a bell in their hands. Sakura looked down at her bell uncertainly. Just as Naruto's heart was beginning to sink, Sasuke scoffed and tossed his bell at her.

Naruto caught it and grinned gratefully at him, the tears that had been prickling her eyes fading away.

"Is that your answer then?" Kakashi asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets. At the genin's nods, he smiled widely, visible eye crinkling happily. "Congratulations! You all pass!"

Sakura whooped and leapt excitedly into the air while Sasuke smirked, assuming a cocky posture. Naruto felt a wide grin stretch across her face as happiness overwhelmed her. She could hardly believe that she was finally a genin.

The jounin turned and patted the top of the memorial rock fondly. "This is the monument for all the Konoha shinobi that gave their lives for this village. My entire team is on this rock. Each of them and every other person on here all died to save the lives of their friends, teammates, and everyone else in the village."

Kakashi's nostalgic smile faded to a serious expression. "Teamwork is the most important aspect of being a shinobi. There will always be someone out there who is stronger, smarter, and all around _better_ than you and the only way to overcome such adversity is by working with your team. Always remember that while those who break the rules are trash, those who turn their back on their team are worse than trash."

He held out his hand expectantly and both Naruto and Sakura dropped the bells into his open palm. "It is very important that you three get to know each other well. You need to be able to trust your team. And I guess that means I should introduce myself properly now," he said with a smile.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like to read and train. I don't like to write reports or be on time—you kids were lucky today—and my dream is to see you three accomplish _your_ dreams. Before I let you go for today, I have one last question. Why did you choose to become a shinobi?"

Like yesterday, neither Sakura nor Sasuke seemed willing to volunteer first. Naruto chewed her lip, resigned that she would probably always be the first one to speak. She steeled herself to be completely honest, truly wanting to take Kakashi's words to heart. But while she could stand to share some personal information, Naruto decided to wait until they were a little friendlier before divulging her greatest secret. She hadn't forgotten how Sakura had decided not to give her the bell.

Naruto cleared her throat nervously, drawing the eyes of her team toward her. "Um, at first, I didn't want to be a ninja," she admitted, twisting her hands together behind her back. "People don't… people don't like me very much and I tried running away from the village a few times. Once, when I was about five, I got all the way outside the wall. An ANBU caught me, of course, but this time he didn't just take me home. He took me to see the hokage."

She grinned and rubbed the back of her neck. "I love hokage-jiji. He's the one who made me want to be a ninja. I saw how the ANBU watched over him and decided that I wanted to do that too. And when I found a few more people who became precious to me, I wanted to take care of them too."

"I want to be hokage," Naruto declared, finally raising her eyes to look at her teammates and sensei. "I know why people don't like me now and I want to take care of them so they know that there's nothing to worry about—nothing to be afraid of. And this is the village where the people I love live… so I want to protect it. For them."

"You'll make an excellent hokage someday with that attitude, Naruto," Kakashi said fondly, reaching out to gently ruffle her hair.

Naruto leaned away from the contact, but grinned at him, embarrassed color creeping up her neck. She glanced sidelong at her teammates. Sakura was looking at her with surprise mixed with shame and Sasuke appeared to be appraising her again.

The pink haired girl frowned slightly. "Since Naruto was so honest, I guess I should be too. My reason for being a ninja has gotten a little lost, I guess," she admitted. "My parents are merchants, so when I was growing up, we travelled a lot between towns for deliveries and pick-ups. We always hired a team to keep us safe from bandits on the road. There was this kunoichi who got assigned to our guard pretty regularly. She was so amazing," Sakura said excitedly.

"She seemed so strong and capable and everything that I really wished I was." She sobered and her mouth twisted ruefully. "She died, you know. On some mission that went bad. I can't remember her name or even what she looked like anymore." Sakura sighed softly and picked at the hem of her dress. "When I was old enough, I asked my parents to enroll me in the Academy. I wanted to be just like her. I guess… I forgot about all that in the last couple years. I won't forget again," she promised.

Before anyone could comment on what the pink haired girl had shared, Sasuke spoke up. "My brother was my hero. I wanted to be like him," he bit out through clenched teeth. "He went crazy and killed everyone, so now my reason for being a ninja is to hunt him down and bring him to justice for what he did."

He spoke very quickly and pressed his lips together tightly when he was finished, clearly unwilling to disclose any more about the subject.

Naruto didn't blame him; after all, she wasn't ready to talk about the kyuubi yet. They just weren't at that level of trust. But as she looked at her teammates and sensei, Naruto thought for the first time that they may just get there.

"It looks like we're off to a good start," Kakashi said with a smile. "I have a good feeling about you three. Let's meet back up here tomorrow morning at 8. For you guys, I guess I'll show up on time," he added with what Naruto presumed to be a wink. It was hard to tell when he only had one eye showing.

"We'll get some training in until noon, go for lunch, and then get our first mission from Hokage-sama," he explained. "Take the rest of today off and go enjoy it. You won't be getting a lot of downtime from now on."

Kakashi waved them away and then used a jutsu to vanish in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto turned to her teammates, hoping that she wasn't about to sound too desperate. "Do you guys want to get some lunch?" she asked with feigned nonchalance.

To her surprise, Sakura looked genuinely disappointed. Naruto thought that she must have finally broken through her prejudice. "I'm sorry, but I can't. I promised my parents that I would help unload and stock some new merchandise when I was done this afternoon."

"Tomorrow," Sasuke promised with a nod toward Naruto. He turned to head back toward town, lifting a hand in farewell. Naruto thought that he seemed paler than usual.

She bit her lip nervously and decided to ask before her courage failed her. "Do you need an extra pair of hands?"

Sakura startled with surprise. She opened her mouth, but then closed it again thoughtfully. "You know," she said after a moment. "I think my parents would really appreciate that. They should probably get to know my teammates too." Her brow furrowed slightly and she hesitated again.

"Hey, Naruto," Sakura trailed off but then appeared to steel herself. "I'm really sorry about not giving you the bell. I'm not trying to excuse my behavior or anything, but it's really hard to break bad habits. And I've been cruel to you for a long time. I'm trying to be a better person, but it will probably take a little time," she admitted honestly.

Naruto was extremely taken aback. She would have never expected Sakura to be so self-aware; at least, she didn't think it would happen so quickly. "It's okay, Sakura. I'm glad you're even trying," she said with a faint smile.

Sakura frowned at her for a moment, but let whatever was bothering her go. "Come on then. My parents' shop is right along Main."

Smiling nervously, Naruto gestured for the other girl to lead the way. She was relieved that she hadn't been scathingly cut down for offering to help. It wouldn't have been the first time. Naruto thought that maybe this was a sign that Sakura was really beginning to acknowledge her.

They walked through town, chatting stiffly, and Naruto hoped that her teammate didn't notice the villagers' reactions to her. As they drew nearer to the central market area, Naruto startled slightly as it occurred to her that Sakura's parents may be among the civilians who hated her. There was a high possibility that they were—given the pink haired girl's usual attitude—and she didn't want to put Sakura in an awkward position.

Her heart began to pound anxiously as they approached the small shop, which sold books and paper goods. It didn't look familiar, which meant that Naruto had never been evicted from it before. But that also meant that she just hadn't ever visited, not that she was actually welcome.

"Mom, Dad, I'm back!" Sakura called as she entered the store, ducking under the light green noren.

Naruto panicked, reaching out to tug at the sleeve of Sakura's red dress. The other girl poked her head back under the short curtain with a questioning expression.

"I can't," Naruto whispered. "I'm sorry. I just can't."

Then she backed away and fled, ignoring her teammate's confused calls.

She sped through the streets, trying to block out the usual hostility which was more concentrated since she was drawing attention to herself. Ascending the apartment stairs in three giant leaps, Naruto unlocked her door with shaking hands and darted inside. She practically slammed it behind her, locking it and then turning to lean back against the rough wooden surface.

"Idiot!" she scolded bitterly. "What's she going to think now?"

Taking a deep breath, Naruto pushed away from the door and headed straight for the bathroom. A cool shower always helped calm her down when she was upset.

Before she even took two steps, someone knocked on her door. Dread made her heart pound heavily again and she turned back to peer through the peephole, hoping that it wasn't Sakura on the other side of the door. Explaining why she basically had a panic attack was not something she looked forward to.

All she could see was an olive green flak jacket, which was enough to rule out her female teammate. Naruto released a shaky breath in relief and stepped back to open the door.

"Hi sensei," she greeted with a forced smile.

"Is everything alright, Naruto?" Kakashi asked in concern, taking in her pale skin and fragile expression.

"Yeah, I guess. I just flipped out about meeting Sakura's parents and ran away."

The jounin hummed thoughtfully. "I think perhaps that some ramen is in order."

"I don't really want to talk… wait, what?" Naruto blinked in surprise. She had expected him to want to know _why_ she panicked.

"Would you like to go to Ichiraku's?" Kakashi asked pointedly.

Naruto's smile transformed into something more genuine. "Yeah, that sounds good to me," she said, slipping outside and locking the door behind her. "So, why did you really come by?"

Kakashi stuck his hands in his pockets and set a sedate pace toward Teuchi's ramen stand. "Well, Hokage-sama said you had a question for me."

The blonde stumbled at the unexpected response and her cheeks reddened. She never expected the hokage to relay her curiosity and now she felt a little embarrassed to ask the man directly. "How did you know I would be home?" she deflected.

"Hmm, I just followed your chakra signature."

"Oh."

She walked beside her sensei in silence until they reached the ramen bar. After placing her order, she turned to face him and squashed her nerves. He was watching her patiently with a fond smile.

"Jiji said that you specifically requested me for your team." She hesitated and fiddled with her chopsticks. "Why would you do that?"

"What do you know about your parents?" Kakashi asked lightly.

Naruto startled and stared at him, not really sure what her parents had to do with anything. "I know a little about my mom, but I don't anything about my dad," she admitted.

"Hmm, well. I was very close to your parents. Especially your father," the jounin explained, turning on his stool to rest an elbow on the bar. "I'm afraid that I can't tell you much about him. Not yet," he said in response to the blonde's eager expression. "I _can_ tell you that he was a very talented shinobi and he loved your mother very much. He couldn't wait for you to be born."

"What did they look like?" Naruto asked with a small smile.

Kakashi frowned. "Hokage-sama didn't show you any pictures?"

She shook her head negatively and watched as her sensei rummaged through his hip pouch and pulled out a worn book with a plain brown cover. He opened it and flipped through what looked like a stack of soft-edged photographs. When he found the one he was looking for, Kakashi handed it to Naruto. She accepted it with shaking hands.

The photo was of a heavily pregnant woman. She had very long, brilliantly red hair and soft, grey-blue eyes. Naruto touched her mother's face with the tip of her finger, tracing the familiar shape. Kushina was beaming in the picture, hands resting on her large belly.

"Her face looks like mine," Naruto muttered, pleased at the revelation.

Kakashi hummed in agreement. "Your hair and eye color come from your father though. Sometimes you look just like him," he said wistfully.

The conversation paused briefly as Teuchi served their lunch. After a few quick mouthfuls, Naruto tore her eyes away from the photo and turned back toward her sensei. "Do you have any others?" she asked, reluctantly handing the picture back to him.

Kakashi exchanged the photograph for another, his eye crinkling in a smile. "This is the last of Kushina-san without your father in it," he explained, placing his chopsticks in his magically empty bowl. "I can make you a copy of them both, if you like."

"Yes, please," Naruto replied eagerly. She pushed away her bowl and leaned over the photo.

This time, her mother was dressed in a standard jounin uniform, long hair pulled back in a high ponytail. She was standing behind three genin, grinning broadly as she rested her hands on the two boys' heads.

"Are any of her team still around?" she asked hopefully.

"They were killed in a mission. Kushina-san retired after that." Kakashi shook his head. "She was devastated."

"Oh." Naruto felt both sad and disappointed. She searched her mother's team's happy faces, committing them all to memory, before giving the photo back to her sensei. "So you requested me because of my parents?"

"I promised to look after you," Kakashi said. "Although I haven't done a very good job of it so far. I was only a little older than you are when they died. When I found out what happened, I…" he paused and glanced away. "Well, I wasn't in any condition to be looking after a child. I am very sorry for that. I know you haven't had it easy and I should have at least offered you my home."

Naruto picked at the remains of her ramen. "Is that why we've never met before?"

Kakashi winced almost imperceptibly. "There are a few reasons, really. I did check in on you whenever I was able. With a different sort of mask on."

She frowned in confusion for a moment before she made the connection. "You were in ANBU," she exclaimed softly, leaning toward the jounin conspiratorially. "Are you allowed to tell me which mask you wore?"

Her sensei gestured for her to turn her head and he leaned down to whisper in her hear.

"You were the one who took me to jiji!" Naruto gasped. She straightened and grinned at him. "You saved me that day, you know," she teased, hopping down from the stool. "Thanks, sensei, for the ramen and the talk. I feel a lot better now."

"Good," Kakashi replied with a smile. "Then I will see you bright and early tomorrow morning."


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: Thanks for all the love, y'all! By the way, I've based Naruto's ability here with kage bunshin from early canon, specifically where he made a HUGE amount that very first night against Mizuki. There's no trouble with the kyuubi's chakra because my Naruto has never accessed any of it before. The seal is still locked up super tightly! Also, I will be giving her some other techniques, so don't worry about her being a clone spammer. Even when she gets used to the mental strain of multiple clones, she'll realize that it just isn't practical in most team situations to use so many!**

**EDIT NOTE: Okay, guest reviewer, if you want me to change the character tag from Naruto to Naruko, you can just ask without being a complete ass about it.**

* * *

_Chapter 5_

Naruto spent most of the night preparing an apology and plausible explanation for Sakura for literally _running away_ from the prospect of meeting her parents. By morning, she had managed a few uneasy hours of sleep and still wasn't sure how to explain her anxiety without telling the other girl about the kyuubi. She supposed that Sakura didn't really need to know _why_ people didn't like her and finally decided to play dumb about the whole situation for as long as she could.

She dragged her feet getting ready and walked slowly toward the training ground. Naruto was hoping to avoid being with Sakura alone, but to her surprise (and slight irritation) the kunoichi was waiting for her.

Sakura was wringing her hands, distress and shame warring for dominance over her expression and Naruto thought suddenly that maybe the other girl wasn't offended by her swift exit yesterday.

"Naruto, I am so sorry," the pink haired girl said, rushing over to the startled blonde. "After you left, I told my parents that you had offered to help out and the moment I said your name it was like they turned into completely different people." Sakura spoke quickly and tears filled her jade green eyes.

"They were so rude about you and it just made me realize how mean I've been to you all this time. I don't understand why you keep giving me more chances and I definitely don't blame you for leaving. Did you know that they would act that way?"

Naruto took a step back, reeling in shock over Sakura's rushed apology. She felt a sudden rush of sympathy for the other girl. Obviously Sakura had never directly broached the Naruto Subject with her parents and was now completely baffled that they had reacted so negatively. In Naruto's experience, civilian parents were usually fairly subtle when teaching their children to hate her. They didn't want to risk coming anywhere _near_ breaking the hokage's law.

"Well, like I said yesterday… people don't like me," Naruto said haltingly. "And by that, I mean pretty much everyone but a handful of shinobi and my few friends _hate_ me."

"But why?" Sakura exclaimed, reaching for the blonde's hands. She seemed taken aback when Naruto pulled away to avoid the contact but recovered quickly, lacing her fingers together again. "I mean, you could be a little annoying at the Academy, but that was obviously an act since you've been completely different for the last two days. What could you possibly have done to make the whole village act like this?"

"I'm… not ready to talk about that yet," Naruto replied uncomfortably. She clenched her fists behind her back, feeling the anxiety fluttering in her chest ease slightly from the sharp pain of her fingernails piercing her palms. She swallowed dryly, trying not to let Sakura's assumption that she had brought the hatred upon herself hurt her feelings.

"It's not anything that I've done, really. Just something about me that makes people afraid," she said stiffly.

The pink haired girl looked as if she wanted to press for a more satisfying answer, but Naruto's distressed expression must have made her think better of the idea.

"Well, whatever the reason is, I can't believe that you deserve it. I'll make sure my parents understand that there's nothing to worry about. Then you can come by the shop whenever you want," Sakura determined.

Naruto gaped at the other girl, whom she decided must have a weakness for underdogs, as happiness warred with guilt. "Sakura," she choked out. "I can't even say how much that means to me, but please… _please_ don't fight with your parents over me. It's not worth it."

With a sigh, Sakura smiled ruefully. "Okay, Naruto. But it's still not right and I won't let them badmouth you when they've never even met you. You need to be more confident about yourself," she scolded teasingly.

"That goes for you too, then," Naruto replied with a wry chuckle. She turned to the side and stretched her arms out over her head. Her back popped satisfyingly. "Thanks, Sakura. I really appreciate it."

The two girls waited in a comfortable silence until Sasuke arrived. He blinked in surprise at the pleasant atmosphere, but shook it off quickly. They barely had time to exchange greetings before Kakashi showed up in his usual fashion, accompanied again by a swirl of leaves instead of the smoke.

"Good morning, you three!" he greeted cheerfully.

For some reason, Kakashi's happy demeanor sent chills down Naruto's spine. She tensed warily and waited for something horrible to come out of his smiling mouth.

"We'll be starting off with some conditioning this morning and then I want each of you to run through your taijutsu stances and the jutsu you currently have in your arsenal. Let's see," he paused, rubbing his masked chin thoughtfully. "How about you begin with 50 laps around the training ground. The _entire_ training ground."

Naruto gaped at him. It seemed that her instincts were still spot on. Kakashi was going to be brutal.

* * *

Two grueling hours later, the jounin finally relented and allow them a short rest. Even with her ridiculous stamina, Naruto was drenched with sweat. She plucked at her damp clothing with distaste, hating the way it clung to her body, and glanced at her teammates. Both Sakura and Sasuke were exhausted, although the Uchiha was stoically pretending that he wasn't gasping for air.

"Okay, Naruto. Since you are the least tired, let's see your taijutsu," Kakashi instructed as soon as her complexion had returned to its usual hue.

She sighed dramatically, even though the few minutes' rest had very nearly recovered her from the strenuous physical activity, and trotted obediently over to her sensei. Under his watchful eye, Naruto ran through the standard Academy taijutsu stances. Every so often, the jounin would stop her and make a small, but noticeable, adjustment.

"Who was the taijutsu instructor for your class?" Kakashi asked, frowning as he spotted another mistake in Naruto's stance. The corrections seemed minute, but taken as a whole Naruto's technique would have a lot of problems against a more skilled opponent.

"It was Mizuki," Naruto replied shortly. She repeated the corrected kata a dozen times to reinforce the change, imagining the smug silver-haired traitor as her target.

"Ah." Kakashi was well aware of Mizuki's treachery. It wasn't much of a surprise that he would have tried to sabotage Naruto to further his goals. "You still placed 3rd in the taijutsu rankings though, didn't you?"

"That's just because I hit hard, I can take a lot of hits, and nobody at the Academy could outlast me," the blonde admitted sheepishly.

"Those are very good things, Naruto. Don't sell yourself short," Kakashi admonished, frowning at her dismissive tone. "All things considered, your technique isn't that far off. It probably won't take very long before you have the corrections down in your muscle memory. Just be thankful that I don't have to send you to the village taijutsu expert," he added with an exaggerated shudder.

"Who's that?" Naruto asked curiously. She couldn't help wonder who the mysterious expert was and why he would have provoked such a reaction from the usually unflappable jounin.

"Just pray that you never run into the man. Be wary of green spandex," he intoned.

As soon as Naruto finished her last kata, Kakashi stepped back to give her more space. "Okay, let's see your ninjutsu and then I'll test your genjustu ability."

Naruto nodded and quickly ran through two of the Academy basics: henge and kawarimi. She formed a cross shaped seal with her hands and then paused with a slight frown.

"Sensei, how many shadow clones do you want me to make?"

Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. "Why don't you make as many as you can?"

"Okay…"

She wasn't really sure that her sensei knew just what he was asking, but she complied and focused on reaching to the near bottomless depths of her chakra. As a massive amount of blue tinted chakra began to swirl visibly around her, Naruto released the technique.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu," she ground out through clenched teeth as her chakra surged almost painfully through her body.

Hundreds of clones popped into existence, filling the field and beyond, perching on the trees until there were well over a thousand.

Naruto panted lightly from exertion. She had never drawn so heavily on her reserves, not even against Mizuki, who had been doing his best to kill her. Searching curiously for her teammates through the sea of blonde clones, Naruto grinned when she spotted them. They were sporting identical flabbergasted expressions. Sasuke's shock, however, seemed to be colored with foreboding jealousy.

"Well. That as a bit more than I was expecting," Kakashi admitted. His hand moved toward his covered eye, but he paused and scratched his chin instead.

"A bit?" Sakura echoed faintly.

"She did say she could make a thousand," Sasuke muttered irritably. He jerked his head to the side, dark fury written across his features.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "How much usable chakra do you have left? Can you still perform basic ninjutsu?"

"I'm not sure," Naruto replied honestly. "Let me try."

She sent the instruction down the thread of chakra connecting her to the clones and after a moment, they all transformed until the field was filled with copies of her teammates, Kakashi, the hokage, and Iruka. Henge was nearly as easy as breathing for Naruto, which was something she had never understood given her difficulties with bunshin. Both jutsu were classified as genjutsu, since they were illusionary techniques, and neither required much chakra to perform. She had long decided not to question it.

"Looks like henge isn't a problem," Naruto said, currently in the guise of the village leader. She reverted back to herself and the clones followed soon after. "Let's see about kawarimi, then."

She formed two hand seals and switched places with a clone on the far edge of the clearing. There was only a slight flicker and the clone's surprised expression to indicate that she had used the technique. Soon, the horde of Narutos were flickering all over the field as they substituted with each other.

"That's good, very good! Can the original Naruto please come back over here?" Kakashi called over the noise of the clones.

Naruto replaced with one of the kage bunshin near her sensei and waved at him. "I'm here!"

"Go ahead and start dispelling them, but be sure to do it in small groups," the jounin advised. "I'm sure Hokage-sama told you, but shadow clones transfer their memories back to you when dispelled. The mental strain is no laughing matter."

The blonde nodded seriously, having already sat through a lecture from the hokage for mass dispelling the entire group of clones after she took down Mizuki. She formed the cross seal again for focus and began popping clones a dozen at a time. After dispelling a handful of groupings, Naruto staggered slightly and pressed a hand against her forehead.

"That is pretty terrible," she gasped, "and going to take a while to get used to! How in the world did I not get a headache last time?"

Kakashi chuckled, reaching out to place a steadying hand on her shoulder. He aborted the motion half-way, stuffing his hands in his pockets instead.

"It was probably the adrenaline," he suggested. "You'll need to practice dispelling groups of clones so the memory feedback doesn't become a liability in a fight."

It took another twenty minutes for Naruto to dispel the last of her clones. Every few groupings, she had to stop and wait for the chaotic rush of memories to subside enough to continue. By the time she finished, Naruto had a splitting headache and her chakra pathways felt wrung out.

Kakashi directed her to lay down in the cool shade of one of the perimeter trees. He fished a clean cloth out of his hip pouch and handed it to Sakura

"Wet this and place it across her forehead and eyes," the jounin instructed. "It will help with the headache."

"Yes, sensei," Sakura replied.

"Sasuke, you're up." Kakashi gestured for the Uchiha to join him.

* * *

By the time that both Sasuke and Sakura had been examined, Naruto's headache had abated to a faint throb, which faded away to nothing during the break for lunch. Kakashi treated the team to a barbeque restaurant owned by the Akamichi clan. The store was frequented nearly exclusively by shinobi, so there was little chance of Naruto facing any harassment.

"Oi, Naruto," called a familiar voice from within the depths of the restaurant.

She turned curiously and grinned when she recognized Shikamaru and Chouji, who were sitting with Ino and their sensei, Sarutobi Asuma. Naruto had never met the youngest son of the hokage, but she had seen pictures of him in the hokage's office and overheard a lot of praise.

"Hey guys," she greeted, heading toward their table. The rest of her team trailed behind her.

"Kakashi, I can't believe you finally gave in and took a team. Hokage-sama has been asking you for what? Six years now?" Asuma teased good-naturedly.

"Ah well, this year is different," Kakashi replied, eye crinkling in a smile as he ushered his team into the seats at the adjacent table.

"Sasuke-kun, you're welcome to sit with me," Ino simpered. She seemed blissfully aware that there were no empty seats next to her. As usual, her eyes glossed right over Naruto as she switched from batting her eyelashes at Sasuke to glaring at Sakura.

"Leave him alone, Ino-buta," Sakura spat, quickly sitting next to the silent Uchiha.

Naruto rolled her eyes at their territorial behavior and took her seat, twisting around to face her school friends. Shikamaru and Chouji had always been kind to her, even if they had never been able to hang out after school. Unlike most of the girls that had been in their class, they had recognized her gender right from the start.

"I'm glad you guys passed the second test," she said, genuinely happy for them.

"Eh, it was troublesome for sure, but not very difficult," Shikamaru drawled. "Frankly, I'm surprised you managed to work together with those two."

Naruto chuckled lightly. "You know, it wasn't quite as hard as I thought it would be to convince them to work with me. Sakura responds really well to logic and Sasuke to action."

"Forced it on him, did you?" Shikamaru asked wryly.

"You know me so well," Naruto said with a smile. "But honestly, it was actually Sakura's idea to jump in without telling him."

"She's always been pretty smart," Chouji added after swallowing a bite of food. He laid out a generous amount of meat on the grill to cook.

Naruto hummed thoughtfully. "As long as she is thinking clearly, anyway." She gestured toward the other girls, who were leaning aggressively in each other's space and arguing loudly over something to do with Sasuke.

The rest of lunch was a noisy affair. Naruto chatted happily with Shikamaru and Chouji, the two jounin conversed casually, Ino and Sakura continued to fight over Sasuke, who attempted to ignore every single one of them.

"We're going to go get our first mission," Naruto shared excitedly as the last plates were cleared.

"Ah," Asuma cut in before any of his genin could respond, "that's our cue to get back to work. We've done a couple missions already," he explained to Kakashi as he quickly ushered his team out of the booth and through the restaurant.

"What in the world was that about?" Sakura asked, confused by the abrupt exit.

"Yeah, he didn't even let me say goodbye to Shika and Chouji!" Naruto protested, crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn't sure when she would get to see them next, especially since Kakashi was apparently going to keep them busy.

"He's probably just excited to make those kids actually do some work," Kakashi replied vaguely. "We should get going too if we actually want to get a mission today."

He paid for their meal and then led the way to the Hokage Tower.

"Hokage-sama likes to hand out the first genin missions himself, so after today we'll get our assignments from the mission office downstairs," Kakashi explained as they ascended the stairs to the hokage's office.

"Hi jiji," Naruto greeted as they entered the large, round office. She was tempted to circle around the desk to give the old man a hug—he was the only person she allowed such a thing—but thought better of it. They were here on official team business after all.

"Good afternoon, Naruto, Team 7," the hokage replied, humor coloring his voice. He puffed on his pipe and waved them forward. "The other new genin teams beat you for mission choice this morning, so I'm afraid the pickings are rather slim."

"That's no problem, Hokage-sama," Kakashi assured. His visible eye gleamed with anticipation and unholy glee behind the genin's backs. "What do we have to choose from?"

As the hokage withdrew a handful of D-rank missions from his desk, the genin were nearly vibrating with excitement, even Sasuke, who was trying unsuccessfully to hide behind a stoic mask.

"We have three missions left: weed Hanazuka-san's garden, walk the Inuzuka hounds, or repaint the siding on the Academy building."

