A/N: Whooooooo it's finally up :D
So, to those of you who've read Mastermind (the prequel) then feel free to continue on (:
And to those of you who haven't read the first fic, then go read it now.
And if you don't want to go through 35 chapters of my previous banter, all you really need to read is the first chapter. There's description galore there.
There's a character info on Layuki in my profile, so that might be helpful.

Thanks to my supporters in the preque!
Enjoy the first chapter :D

Disclaimer: I didn;t own Naruto in the first fic and I don't own now.

I'm…almost there…

Blood dripped from a large gash in her side as Layuki ran to her destination. She could hear people behind her, her supposed friends, shouting and throwing weapons at her.

What was the world coming to?

It took almost all of her will power to keep moving, and dodging weapons and attacks were really pushing her to her limit. She really didn't like being at her limit. It set her in a bad mood for the day.

Just a little further…

She swore loudly as a shruiken hit the back of her left ankle, making her trip and tumble over. As quickly as she could, she stood up on her good foot and hopped the last three metres to her destination. She had gotten a good head start, but she wasn't sure if she could make it. After all, she knew her pursuers wouldn't give up until either she was dead or until she made it across the border. With a final effort, she lunged forwards into the safety of the Fire Country.

All the noise had stopped behind her. Layuki rolled onto her back and laughed. "I made it." She took a few moments to catch her breath. "I'm alive, you guys can't kill me now."

"We never wanted to." A tall boy with brown hair leaned down by her side. "Let me heal your wounds." She moved her bloodied hand away from her injury and wiped it off on her shirt.

"Thanks Saturou-chan." She watched as Saturou's hands glowed with chakra as he placed them to her side. "I'm alive." She said again.

On her other side was another boy with flamboyant orange hair and an arrogant smirk. "Man, it's so weird, knowing that you're a girl. I always thought you were kinda feminine; kinda like a transvestite, you know? I should have made my move when I met you." he ran a hand through his brightly coloured hair.

"Wait, hold up, you thought I was a transvestite? Well obviously you haven't looked in the mirror lately." Layuki stuck out her tounge. There was a bunch of 'ohh's' coming from the onlookers. "You're as perverted as ever Kyum, I would never go for someone like you."

The orange-haired boy looked like he was about to punch someone. "What's your name then? Tabashi Shouza is obviously an alias."

Layuki winced as she felt her wound sew itself back together under Saturou's chakra. Then she paused. "Names are a powerful thing, you know. If you know mine you guys might just bring be to the Raikage and I'll never be able to go home." She paused for a moment, "Besides, Saturou-chan knew for quite a while."

"You know we wouldn't do that. And I would appreciate it if you don't bring me into this." Saturou said as he moved on to heal the various injuries on her arms and legs.

Another person poked his head into the conversation. "What? Why did he know?"

"No reason, it was just chance. I'm fine now Saturou-chan, thanks." Layuki winced as she sat upright. "Fine I'll tell you my name. Just so you know, if any of you guys tries to take me back across that border, I will kill you." The three boys, and the several others behind them, made faces, knowing it was no idle threat. "My name is Fuyaku Layuki."

It was silent for a moment. Then uproar came, Layuki knew this was coming, which is why she'd been hiding her surname. They all seemed so excited that the Cloud's prestigious Fuyaku clan had a survivor that wasn't an S-ranked criminal. All the attention she received almost made her blush. Almost though, because Layuki never blushed.

"I thought all Fuyaku were dead!"

"That's so cool!"

"No wonder you're such a great fighter!"

Then Kyum asked, "Can we see your eyes?"

For the past couple years Layuki had kept her bangs long so they covered her eyes. When she received her Kumogakure hitai-ate, she placed it around her forehead so her hair would stay in place. Now, she moved her arms up, slowly because they still hurt, and untied the cloth removing the headband. Moving her hair to the side, she looked straight ahead.

"Wow. I can barely see the pupil." A blonde boy named Gruuno stuck his face in front of hers a little too close for her comfort.

Pushing him away Layuki muttered, beginning to feel embarrassed, "It's not that great. You guys are so fascinated, but it's honestly not that great. You should see the Sharingan, the colour is fantastic." Then she tried to stand up, but when she put weight on her left foot she toppled over again. Kyum caught her.

