*shifts awkwardly* Uhm... This fic is going to be a LOT darker than I thought it would be. So, um, when it gets closer to the sugar-induced darkness, I'll warn you?
Like... Seriously dark. Just letting you know.
~:~
Tsunade welcomed the brats home.
"What happened?" she demanded at Naruto's sunshine attitude and the other twos' surliness.
"We're going to be useful!" Naruto squealed. "These little black butterflies that are evil go around infecting people! I'm going to patrol tonight!"
She skipped out of the foyer, to her room.
"I see," Tsunade said. "Do what you want. Shizune! Get me some more sake!"
"I'm afraid I can't," Shizune said nervously. "If we get you more sake, we'll go bankrupt."
Tsunade sighed heavily.
"ARE YOU A NINJA OR NOT?!"
~:~
Naruto took out her mask that she'd borrowed (stolen) from Kakashi.
(She did leave a note...)
Slipping out into the night, she spoke to Kurama, who was awake and listening to her.
Do you think something bad is going to happen?
Um... Kit, don't flip, okay?
She opened her mouth, ready to ask why, when there was a sickening sensation through her stomach, not dissimilar to the one that Madara had made when trying to summon Kurama. Then it passed, and Naruto was left staring at a miniature, flying Kurama.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" The teenage jinchuuriki yelled.
"Oh, don't flip out," Kurama dismissed. "I'm a bijuu, yes, but I was originally a kwami. A god," he said at her confused face. "We originally come from the Hidden Continent, or as you call it, the Elemental Nations. The kwami keep this place as the ultimate secret. As both your kwami and a bijuu I can give you powers via a thing called a 'Miraculous'. When I'm not in kwami mode we can do our shared thing." He sighed. "Your seal will act as your miraculous. However, without me as your bijuu, you can be akumatized. Sasuke is vulnerable as well, so he can't be too angry."
"Everyone without a bijuu is vulnerable?" Naruto asked, worried for her friends.
Kurama nodded. "As long as I'm around, like personally, you'll be fine. If not... Then you're screwed." He grinned at her darkly. "Just don't get upset over silly things like your hair."
Naruto snorted a little. "Screw you, Kurama." She ran a hand through it. It had grown out like Jiraiya's had - and if she pulled it back, she felt like she'd lose everything.
"To activate your Miraculous powers you need to say 'Let's go, Kurama'," Kurama yawned. "But how you normally say it."
Naruto frowned. "What are my powers?"
Kurama frowned. "You control the elements. Shukaku's brat controls sand, Matatabi's fire... So on, so forth. Since your power also lies in tricks and illusions, it will rely on your chakra to create and hold them. Oh, and speed, thanks to your father. You can run, but only a certain amount of your chakra can be used for that."
Naruto nodded. There was always a price.
"When you're not in your Miraculous Form, I would practice your genjutsu ability. Talk with everyone around you," Kurama instructed briskly. "I will speak with other kwami when I'm around them. But for now, let's get started with practicing your coordination.'
Naruto nodded. "Alright." She took a deep breath. "Ikuzo, Kurama!"
In a flash of orange, Kurama was gone. Her clothes were replaced by dark blue shinobi clothes, her mask warping and becoming one with her skin. Her eyes remained unobstructed.
In her reflection, the red lines of Kakashi's mask became one with her skin, her whisker marks darkened to be visible. Her eyes were ocean blue and her pupil was elongated.
And her chakra... Was very limited.
She bit her lip. She flicked her wrist, and the wind rustled. She thought about water, and water came out of nowhere. (Or, more accurately, she pulled moisture out of the air.) Her other abilities came to her quickly - fire was harder to control as she lit a nearby bush on fire, the earth manipulation destroyed a street lamp, and the lightning control reminded her too much of Sasuke and the scar she still had four years after he'd speared her chest with it.
Illusions... She could do them on herself, and only dispelled it like a chakra-made one could be dispelled; she walked into the street lamp and tripped. Hr illusion had been a forest, but it vanished after the fact.
After feeling her stomach warm, she assumed she was out of time and ran into her room - only she did leave two holes, one in the fence and one in the house.
She collapsed on her bed after that was done and Kurama came out, exhausted beyond belief.
But she was smiling, and when she crashed she had no nightmares.
~:~
Itachi was making breakfast when Naruto came out of her room, smelling strongly of strawberries. He blinked at her as she sneezed twice.
"You put on too much perfume," he said to her.
She nodded. "Had to fix the fence and the wall in my room."
Itachi blinked at her. "Did you break them somehow?"
"I have to tell baa-san what I did," Naruto said, ignoring the comment. She sneezed again. "Or you can."
Itachi blinked. "I could," he agreed. "As long as you promise to talk to Sasuke about everything." He gestured to her arm. She bit her lip, her blue eyes wide. "Or therapy in my world." He allowed a small smirk to cross his face as he willed his eyes into their Mangekyou form.
Naruto didn't seem fazed, one of the few people who never flinched at the sight of his or Sasuke's final eye form, or didn't avoid them.
She gave him a grimace that was probably supposed to be a smile. "Eh, I think that talk will have to be soon, anyway." His surprise must have been obvious, or she could read Uchiha expressions quite well, because she gave him a grin that didn't match her eyes. "I'll probably need to talk with everyone during Bonding Night." Weekly Bonding Night was when they got together in the living room to hang out together. It'd started during the time the turtle had taken to get them to Paris... And therefore never ended well.
Still, with A and Tsunade getting along better, maybe they wouldn't destroy the living room. Hopefully.
Itachi nodded, then frowned. He reached out to touch her arm, only to feel heat radiating from the bandages. Her chakra was slightly misaligned in her arm.
"Is your arm okay?" he asked, quietly concerned.
Naruto frowned and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
Itachi poked her arm. No reaction other than a raised eyebrow.
"Your chakra is slightly misaligned in your arm." He knew Tsunade could fix it (even if they were entirely misaligned, Tsunade was an amazing woman), but if the arm got infected -
Just as he thought that, the heat coming from her arm seemed to lessen, becoming more natural.
"Yeah, still working through the kinks." Naruto flexed her arm a bit. "Planning on taking the bandage off later."
She grabbed one of the plates Itachi had gotten ready. The oldest Uchiha watched her for a minute, then his brother walked into the kitchen, smelling strongly of cologne.
Naruto sneezed, and kept sneezing as Sasuke sat next to her and ate quickly. Itachi facepalmed as Gaara entered the kitchen and started sneezing, too.
"Allergic to something?" Sasuke asked dryly.
Naruto's eyes were rimmed red, but as she opened her mouth, she sneezed. Again.
Gaara pinched his nose together long enough to say, "Your cologne stinks."
