Disclaimer: I wish I did own Naruto but sadly this is not the case.

Training ground 7 was one of the most versatile training areas in Konoha; it had a sizeable clearing, several acres of densely forested area and even a rather deep stream with a small waterfall and a small lake, besides a terrain of tightly packed soil but few rocks, optimal for trying out new Doton ninjutsu. All in all, it offered plenty of options for the ninjas that wanted to try something new, or refine their already learned skills under new situations, primary reason Kakashi had chosen the training area to host his team's training schedule. This day, however, it would serve well as a testing ground for Uzumaki Naruto, so the Hokage could survey the result of the training trip with her fellow Sannin.

Naruto stretched a bit, loosening her muscles in preparation for the fight, while Kakashi waited for her and jingled the bell tied to his belt a little. Once both shinobi were ready, Tsunade gave the order to begin. Neither Kakashi nor Naruto moved an inch, and that prompted Kakashi to raise his eyebrow in wonder. Three years ago, during this same test, Naruto had run towards him in a vain attempt to snatch the bell with pure taijutsu, and he had to admit he was not expecting Naruto to be much more patient now. It was one of those patterns of conduct that seemed to be a core part of Naruto's personality.

-"So, Naruto, I see you learned some patience during your trip with Jiraiya-sama. It is good to see his training didn't go to waste"-

Naruto's only answer was to move into a loose battle stance, hands half raised in front of her, legs slightly bent and a little spread and upper body slightly hunched over. In Kakashi's expert opinion it looked well balanced, if a bit improvised, the kind of stance a street fighter achieves after years of first-hand combat experience and no formal training. Naruto told Kakashi:

-"So, sensei, what will be first? Taijutsu?"-

Kakashi took his own stance and smiled under his mask.

-"Sure thing, we'll have plenty of time for genjutsu and ninjutsu later on"-

Naruto nodded once, and then literally exploded into motion, charging the jönin in a head-on movement, almost the same as that other time three years ago. Kakashi frowned a little, thinking that Naruto would have learned a little more complex attack pattern during the training trip, when one of the most impressive things he had seen his student ever do happened: Naruto literally jumped in five different directions, AT THE SAME TIME. Kakashi stood still a fraction of a second, mouth agape. Even without his sharingan he could tell there were no handsigns involved, no muscles tensing in preparation, no tell-tale smoke wisps at all to point at the performing of the kage bunshin no jutsu, in fact he was sure that nothing short of a doujutsu like the byakugan, that saw the chakra being molded directly, could warn the victim of the jutsu's execution, besides the obvious fact that one step there was one Naruto there and the next five different enemies were surrounding him.

The surprise at such flawless jutsu execution was so great that Kakashi got connected by a solid straight right that tagged him in the chest, before his experience and reflexes kicked in and allowed him to jump after the second and third clone's attacks, avoiding cleanly the fourth clone with a midair spin, but having to cover from the roundhouse kick of the last clone with his forearm, the bone-jarring impact made him clench his teeth and threw him a good 30 feet away from the melee.

Kakashi shook his arm a little to check for injuries; he had not expected such strength from the petite female body. Quickly realizing the mistake of further underestimating his opponent, he uncovered his sharingan eye, memento from his deceased teammate Obito, to keep track of the five Narutos that were already approaching in a swirling attack pattern, trying to get one of them in his blind spot. Kakashi just waited for them to close in, and then launched his counterattack, rushing one of the clones and throwing a lightning fast combination of punches, intent into cutting short the numerical advantage as soon as possible. The attacked Naruto reacted much faster than expected and managed to duck and weave out of most of the attacks, covering the last few with her arms, except for the last one that slipped past her defense; but before Kakashi was able to capitalize in this, two other clones were already upon him, forcing him to retreat. Kakashi noted that the Naruto he attacked didn't dispel and he thought that he had gotten lucky and found the real Naruto at the first try, when another clone tried to punch him from behind and was forced back by his back kick, which she repelled with her crossed forearms.

And then, Kakashi's blood began to run cold. He had just hit two different clones with solidly connected impacts; sure, both of them had guarded on time, but the kage bunshin jutsu needed a grazing contact to be dispelled. And yet, all five of the clones remained. In fact the kicked one was rubbing her gloved forearms, while the one he had punched first was standing between her two rescuers. All five clones smiled sweetly at him, and one of them even made a negation movement with her hand while winking and saying:

-"Nu-hu, you're not getting rid of us that easily, Kakashi-sensei"-

Another Naruto added:

-"This time you're going to have to actually work to keep that bell away from us, you know?"-

And then the five of them were upon him, with a speed that would have overwhelmed a less skilled shinobi quickly, and the six figures in the clearing spent the next minutes intertwined in a complex, beautiful dance of war that looked more like a staged choreography than an actual battle; the older shinobi twisting and jumping in the middle of the battlefield throwing punches and kicks to any target within reach, while the group of five blonde kunoichi worked in perfect coordination with their superior numbers and flexibility to offset the jönin's higher speed and sharingan's prediction capabilities.

After almost ten minutes of nonstop taijutsu battle, even Kakashi's stamina was beginning to run low, along with his patience. He had not had even a single chance to get one of the blonde girls in a one-on-one combat where he could overwhelm them and begin to lessen their numbers. The number five seemed to be the magic kage bunshin number, where they never got in the way of one another but at least one was always within reach to back the other up and deny Kakashi his advantage. Add to that the frightening discovery Kakashi had made about this improved kage bunshin Naruto had developed: they didn't dispelled with a simple hit in a hand, forearm, or shin. Somehow, Naruto had found the way to make the clones much more resilient than usual, and that made the task of dispelling them exponentially harder; right now Kakashi theorized that only a blow that would seriously harm a human being would dispel the girls around him, which sucked big time since until now he had been unable to maneuver them into such a position.

Finally deciding that enough was enough, and realizing that Naruto was playing his own strengths, precisely at outlasting him in the stamina department, Kakashi used a quick Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu to merge onto the earth and almost immediately emerge from it outside the circle of Narutos, clobber the nearest one in the back of the head with a backhanded fist and the next closest he managed to connect in the chin with a powerful sideway kick while the other three clones put some distance between them. Kakashi's theory proved correct, since both the clones he connected exploded in discrete, almost noiseless puffs of smoke, while the other three regrouped.