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke's jaws dropped simultaneously in outrage and shock.

"What kind of missions are those?" Naruto burst out in frustration, clenching her fists and crossing her arms over her chest stiffly.

"Now, Naruto…" the hokage soothed. He appeared to be fighting back laughter. "Every genin starts off with these missions. There are important lessons buried in each one that are up to you to discover. When Kakashi deems you ready, he can request a C-rank mission."

Naruto opened her mouth to argue—because surely these missions could be completed at the Academy for practice—but was silence by an elbow to her side. She leveled a glare at her pink-haired teammate, who was making covert hushing motions. Naruto rolled her eyes, but let it go. No one ever said that being a shinobi was fun _all_ the time and besides, it wasn't like she couldn't come back to talk to the hokage later.

"I vote for the garden one," she said. "I'm good with plants."

"Anything but the dogs is okay with me," Sakura added, shuddering at the thought of the massive Inuzuka nin-dogs.

Kakashi turned expectantly toward his quietest student. "Sasuke?"

"The garden is fine," he grunted reluctantly. Sasuke didn't look pleased at any of the prospects and Naruto had the sneaking suspicion that he was envisioning the slow painful death of either their teacher or the hokage.

"Hanazuka-san's garden it is!" Kakashi enthused. He cheerfully accepted the appropriate scroll from the hokage.

"Kakashi, come by later this week for a team photo, will you?" Sarutobi asked. "I have an open spot on my desk that needs to be filled."

The jounin smiled at his disgruntled team. "We'll be sure to drop by in the morning while they are still fresh."

"Let's go get this over with," Naruto sighed, swiping the scroll from her sensei. She stiffened as her teammates pressed close behind her to peer are the scroll over her shoulder, but forced herself to stay still.

Hanazuka was a retired shinobi, taken out of action during the Third Shinobi War, which meant that he probably didn't have a reason to hate Naruto like the ninja who were injured on the night the kyuubi broke loose.

"Have fun," the hokage called as team 7 exited the office.

Naruto resisted an unexpected urge to make an ugly gesture when she heard the blatant laughter that followed them out the door.


	6. Chapter 6

**Note: Sorry for the delay, y'all! My life was temporarily consumed with final papers for graduate school. It was a lot of writing and took longer than I originally anticipated! After I got them turned in, I needed a bit of a writing break! Updates should be fairly regular for the next several weeks as I don't start back up again until July. Thanks for being so patient!**

* * *

_Chapter 6_

Team 7 quickly fell into a routine of splitting their day between D-rank missions and intense training. Kakashi was proving to be a masterful sensei, but he wasn't particularly diverse with his training methods, so the days tended to run together.

Naruto mastered the proper taijutsu forms more quickly that even Kakashi had predicted. It was mostly pure stubbornness combined with copious abuse of the kage bunshin. She could outlast both of her teammates in a spar, although she wasn't always in the best shape afterward. Sasuke was much more technically proficient and despite connecting multiple hits, he always wore himself out before Naruto submitted. It irritated the Uchiha to no end, but as Naruto had said on their first day of being a team, she could take a hit and had a truly ridiculous amount of stamina.

Kakashi had quickly put a stop to Sakura's extreme dieting when the pink-haired girl fainted in the middle of conditioning. He gave all three genin a strict nutrition plan when he discovered that Sakura wasn't the only one with poor food habits. Naruto tried to eat well, but her diet wasn't very well balanced. Sasuke was the best of the three when it came to proper food groups, but he tended to forget about meals when left to his own devices. Once they started eating properly, the genin found Kakashi's conditioning to be much more effective.

Team 7 had only been together for about a month before they hit their first obstacle. Their mission for the day was to catch ten baskets of fish from the river for an injured fisherman. As Naruto waded out in the cool water, soft muck squishing between her toes, she really wished they had started water walking already.

Kakashi was a stickler for making sure they properly mastered a technique before moving on, so even though they were all capable of the tree climbing exercise—something that filled Naruto with glee, now that she could travel the rooftops through town—he hadn't started them on the next level yet. The jounin insisted that they all needed to be able to walk on walls as easily as breathing.

Judging from Sasuke's pinched expression and Sakura's muted gasps of disgust, she wasn't the only one wishing they could stand on the surface of the river.

Naruto carefully made her way across the river until the large net she carried was fully extended. They had decided that Naruto and Sasuke would be responsible for keeping the net secure and pulling it back in and Sakura would make sure that the net enclosed properly and divvy the fish out among the baskets. Since it was breeding season, there were copious amounts of fish swimming through the river and the genin hoped that it wouldn't take too long to fill the request.

"Sakura, are there enough fish to come back in yet?" Naruto called. She was starting to sink into the silt and the water lapped at her chin.

"Only if you want to stretch the net back out again," the pink-haired girl yelled back after checking the status of the net.

"That's fine by me," Naruto replied. "If I have to start treading water, we're going to be in trouble."

Under Sakura's guidance, Naruto slowly crossed back over to the other side of the river, keeping a death grip on the woven net. As she got closer to Sasuke, she could feel the fish fighting against the pull of the net and her fingers ached with the strain of holding onto the rough rope.

By the time she and Sasuke were on the river bank, Naruto was panting. The net was probably only half full, but the collective strength of the fish was surprising. Sakura waded toward the middle of the net and started scooping fish into the large baskets. She was taking forever.

"Wouldn't it be a lot faster if I made a few clones?" Naruto grumbled, looping the net over her arm tightly so she could shake out her other hand.

"No shadow clones for D-ranks, Naruto," Kakashi reminded. He was lounging in the shade of a tree, nose stuck in his favorite book.

Naruto sighed and resigned herself to hours more of squishing through the mud and straining against the net. At least the water was cool.

* * *

"That was terrible," Sakura complained as she collapsed onto her knees after finishing the last basket of fish.

Naruto helped Sasuke release the left over fish and then draw the net back up onto shore. "Oh please, you had the easiest job," she muttered.

Sasuke grunted in agreement, frowning at his stiff, chafed fingers.

"I can't help it that I wasn't strong enough to hold the net," Sakura protested. She brushed ineffectively at the shimmering scales liberally decorating her clothing and hair. "I'm going to need to take a bath for a week to get this fish smell out."

Naruto untied the knot of her sash with shaking fingers. Her tunic felt like it had absorbed an outrageous amount of water. She dropped the sash on the ground and slipped off her shirt, leaving her just in her under armor. As she started to wring the water out of her clothing, Sakura suddenly shrieked, startling her badly.

"You're a _girl_?"

The pink haired girl had gotten to her feet and was staring in horror at Naruto.

"Yes?" Naruto drawled uncertainly. She had thought by now that Sakura must have noticed, given the fact that she always used the girl's toilet.

Sakura's face twisted as she vacillated between rage and disbelief. "Why have you been hiding it? Just what are you up to?"

Naruto's brow furrowed. "I haven't been—"

"I can't believe I actually…" the other girl trailed off, clenching her fists angrily. She pressed her lips together tightly and stormed off without another word.

As Sakura passed by with her head turned away, Naruto reached out cautiously.

"Sakura, wait. I promise, I wasn't hiding anything!" Her heart beat wildly in her chest and Naruto felt a sickly chill spread through her veins.

The pink haired girl slapped away Naruto's outstretched hand and leveled a venomous look at her. "Don't touch me, you… you _freak_!"

Naruto cradled her hand to her chest and watched Sakura disappear with wide eyes. She sank to her knees on the soft ground. Her breath was coming too fast and even though her body felt cold, her eyes were burning. Naruto didn't know what to do.

A soft touch on her shoulder startled her out of her downward spiraling thoughts. Naruto jerked away violently and fell to the side, catching herself with one hand planted firmly on the ground. She looked up at Kakashi, who was standing over her with a sympathetic frown.

"Sakura reacted poorly," the jounin said softly. "Don't take her words to heart. I'll talk to her."

Sasuke had approached her as well and stood slightly behind their sensei. His expression had blackened and he still stared in the direction Sakura had fled as if he could still see her.

"You… you knew?" Naruto asked, suddenly feeling exposed in just her under-gear. She shakily wrapped her still sodden top around her torso.

Kakashi crouched to her eye level and smiled. "I knew you were a girl before you were born," he replied. "Even if I hadn't, I can tell just by looking at you."

Naruto wasn't particularly surprised that Kakashi knew her gender. He was the sensei, meaning it was his duty to know these sort of things, and he _had_ said he was a friend of her parents. She shifted her gaze to Sasuke, whose dark eyes settled on her briefly.

"I'm not blind," he said shortly. "People are idiots. _Sakura_ is an idiot."

"I think I'm going to go home," Naruto muttered, suddenly feeling numb. She pushed to her feet, grabbing her fallen sash off the ground and tying it snugly around her waist.

"Be here at 9 tomorrow," Kakashi instructed, visible eye watching her expectantly. "Don't let her sink you back into that hole," he added softly.

"Yes, sensei," she replied, her shoulders slumping slightly. Naruto had been in a bad place when Kakashi, as an ANBU, had dragged her back from beyond the village walls. It took a lot of kindness and patience from the hokage for her to start trusting again. She had learned from a young age to be discerning about who she let in past her defenses and Sakura's harsh words were a huge blow.

In her daze, Naruto forgot to use the rooftops to head home, meandering instead through the streets. The villagers' usual hostility hit her harder than usual; it was like they could sense her vulnerability. By the time she was safe inside her apartment, Naruto was pale and withdrawn.

She shed her damp clothing and took a warm shower, which heated her chilled skin but couldn't reach the ice that seemed to have replaced her blood. Naruto looked at herself intently in the mirror, wondering what it was that made it difficult for people to see her gender.

Her eyes were heavily dilated, leaving only a miniscule ring of blue around her swollen pupils. Naruto didn't think she looked like a boy. She had thick golden eyelashes and a soft mouth. Her bone structure was slightly obscured by baby fat, but she had high cheekbones and a narrow jaw. She never bothered with make-up and didn't do much to her hair, but she couldn't see whatever it was that fooled people.

Naruto turned away from the mirror and got dressed into something warm and comfortable. She crawled into her bed and pulled the blanket up over her head. Exhaustion pressed down upon her and she closed her suddenly aching eyes. Dimly, Naruto knew that she should go find someone to keep her company, but she found that she just didn't care. All she wanted to do was sleep.

* * *

It was 9 o'clock on the dot when Kakashi let himself into Naruto's apartment and pulled away her blankets.

"Naruto, you need to get up now," the jounin said, reaching out to shake the blonde's shoulder. He withdrew his hand only when she peered up at him.

"Sensei, I don't feel like training today," Naruto sighed, closing her eyes again and curling into a ball with her back to her teacher.

"That's unfortunate, but I'm not really giving you an option," Kakashi insisted, jostling her shoulder again. "You'll only feel worse if you keep lying around in bed all day. I know it isn't easy, but you need to keep moving."

Naruto exhaled sharply through her nose, irritation starting to break through the numbness. She sat up reluctantly and leveled a flat stare at her sensei. Her eyes were still dilated, making the glare more effective than it usually would have been.

However, Kakashi didn't budge. "You're going to get dressed, have a bit of breakfast, and then come meet me outside. I'll give you ten minutes before I come back in and then you'll have to train no matter what you're wearing."

The jounin dropped the blanket at the foot of her bed and left the apartment, closing the door gently behind him. Naruto could feel his chakra hovering in the hallway and she gritted her teeth furiously.

How dare he barge in here and make her face Sakura, who thought she was a freak? Didn't he have any compassion?

Naruto reached down, intending to pull the blanket back over her head, but as her fingers touched the soft fabric she paused. Kakashi wouldn't really make her go to training in her pajamas, would he? She chewed her lip indecisively and had the feeling that he would probably drag her down the street if she put up a fight.

With a defeated sigh, Naruto made herself drop the blanket and get out of bed. It took all of her willpower to leave the comfort of her mattress and pull on her clothing. She wasn't hungry at all, but she forced down a piece of toast and a banana.

Kakashi opened the door and peered into her apartment just as Naruto was securing her pouches. He smiled proudly at her and waited until she put on her shoes.

"It'll get easier," he promised.

"How do you know, sensei?" Naruto asked softly, trailing slightly behind him and no longer feeling angry.

The jounin peered back over his shoulder. He had an odd look in his eye that Naruto couldn't decipher. "I tried to sleep away my pain before too," he admitted. "Someone was there to pull me out of it. I'm going to do the same for you."

Naruto's eyes burned and she blinked back the tears stubbornly. She looked down at her feet and swallowed past the lump in her throat, still partially wishing that she was back in bed.

"Thanks, sensei," she whispered.

Neither Kakashi nor Sasuke cut her any slack, despite her obvious withdrawal and lack of enthusiasm. Naruto could hardly bear to look at Sakura, but judging from the silence and the glimpses she got in the corner of her eye, the pink-haired girl was in the same condition.

It took a week before Sakura apologized.

* * *

Ever since the disastrous fishing mission, Kakashi and Sasuke had taken turns collecting Naruto at her apartment. Exactly one week later, Naruto answered her door and felt the bottom of her stomach drop at the sight of Sakura on her doorstep.

The kunoichi was a mess. Her usually neat hair was limp and stringy and her eyes were swollen and red. She twisted her fingers together relentlessly and a livid bruise was blooming across her jawbone.

"Hi, Naruto," she said softly. "Can I… can I come in, please?"

Naruto swallowed reflexively, wishing she was anywhere else in the world right now. Hope fluttered in her chest and she squashed it ruthlessly, not wanting to get burned twice.

She nodded and stepped out of the way, allowing Sakura to enter her apartment. Naruto waited silently, simultaneously speechless and vindictively wanting to make this as difficult as possible for the other girl.

"What I said was unforgivable," Sakura started. As she spoke her words came faster and faster until they were practically spilling out of her. "I panicked. I always thought you were a boy and when I started to get to know you better I saw how sweet you are. And you have no self-confidence at all and I wanted to make you realize that you deserve better than how people treat you and then I noticed how good-looking you are and I started to like you. I mean, _like_ you. So when I saw that you were actually a girl, I panicked, because girls aren't supposed to like other girls, and I took it out on you."

Naruto's jaw dropped in shock somewhere around the middle of Sakura's rushed explanation. The pink-haired girl's face was as bright as her hair with embarrassment.

"If I were you, I don't know that I could ever forgive me for treating you the way I have and it's taken me so long to come talk to you because even though I know it's wrong for girls to like other girls and _I'm_ the freak, not you, I still think you're so nice and you're really very pretty and I just didn't know what to do," Sakura blurted out, twisting her hands in a way that Naruto knew had to be painful. "I'm just… I'm _so sorry_."

Tears started dripping from Sakura's jade green eyes and she looked so genuinely regretful and confused that Naruto felt the cold that been had lodged in her chest for the past seven days melt away.

She reached out and stopped the other girl's viciously twisting fingers. Naruto ignored the uncomfortable sensation of touching someone else and waited until Sakura met her eyes before she pulled back.

"I've been thinking a lot for the past week, and I wasn't sure if I would forgive you even if you did apologize," she said, choosing her words carefully. "You really hurt me, Sakura. It took a lot of effort for me to open up to you guys and you trampled all over my trust."

Sakura sniffed loudly and brought up a reddened hand to scrub at the tears running down her cheeks. "I understand," she choked out and started to turn towards the door.

"I didn't say that I wouldn't forgive you," Naruto spoke quickly. "It's going to take some time, but I really want to be friends with you again."

The pink-haired girl turned back, looking shocked.

"I don't really know what it means to… like someone," Naruto continued, feeling her cheeks heat. "But I do know that I want to know you better and become closer to the whole team. So…" She took a deep breath and let it out shakily. "So I forgive you. Just don't do this again. I can't take a second… betrayal like that."

Sakura let out a sob. "Thank you, thank you so much. I swear I will never do anything like that again." She scrubbed at her face, laughing a little in relief. "I know you don't like being touched, but can I hug you? Please?"

Naruto nodded and steeled herself, but Sakura's hug was brief and surprisingly warm. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.

"Let's go meet up with Sasuke and sensei," she suggested, clearing her throat awkwardly. "They'll be glad to know we've made up."

"That sounds great," Sakura agreed with a huge smile.

"Hey, Sakura?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"How'd you get that bruise on your face?"

"Sasuke-kun and I had a huge fight yesterday."

"Did you get him back?"

"I gave him a black eye."

Naruto burst out laughing and she knew, even though it would take a little time, she and Sakura would be just fine.


	7. Chapter 7

**Note: Thanks for the kind feedback, everyone! I really enjoy hearing your thoughts. This chapter is full of fun team 7 bonding, so enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 7

Naruto stood uncertainly in front of the apartment door. Now that she was here, she was starting to have second thoughts. It was team 7's break day, which Kakashi insisted on to give their muscles and chakra a chance to rest, and Naruto needed some guidance. Her sensei had said that if any of them needed anything, his door was always open, but she wasn't sure if she should bother him. The hokage was in consecutive meetings all day, so her usual source of advice was out.

As she stood deliberating on the doorstep, the choice was taken away from her when the door opened, revealing Kakashi looking at her in surprise.

"Naruto! What can I do for you?" he asked with a gentle smile.

She stared at him for a moment; it was surreal seeing him off duty. The jounin was still sporting his face mask, but instead of his usual long sleeved top and jounin vest he was wearing a form-fitting sleeveless shirt that looked like it was actually connected to the mask. He had a tattoo on his shoulder that Naruto knew was from his time as an ANBU, having seen them before while in the Hokage Tower. The most shocking thing, however, was the absence of his hitai-ate, leaving his left eye exposed.

The eye was closed and bisected vertically with a long, old scar. Naruto wondered when and how the injury had happened. He must not be able to see out of it for him to keep it covered all the time.

Naruto shook herself, remembering that staring was considered rude. "There was something I wanted to talk about," she muttered.

Kakashi looked down at her seriously for a moment before relaxing and stepping out of the way. "Please come in. Would you like some tea?"

"Um, yes, please," Naruto replied, looking curiously around the jounin's home.

It was small and the layout looked similar to her apartment. There was one main room with a kitchenette and a door leading to what she assumed was the bathroom. The bed was unmade and books and scrolls were piled haphazardly on the table next to it.

"Take a seat," Kakashi said, gesturing toward the low table separating the kitchen from the bedroom area.

Naruto left her shoes by the door and sat on one of the cushions around the table, tucking her feet under her. There was more reading material spread across the surface of the table and a notebook covered liberally with writing.

The jounin grabbed a long-sleeved shirt from the top of his dresser and slipped it over his head before padding into the kitchenette. He filled a kettle with water and set it on the stove. "Is green tea okay?" he asked, peering over his shoulder at her.

"Oh yes, I like green tea." Naruto wondered why he put on the other top and if maybe he was feeling as awkward about the situation as she was. She was actually kind of glad that he was wearing closer to his usual outfit; it had thrown her off balance to see him looking so relaxed. While he was busy making tea, she glanced at the books and scrolls on the table.

"I was doing a little planning ahead," Kakashi explained when he noticed where her attention had fallen.

"For us?" Naruto asked, reading the closest scroll to her. It was full of stealth techniques. "Don't you know all this stuff already, sensei?"

Kakashi hummed in agreement. "Sure I do, but I've never had to teach any of this to genin before. You three learn things very differently from each other and from how I learned, so I have to make sure that I can teach in a way for you all to understand."

"Oh," she said, feeling even more unbalanced. She hadn't realized that Kakashi put so much work into deciding how to train them. He was always so confident and knowledgeable that she assumed that he just knew everything. "It's pretty hard being a sensei, isn't it?"

The kettle whistled and Kakashi poured the steaming water into the teapot. "Can you push all that over to one side?"

"Yes, sensei." Naruto carefully piled everything together on one side of the table, clearing space for the tea tray that the jounin set down on the table.

He sat on the cushion to her left and crossed his legs on the cushion. "It can be difficult," he said, pouring two cups of tea. "But so far, it's been worth the extra effort."

Naruto smiled shyly and accepted the tea, blowing across the hot surface before taking a sip.

"Now, what did you want to talk about?" Kakashi loosely wrapped his hands around his cup but didn't drink from it.

She reddened, feeling unprepared for this conversation and wishing that the hokage had been available. Somehow, it seemed a lot more embarrassing talking to Kakashi about this. "Well…" she hesitated and then decided to plunge ahead. "Can two girls like each other?"

Kakashi stared at her incredulously before closing his right eye and bringing up a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. He sighed softly and lowered his hand, opening his eye to look at her calmly. "What brought this on?"

Naruto felt the heat in her cheeks spread to her entire face and knew that she was probably the color of a tomato. "It was something Sakura said," she explained in a tiny voice. "She said that it wasn't okay for girls to like other girls, but I don't understand why. If you like someone, does it really matter what gender they are?"

The jounin rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "Well, most people would tell you that it does matter. It's… traditional for a man and a woman to be together." He cleared his throat and Naruto could have sworn there was a tinge of red just above the edge of his mask. "However, there are a lot of people who are attracted to the same gender. It may not be the most common relationship, but it isn't forbidden or anything."

"Then why would Sakura say it wasn't okay?" Naruto asked with a frown. She just didn't understand why it even mattered. Obviously there had to be a man and a woman to make babies, but not everyone even wanted children. _She_ certainly didn't want children. Naruto got on well enough with the hokage's grandson, but it was only because he seemed to _want _to be around her. She usually just played along with whatever games he suggested.

"People who aren't attracted to their own gender often don't understand how someone else could be," Kakashi said. He slipped the edge of his mask down far enough to take a long drink of tea before pulling it back into place.

"Sensei, why don't you just take the mask off while you're having tea?" Naruto peered at him curiously. From the glimpse she got, there didn't appear to be anything wrong with his face.

"It's just a habit to wear it, Naruto," the jounin said. He cleared his throat and cupped both hands around his mug. "Anyway, when people don't understand something, they can be cruel. You know that better than most."

Naruto's shoulders hunched slightly and she looked down at her tea cup. She ran a fingertip along the rim. "Yeah, I do know. I just don't really understand," she sighed.

She pushed away her cup from the edge of the table and got to her feet. "Maybe you should stop wearing that mask. You look fine without it."

Kakashi stood and followed her to the door. "Ah, but then no one would know who I am," he replied with a smile.

"That doesn't make any sense, sensei," Naruto deadpanned. She stuffed her feet back in her sandals and moved aside to allow the jounin to open his door.

"Naruto," he said, touching her shoulder briefly before she could leave.

She looked up at him curiously and waited on the doorstep.

"If you find yourself attracted to another girl," Kakashi paused, looking slightly pained, "it's okay, you know. There's nothing wrong with it."

Naruto smiled widely. "Thanks, sensei." She reached out and lightly touched the back of his hand, which was still resting on the door knob, hoping that the gesture conveyed her gratitude. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"You can come back anytime, Naruto," Kakashi called after her.

"I know!" She responded with a grin before hopping to the nearest wall and heading back toward her apartment.

* * *

"Sakura, you aren't a freak," Naruto said seriously when the other girl came by her apartment the next morning.

"What?" Sakura asked, taken aback.

"There's nothing wrong with liking other girls and you shouldn't call yourself a freak. It isn't true," the blonde insisted.

Sakura looked at her oddly for a moment before comprehension lighted her face. "Oh, Naruto, I didn't mean that to imply… it's perfectly fine if you…" she sighed and trailed off. "What I mean is that I'm not attracted to girls, so it was really strange when I found out about you."

"But I am a girl and you started liking me," Naruto said in confusion.

"Yeah, but I _thought_ you were a boy," Sakura stressed. "Look, when I look at girls, I can see whether they're pretty, but there isn't anything else. Do you understand?" At Naruto's baffled expression, she tried to elaborate. "When I see a guy that I like, my stomach gets all twisty—like I'm nervous," she clarified. "I want to do things to impress him and get him to notice me. I don't feel any of that with girls."

Naruto frowned thoughtfully. She still didn't really get what Sakura was talking about and the only times she had ever felt her stomach clench with nerves was when she thought someone was about to be cruel to her. Somehow Naruto didn't think that was what the other girl meant.

"It's a little weird for me right now," Sakura continued, "because I can still see the things that I was starting to like about you, but since I know you're a girl, I don't feel those nerves anymore. I think we're going to be great friends." She seemed to be hinting something.

"That's really all I want," Naruto replied. "I want to be a real team with you and Sasuke and sensei."

"I want that too," the pink haired girl agreed. "I'll tell you, having that fight with Sasuke has kind of made me look at him a little more objectively. I think I want to be friends with him first over anything else."

Naruto burst out into laughter. "I'm sorry," she said at Sakura's confused and indignant frown. "I was just thinking about his black eye again. He kept trying to look so cool and his eye wouldn't even open all the way."

"He did look kind of silly, didn't he?"

* * *

Somehow, the slightly uncomfortable conversation about _feelings_ made the rest of the awkwardness between Sakura and Naruto dissipate. Sasuke was outraged that Naruto had forgiven the other girl so quickly and told her repeatedly (and emphatically) that she should have let her sweat a little. Naruto put up with it as long as she could since she knew that his irritation was on her behalf, but after two weeks, she had had enough.

After Kakashi dismissed them for the day, Naruto discreetly followed Sasuke as he broke off toward his apartment. She looked around eagerly as they passed through the wealthier part of town on the way to the abandoned Uchiha compound. Sasuke lived in an apartment right outside the gates of his old home as if he couldn't bear to be too far away from it.

With a sigh, Sasuke stopped and turned around, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Why are you following me?"

Naruto rocked back on her heels. "I wanted to talk to you," she said simply.

"About what?" he asked, pulling one hand out of his pocket and waving it impatiently.

"Sakura."

Sasuke scowled and hunched his shoulders slightly. "What about her?"

"Do you really want to have this conversation out here?" Naruto jerked her head toward the villagers around them, some of which were watching them with oddly mixed expressions of curiosity, awe towards Sasuke, and disgust toward Naruto. If she were braver, she would have laughed at how the contradictory emotions had contorted their faces.

"Fine," Sasuke sighed again. "We can go to my house."

Without another word, the Uchiha spun on his heel and started walking again toward his home. Naruto hid a smile at his predictable behavior and followed a few paces behind him. He led her to a small, but beautiful apartment complex. As Naruto peered around curiously, she thought that maybe 'apartment' wasn't the right word. It was more a collection of small houses.

"I thought you said you lived in an apartment," Naruto said, waiting for Sasuke to unlock his front door.

"This is an apartment," he replied.

Rolling her eyes behind his back, she insisted, "I live in an apartment. This is a house."

Sasuke grinned at her over his shoulder, taking her by surprise. "You live in a closet," he teased before disappearing into his home.

Naruto was terribly shocked at his suddenly friendly manner, but she did her best to hide it as she followed him inside. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it and potentially scare him away from being casual with her again. Still, she could hardly believe that he had not only smiled at her, but joked with her as well. It was a good sign.

She closed the sliding door behind her and latched it. Sasuke even had a proper entry way with a genkan. His sandals were lined up neatly on the stone floor, toes pointed toward the door.

"Well, come on," he said, waiting with a hand propped on his waist.

"Yes, yes," Naruto muttered, removing her shoes and stepping up on the cool wood. She followed him into a room on the right which had a round, low table in the middle and bookshelves lining the one of the walls. There was a bit of give under her feet when she entered the room and Naruto looked down curiously.

"Tatami?" she exclaimed excitedly. "You have tatami?"

Ignoring Sasuke's odd look, Naruto inhaled deeply, smiling when she caught the faint smell of barely worn tatami. The mats must have been changed recently; they were still slightly green.

"Your apartment is all wood, isn't it?" Sasuke asked, comprehension lighting his eyes.

