"I really appreciate this, but I can't accept this." Naruto sighed, admiring the outfit in the cracked full length mirror as Tsunami and an older woman stood behind her. She had to admit the outfit was cute yet was a waste on her since despite what she tried to believe, she knew deep down she was ugly.
Swallowing as she looked at the black shoulderless top with the diamond cutout showing some of her generous cleavage that was no longer hid underneath layers of chest wrap and a bulky jacket. Instead there was a half length orange jacket that the zipper was just started leaving it mostly open as it helped accentuate her curves. She wore tight black shorts that went down almost to her knees with her old ninja sandals adorning her feet and old, threadbare weapon pouches strapped to her thighs.
"Don't be silly dear, you deserve some nice clothing." Tsunami said giving Naruto a smile, "It's the least I can do for what you did for my father."
"I didn't do anything though." Naruto sighed, hanging her head with a heavy sigh.
"I know that isn't true, honey. Besides a girl should always look her best, and those wraps couldn't have been comfortable. Still you need some kind of support and this should work fine." Tsunami said, ruffling Naruto's head making the girl's eyes go to her short hair, another reminder of how ugly she was.
"You don't have to worry about paying, dear. This is on the house since you are here to help protect the Tanzuna and the bridge. When it's finished I'll be able to get all kinds of business." The older woman said, noticing the watery eyes on the blonde.
"You should save it for a girl who would actually do it justice." Naruto sighed. She didn't usually worry about her looks much, yet she couldn't help wishing deep down that she was free to and that she was pretty. She sometimes hated those feelings, but they were there and in all honesty who didn't wish that they were good looking at least a little?
"What do you mean?" Tsunami asked, seeing the girl glare hatefully at herself.
"Look at me! I'm ugly, my hair is short and ugly and nobody will ever love me. Nobody will ever…want me. I'm just a…monster." Naruto said, dropping to her knees as she buried her face in her hands crying. She wasn't sure why she felt so bad right now, wasn't sure if it was the fact that her cover was blown or the fact that she killed someone and would have died herself if Kurenai hadn't shown up when she did.
"You are not ugly nor a monster." Tsunami said, her voice stern yet gentle as she kneeled down next to the girl and hugged her. "You are a brave and very beautiful young woman."
"I killed that man!" Naruto sobbed out as Tsunami realized what was really bothering her. While she hated the fact children had to face such things, she knew that it was a way of life for the world that they lived in. From what her father told her though, nobody had really helped the young blonde with her first kill and assured her that what she did was the right thing as she not only saved Tanzuna, but her teammates as well.
"Oh honey, that doesn't make you a monster and neither does that thing in you." Tsunami whispered in the blonde's short hair. "If you promise me that you won't tell anyone, I'll tell you a secret."
"If you are planning what I think, Tsunami, I hope you know what you are doing." The older woman said.
"I think I know, let me introduce you two again. This is Naruto Uzumaki, Genin of Konoha." Tsunami said surprising the older woman.
"Maybe we should have some tea in the back." The older woman said as she hurriedly closed up the shop and locked the doors and secured the window shutters.
"What's going on?" Naruto asked softly, looking up to see the older woman closing up as Tsunami gently helped her back up.
"Nothing bad dear, I promise." Tsunami explained, rubbing Naruto's back as she guided the younger woman after the old shop owner through a door into the back where there was a small kitchen with a round table with a few chairs.
"Why don't you two get comfortable while I make us some tea." The old woman said with a smile confusing Naruto a little.
Kakashi watched as Sasuke once again tried to make it to the mark high up in the tree by using the tree walking exercise. As much as he wanted to defend himself, Kurenai and Asuma were probably right. This was something that should have been done much sooner instead of sulking because he ended up with the demon on his team.
It wasn't the demon though, it really was Minato and Kushina's little girl who hid behind a mask that fooled them all. He was angry at being lied to, but Kurenai had been right. For someone who preached looking underneath the underneath, Kakashi sure dropped the ball hard on this one. Instead of spending years tormenting who he thought was a young man that Kakashi was convinced was the demon since he knew his surrogate family was expecting a girl, he could have been giving her some semblance of a family like he promised his sensei. If anything ever happened to Minato and Kushina, Kakashi had promised to take care of their child and yet all he did was torment her.