-"Well, Kakashi-sensei, I was wondering when you were going to begin throwing ninjutsu around, seeing as I already used my first one a while ago"-

Kakashi sweatdropped a little at that, it was so obvious that Naruto had opened the ninjutsu can since the very beginning, but he had been so engaged in the battle and his speculation of this improved kage bunshin that he had forgotten completely. Deciding that some payback was in order, Kakashi flashed through the hand seals of one of his favorite jutsu, and after taking a deep breath, he took his hand to his mouth and casted Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu, throwing the large ball of fire towards the clone group. Instead of the clones scrambling for cover, Kakashi felt a spike of chakra between them, and out of thin air, another Naruto appeared, already taking her hand to her mouth, making a ring with her thumb and index finger. Kakashi's eye widened when he realized what was happening, and the newly appeared Naruto performed the exact same jutsu; only with two times as much chakra as he had poured into it. The result was a larger fireball coming in his direction and practically swallowing his own attack, rolling towards him rather fast. Kakashi jumped backwards towards the stream that bordered the clearing, for once glad he had the foresight to choose a training ground with plenty of water. Landing deftly in the stream, Kakashi launched into another lightning fast series of hand seals to perform Suiton: Suijinheki, letting the defensive wall of water take the hit from the fire jutsu coming after him.

The great fireball crashed into the water wall and almost instantly gave way and exploded into a dense cloud of steam, which covered the whole area for several seconds. When the steam disappeared, both Kakashi and the group of Narutos were gone from the clearing, having used the cover of the steam to go into hiding, presumably into the forested area that formed part of the training ground or in Kakashi's case, underground. Both Shizune and Sakura were heavily impressed by the performance of the small group of Naruto clones, both by the extraordinary resilience of the clones themselves and by the flawless coordination they had, that allowed them to keep up for so long with a superior fighter in hand-to-hand combat. Tsunade turned to look at Jiraiya, who sported the biggest grin she had seen him wear outside of his "research" activities, and he puffed his chest a little, saying:

-"She's impressive, isn't she?"-

Tsunade smirked, and told him:

-"I was half-expecting you to leave Naruto in a small town to read a scroll or two and leave him to go your perverted way, but I think I owe you an apology. You did train him well"-

Jiraiya's face turned serious and he explained:

-"At first you would have not been too far off the mark, Tsunade. But I got my eyes opened, and realized Naruto-chan could take anything I threw at her. Only then did I begin to train her seriously, beyond what the original plan entailed. Believe me when I say that that taijutsu demonstration is in no way her strong point"- Jiraiya's smirk returned, and he signaled the trio of kunoichi to move after him, to find a nice watching spot for the rest of the fight.

Tsunade, still slightly unnerved by Jiraiya's casual way to refer to Naruto as a girl walked after her fellow Sannin, and mused that he had had some time to get used to that already. Besides, she was looking forward to the rest of the fight. Her two apprentices just followed quietly, wondering just what Naruto's strong point that Jiraiya mentioned was.

Morita Mizuru was a fifty-some woman that worked in Konoha's Land Registry office. The slightly plump woman, with her dark, already graying hair tied in a high bun and her thick, square frame glasses, worked with diligence everyday to keep the registry updated and to help whoever reached her counter with a request. While she was a civilian, she had always taken great care in performing her labors diligently, since the Land Registry in Konoha was of utmost importance for the operation and security of the village. It was here where it was recorded exactly who owned what in Konoha, when it came to land, and with the many attempts at infiltration that had happened since the foundation of the village, the accuracy of the registry was very important to help the ninja in charge of security with their labor.

It was a nice morning, and Mizuru was in the back of the office updating the files of certain of land whose owner had sadly died a little while ago, of natural causes, which was rarer than not in a village like this one. Then, the bell of the office's door ringed, and Mizuru left the file and went to attend the visitor. Instead of the chünin that visited her regularly with requests from the Hokage office or the ANBU assigned to watch over the office, a cute blonde girl, no older than eighteen, with a light yellow sundress, a leather handbag and a straw hat, adorned with a rose, stood there, waiting patiently to be received.

Mizuru gave her a welcoming smile, and said:

-"Good morning, dear. What can I do for you?"-

-"Good morning, ma'am. I was wondering if you could tell me who owns a certain building, the apartment building at the number 11 of the Academy Street. If it's not much of a bother"-

-"Not at all, dear. If you don't mind me asking, why do you want to know?"- Mrs. Morita asked.

-"I want to know if it would be available for sale"- The blonde girl said.

-"Well, let me find out who is the owner. It will take only a moment, so please wait here a bit"- With that, the dark haired woman went to look at the files in the back of the office. It did take only a moment to find the appropriate information, it was pretty well organized after all, and after she copied the information in a clean paper, she went back to the girl waiting at the counter.

-"Here it is. It seems that it belonged to the Third Hokage himself, and with his passing, the ownership was transferred to one Uzumaki Naruto. It seems he's a ninja and lives in the building itself. You may want to ask in the Hokage tower if you don't find him at home, ninjas are out of town all the time"- Mrs. Morita said and gave the slip of paper with the name and address to the blonde girl.

-"Thank you for your help, ma'am. I'll be going now"- The blonde girl bowed politely, and putting the information in her handbag, left the office.

Mrs. Morita promptly returned to her previous task; and outside the office, Naruto sighed and smoothed over her yellow sundress with her hands.

"Who would have thought that Hokage-jiji would have made me the owner of the whole building? I always assumed he paid the rent for my apartment directly from my orphan allowance. Oh, well. It will be one less expenditure I'll have to make, I guess. I better remember to thank him for that when I take his gift to his tomb"

She thought, and began to walk at her leisure towards the artisans sector of the town, gently holding her straw hat from the brim with one hand to avoid losing it to the morning breeze.

Hatake Kakashi crouched on the branch of a big, old tree, using the colors of his clothing to blend with the canopy around him. An hour ago, he had went into hiding inside the forest of the training ground 7, taking the chance provided by the steam cloud released during the clash of a fire and a water jutsu. He had spent almost twenty minutes moving slowly around the thicket, carefully using his expertly trained senses to locate his opponent, and once he had done that, he had made a kage bunshin and sent it to serve as bait for his mark. As instructed, the clone had moved to a small clearing a little ahead of his target and sat against the base of a nearby tree to read his beloved Icha Icha novel, apparently oblivious of his surroundings.

