The next day when they spared, Naru got beaten around quite soundly. She didn't have practice fighting people at the same speed and it put her at a distinct disadvantage. She still had her supernatural strength, but since she was smaller she didn't have the reach to use it effectively. After several rough hours, Kurenai stopped their training, to Naru's great relief.

" Today we are going to do our first mission." said Kurenai.

" All right!" cheered Naru. She had been waiting for a mission from the moment she graduated.

" What's it going to be, sensei?" asked Ino, sharing Naru's enthusiasm. The three girls looked up at their teacher hopefully.

" As new genin, you will be taking a D-Rank job." explained Kurenai, sorry to be damping their spirits. " These carry no risk and you will not have to leave the village. They are really chores that the village needs done."

" Wait, chores?" asked Naru, confused. " I thought we were going to do ninja things."

" Not yet." said Kurenai. " These are simple things that you can earn some money for and practice teamwork with."

" Like….?" said Sakura expectantly.

" Well…painting a fence is what I did on my first mission as a genin." said Kurenai, thinking back.

" What?" exclaimed the girls in unison, disbelief etched on their faces.

" But…were ninja now!" whined Naru. " Shouldn't we…do something real?"

" No." Kurenai said sharply, indicating there was to be no more complaining. " You may have graduated but you still lack the skills to take on a serious mission. Once you have reached a level I think is acceptable, and only then, we will take harder missions."

Sighing the girls followed, hoping that their mission wasn't too pathetic. It was a quiet trip to the Hokage's tower, a combination of their fear of Kurenai's ire and dashed spirits. They entered the Hokage's office, Kurenai walking in front and the three of them walking behind.

" Reporting for a mission." said Kurenai in a professional tone.

" Oh, just in time." said the Hokage. " I only have one left. The cat's gotten loose again."

" You…not serious." said Kurenai pleadingly. " Your making us catch the cat? There isn't anything else?" Her genin looked at her, tempted to remind her of her recent speech to them and curious about what would be so bad about catching a cat.

" No, it doesn't look like it." said the Hokage, checking the list of missions. " Had you been here five minutes ago we would have had a flower garden that needed weeding." Ino sighed, as that mission would had been perfect for her.

" Fine." said Kurenai, slumping in defeat. " We'll have it back soon. Come on, girls."

" So, what is it? I heard something about a cat." Naru said, racing to Kurenai's side as they left the room.

" We have to catch this fat brown cat for this fat old woman." Kurenai said disgustedly. " The cat gets loose about every other day. It's a joke. There isn't a mission we could do that's more of a waste of time."

" But it's just a cat." said Ino as they walked out of the tower onto the street. " How hard could it be?"

" First, do you see it?" asked Kurenai, standing up straight again.

" Well, no." said a embarrassed Ino.

" The cat's somewhere in the village. A single cat. The only thing we can use to tell it apart is it has a red collar with a solid gold bell on it. We have to check almost every single cat to see which has the right bell. And after years of constantly being chased by ninja, the real one has become incredibly good at staying hidden and escaping pursuit." Kurenai sighed, explaining the difficulty of the job.

" So were going to have to grab and get scratched by every cat in the village?" asked Sakura, looking apprehensive about the mission.

" Yep." said Kurenai, turning at walking down the street.

" Hey, where are you going?" asked Ino.

" You can handle this on your own." Kurenai called back without looking. A few moments later she was gone.

" Great." said Sakura with a sigh. " Where do we start?"

" If I knew what it smelled like I could find it easy." said Naru, her nose twitching.

" You can do that?" asked Ino, eyes wide in surprise.

" Yeah." said Naru, beginning to twist her tail embarrassedly. " I can usually smell people before I see them."

" And you can tell them apart?" asked Sakura, sharing Ino's interest.

" Yeah." said Naru shakily. " Everyone smells a little different."

" What's Sasuke-kun smell like?" Sakura asked, her mind returning to her obsession.