"Yeah, and not even very good quality wood either," Naruto replied, taking in the rest of the room while rubbing her toes against the slightly rough tatami.

Sasuke's shelves were full to bursting with books and scrolls and there was a large window on the wall to her right, looking out toward the other small homes, filling the room with soft, natural light. The sunlight would be fading soon, however, so Sasuke switched on a tall lap in the corner of the room.

He opened a small closet opposite the window and withdrew two floor cushions, which he then placed around the table.

"Okay, now what did you want to talk about that needed privacy?" Sasuke raised a delicately shaped brow at her.

"I want you to lay off Sakura," Naruto replied, tucking her feet under her as she sat on the cushion. She rested her arms on the table and leaned toward him. "You don't need to keep punishing her, okay?"

Sasuke's expression darkened. "Why?" He clenched his fist, turning the knuckles white. "Why did you forgive her so easily?"

Naruto sighed. "Does it really matter?"

"She was terrible to you!" Sasuke burst out with uncharacteristic emotion. "She has always been awful to you. Why should she deserve to be forgiven?"

"Why are you so upset?" Naruto asked, baffled by his behavior. "I'm the one she hurt, not you."

The dark-haired boy leaned forward and gripped Naruto's hand tightly. "You can't let her take advantage of you," he said, his eyes wild. "You're too nice, Naruto. People treat you like shit and you keep forgiving them. How do you know Sakura won't do something like this again?"

Naruto stared at Sasuke in shock. He looked so unbalanced and his grip was hard and making her uncomfortable. She tugged at her hand, but he wouldn't let go. "Sasuke, you're kind of scaring me," she said quietly. Her heart pounded in her ears and she wished he would stop touching her.

Sasuke blinked rapidly and looked down to where he was squeezing her hand. He let go quickly and stared blankly at his palm.

"I don't know," Naruto said, breaking the tense silence that had fallen between them. She rubbed at the red marks on her hand where Sasuke's fingers had dug into her skin.

"What?" Sasuke asked, frowning at her.

"I don't know that Sakura won't do that again," she elaborated. "I'm learning how to trust people and that means taking some risks. All I can do is get to know her and be a good friend and hope that she does the same."

"That doesn't make any sense," Sasuke muttered, rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his palms. "What's the point? Why risk getting hurt?"

Naruto wasn't really sure that he was even talking about Sakura anymore, but she felt that she needed to answer. "I don't want to be alone anymore."

Sasuke looked up at her in surprise.

"I've been alone my entire life," Naruto said, tucking her hands in her lap, "and I don't want to be alone anymore. So I would rather risk getting hurt than have to live in a village that hates me with no one to ease that pain."

She glanced out the window at the steadily darkening sky. "Look, you need to let this go. About Sakura. She's apologized and I forgave her. We're never going to be able to work as a team if we can't learn to trust each other. Sensei said that a team that doesn't trust is going to get killed."

Sasuke snorted abruptly. "He's crazy about teamwork, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Naruto agreed with a small smile. Some of the wildness had left Sasuke's eyes and his posture was more relaxed. "I think something terrible happened to his team."

"Maybe." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I'll stop ignoring Sakura. You're right that we haven't been working together well. Kakashi will never let us take a C-rank if we don't shape up."

It wasn't the best motivation, Naruto thought, but she would take anything if it meant that Sasuke would finally loosen up and stop glaring at Sakura.

She looked out the window again and frowned when she saw how dark it had gotten. Naruto hated walking through the village at night. People were always more willing to lash out at her if they thought they wouldn't be seen. At least she could take the roofs once she got away from Sasuke's neighborhood.

"I should probably head home," she said, rising to her feet. "Thanks for the talk."

"Hn," Sasuke replied shortly, walking her back to the entrance. "Naruto, maybe you're right about trusting each other, but… be careful," he warned. "You never know if someone's showing you their true face or not."

Naruto looked up at him from the recessed genkan where she had stepped back into her sandals. She was suddenly reminded of what he said right after they had officially become genin.

_"My brother was my hero. I wanted to be like him. He went crazy and killed everyone…"_

A chill shuddered along her spine.

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**Note (again): I love the idea of Kakashi awkwardly explaining things like this to the genin. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Note: Thank you for all of the lovely feedback and the favs/follows! (By the way, with this chapter, you lovely people are officially caught up with the dA updates!)**

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_Chapter 8_

The months passed quickly for team seven. Naruto and Sakura had become extremely close and Sasuke was really starting to open up to both of them. He still refused to speak of his past or of anything particularly personal, but he smiled and laughed more and made an effort to stick around after they were dismissed for the day.

Thinks were looking up for Naruto, although she could still feel that dark pit of despair lurking under the surface of her happiness. It was difficult not to fall back into it, especially when she had a particularly unpleasant experience out in the village. Her team was a comforting haven and Kakashi had really meant what he said about keeping her spirits up. Whenever Naruto started to feel overcome by numbness, the jounin never failed to draw her back out again. Sakura was also starting to develop an increased sensitivity to Naruto's moods and worked to make the blonde feel secure while they were together.

Sakura hadn't said anything, but Naruto suspected that she was working on her parents' attitudes. Sometimes she would come to training with angry eyes and her lips pressed tightly together. Naruto felt terrible that she was causing trouble in Sakura's family, but she wasn't sure if she should say anything.

Once, during their off-day, Naruto discovered Kakashi standing morosely in front of the Memorial Rock with such an air of depression that, at first, she didn't recognize him. She remembered him saying once that he had experience with the despair that sometimes gripped her and decided to return the favor. Whenever she caught him on one of those bad days, she summoned the rest of her team with clones and the three genin followed Kakashi around until the darkness left his visible eye. Naruto knew it was safe when he would smile fondly, invite them over for dinner, and then shoo them away after dark.

As team seven's teamwork improved, they accepted more and more missions. Over the past few months, they completed nearly a hundred mind-numbing D-rank missions. Naruto had been surprised that none of their clients ever even batted at eye at her presence until Kakashi explained that the hokage vetted the missions carefully for team seven to prevent any hostile clients. She wasn't sure how to react to this show of affection, but she was deeply touched by Kakashi and the hokage's concern for her feelings.

Finally, five months after becoming a team, Kakashi had finally deemed them ready for a C-rank. Naruto thought that he must have waited so long to make sure they had all settled into a comfortable working relationship. Teamwork, he continuously stressed, was vital to more challenging missions.

When Kakashi announced at the end of the day that he had requested a C-rank for them, the genin were ecstatic. Even Sasuke could hardly stop smiling. Naruto could hardly sleep that night and so when her alarm went off in the morning, she was groggy and puffy-eyed.

"I should have just stayed awake," she muttered to her reflection after examining the dark circles under her eyes. A cool shower went a long way to reviving her, however, and as she combed through her lengthening hair, she was once again excited about the upcoming mission.

After seeing the pictures of her mother, Naruto was torn between the desire to let her own hair grow out like Kushina's and the practical length she usually wore. Sakura had assured her that there were many hairstyles that would allow her to have some length but still stay out of her way in a spar. So for months, Naruto had gritted her teeth and resisted the urge to chop her hair off whenever the lengthening strands got into her eyes or in her mouth. Her patience had finally paid off, however, and her hair fell just below her shoulders. She originally tried tying it back in a high ponytail, but after Sasuke took advantage in a spar by using the tail to pull her off balance, she knew that she needed to wear it another way.

Sakura showed her how to twist it into a complicated-looking knot at the base of her skull. Naruto loved it because it was quick and simple and, most importantly, out of the way while she was on duty. She kept her bangs short and swept to the side to expose the Konoha leaf on her forehead protector.

Leaving her hair down to dry, Naruto donned a full body, long-sleeved under armor and dressed in a light grey sleeveless kimono-style top tied with a black belt and a pair of dark orange cropped pants. She ended up falling in love with the outfit that the hokage gave her and bought several more sets in varying colors. Naruto also pulled on a pair of black fingerless gloves that extended to her elbows. Shinobi gloves left the fingers free for ease of movement when creating hand seals and had lightweight plates sewn into the fabric to block the sharp edges of kunai or other weapons.

After breakfast, Naruto padded back into the small bathroom to tie back her hair. She brushed the tangles out of the pale gold strands and twisted it all back into a knot. When she wasn't on duty, Naruto left her hair down and secretly enjoyed the way it felt against her skin. As it had grown, the wild spikes calmed, leaving her hair much more manageable, but it still wasn't as sleek-looking as her mother's. Naruto liked it, however, and wished that she had let it grow before.

She finished getting ready, tying on her pouches and hitai-ate, and paused to look at the row of pictures on her shelf with a pleased smile. Her official team photo was surrounded by pictures of her with teammates. Most of them featured herself with Sakura, but she had one with Kakashi, taken by Teuchi, and one with Sasuke that Sakura had snapped. She also had several of her mother at various ages. Two were the ones from Kakashi and the hokage had given her a handful more. Naruto had really started to like having photographs and had planned to get one with some of her other yearmates when she next saw them.

Naruto still had no confirmation of who her father was and didn't know what he looked like other than his coloring. The hokage promised that he would tell her after she made chuunin. She thought that her father must have been very important for there to be such high security around his identity, but didn't really understand the point of telling her about Kushina and not him. Surely there were people that knew who Kushina had married? Kakashi obviously knew who both of her parents were and Naruto though that her academy peers' parents were all about the right age. It didn't really feel like much of a secret, but the hokage refused to budge.

Given all the secrecy and Kakashi's vague comments, Naruto had a suspicion about her father's identity. She wasn't sure how she felt about it, considering his part in unintentionally making her life miserable, but she decided that there was no reason to start worrying about it until she knew for sure. After all, the Yondaime was couldn't be the only blond, blue-eyed Konoha shinobi who made enemies during the war.

Locking her apartment behind her, Naruto hopped up to the railing and scaled the side of her building. Once on the roof, she shielded her eyes against the rising sun. They were to meet directly at the mission room this morning to get their C-rank instead of the usual spot at the bridge leading to the training field. With a wide grin, Naruto leapt from her apartment building, landing lightly on the neighboring roof, and took off at an easy run toward the Hokage Tower.

It took only a few minutes to get there since she could avoid the winding streets and travel nearly as the bird flies. Naruto would never get tired of being able to run along the roofs, away from the prying eyes of the villagers. It was maddening, the way they ignored her until her back was turned.

She dropped down by the entrance to the tower, badly startling Sakura, who had been waiting with a bored expression on her face.

"Naruto, you scared me to death!" Sakura scolded, mock-punching the blonde in the shoulder.

"Sorry, Sakura," Naruto said with an unrepentant grin. She was slowly getting used to more physical contact and didn't mind a casual touch so much anymore as long as it wasn't prolonged.

"I'm surprised Sasuke didn't get here first. He seemed really pumped yesterday about getting a C-rank."

The pink-haired rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure how you could tell he was excited, Naruto. He always looks like he's scowling to me."

Naruto smothered a laugh. "That's just because you haven't learned to decipher the grunts yet."

"Hah hah," Sakura replied sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest. She had shown a surprising talent for ninjutsu during the last couple months.

Due to her near perfect chakra control and small reserves, Kakashi had been sure that Sakura would be best suited for genjustu and medical techniques, however every time he taught the team a new jutsu, Sakura was the first to perfect it. While she would most likely never be able to perform chakra-draining A-ranks, her ability to so efficiently allocate her chakra allowed her more jutsu than someone with her reserves would normally be capable. Despite her success with ninjutsu, she was still leaning toward genjtusu, given her success as disrupting Kakashi's attention, however so briefly, during their second genin exam. It had been a heady feeling for her to have power over such a talented shinobi.

Naruto had absolutely no talent at genjutsu thanks to her massive chakra reserves. Genjustu was all about subtlety and Naruto had never been able to be subtle with her chakra. Sakura's ability to cast all kinds of genjutsu on her had greatly leveled the playing field between them. Naruto was also forbidden from using medical jutsu because of her unique chakra.

After she had exploded four fish, Kakashi figured out what was happening and explained the reason privately to her. The kyuubi's seal was designed to constantly draw on the biju's chakra and mix it with her own. This meant that any jutsu she performed also contained trace amounts of the kyuubi's chakra, which was poisonous to anyone other than herself. Kakashi assured her that there was probably a way to separate out her chakras, but it was beyond his capacity; he just didn't have the control for such a delicate task.

Sakura's disinterest and Naruto's ban had left Sasuke to learn medical jutsu, as Kakashi insisted that someone on the team needed the ability. The Uchiha proved surprisingly adept at the techniques; his sharp eyes allowed him to diagnose quickly and even without the sharingan, he seemed to have a knack for directing the flow of soft green healing chakra to where it was most needed.

Sasuke wasn't particularly happy about being the team medic and Naruto caught him trying to find a way to use some of the techniques offensively when he thought Kakashi wasn't looking. The chakra scalpel was the most versatile choice, given its ability to cut through muscle and tissue like a hot knife through butter, but because it had a limited range it required a very thorough knowledge of anatomy to do any real damage. Whenever Naruto spotted Sasuke deep into an anatomy book, a cold shiver crept along her spine. She had a bad feeling about him using healing chakra in such a way, but wasn't sure how to talk to him about it.

"What kind of mission do you think we're getting?" Naruto asked, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen between them. She leaned back against the cool stone of the building, keeping her eyes peeled for the rest of their team.

Sakura hummed thoughtfully. "I don't know. Maybe an escort or message delivery? We'll probably get to leave the village, whatever it is. From what I read, most C-ranks are requested by people outside Konoha."

"That would be great," Naruto sighed. "I've only ever been out of the village once and I didn't exactly have time to enjoy it."

"Really?" Sakura asked with a frown. "What about the field trips at school? I know there was at least one that went to Tanzaku-gai to see the castle."

"No parents to sign the permission slip, remember?"

Sakura grimaced. She was finally starting to realize just how much she took her parents for granted. "Surely you had a guardian, though."

Naruto shook her head negatively. "Technically, hokage-jiji is the guardian of all the village orphans that don't get adopted, but it's really informal. The village council decided that he could allow us entry into the Academy, but not perform any other traditionally guardian duties."

"That doesn't make any sense," Sakura muttered. "Wouldn't they _want_ the students to be able to go on those trips? They were usually quite educational."

"I don't know. I've never understood what they're up to," Naruto replied vaguely. It was true that at the time, she had no clue why the hokage couldn't sign her forms, but now she was sure that the council didn't want _her_ leaving the village because of the kyuubi. She felt a little bad that the other orphans suffered just because the council wanted to be sneaky. People would wonder if she was singled out, after all.

Sakura glanced at her with one of her strangely piercing looks, as if she were trying to see right through her. Naruto tried her best to keep a straight face. She and Sakura were really starting to become close, but she just wasn't ready to disclose her greatest secret.

To her relief, Sasuke finally joined them. He strolled up the main street toward the tower, hands stuffed in the pockets of his white shorts. Naruto never understood why he insisted on wearing white; it seemed a highly impractical color for a shinobi.

"Hey Sasuke," she greeted, ignoring Sakura's disappointed expression. She would tell the other girl eventually. Just not today.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said. She turned toward the Uchiha and smiled a greeting.

"Morning," Sasuke replied, the corner of his mouth turning upward at the sight of them.

Naruto had been doing her best to ignore the discomfort of being social without her protective false persona in order to pull Sasuke out of his stoic bubble. He had gotten a little better, although he still got that same crazed light in his eyes that made Naruto's blood chill and he still preferred to keep to himself. Sometimes, out of the corner of her eye, she would catch him staring at her with a strange, longing expression. His face always smoothed back out whenever she looked at him fully. It should have been creepy, but Naruto had the feeling that he really wanted to be friends but was purposefully holding back for some reason.

"What kind of mission do you think we'll get?" Naruto repeated to Sasuke, equally interested in hearing his opinion and in getting him to actually utter more than one word.

But before the dark haired boy could respond, Kakashi showed up, only three minutes late. Naruto was always happy to see her sensei, but she couldn't help feel disappointed that he had interrupted Sasuke.

"How nice to see your bright and eager faces," the jounin said dramatically. He smiled at them and reached out to ruffle Naruto's bangs.

She batted his hand away and wrinkled her nose at him.

"Come _on_," Sakura drawled. "I've been waiting forever. Can we go get our mission now?"

"Yes, yes," Kakashi replied, gesturing for them to enter the tower ahead of him. "To the mission room, then."

Naruto trailed behind Sakura into the mission room on the first floor. The desk was on rotation, so the shinobi handing out missions varied. Today there was a familiar face sitting behind the desk and Naruto smiled happily.

"Hi Iruka-sensei," she said shyly. She hadn't seen much of Iruka in the months since she graduated, but she still had a soft spot for the academy teacher.

"Naruto!" Iruka alled, smiling back at her. "You guys are awfully early. Here for a few D-ranks?"

"We have a C-rank reserved, actually," Kakashi cut in, stepping up to the desk. "An escort mission, if I'm not mistaken."

"I told you it'd be an escort," Sakura hissed, elbowing Naruto lightly in the ribs.

"A C-rank already? You three must be doing really well," the chuunin praised. He dug through a small pile of scrolls on the table. "I've got it right here. You'll be escorting a bridge-builder back to his home in Wave Country. He will be waiting for you at the East gate at noon." He flipped through his notes on the available missions. "The client's name is Tazuna."

Kakashi accepted the proffered scroll and herded his team toward the exit.

"I'll come visit when we get back," Naruto said over her shoulder as she was ushered out the door.

"Be careful," Iruka called back, his voice tinged with concern. "Keep an eye on each other!"

As soon as team seven left the tower, Kakashi pulled them aside. "Okay, at a civilian pace, it should take about a week to get to Wave and another three days for us to get back on our own. Pack for two weeks to be safe, and remember," he added before dismissing them, "only pack the necessities. You don't want to be weighed down by extra baggage. Make sure to be at the East gate by a quarter to noon."

"Sensei, how many rations should we bring?" Naruto asked. She figured there would be plenty of game along the way, but it was standard for shinobi to bring ration bars on the off chance that there wasn't an opportunity to hunt or forage.

Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. "Just bring half a box, maybe. We'll have to stop to hunt for the client, but you could probably use a few bars to tide you over."

"My parents are going to freak out," Sakura groaned. "I told them what kind of missions C-ranks usually are, but I don't think they were expecting me to be gone for nearly two weeks."

"I just need to find someone to water my plants," Naruto said with a shrug. "What about you, Sasuke?"

"There's a cat," the Uchiha replied, straightening from the slouched posture he had adopted while in thought.

"You have a cat?" Sakura asked in surprise.

Naruto normally would have agreed with the other girl's skepticism, as Sasuke didn't seem the type to have a pet, but she had noticed a small set of bowls set to the side of his porch while at his home.

Sasuke reddened slightly. "It's not really my cat," he defended. "But it comes around pretty often, so I keep food out for it. I'm sure it belongs to someone."

"You'd better put out some extra just in case," Naruto suggested.  
The dark haired boy nodded awkwardly, looking pointedly away from his teammates.

"And you three better get to it," Kakashi reminded, making a shoo-ing gesture.

"Oh, right," Naruto said. "I'll see you guys later."

The three genin split toward their respective homes to pack and for Sakura to break the news of the extended mission to her parents.

Naruto wasn't sure who she could ask to take care of her plants, but she didn't have a lot of time to figure it out. She hurried home, wanting to pack as quickly as possible so she could take care of the issue.


	9. Chapter 9

**Note: Somewhat filler-ish again, but it was necessary and a good place to end without tacking on another 5 pages in Word. Thanks for the love and feedback :)**

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_Chapter 9_

It didn't take long for Naruto to pack. She didn't own a lot of frivolous items and she had been privately practicing the creation of sealing scrolls. Unfortunately, she hadn't inherited the Uzumaki genius for creating seals, but with hours of practice aided by copious amounts of shadow clones, Naruto was able to perfect several basic seals. While creating seals may never come easily to her, she was oddly talented at breaking them down. It wasn't easy, but she was determined to learn as much as she could to honor her mother's memory.

Naruto packed a couple spare sets of clothing in one scroll, carefully labelling the outside so she would know the contents without having to unseal everything. She filled a second with spare weapons, a third with medical supplies, and the fourth with rations. All of her gear could have fit in a single scroll, but Naruto thought it was easier to separate them out so she could find what she needed more quickly.

She layered the scrolls at the bottom of her pack and placed an extra bandolier of kunai, a field first aid kit, and a few ration bars on top for easy access. Naruto sealed her tent and sleeping bag in her last scroll and tucked it into the front pouch of her pack. She finished everything off with a handful of empty sealing scrolls. It always seemed that she needed one when she didn't have any to spare.

After propping her bag against the wall by the door, Naruto glanced at her clock and let out a sigh. It had only been an hour since she left the rest of her team and there were still two and a half before she needed to be at the East gate.

"It wouldn't hurt to have an early lunch," she muttered to herself, not really looking forward to sitting around her apartment alone for the next two hours.

She picked up her pack and slipped her arms through the straps, making sure to grab her spare key from a drawer in the kitchen. There was still the matter of finding someone to look after her plants and she didn't want to have to come back for the key.

Naruto locked up and headed toward Ichiraku's for a bowl of ramen. It wouldn't be a bad idea to let Teuchi and Ayame know where she was going anyway. They tended to worry if she let too much time pass before stopping by.

The ramen stand was nearly empty when she arrived, given the early hour. A familiar girl was sitting at the bar, nursing a pot of tea.

"Hi, Hinata," she greeted, taking the stool next to the Hyuuga heir.

"Oh… hello, Naruto-chan," Hinata replied with a small smile. Her teacup shook alarmingly and she hastily set it down. There was a nasty bruise encircling one eye.

"Ouch," Naruto winced in sympathy, suddenly glad that her own bruises never hurt for very long. "What happened to your eye?"

Hinata raised a slender hand and lightly touched the yellowed edges of the bruise. "I w-was attempting to learn a n-new clan taijutsu. I have not yet m-mastered it."

"I'm sure you'll get it in no time," Naruto said encouragingly. "You were always brilliant in taijutsu at school."

The dark haired girl looked at her in surprise, meeting her eyes for the first time since Naruto greeted her. Hinata reddened and dropped her gaze, pressing her fingers together nervously.

"You are too k-kind, Naruto-chan. I am n-not brilliant in anything," she said softly.

Naruto frowned at the side of the other girl's head. Hinata's shoulders were hunched and she had leaned forward enough for the curtain of her chin length hair to shield her face from view. Naruto hadn't remembered her being so self-deprecating. But then, Hinata had always been too shy to say much of anything during the Academy. She wasn't sure how to cheer the other girl up. Hinata obviously had some talent, otherwise she wouldn't have passed the secondary genin exam.

"You know," she said, attempting nonchalance, "Sensei told us that only one third of the graduating genin teams actually get to become genin."

"Y-yes," Hinata replied, peering up through her dark hair. "Kurenai-sensei told us m-much the same. I am very f-fortunate to on a t-team with Shino-kun and Kiba-kun. They are very t-talented."

Naruto tilted her head to the side curiously. "Didn't your sensei talk about teamwork? The answer was the same for everyone right? If your team passed, it was because you helped. There's no way a genin team would have made it if all three members weren't working together."

She softly nudged Hinata with her elbow. "You've got those amazing eyes, too. Don't tell Sasuke," she added conspiratorially, "but I would trade him for you any day."

Hinata's head whipped up and she stared wide-eyed at Naruto, her cheeks reddening. Before she could say anything in response, Teuchi returned from the back of the restaurant and Naruto turned to greet him.

"Hi oji-san," she said with a smile, leaning forward on her elbows.

"Naruto! It's been a while since you stopped by. What have you been up to?" the ramen chef asked, already preparing Naruto's usual order.

"Kakashi-sensei keeps us really busy," she explained, shrugging off her pack and setting it on the floor between her feet and the bar. "We got our first C-rank mission today and I'm going to be out of town for a couple weeks. Can you ask Ayame to make sure my plants don't die?"

Teuchi set a bowl of ramen in front of her and scratched his chin. "Eh, I don't know if you want to trust her with something like that, Naruto-chan. She's responsible for the deaths of a lot of houseplants. I've got no green thumb either."

She sighed morosely and broke apart a pair of chopsticks.

"Um, Naruto-chan… I c-could look after your p-plants, if you like," Hinata offered shyly, straightening to look at her without dark hair shielding her face.

Naruto turned to face the other girl, swallowing a mouthful of ramen and smiling happily. "Would you really? They aren't hard to take care of… I don't have anything exotic right now, but they do need to be watered twice a week or so."

Hinata nodded, pressing her fingers together again nervously. "It's no p-problem… really," she asserted.

"Thank you so much," Naruto said. "If it's you, I know there isn't anything to worry about."

The dark haired girl reddened again and busied herself with pouring a fresh cup of tea. The next two hours passed quickly as Naruto and Hinata chatted between bouts of comfortable silence. In the Academy, Hinata had acted as if she wanted to spend more time with Naruto, but was forced home right after class by her strict father, and Naruto was always glad to find people who were interested in becoming friends with her.

When they parted ways, with the promise of meeting more often, Naruto left her spare key with Hinata with a few last minute reminders about how to care for her plants.

She still had some time to spare, so Naruto took her time getting to the East gate. She made a game of it, trying to see how many rooftops she could clear with a single jump. It was a delicate balance of pushing herself and not overreaching and falling to the ground. By the time she was forced back to ground level as she approached the gate, Naruto had managed to clear four buildings without a running start. She could just barely clear one without boosting her leg muscles with chakra.

"Were you having fun?"  
Naruto whipped her head around in surprise, adrenaline coursing through her veins, and then slumped with relief as she spotted Sasuke leaning against a tree, amusement glinting in his dark eyes.

"Just how long have you been there?" she asked, scratching her reddening cheek.

"Long enough," the Uchiha replied with a slight smirk.

"I like being able to use the roofs to get a round," Naruto admitted. She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, constant excess energy not allowing her to stay still for long.

"Hn. It is nice to be away from most of the prying eyes." Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest and looked away.

Naruto felt a little surprised at this insight. After the Uchiha Massacre, the village had treated Sasuke like the prodigal son, always offering sympathy and extra help. She had never considered that it may have been just as suffocating as the hate. Even still, Naruto would trade the negative attention for positive any day. Privately, she thought that Sasuke's attitude contributed to the smothering affection of the villagers. If he acknowledged them, they probably wouldn't work so hard to gain his attention.

As if he had read Naruto's mind, Sasuke glanced back at her and clarified. "It isn't the villagers' pity so much as the hordes of fangirls."

Naruto let out an undignified snort which dissolved into laughter, causing faint color to appear on Sasuke's pale skin. "Is it really that bad?"

"It's terrifying," Sasuke admitted with an exaggerated shudder. "I am so glad that you are not like them… and that Sakura has calmed down."

"She has definitely cooled her head," Naruto agreed. She scuffed the toe of her sandal in the dirt, suddenly bashful. "Um, thank you, by the way."

Sasuke lifted a single brow curiously. "For what?"

"Not mistaking me for a boy," she replied. Somehow, her gratitude had gone unspoken in the months since the revelation of her gender had temporarily upset the team's balance. "Most people only saw my short hair and masculine clothing without bother to look any closer. Well, not that anyone really wanted to get close to me anyway," she added with a self-deprecating laugh.

"Hn. They can't help being stupid," Sasuke scoffed. "It isn't that big of a deal, but you're welcome."

Naruto smiled to herself, warmed by Sasuke's assurances. They fell into a comfortable silence as they waited for the rest of team 7 and their client, Tazuna. Surprisingly, Kakashi arrived before Sakura, but the pink haired girl wasn't far behind. She panted and rested her hands on her knees to recover.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked in concern as Sasuke offered a bottle of water to the pink haired girl.

