Both Robin Hood (different versions I love) and the two-part "Killer Bee Rappuden" from the Infinite Tsukuyomi arc inspired me to bring this brand new piece to life. :D I've gotten addicted to femNaruto as much as I have my OC.

Naru Uzumaki is in the gutter when her beloved Konoha falls under the rule of Danzo, now the Sixth Hokage. What's gonna happen? Will she just rot away despite her best efforts, or will help come in the unlikeliest form if she wants to save her village from the man who lives in the darkness? She's gonna need all the aid she can get...and she certainly never planned on falling in love on the way.

Disclaimer: obvious enough? Naruto belongs to the awesome Kishi-san. And everyone knows Robin Hood has been a badass legend for ages, so it's no surprise who each of its different versions belong to.

Chapter One

Prisoner in Hokage Mountain

It had all been hell the moment she was born.

She was born the night the Nine-Tails rampaged her home, which her father had been put in charge of. Her mother had been the previous vessel of the monster now sealed within her, but she and the beast, named Kurama, had come to understand each other well enough while she was imprisoned.

Her parents gave their lives to protect both her and this village. But the civilians who lived in it treated her like the demon instead of a human being. It had NOT been her fault this thing was put in her when there were no other options. Old man Sandaime had not told her anything because of protection reasons.

The village saw her as a monster - the ones who didn't know the truth and never fought the beast that night. As a result, their children had no clue but couldn't even be her friends.

Why did they treat her like that? She was a person; it wasn't her fault! But old man Third couldn't tell her a thing, not even who her parents were. Not only that, but she had to live in that rathole called an apartment with a monthly allowance, and she went to the Academy after such trouble of getting in. That pass-to-get-in was hell, and she wasn't afraid to admit it.

To keep her life in the Academy short: she really was average in class, did her best, but was nowhere near the level of one Sasuke Uchiha. Those girls, including Sakura and Ino, all fawning over him - what was the big deal? That pretty boy face, the brooding attitude and lack of anything else except wanting to be the best at everything? She saw nothing special; he was just an asshole the same age as her...and that was also his belittling of her because she was a loser of a girl compared to him, that it was her addition to make him acknowledge her.

Just like it was to become Hokage someday, then the village would start respecting her.

Besides the Third Hokage, there was Iruka-sensei who treated her like a little sister and often took her to Ichiraku, which was the only food she could afford with her allowance. And she had to learn to cook at home and feed herself, beside the ramen. She really cared about the old man and Iruka, despite the former not doing much to help her. But she figured it out on her own that he wanted her to do it herself, because if she wanted to be a ninja one day, Shinobi fended for themselves and those around them.

There was also one girl she thought would be a real friend, if the girl's family wouldn't let her. Hinata Hyuuga was timid and shy, but the look in her opalescent eyes was pure admiration as she watched Naru Uzumaki never give up in spite of what was thrown at her. And the blonde hated the fact she and cousin Neji were subjected to so-called destiny and pitted against each other.

It was that night Mizuki tricked her to stealing the scroll - which was supposed to help her - that she was followed by Iruka-sensei...and the bastard she hated exposed the fact she had the fox demon that attacked her home the night she was born sealed inside her. The Fourth Hokage was a hero and also a curse to her...before later in her life she would find out he was her father, and that her mother was the previous Jinchuuriki. There had been options failed and their newborn daughter had been the final hope.

She only had half the monster in her; the other half along with her father's soul was taken by the Reaper Death Seal. Minato did this because he believed she could master the Kyuubi's power, and it took several years to do just that - in time for things to take a turn for the worst.

The best times of her life when she became Genin was when she got Kakashi-sensei, then made all the friends she had, showed what she got in the Chuunin Exams. That was when she started getting the respect she craved for.

When she and her team fought Zabuza and Haku, it opened her eyes that the ninja world was much harsher than she thought it was, but did that stop her? It also made her think that behind every villain was a painful backstory, and if she could appeal to their hearts like she did to these two, then maybe things would work out.

The middle ground of good and bad: she dogged Sasuke who continued to belittle her, and Sakura was at first mean to her because she thought she'd be competition to the last Uchiha - but Naru had better things to worry about than some guy. What do I know about love - and I mean romantic love? And Sakura thinks it's love when she has her eyes on someone who doesn't respect her.

Although there was one thing she never thought she would get out of Sasuke: their newfound friendship. But she never said it to his face for fear of rejection. She realized that he was someone she wanted to protect, when he was nearly killed by Haku's ice senbons - and that was when he passionately pleaded to live. "My brother...he's still out there. I promised myself I'd stay alive...until I...killed him."