" I bet he smells good, doesn't he?" asked Ino.

" No." said Naru quietly. The other two girls stared at her in shock. " He smells like death."

" Huh?" asked Sakura, head cocked in confusion.

" You know when something dies, it starts to stink?" Naru said, hoping they knew the smell. The girls nodded. " It's not really strong around him, but he just always smells like that. It's this evil, awful scent. I don't like being near him."

" Your making that up." said Ino, sounding scared. Naru nodded her head no. " Is he sick or something?" asked Ino, searching her memory for anything that would support her idea.

" Before Sasuke's family was killed I met a few of them. They helped police the city, and people were always calling the guard on me then." Naru explained. " They all smelled like that too."

" I don't think I could smell that." said Sakura, sounding determined. " I don't think it would bother me. Plus, he smells better than Kiba, right?"

" Kiba just smells gross. Sasuke smells evil." Naru said gravely.

" Take that back!" Ino yelled angrily. " There's no way Sasuke-kun is evil!"

" That's just what he smells like!" said Naru, backing away clutching her tail tightly.

" Ino, stop it." said Sakura, grabbing her friends arm. " We asked. She just told us."

" I know…" Ino said, voice sad. " I'm sorry, but you shouldn't have said that about Sasuke-kun."

" Uh, just a question." Sakura said, changing the topic away from Sasuke. " What do we smell like?"

" Ino smells like flowers and dirt." said Naru.

" Well, my family does own a flower shop." said Ino, shrugging. " What's Sakura like?"

" I…don't want to say." said Naru, twisting her tail tightly. She suddenly let out a cry of pain and pulled her hand back, having gripped hard enough to draw blood with her claws.

" Are you all right?" asked Sakura, rushing over.

" I'm fine. I'm fine. It's just these stupid claws." said Naru, looking at the blood covered points of her fingers. " I hate them almost as much as my nose."

" You don't like being able to smell all that?" asked Sakura, sounding surprised. " But that's so useful! You can track people by scent?"

" Sakura, you forgot to wash your right armpit last night." said Naru, wincing. Sakura looked stunned while Ino laughed. " Ino, you ate fried rice with chicken for dinner last night, and had a chocolate bar for dessert. There's a trash can in an alley near here full of fish that have been rotting for two days. The Hokage smokes heavily and everywhere he goes you can smell ash. Kurenai sensei…she's been with a man that smells like he's the Hokage's son."

The two girls stood stunned at Naru's wealth of information. The small blonde girl began to cry.

" I don't what to know that." she said with a deep sob. " I shouldn't know that. I know all these things about people that I shouldn't and it's embarrassing to try and talk to them when you know it all. I can hear peoples hearts beating and know if they need to see a doctor. The Hokage, he's old. Nothing smells right or sounds right, and I think he's going to die really soon. I don't want to know that, because he's the first person who was ever nice to me and I don't want him to die."

" I didn't know." said Sakura apologetically. " I never really thought about how bad having those claws and the tail and everything would be."

" Actually, I like the tail." said Naru with a laugh. " Let's start looking for the cat. I don't want us to get too far behind."

" Naru…" began Sakura.

" It's okay." said Naru as she wiped away a quickly drying tear. " I shouldn't have complained about all that. It's my fault."

" No its not." said Sakura forcefully. " It's our fault because we kept pressing you. We won't do that any more."

" Yeah. I promise." said Ino, smiling to Naru. Suddenly, she moved her head to the side, staring behind them and blinking. " Uh…look." said Ino, pointing. Naru and Ino looked and saw a large brown cat with a red collar and a gold bell strutting across the street. It saw them and froze. A moment later, the chase began.

000000

A hour later they had returned the cat to it's owner. Kurenai had sent them out on their jog, claiming she had an errand and couldn't join. The girls went on their run without her, Naru still suppressing her chakra so she moved at human speed. Even without her chakra, however, Naru was faster and had more endurance than the other girls, so they had to struggle to keep pace. After a while they encountered Lee and Guy on their run.