"Yeah," Sakura replied between gasping breaths, accepting the water with a grateful smile. "You'd think I would have no trouble running across town with all the laps we do. I guess I need to start adding fifty pounds on my back," she said wryly. She straightened and adjusted the straps on her pack, which was bulging ominously.

"I seem to recall telling you to pack only the necessities," Kakashi said, blinking at the large backpack.

"I know… believe me, I tried," Sakura explained. "My mom kept stuffing more and more in every time I turned my back. It was a nightmare to get away."

"Want a couple sealing scrolls for the extra stuff? I brought a few empties, just in case," Naruto offered, already unbuckling the straps keeping her pack secured to her back.

"That would be amazing, thank you. I don't even know what she put in here."

Sakura let her pack fall to the ground with a heavy thud. She stretched her shoulders and back and let out a relieved sigh.

By the time their client arrived, Naruto and Sakura had managed to seal away all kinds of superfluous supplies, including make-up, hair products, and clothing unsuitable for mission work, reducing Sakura's pack to a much more reasonable weight.

"This is the team that's supposed to protect me?" Tazuna said scornfully. He was a large man who smelled strongly of alcohol. "I feel like I should get my money back if I'm going to be stuck with a bunch of brats."

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed minutely, but his students knew him well enough by now to notice the sign of irritation. "Rest assured, my team is well equipped to handle a C-rank mission. And if anything unexpected were to occur, I am a jounin."

"Bah, if you say so," the bridge builder said with a shrug. "But remember, I'm super important to Wave Country, so you kids better be prepared to protect me."

Naruto instantly disliked the man and judging from Sakura's distasteful expression and Sasuke's sneer, her teammates didn't think too highly of him either. Still, he was the client and right about needing to be protected. Naruto just hoped that he wouldn't be too obnoxious on the trip.


	10. Chapter 10

**Note: Thanks for all the love, y'all :)**

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_Chapter 10_

The first couple days of the trek toward Wave Country were uneventful. Tazuna's pace felt unbearably slow to the shinobi, who were used to traveling at high speeds through the trees. The genin had taken to scouting ahead in turns, using the opportunity to escape from the bridge builder's self-important comments and burn some energy. Naruto particularly needed the extra activity. She was starting to feel a little stir crazy from the slow pace and lack of strenuous training.

"Sensei, next time it's my turn, can I take a moment to burn some chakra?" Naruto asked, clenching her fists to keep her hands from trembling with unused energy. She dutifully ignored Tazuna's scoff and muttered remark about 'impatient brats', knowing that he really had no clue how she felt.

Kakashi slowed to her side and looked down at her. After a moment's appraisal, he frowned slightly. "Hm, you do seem to be a little… wired." He made some mental calculations and hummed thoughtfully. "When Sasuke gets back, make some shadow clones to extend your scout path."

"How many?" Naruto asked, relieved that she would finally get to expend some of her excess chakra.

"I think a hundred would take the edge off, don't you?" the jounin replied, trying to accommodate the blonde's need for chakra intensive jutsu without alerting the entire world to their presence. It was different in the village. The wall surrounding Konoha was inscribed with layers upon layers of detection and chakra masking seals. A hidden shinobi village wouldn't stay hidden for long if there wasn't any method of hiding the chakra of its inhabitants.

Kakashi glanced at their client, visible eye narrowing slightly. He didn't trust Tazuna and was certain that the man was hiding something from them. Were this really just a simple C-rank mission, he may have considered letting Naruto cut loose. But then again, it was never wise to draw unnecessary attention in this line of work. Her chakra would likely keep bandits and lower ranked missing nin away, but had the unfortunate side effect of being enticing to the more powerful.

"That should help a little," Naruto sighed, disappointed that she wasn't allowed to make more. "Thanks, sensei."

It took a lot of clones to make a dent in her chakra reserves since every dispelled clone returned most of the expended chakra back to her. However Kakashi never said that she _had_ to pop them, so Naruto privately decided to leave the clones in existence until they set up camp for the night. They tended to return less chakra the longer they were out, so she may actually be able to sleep if she left them out all day.

Sasuke finally returned, taking the position at the rear of their formation. He looked relaxed, like he always did at the end of his shift, and there were leaves lodged in his hair. Naruto hid a smile behind her hand. She only wished that it would last. Extended time spent around the bridge builder caused his shoulders to tense and a dark scowl to form on the Uchiha's face. Naruto didn't blame him; Tazuna was a jerk at the best of times and a mean drunk at the worst.

Naruto formed a hand seal and wordlessly created a hundred shadow clones, which immediately dispersed into the surrounding trees. But before she could leap ahead to join them, she stepped knee-deep into an oddly placed puddle.

"Damn it," she swore, arms waving wildly as she lost her balance. She planted her hands on the dusty ground and stared down at the strangely deep puddle. Pulling her leg from the tepid water and straightening, she complained, "How long has _that_ been there? It hasn't rained for weeks!"

"Naruto, get down!"

At Sakura's frenzied shout, Naruto dropped to the ground without a second's hesitation. Something whooshed over her head with a deadly sounding whistle. She rolled to the side and leapt to her feet, eyes narrowed as she tracked the object that would have taken her legs off had it connected.

A cruel looking chain made of interlocking shuriken was embedded in a tree on the opposite side of the road. It led back to the depths of the puddle. A second chain shot out toward Kakashi, who used kawarimi, leaving a chunk of deadwood behind to be ripped to shreds by the deadly blades.

Two foreign shinobi, missing nin from Kirigakure from their slashed forehead protectors, sprang from the water and attacked team seven without a word. One of them retracted his shuriken chain with a calculated jerk. The chain arched toward Tazuna, but was knocked off course by a few well-thrown kunai. Sakura planted herself in front of the bridge builder, determination strengthening her features.

Naruto couldn't help but smile at the familiar expression, knowing from experience that Sakura was running through her already impressive repertoire of ninjutsu for effective countermeasures. Of the three genin, Sakura had absorbed the most knowledge from their sensei, the man of a thousand jutsu.

The second missing nin came at Naruto with a wickedly clawed gauntlet, forcing her attention back to the skirmish. She dodged the first strike but lost her balance as she once again stepped into the puddle that the shinobi had emerged from.

Cold steel bit into her raised arm. Most of the claws were stopped by the armor in her gloves, but one slipped through the gap between plates and cut her arm to the bone. The missing nin jerked his gauntlet back for another strike, eliciting a gasp of pain from Naruto as the blade was torn from her flesh. Before the enemy shinobi could attack again, a giant fireball smashed into him from the side, lifting him bodily into the air and flinging him away from Naruto.

Sasuke flew after him, following up with a flurry of punishing taijutsu. Naruto jerked her leg out of the puddle again, extremely irritated that she had gotten caught in it twice. She and several clones, who had finally heard the ruckus and returned to see what was going on, leapt to engage the missing nin currently trying to get through Sakura.

The pink haired girl threw up an earth defense wall as the missing nin flung his deadly chain at her. As the sharp blades embedded into the wall, Sakura firmed up the technique, causing the chain to be immovable. Naruto and two clones hit the mist nin in the back with a flying kick while he was off-guard and beat him into submission.

Kakashi emerged from the ground behind Tazuna, where he had hidden to observe the skirmish while staying close enough to the client to help if needed. He helped Naruto secure the unconscious shinobi to a tree trunk with his own shuriken chain and gestured for her to join Sakura in guarding the bridge builder. Keeping his senses open for more attackers, Kakashi located Sasuke and the other missing nin in the woods.

Naruto waited tensely for their sensei to come back, jumping when Sakura brushed her shoulder with her own.

_Are you okay?_ The pink haired girl mouthed, looking at Naruto's arm in concern. Naruto nodded shortly, even though it was throbbing painfully.

Kakashi finally returned with Sasuke trailing slightly behind him. The Uchiha's skin was deathly pale and his eyes were black and wild. Blood was splattered on his face and liberally coated his hands. The jounin was tucking away a black sealing scroll and Naruto knew that the other ninja was dead.

"Sasuke," he said sharply, drawing the boy's attention. "Wash your hands and take a look at Naruto's arm. These two are known for using poison on their weapons."

The Uchiha nodded. He blinked furiously and then focused on Naruto with a clear gaze. He pulled a spare canteen from his pack and set to scrubbing the blood from his hands.

"Sensei, do you know who these guys are?" Naruto asked, trying not to look at Sasuke. The look in his eyes had rattled her badly. It was manic and like he wasn't all there. She had gotten a glimpse of that expression when she had visited his house and he warned her about trusting people.

Kakashi nodded at Sakura, who relaxed and stored away her weapon. "They're chuunin from Kirigakure. In the Bingo Book, they're called the Demon Brothers," he replied, crouching in front of the surviving shinobi secured to the tree.

As he started trying to rouse the man, Naruto sat heavily on the ground. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her heart was pounding loudly in her ears. Now that the adrenaline from the fight had faded, she was starting to feel strange. She shivered, suddenly freezing, and she realized that her chakra was causing fever to try and burn out the poison that had coated the missing nin's weapon. Closing her burning eyes, she wondered if it was her Uzumaki heritage or the kyuubi at work.

Sasuke settled at her side and Naruto opened her eyes to peer blearily at him. He was looking more like himself, which went a long way to easing the nervous fluttering in her stomach. "You still with me?" he grunted, checking her pupils and frowning at the heat emanating from her skin.

Naruto nodded. "Don't worry," she said with a weak smile. "Remember what I said about my clan? A little bit of poison won't take me down."

Or at least, she hoped it wouldn't. She was starting to real truly awful.

"Should we try to cool her down?" Sakura asked in concern, kneeling down next to them.

Sasuke shook his head negatively. "As long as it doesn't get too high, we should let the fever do its job. It's burning out the poison."

He took Naruto's left arm and gently pulled off her glove. The gauntlet had cut straight through her body armor and Sasuke used a kunai to pry away open the links around her elbow to remove the damaged portion and expose the wound. The cut was about midway between her wrist and elbow and alarmingly deep. Blood still seeped sluggishly from the gouge and Sasuke frowned at how quickly it was congealing.

"I think the poison must have been based on snake venom," he muttered. "Sakura, can you give her a general antidote? It should help as long as this wasn't synthesized from something exotic."

Sakura nodded and dug through her first aid kit for the antidote. "Sorry about the sting, Naruto," she said, jabbing the needle into Naruto's thigh.

"No problem," Naruto replied wryly. "Barely felt it."

Sasuke lightly massaged the flesh on either side of the gaping wound to encourage the poison to flow out. As soon as the blood started to flow more normally, he stopped and cleaned it out thoroughly. "This is going to need some stitches," he warned.

Naruto nodded. "Do what you need to do." She hadn't ever had stitches before and didn't think that they would need to be in for very long, given her usual track record with healing. Then again, she'd never been cut to the bone with a poisoned blade before.

Sakura sat back to back with Naruto, allowing the blonde to slump against her in exhaustion. "Is she going to be okay?" she asked softly, worried by the heat seeping through her clothes from Naruto's back.

"She should be," Sasuke said through gritted teeth. He tore open the packaging of a sterile needle and soaked a length of surgical thread in alcohol to disinfect it. "Seems like a pretty potent poison. It's a good sign that her blood isn't congealing so badly anymore."

He worked quickly to place several neat stitches binding the sides of the wound together. Naruto watched with morbid fascination.

Kakashi joined them as Sasuke finished dressing the wound and assessed Naruto's condition for himself. "It was good to let her fever burn out the infection, but we can't let her get too hot. Does she feel warmer than before?"

Sasuke checked Naruto's temperature again and scowled. "She does. Considerably warmer."

"Let's get her settled on a sleeping bag and use cold compresses to regulate her temperature," the jounin suggested. "Don't worry, you two. Naruto has an impressive immune system."

Sakura shifted Naruto's weight into Sasuke's arms and removed the pack from the blonde's back. She found the scroll labeled 'camping' near the top and unsealed it. After setting aside the sleeping bag, she sealed everything back into the scroll and put it back where she found it. Sasuke picked Naruto up, a fond smile briefly crossing his face as he noticed that she had gone to sleep. He set her back down on the unrolled sleeping bag. After Sakura removed her other glove, sandals, and headband, Sasuke wet a cloth from his canteen and used it to mop the sweat from her flushed face and rested it across her forehead. He wrapped more cool damp cloths around her neck and wrists in an attempt to bring her temperature back down.

"Tazuna-san, is there something that you wish to tell us?" Kakashi confronted the bridge builder, disapproval lacing his voice. "It isn't particularly normal for civilians to have chuunin-level missing nin after them."

Their client mopped his forehead and looked solemnly at Naruto's flushed face. "The truth is…" he sighed, "the truth is that Gato is after me. He has Wave Country in a vice! He's draining us dry of every resource. My bridge would change all that. People wouldn't be dependent on his ships to trade."

"So he's planned to kill you to stop the bridge from being completed," Kakashi mused. He folded his arms over his chest. "This mission is definitely above a C-rank," he said firmly. "If you've managed to cross one of the richest, and most crooked, men in the world, he isn't going to stop at just two chuunin. And given how potent that poison was, Naruto should probably be admitted into the hospital for evaluation."

He turned to assess Naruto's condition again and was surprised to meet a pair of blearly blue eyes.

"Sensei, we don't have to go back on my account," she said, determination chasing the fog from her gaze. She propped herself up on an elbow, catching the cloth that fell from her forehead.

Kakashi crouched at her side, gesturing for Sakura and Sasuke to give them some space. "How quickly are you recovering?" he asked in a low voice.

"Pretty fast," Naruto replied just as softly. "I think you-know-what had to get involved to burn out the poison. That's why my fever got so high. But now that the poison is mostly gone, I'm gaining back my strength."

"When will you be on your feet again?"

Naruto dutifully evaluated herself. "I think I'll be good to start moving in a couple hours, but I probably won't be back to full strength until morning," she admitted. "That blade cut me down to the bone. I can't even make a fist yet."

It was unbelievably frustrating to feel the weakness in her muscles, especially in her left arm, which was still throbbing painfully and causing her fingers to be partially unresponsive. She definitely wasn't used to feeling this way, having never even caught a cold before. Even the night when Mizuki hurt her so badly wasn't this frustrating. She had been wounded, yes, but not weak from fever.

"Okay," Kakashi said, a smile curving his visible eye. He reached out and ran a gentle hand over Naruto's hair.

She leaned into the touch briefly before pulling away, smiling faintly in return.

The jounin straightened and turned back to Tazuna and was immediately amused to see Sasuke and Sakura glaring the bridge builder into submission, standing over him with their arms crossed disapprovingly.

Kakashi coughed to cover a bark of laughter, catching the attention of his genin. He motioned for them to rejoin their wounded teammate.

"Tazuna-san," he said seriously. "Give me one good reason why we shouldn't turn back to Konoha right now."

Sasuke gritted his teeth at the thought of abandoning their first C-rank mission. No matter how justified, it wouldn't look good on their record. Naruto patted his arm in sympathy.

The bridge builder spun a sob story of how Gato had choked the life from Wave Country and how he had publicly executed Tazuna's son-in-law for bringing hope back to the town. Because the country was so oppressed by the shipping magnate, he couldn't afford to pay for a higher level mission, so he had downplayed the danger he was in. "And if you don't protect me, my daughter will cry and my poor grandson will grow up hating Konoha," he finished sadly.

Kakashi sighed and rubbed his temple. He sympathized with the man. He really did, but this could get dangerous for his kids. "What do you three think?" he asked, eyeing the genin closely. "Since the Demon Brothers failed, Gato will likely send someone stronger to do the job."

Sakura bit her lip uncertainly. "I don't know. I mean, don't you think Naruto should be looked over by a professional? I don't want anything bad to happen to her."

"Sensei, I'll be okay soon and I want to help him," Naruto said firmly, trying to fend off Sasuke who was determinedly blotting at her face with a refreshed cloth.

"If you don't stop fighting me, I'll vote to go home," Sasuke growled through clenched teeth.

"You wouldn't!" Naruto gasped in shock.

"I would," the Uchiha repeated, brandishing the dripping cloth like a weapon.

Naruto scowled, but subsided and allowed him to fuss over her. "Talk about a bad bedside manner," she muttered.

Sakura rolled her eyes at their antics. It was a clear sign that Naruto was rapidly improving and made her feel better about continuing on with the mission. "Actually, if she's well enough to try fighting off Sasuke when he's in 'nurse mode', I think we can handle the rest of the mission," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not happy that Tazuna-san lied to us, especially because Naruto got hurt, but I do understand _why_ he lied and I think that Wave could really use our help."

"As long as this idiot promises to dodge the poisoned weapons in the future, I would like to continue with the mission as well," Sasuke added, jerking his head irritably at the blonde, who gave him a wounded look in response.

"How could I have known that the gauntlet was poisoned?" she protested, allowing the Uchiha to bully her back into a prone position. "That being said, I definitely don't want to experience _that _again. It was terrible."

She lifted her arms to keep them from being trapped in the blanket that Sasuke was pulling up to her chin.

"Naruto," Kakashi said, sweating slightly. "I think that poison would have killed anyone else."

"It's a good thing I'm an Uzumaki then," Naruto replied, snuggling deeper into her sleeping bag.

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**Note (again): I struggled with whether to keep Naruto being injured by the Demon Brothers, but the image of surly nurse Sasuke leapt into my head and I had to keep it :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Note: Thanks for the love, y'all! Things are going to pick up big time next chapter!**

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_Chapter 11_

When the sun rose the next morning, Naruto felt back to full strength. She submitted to Sasuke's evaluation as he poked and prodded at her partially healed arm, occasionally clucking his tongue disapprovingly.

"What?" Naruto asked as he leveled a flat look at her.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and pushed Naruto over as he stood. "The stitches can come out tomorrow at this rate. You are one lucky idiot," he said, a hint of jealousy coloring his tone at her abnormally quick recovery.

"I am not an idiot," Naruto protested, righting herself and scowling at him with annoyance.

"You are an idiot," Sasuke repeated, crossing his arms over his chest. "A _big_ one."

As he stalked away, Sakura offered a hand to help Naruto up, her mouth twitching with amusement. "He was really worried about you yesterday," she said conspiratorially. "Well, we _both_ were, but now I think he's embarrassed about it."

"And he calls me an idiot," Naruto replied with an exaggerated sigh.

Sasuke turned back to glare at the two girls for talking about him, but it came off more like a surly pout.

Sakura and Naruto looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. Sasuke gave an irritated huff and joined Kakashi and Tazuna.

"Girls," he muttered darkly, refusing to look at his teammates.

"Pull yourselves together," Kakashi called over the two girls continuing laughter. "We need to get moving, so finish packing up your supplies and focus."

"Yes, sensei," Naruto replied between giggles. She took a deep calming breath, wondering what could have set her off. Sasuke's expression had been funny, but not _that _funny. Maybe it had been Sakura's laughter that had kept her own going.

She quickly dismantled her tent, which was designed to be folded away in as few steps as possible for easy departure—and essential for any shinobi—and sealed it back into the camping scroll. Her sleeping bag followed shortly and within minutes, Naruto had sealed away all of her supplies and tucked the scrolls away into her pack. She pulled a dry ration bar from a front pocket and opened the package, sighing distastefully at the drab color and unappetizing texture.

"I hate these things," she muttered before taking a reluctant bite.

"It helps if you drink some water to help work it down," Kakashi suggested, having had years of experience of choking down the nutrition bars.

Naruto fumbled for her canteen and took a small sip, allowing her to swallow the impalpable mass that was doing its best to stick in her throat.

The bridge builder laughed at the pinched expression on Naruto's face as she faced down the process of finishing the ration bar. "Don't worry girl, my daughter is a super good cook."

"That's good to know," Naruto sighed, finishing her rations as quickly as possible.

"Naruto, where did you get these?" Sakura asked, taking the empty wrapper from her teammate and frowning at it.

"Um, the shinobi store on 7th," the blonde replied after swallowing her last bite. "I get all my supplies there. It's a little expensive, but it was still cheaper than the other stores I tried. Why?"

"These expired three years ago!" Sakura exclaimed angrily, brandishing the wrapper. "How much did you pay for these?"

"Expired? I can't believe… I paid 500 ryo," Naruto said. She took back the crumped paper and squinted at it. "It really is expired!"

The ration bar sat heavily in her stomach. That shop owner had always seemed so nice. She could hardly believe that he would sell her bad supplies. Her spirits sank as she realized just how much the man must hate her.

"500 ryo each or for a whole box?" Sasuke interjected.

Naruto tightened the straps of her pack and followed the rest of her team as they continued the trek to Wave. She stared at the ground as she walked, feeling defeated. "It was each," she said softly. "I remember because it took a whole paycheck to pay for them. How much should they really be?"

"Ration bars are usually sold in boxes of a dozen for 300 ryo," Kakashi explained flatly. Naruto glanced up and noticed that although his hands were stuffed into his pockets as usual, they appeared to be clenched tightly.

"I imagine all of your weapons and supplies are overpriced," he continued nonchalantly. "When we get home, I'll take you to the store I prefer. They'll give you a better deal and won't be so brazen as to sell expired goods."

Kakashi was furious, but didn't want to draw the client's attention to Naruto's situation. It hadn't occurred to him that Naruto would have trouble buying supplies. He had thought that the threat of the hokage's wrath would keep them in line. He made a mental note to pay that shop keeper a visit and make them understand why they shouldn't have cheated his student. Judging by Sakura's angry scowl and the murder gleaming out of Sasuke's eyes, they might like to join him. Even with her impressive immune system, Naruto could still suffer from expired food. Her natural healing ability may have been compromised by the bad rations, forcing her body to rely on the kyuubi's chakra to recover. In Kakashi's opinion, the less Naruto used the kyuubi's chakra, even unconsciously, the better.

"Naruto, why don't you take first shift this morning," the jounin suggested lightly. "Make sure that you really are back at one hundred percent. Feel free to make more shadow clones."

"Thanks, sensei," Naruto said with a pleased smile. A little bit of exercise would make her feel better. She created another cohort of clones and they all scattered into the surroundings.

"I could use your assistance when we return home," Kakashi said to his other students.

"I should think so," Sakura replied, crossing her arms over her chest. She was still horrified that someone would have sold her friend spoiled food.

"Good," Sasuke agreed. "I look forward to it."

When Naruto mentioned that the villagers didn't like her, Sasuke had thought she was exaggerating. But having been on a team with her for several months, running those glorified errands trying to pass off as missions through town, he thought that she had actually understated how things were for her. Nine out ten people on the streets refused to even look at her, but as soon as her back was turned, looked at her with hatred and disgust as they muttered angrily to themselves or each other. So far, Sasuke hadn't been able to catch much of what they said, but a lot of the vitriol seemed to be focused on the fact that Naruto had become a shinobi. Sometimes, he thought they seemed more fearful than angry.

"Sensei, why does everyone treat Naruto so badly?" Sakura asked quietly, glancing at Tazuna, who had started singing to himself. From what she could hear, it was offensive and off-key. She trotted a little closer to her sensei.

"She said that people don't like her, but it's more than that isn't it? I haven't told her, but…" she looked around carefully for any of Naruto's clones. "I've had a lot of arguments with my parents about her. They don't like that she's on my team, but won't tell me why. I keep trying to tell them how sweet she is, but we always end up shouting at each other."

Kakashi glanced at the two genin, both of whom had moved closer to him to speak with more confidence. "I'm not at liberty to say," he said regretfully. "You'll have to wait for Naruto to tell you herself. But I can say that it isn't anything that she has done. People tend to fear what they don't understand," he added.

"That just makes me even more confused, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura pouted.

The jounin chuckled. "She'll tell you when she's ready. Just keep being such good friends to her and I'm sure she'll let you in," he said with pride. "Now get back in formation, you two."

Sasuke drifted back to his position to the left of and slightly behind the bridge builder, silently wondering what kind of secret Naruto could possibly have that all the adults seemed to know but no one their own age had heard. There was definitely something wrong and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. He was impatient and irritated, but could grudgingly understand why Naruto hadn't opened up about it. After all, he still hadn't even spoken to anyone about what happened _that_ night.

They fell into a thoughtful silence, broken only by Tazuna's terrible singing, as they waited for Naruto to return. When she finally came back, she was grinning ear to ear and had a healthy color to her cheeks.

"Feeling better?" Kakashi asked with a smile. As Naruto drew closer, he reached down to pick a few leaves out of her hair.

"Much better," she replied. "Thanks, sensei. I didn't see or feel anything out of the ordinary and I went all the way to the water—which isn't far off, by the way—but you guys can still take a look for yourselves if you want to stretch your legs."

"I'll go," Sasuke said quickly, bounding ahead without waiting for a response.

"I think he must have been bored," Naruto mused, taking his place in the formation before reaching into her bag for a canteen.

"Apparently," Sakura agreed dryly. "What if _I_ had wanted to go next?"

"If you'd really wanted to, you would've beaten him to it," Naruto teased.

"Yeah, yeah. How far away from the coast are we anyway?"

"Not that far," the blonde replied. "At this pace, we'll get there by nightfall." She moved to walk a little closer to the bridge builder. "Hey, oji-san, do you have something arranged to get us across to Wave? All the ships I saw were stamped with that Gato logo."

Tazuna looked down at her in surprise. So far, she had avoided him like the plague. "I have a guy who will take us across when the fog comes in the morning. It's risky, but there's no way I could get on a Gato ship. We're supposed to meet him about a mile down the coast from the docks."

"I hope you had planned to tell us all of this before morning," Kakashi said mildly. "I presume there is some sort of landmark to mark the meeting place?"

The old man scoffed. "What do you take me for? A fool? Of course there is. A super big tree that hangs out over the water. There aren't any others like it."

"Well that's something, I guess," Kakashi muttered under his breath. He didn't like the bridge builder, and he definitely didn't trust him. It was never a good idea to lie to shinobi. Especially shinobi who happened to be ex-ANBU captains. As far as Kakashi was concerned, he was well within his rights to execute the old man for a breach of contract. It really was important to read the fine print in these kind of things.

But as he glanced at Naruto and Sakura's excited faces, he just couldn't do it. The kids would be upset if he killed the lying client and the hokage would probably give him that disappointed frown. As fun as it was to see other people squirm under that expression, Kakashi hated being on the receiving end himself. So he let it go and decided to stay sharp. When they got home, he would have a chat with the kids about how to handle broken contracts.

Naruto peered around Tazuna to look at Kakashi. "Sensei, it may be silly to ask this _now_… but why wouldn't Wave hire a team from a closer village. I mean… isn't Kirigakure a lot close than Konoha?"

The jounin blinked at her in surprise for a moment, not expecting the question. "Kiri isn't a particularly reliable resource at the moment," he explained.

"Why not?" Naruto asked, falling back to her position in the formation where she was able to see her sensei better.

"They're in the middle of a civil war, aren't they?" Sakura interjected. "The Yondaime Mizukage started massacring all of the clans with kekkei genkai. I think I remember reading that there was a group of Kiri ninja that revolted and tried to assassinate him."

"I'm surprised you know all of that, Sakura," Kakashi said. "I don't believe that would have been taught in the Academy."

"No, it wasn't," Sakura agreed. "You know how I like to read though and I've been working through information about the other shinobi nations. It was just luck that I happened to be on Kirigakure before we left."

"Well, she's right about the bloodline killings, but there's a little more than that too," Kakashi elaborated. As he continued, even Tazuna perked up and appeared to be listening with interest. "Under Yagura's reign, Kirigakure has implemented some brutal practices. Up until fairly recently, the genin graduation exam was a battle royale," he said, disgust tainting his usually placid tone. "Whoever was left standing was allowed to become a genin."