Just as he expected, the target had discovered the presence of the clone before breaking into the clearing, but there ended the accuracy of his prediction. Instead of jumping his clone in an attempt of a surprise attack, or trying to go around the clearing to attack from it's blind side, or even make some clones of her own to surround it, Naruto had just moved a little to find a really thick bush that could disguise her golden blonde hair and set up to wait and observe the clone. Kakashi was not really bored by the forty minutes Naruto had spent in wait so far, ninja were trained to pay attention to equally boring vigilance missions for extended periods of time, and the fact that the first of the three hours allotted for the test had passed worked in his favor, but he wondered just what the blonde was waiting for.

He then noticed the first signs of impatience from Naruto's part; the blonde girl was on her knees and elbows, with the head half buried among the bush's lowest foliage, looking at his clone, and she began to squirm a little with her lower body, trying to shift her weight around to recover blood circulation without shaking the whole bush with her shoulders and give away her presence. The result was a very… interesting… shaking of her hips, which were raised high in the air in relation to the rest of her body, and the tight pants she was using didn't help any; Kakashi could not help but blush a little under his mask, suddenly remembering the chapter 11 of Icha Icha Tactics, where the hero Taro had returned to his home to find the busty priestess Umi-chan trying to clean the mess she had made in his kitchen, scrubbing the floor dressed in nothing but the apron she expected to surprise her dear Taro-kun with, and shaking her hips much like Naruto was doing right now.

Kakashi giggled softly at the memories of what Taro and Umi-chan had done during the rest of chapter 11, when a soft, feminine voice whispered in his ear:

-"You're having ecchi thoughts, aren't you, Ero-sensei?"-

Only Kakashi's long and hard-earned experience allowed him to react on time, using Kawarimi no Jutsu to replace himself with a log, and he saw the wood fragment that replaced him being run through by an awkward thrust with the tantö Naruto carried over her hips. A second Naruto was crouching directly behind where he had been, with the small blade still stuck in the log, and said to him:

-"Be thankful I didn't want revenge for what you did to me three years ago, Ero-sensei. Otherwise I would have given you no warning. And watch your step, by the way."-

Before Kakashi could wonder if Naruto's words did really made a significant difference in his reaction time, the last words she said registered in his mind, and he jumped instinctively off his just reached landing spot, which promptly exploded in thousands of splinters, courtesy of a couple of explosive tags.

From there on, it was back to the battlefield for Kakashi. Everywhere he went, explosive tags were already set nearby ready to explode with his proximity, or wires were set to spring kunai traps in his direction, and whenever he managed to find a spot of land that was not trapped, one or two Narutos were already launching either Kage Shuriken no Jutsu or Katon: Hösenka no Jutsu, the cloned shuriken and small but quick projectiles of fire targeted strategically to keep him on the move and return him to the trapped area. Kakashi quickly realized what Naruto was trying, and so far succeeding in doing, she was herding him back towards the clearing. She had apparently spent the forty-something minutes he had used watching what surely was just a clone, in setting up what essentially was a trap corridor, an area where the borders were heavily trapped with double or triple wires and liberal use of explosive tags and kunai and the third border was used by a couple dozen of kage bunshin that systematically threw ranged jutsu at him that, while very economic chakra-wise if performed correctly, were dangerous enough he couldn't risk to be tagged by them. Therefore, he had only one logical exit, the fourth, non-trapped side, except that it was logical too that Naruto very likely needed him to head that way to spring the next part of her plan.

Kakashi figured that he didn't wanted to know the next part of said plan, and decided to break free of the trap corridor. He had uncovered his sharingan eye when the clones began to try and herd him to the clearing, and he had no problem avoiding the various projectile attacks. Deciding he could afford to waste a little bit of chakra, having already recovered completely from whatever he had had to spend in the first few minutes of the test, Kakashi used Kawarimi again to move near ground level, and then sent a sizeable amount of his chakra into another Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu, traveling underground a good hundred yards and clearing the trapped border of the zone completely. Waiting to see what Naruto would do now, he eye-smiled in that characteristic way of his and turned to flee the immediate area, only to find two Narutos there, the first going through the hand seals of what he recognized as Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu again and pouring an alarming rate of chakra into the technique.

Kakashi quickly backed away from the clones, idly wondering if Naruto was a fire-type, since that was the only element she had used so far, and crouched in preparation to avoid the fireball coming his way. But instead of a larger than usual ball of red flames coming his way in a quick rolling movement, Kakashi saw the Naruto clone producing a superheated ball of white, yellowish fire, advancing very slowly towards him. He could feel the heat of the attack from a significant distance, and could only imagine just how hot the fire was, but realized that Naruto had put too much chakra into the power of the technique, and had forgotten to make it move faster. This way the attack was non-threatening; it didn't mattered how much the fire itself could hurt him, if there was no chance of it reaching him. He was thinking to make that his first lesson to Naruto after the test, when another, larger spike of chakra reached his senses and he heard the soft voice of the second Naruto clone call out another jutsu: Füton: Daitoppa.

This time, Kakashi's eye widened in alarm and he realized just why the fireball had been all about power and no speed. The speed of the attack came from the next jutsu, which usually consisted of an explosion of wind coming out from the user in a wide area in front of him and threw the targets away violently, with enough force to uproot trees; but now, the wind explosion began directly behind the flame attack, and the already white-hot fire feed on the wind jutsu and exploded outwards in Kakashi's general direction in a gigantic wall of fiery devastation.

Kakashi had to apply a large chunk of his chakra to get away from the attack in the form of a quick sequence of Kawarimi no Jutsu that had to extend beyond the normal reach of the technique, draining him heavily. Even so, he came out of the danger zone cooked medium-rare, with the small areas of skin he didn't cover rosy from the heat, and his stylish silver hair burnt at the tips. He took a moment to look back and realized that the combined attack had turned a good acre of forest into dusty ash, only few of the biggest trees had remained as charred husks, all other traces of vegetation in the area were turned to ash that was slowly settling down, like dirty gray snowflakes.