" Hello, fox-chan!" waved Lee as he and Guy ran to the side, keeping his distance from the smell sensitive girl.

" Hi Lee!" said Naru waving. She wanted to thank him for his forethought but thought it would be rude. " How's the training?"

" It goes well, fox-chan! We are on our ninty fifth lap! Five more without stopping or…." Lee trailed off as he jogged into the distance.

" Man, those two are freaks." said Ino, looking back.

" Well, yeah, but so is everyone we know." said Naru. " Sakura and you are the only two normal people in our class."

" Really?" asked Ino, sounding flattered. She was distracted at didn't see a root and tripped, landing face first in mud.

" Well, not so much at the moment." said Naru, leaning over Ino. Ino glared as she pulled her head out of the soft earth, spitting out a leaf.

00000

The next morning was rather awkward for the three girls. Ino and Sakura had made sure to shower more thoroughly the night before, but they were still rather self conscious. Naru sensed this and felt embarrassed, making the other two feel worse.

And then Kurenai arrived.

The scent of the Hokage's son and sake was unmistakable. Naru hated knowing these things and tried not to react, but she must have blushed because Ino and Sakura somehow read her and blushed as well.

" Are you three all right?" asked Kurenai, looking over her students. They were all red faced and she wondered if they were sick.

" W-were fine, sensei." said Sakura, smiling awkwardly.

" Good. Today we are going to do some sparing with another team." said Kurenai. " They should be here right about …now." The girls turned and saw Choji, Shikamaru, and Hinata coming towards them, led by a man Naru knew was the one that Kurenai was seeing.

" Hey." said Asuma, lighting a cigarette as they approached. " So, what's the plan?"

" I thought we should have them practice against each other one-on-one for a while, then doing some group sparring." said Kurenai.

" You heard her." said Asuma, motioning to his students.

" We have to fight girls?" whined Shikamaru as he walked over. " Troublesome."

" Your right about that." said Sakura with a smirk. " I'm going to …" Her words trailed off suddenly and she stood still.

" Sakura?" asked Naru, looking over at her friend with concern. She noticed the black line that was connecting Shikamaru and the pink haired kunochi. " What are you doing?"

" Winning." said Shikamaru, looking up at the clouds. As he did so, Sakura mimicked his movements. " I didn't feel like fighting at hand to hand so I used my Shadow Possession."

" Well, let her go." said Ino threateningly.

" Shikamaru…you should…" Hinata began to speak up, then drew back into her shell, staring at the ground and tapping her fingers together.

" Shikamaru, stop." said Choji, munching on some chips. With a sigh Shikamaru's shadow pulled away.

" You!" said Sakura once she had been freed.

" This is going to be troublesome." said Shikamaru, facing the angry girl in time for her fist to connect with his face. He fell over a short distance away motionless.

" You knocked him out?" Ino asked in awe.

" No." said Choji as he finished the chips. " He's just looking at the clouds."

" He'd better not get up." said Sakura, cracking her knuckles.

Though Shikamaru didn't join in, they began to take turns sparing. Choji was a interesting opponent, because he was too heavy for Ino or Sakura to move with their hits, forcing them to spend most of their time retreating, unable to create a opening. Hinata was fast and had a lot of skill, but she didn't seem to have any drive behind her attacks.

When it was Naru's turn to fight Hinata, she quickly became overpowered by the scent of tears that girl always had about her. She'd always worried about the quite girl because of this, but as she found the girl, trouncing her with ease even at reduced speed, she began to feel guilty. She had never told anyone about what Hinata smelled like because, as Sakura and Ino had demonstrated, it was better to keep her abilities to herself, but seeing Hinata knocked to the ground over and over made her decide to break her usual rule. When her turn was over, she excused herself and went to where Kurenai and Asuma were watching.