"That's really terrible," Naruto said quietly, her face paling as she thought about what it must be like to be forced to kill your friends and classmates. People you had spent years working with and getting to know.

"No wonder people have started to revolt," Sakura agreed.

"Because of the civil war, Kiri has had less business than usual, so they've increased their mission prices," Tazuna added. "I would have only been able to afford a D-rank if I had gone there. It's a moot point anyway, because I needed a lumber contract and everyone knows the place to go for that is Konoha."

Naruto frowned, a sick feeling in her stomach. "I feel bad for Kiri's people. I can't believe that the Mizukage would go after the bloodline clans. I thought that kekkei genkai were pretty much universally treasured."

"That is one of the big reasons why the other villages are so baffled by Yagura's behavior," Kakashi replied. "Bloodlines strengthen the village and from what I've heard, the Mizukage has already wiped out three founding clans with bloodlines. It's a real tragedy."

At that point, Sasuke hopped down from the thinning trees and rejoined the formation, and the rest of team seven silently decided to change the subject. Talking about clan massacres wasn't the best idea around the sole survivor of one.

"The coast still clear?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Hn. It was as you said," Sasuke confirmed. "But the dock seemed to be unusually busy. I think we should avoid it."

"We'll be sure to branch off toward the meeting place well before we are within sight of the dock, then," Kakashi said. He hadn't planned on going to the dock anyway and Sasuke's advice only strengthened his decision.

Naruto peered at Sasuke from the corner of her eye and fought a smile when she saw the singe marks on the edge of his right sleeve. "Run into some trouble?" she asked, blinking innocently at him and gesturing to his burned clothing.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her and ran the blackened cloth between his fingers. "Hn. It seems like _someone_ set up a few traps." His tone promised payback, but Naruto wasn't very worried. Sasuke had never managed to get the best of her when it came to laying traps. He was surprisingly not creative about traps.

Seeing Sakura tense in preparation of taking her turn to run ahead, Sasuke spoke quickly. "I wouldn't bother, Sakura. We only have about ten minutes before we break through the treeline."

The pink haired girl deflated slightly. "Okay, but I vote we do something to burn some energy once we get to our destination. Especially if Tazuna-san's boatman won't be coming to get us until the morning."

"Don't worry, Sakura," Kakashi said, peering at all three genin. "By the time I'm finished with you three, you won't have any energy left."

As Kakashi's visible eye glinted with promise, Naruto wasn't sure if she was relieved or terrified.


	12. Chapter 12

**Note: I am so sorry about being so long with this update! School briefly consumed my life for a few weeks, and both work and school are still very busy at the moment. I'm trying to schedule in some dedicating weekly writing time so I can be more consistent with updates. And don't worry about the cliffhanger. Chapter 13 is already finished and just needs a second look through, so it'll be posted next week. You won't have to wait too long this time, I promise! I really appreciate the patience!**

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_Chapter 12_

Before they got within sight of the dock, Kakashi waved his team and Tazuna to remain in formation behind him as he veered off the path into the trees. They made the effort to be extra quiet, even the bridge builder who had sobered up remarkably fast, as they skirted around the edge of the Gato-controlled harbor. The brush blanketing the ground in the forest was extremely dense, slowing their progress to a near crawl, but they eventually broke through the trees to the sea.

There were about a hundred feet of bare beach between the edge of the forest and the single giant tree leaning out over the water, just as Tazuna had described. It was terribly conspicuous and exposed so Kakashi decided to make camp within the tree line where they could retain some sort of cover.

"Why do you think there's just the one tree over there?" Naruto asked quietly, setting her pack down softly on the sandy earth.

"I'm not sure," Sakura replied. "Even if that's where the forest used to extend, there should be more… evidence. It's almost like someone planted it there, but it shouldn't like the salt water."

"Does it really matter?" Sasuke asked, sounding vaguely amused.

"I guess not," Naruto said. She rolled out her shoulders and watched the bridge builder out of the corner of her eye.

As he had every night since leaving Konoha, Tazuna dropped to the ground and leaned back against a tree, cracking open a fresh bottle of sake. None of the genin were sure where he was carrying all of the alcohol. The man seemed to have a never ending supply of the ceramic bottles. The smell of it was extremely strong, causing all three genin to steer clear of him most of the time. It was an arrangement that the bridge builder enjoyed as he often found the preteens' extreme focus to be a little unnerving.

Naruto sneezed as the smell of alcohol stung her sensitive nose and moved further away from the perpetually drunk old man.

"Over here, you three," Kakashi called, waving at them with one hand. "Time for a perimeter check," he said. "And then, you're going to run sprints in the sand."

"Sensei, that's just mean." Sakura frowned, staring at the powdery white sand that stretched between them and the water.

"Best just to get it over with," Sasuke said practically.

"Such enthusiasm," the jounin sighed. "Go on, then. Perimeter."

It didn't take long to secure the area for their camp. No one could sense anything out of the ordinary, and the woods were occupied only by a few animals. Naruto had hoped that it would take longer. She could use the exercise, but she really wasn't looking forward to running sprints on the sand.

As the three genin ran, even Naruto began to feel the strain quickly. The soft, pillowy sand was sapping her strength and steadily draining her chakra as she used it to prevent her ankles from twisting when they sank into the low dunes. The strain on her legs was more comparable to traveling through the trees than across hard ground.

By the time Kakashi finally called them to a halt, the sun had sunk low on the horizon and Naruto was panting right along with her teammates.

The jounin allowed them just a few minutes to rehydrate and catch their breath and then signaled for Sakura and Sasuke to rejoin him. Team seven worked on rotation for spars. Last time, all three genin fought against Kakashi, so this time they would take turns sparring alone while the other two worked as a team. While her teammates sparred with Kakashi, Naruto crouched near the bridge builder, trying to ignore the heavy alcohol fumes.

"Hey, ossan, how old is your grandson?" she asked curiously, propping an elbow on her knee and resting her chin in her hand. She couldn't help wondering what it would feel like to have a grandfather love you so much that he would be willing to lie to a shinobi village to provide for you.

Tazuna scowled at her for the rude form of address and took another swig from his bottle. "Inari just turned eight a few weeks ago."

"That's a good name," Naruto said with a small, private smile, thinking of the fox sealed within her.

The bridge builder let out a rough bark of laughter. "He used to live up to it too! Little scamp…" he chuckled fondly.

"You really care about him, don't you," Naruto muttered, peering intently at the warm affection lighting the old man's watery eyes.

"Ah, he's a good kid. He's a good kid." Tazuna's voice broke and he busied himself with another gulp of liquor.

Naruto sat quietly as the old man collected himself. The lines of his face had deepened with sorrow and his usual cockiness had vanished.

"It's really bad in Wave right now, isn't it," she said quietly.

Tazuna let out a harsh choking laugh. "That's a super understatement, kid. The way Gato killed my son-in-law was brutal and Inari had a front row seat. He hasn't been the same ever since."

Naruto grimaced and settled her hands on her knees. She wasn't sure how to respond so she kept quiet, turning her head to watch her teammates get knocked around by her sensei. Sakura and Sasuke were really starting to work well together. Sasuke's sharp eyes read Sakura's movements almost instantaneously, allowing him to coordinate attacks without having to rely on direction, and Sakura's perfect control over her chakra made up for her lack of stamina and physical strength.

"I think Sasuke should talk to your grandson," she said, peering at the bridge builder out of the corner of her eye.

Tazuna scoffed. "How could that surly brat help Inari?"

Naruto looked back at her teammates with warm eyes. "Believe it or not, but he's a lot better than he used to be." She paused, considering. "Don't say anything about it, because it's the best way to make him really angry, but Sasuke's entire clan was massacred when he was your grandson's age."

She ignored the bridge builder's spluttering. "His older brother is the one who did it," she said, lowering her voice to a near whisper. "He hasn't said anything, but I think that he may have seen some of it."

The old man was silent, shock and horror slackening his features. After a moment, he shook himself and looked sidelong at the blonde still crouched near him. "He doesn't seem like the best role model for moving past a tragedy like that. I think you'd be a better person for Inari to look up to."

"M-me?" Naruto lost her balance in surprise and fell back onto the soft ground. She caught herself and gaped at the bridge builder. "Why in the world would you think that? I've never experienced something like that."

Tazuna leveled a surprisingly intelligent gaze at her, at odds with his usual drunken stupor. "I've been paying attention since we left Konoha," he said, swirling his bottle in lazy circles. "Seems to me like you've had a super hard life, kid. But you don't let it keep you down. I like your attitude."

Color crept up Naruto's neck and flooded her cheeks. "I must be a better actor than I thought," she sighed. "I'm… not as confident as I look. I'm always afraid of what people will think of me or that I'll screw something up. People don't like me."

"Maybe those things are true, but you're still moving, aren't you?"

Naruto looked back at him in surprise, a small smile curving her mouth. "Yeah, I guess I am."

The conversation was interrupted by the return of Sakura and Sasuke, who were both panting, drenched in sweat, with patches of sand stuck to their skin and clothing. Naruto could never decide if she preferred sparring with Kakashi alone or with one of her teammates. She ended up getting a better workout when by herself, because the jounin never took it easy on her, but there was something comforting about having one or both of her teammates at her back.

"You two don't look bored anymore," she said conversationally.

"Oh shut up Naruto," Sakura ground out between gasping breaths. "You won't look so happy in a minute."

Sasuke gave her an amused smirk, knowing exactly how it felt to spar Kakashi one-on-one.

"Wish me luck, old man," Naruto said, rising to her feet and heading over to where her sensei waited.

"Good luck, kid," Tazuna snorted.

Naruto settled into an offensive stance a few feet away from Kakashi.

"Have a good chat with the client?" the jounin asked casually. He didn't look at all winded despite having just finished sparring with the other two genin.

"Yeah, I guess he's not so bad. For a drunk, anyway."

Naruto made the first move—she always attacked first because otherwise, Kakashi would make her wait forever before initiating combat—but forgot about the dampening effect of the sand. She didn't push off hard enough and stumbled a little short of the jounin, leaving herself open to a hard palm strike to the chest.

She flew back, rolling several times before finally coming to a stop on her back. Naruto gasped for breath, gingerly rubbing her breastbone. Kakashi _really_ didn't take it easy on them. The back of her neck prickled and she rolled to the side, narrowly missing a knee to the gut.

Naruto pushed to her feet and threw a few punches at her sensei while he was down on his knee in the sand. To her frustration, he blocked her with one arm and then caught her fist in his hand, throwing her over his shoulder toward the trees.

She twisted in midair to land feet first on a tree trunk, using chakra to stick to the bark. Naruto ran up the tree to take cover in the foliage, dipping a hand into her thigh pouch for a few shuriken. She launched them toward Kakashi, but they thudded uselessly in the sand. Strong fingers wrapped around her ankle and jerked her from the tree, causing Naruto to let out an involuntary shriek of surprise.

Sakura winced from where she sat in their camp. "I am so glad that I'm not her right now," she said honestly.

"Shame that's the only way to wear her down without taking a few hours," Sasuke muttered, massaging healing chakra into his swollen black eye. "But I agree with you. Kakashi is a monster."

Naruto had trouble getting comfortable that night as she lay curled in her bed roll. Her ribs ached from the number of blows that had slipped past her guard despite a healing session from Sasuke. She knew they would be fine in the morning, thanks to Uzumaki vitality combined with trace amounts of kyuubi chakra naturally running through her system, but it didn't finding a comfortable sleeping position any easier.

After fifteen minutes of tossing and turning, she gave up and crept from the tent, trying not to wake her teammates or the bridge builder.

She walked out across the sand, stopping at the edge of the water and digging her toes into the cool sand. The water lapped gently at her feet. Naruto stretched her arms over her head, groaning when her back popped. Her ribs protested the movement and she brought her arms back down, lightly massaging her sides.

"I'd appreciate a little help here, fox," she muttered, poking at her belly.

"What are you doing out here?"

Naruto spun around in surprise, losing her balance when her feet got stuck in the sand, and fell into the shallow water. She looked up through her hair and saw Sasuke smirking down at her.

"That wasn't very nice," she accused. She sent a sheet of water at him with her hand, letting out a triumphant huff of laughter when it got him in the fact.

Sasuke's eye twitched but he stoically pushed aside the urge to retaliate and merely extended a hand to help the blonde up.

Naruto hadn't expected the gesture, given that Sasuke's aversion to touch rivaled her own, but she took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

"Did I wake you up?"  
"Who did you mean by 'fox'?"

They spoke simultaneously. When Naruto registered Sasuke's question, the color drained from her face. She hadn't heard him come up behind her and didn't realize that he was there to hear her muttered comment. It would have been perfectly clear in the quiet night.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she deflected, hoping that he would take the hint and leave it alone.

Unfortunately, Sasuke wasn't in a cooperative mood. "Does it have to do with the way people treat you at home?"

Naruto ground her teeth together. She wasn't sure why he had decided to push when the whole team had always been respectful of each other's boundaries.

"I'm going back to bed," she said shortly, brushing by him.

Sasuke grabbed her arm, jerking her to a halt.

Naruto narrowed her eyes at where his hand was wrapped around her bicep. "If you want to keep that hand, I'd suggest you remove it."

"You can trust me with this," Sasuke insisted.

"You're doing _such_ a good job showing me that. When I'm ready to talk about it, I'll talk about it," she said, jerking her arm out of his grip. "None of us pressure you about your issues. I'd appreciate it if you would return the favor."

She stomped through the sand back toward their small camp, angry tear prickling her eyes. Sasuke was such a hypocrite, wanting her to spill her guts but not being honest about his own issues. Retreating back into her tent, Naruto dug in her back for the scroll containing her spare clothing. She changed into something dry with quick, jerky movements, still wounded by Sasuke's insistent prying.

But by the time she was tucked back into her bed roll, she had calmed back down. Naruto still wanted an apology, but was fairly certain that she would never get one. At least not a _verbal _apology. Sasuke had softened since they had become a team, but not that much.

She curled on her side, barely noticing her sore ribs anymore, and hoped that things wouldn't be awkward between them in the morning. As she thought back on the conversation, her stomach churned uneasily. Surely he wouldn't go back to ignoring her because of this, would he? She hadn't really ever had an argument with someone before. Sakura didn't count because it was just her poor reaction to Naruto's gender. Naruto had never been brave enough to argue before and she was pretty sure she hated the feeling.

She kicked away her bedding and slipped back outside, intending to smooth things over with Sasuke, who was still looking out over the water. He looked a little down, from what she could glean from his posture, and she felt even more terrible.

A strange whistling sound cut through the air and Naruto instinctively dropped, flattening herself to the sand. Something flew over her, close enough for her to feel a chill from the steel through her clothes as it passed over her back. Naruto whipped her head to the side as it landed with a dull thud and gaped at the ridiculously massive sword that was half buried in the sand.

"Naruto, move!" Sasuke shouted, pulling her up from the ground as he ran back toward camp. An eerie mist crept across the sand from the water almost as if it were chasing them.

"Sensei, Sakura, get up!" Naruto called, looking over her shoulder to see a shadowy figure retrieving the sword in the mist.

Kakashi emerged from his tent, fully dressed and alert. He met the two genin half way and pushed them behind him. "Get your weapons and stay with the client," he said tersely.

He hesitated for a moment but then his gaze hardened and he reached up to straighten his hitai-ate, exposing the hidden eye. It was blood red and three tomoe swirled lazily around the pupil. Naruto gripped a kunai tightly in one hand and crowded back against the bridge builder's tent while Sasuke helped Sakura extricate herself from her bedding and join them in formation.

"Ah, this must be my lucky day," a gravelly voice drifted from the mist. "I get to face the legendary Hatake Kakashi and his sharingan right away."

Kakashi tensed as a tall figure approached. The man wore a Kirigakure forehead protector that had a deep slash marring the village symbol and wore bandages across the bottom half of his face. He held the massive cleaver nonchalantly over his shoulder with one hand.

"It looks like it's my advantage in this battle, Konoha-nin," he drawled.

"Why would you say that, Momochi Zabuza?" Kakashi asked with deceptive calm. "There's plenty of cover right behind me."

"Sure, but I'm not here for you," Zabuza said. His eyes fell on the tent guarded by the genin. "I don't think the old man's going to be able to hide in the trees like you can."

Kakashi stepped to the side to block the jounin-level missing nin's line of sight to Tazuna. "I'm afraid that you'll have to fight me first. And I don't need to stick to the trees to win this one."

Zabuza laughed and formed an unfamiliar hand seal with one hand in the customary position at chest level and his sword hand stretched up above his head. "Kirigakure no jutsu," he growled.

Thick fog billowed from the sea, instantly obscuring both jounin. Naruto and Sakura nervously stood guard outside of Tazuna's tent while Sasuke had ducked inside, trying to quietly rouse the old man and warn him of the situation.

The sound of metal hitting metal was deafeningly loud in the quiet night, making Sakura flinch every time the sharp clash occurred.

"He'll be okay, Sakura," Naruto reassured, tightening her grip on the kunai. "Jiji said that sensei is one of Konoha's strongest ninja. There's no way some missing-nin will beat him."

"Yeah, you're right," Sakura agreed faintly.

Naruto strained her eyes, trying in vain to see through the thick mist. "I'm going to make some clones to circle the camp," she whispered. "We don't know if this guy is working alone."

"Good idea, Naruto," Sakura replied, shaking off the last bit of drowsiness from her abrupt awakening. "Make thirty clones and use formation 17."

Naruto wordlessly formed the appropriate number of clones, half of which scattered to form a loose perimeter around Tazuna's tent. The other half disappeared into the trees, on the lookout for other enemy shinobi.

She stiffened as one of her scouting clones was immediately dispelled, returning the memory of a senbon to the face. "There's someone at 5 o'clock," she breathed, making the cross seal again and sending another half-dozen clones toward the one that had been killed.

Sakura tensed, fear flitting across her expression. She opened the flap of Tazuna's tent with one hand. "Sasuke, we have a second enemy at 5 o'clock. Forget about trying to wake him."

"He's probably jounin level, or close to it," Naruto added with a grimace. "He just took out six clones in about a second."

She sent a clone in to change places with her teammate and watch over the sleeping bridge builder.

Sasuke emerged from the tent and took his place in the defensive formation. "Status?"

"Jounin level accomplice in the forest," Naruto repeated. "My clones are being dispelled alarmingly fast, but he doesn't seem to be moving any closer to us. Looks like he's just observing."

"For now," Sakura added.

Sasuke scowled and palmed a handful of shuriken, peering into the darkness of the forest. "Any idea on how Kakashi is doing?"

"None," Sakura replied. "It's actually been really quiet for the minute or so."

Without warning, a body came flying out of the fog, landing against a nearby tree with several kunai pinning him in place. All three genin startled and stared wide-eyed at the figure. They gave a collective sigh of relief to see that it was the missing-nin and not their teacher.

A strange sound cut through the air, like a thousand chirping birds, and a brilliant light illuminated the mist. It charged toward the immobilized shinobi and Kakashi burst through the fog, right hand trailing behind him and surrounded in crackling blue chakra. As Kakashi charged toward Zabuza, Naruto gasped as a dozen clones were dispelled in quick succession.

She formed more and sent them toward the hidden enemy, hoping to distract him long enough for Kakashi to be able to defend himself. The second shinobi was frighteningly fast and it was all Naruto could do to keep him from interfering in the fight.

Kakashi drove his hand through Zabuza's heart, killing him instantly, and embedding deeply into the tree.

"No! Zabuza-sama!"

The rest of Naruto's clones were dispelled instantaneously and a half-dozen senbon flew from the trees toward Kakashi's unprotected back and head.


	13. Chapter 13

**Note: Thank you all for the kind feedback! Let's relieve this cliffhanger, shall we? :) Also, sorry if there are any small errors. I've read through it twice, but these things sometimes escape me. **

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_Chapter 13_

Naruto's heart pounded in her ears. She moved more quickly than she ever had before as she whipped a few kunai at the senbon flying toward Kakashi. More kunai and shuriken from her teammates joined her own weapons and managed to knock all of the deadly needles out of the air.

But there was no time for relief as the last of her clones blocking the way were dispelled without mercy and Zabuza's accomplice emerged from the trees. He was small, likely no older than Naruto herself, and one of his hands was forming hand seals at a frighteningly fast rate. The temperature around them was dropping rapidly and ice was starting to form in mid-air.

Naruto launched herself forward, stretching her hand out, hoping against hope that she could do _something_. It was as if she was seeing everything in slow motion and she knew that she wasn't going to make it in time and Kakashi would be killed.

"Sensei!"

She dimly registered Sakura's panicked shout, which was nearly drowned out by the adrenaline rushing in her ears. Naruto's chakra pulsed almost painfully through her body before erupting from her outstretched hand.

A cluster of chains burst from her hand, metallic silver and faintly glowing with golden chakra. Most of the chains rocketed toward Kakashi, wrapping around him and pulling him back across the sand toward Naruto. The others shot toward the enemy, but he was blindingly fast and was only grazed on the arm and across his ribs.

He abandoned the hand seals and clutched Zabuza's body to him instead. Without a second glance toward team seven, he vanished, taking the dead missing-nin with him.

The chains vanished abruptly, disintegrating into pure chakra which dissipated into the air. Kakashi slid to a stop on the sand only a few feet away from Naruto.

She breathed harshly, staring at her hand with wide eyes. Naruto shook herself and stumbled toward her sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei," she said, dropping to her knees beside him. Her hands fluttered uselessly in the air above him as she scanned his body for wounds. "Sensei, are you okay?"

The jounin was staring at her in shock and didn't respond.

"Sasuke, something's wrong with him!" Naruto called, looking back toward her teammates.

The boy shook off his surprise and rushed forward, hands already glowing with medical chakra. He knelt at Kakashi's side and started running a diagnostic jutsu. A muscle in his jaw twitched when he saw the still-uncovered sharingan, just as it always did on the rare occasions that Kakashi revealed it.

Sakura shifted her weight indecisively. She desperately wanted to join her teammates, but she wasn't sure if the second shinobi would return, so she held her ground and continued guarding Tazuna's tent.

Kakashi waved off Sasuke's attention and sat up, closing the sharingan eye and shifting his hitai-ate to recover it. "Maa, I'm not injured. Just surprised," he said mildly, looking at Naruto with interest. "Naruto, have you ever done that before?"

Naruto shook her head, eyes still wide as she recovered from the shock of nearly losing her sensei. Her limbs shook as the adrenaline faded away and she suddenly felt exhausted. She slumped forward, leaning on her hands in the sand and resting her forehead lightly against the jounin's shoulder.

"I thought he was going to kill you," she said, her voice quavering with emotion. She had never felt this way before and it was overwhelming. "He went through my shadow clones like they were regular bunshin. He was just so fast."

Kakashi put an arm around her shoulders and tucked her against his side. Naruto stiffened briefly but soon relaxed into the hold. She was too pale and her chakra felt alarmingly low. The jounin glanced at Sasuke and jerked his head toward the exhausted girl.

Sasuke took the hint and shifted around Kakashi to lay glowing green hands gently against Naruto's back. "Idiot. I've never seen your chakra this low before," he muttered, irritated tone at odds with the gentle worry in his expression.

"Maa, I have seen something like this before," Kakashi said. He tapped lightly on Naruto's arm to keep her awake. "Those chains were pure chakra constructs. It's no wonder that she's drained."

He turned back to peer intently in the direction the enemy had gone. The mist slowly dissipated until the night was once again clear. Although there was no sign that the surviving nin would return, Kakashi roused Naruto as soon as he felt her pulse strengthen and her chakra reach a more acceptable level.

"That's enough for now, Sasuke," he said, getting to his feet and pulling Naruto with him.

She blinked wearily at the jounin and when Sasuke stood too close, she leaned heavily against him. Naruto was more tired than she had ever felt before. She was unspeakably grateful to Sasuke for his support, without which she would probably fall flat on her face in the sand.

"Sakura, start packing up," Kakashi instructed. "Naruto, Sasuke. Help as much as you can. I'll take care of Tazuna now."

Sakura finally relaxed out of her defensive stance and after a brief concerned look toward her teammates, started systematically dismantling their camp.

Kakashi ducked into the bridge builder's tent and Sasuke helped Naruto back over to the camp area. He pushed her down to sit on the ground, fixing a stern eye on her when she tried to protest, and then turned to help Sakura finish packing and sealing everything away.

To Naruto's surprise, instead of handing her bag to her, Sasuke strapped it to his own pack. "Sasuke, I can carry that," she said, embarrassed anger coloring her face. "I won't be a burden."

Sasuke didn't grace her comment with an answer. He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly and stepped back to her side, tucking his hand under her arm and pulling her to her feet. Sakura was quick to stand at her other side, hovering within range without touching her.

Naruto tried to pull away, clenching her teeth in irritation. She could take care of herself. She always had before and she didn't need to be babied now. It was one thing back when she was actually injured to let Sasuke have his way, but this was different. She was just tired.

Sasuke exchanged exasperated looks with Sakura and just tightened his grip on Naruto's arm, leaning in to speak. "You'll never be a burden, idiot, so just be quiet and let us help you."

"He's right, Naruto," Sakura added, reaching out to thread their fingers together. "We care about you, so let us help sometimes."

Naruto's eyes stung with grateful tears and she blinked them away furiously. She couldn't believe she had gotten so lucky with her teammates. "Thanks, guys," she said softly.

Kakashi finally emerged from the tent with a worried Tazuna on his heels.

"How are we going to get across?" the old man asked, watching as Kakashi expertly put away his tent. "My guy isn't supposed to be here until dawn."

The jounin glanced over his shoulder and assessed Naruto with a critical eye. "Sakura, Sasuke and I will run, and I'll pull you and Naruto behind me. Don't argue, your chakra isn't stable enough to make it, Naruto."

He pulled a scroll from his pouch and gestured for the rest of the group to follow as he led the way to the shoreline. Biting his thumb to draw a bit of blood, Kakashi unsealed the scroll, withdrawing a small emergency raft.

"Sensei, you really are prepared for anything," Naruto said, blinking in amazement. She wondered what could have possibly happened for the jounin to start carrying a raft among his necessary supplies.

Kakashi smiled at her and gestured for her to get in. "That's why I'm the sensei," he explained. "Tazuna-san, you get in too."

The bridge builder looked skeptical, but settled on the opposite side of the small craft as Naruto. "Why do you get to ride, kiddo?"

Naruto sighed, propping her chin on her hand. "I accidentally discovered a semi-bloodline move and used too much chakra," she said morosely.

Kakashi patted her head and attached some ninja wire to the sides of the raft. "It happens to us all sooner or later," he said.

"What, discovering a semi-bloodline or getting chakra exhaustion?" Sakura asked bemusedly.

"The former is not as uncommon as you may think," Kakashi replied, stepping out onto the water, pulling the raft behind him smoothly. "The island is due west, correct?"

"Just about," Tazuna confirmed. "You'll hit it for sure if you go straight."

"Come on then," Kakashi said, looking over his shoulder at the two standing genin. "Let's get moving before anyone else comes along."

"Yes, sensei," Sakura said. She elbowed Sasuke in the ribs.

"Hn," he grunted, shooting an irritated glare at his teammate.

She rolled her eyes and let it go.

Kakashi ignored the genin and led the way across the water, pulling the raft behind him easily, with Sakura and Sasuke flanking either side of the little craft.

Naruto turned to face the sea breeze and closed her eyes peacefully. She had always hoped that Sasuke and Sakura would come to care about more than her usefulness as a teammate, and while Sakura was well on her way to becoming a very good friend, Naruto had been more uncertain about Sasuke. He sometimes seemed so distant, and the emotion that occasionally darkened his eyes frightened her. Naruto knew that he cared about her to some extent, but she hadn't really anticipated him being so protective.