Naru kept those words in mind, but never did she think it would happen so soon that the man in Sasuke's revenge dreams would appear and alter their lives if another hadn't done it already.

She was speaking of Orochimaru - the snake who slipped in with his lackeys and did everything he could to destroy the Leaf Village. He murdered the Third Hokage, even killed the Sand Village's Kazekage, and left that monstrous mark on Sasuke. Sakura saw it happen before her eyes, but he made her not say anything. Only for it to get worse the longer it was hidden.

Besides this, Naru encountered Gaara, who was also a vessel for a tailed beast - the one-tailed Shukaku. It was a nightmare to see him rampage during the attack. He even broke Bushy Brow Rock Lee's lower leg and lower arm on the left side of his body. He killed many in his life, by accident or on purpose. His own brother and sister feared him. He never had friends. His own father had done the sealing of the monster in his own son.

Just like my own. But his father was afraid of him while mine loved me.

Gaara's mother died after he was born. Her brother, his uncle, cared for him until he was forced to turn on him. He "lied" when he said he hated him and wanted his nephew to live and survive for himself. But Naru would not have any of this. If he wanted to make a difference, he had to have his ass chewed and every single bone in his body broken.

Pervy Sage was the best teacher she had, besides Kakashi and Iruka. She really rolled her eyes at his perverted research ways, but he was everything she wanted in a mentor. He even taught her how to do the Rasengan, which the Yondaime had created himself during the Second War! It was a pain in the ass jutsu to master, but it was all worth it - and better when she showed old lady Tsunade wrong, and whipped the hell out of Kabuto with it.

She hated Orochimaru more than before when he sunk his teeth into Sasuke; her teammate gave into temptation when the object of his hate and lust returned after the death of the Sandaime. The man was from the Akatsuki, a criminal organization whose motives were unclear - but one thing was for sure, and they wanted the fox inside her. So Jiraiya was hell-bent on protecting her and keeping her beside him.

How could she forgive the man who ruined Sasuke's life, long before Orochimaru - putting the two of them on the same page? How could she assume so childishly that he would resist the call to more power so he could avenge his clan which was slaughtered by the red-eyed demon himself?

Sakura cried and begged her to keep the "once in a lifetime request". She saw the pink-haired girl as her best friend more than ever now, so how could she refuse?

She and the men were all together on orders of Granny Fifth to retrieve him from the Sound Four under that snake. Along the way, each of them stayed behind to hold off one enemy each so she could go after Sasuke herself. Kiba and Akamaru that double-headed freak...Choji that fat guy...Shikamaru that bitch with the flute...and Bushy Brows that Kimmimaro who said why Orochimaru really needed Sasuke.

His body like a new suit of clothes, to keep himself alive.

Naru and Sasuke fought at the place called the Final Valley - where two statue faces stood against each other, on either side of the waterfall which never seemed to end. And did he really mean business when he literally tried to kill her for trying to stop him. It killed her heart. It made her remember their days as rivals and then as Team Seven. It was the first time, even when their fists exchanged, that she had a bond like this - so that was why she was willing to cripple him and drag him back by force.

He turned into a monster as the final result, just as she did. Their personal demons came forth in one final strike: his Chidori against her Rasengan. All they did was cancel each other out.

He was gone when she came to, when she found herself first on Kakashi's back and then in the hospital. Nearly all her bones were paralyzed. Guilt gnawed at them in her failure to bring back the boy her friend loved. But Sakura tried to hide it with a smile.

Jiraiya-sensei told her that the best choice was to just give up on Sasuke, as he chose to leave on his own. He had his own path to follow; it was destined to happen from the beginning, but she hated that word and wished she had the power to change everything. If she was going to save her friend from that fate he didn't care he was putting himself through, then she would enhance not only the Rasengan, but also her body and the fox she had to learn to contend with.

It took three years for her to get stronger than ever so she could bring Sasuke back, to bring him back to Sakura. She had a promise to keep. She wanted one of her best friends in her life again. She didn't care if she was naïve. Her time was not going to be for nothing.

But things went worse while some things got better.

Naru perfected the Rasengan while developing a new form using all the shadow clones she could muster: the Rasenshuriken. Which she used on an Akatsuki member who was one of those to kill Asuma Sarutobi, Konohamaru's uncle. She showed everyone how far she came, and it in turn got them to working themselves on getting better.

Sakura certainly had changed for the better. She was the Fifth Hokage's apprentice and on the way to becoming one of the greatest medical ninja - hell, she might surpass the old lady! And to think that once she'd been behind both her teammates, one being a girl and the other a boy.

However, it was clear she still loved Sasuke.