" Sensei?" said Naru quietly.

" Yes?" replied Kurenai, inviting Naru to speak.

" It's about Hinata." said Naru, her tail flicking reflexively into her hands.

" What about her?" asked Asuma.

" Something's…I'm just worried about her. She seems like she's been crying." said Naru, deciding it was best not to bring her abilities into the conversation. " Do you know if she's okay?"

" I don't think I should discuss it, Naru." said Asuma. " But I do know about it. Don't worry."

Naru rejoined the practice, unconvinced.

00000

The evening air was cool as Naru raced across the rooftops of Kohona, making her way to the Hyuuga manor. Despite herself, she was curios about Hinata, and if she could find out what was going on to make the girl so unhappy she could tell Kurenai. She landed on the roof of the manor, years of skill traveling quietly making her beyond silent. She crept quietly to the top and peered over, looking into the courtyard.

In the yard was a man and a girl a few years younger than her training. She sniffed the air, catching their scent. They smelled like Hinata so they were probably her close family. Creeping along the roof out of sight, she made her way into a window and began to creep along the dimly lit corridors, looking for any sign of Hinata. The people in the manor didn't sense her as she made her way around, finally catching Hinata's smell near door. She crept up to it and began to slide is open so she could look through.

" What are you doing?" said a voice behind her, making her jump. It was rare for her to be caught without detecting the other person. She turned and found the boy she recognized as a member of Guy's team standing there.

" I'm…I'm…" Naru began, fumbling with the words. At lightning speed the boy jabbed forward with two fingers, striking her in the right arm. There was a burst of pain as he did, unlike any she had ever experienced, and she fell slowly into unconsciousness.

She awoke in a cold room. She stretched and became aware of a metal chain attached to her foot. She opened her eyes, looking around. She was in a featureless cell, chained to the wall. Sudenly, the door opened and the man she had seen training at the boy that had knocked her out walked in.

" You are finally awake." said the man disdainfully. " You will explain why you were in our manor near my daughters room, demon."

" I was looking for her." said Naru, sitting up.

" Why?" said the man, voice dripping with barely contained hatred.

" I was worried about her." said Naru, quailing under the mans gaze. " My team trained with hers today…"

Before she finished he cut her off. " My daughter is a failure, which is disgrace enough. And now you tell me that she has been associating with slime such as you? If you had been truly concerned about her, you would had stayed away. Come." he said to the boy, walking from the cell and shutting the door.

" Hey! Hey!" Naru yelled, scrambling to the end of the chain. " Let me go!" she shouted, but there was no answer. She sat against the wall, shivering. " Bastard." she said under her breath. She listened in, trying to see if she could hear anyone, but she was unable to. There was only the scent of dust down here, leaving her to he conclusion that she was locked somewhere secure and far away from anyone.

" Good job." she told herself sarcastically, holding her tail to her chest for warmth.

Even with her chakra slowed, it seemed like an eternity until the man returned.

"So tell me truthfully, demon, what did you come for?" he asked, taking a seat.

" I-I t-told you." said Naru, stuttering from the cold. " I-I c-came…"

" Lies!" shouted the man, cutting her off. " This is not the first time a thief or kidnapper has entered our manor, nor is it the first time we have put someone down here. It's very cold here, as you may have noticed, demon. You will not last long. The truth."

" I told you." said Naru forcefully. The man stood up and walked over to her.

" Stand." he commanded. Shakily, Naru complied. Before she could react he jabbed forward like the boy had done, striking her between the eyes.

"Ehaaag!" she howled, her head knocking into the wall. The pain of the blow was as bad as the last one. She opened her eyes, the world swimming before coming into view fuzzily.

" Interesting." said the man cruely, turning and walking to his seat. " I did not expect that sealing chakra point would change your form."

" What?" asked Naru weakly, holding her head in her hands to deal with the pain.

" Your horrid eyes." said the man with a sneer. " They look human, for the moment."