Elite jönin or no, he realized he would have been killed by that kind of attack, since there was no source of water in the immediate area to counter a fire technique so powerful. Three full seconds he had to contemplate the fact when another wave of Kage Shuriken flew at him, and half a dozen clones came out of the trees, trying to herd him towards the clearing again. This time Kakashi fought the clones back, and quickly realized that these clones were different from the ones he had fought with taijutsu. These ones were regular clones, and exploded with the first contact. They avoided close combat with him, however, and lured him into the traps already set in the area. Before he could find the real Naruto, Kakashi realized they had already arrived at the clearing, and he took advantage of that fact. He made two Kage Bunshin of his own to cover him for a second, and ran towards the stream, already performing hand signs. He sank another large chunk of his chakra into his Suiton: Suiryüdan and the stream literally came alive, rising into the air above his head in the shape of a mighty, roaring serpentine dragon, and launched itself against the group of clones, destroying both Naruto's and Kakashi's clones in its rampage, until the chakra was spent and the water lost its shape and soaked the ground, a part of it flowing back into the stream, which now had a water level a couple feet lower.

Surveying the muddy terrain to find the real Naruto, Kakashi detected behind him the presence of Tsunade, the Hokage, who raised her hand and told him:

-"It is enough. The test is finished."-

Kakashi turned to look at her, and realized she held the little bell in her raised hand. Quickly he checked his belt, and found another bell there, which puffed in the tell-tale sign of a kage bunshin dispelling itself. Naruto was standing behind the Hokage, along with the other test witnesses and he smiled when he realized that the massive amount of traps, kage bunshin and even the combined technique had had the sole purpose of keeping him from noticing that the bell in his belt didn't rang, long enough for Naruto to deliver the item she had captured during the moments he allowed himself to daydream with his beloved Icha Icha, and that most likely that crouching clone had been instructed to shake her hips knowing completely the effect it could have.

Kakashi clapped, approaching Naruto slowly, and told her:

-"Excellent distraction, Naruto. I never realized the bell was a fake, with all the other stuff you threw at me"-

Naruto scratched the back of her head in a gesture that everyone present recognized as purely Naruto's. Then, she reached in the kunai holster strapped to her left leg and pulled a small, orange book from it:

-"Thank you, Ero-sensei. Here, I have a gift for you. It is the newest issue, pre-edited version. And it is autographed"- And she gave him the little book.

Kakashi was on the verge of tears from receiving such a thoughtful gift from his now most-favorite-student-ever, when his mind registered the new nickname his not-so-favorite-anymore student had just given him, but instead of complaining about it, decided that there were more important things in life, like the little piece of bliss in written form in his hands right now. Thus, Kakashi mumbled something non-committal about an old lady needing his help to cross the street, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Jiraiya said that he too had important business to attend to, and walked off with a perverted grin in his face, surely heading into the direction of the nearest onsen.

Tsunade congratulated Naruto on a job well done, even if she went a little overboard with the distractions, and told her that she and Shizune were going to be a little late for the gathering, that she should begin without them. Then both the Hokage and her first apprentice left the training ground 7, tonton hopping next to them, and oinking happily.

Sakura had been lost in her thoughts, both by the impressive performance Naruto had given against their sensei, and because of the cryptic answer about Naruto's identity she got from the Hokage before the test began. Turning to said blonde teammate, she cocked her head to one side, and set her fist in her hips, telling Naruto:

-"Ok. I've been very patient about this, but now I want an explanation. What the hell has happened with you?"-

Naruto was looking in the town direction and for a moment seemed not to pay attention to Sakura, but then turned to look at her, and told her:

-"I'll explain everything at the gathering, Sakura-chan. It is a story I don't care to repeat, so you'll have to wait a little and get informed with everyone else. If you'll excuse me, I have to go make preparations."-

Without further explanation, Naruto disappeared in a Shunshin no Jutsu, much in the same way Kakashi had done earlier. With that, Sakura stood alone in the training ground, with a perplexed expression. Since when Naruto denied her such a simple request? Didn't he love to tell the stories of his adventures to anyone who cared to listen? Her adventures. The sobering thought crossed Sakura's mind and she began to walk slowly back to her home. It seemed that she was going to spend her free day attending to Naruto's "party", there was no way she could miss whatever explanation he… she, had to give.

Hyüga Hinata was walking on the streets of Konoha, enjoying the afternoon air and the bustle of the streets, with all the people walking around, tending to their business. The Hyüga household was always very solemn, very quiet, and everyone went about their duties in as much silence as possible, so the cheerful noise of the streets was a nice change of pace. She was not dressed in her usual ninja garb; the lilac and grey overcoat and navy blue pants with ninja sandals had been replaced with a dark blue yukata that was almost the same shade of her long, silky hair and had a beautifully done full, pearly white moon that matched her byakugan eyes, along with a white obi. In her own opinion she was a little too dressed up for an informal gathering, but the Hyüga were nothing if not very formal at all times, and her station as the heiress of the clan demanded she presented herself with great dignity in all social situations.

Next to her, her cousin Hyüga Neji walked with her, garbed in a sober gray yukata that, however, was not too different from his usual white ninja clothes. He, being branch member, could have chosen a less formal outfit, but he was escorting his cousin to the party and therefore had to look the part.

Hinata was excited while walking next to Neji, thinking in the invitation she had received in the morning: Uzumaki Naruto, her long time crush had finally come back from almost three years of his training trip, and the first news she got from him was an invitation for a party! It was not like he had invited her to a date, after all, her cousin Neji had received an invitation too, but the point was that Naruto hadn't forgotten about her. Hinata had always had a severe problem of self-esteem, and while she had been growing out of it with the support of her friends, it still was usual for her to have lower expectations of herself. Thus the invitation had thrilled her and she was walking with a beaming smile towards the Hokage monument lookout; however, the more they approached the gathering place, the more doubts began to grow in her belly, gnawing at her confidence. It became obvious by the time they reached the stairs that climbed the cliff side, when her step faltered and she grasped the handrail with so much strength that her knuckles went white. She began to seriously consider the idea of returning to her house, and apologize later for not assisting, when her cousin's hand landed on her shoulder softly. She turned to look at him and he told her, without turning his head:

-"I think Naruto-san will be very impressed to see you again after these three years, Hinata-sama. But that's just me"-

And he went on his way, climbing slowly the stairs. The vow of confidence helped her to beat the stuffing out of the self-doubts she had, and she jogged after him.