"Sorry, I forgot to heal your ankle." Then Saturou went to it.

"You know," The orange-haired boy started, "I'm starting to wonder how we missed the fact that you're a girl. Now that I think of it, you have a really hot bod." His hand made its way to her chest area and slapped him in the face.

"Touch me and I'll kill you." Layuki threatened, wrapping her arms around herself. In the just over two years she had been gone from the leaf, her body had matured. She had grown a bit taller then she was before, though she is still no where near average height, and she was no longer had a flat chest. It was no wonder the training camp she had attended figured out she was a female. When Saturou finished healing her ankle, she thanked him. "I kinda feel bad for you guys though, you guys barely get to interact with girls."

Kyum shrugged. "So you really can't blame me, eh?"

"I guess not, but the camp is really good, I'm a jounin now!" the boys groaned, she had been boasting ever since she was promoted, and she reached into her weapons pouch for her wallet. She frowned at its contents. "I don't have that much money on me." She sighed, "I guess the only place for me to go now is back home. Oyabun(1) made it clear that if I was ever found in the Cloud again then he would personally kill me. Thank Kami he ordered you guys to chase me."

"Technically he ordered us to kill you," Gruuno said, "He said to give chase until we reached the border between the Fire and Lightning contries. We're not allowed to kill you now 'cause we don't want to start a war." The blonde boy grinned. "But we weren't going to kill you anyways, Layuki-chan. We don't fight our comrades."

She smiled feebly. "Ex-comrade. I'm no longer welcome in the Lightning Country. But I'm keeping the headband no matter what you guys say." She picked up the Kumogakure headband and stowed it away in her pocket. From her weapons pouch she produced her hitai-ate(2) with the lead symbol on it and wrapped it around her forehead, this time putting it under her hair. "I finally get to go home. I wonder if Shikamaru will still let me borrow the guest room, or has his mother finally kicked him out of the house?" She grinned at her thoughts. "Never mind though, I'll sure miss you guys."

"We'll come visit you." Kyum promised, "Whenever we have a mission to Konohagakure we'll be the first to take it."

Layuki grinned. "I'll be waiting." She gave them each a tight hug and a punch on the shoulder. Then she walked backwards into the trees, which were now densely spread, and waving. "Keep in touch!" Before long the forest covered up the figures of her friends.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

After about four hours of walking, Layuki spotted a small hot spring, which made her spirits soar because her feet were beginning to ache. Delighted, she took a scroll out of her pouch and, with a hand sign, opened it. With a puff of smoke, a fluffy white towel appeared as well as some clothes that she bought earlier that week.

Since she had been planning to leave soon anyways and no longer needed to look like a boy, these clothes consisted of a long, tight, dark red, wide-strapped tank top with a black lightning bolt coming own diagonally from the left shoulder all the way to the left hip. After years of wearing only shades, Layuki'd finally decided to add some colour to her routine. Along with that, was a pair of baggy black shorts similar to the ones she wore back before she left the leaf village but shorter, and there were some undergarments. Also there were bandages, she had made sure she always had a good supply.

Due to the humidity in the Lightning country, there were hot springs located around and throughout it. It was not uncommon for people to carry clothes and towels in the way that Layuki had.

She activated her Hirukagan, which she hadn't used too much over the years, and concentrated on her surroundings to make sure no one was near. When she was satisfied, she stripped her current clothes off and stepped into the steaming water.

Soon enough, she began to feel so relaxed that she lost track of time. So she was surprised when it was suddenly nearly dark and there was a rustling of bushed behind her.

"Man, this is so tiring!" The male voice drifted to her and Layuki's eyes opened wide. Before she had a chance to do something, three people stepped out of the bushes; three people who, coincidently, she recognised. Unfortunately though, it seemed that they recognised her too. Due to that, there was an awkward silence.

Layuki lowered herself into the water and splashed them. "Go away, I need to get dressed. I'll talk to you after." She mainly aimed her glare at the boy with brown hair. When no one moved, she pointed to the two boys. "Go away." Then sweetly to the girl, "Hinata-chan, pass me my stuff, will you?"

With a flurry of movement Shino and Kiba quickly disappeared into the trees, but not fast enough for Layuki to miss the dog trainer's bright red face. Hinata handed Layuki her things, her face a light blush. "Long t-time no see, Layuki-chan."