And then the one opportunity came which they waited for in the last three years: they found Sasuke and one of Orochimaru's hideouts. But he'd gotten so much stronger than she had which was why she hardened herself all that time afterwards which earned reprimands from Sakura and those dreadful food pills she concocted. Not only that, but he tried to kill her, Sakura, their new teammate Sai - who reminded them a bit too much of Sasuke in appearance - as well as Captain Yamato who filled in Kakashi's place. He really meant to kill them.

He sounded extremely serious when he said he was done with them and the village. He would have finished them if Orochimaru hadn't been there.

A small part of Naru was now having doubts, but as always, she pushed them to the back of her mind.

Some time passed before word reached their ears that Sasuke had killed Orochimaru, and joy erupted within her - before it was gone the moment Tsunade said that her former friend was not going to return home, but to finally carry out his revenge, and the one name and face came to mind.

Itachi Uchiha.

Naru saw him only three times in her life, and this would be the third. Last time was when he and the Akatsuki went after Gaara, extracted his tailed beast and left him to die. So when she met the murderer of the Uchiha clan himself, she declared that Sasuke was more of a brother to her than Itachi ever was. He didn't deserve that title. But that smirk...

He said nearly the same thing Pervy Sage once told her: her plans to bring him back were nothing but fantasy. Sasuke tried to kill her twice and yet she still pursued him. It was an unhealthy obsession, an unhealthy friendship and rivalry - like the one Jiraiya had with Orochimaru. She was only tearing herself apart just like Sakura was doing with this thing she thought was love. This was nothing but a curse on them.

"I will defend the village and find a way to stop Sasuke without killing him!"

But even then, Naru Uzumaki found herself doubting her own words. Although Itachi Uchiha said nothing as they were in his genjutsu, surrounded by bottomless colors and his crows. And then he made a crow enter her body through her mouth, giving her a piece of his power and hoping the day wouldn't come when she would use it.

She still had no idea what he meant when he said all of that. But one thing was certain: he was the second person to tell her that her quest was pointless. Sure, she had friends and people who cared about her, the villagers started to respect her a little more even though she had more ways to go.

Could she weigh all of them against one person - one person who caused her more pain than she could recall?

The worst agony came after another failure to find Sasuke, especially when they heard he took over the Hidden Sound Village, but nothing on his success in getting his revenge. Itachi Uchiha still lived, and he was the new leader of the Akatsuki, which brought Naru to another event that tore her apart: Jiraiya was dead. He was killed by Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki who was in the Hidden Rain Village. According to Lord Fukasaku, one of the great sages of Mt. Myoboku, this Pain was called "Nagato" by Jiraiya - and revealed he possessed the legendary Rinnegan, an ocular jutsu wielded by the Sage of Six Paths himself.

Pain came and wrecked everything when he only wanted the girl who carried the Nine-Tailed Fox. He calmly killed everyone and laid waste to the entire village just for one person.

This man...this pierced bastard who killed Pervy Sage and who knew how many others. For the sake of his fake vision of peace which only involved "justified" deaths - he wanted the Ten-Tails revived all for this?!

Naru fought him, watched the toads fall - including geezer toad Fukasaku - and listened to Shima's wails to not give in before she, too, was thrown back. She was held down to the ground by Pain's chakra rods...and then Hinata came to her rescue. The idiot thought she could win by coming alone!

Her declaration of friendship and inspiration sent Naru into shock as her body was thrown into the air, then brought down and jabbed through with another rod. She saw Hinata Hyuuga, the girl who shyly watched her for years and then came to her aid, proclaiming friendship in the sweetest, sincerest way ever, be killed.

The Kyuubi broke through her with a vengeance.

In her daze, she finally met her father. Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage. The man whom she lashed out and screamed of the pain she suffered when he sealed the monster inside her - his own daughter! The grownups treated her with contempt, she couldn't make friends, but then she met wonderful people in Jiraiya, Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei. They all encouraged her and helped her become strong. Then she made friends, only to lose one to darkness.

He told her that Pain wasn't the real leader of the Akatsuki - only in the front page. Someone was pulling his strings, and he said it was the Akatsuki who wore the mask. She remembered encountering him once. But that idiotic guy with the orange mask was the leader? She could hardly believe it!

It was when she returned to normal, but not before Minato told her he loved her, believed in her even if she had no real answer to bringing peace, but as long as she had friends, then that was all she needed.

But how could she believe in peace now?