Both Hyüga teens reached the lookout area, to find a scene that shocked them quite thoroughly. A big, simple but sturdy wooden table was sitting in the center of the area, enough to have a score of people and then some sit around it, filled with foodstuffs of all kinds, and cushions all around it so people could sit around without risking their clothes in the stone floor. There were lots of paper lamps set up by poles around the area, since the sun was about to set already. However, what had both Hyüga stunned was the people all over the place, or more specifically, the Narutos all over the place.

Blonde girls in orange yukatas representing a sunset, hair in a bun held with wooden hair picks and whiskered cheeks were all around, mixed with the guests, one girl here chatting amiably with Aburame Shino, Hinata's teammate and friend; another girl there talking excitedly over an open scroll with Higurashi Tenten, Neji's female teammate, and drabbling something with an inked brush. Another whiskered girl was singing at duo with Akimichi Chöji a silly song they were making on the go about how "life is better with ramen and pork", with Yamanaka Ino oddly laughing her heart out at the goofy antics of the pair and their absurd song letters; and another clone was near the singing pair, with a pink apron tied over her yukata, tending at the barbecue grill, and joking about something with Rock Lee, Neji's eccentric teammate, friend and rival. And yet another girl was walking around the gathered "rookie 12" and the few others present like Ichiraku Teuchi, his daughter Ayame and their old academy sensei, Umino Iruka, with a teapot in hand, looking for someone who needed his cup refilled.

The new arrivals just stood there looking at the bizarre scene until one of the orange-clad girls noted their presence at the stairs and walked to them, waving:

-"Hinata-chan, Neji-kun, welcome to the party!"-

The blonde girl bowed politely to them both, and suddenly there were two girls standing in front of them, making them blink. One took Neji by the arm, and pulled him along towards the corner of the table where Tenten was, saying to him:

-"Come over here, Neji-kun. Tenten and I were discussing this new seal I designed, and I need you to help us see if they work any different from the common ones."-

A confused Neji was dragged along by the girl, while the other hugged gently Hinata and then guided her to the table:

-"It is good to see you again, Hinata-chan! Come over here, I have lots of stuff to chat with you!"-

The girl she presumed was Naruto being his usual goofy self pulled her by her hand softly, urging her to go sit by the table. Hinata complied with a warm feeling growing in her chest and the red spreading over her cheeks, at the beaming smile the Naruto clone was directing at her.

Hinata soon relaxed before the unusual circumstances and began to chat with her Naruto clone, who was telling her of the time she had been traveling with "Ero-sennin" along the coastal towns of the eastern reaches of Hi no Kuni. Soon she saw some other arrivals to the gathering, including the Suna representative, Sabaku no Temari, several jönin senseis like Hatake Kakashi, Sarutobi Asuma and her own teacher Yuhi Kurenai who took the spot next to Hinata's at the table; she once saw Sarutobi Konohamaru, grandson of the late Sandaime Hokage running after one of the Narutos that somehow managed to stay ahead of him with orange yukata and all; she could also spot her cousin Neji who had been dragged into Tenten's and Naruto's argument about seals, now absorbed in it too; and at one time Hinata saw Sakura arriving, being received by a Naruto and guided to the food at the table, but the pink-haired girl just sat quietly, deep in her own thoughts.

The sun had disappeared a while ago, and the paper lamps were doing a great job of creating a cozy atmosphere from the open space of the lookout, which had a beautiful view of the village below with all the lights that illuminated the streets. Most people had eaten already and had slowly gathered at the table, involved in several conversations, while the number of Naruto clones had reduced to just a handful, one chatting at the head of the table, another with Tenten and Neji and a third still going around refilling cups with the teapot, a few others chatting here and there. It was at this time that the Hokage, her apprentice Shizune and the toad sage Jiraiya arrived discretely, and the teapot Naruto split in two to go receive them, marveling Hinata again with the perfect execution of Naruto's signature jutsu.

Jiraiya held the hostess Naruto by the elbow, and whispered something to her ear. Said clone sighed deeply, a spark of sadness appearing in her otherwise cheerful eyes, and dispelled in a small wisp of smoke. The other clones at the place immediately apologized and disappeared, leaving only one Naruto at the head of the table. It was then that she stood, and said:

-"Good evening. I thank you all for attending today. Please listen because I have an important announcement to make."-

Everybody looked a little confused at this except for the latest arrivals, who just sat next to Naruto. Then, the blonde continued:

-"All of you have been asking what I've been doing all afternoon henged as a girl. There is a long story behind my appearance today, and I feel I need to begin by the beginning. Listen, I consider all of you my friends and precious people, and I've decided you deserve the truth"-

The whiskered girl took a deep breath and continued:

-"The truth is that I've lied to you all. I did it out of fear you would stay away from me if you knew the truth, even if some of you already know it, but the fact is that since I found out this truth I've kept it hidden, and that is not fair to you. One should never lie to her friends, if she really cares about them. So here it goes:

I am Uzumaki Naruto; genin ranked kunoichi of Konohagakure and the living prison of the Kyübi no Yöko, the nine tailed demon fox. I am a Jinchüriki. I am pleased to meet you."-

And she bowed.

Before the younger could fully comprehend what had just been announced to them or the older get over the shock of hearing Naruto come out with his… no, her terrible secret, the blonde girl continued speaking:

-"Sixteen years ago, the Kyübi no kitsune was compelled to attack this village, and since it is a very powerful demon, no one was able to kill it, not even the Yondaime Hokage, who decided to use an alternate plan, to trap the beast using füinjutsu. In order to capture the bijü, the Yondaime used a special jutsu to summon the Shinigami himself, and with his help trapped the Kyübi inside a newborn baby, the only kind of container that could survive such procedure. I was that baby.