Naru blinked, removing her head from her hands. " They…look human?"

" It must be terrifying…" the man began.

" What do they look like?" Naru asked, tossing the situation aside. The man seemed surprised at the natural curiosity in her voice.

" Human." said the man.

" What color? What do they look like? Are they brown? Green? Please!" she said dropping to her knees and begging. " Tell me, please."

" Attempting to make me feel pity for you?" said the man with a laugh. " It won't work."

" Please." Naru repeated.

" If you tell me why you were really here, I will tell you." said the man, a cruel smile on his face.

"Uh…I was here to steal….I mean…." Naru fumbled with the words, unprepared for the situation. She didn't know what to say to placate her captor. " What do you want to hear?" she asked with a sigh.

" You really came to see my idiot daughter." said the man, standing up slowly. " At least I now know you are not in league with my enemies."

" You believe me then? Will you tell me about my eyes?" Naru said hopefully.

" No. You did not provide me with anything useful, so I see no reason to reward you." said the man, opening the door.

" Please!" shouted Naru before he shut her in. " I'll do anything! I'll leave the village if you want or stop being a ninja! Just tell me!"

The man stopped just before closing the door, apparently tempted by her suggestion.

" There is one thing I would accept." said the man. " But I would not tell you until after you had done it. However, as a monster, it will be a task you will enjoy."

" Anything." said Naru breathlessly, not daring to claim she was not a monster.

" Kill Hinata." said her father in a detached voice.

" Your…daughter?" Naru asked, blinking. " Why would you want her dead?"

" She is a failure and a disgrace to me, as I mentioned. Should she be slain, my younger daughter could take the role as my heir. It is the only price I will accept." said the man, hatred etched into every syllable. He looked back through the door to where Naru sat in silence.

" Your what's making her sad." said Naru. The man's face began to contort in rage. " Why do you hate her? She's your daughter!"

" What could you, demon, understand?" said the man through gritted teeth, walking towards her menacingly.

" But…she's your daughter." said Naru, looking up at the man in confusion. She felt oddly unafraid of him. " I thought…" said Naru, deciding to play the part of a demon to placate the man. " I thought humans valued the lives of their children beyond anything."

" We…do." said the man as if he had been struck. " But if one is a disgrace…"

" You'd be willing to set me on her then?" said Naru, holding up a claw and looking at it as if inspecting a weapon. " I'll have to kill her quick so she doesn't use that technique you used on me. I suppose the throat would be easiest. Is she still asleep?"

" She is." said Hinata's father, his tone faltering.

" Who would find her?" asked Naru, trying to sound mildly entertained. The man was taken aback. " I suppose you would be the first to see so you can confirm it. Could you handle that? I want to know about my eyes as soon as possible."

" What is this fascination with your eyes?" asked the man, changing the subject hastily.

" I want to know what I'd look like human." Naru said truthfully. " I hate my eyes."

" You seem more fond of your other…characteristics." said the man, eyeing Naru's claws.

" I hate all of them but the tail. I can smell to much, hear too much, and everyone is scared of me." said Naru, finding it easier to tell her captor than her friends. " If I could, I'd get rid of them in a minute. I guess their like your daughter. Something I have I don't want."

Naru couldn't help herself and smiled. The man was so floored by her final comment that he simply stood there blinking his eyes.

" I won't kill your daughter." said Naru, sitting back. " I was just making a point."

To Naru's surprise, the man suddenly stood and unlocked the chain.

" You will leave and never mention this to anyone." he said before adding, " Your eyes are blue."

00000

Blue. thought Naru, touching her brow. She was sitting on top of the Hokage's monument and looking over the village as the sun came up. Her vision had returned to normal, as had, she guessed, her eyes. She's only had a short chance to see them reflected in a puddle before they changed, but they had been beautiful. She had cried with joy when she had seen them.

She didn't want to be a demon anymore, and she was going to find a way to change it.