He had said that she could trust him with her secret and maybe she really could. Naruto's stomach churned with nerves at the thought of explaining the kyuubi. It was a big risk to take, really, and she wasn't sure she could handle rejection from them at this point. But Kakashi knew all about the biju and didn't have a problem with it, so hopefully her teammates would be the same.

The trip across the channel took only a fraction of the time that it would have taken the boat Tazuna commissioned, but by the time they reached the shore, mist was rising over the water with the sun. Naruto had recovered enough on the way over that she just felt tired instead of exhausted. She waved off her teammates and hopped out of the raft under her own power. Tazuna clambered out after her and Kakashi sealed the craft away.

The bridge builder peered around, trying to get his bearings on the island. "We're about half a mile away from the bridge. If it weren't for the mist, you'd be able to see it from here. It's a work of art!" he said, puffing out his chest proudly.

"And how do we get to your home from here?" Kakashi asked patiently, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. He was not a fan of this mist, even if it was natural this time, and he definitely regretted accepting this mission. He should have been firm about returning to the village after Naruto was injured, but he wanted to let the kids decide for themselves.

"Actually, one moment please," he said. Now that they were out of combat, Kakashi decided he should send a message to the hokage about the change in mission parameters. The chuunin pair had been bad enough, but with a jounin like Zabuza, even if Kakashi handled him easily, there was no telling what may be coming next. Back up would be extremely useful. And he would have to make sure his team would be compensated adequately for the elevated mission rank. Jounin-level enemies meant this had gone up to A-rank and no one would expect a genin team to complete a mission like that on their own.

Zabuza's unknown apprentice was still out there, too. Kakashi could only hope that he wasn't the vengeance-seeking type. He bit his thumb and performed several hand seals.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu," he said, planting his bloodied palm on the ground.

The genin watched with interest as a small dog appeared. It was a very small pug wearing a hitai-ate tied around his head and a little blue vest with a strange face on it.

"Kakashi, why have you waited so long to summon me to meet your brats," the dog said gruffly, much to the surprise of the other members of team seven and the bridge builder.

"Maa, I'll introduce you another time, Pakkun," Kakashi said. At his serious tone, the little dog straightened.

"What do you need?"

Kakashi pulled a scroll and stubby pencil from his pocket. He quickly jotted down the pertinent information and handed the scroll to his summon. "I need you to take this to the hokage. As quickly as you can, please."

"Hai," barked Pakkun. "Oi, Kakashi. Be sure to summon the others if you need them."

"I will," Kakashi promised.

The little dog took off at a blur, moving much faster than an ordinary dog would be able to run.

"He's my fastest summon," Kakashi explained. "He'll be back in the village by mid-day, probably."

"That's pretty impressive, sensei," Sakura said. "How many summons do you have?"

"There are eight, all together," the jounin replied. "When we get home, I'll introduce you."

He turned back to the bridge builder. "Tazuna-san, your home?"

Tazuna shook himself and pointed to the north. "We're not far. My house is a couple miles that way," he said.

Naruto sighed in annoyance. Couldn't he be any more specific? She exchanged significant glances with her teammates.

Kakashi internalized his irritation. "Then perhaps you should lead the way, Tazuna-san."

The bridge builder shrugged and started walking in the direction that he had indicated. "I live a little ways outside of town, so we don't have to worry about anyone spotting us on the way there," he said. "Both the bridge and the village are to the south."

Naruto felt a little disappointed, as she had been excited to see the massive bridge the old man had been bragging about for days. But she figured she would see it eventually. Gato probably wouldn't give up so easily if the bridge was really that threatening to his monopoly.

Sasuke fell back to walk at her side, gesturing for Sakura to go ahead of them. The pink-haired girl gave them a curious look, but nodded and trotted closer to their sensei.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what he wanted.

"I wanted to apologize for how I acted," Sasuke said quietly. "I shouldn't have pushed you to talk. You were right. I was being a hypocrite." He clenched his jaw for a moment, clearly working up to what he was about to say. "I'll tell you about it. That night. When we get home. If you want, I mean," he added quickly, looking away.

Naruto had to admit, she was completely shocked. She never expected Sasuke would open up about the night of the massacre. With anyone. But she didn't want him to feel like he was obligated to talk to her about it. She knew better than almost anyone how difficult it was to talk about something so painful.

She reached out and gently touched his arm. "Sasuke, you should only talk about it when you're ready," she said, speaking gently. "And when you're ready, I'll listen."


	14. Chapter 14

**Note: Thank you for all the feedback, faves, and follows! It means a lot to me! Also, just a reminder, the death warned about in the summary won't be happening for quite a long time. Very near the end, so you can rest assured for now. Kind of, anyway. :)**

* * *

_Chapter 14_

The sun rose steadily at their backs, illuminating the marshy forest around them. Tazuna had claimed that his home wasn't far and the island itself was small, but there was no true path to the bridge builder's home on this route and the old man struggled through the unkempt brush.

"Didn't there used to be a shinobi village around here?" Sakura asked suddenly. She narrowed her eyes in thought. "I swear that I've read something about a hidden village in Wave."

Tazuna hummed thoughtfully. "Yeah… when I was a brat, I think there _was_ a shinobi village somewhere around here. Uzu-something. They got wiped out during the Third Shinobi War, I'm pretty sure."

"You're talking about Uzushiogakure," Naruto said, looking stricken at the casual way the old man referenced the deaths of thousands of her relatives, distant or not. "That's where my mom was born."

"The loss of Uzushiogakure is one of Konoha's greatest shames," Kakashi sighed. "We were close allies, given the kinship between the Uzumaki and Senju clans. The village was populated predominately by the Uzumaki and its branch clans. They were widely known, and feared, for their prowess with fuinjutsu, their massive chakra reserves, and unusually strong life forces. The attack on Uzushio was one of the events that led to the war."

"Why didn't Konoha do anything to stop the destruction?" Naruto asked. This was an answer that she had never been able to find when researching her lost clan and she desperately wanted to believe that her home village wouldn't have let Uzushio fall intentionally.

"It was a very well planned ambush," Kakashi said. "Iwa and Kiri worked together to isolate the village and prevent any request for aid from reaching us. They attacked at night and by the time word reached us, it was too late."

"I don't understand why Iwa and Kiri would have been so afraid of Uzushio," Sakura said with a frown. "I mean, it was a really small village, wasn't it?"

"Maa, Sakura, you've never encountered a fuinjutsu master before, so you wouldn't understand, but you can do very frightening things with seals," Kakashi explained. "The next time Jiraiya-sama is the village, I'll ask him to come by to give you three a demonstration. He knows quite a lot of Uzumaki fuinjutsu. And aside from the sealing techniques, Uzumaki were notoriously… spirited."

Naruto listened with rapt attention. She had heard all about her heritage from the hokage, but she eagerly absorbed anything she could find about Uzushio and the Uzumaki clan.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, unsatisfied with the jounin's vague language. "What do you mean by that?"

Kakashi scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, you know how long it takes for Naruto to wear down and how quickly she recovers. Neither you nor Sakura are sensitive enough to feel the depths of her chakra, but it really is absurdly massive. All the Uzumaki were like this," he said. "And on top of all that, they healed quickly from just about anything and lived extraordinarily long lives. The Shodaime's wife, Uzumaki Mito-sama, was in her thirties when Konoha was founded. By the time she passed away—and not from old age, mind—the Sandaime was already an old man."

"She must have been nearly a hundred and fifty years old!" Sakura exclaimed.

"That... sounds like a very powerful group of people," Sasuke muttered. His teammate was already such a powerhouse and she was only 12-years-old. He couldn't imagine how fearsome she would be if she had another hundred years to perfect her skills.

"No wonder you almost never need me to heal you," he added with a petulant glance at his blond teammate.

"I am pretty awesome," Naruto agreed with a small grin. "I do kind of wish I had inherited my mom's red hair though. It's an Uzumaki trademark. The few survivors of Uzushio scattered to other nations, so if you run into anyone with particularly bright red hair, there's a good chance they have an Uzumaki in their family tree."

Sakura started to speak but was cut off by Tazuna's excited whoop. "Oi, we're finally here!"

They emerged from the trees to a surprisingly nice house overlooking the water. There was a double pier extending from the shore with two small boats tied to the dock. The house itself was two stories and didn't look as if it belonged in a country that was in such economic distress.

"There are some benefits to being a super awesome carpenter," Tazuna said smugly, noticing the surprised expressions on the genin's faces. "Tsunami! I'm home!" he bellowed.

Team seven sat around a large, solid wood table. The top was worn to a silky smooth finish. Tazuna sat at the head of the table and his daughter, Tsunami, was piling the table with wonderful smelling dishing. She was a pretty young woman with long dark hair and a sweet face.

"Father, I'm so glad you finally made it home," she said, wrapping her arm around the old man's shoulders and pulling him into a sidelong hug. Worried tension eased from her face when he returned the embrace.

"Thank you all for bringing him back safely," she directed at the seated shinobi.

"Maa, it was our pleasure, Tsunami-san," Kakashi replied, his visible eye curved in a smile. He tactfully decided not to mention that, given a second chance, he would have abandoned the old man after the first ambush for breaking the contract. Then again, Naruto may never have discovered that she could use her mother's famed chakra chains if they had gone home.

A small boy peered around the bottom of the stairs and scowled at them. Naruto offered a tiny smile, realizing that he must be Tazuna's grandson, Inari. She had always liked kids. When they were younger than her, anyway.

But the boy's expression only soured as he took his place at the table. "Who are all these people, grandpa?" he asked.

"These are the ninja who kept me safe on the way home. They're all super awesome," Tazuna said, piling his plate with food.

"Why are they still here?" Inari scowled at the genin, not acknowledging his mother as she prepared his plate.

"Well, because the bridge isn't finished, there's a good chance that Gato will keep sending people after your grandfather. We decided to stick around, just in case," Kakashi explained, having already eaten while no one was looking at him.

"You're all going to die," Inari intoned. "No one can stand up against Gato."

He pushed away from the table angrily and vanished back up the stairs. Tsunami wrung her hands and looked anxiously after him.

"I'm so sorry for his rude behavior," she said. "He just hasn't been the same since my husband was killed."

Naruto hummed thoughtfully, looking at the empty stairs. She could definitely see what Tazuna meant. The boy's eyes were flat and almost dead looking. She couldn't say that she knew how he felt, having never experienced _living_ parents let alone recently killed ones, but maybe she could give him some pointers on how to move past bad experiences. After all, he had a mother and a grandfather who loved and supported him.

Glancing at her somber teammates, she made a mental note to try to talk to Inari when she had the chance. The kid was really bringing down her team's mood.

The afternoon found team seven standing watch at the bridge while Tazuna directed a handful of men working on the bridge. A frown had been permanently affixed to Naruto's face ever since they had gotten to town. Her teammates were similarly subdued by how worn down the village was and how defeated the people looked. Naruto could definitely understand Tazuna's desperation to finish the bridge. She thought that if she were in his position, she would have risked a shinobi village's wrath too if her home was in this kind of shape.

"Sensei, what do you think Gato will try next?" Sakura asked, looking out over the water. "There's no way he could get someone stronger than a jounin like Zabuza. I mean, S-rank ninja don't typically work for civilians, no matter how wealthy they are."

"I'm still worried about the other guy," Naruto muttered. Her face paled at the memory of seeing the ridiculously quick enemy fly toward Kakashi's unprotected back.

Kakashi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The accomplice is definitely someone to keep a lookout for. We can't be sure that he won't try to finish the job, or try to take revenge for Zabuza's death. But then again, he has to be aware that it would be a suicide mission. Zabuza himself was very strong, but I think that you three could have gotten the better of him even without me. You work very well together."

Naruto felt herself flush with pleasure at the compliment. She and her teammates had really come a long way since that first meeting.

"Naruto needs to figure out those chain things," Sasuke said abruptly. "Something like that could be a real asset in battle, but only if she isn't passing out after."

"We'll see how chipper you're feeling after you unlock _your_ bloodline," Naruto said, feeling a little defensive.

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, we'll have to work on that. We will need to be cautious, however, to not wear you out too much. I think Gato is at a loss of what to do at the moment, but we can expect another attack before the bridge is completed. Most likely, it will be a mob of his underlings. He may even come out himself to gloat, but we need to stay in peak condition."

"We could just go find Gato's hideout and take them all out," Sakura suggested.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi all stared at her in surprise.

"What?" Sakura said with a shrug. "I just thought that it would be the most efficient way to deal with the threat. I mean, we know that he'll try again, right?"

"And we wouldn't have to stick around until the bridge is done," Sasuke drawled, obviously warming to the idea.

"That's… very practical of you, Sakura," Naruto said. "I wouldn't have expected it of you, but it really isn't a bad idea. There are so few people working on the bridge that it'll take weeks to be finished. I don't think any of us want to be stuck here that long."

"Then let's make it a secondary mission," Kakashi allowed. "If you three can sniff out where he is hiding, let me know and we'll plan out a raid. It would probably be safest to take out the whole company and redirect Gato's wealth back into Wave."

He watched the slowly moving workers, completely unfazed by Tazuna's boisterous encouragement. "Naruto's right about this bridge. These people have had the life squeezed out of them. I don't see how they will be able to finish the building until Gato is no longer a threat to their lives or to the lives of their families."

"I can make some clones to go gather information while we keep an eye on the old man," Naruto offered.

"Make sure to disguise them," Sakura said. "People in villages like this aren't likely to talk to strangers."

"I will," Naruto agreed. "I was planning to start with the kids though. No one ever realizes just how much kids know about what's going on."

Sasuke looked sharply at her, seemingly surprised at her insight.

Naruto caught the expression and rolled her eyes. She crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one side. "I spent a lot of time on the streets before jiji got me an apartment to stay in. I hated the orphanage so I only went back when I absolutely had to. People don't pay a lot of attention to street kids, especially when they're me," she said, averting her eyes. She could feel her cheeks heat and she wondered if maybe she had said too much.

Ignoring her teammates, whom she could feel staring at her—except Kakashi, who knew very well what Naruto's childhood was like—Naruto made about a dozen clones. Some of them transformed into nondescript adults, others into ragged looking children, and they scattered toward the village.

"We'll see if they come back with anything useful," she said.

Kakashi cleared his throat to regain the attention of his students. "Well, since Naruto has the intel gathering started, I have a jutsu that you can practice while on guard."

He coughed to cover a laugh at the three overeager faces that were suddenly looking up at him. "Most people don't learn this until chuunin, but you three are good enough to handle it. And this will be really helpful for your chakra control, Naruto, so the chains will be easier to manage. Any guesses?"

"Is it the shunshin, sensei?" Sakura asked, rocking back on her heels with a hopeful grin.

"Somehow I knew you would get it, Sakura," Kakashi said, visible eye curving in a smile. "Yes, I'll be teaching you how to use shunshin. Most people believe the shunshin is a type of teleportation jutsu, but all it really does is allow you to move at a nearly untraceable speed. Shunshin is typically recommended only for short to mid-range movement because there is a smaller chance of obstacles in your path."

Kakashi demonstrated the three hand seals required to perform the jutsu. "If you get really good at it, you'll be able to work it down to just one hand seal, like this."

He formed a single seal and poofed away to appear on the other side of the bridge. With another puff of smoke, he transported back in front of the genin.

"Sensei, why does the jutsu produce smoke sometimes and leaves other times?" Naruto asked, tiling her had in thought as she slowly ran through the hand seals.

"Shunshin standardly produces a small amount of smoke when used as a distraction and to disguise your movement," Kakashi explained. "But as you become more proficient, you can change what appears when you use the jutsu. Every village has their own preference. For example, Konoha ninja typically use leaves and Suna often uses sand."

"What about the Yondaime's famous jutsu?" Sakura asked. "I read that he could teleport large distances without any indication that he had even performed a jutsu."

"That's a good point, Sakura, but Min… ah, Yondaime-sama used a space-time fuinjutsu, not a variation of shunshin."

Kakashi internally berated himself, hoping the kids hadn't caught his slip. He would love to talk to Naruto about Minato-sensei, but he was still forbidden to tell her that she was the Yondaime's daughter. Kakashi made a mental note to ask the hokage again for permission when they got home.

Seeing all three kids' eyes narrow suspiciously, Kakashi clapped his hands together once. "Okay, give it a shot, you three. Be sure to visualize clearly where you want to go, and don't try different elevations yet. You'll probably end up under- or over-shooting. Naruto, try not to overload the jutsu too badly; you'd probably end up in Wind country."

He was joking, as overloading shunshin usually resulted in mass amounts of smoke or failing to activate at all, but he wasn't going to rule out anything when it came to Naruto.

The genin ran through the hand seals, trying to perform the jutsu. Unsurprisingly, Sakura, with her near perfect chakra control, was successful on the first try. She poofed several feet away, stumbling where she landed.

Sasuke managed to perform the jutsu on the fifth try, appearing on the other side of the bridge. He let a proud grin spread across his face.

Naruto scowled as she continuously formed the hand seals. She couldn't get the amount of chakra right. Even though her control was about average, Naruto had so much chakra that for jutsu that only required a small amount, it was like trying to separate out a single drop of water from a sea. Part of her wished that they were learning this at home so she could get help from the hokage with her chakra regulation. He had always been able to help her figure out the right amount to use.

With her teammates now zipping across the bridge at will, Naruto started to lose her patience. Her focus slipped for a moment and she accidently overloaded the justu, causing a massive explosion of smoke in her face.

She coughed violently, stumbling out of the smoke cloud with streaming eyes. "Remind me not to do that again," she choked out, waving the remnants of smoke away from her face.

"Maa, Naruto," Kakashi said, blinking in surprise at the billowing smoke. "Maybe you should try making a few more clones. You'll probably get it sooner with more of you working on it."

Naruto nodded and created a dozen clones. She sighed as she realized that her teammates weren't paying attention to the bridge builder at all anymore, so she settled against the side of the bridge, eyes firmly on the old man and senses extended for enemies, while she let the clones do the work.

At Kakashi's curious expression, she shrugged. "I thought at least one of us should watch out for Tazuna," she said. "Besides, I'll get the experience _and_ the exhaustion from those clones. It's not like I'm slacking off or anything."

"I never said anything of the sort," Kakashi replied. He rested a hand briefly atop Naruto's head and smiled at her. "I'm proud of you for keeping your mind on the mission."

"Thanks, sensei," Naruto said with a smile.


	15. Chapter 15

**Note: I'm so sorry for the long wait on this one. Life happens, as you all know. I'll do my best not to take so long for the next one. **

* * *

_Chapter 15_

By the time Tazuna called it a day and was ready to head home, Naruto still hadn't managed to perfect the shunshin, but she felt that she was getting close to the right amount of chakra.

"I haven't had this much trouble with a jutsu since trying to make a bunshin," she groaned, flopping on the couch in the bridge builder's living room.

"Why is it you can use henge, but have so much trouble with other low-chakra jutsu?" Sakura asked curiously, leaning over the back of the couch to peer at her teammate. She had perfected shunshin within an hour and spent some of the afternoon couching Naruto's clones. Sasuke had taken longer and wasn't as comfortable moving to different elevations, but still managed to perform the jutsu without much effort.

"I don't even know," Naruto said, pushing up on her elbows. "That's actually a really good question. I can do henge and kawarimi without any trouble at all, but can't manage a regular clone or shunshin."

She craned her neck to look over her shoulder at Kakashi, who was seated at the dining table. "Sensei, are there any other jutsu similar to shunshin that eat up more chakra?"

"Ah, like kage bunshin, you mean?" The jounin hummed thoughtfully. "I don't know any off the top of my head, surprisingly enough," he said, mentally crossing his fingers. Kakashi thought that with her budding skills in fuinjutsu, Naruto would probably be able to perform her father's infamous jutsu, but there was no way he would consider teaching her something like that without the hokage's permission. Naruto using hiraishin would be a dead giveaway to her parentage.

"What a shame Shisui isn't still alive," Kakashi muttered to himself.

"What did you say?" Sasuke asked. He stood frozen at the bottom of the stairs. His face had drained of color and his eyes were terrifyingly blank.

Kakashi cursed. "Maa, Sasuke, I didn't realize…"

Sasuke clenched his fists and spun on his heel, walking deliberately back up the stairs.

Naruto and Sakura exchanged concerned looks before turning to Kakashi.

"Sensei, what was that all about?" Sakura asked.

Sitting up and rising from the couch, Naruto headed to the base of the stairs and peered up anxiously. She was pretty sure she knew what had set her teammate off. His eyes ever only looked like that whenever his family was mentioned. A chill ran down her spine and she shuddered. Naruto hated seeing Sasuke look like that. It was as if someone else was staring out from the eyes of her friend.

Kakashi sighed and rubbed his jaw tiredly. "Ah, he overheard me mention Shisui. _Uchiha_ Shisui. He was a master of shunshin and used it in ways that no one had ever considered before. He was also Sasuke's close cousin and his brother's best friend. Unfortunately, Shisui killed himself a few short weeks before… well, you know what happened. I hadn't meant for anyone to hear me," he said.

Sakura winced, knowing by now how Sasuke reacted to any mention of his family. "He probably won't come back down for a while," she said, taking Naruto's place on the couch and stretching out. "Sasuke really needs to learn how to handle situations like this. One of these days, he'll be facing an opponent who will use his family against him and Sasuke will get himself killed."

"Maa, Sakura, it's not such an easy thing to recover from," Kakashi admonished slightly.

"It _has_ been over four years," she insisted. "He should be able to handle someone saying one of their names, at least."

Naruto chewed her lip and peered back at Sakura bickering with their sensei. While they were preoccupied, she crept up the stairs, reaching out with her senses for Sasuke. She found him sitting on the edge of the roof, hunched over and gripping the tiles with white knuckled fists.

She moved carefully across the roof and sat near him, looking quietly out over the water.

It wasn't until the sun had nearly set before Sasuke spoke.

"He didn't kill himself," he said through clenched teeth.

Naruto glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "Your cousin?" she prompted gently.

"Shisui didn't kill himself," Sasuke repeated angrily. He turned abruptly, leaning aggressively into Naruto's space. He gripped her shoulders tightly. "_He_ killed him. He _told_ me, that night, that he killed Shisui just to see if he could."

Naruto's heart pounded and her mouth felt dry as Sasuke shook her along with his frenzied words. His eyes were manic and it was like he wasn't even seeing her.

"Just to test himself," Sasuke continued, getting louder with every word. "What kind of reason is that?"

"Sasuke, you're hurting me," Naruto said softly, gingerly touching the back of his hand. She gripped a few of his fingers and tugged at them, hoping to get him to release her.

Sasuke blinked rapidly, the crazed light fading from his dark eyes, and he jerked his hands back as if he had been burned. He slumped over his knees, burying his face in his hands.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. He gave a self-deprecating laugh.

Naruto swallowed, shaking off the lingering fear of Sasuke's unpredictable actions, and carefully rest her hand on his trembling back. "It's okay," she said. "Sasuke, it's okay."

"You probably think I'm really fucked up, don't you?" He straightened and looked at her with a mocking smile. "Why do you even bother with me?"

"You're my friend, Sasuke," Naruto replied cautiously, unsure of how to handle her teammate. "I don't know how to make you feel better," she admitted. "I've never had friends before."

Sasuke sighed and a more normal expression returned to his face. "I won't feel better until he's dead. But you do help push it back somewhere more manageable."

Naruto didn't really think that Sasuke would feel better even if his brother was brought to justice, but she chose not to voice the opinion.

"Did you want to get some dinner?" she asked instead, pulling her hand back and folding them both in her lap. "You used a lot of chakra today, so you shouldn't skip."

Sasuke's grimace told her that was exactly what he was planning to do.

"I can bring you something, I guess," Naruto offered.

"Would you?" Sasuke's eyes turned liquid and pleading.

Naruto stared at him in horror. She had never seen such a devastating expression on his face before. It was worse than a kicked puppy.

"Only if you promise never to do that again," she said with a faint shudder. Naruto never would have guessed that he had such a weapon in his arsenal. Sasuke was usually so prickly.

A calculating glint shone in his eyes and the corner of his mouth quirked smugly. "Hn," he said simply.

Naruto groaned, but rose to her feet and picked her way back across the roof. "I'll be right back, you tyrant," she muttered.

It was late enough that everyone else had finished eating and Tsunami had cleaned up after dinner. She had thoughtfully left two covered plates on the table. Naruto made a mental note to thank the woman for her kindness in the morning.

Sakura was still awake in their shared room and Naruto poked her head in.

"He's okay," she said quietly.

"You're the only one who seems to ever get him to come back around, Naruto," Sakura said, a little exasperated. "You should be careful with him," she warned. "He's… not quite right sometimes."

Naruto shrugged uncomfortably. "He'll be okay," she repeated. "I'll be back later. You don't have to wait up for me."

"Goodnight, then," Sakura replied with a raised brow.

Ignoring the blush that warmed her cheeks, Naruto closed the door and headed back out to the roof, this time using a little chakra to help balance with the plates in her hands. She wasn't sure what to make of the look in Sakura's eyes, but she felt sure that it wasn't going to do her any good.

* * *

"It looks like Gato has a mansion on the East side of the island, near the shore," Naruto said. She was huddled with her teammates and Kakashi on the bridge as they kept watch over Tazuna and his dwindling number of workers.

The kage bunshin dispersed overnight and Naruto spent the morning compiling the information that her clones had gathered.

"It's pretty well hidden in the ruins of Uzushiogakure," she said with a frown. Even if she had never been there, Naruto didn't like the idea of some jerk squatting in her mother's homeland. "Gato's only got about 50 guys here on the island. It seems like there are more on the mainland, but if we take care of Gato himself, the rest of his operation will fall apart."

"Ah, these are the type of men whose loyalty is dependent on cash," Kakashi agreed. "Did you happen to spot any shinobi?"

Naruto shook her head. "No, I don't think so. I didn't see Zabuza's friend either."

"Some of them are probably academy dropouts or failures," Kakashi said. "A lot of the kids who don't make it into the program end up selling their skills since they are still stronger than the average civilian."

"We should stake out the mansion tonight to get a better idea of what exactly we're dealing with, then," Sasuke suggested, spinning a shuriken on his finger. He seemed perfectly normal that morning and everyone had been careful not to bring up the previous night.

"Not a bad idea, although we need to make sure to leave at least one person back at Tazuna-san's house just in case," Kakashi replied.

"Couldn't Naruto leave some clones behind?" Sakura asked. "But then again, it might be best if we don't all go. Four people could attract a lot more attention."

"An excellent point, Sakura," the jounin said, "which is why I'll be doing the recon on my own this time. When we get back home, I'll teach the three of you how to do this properly, but given that this is a sensitive situation, it's best if I do it myself this time."

The genin exchanged disappointed looks, but didn't argue.

"Naruto, do you think you could make those chains again?" Sakura asked curiously. "Everything happened so fast that I didn't really see them."

"Oh, I hadn't thought about it," Naruto said, blinking in surprise. "I kind of thought we would wait until we got home to work on it. Especially since I got so exhausted last time."

"She probably shouldn't wear herself out like that when we're planning to storm Gato's mansion," Sasuke said, giving Sakura a not-so-friendly look. "If Naruto were anyone else, making those chains would have killed her."

"But she's _not_ anyone else, so Naruto can handle it," Sakura shot back.

Naruto watched her teammates bicker over her, baffled at their behavior. "Did I miss something?" she muttered to Kakashi.

The jounin shrugged, equally confused. "It seems you have been a topic of conversation between them lately."

"But when did they even have time?" Naruto asked. "We're almost always all together."

"You aren't the one who has to patch her up," Sasuke ground out between clenched teeth.