The help of the Shinigami was paid with Yondaime's life, and the Sandaime, taking up the hat again, decided to pass a law where no one could talk about this with those that didn't already knew, in an attempt to limit the hate and resentment that the villagers would show to me, thinking me the demon reincarnated. We all know it didn't worked that well, for all of jiji's good intentions. But that law is the reason you guys were never told, and I was unaware of the reason of the cold treatment I got from the people until the genin graduation day, where Mizuki turned traitor and told me the truth. It was Iruka-sensei's acknowledgment that helped me keep my sanity in check that day. But the point it that I knew since the day I became a ninja of Konoha, and I didn't told any of you. I apologize for that. I was afraid of your reaction, but during my training trip I was taught that a friendship cannot be built upon lies, so I'm coming clean with all of you now.

Besides, there is no way I could explain why I was a boy when I left and I am a girl now that I'm back, if I tried to keep the Jinchüriki bit a secret. So the story goes like this:

A little more than six months after we left Konoha, Ero-Sennin got wind of the position of some of Orochimaru's forces, and the informant claimed his next container, Uchiha Sasuke was among that particular group. I found out and ran off the camp in the mountains where we were training to chase Sasuke and bring him back, just like I had promised Sakura."-

At this point, Naruto looked to Sakura who had been real quiet all the gathering.

-"My promise of a lifetime to you is no longer valid, Sakura-chan."-

Sakura's eyes widened in shock; everyone knew Naruto's nindo was "I never go back on my word!", and he had promised her to bring back Sasuke to Konoha; in her mind, it was as good as done, because for all the noisy and obnoxious that Naruto was, he could be relied upon. Before she could get angry or sad at Naruto's declaration, or say something in retort, Naruto continued talking:

-"The reason my promise is no longer valid, Sakura-chan, is because that day Sasuke destroyed that promise. He killed me"-

Then, the girl began to recount the day when she, still as the old Naruto everybody knew confronted her wayward teammate again:

Flashback

Naruto moved swiftly among the trees, running and jumping from rock to branch to tree trunk, gaining speed while descending the mountain towards the northern valley. He had been moving for almost two days now, with only a quick stop to sleep, and he was elated his plan was working well so far. Ero-sennin apparently had not realized the Naruto traveling with him was a clone, and he was grateful they were traveling and not training, otherwise his clone wouldn't last for five minutes.

He, however, was a man on a mission. He had an opportunity to fulfill the promise he had made to Sakura-chan, and he was not going to pass it up. He was going to find Sasuke and bring him back to the village, no matter what! Moving a little faster with renewed determination, he reached the valley in a matter of minutes, and it was a little longer that he spotted the group moving slowly through the countryside, without a care in the world, the Oto shinobi don't even bothering to set up a perimeter, so he put his hastily conceived plan into action: He called onto his signature technique, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and a good couple thousand clones of him rained down the apparently unprepared Oto ninjas. Clones began to be forcefully dispersed everywhere, but among the chaotic melee and the smoke cover of so many clones exploding all around the place, he managed his objective, he dived like a missile for his target and grabbing one Uchiha Sasuke from the robe-like belt he was wearing with one arm, he pushed chakra onto his body to carry him and jump off, taking a random direction among the trees.

A couple minutes later he deemed it safe enough, and landed in a tiny clearing, letting go of his prey, which just stood there looking annoyed at him, like waiting for an explanation of Naruto's behavior. Naruto grinned at his best friend, looking at the odd black and white Oto uniform he was sporting, the odd purple rope tied around his waist and the sword he carried, and told him:

-"How was that for a rescue, eh, teme? Now come on, let's get moving before they realize which direction we took"-

Sasuke's only response was to move with the fast speed Naruto remembered from him, maybe faster, and connect Naruto squarely on the face with a powerful straight punch. Naruto was thrown several feet back, landing on his back, and immediately stood, tasting the coppery taste of his own blood from a cut lip. Naruto hissed in an attempt to yell without raising his voice:

-"What is wrong with you, teme. Don't tell me you're still with that stupid idea of giving your body to the snake-bastard. Come on, let's go back to Konoha. Sakura-chan is still waiting for you"-

Sasuke's only answer was to sneer in disgust at Naruto's words, and he blurred into movement again, this time kicking Naruto in the abdomen with a side kick that threw the blonde against a solid tree, sliding to the ground afterwards. He then finally spoke:

-"You don't seem to understand, dobe. I don't give a shit about Konoha, or you, or Sakura, or anything other than killing my brother. Nothing else! If you don't get it into that thick skull of yours I'll just kill you and be done with it. Maybe that way you all will stop bothering me"-

Naruto stood and glared at his teammate. It seemed he was being as mule-headed as usual, so he would have to kick him around a bit to make him see reason. He had to hurry, though, the Oto ninjas surely had already cut the number of his clones down and they would be upon him any minute:

-"I'm sorry, teme, but I don't really have the time to stop and chat with you. I made Sakura-chan the promise of a lifetime that I would bring you back and I intend to deliver. You're going back to Konoha, whether you like it or not"-

At that point Naruto concentrated in his belly, and pulled out of the seal some of the demonic chakra of the Kyübi; a red cloak of the foul chakra enveloped him and formed a pair of ears and a single tail, waving in a nonexistent breeze, making his whisker marks thicker, his eyes red, his senses sharper, his body stronger. He crouched in all fours, and launched at Sasuke with all his might, trying to overpower him before he had time to use his sharingan or that cursed seal Orochimaru gave him. It was already too late for that, though, since Sasuke had already activated both resources, three black tomoes swirling in the sea of blood red his eyes had become, and his pale skin covered with black flame-like markings. Naruto tried to connect him in the head a few times, getting frustrated because Sasuke seemed faster that he had been during their battle at the Valley of the End, and not even the extra reach of his chakra claws was enough to take the Uchiha down for the count. In fact his opponent snickered and told him something about a dobe not being worthy of fighting him, and Naruto began to get desperate. Whatever time his clones bought him was surely about to run out. So he decided to gamble; he still had not full control over the second tail of chakra from the Kyübi, but there was too much at stake here. Besides, he was sure Sasuke could take a bit of a roughening up no problem.