"Ah, you've almost lost your stutter." She grinned at the Hyuuga heiress and got herself out of the water tying her towel around her. "I was just heading back to the village, were you guys on a mission?"

"Yes," Hinata turned away from the other girl as she got dressed. "We're trying to find a y-young boy who ran away from h-home."

"Hm, sorry, I didn't see anyone around here." She frowned as she wrapped her shruiken holster around her left thigh. Then she stood up and pointed the opposite way the three had arrived. "But there's a small lodging about an hour that way. You might check there" She smiled, "I'd show you, but I can't risk going to close to the Lightning Country, I'll tell you later. As of now, I have to murder Kiba."

Hinata made a small smile and followed her through the trees. "Don't h-hurt him too much, Layuki-chan."

Layuki grinned at her. "I'll try not to," Then she spotted a flurry of movement. "Oi, Kiba! Running's no use. I'm faster than you are. Come out and face me like a man." Then she looked up the tree beside her and saw Shino hanging upside down. At least she thought it was Shino, practically his whole face was covered. But there was no mistaking those circular shades "How's it going, Shino-san? Long time no see."

"Long time no see, Layuki." Was all he replied. Since most of his face was covered, she couldn't tell if he was looking at her or not. Nervously she ran a hand through her short hair, deciding to grow it out again. She missed her waist long locks.

"Kiba!" She yelled into the trees. "Come out now or I'm coming after you." Before she had a chance to say anything else, a large white dog leaped on top of her, knocking her over, and started licking her face. It took a moment for her to figure out that it was Akamaru. The dog's master came out eventually and grinned down at her. "Bloody hell, what have you been feeding him, miracle growth or something? Akamaru is freaking huge!"

Kiba frowned and rubbed the back of his head. "Really? I don't think I've noticed."

"Was that sarcasm?" She said, finally managing to have pushed the dog off of her. "Kami(3), he used to ride on your head!"

The boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Ha, well…" Then he looked at his teammates. "We have a mission to do, see you back at the village." He was gone before either Hinata or Shino had turned around.

Layuki shook her head and laughed. "Still a coward." Then he turned to the other two. "It was nice seeing you guys again, I'll see you back at the village. She waved her goodbyes and walked off.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Who goes there?" Layuki was just about to push open the gates to the Leaf Village when she heard the shout over her head. Looking up to the guard tower, she had to squint to make out the face. She grinned when she did.

"Forget me already, Ino? I'm heartbroken." Only then did she hear the blonde girl squeal and disappear. Within five minutes the gate was being opened for her and she was attacked by Ino who had wrapped her in a tight hug. "Yeah, yeah, I missed you too. Now get off me please."

The girl let go and looked Layuki over and frowned. "You're still so short! I'm starting to wonder if you'll ever grow."

Layuki frowned and felt a vein starting to pop in her forehead. "I'm not short. Everyone else is just harmoniously tall. Besides, my onee-chan is pretty tall so, due to genetic logic, I'll grow eventually. I do remember my father being a tall man, but maybe mother was short? I heard she was, but I never met her…" Then she stopped her rambling looked back up at the tower. "You were on guard duty? How boring."

Ino agreed. "Yeah, but you'll have to do it too. It's mandatory for chuunins, assuming you are one already." She smirked and pulled her in. "What are you waiting for, I have to show everyone how much you've changed!"

"Sure Ino, sure." Then she grinned mockingly. "By the way, I'm a jounin."

Ino gaped, and before long she was yelling complaints. Layuki ignored her and looked around, spotting a few people she recognised. The village was loud and cheerful, exactly how she remembered it.

I'm home.

A/N: So maybe a bit of a cheesy ending to a slow beginning, but eh.
No matter how many flamers I get, I'm going to keep this fic going my way.
As in 100 percent me. No beta readers, just me, microsoft word, and spell check.
So there's your answer if you see a whole lot of grammatical errors.

On a side note, I'm a registered beta reader (it looked amusing) so if anyone wants me to look over some of their stuff just message me? :D

(1): Oyabun: boss
(2): Hitai-ate: Ninja headband
(3): Kami: God

if anyone has a problem with my random insertions of Japanese words, they can keep it to themselves.

Thanks for reading!
Reviewers get Gaara shaped cookies ;3
fanny-kun