Sakura rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "Oh, like you have to do that so often. Naruto hardly even needs you."

Sasuke's expression darkened and he stepped into Sakura's space. "At least I've never made her cry," he said acidly.

Sakura paled and looked as if she had been slapped. "That was months ago and she forgave me." She flushed with renewed anger and shoved Sasuke back a few steps. "And you're the one who leaves bruises on her. Don't think I didn't see what you did to her arms."

Kakashi turned a sharp eye on Naruto, who had covered her face with her hands. "What is she talking about, Naruto? Did Sasuke hurt you?"

"No, no," Naruto groaned. "He just… after I found him on the roof he just kind of… shook me a little. I didn't even realize it had bruised."

She stepped forward to break apart her teammates, who looked as if they were about to start throwing blows. "Enough, enough! What is wrong with you two?"

Sakura and Sasuke stepped back from each other and each visibly fought to regain control of their emotions.

"Sorry, Naruto, it's just a disagreement between us," Sakura apologized, deliberately Not Looking at Sasuke.

"Well, you two need to shelve it until we're home," Kakashi said, steel underlying his voice. "During a mission is not the time to be arguing. We will be having a conversation about this, do you understand me?"

"Yes, sensei," Sakura replied, looking ashamed of herself.

Sasuke clenched his teeth and turned to the side stubbornly.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi warned.

"Yes, sensei," Sasuke said shortly.

Kakashi rubbed his brow and sighed. "Look, you guys need to be able to work together. So when we're not on duty, you two need to work this problem out. Your teamwork will suffer if you're angry."

Naruto chewed on her lip, looking back and forth between her teammates. The last time they had argued, to her knowledge, had been several months ago during the gender fiasco. She wasn't sure what had happened when just yesterday, Sakura and Sasuke seemed to get along just fine.

Well, Sakura had been a little insensitive about Sasuke's family, which he had obviously overheard, and she had even warned Naruto to be careful.

"Naruto, when we get home, ask your Hyuuga friend if she can join us to work with your chains. She'll be able to help you regulate your chakra more efficiently," Kakashi said. "In the meantime, try not to make any unless it's an emergency."

"Is he talking about Hinata?" Sakura asked, stepping closer and threading her arm through Naruto's.

"Um, yes," Naruto said, pulling away from her teammate with an apologetic smile. She felt on edge from the argument and she skin crawled at the thought of being touched. "She's taking care of my plants for me."

"I didn't know you were friends with her," Sasuke said, peering at her through the corner of his eye.

Naruto twisted her hands behind her back, not sure what to make of her teammates' behavior. "Well, we always got along at the Academy. We ran into each other before the mission and caught up."

"You two can grill Naruto about her friends later," Kakashi said, rolling his eye at the teenage drama. "Can we focus on the mission again, please?"

"Sorry, sensei," Sakura said. "Will you stake out Gato's tonight?"

"Actually, I'll probably leave a clone with you here and go check it out soon. Most civilian organizations don't really operate at night. I don't feel like watching the little toad sleep."

Kakashi formed a shadow clone, combining the creation with a smokeless shunshin so quickly that any observers were none the wiser about him leaving the bridge.

The genin, however, caught a slight flicker of movement and stared at him suspiciously.

The clone rolled his eye and made a small gesture for them to act naturally. "Anyone watching us won't be able to tell that I'm not the real thing as long as you three act like it," he said.

"But wouldn't they have just heard you?" Naruto asked in confusion. "Assuming anyone is spying on us, anyway."

"We know there aren't any hostiles on the bridge, so anyone that can use chakra to hear us will also be able to sense the chakra that I've just used knows what I've done anyway," clone-Kakashi said, crossing his arms.

"The real me will rendezvous with you three back at Tazuna-san's later. If I'm not back by morning, go ahead and escort Tazuna-san to the bridge as usual. I'll stick around, but if anything happens, I won't last long in a fight. An unfortunate downside to shadow clones," he said, visible eye curving in a smile.


	16. Chapter 16

**Note: Sorry I'm so slow these days! Graduate school is hard work. I've only got a couple weeks left in the semester and then I'll have a little more time for a while. Thank you so much for the kind feedback. I haven't been able to respond individually, but I read and appreciate every one!**

* * *

_Chapter 16_

Team seven spent the rest of the day much like they had the previous with one exception. With clone-Kakashi's permission, Naruto created several clones of her own to assist Tazuna with working on the bridge. She wasn't able to help with the actual bridge building due to her lack of construction knowledge, but the clones could move supplies and run back into town for errands, freeing up the precious few workers for construction.

Naruto herself was taking a break from the shunshin. She was still determined to get it right, and she felt like she was so close, but she starting to get frustrated and a little bored. She decided to ask Hinata to look at her chakra to find out what she was doing wrong when they got home.

Instead of working on the transportation jutsu, she and her teammates took turns practicing various jutsu. Sakura and Sasuke seemed to have come to a tacit agreement to not acknowledge their earlier argument. It was vital for shinobi to be able to put aside personal disagreements during a mission and it was one of the first things they learned in school. Kakashi had vigorously reinforced the importance of working as a cohesive team, especially while so far away from home. He took teamwork very seriously.

Over the past few months, the genin had started to learn which jutsu suited them best. It hadn't taken long for Naruto to gravitate toward chakra intensive techniques, and although Sakura was able to optimize the amount of chakra needed for jutsu, she still had fairly small reserves to draw from. She was still forbidden from even _thinking_ about attempting a kage bunshin, given its unusually high chakra cost.

Sasuke was still attempting to find a way to adapt one of the medical techniques to be used offensively. He was particularly motivated about it because Kakashi had refused to teach him any other offensive jutsu until he had mastered his current assignment of medical jutsu. Sasuke wouldn't admit it, but he seemed to be less irritated about being the medical specialist for their team, especially since he had been able to help Naruto after being poisoned by the Demon Brothers.

Naruto activated a camouflage jutsu she had learned only a week prior to the mission. The technique didn't grant invisibility, but rather caused the user to blend in with the background. It had a genjustu component which encouraged anyone looking at her to not notice her presence. Naruto had been struggling with the latter part of the jutsu, given her overall difficulty with genjustu. It was the one drawback to her massive chakra reserves. She canceled the jutsu after the illusion effect fail to activate and absentmindedly straightened her gloves, drawing Sasuke attention to her previously injured arm.

"Oi, Naruto, let me take a look at your arm," he said, wanting to check on the wound, now that he was thinking about it. The blond hadn't let him check it in a few days, claiming that it was already healed.

"What for?" Naruto asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "I already told you it was healed."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and prayed for patience. "And I told you that I don't believe you. That poison nearly killed you, idiot."

Naruto's skin flushed and she gritted her teeth in irritation. "If it will make you happy," she said dryly, peeling off her glove and roughly shoving the sleeve of her body armor up to her elbow.

Sasuke hurried closer, his eyes fixed critically on the faint pink line that was all that remained of the wound. He ran his thumb over the scar, disbelieving. "This was all the way down to the bone," he muttered. "When did you take out the stitches?" he asked, focusing back on Naruto's face.

With a shrug, Naruto pulled her arm out of Sasuke's grip and readjusted her clothing. "A couple days ago. It wasn't that big of a deal. There wasn't any reason to bother you with it."

Naruto had the kyuubi to thank for the quick neutralizing of the poison, but the speedy recovery of the wound was likely thanks to her Uzumaki heritage. She couldn't remember ever having to suffer an injury for long, which was lucky since before entering the academy, she was quite clumsy. The hokage had told her that the advanced healing rate had been a well-known trait among the Uzumaki clan and that her constitution marked her heritage just as clearly as the blood-red hair would have.

"You're lucky he didn't break your arm," Sasuke said with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest. He was feeling distinctly jealous that his teammate had healed so quickly.

Naruto shuddered. "You're right about that one. Broken bones hurt like hell. And they take like a week to heal up."

"Oh no… not a whole _week_," Sasuke drawled. "Naruto, it takes most people months to heal a break."

Naruto wrinkled her nose distastefully, imagining how much different her childhood could have been without her healing ability. "That sounds terrible. I would go nuts if it took that long."

"Naruto, come back over here!" Sakura called.

She sounded frustrated and Naruto hesitated to join her teammate on the other side of the bridge.

Sakura held back an irritated sigh. "I'm not going to bite. I just want you to try this jutsu for me."

"Oh, okay," Naruto said sheepishly before joining Sakura. "What's the problem?"

The pink-haired girl ran through several hand seals. She scowled fiercely when the jutsu failed to activate again. "I can't get this wind jutsu to work," she admitted. "I should be using the perfect amount of chakra, but nothing ever happens."

"It could be that wind just isn't your chakra nature," Sasuke said lightly, having followed behind Naruto out of curiosity. He seemed to be pretending that he and Sakura hadn't been close to blows only a couple hours ago.

"You _have_ had more success with earth and water jutsu," he pointed out.

"That's true," Sakura agreed. "Kakashi-sensei said that using an elemental jutsu that isn't your own uses exponentially more chakra. We've really got to make him get some chakra paper to test our affinities," she added, rolling her eyes irritably. "Seriously, who teaches their students elemental ninjutsu without checking first?"

The Kakashi-clone whistled innocently, pretending not to hear the genin's complaints.

"Whatever," Naruto said dismissively. "We'll remind him when we get home. In the meantime, I'll test it out just so we can make sure that the chakra cost isn't higher than you thought. What's the jutsu?"

"_Kamitachi no jutsu_. It's supposed to produce several blades of cutting wind. The hand seals are dog, horse, boar," she explained, demonstrating the three hand seals slowly.

Naruto nodded and turned to aim over the side of the bridge where there was no danger of hitting any bystanders before forming the seals. She still wasn't very good at telling how much chakra a jutsu needed beforehand, so she pushed a fairly large amount into the technique. The jutsu activated, producing four semi-transparent curved blades of wind that screeched through the air before digging deeply into the sea. Naruto yelped as she got a face full of water from the back splash.

"Maybe a little too much chakra?" Naruto said with a wince, turning to face her equally drenched teammates.

"Uh, _yeah_," Sakura agreed. She wiped water out of her face incredulously. "I think you could have cut an army in half with that one. Naruto, can't you tell how much chakra to use?"

Naruto straightened from where she had leaned over the side of the bridge to examine the disturbed water below. "What do you mean?"

"When I make the hand seals, I can start to feel how much chakra the jutsu will need," Sakura explained. "And once you complete the seals, the jutsu activates automatically. That's why it can be so dangerous to try high-level jutsu unless you know you have the chakra for it."

"Um, I've never felt anything like that," Naruto said. She tugged on her ponytail nervously, wringing it out when she realized how water logged her hair was.

"How do you gauge your chakra usage then?" Sasuke asked with a frown.

Naruto hummed thoughtfully. "I don't, really," she admitted. "My control isn't very precise, so I usually just shove a random amount of chakra into the jutsu until it works. It takes an awful lot of jutsu before my chakra reserves start to feel depleted. Well, except for those chains. That took a ton of chakra. I could actually feel that one."

Sakura smacked her forehead with her palm. "That's why you always overload everything," she muttered. "Okay, try doing that jutsu again, but this time, don't force any chakra into it."

"Sakura, normally I literally _can't _feel any drain on my chakra, so I can't tell if the jutsu will activate unless I push some chakra at it."

"I told you, when you complete the hand seals with intent, it will pull your chakra automatically," Sakura repeated.

"Try it with something you're more familiar with then," Sasuke suggested. "Maybe a henge?"

"Just trust me," the other girl said, clasping her hands together. "I think I know what's going on here."

"Okay…" Naruto gave in skeptically. She wasn't sure this was going to work, but it seemed like they weren't going to let it go. With a long-suffering sigh, Naruto formed the ram seal, having long since mastered the jutsu to a single hand seal. She thought carefully about the person she wanted to transform into and to her amazement, the jutsu activated the moment her mental image solidified. With a faint poof, she transformed into a perfect replica of Tazuna.

"I knew it would work," Sakura said smugly.

Sasuke was frowning, his eyes on Naruto's hands. "Do a kawarimi," he said, folding his arms and watching carefully.

Naruto shrugged but did as he requested, forming the ram seal again and switching places with a spare board on the other side of the bridge and then jogging back over. "What's up?" she asked curiously.

"Why do you use the ram seal for those?"

Naruto blinked at him in surprise. It was something she had done for years, practically ever since they had learned the jutsu in the Academy.

"They wouldn't work for me otherwise," she admitted. "When I used the hand seals the teacher showed at school, I could never get the jutsu to activate, no matter _how_ much chakra I shoved into them. I can use the proper seals now," she added. "But it's a habit to use the ram."

"Naruto, when we did the chakra assessment in class, did they tell you what rank your chakra is at?" Sakura asked, a calculating glint her in eye.

Naruto hummed thoughtfully. "I don't think they did," she replied. "I remember the teacher shouting out that I had more chakra than the entire class combined, and then I was… er… removed from the classroom for being a disturbance," she admitted with a faint blush.

Sasuke scowled fiercely. "Were you actually doing anything that time?"

"Well, no," the blonde replied. "I didn't usually do anything for them to kick me out. That's why I _started_ misbehaving. So at least there was a real reason for it."

"Naruto, I think your chakra levels and lack of sensitivity must be the cause," Sakura said. "I think the ram seal worked for you since that's the one they taught us to draw on our chakra in the first place. Of course," she added, "your chakra could just be stubborn."

"What do you mean 'stubborn'?" Naruto asked.

"Some people have more potent chakra," the pink-haired girl explained, her voice taking on a lecturing tone. "Usually it's clan related and tied to a bloodline. Like the Akamichi clan. Their body alteration jutsu are really chakra intensive, so their chakra evolved to be more efficient. Like, Chouji and Shikamaru could use the same amount of jutsu to make a henge and Chouji's would last ten times longer than Shikamaru's. Understand?"

"I think I get it," Naruto said, furrowing her brow. "Hokage-jii-chan said that the Uzumaki's were famous for their massive chakra reserves and my mom was special for having those chains. So you're saying that maybe I just have a ton of super-efficient chakra?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Sakura said.

"If you're going to get Hyuuga to help with those chains, you may as well ask her to take a closer look at your chakra circulatory system," Sasuke suggested, shifting his weight and looking out over the water.

His jaw was clenched and Naruto got the feeling that he was angry about something.

"Okay, you three," clone-Kakashi cut in. "You need to quit goofing off and start paying attention. Spread out along the bridge. Naruto, you stick close to Tazuna-san."

"Yes, sensei," the genin intoned, looking properly chastised—except for Sasuke, who reverted back to his usual scowl.

Sakura headed toward the end of the bridge where it led into town, while Sasuke stayed where he was.

Naruto jogged toward the unfinished edge and greeted the builder. "Hey, Tazuna-ossan!"

"Oi, brat, stop calling me that," the old man said grumpily.

"I will when you stop calling me a brat," Naruto replied dryly. "I'm supposed to be sticking with you, by the way."

"Fine by me," Tazuna said. He mopped the sweat off his forehead with a ragged cloth that hung from his belt. "I gotta hand it to you, kid. Those clones of yours are damn handy. Thanks for making them."

Naruto smiled and rocked back on her heels. "It's no problem at all," she said.

* * *

It was nearly midnight before Kakashi returned, the clone dispelling with a faint puff of smoke. Naruto and Sakura had waited up with Sasuke in the room he shared with the jounin. None of them had felt comfortable going to sleep while their sensei was on a stake-out.

"Hi kids," Kakashi greeted cheerfully.

"Why are you in such a good mood, sensei?" Sakura asked curiously. She was playing a game of shoji with Naruto on a battered kid's board that Tsunami had found for them.

"Were you able to take care of some of Gato's henchment?" Naruto chimed in, gladly turning away from the game she was spectacularly losing.

Kakashi settled on the floor by them and smiled with satisfaction. "I had the opportunity to take care of the entire business," he admitted.

Now that he had moved closer, the faint smell of coppery blood reached Naruto's nose and she spotted a few dark patches on the jounin's already dark uniform.

"I see why dark colors are a good idea for those kind of missions," she said practically.

Sakura startled and then peered more closely at their sensei. Her face paled slightly as she realized that he was liberally splattered with blood.

"I thought we were going to take care of it together," Sasuke protested.

"Yes, well," Kakashi said, picking at a fleck of dried blood on the metal plate of his glove. "Sometimes you have to take advantage of the situation. When we get home, I'll recreate the scenario and let you three have a go at strategic planning."

"So what happened?" Naruto asked, elbowing Sasuke in the ribs in an attempt to stop his sulking.

"Someone got there before me," Kakashi explained. "I think Zabuza's accomplice did it. There were senbon everywhere."

"Why would he have done that?" Sakura asked thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure," Kakashi replied with a shrug. "Maybe he heard something he didn't like. By the time I got there, most of Gato's goons had been killed and the man himself was in pieces. Literally."

"What took you so long to get back? You had to have been done hours ago," Naruto said.

"Well, I had to go around and pick up the stragglers. And even though he was good, Zabuza's accomplice still made some mistakes. I made sure the entire gang was taken care of, even back at the harbor on the mainland," the jounin said, leaning back on his hands. "Then I made arrangements for Gato's fortune to be slowly funneled back into Wave. I also followed the trail left by Zabuza's accomplice to make sure that he wasn't heading back to finish the job with Tazuna-san."

"I'm guessing that since we had no problems at the bridge or here at the house, that he decided not to finish the contract?" Sasuke drawled, raising an eyebrow.

Kakashi smiled, visible eye curving happily. "You would be correct! Looks like the kid was headed toward Kiri. We'll stick around for the rest of the bridge, which shouldn't be long now since Tazuna-san will be getting some help from the people back on the mainland."

"Good job, sensei," Naruto grinned. "You should get a bonus!"

"Why thank you," Kakashi said. He got to his feet and gestured toward the door. "You girls should head back to your room now and all three of you need to get some rest. _I'm_ going to get cleaned up."


	17. Chapter 17

**Note: I am so sorry for the long delay! As y'all probably know by now, I'm in the final year of graduate school, and grad classes in the summer are super hardcore. I also started a new job in June, so I haven't had a lot of free time. Please know that even if I take months to update, this story is definitely NOT abandoned! I have the entire thing plotted out and I even have the epilogue already written. Thank you so much for your continued support and all the feedback you've given me. Also, if you spot something inconsistent with the story, or a typo, let me know! I don't always catch my own mistakes, and the writing is so slow going that I may get something mixed up! I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

_Chapter 17_

Despite Kakashi's thorough elimination of the rest of Gato's crew, team seven voted to remain in Wave until the bridge was completed, just in case Zabuza's accomplice returned or any of Gato's competitors sought to fill the vacuum. True to Kakashi's word, a shipload of experienced builders arrived the day after Gato's stranglehold was lifted, greatly reducing the burden on Tazuna and the handful of able villagers.

Soon enough, the bridge was finally completed. It was an impressive sight, stretching several miles from Wave's meager harbor to the mainland. The entire town came to see team seven off, even Inari, whose spirits seemed to have finally been lifted by the fact that Gato was dead. The young boy stared at Kakashi adoringly, making the jounin extremely uncomfortable.

"Looks like someone is going to start wearing a face mask soon," Sakura whispered in Naruto's ear.

Naruto burst into laughter as she pictured Inari as a mini-Kakashi, completed with skewed hitai-ate and ever-present orange book.

"It sounds like there are some genin here who need triple training when we get home to make up for slacking while on the mission," Kakashi drawled as he set a quick pace across the length of the bridge to the mainland.

Sasuke shot a dirty look toward the two girls, and while Sakura looked properly chastened, Naruto was indignant.

"I haven't been slacking," she protested. "I discovered a kekkei genkai, Sakura taught me a wind jutsu, and I learned that I apparently have so much chakra that I can't even sense what jutsu pull off me."

"Don't forget that you've been using the ram seal for like, everything," Sakura added helpfully.

"And you heal abnormally fast," Sasuke contributed, still sounding a little put out.

Naruto rolled her eyes. "That wasn't new," she shot back. "I've always known about the healing."

Kakashi waved the team to a halt as they reached the end of the bridge. He led them toward the forest beyond the beach, not far from where they had camped on the way in.

"Drink some water," he instructed. "And you may want to stretch a bit," he added, "we're going to keep up a fast pace and try to make it home in two days."

He waited until Naruto had swallowed several swigs of water before tapping her on the shoulder. "Now what's this about your chakra and the hand seals?"

Naruto tilted her head to the side curiously. "I'm surprised you never noticed about the seals, sensei," she said. "You're usually so sharp."

Kakashi sighed and looked skyward. "You're right," he admitted. "I should have noticed. I'm sorry for not paying more attention. Now, tell me what you've been doing."

"Well, at the academy, the basic jutsu would never work for me unless I used the ram seal first," Naruto explained, slipping her canteen back in her hip pouch. "Except for the bunshin. I never could get the bunshin to work. They always turn out half-dead and washed out."

"That's because you use about a hundred thousand times the required chakra," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes.

"I think she has unusually potent chakra on top of her absurdly large reserves," Sakura chimed in. "Her sensitivity is just too low and her chakra too efficient for her to feel the draw from such a low-level jutsu."

Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. "Like taking a thimbleful of water from a lake… That's not a bad theory, Sakura. We'll talk to Hokage-sama about getting an official chakra exam by a Hyuuga doctor. Don't they still do that at the Academy check-ups?" He asked, rubbing his jaw.

"Yes, sensei."

"Check-ups?"

Both Sakura and Naruto spoke at the same time, but it was the latter response that caused the rest of the team to turn and stare at the blonde.

"Were you never examined by a doctor at school?" Kakashi asked, his voice calm despite his mounting rage.

Naruto tugged on her pony-tail as she thought back on her years on the Academy. "Well, I've never been sick before, and whenever I got hurt, it healed so quickly that I never needed to see anyone. Why would I have needed to see a doctor?"

Sakura pressed her lips together angrily. She counted to ten under her breath and let out a shaky sight. "Naruto, all the students are supposed to be examined regularly to make sure we were developing properly and healthy enough to handle shinobi duties. There was a boy a year older than us who had an under-developed chakra system and needed a jounin sponsor and a personalized program in order to graduate," she explained.

"They also check for bloodlines and monitor the development of our chakra pathways," Sasuke added, crossing his arms.

"Naruto, do you ever know how much chakra your jutsu use?" Kakashi asked.

"No, I usually just form the hand seals and throw a bunch of chakra into it," Naruto said, shaking her head negatively. "It's worked for me so far. Is it really that big a deal?"

"Well, you've obviously found a way that works, but you do waste a massive amount of chakra doing it that way," Kakashi replied. "You haven't had a problem so far, but you may someday find yourself in a situation where every drop of chakra is valuable. You also need to be able to use those chakra chains more effectively. They're not only chakra-intensive, but you were leaking chakra all over the place."

"That makes sense," Naruto admitted. "I won't be able to use the chains if they leave me so weak afterwards. How will I start training for it? Will it be like walking on walls?"

"Probably," Kakashi said. "We'll get you an appointment with a Hyuuga specialist and ask Hokage-sama if he has any ideas to increase your sensitivity. Now let's get going," he added. "I want to reach the border by nightfall."

Kakashi pushed the team hard and they made it back to Konoha's East gate in two days. A familiar pair of chuunin were on guard duty and they waved in team seven when the village barrier jutsu recognized their chakra signatures.

"The first thing we need to do after coming back from an extended mission is to check in with the hokage and give him a preliminary mission report," Kakashi instructed, leading the weary genin toward the Hokage Tower. "Then we'll have a three or four day allowance to submit a more thorough written report. As your sensei and team commander, I'll be taking care of the written portion, but I'll walk you through the process and show you what a final report looks like."

"Sensei, what if we have to do back-to-back missions?" Sakura asked, hefting her pack slightly higher on her back.

"That's not something we'll be doing anytime soon, but you'd be given leeway on getting the written reports done. Hokage-sama often waives the written requirement unless it was a sensitive mission or it went critical," Kakashi explained.

It was early enough that there were few people out in the village. Still, Naruto was taken aback by the amount of attention she received as they made their way to the Hokage Tower. They had been in Wave for several weeks and Naruto had started to get used to being ignored by the people around her. She cringed away from a particularly nasty glare and ducked her head at the whispers that erupted behind her back.

Sakura and Sasuke closed ranks around her, returning any glares with interest. Naruto felt a rush of affection for her teammates and straightened her spine, holding her head high and not giving the villagers the satisfaction of seeing how their hatred affected her.

Kakashi couldn't have been more proud of his team than at that moment. He could hardly believe how far they had come from that first day. He reached forward and tugged on Naruto's trailing ponytail, his visible eye curved in a smile.

She turned to look at him over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out playfully. "Hey guys," she said, looking back to her teammates. "When we're done, I've got something to tell you."

Sakura linked their hands together and squeezed once before letting go. "Whenever you're ready," she said.

Sasuke nodded in agreement, brushing Naruto's shoulder with his own.

It wasn't long before they reached Hokage Tower. The chuunin at the desk seemed to be expecting them and waved team seven straight up to the hokage's office.

As they entered his office, Naruto grinned at the sight of the old man puffing on his pipe behind the desk. "Hi jiji," she said, sneaking around the desk to give the hokage a brief hug.

"Hello Naruto," the hokage chuckled. "I thought perhaps the four of you were going to send me a transfer request to become permanent citizens of Wave."

"It was a near thing," Naruto responded with a straight face. The hokage ruffled her hair and she smiled, batting his hand away before returning to the rest of her team on the other side of the hokage's desk.

The old man set down his pipe and leaned his elbows on the desk. "Now. I take it the rest of your mission went uneventfully after your encounter with Zabuza?"

"Actually, Kaka-sensei took down the Gato corporation and redistributed its wealth back into Wave," Sakura said, green eyes sparkling with glee.

"Sakura," Kakashi groaned. "Now I'm going to have to include that part in the mission report. That's a whole separate stack of paperwork."

"I do hope you aren't passing that laziness on to your students, Kakashi," the hokage teased. He looked back to the weary-looking genin in front of him. "Why don't you three take the rest of the day off for some well-deserved rest while I speak to your sensei for a bit? I'll re-rank the mission after hearing all the details and adjust your pay accordingly. You will be able to pick up your checks downstairs in the morning."

"Thanks, jiji," Naruto said gratefully. She may have a ridiculous amount of stamina, but Kakashi had been merciless in his pace on the way home, and even she was feeling the effects of the two-day journey across the country.

"Let's break to drop off our stuff and freshen up," Sakura suggested as they exited the tower. She glanced at Naruto and shook her head in exasperation. She could hardly believe how casual her best friend was with the hokage. Sakura couldn't help feeling awed and intimidated by his massive chakra presence every time she saw him, but then again, Naruto also had a ridiculously huge amount of chakra so maybe that was why the blonde never seemed affected.

"Meet at Akamichi's BBQ at six," Sasuke added. "It'll be my treat."

"That sounds good to me," Naruto said. "After dinner, we can had back to my apartment to talk. What I've got to say needs a little privacy," she explained, working to keep her tone light. She was feeling good about telling Sakura and Sasuke her secret, especially after their display of protective friendship in the village streets, but she couldn't help being nervous about it.

Sasuke lightly tapped Naruto's shoulder before tucking his hands away in his pockets. "Relax, Naruto. Whatever it is, we'll get through it as a team," he said, locking eyes with Sakura.

The pink haired girl stared back, her mouth set in a hard line. After a tense moment, during which Naruto nervously glanced between her two teammates, Sakura's face softened and she nodded at Sasuke. "He's right, Naruto. No matter what happens, we're a team."