So he took some space from his opponent, and focused on increasing the flow of chakra from the seal, not taking his eyes off Sasuke for a second. And then he was surprisingly pulled into his mindscape, standing in front of the beast's cage. He was about to yell at the demon to return him to the land of the living, when he noted in shock that he was not the only one standing in front of the giant prison bars. Sasuke was there too, looking at the red chakra pouring slowly out of the cage, and he mumbled something about Orochimaru being right, before he grabbed the bubbly river of dark red, sickening energy and somehow forced it back into the cage with a gesture. Naruto stared, shocked and amazed, and in an instant he was back into the real world, and the chakra cloak of the Kyübi was gone!

Sasuke walked slowly towards him, the little tomoes of his sharingan spinning, and he pulled out the sword on his belt, slowly, as if making a show of having all the time in the world. He then told Naruto:

-"That beast you carry is not going to help you this time, dobe. I'm not going back, I don't give a damn if Orochimaru destroys Konoha as long as I get my revenge, and since you refuse to see reality, I'll take your eyes out, since you don't use them, anyway"-

Naruto, alarmed by this unexpected turn of events where his trump card was removed from play so casually by his opponent, and by the seriousness in Sasuke's voice, tried to put some more distance between them with a jump, to gain time, but Sasuke was upon him in the blink of an eye, and ran his sword cleanly through Naruto's stomach, the kunai he had tried to use to parry at the last instant sliced cleanly in half. Naruto grunted in pain, and Sasuke kept moving, using the momentum of their jump to ram the point of his sword into a tree trunk, leaving Naruto impaled with his sword to the tree.

The hit against the tree hurt some, but the sword stuck through his belly hurt like all hell, and he could feel his entrails burn with a strange fire that was beginning to already spread from the wound: poison. He coughed a little blood that reached Sasuke's white shirt, and tried to raise his head to look Sasuke in the eye, only to find the Uchiha had wasted no time to make good of his threat, and all-encompassing pain exploded in Naruto's face making him scream in agony: a pair of lightning-covered fingers had dug mercilessly into his eyes. Sasuke had just blinded him, without hesitation or remorse.

Naruto screamed his lungs out from the pain, until he could scream no more, it seemed forever to the blonde boy but it was no more than a minute or two. Then the pain that had flared in his face and destroyed his thoughts went down a little, only a little, mind you, and in his brain began to spin random thoughts he barely paid attention to over the searing pain; then he heard Sasuke's voice talking with someone else. He idly noticed the other voice was Kabuto's and a little part of him, isolated from the searing pain, noticed they were talking about how letting Naruto catch up to them was delaying them a little, and Sasuke said it was time to see if the Uchiha scrolls were right about the Mangekyo. He heard footsteps and felt the blade in his gut being twisted around cruelly, which rekindled his pain a little, and after it went down to the point were he could think again, he heard Sasuke's voice in a mocking tone:

-"Don't worry about your so-called precious people. They're going to join you soon enough"-

And pain reached new, incredible heights as lightning chakra poured out of his opponent's hand and into him through the sword buried in his stomach. He found new strength to scream, and could heard the desperate voice of the Kyübi, yelling in anger and frustration that he could not die and drag the mightiest of demon with him, and just when he thought that the pain would go on forever, he began to go numb, and feel tired, like those times he had overdid his training, but many times worse, and the last thing he heard, beside his failing yells of pain, was Sasuke's voice idly commenting to someone, maybe Kabuto, that he had not gotten his Mangekyo sharingan:

-"… I guess he was not much of a friend to me, after all. Let's go."-

And then darkness claimed him.

End Flashback

When Naruto finished her recount of her confrontation with Uchiha Sasuke, everyone was looking at her shocked; Hinata had even taken her hands to her face to stifle a gasp when Naruto spoke about the way Sasuke had burned her eyes off. No one knew what to say, and Naruto herself was just standing there, very still, waiting for a reaction, when Shikamaru, who had his eyes closed since the beginning of the tale, looked intently to the whiskered girl and asked her:

-"So, Naruto, I'm assuming the Kyübi helped you survive, then. Care to tell us how?"-

Naruto nodded, and continued her explanation:

-"Yes, as I said, I was burnt from the inside out by lightning. Normally, being a Jinchüriki made me heal faster, and from worse wounds than a normal person could take, but this was too much for whatever rate of regeneration I had. I was lost in a sea of darkness, and I was already beginning to fade away, I knew it was over. But the Kyübi is a stubborn beast, and poured whatever chakra it could into my body to stave off death, at least for a minute.

It confronted me, and offered me a deal, one that would allow it to rebuild my body and make us both survive. At first I rejected its help, I thought that if I had failed to keep my promise, at least I could complete the task the Yondaime gave me, and rid the world of the nine-tailed bijü. But the Kyübi reminded me that Orochimaru has every intention to destroy Konoha, and kill all the people from this village I care about and I decided I could not give up if there was a chance to survive and protect them. So I squeezed all the benefits I could think off of the deal, taking advantage of the fact that the Kyübi was quite desperate to close it and was willing to concede a lot, and made the deal with it, which allowed it to reach out of the seal's jurisdiction this one time and it set to rebuild my body as per the agreement.

The demon remade me as a woman because it is quite convinced of the superiority of females, being one itself, and since the deal said: 'remake Uzumaki Naruto's body the best way possible, as long as he stays human', well, the bastard played this little joke on me. I've already reviewed the wording of the deal with Ero-sennin and others many times, and we've come to the conclusion the Kyübi was truly scared for it's life, since there isn't any kind of backdoor it could use to take over my mind, or get free, or anything like that. Not that I don't want your opinion about it later, Shikamaru-kun. But I can't really complain about the whole thing, since the other option was an unmarked grave somewhere in the mountains east of Ta no Kuni."-

She shrugged, and Shikamaru nodded. Then Ino raised her hand, like a student at school, and launched her own question:

-"And what about your mind. Are you still Naruto in there? I mean, you're a girl now, physically, and you behave like a girl, so, are you still…. well, you?"-

-"Yes, Ino-chan, I'm still me. At first, when the change happened, it was too much for me to deal with, and I was angry at the kitsune-baka for it; and depressed because of Sasuke too. I was a real mess. But Ero-sennin found me the help I needed when I needed it the most. I behave like a girl because I was taught how to be a girl as part of the process of acceptance; if I could not change it I needed to adapt or go crazy, and as I said, this was better than the other option. But yes, I'm still me, still love orange, still like pranks and still think Ichiraku ramen is the best food the world has ever seen"-

