It was a normal day, she was happy, playing with her brother and his friend. They always played like this, she being the fastest of the three.

She ran giggling happily chased by her older brother and one of his friends. When he tackled her to the ground, she couldn't be happier to pounce him right back. She playfully growled before smiling brightly. Suddenly, her brother's eyes darkened and he transformed into an older man as the man who she thought was her brother's friend grabbed her from behind.

She screamed and kicked and scratched and bit the man's arms and legs. The man who had disguised himself as her brother came up and covered her nose and mouth with a cloth that had a somewhat soothing- scent- to- it.

Jiraiya and Naruto were travelling through Hot Spring country when they saw two men trying to carry off a fourteen year old girl, who despite looking drugged, was still trying to struggle.

"You there! Stop!" Naruto yelled out to the men.

The men turned to look at the blonde boy and the sennin. Feeling the anger radiating off of the blonde boy, they just dropped the girl and took off into the nearby woods. Immediately, Naruto ran up to the fallen girl, trying to shake her awake.

"Naruto, gently!" Jiraiya said as he walked up to the two young ones. He looked at the girl, trying to discern something about her. Naruto of course thought he was looking for another reason. "Ero-sennin! Don't stare at her!" he said loudly before picking up the girl. "Holy! She's light!"

"Come on. We may as well stop for the next few nights. Try to figure out where this girl's from and such," he said and kept walking toward the town that was in sight. He was curious about her. The girl looked normal, but he was nervous for some reason. Was it the fact that she looked so much like Kushina when she was younger? Maybe that was it.

She had dark red hair, tanned skin, same build except she looked, more slight, more feminine, and not just because she was asleep either. Watching Naruto carry her, it reminded him of when Minato had done the exact same thing after a training session. Quickly breaking out of his memories, he found that they had already arrived in the town and Naruto was trying to get his attention.

"Ero-sennin! Where are we going to stay?" he asked waving a hand in Jiraiya's face.

"First off, stop calling me that! Second, the hotel is right over there," he said pointing to a big white building, next to a bath house, and a restaurant.

They walked in and got a room and set their things in it. Naruto rested the red head on one of the beds and sat beside her, just looking at her face. Her face looked so peaceful and calm, he couldn't help but stare. The whisker marks on her cheeks were light, and she seemed to even have cat-like eyes, even though Naruto didn't want to lift up an eyelid to check. Shortly after, Jiraiya left the room to go get them some food, putting Naruto on watch.

The girl moaned softly and moved, feeling the soft warm bed beneath her. Wait, bed? Wasn't she abducted in the field? Did they- no, those men didn't. She wasn't sore anywhere. She sat up holding her head, opening her purple cat-like eyes. They opened even wider when she saw a blonde haired boy sitting at the foot of the bed, a kunai in his hand.

"Who the heck are you?" the whiskered girl asked with an annoyed tone.

Naruto jumped up and spun around at the sound of the girl's voice. "Who am I? I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage!" he almost shouted pointing to his chest with a thumb.

"Uzumaki? A Konoha-nin, eh? At least you're not one of those Oto idiots," she said with an eye roll. Those Oto-nin always annoyed her. She couldn't believe how puffed up the lot of them were either. She sighed and stood up, testing her legs to see how sturdy they were. Taking a few steps, she almost fell over but was caught by the blonde haired jinchuriki.

"You know, you're really light. Where are you from?" Naruto asked helping her back onto her feet. She was surprised when he caught her, but more surprised when he asked where she was from first.

"Uh, I was raised in Otogakure, but I ran away a long time ago. I was tired of them experimenting on me," she shrugged as if it was no big deal that she used to be one of Orochimaru's favorite test subjects because of her heritage. "I'm- My name's- Argh! Why can't I say my name?"

"Maybe you could write it down?" Naruto suggested. "On what?" she growled, "Unless you want me to use that kunai to spell it out, I don't see any paper around here."

Just then, Jiraiya walked back in the room to see the girl awake and in a half-defensive crouch snarling at the jinchuriki. "What the heck is this girl?" he thought before walking in between his student and the girl. "Hey now, let's all calm down," he said making sure he could see both of their faces. He was shocked when he saw the girl's eyes. He could have sworn all of them had died out.

"What do you want, old-one? I'm not going to attack the 'Future Hokage!'" she said with sarcasm dripping off of her tongue with the last two words. "The name's- grr! My clan's name is- gah! What is the matter with my stupid mouth! Can't say my stupid name!" she pouted crossing her arms and looking like the fourteen year old she was.

"I think I can at least answer your clan's name, young Nekoto," Jiraiya said placing a hand cautiously on the girl's shoulder. "Nekoto? We haven't- I mean, I haven't been called that in a long time. Oh! There's my name! It's Hana. Nekoto Hana," she said with a bright smile and then hugged Jiraiya.

"You had a genjutsu placed on you. So, Hana, where are you from?"

"I'm not sure where I was born, but until a few years ago I lived in Otogakure. I ran away from them. I got tired of them experimenting on me."

Jiraiya just nodded and walked out the room saying, "Come on, let's go get something to eat." Naruto whooped for joy and Hana just followed them out in silence.