When she reached out to Nagato, the real Pain, and listened to his story, she saw how he had it much worse than her. He suffered because he had ties from the moment he was born - like Sasuke - and now she knew what it was like. But it did not mean she would forgive him, especially when he killed THEIR master. She got through to him, and he released the Rinne Rebirth which revived all those he killed, including Hinata. Konan, the blue-haired right hand, went back to the Rain Village with the corpses of both Nagato and Yahiko - the corpse of the Pain she'd fought for the majority of.

Naru just about cried with joy when the villagers threw her in the air for her heroism. And that also meant they got plenty of rebuilding to do. Poor Yamato and his services needed!

But the joy didn't last. All of which brought her to where she was now.

Granny Tsunade was rendered comatose and therefore lost her youthful henge, showing her true, frail age. To look upon the face of the woman who was something like a mother to her and Sakura, had done everything she could to make sure Sasuke wasn't branded a rogue Shinobi like Yamato said he was, but look at her then. Shizune assured them both the woman would awake and all would be well...but then came the worst in which everything fell apart. All their dreams and hopes for the future.

Tsunade was relieved of her place as Hokage. Because of some guy called Danzo. He was one of the village elders - a bastard who worked in the shadows. But he'd been relieved a long time ago by old man Sarutobi. Yet now he was back.

Kakashi said he used to be in the ANBU Black Ops, under this guy specifically, but after the Uchiha massacre, he was removed when the Root foundation under Danzo was dissolved. "He has dirty ways to protect the village," Kakashi had said once, "no matter what it takes. This is bad on all of us..."

Not good. But it was all an understatement. Danzo did the act of sending this village into disorder, declaring Sasuke a rogue, and bringing Tsunade's reign to an end. This meant fear, control and distrust instead of love, friendship and trust. The village was rebuilt, and not for the better. All of it not being what Naru Uzumaki dreamed it would be, or any of her friends.

She should have listened to Kakashi when he said Danzo would look for an excuse to lock her up, because she was the village's Jinchuuriki. Word would get out eventually that she was imprisoned for her attempts to "rebel" against the new Sixth Hokage.

"You are a threat, Naru Uzumaki, Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails," the bandaged old geezer told her when he visited her in person and watched as his cloaked, masked Root held her on either side, threatening to break both her arms, but that wouldn't be able to stop her - except to prevent her from doing her Rasengan. "And therefore, to tame the wild beast inside you, this will be for the best of all of us."

His eye hardened when he said that he was going to do what Tsunade never could do: lock her up and execute Sasuke Uchiha himself if he had the opportunity.

So here she was now, after being here for a year: in a cell constructed in the Hokage Mountain. But it wasn't in one of the precious faces that were the first two who built this village, nor was it the old man who was like a grandfather to her, and certainly not her father and poor Granny Tsunade, wherever she was now. The bastard Danzo said she was likely dead, from the intolerable conditions she was in now. Naru refused to believe it, but her shouts and rages were in vain. Not even her friends could step up lest they risked treason charges.

Naru's cell was in the mouth of Danzo's rock face. The irony was neither laughable or disgraceful. It was a hideous balance she refused to name. Down below, as she often shouted because it was all she could do until she was too tired at the end of the day, she saw more of the chaos. The social unrest in the very village she loved with all her heart.

People arrested and imprisoned while resisting, others barricading their homes so no patrolling Root would seize their loved ones.

Insurgence amongst her fellow Shinobi. They were divided and she was afraid to find out who was still loyal and who wasn't to the true ways of what the Village Hidden in the Leaves stood for.

The smoke rose in the air, making her tears hotter against her skin. She felt like a total failure, and each day she could feel her willpower slipping despite assuring Kurama inside her that she would keep going even if she died trying. Here she was, a prisoner in her own home, her friends and comrades fighting each other, the innocent people locked away and fearing for themselves, and Sasuke out there with a death warrant on his head.

What were the Akatsuki up to now?

God I am so exhausted I can't stand it. Focused solely on a summary of her life before now, before we get to the big business. XD This story is going to work no matter how short or how long it is, I'm sure of it.

Besides Robin Hood and Killer Bee Rappuden, "Vespertine" by Cynchick (a beloved favorite of the ItaSaku pairing) also had a part in this, specifically with how Konoha is under Danzo towards the end. And onward to the importance this story will take place.

I really never thought I would say such things, because of how my life is going lately, and despite my dedication to my work, I'm really struggling especially with certain ways I want my stories to go.

Readers sometimes say this doesn't feel natural, this moment is forced, they don't understand character motivations - they ask for too much. They think and feel different than the author does. I still stand on what I had laid the moment I became a member three years ago: I feel the commitment I put in here, so I'd hoped the ones reading will feel the same.

Bottom line: please don't ask too much of me this time.

Anyhoo, review please and NO flames.