"Damn council." Kakashi cursed, as they had convinced him along with so many others behind the Hokage's back that Naruto was a demon. They had showed documents that the child was supposed to be a female while hiding the parentage saying it was an S-class secret. Then they had shown other documents displaying records for a male, a male that obviously didn't exist or either a male's records they took from another child's to achieve their goals of making Naruto's life hell.
Blaming the council wasn't fair though, as it was only a handful of civilian members along with Danzo. And one of those members was a doctor high up in the hospital which made Kakashi believe what he was told. He reluctantly agreed that the demon must have killed the baby and took human form, though the seal must have wiped it's memories. It was best to keep it beat down so it wouldn't get it in it's head to attack them again. If they could make it fear them, they could control it.
"I was so stupid." Kakashi growled.
"Yes you were." Kurenai agreed as she landed next to Kakashi.
"Like your any better, I know for a fact that you never lifted a finger to help that kid." Kakashi said angrily.
"And I regret it. I never believed she was the demon, but I didn't want to get involved because I thought it was some stranger. I didn't know she was Kushina's daughter." Kurenai sighed, "Not that it makes it any better. I should have listened to Anko when she said I'd regret it someday."
"I should have been there for her." Kakashi grumbled, getting an angry glare from the woman.
"You should have been there for your student, no matter who you believed they were." Kurenai said as her glare intensified. "Because of you she almost died!"
"I'm sorry, okay?" Kakashi huffed, a throat clearing getting their attention.
"Sensei, what should I do now?" Sakura asked, unsure of what the next step in her chakra training should be.
"Come on, I'll show you." Kakashi sighed, wilting at his fellow Jonin who was angry at the fact that his students didn't even know how to do this.
"Are you doing okay?" Tsunami asked as the two walked through the market looking at the slightly wilted looking produce, though it was still good. It was far from choice though as Gato's goons took all of it before the market could really sell any of it.
"A little better, thank you." Naruto said giving the older woman a genuine smile. She admitted that she really did feel better after talking about everything and she was getting her emotions under better control. She needed to let all of that off her chest, though she didn't exactly believe that she was cute like Tsunami insisted, she accepted that taking the Demon Brother's life was necessary to protect her client and team.
It was hard to believe that Tsunami, and a small portion of the village were civilian survivors of a now destroyed hidden village. They didn't really have the chakra necessary to do much, though the older woman knew a few jutsu that was useless in battle and used next to no chakra, but was good for infiltration missions or a saloon. It helped make hair grow, change color and could even temporarily change a person's eye color.
The old woman had made Naruto's hair grow so her bangs now framed her face and tied the rest up in twin pigtails that the young Genin had to admit may be a little cute. The girl that looked back from the mirror was not the same one who looked back every morning. The little touches of makeup that Tsunami showed her how to apply from the small kit now stored away in a seal on the inside of her jacket added to the changes of what she thought was an ugly girl pretending to be something she wasn't.
"I'm glad, I'm really thankful for what you did for my father." Tsunami said, "You are a wonderful young woman, don't ever think otherwise."
"At least somebody thinks so." Naruto sighed, picking up an onion to inspect it. "It feels kind of funny walking around in a market without somebody calling me a monster."
"You aren't a monster dear, and those who believe that are idiots." Tsunami said as she paid for the onion with the rest of the things she picked out for their dinner. It was costing more than she wished, but thankfully Asuma had given her some money to offset the groups food bill. "Let's head back to the house and I'll get dinner started."
"I'll help if you want." Naruto said before stopping herself since she had no idea how to really cook anything except instant ramen.
"That would be nice, dear. It'd be nice to have another woman in the house to talk to." Tsunami said giving Naruto a smile that worried her. "Maybe we can have some girl talk. Like if you have any crushes on anyone."
"Why would I have a crush on anyone?" Naruto sputtered in embarrassment as Tsunami giggled lightly.
Heh, it's been awhile since I updated this story. In all honesty, I forgot I even had this account as I've been having some *cough*a lot*Cough* of problems since the last update. Things are going better now and when I checked my email the other day I had an update from a story so I went to see if I could get signed on and I did and found this story there which reminded me of it. I do want to continue it as well as two other stories I have ideas for. Sorry about the long wait, the next update won't take anywhere as long.