Naruto wasn't sure what they were talking about anymore. It definitely seemed like Sasuke and Sakura had come to some kind of agreement, but she didn't even know what they had argued about in the first place. She shrugged inwardly, deciding that she was probably better off not knowing, especially if they had finally gotten over it.

After they separated, Naruto took to the rooftops to get home. They all lived in different part of the village; Sakura's home was above her parent's shop in the merchant district, Sasuke lived in an apartment on the edge of the old Uchiha compound, and Naruto's apartment was on the south side of the residential area. She had a great view of the Hokage Mountain from her window and balcony. So great, in fact, that she could hardly believe how cheap her apartment was. Then her hot water would go out, and she would remember that the complex was probably about fifty years old, which went a long way to explaining the low prices.

As she dug through her hip pouch for her key, Naruto made a mental note to track Hinata down to get back her spare key and thank the other girl for taking care of her plants. She unlocked the door and was shocked to see how tidy her apartment looked.

Naruto knew that she had left a sink full of dishes—she had taken the time to rinse them all out, to prevent any kind of mold growth, but she hadn't used soap on them before leaving—and yet her kitchen was spotless, and there wasn't a trace of dust, even on the high shelf above her bed. She left her sandals by the door and walked slowly around her apartment.

The plants were bright green and almost looked better than when she left, and the air was fresh and clean smelling. Naruto decided that she would have to do more than just thank Hinata. The kind-hearted girl had clearly gone beyond just keeping the plants alive. She hung her pack on a hook by the door and wondered what she could possibly give Hinata to show her gratitude. The Hyuuga family was so wealthy, Hinata surely had everything she could possibly need.

Naruto headed toward the bathroom, intent on taking a long hot bath after washing off the dust from the road. She scrubbed her hair and body thoroughly, getting all the dirt out from under her nails, while the tub filled with steaming hot water.

As she relaxed into the tub, she reached out to turn on the small alarm clock that she kept in the bathroom. Naruto had a bad habit of falling asleep in the soothing water, especially after a long, hard day, so she had started setting the alarm to make sure she didn't lose track of time in the bath. She set the alarm for half an hour, giving herself another thirty minutes before she needed to leave to meet her teammates.

* * *

The time passed quickly, and she was busy with thoughts of repaying Hinata, so Naruto didn't have the opportunity to worry about how to tell her teammates about the kyuubi. As she toweled off, she supposed that the best way would be like how the hokage had explained it to her.

Naruto brushed out her hair, leaving it down to dry. She turned in the mirror and was pleased to see that it had grown another inch in the last few weeks. Her hair and nails had always grown extremely quickly, a trait that she now attributed to her Uzumaki heritage.

She dressed casually in a pair of soft cropped pants and a deep blue sleeveless tunic. While the style of clothing was similar to her shinobi gear, Naruto had several sets of civilian outfits that were made from a light, breathable fabric rather than the tough, reinforced material of her gear.

Glancing at the clock, Naruto paused in front of the mirror to fluff her bangs before slipping her key and wallet in her pockets. She doubled checked her cabinets to make sure she had tea to offer her teammates. Satisfied that her apartment was company-ready, thanks in large part to Hinata, Naruto pulled on a pair of soft shoes that Sakura called "flats" and locked up.

Akamichi's wasn't far from her apartment complex, so Naruto stuck to the streets rather than travel along the rooftops. A light breeze blew her hair around her face, and she tucked a few errant strands behind her ear.

When she got to the restaurant, both Sakura and Sasuke were waiting for her.

"Naruto, I can't believe how long your hair has gotten," Sakura exclaimed, reaching out to touch the soft strands that fell to the middle of Naruto's back.

"I can thank my mom for that," Naruto replied with a smile. "Her hair was down to her knees. I can show you what she looked like when we get back to my apartment."

"I'd like that," Sakura said.

Sasuke tore his gaze from Naruto's hair and jerked his head toward the entrance of the restaurant. "Let's get something to eat," he said, the tops of his cheeks faintly red.

The genin had a peaceful dinner, surrounded by the quiet chatter of fellow shinobi. Naruto was surprised not to see team ten in the restaurant. Chouji's mother was the owner, so his team frequented the restaurant on a daily basis, sometimes more than once in a day.

As Sasuke got up to pay, Naruto felt icy cold panic start to creep up her spine. She trusted her teammates, and was mostly certain that they wouldn't react badly, but there was a little voice in the back of her head persisting that they would hate her, that they would abandon her and look at her like the villagers did.

Sakura reached out and tapped the back of Naruto's hand, startling her out of the funk she had started to sink into.

"It'll be fine, Naruto," she said soothingly.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, sounding a little unconvinced.

Of course Sakura would say that, the little voice in her head said silkily, she doesn't know what you're about to tell her.

Naruto forced herself to ignore it and gave Sakura a shaky smile. "Shall we get going?" she asked, as Sasuke returned to the table.

They were quiet, heading back to Naruto's apartment. Sakura and Sasuke could sense by Naruto's nervous behavior that whatever she had to tell them was big.

Naruto opened her front door and waved her teammates inside. "Sorry that there's not more room," she apologized, leaving her shoes by the door.

"I like your apartment, Naruto," Sakura said, looking curiously at the numerous plants that decorated the small space. The last time she had been inside, she had been too distraught to notice much about the apartment, and now that she was paying attention, the entire space felt so much like Naruto that she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.

"Would you guys like some tea?" Naruto asked, gesturing for her teammates to take a seat on the mismatched cushions around her low table.

"That'd be great," Sakura repled.

"Sure. Thanks," Sasuke said. "By the way, I keep meaning to ask, but what's with all the plants?"

Naruto stifled a laugh as she put the water on the stovetop. "If you recall our first day as a team, I said that I really like plants," she teased. She dropped a few spoonfuls of the good green tea into her worn pot in preparation for the hot water and set three cups on the tray around the pot. "It's just something that I started when jiji got me this apartment."

The timer chimed, and Naruto poured the nearly-boiling water into the pot. She brought the tray to the table and distributed the cups. "I would love to have an actual garden," she added, settling on a cushion. "But for now, I'll have to settle for the pots."

Naruto poured the tea and then decided that she couldn't stall any longer. "I guess I should start by warning you guys that what I'm about to tell you is an S-ranked secret," she explained, picking at the tiny chip in the edge of her cup. "Aside from jiji, I'm the only one who can tell people about it."

She took a sip of tea and chanced a look at her teammates. They both looked mystified as to how she merited such a high level of classification.

Clearing her throat, Naruto cupped her hands around her tea, enjoying the soothing warmth seeping through the stoneware. "So, have either of your ever heard of a jinchuuriki?" she asked.

Sasuke shook his head negatively, but Sakura sucked in a shocked breath.

Naruto smiled wryly. Sakura had clearly worked out what was going on.

"Well," she continued, feeling a little more confident since Sakura wasn't running out of the room screaming, "there are nine bijuu in the world, with tails one through nine. The kyuubi was one. The Shodaime had the ability to control the bijuu and after he founded the village, he traded them off for peace treaties with the other villages. I'm not sure where they all are now, but I know that Suna has the one-tail, Shukaku, and that we kept the kyuubi."

Naruto took a sip of her cooling tea. Sasuke's rapt gaze was slightly unnerving, and Sakura's sympathetic one wasn't much better, but she beat back her nerves and continued.

"The Shodaime's wife, Uzumaki Mito, was the first jinchuuriki for the kyuubi," she said. "She sealed the fox inside of her and kept him contained for her lifetime. Jiji told me that she had the kyuubi's ability to sense negative emotions. When Mito grew old, my mother was brought to the village from Uzushio to become the new jinchuuriki. She had special chakra, even for an Uzumaki."

"You mean the chakra chains?" Sakura asked, immediately grasping how the chains she saw Naruto use could be useful in subduing a beast like the kyuubi.

"Yeah, Mom could use them as easy as breathing though, or so I've heard," Naruto replied. "Anyway, so the kyuubi was transferred into a seal on my mom. When she went into labor with me, something bad happened, and the seal broke. That's how the kyuubi got out and started attacking the village thirteen years ago."

"Didn't the Yondaime sacrifice himself to kill it?" Sasuke asked, frowning thoughtfully.

"The bijuu can't be killed," Naruto said, shrugging one shoulder. "They're practically pure chakra. So he had to seal it away instead. He didn't know for sure if someone other than an Uzumaki could handle housing the kyuubi, so he picked me. He died sealing the kyuubi inside of me, and my mom died that night too. So that's why almost the entire village hates me…" she trailed off and stared into her tea cup.

Sasuke scowled fiercely. "That's stupid," he scoffed. "Why would they hate you for something like that? It's not like seals are a foreign concept or anything, and if there are nine of those bastards running around, jinchuuriki aren't exactly unheard of."

"Most people can't understand how something as powerful as the kyuubi could be kept in check by a seal," Sakura said softly. "That's why they're afraid. And people tend to lash out when they're afraid of something. Naruto, I owe you another apology for the way I used to behave. I was so mean to you just because my parents were too ignorant to understand what had happened."

"It's not really your fault, Sakura," Naruto replied with a faint smile.

"Is that why the hokage made it an S-ranked secret?" Sasuke asked. "So we wouldn't grow up thinking you _were_ the kyuubi or something?"  
"Um, yeah," Naruto said. "He hoped that our generation wouldn't judge me based on that, but it didn't work. The civilians see me as the kyuubi because they don't understand how the seal works, and some of the shinobi see me as a reminder of all they lost on that night, so their kids grew up avoiding and hating me too."

"There's one thing I don't understand," Sakura admitted. "If there were two other people before you who held the kyuubi, including someone like Mito-sama, why wouldn't the villagers understand that it would work?"

Naruto swallowed the rest of her tepid tea, relieved that her teammates were reacting so well. "It wasn't exactly public knowledge. The different shinobi villages all know that the other have bijuu, but they all like to keep the identity of the jinchuuriki secret. The only people who know about my mom were the hokage and the council of advisors."

"It's one thing for civilians to misunderstand," Sasuke said, tapping his finger irritably against the table. "But I recall members of the… Military Police speaking poorly of you. There's no reason for any shinobi to be hostile toward you, even if they did suffer terrible loses that night. They all know how seals work, and you certainly didn't ask for the kyuubi to be sealed in you."

"Especially considering that I was only a couple hours old at the time," Naruto added, chuckling awkwardly. "Thank you guys for not… I don't know, jumping out of the window screaming or something. I was really worried what you'd think," she admitted softly.

"We're honored that you trust us enough to tell us the truth," Sakura said as Sasuke nodded his agreement. She slapped her hands down on the table. "I want you both to come over to my house for dinner sometime soon. I'm going to sit my parents down and explain exactly how a seal works and that there are other people in the shinobi world like you. I expect, once they understand, my parents will want to apologize to you."

Naruto's eyes burned with tears and she blinked rapidly. "I… you have no idea how much that means to me," she said, voice thick with emotion.

"As long as I'm around, I won't stand for people treating you like that," Sasuke said gruffly, cheeks pink from his uncharacteristic tenderness.

"Thanks, Sasuke," Naruto replied gratefully. She smiled at her teammates and let out a watery laugh. "I just can't believe you both took this so well. But listen," she said seriously. "You can't talk to anyone else about this unless they already know. And don't do it in public. I meant it when I said it was an S-ranked secret. And…" she hesitated, steeling herself for what she was about to say.

"Look, don't do anything to the villagers. I really want them to acknowledge me on their own and see that they don't have to be afraid of me. And if you guys do anything to retaliate… well, it might backfire and make it worse."

"I promise," Sakura said solemnly, reaching across the table to put her hand over Naruto's. She gripped her fingers tightly.

"And I as well," Sasuke sighed reluctantly. He placed his own hand on top of Sakura's, returning the girls' grins with exasperated fondness.

* * *

After Sakura and Sasuke left, Naruto flung herself onto her bed and hid her face in the pillows. Her cheeks ached from smiling. She could hardly believe that had gone so well. Then again, Sakura was the smartest person she knew, and Sasuke tended to be so contrary that he often went against other people just for the sake of it.

She turned to lay on her back and gently patted her abdomen. "You're not so bad, are you?" she said softly, wondering if the fox could hear her. "Did you ever talk to my mom? I wish you could tell me what she was like."

Naruto lay awake for hours, thinking about how lucky she was for her teammates to have become such good friends.


	18. Chapter 18

**Note: Some of you may have noticed that the "character death" tag has vanished! I had quite a few anxious inquiries into who this tag referred to, and after some long, hard thought (and brainstorming with the BFF), I've decided that I can achieve the same ending without killing the person whom I had planned to kill. Lucky you! I won't say who it was, because I'm sure that when the time comes, you'll be able to figure it out. :)**

**Also, thank you for your continued patience and encouragement. Like I said before, this story will NOT be abandoned, even if it sometimes takes a while for me to update. I'm working and writing my master's thesis along with another class, and I still plan to try NaNo this year. So I don't always have as much time to work on this story as I would like. But rest assured! I have a plan, and we have a ways to go yet!**

* * *

_Chapter 18_

Kakashi had set the team meeting for later in the afternoon on the following day, allowing for the genin to sleep in to recover their strength from the grueling trip home, so Naruto decided to go collect her spare key from Hinata. She made a pit stop in the market district to one of the shops owned by someone who treated her like a regular customer.

Naruto had thought for hours about what to get for Hinata to thank her for not only taking such good care of her plants, but also keeping her home clean. She had settled on getting her a hairpin after remembering how Hinata always let her hair fall into her face. Naruto had learned the hard way how dangerous hair in the eyes could be during a training session.

She picked out a sturdy steel pin, decorated with a purple butterfly, which could double as a weapon if needed. Naruto's own small hair accessory collection was full of pieces that were practical for shinobi to wear and she definitely wanted to get Hinata something that would not only be beautiful, but useful as well.

Naruto tucked the small box containing the hairpin into her hip pouch and debated on where to search for Hinata. She had always been intimidated by the Hyuuga compound, so Naruto checked team eight's usual training ground first.

Unfortunately the field was empty, but Naruto knew that it had been a long shot. Kurenai-sensei struck her as the type to start bright and early and it was approaching mid-morning.

Given the high likelihood that team eight was on a mission, Naruto changed direction and headed toward the Hokage Tower. She collected her surprisingly large paycheck in the mission office on the first floor and asked if team eight had come in for a mission.

"Under Yuuhi Kurenai, right?" confirmed the chuunin manning the mission desk. It was a position shared by all chuunin on a rotational basis, so Naruto saw a lot of unfamiliar faces whenever she was there.

"Yes, have they accepted a mission today?" Naruto repeated, shifting her weight impatiently.

The chuunin checked over her list and shook her head negatively. "Doesn't look like it. Sorry, honey."

Naruto sighed. "Thanks for checking," she said with a grateful smile.

After another dead end from the mission desk, Naruto resigned herself to going directly to the Hyuuga compound. She tended to avoid the ornate district because the Hyuuga clan was often very cold to her. Now that she knew about her tenant, Naruto suspected that they must have suffered heavy losses during the night of her birth. That seemed to be the most common reason for shinobi to be distant with her.

She didn't want to wait around all day, because given the condition of her plants, Hinata was likely to go by her apartment to water them today. Naruto crossed the village using the rooftops and dropped to the streets around the corner from the Hyuuga district.

Peering around the corner at the high white walls surrounding the large compound, Naruto steeled herself and approached the branch members standing watch at one of the entrances. She could always tell when a Hyuuga wasn't part of the main family from the hitai-ate or scarf covering their foreheads.

"Good morning," Naruto greeted with a tentative smile.

The Hyuuga guards stared impassively at her. Naruto found the pale, pupil-less eyes to be very intimidating.

"I'm trying to find Hinata-san," she said politely.

The two Hyuuga glanced at each other.

"I will retrieve her," stated the taller of the two, his voice low and somber. He disappeared into the depths of the compound while Naruto waited in an awkward silence with the other guard.

After what felt like a lifetime of waiting, the Hyuuga guard returned with Hinata trailing behind him.

"Ah, Naruto-kun," she greeted with a small, pleased smile. She bowed toward the other Hyuuga. "Thank you, Koji-san. I shall n-not be away for long."

Hinata fell into step next to Naruto, subtly guiding her away from the Hyuuga compound. "I am glad to see that you are b-back safely in the village," she said sincerely.

"Thanks, Hinata," Naruto replied with a smile. "The mission turned out to be pretty crazy. I'm really sorry that it took so long for me to get back. Did you get my letter?"

"Yes, I d-did. It was no trouble," Hinata assured.

Naruto dipped her hand into her hip pouch and pulled out the hairpin box. She handed it to Hinata, who accepted it with a confused expression. "I wanted to thank you for taking such good care of my plants," Naruto explained. "And for keeping my apartment so clean. I hardly recognized it!"

"N-Naruto-kun, you shouldn't have," Hinata said, her face turning crimson.

"I wanted to," Naruto stated simply. "Go ahead; open it."

Hinata's fingers shook slightly as she opened the small box and revealed the hairpin. "Oh, Naruto-kun, it's b-beautiful. Thank you so m-much."

"Here, hang on a second," Naruto said, pulling Hinata to the side of the street and taking the pin from the box.

She swept Hinata's hair behind her right ear and secured it with the pin. As she admired how the purple color of the butterfly complemented Hinata's pale lavender eyes, Naruto realized that she had never found Hinata's eyes to be intimidating. Something about them was much warmer than those of her kinsmen.

"There, I knew it would suit you," Naruto smiled. "And you can use it as a weapon in a pinch," she added.

"Thank you," Hinata said again, reaching up to lightly touch the pin behind her ear. "Would you l-like to have some tea?" she asked, her face beet red. "I would very m-much like to hear about your m-mission."

"That sounds great," Naruto agreed. "I have some other things to tell you too before I have to meet with my team. Did you have somewhere in mind for tea?

Hinata shook her head negatively. "We c-could g-go to Ichiraku or to Dangoya."

"Um," Naruto chewed her lip. She did love ramen, but the chances of her running into one of her teammates, or Shika and Chouji were pretty high. And sometimes Teuchi liked to talk her ear off. "Let's go to Dangoya," she decided. "It's a little more private than Ichiraku."

They walked in a companionable silence to the dango restaurant on the edge of the Market District and sat at a small table in the back corner, where the people passing by in the street wouldn't be able to overhear them. While they waited for tea and dango, Naruto showed off her pictures of Kushina and shared what she knew about her mother and the Uzumaki clan.

"She's very b-beautiful," Hinata said softly, her eyes tracing the familiar features of the smiling woman in the photograph. "You l-look a lot l-like her."

Naruto's face warmed and she smiled bashfully. "Thanks, Hinata. I do wish I had her hair though."

"Is she why you are letting your hair g-grow out?" Hinata asked.

Naruto automatically reached up to tug at a look of hair. It had grown considerably in the time since they graduated. She had left her apartment while it was still damp, so it fell loosely around her shoulders.

"Yeah, at first I wanted to look more like her, but then it turned out that my hair was a lot less crazy after it had some length. Sakura said that it just needed to be weighed down," Naruto explained, brushing her bangs out of her face.

"It suits you," Hinata said with a small smile.

"Thank you," Naruto replied.

* * *

Hinata had been quite shocked to hear how the bridge builder lied about the mission, and displayed uncharacteristic anger when Naruto admitted that she had been wounded.

"I'm okay, I promise," Naruto assured, showing Hinata the faded white line that was all that remained of her injury.

"Do you mind if I use my byakugan?" Hinata asked intently.

"Not at all," Naruto said with a small smile. "That's actually related to something else that I wanted to tell you."

Hinata formed a hand seal and activated her bloodline. Her pale eyes gained intense pupils and several veins at her temples bulged with the increased flow of chakra. She drew in a sharp breath and Naruto watched nervously as Hinata's eyes flickered to her abdomen.

"You've never used your byakugan on me before, have you?" Naruto asked, resting her head on her hand. "I only ever saw you activate it during exam spars at the Academy, and we never got matched up."

Naruto waited for Hinata to finish examining her chakra system. She hesitated for a moment, and then made up her mind and said, "I'm a jinchuuriki."

Hinata's brow furrowed and she let the byakugan fade away. "For the kyuubi, I would guess," she said, meeting Naruto's eyes with a steady gaze.

"Somehow, I'm not that you've heard of it," Naruto said with a wry grin. "Yeah, I am. The bijuu can't be killed, you know. They're pure chakra, so Yondaime-sama sealed it into me that night. My mom was the jinchuuriki before me and her seal broke when she was giving birth."

Hinata leaned forward and grasped Naruto's arm. Her pale eyes were more intense than usual. "Naruto-kun, I must apologize for any hostility you have experience from the Hyuuga clan," she said formally. "I know understand the source of their prejudice, although they have no excuse for their behavior."

Naruto blinked in surprise, both at the other girl's intensity and the abruptness of the touch. She wasn't sure that Hinata had ever initiated contact with her before. "Er, it's okay. I mean, I don't like it, but I understand," she said. "A lot of Hyuuga died that night, right?"

Hinata pulled back and sighed before giving Naruto a sweet smile. "You are more forgiving than they deserve."

"What does it look like?" Naruto asked curiously. "My chakra, I mean."

Hinata hummed thoughtfully. "Your chakra is a pale blue and there is a secondary source of chakra in your core. From what I can see, the seal allows small amounts of the second chakra into your system, and as it cycles through your body, it is converted to your own chakra. I can see your blue chakra throughout your system, and the second source is a reddish-orange. Where it is mixing with your chakra, it is slightly purple. You are very colorful," Hinata said with a smile.

Naruto grinned and tugged at a strand of hair by her ear. "How did you know how the seal works?"

Hinata startled and seemed to shrink back into herself. "I know quite a b-bit about seals," she admitted. "It is to my shame that all b-branch members of my clan are required to b-bear a seal."

The reminder of her family seemed to have brought back her stutter. Naruto wondered why.

"I am sorry, b-but I cannot speak of it in d-detail," Hinata said, pressing her lips together angrily.

"Don't worry about it, Hinata," Naruto said soothingly, not sure what was causing her friend such distress.

"If it were m-my secret alone, I would share it," Hinata insisted.

"I know," Naruto smiled. She glanced at the clock on the wall and startled at the time. She hadn't realized that they had been sitting together for so long. "I'm sorry, Hinata, but I've got a meeting with my team pretty soon. When you have some free time, will you help me with something?"

Hinata nodded, twisting her fingers together. "What d-do you need?"

Naruto grinned. "Well, I almost forgot to tell you, but I discovered something of a kekkei genkai of my own. It was something my mom could do, but right now, I don't have enough chakra control to really utilize it. So I was hoping you could help me figure out how much chakra it's using, and how much I'm wasting."

"Will you b-be in the village for the n-next few days?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, we should be. After how this last mission went, I'd bet Kaka-sensei is going to be training us into the ground," Naruto said with a shudder.

Hinata hid a smile behind her hand. "I will ask Kurenai-sensei about our schedule when we m-meet tomorrow m-morning."

"That would be great," Naruto said. "I'll ask sensei tonight what he plans for the next week too. Can we meet up tomorrow evening? I think I should be free after six, so we could meet at training ground twenty-seven?" She suggested, naming one of the many public-use fields littered around the village.

Hinata nodded. "That should b-be fine for me as well. Naruto-kun, thank you for trusting m-me with your secret."

"Thank you for accepting me," Naruto replied, her cheeks coloring faintly. "Oh, um, I feel like I should warn you that the… second source of chakra is an S-rank secret. I know you'd never tell anyone, but it does make a bit of a difference."

"Of c-course," Hinata agreed. She reached into her hip pouch and withdrew a small purse.

"Oh, Hinata, I can pay for it," Naruto protested.

"You may p-pay the next time," the dark haired girl said, laying several paper bills on the table.

"I'll hold you to that," Naruto said.

Before they parted ways, Naruto darted forward and pulled Hinata into a quick hug. "Thank you," she said softly before pulling back. She gave Hinata a nervous grin. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

Hinata's face was beet red. "Yes, t-tomorrow," she agreed.

Naruto waved and jumped up to the rooftops. Her heart was racing and she couldn't help whooping in joy as she leapt from roof to roof and across streets. She could hardly believe Hinata had been so accepting. Of course, Sasuke and Sakura's excellent reaction to her secret had greatly increased Naruto's confidence, which is what convinced her to trust Hinata in the first place.

There were three people now, people her own age, who knew her secret and didn't seem to care. It was the best feeling in the world.

* * *

Naruto didn't bother going home to change. The meeting was at Kakashi's apartment, so she knew there wouldn't be any training. After team seven's first big hurdle with the reveal of Naruto's gender, they had started meeting at Kakashi's every couple weeks for dinner, and to get to know each other better.

She stopped by the shinobi bank to cash her mission check and then dropped into an Akamichi-owned market stall to grab her portion of the ingredients for sukiyaki.

Naruto walked the rest of the way to Kakashi's apartment and knocked on his door. She could hear voices inside, and it sounded like she was the last to arrive.

"Hi sensei," she greeted as Kakashi opened the door and smiled down at her.

"Right on time, Naruto," Kakashi said, his eyes curving in a smile. He never wore the hitai-ate while at home, and the silvery hair that fell down over his forehead made him look younger and softer.

Naruto slipped off her shoes as she entered and grinned at her teammates already seated around the table.

"You look like you're in a good mood," Sakura said, rising from the table to take the bag of food. She unloaded it on the kitchenette counter and started washing the vegetables that Naruto had bought.

"I am," Naruto replied, sitting at her usual cushion.

"Any particular reason?" Kakashi prompted. He took over from Sakura in the kitchenette, and finished prepping the vegetables for the pot.

Naruto's cheeks reddened and she couldn't stop smiling. "I told Hinata about the kyuubi," she said, patting her belly. "I would never have had the courage if you two hadn't been so great yesterday."

Kakashi looked at the three genin in surprise. He hadn't know that Naruto shared her secret with the other two. Given the easy atmosphere between them, Sakura and Sasuke must have reacted well.

"Naruto, that's great!" Sakura said, swooping down to give the blonde a quick hug.

Naruto held one a little longer than she usually did. She was getting more and more accustomed to touching people, and with her team in particular, it didn't bother her as much as it used to.

"I take it she was accepting?" Sasuke asked, his eyebrow raised expectedly.

"Well, obviously," Sakura said, sitting back down at the table. "She wouldn't be so happy otherwise. Hinata was a good choice, I think. She's always been fond of you," she directed at Naruto.

"Really? We didn't talk much at school," Naruto said.

"It was pretty obvious," Sasuke snorted.

Sakura elbowed him in the ribs. "Be nice," she hissed and then turned a smile to Naruto. "I'm glad you're getting to know her better, Naruto. And I'm really happy for you."

Kakashi brought the vegetables to the table and they fell into a comfortable silence while they started cooking the sukiyaki.

After everyone had filled their first bowl, Kakashi cleared his throat to get the genin's attention. "Today, children, you're going to learn how to fill out a report!" he said cheerfully.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and jabbed his chopsticks in Kakashi's direction. "I thought you were going to do this one."

"Ah well, you three need to learn how to do it, and what better time than today?" Kakashi asked, pulling down his bask to eat a piece of beef.

Sakura rolled her eyes and said nothing, starting in on her rice instead.

"Sensei, somehow I think you're planning to pawn the extended report that jii-chan asked for off on us," Naruto said suspiciously.

"Not exactly," Kakashi hedged. "I'll do the hard part, but you three need to know how to fill out the routine forms. The written report will be my job. I thought that with the four of us, we could knock it out today."

"And how likely are you to actually do it if we don't help?" Sakura asked, hiding a wicked grin behind her bowl.

"Probably not at all," Kakashi admitted unrepentantly.

"Oh, sensei," Naruto sighed. "What would you do without us?"


End file.

Naruto, Friendship, Hurt-Comfort