The Yamanaka heiress nodded at the answer, while both Teuchi and his daughter blushed at such praise; then Tenten went pale, jumped off her spot around the table and said:

-"Hey! But if you're really a girl then you go to the girl's side of an onsen! And if you're still Naruto inside then you… well, you… I-I mean…."-

-"Yes, Tenten-chan, I'm still Naruto and I still like girls, and yes, I will look if we ever find each other in the onsen. Thankfully the furball did repair my eyes as we agreed…"-

Naruto said in with a polite smile that then turned into a grin when she added:

-"… but if you think I'm the only girl that likes other girls that you will ever find in a public bath, then you're a lot more naïve than I thought."-

Both Hinata and Tenten went beet red at hearing that, and Temari shook her head in resignation when Chöji, Kiba, Kakashi and Jiraiya were all blown away by their nosebleeds (How Kakashi managed to do that with that mask of his is a mystery to this day). Even the ever-composed Iruka bleed a little and Shikamaru tried to hide his own nose in the crook of his arm, which he was using as a pillow, but he got smacked by both Ino and Temari, who were next to him. He only mumbled "troublesome blondes" and then went pale when Ino whispered in his ear that "now they were three troublesome blondes to worry about".

After that, the atmosphere lightened somewhat, and Naruto answered a few more questions about the Kyübi and her training trip, some were left unanswered because details of the training trip were classified, as all missions are. In the end, the group of young ninjas already known around the Konoha shinobi force as the "rookie twelve" took the news noticeable well, and assured Naruto several times that they still considered her a friend.

Neji put the general feelings in a simple phrase:

-"This new knowledge has shown me that you don't bow to fate, and that your words back when we fought at the chünin exam were not empty. I have nothing but respect for that, and for you."-

And he offered Naruto his hand. She took it with moist eyes, and by the time her peers had said their piece and left, all of them along the same lines, she was already shedding tears of happiness. In the end, Sakura was the last person to leave, standing quietly at one side while every other assistant talked a few words with Naruto before leaving. She was just standing there, still thinking and rethinking everything she had heard this day, when Naruto spoke to her and she realized they were already alone:

-"So, Sakura-chan, what about you? I'm a monster to you?"-

Sakura stared at her teammate, and shook her head quickly, trying to find the correct words to say. Finally, she spoke:

-"No, I don't think you're the demon, Naruto. No matter how obnoxious you're at times…"-

She tried a little joke to lighten the heavy mood that had settled over them, and then continued:

-"I believe you and I don't have anything to ask about it. But I want to ask you about Sasuke-kun. We can still save him, right? Together, I mean. We can convince him…"-

Naruto looked at the desperate hope being held among unshed tears in those emerald eyes she used to love back when she was a boy, and said:

-"If I thought there was any chance, any at all of Sasuke reconsidering his position I would not doubt in trying to talk to him again, Sakura-chan. But he has chosen his path, and we cannot force our opinion of what his life should be on him. He really intends to damn this whole village and everyone in it so long as he gets what he wants. There are only two ways he'll come back to Konoha, in chains or in a body bag."-

Sakura shuddered at that declaration, and Naruto put a comforting hand in her shoulder, and continued:

-"In human terms, he has killed me twice, Sakura-chan. The first time, at the Valley of the End, he rammed a chidori through my chest two times and I would have died if not for the Kyübi. The second time in the mountains, he killed me again, without the slightest hesitation; like you kill an enemy, someone that is nothing more than an obstacle for your mission. And I cannot in good conscience let you take the risk to try and dissuade him. He has already spat to my face the fact he doesn't care about you or anyone else, and you don't have a bijü to bring you back from death's doorstep.

The first fight we had, we were even and I held back because I didn't want to hurt him, so he took advantage of it to leave me nearly dead and flee. The second time, whatever training Orochimaru gave him and the fact the sharingan has some degree of control over the demon's chakra resulted in the fight not being even at all, and I'll admit he moped the floor with me. I've worked hard since that day, Sakura-chan, and next time I see Sasuke I'll go in for the kill. His plans put every life in Konoha in jeopardy and I cannot allow that."-

Sakura's tears finally flowed at hearing Naruto's words, and she hugged herself, as if feeling cold. Naruto just looked at her with worry and sympathy in her eyes, and asked if she would be alright:

-"I… I'll need some time to think, Naruto. But thank you for caring…"-

And with that, the pink haired kunoichi left the lookout. Naruto stood there, alone, feeling sorry for the girl that was her first crush, and wishing she could do something to help her get over the Uchiha bastard that had broken her heart. Knowing there was nothing she could do but give Sakura time to assimilate the news and a friendly ear to listen when she wanted to; she split into a couple of clones, who immediately jumped about to seal the various stuff and leftovers from the gathering in a couple of storage scrolls. When they finished and gave her the scrolls, she slipped them into her obi, and walked slowly towards her house, letting go for a moment of the heavy emotions, both positive and negative that had derived from the day's events, and just walked enjoying the cool night breeze and the stars in the sky above Konoha, glittering like a thousand upon thousands of tiny diamonds.

She would enjoy the last bits of the day, forgetting all her worries, for tomorrow, she had a world to fix.

Hello there, welcome to the second chapter. As you can imagine, it is not that I write really fast, is that when I wrote the first chapter it somehow became larger than intended, and I decided to split it in two. Next is going to take a bit, I'm afraid. And please don't worry about the Morita Mizuru woman, it is just a background random character, it is not like I'm going to begin to spam OCs all over the place.

Jutsu:

kage bunshin no jutsu: Shadow Clone Technique

Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu: Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish Technique

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu: Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

Suiton: Suijinheki: Water Release: Water Encampment Wall

Kawarimi no Jutsu: Replacement Technique

Kage Shuriken no Jutsu: Shadow Shuriken Technique

Katon: Hösenka no Jutsu: Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique

Füton: Daitoppa: Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

Suiton: Suiryüdan: Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique

Shunshin no Jutsu: Body Flicker Technique

Chidori: Thousand Birds

Countries:

Hi no Kuni: Land of Fire. The country where Konoha, the Village Hidden among Tree Leaves, resides.

Ta no Kuni: Land of Rice Fields, where Orochimaru founded Otogakure, the Village Hidden in Sound