[6] - Assistance

WARNINGS!

= OOCs

= Wrong Grammars and Spellings

DISCLAIMER!

~ I DO NOT OWN NARUTO ~

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

Previously / Flashback

"I don't think I will be able to go back to my time ...because I died at this age or at least I was on the verge of dying"

.

"Hokage-sama told us about you not lying before you came here so okay. I will put my trust on you and be part of your cover story," Genma stated as he adjusted the senbon between his lips. Raidou and Iwashi nodded, following Genma.

"Well, since dad decided to put his trust on you with Shikaku-san, Inoichi-san and Crow's backup, then so will I," Asuma stated with a nodded.

Jiraiya nodded when Naruto finished her cover story and a new background. "I guess your stories are acceptable to me," the man commented.

= 3rd Person's POV =

Hiruzen hated to interrupt the touching moment but he cleared his throat nonetheless, taking everyone's attention and both his student and the daughter of his late successor stood up.

"Now that the five of them had agreed to be part of your story, which I thank all of you for agreeing, let's get on to the next part," the old Kage stated, making Naruto blinked in confusion.

"The next part?" She asked.

"Why your rank of course. In the information and the cover story you made, you only reached Chuunin, Naruto, we are going to decide whether you will stay with that one or up a level," the old Kage replied with a chuckle, which she then gave him a soft "oh".

"So tell me, what rank did you reach on your world?" Hiruzen smiled kindly as he pulled out Naruto's (fake) information paper up, letting the occupants look at it, and blinked when she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment with a sheepish smile on her face.

"...Naruto?"

"I am still a Genin actually," she replied sheepishly.

Everyone blinked at that. "Huh?"

"Oh, don't look at me like that!" She flailed her arms around. "I didn't receive that title on my first exam and didn't have any more chance to take part because I was out training then the fighting fiasco happened!"

"...Fighting fiasco?" The old Kage blinked in confusion.

"Uh? Oh, the fourth Shinobi war," Naruto replied.

"The fourth ...war...?" the old Kage, who had seen all three previous wars, seemed to be looking older at the mentioned of that.

Naruto nodded. "But on the brighter side of that, the war that actually united all five elemental nations," she said. "I am not really sure if that horrible moment will happen in this world because the fall of the Uchiha didn't happen due to the help of an unknown Uchiha roaming around... somewhere," she added as she deliberately looked toward the ground as if it suddenly turned interesting, refusing to look at the grim expressions on each of the adults.

The old Kage sighed heavily at that. "We will ...go to that matter sometime later, for the moment, I have to give an official rank to you, which it slipped off my mind when I handed a new hitaiate to you," he said.

"Jounin? I mean only those who reach that rank are allowed to take that many S-ranks, no matter what your age is," Raidou muttered as he stared at the amounts of missions 'completed'.

"Depending on your capabilities, you could be a Tokubetsu Jounin like us, or still stays as Chuunin," Genma commented. "Chuunins are not allowed to take S-ranks unless you are accompanied by at least one person who is either a Tokujou, Jounin or maybe an ANBU, and Jiraiya-sama, nevermind being one of the Sannin, is a Jounin himself," he added.

"Uuh... Before the war, putting my Genin rank aside, my jutsus were limited to Kage Bunshin, Rasengan, wind-chakra infused to the jutsu, any other jutsus related to that particular one, and Fuuinjutsu, oh and I am the next Toad Sage after Ero-sennin," she replied, and everyone widened their eyes at that before she continued.

"During the war, due to us being friends," she started and everyone blinked in confusion at the "us" part. "I can use my tenant's chakra freely and go full Kyuubi-chakra mode and his full form. Yes, that full form you saw twelve years ago," she added the last part with a smile, ignoring the choking sounds around her. "And then... I received the Yang power of old man Rikudou Sennin but-" she said as she stared at her right palm.

"Hold on! Aren't you a bit overpowered there? Kind of unbelievable now," Jiraiya gaped as he waved his arms around, cutting whatever Naruto was trying to say.

"I know but the power is really necessary. I mean the enemy actually Edo Tensei-ed Uchiha Madara and actually revived the man so yes, we were fighting the Uchiha Madara in his flesh and blood," she stated blankly as she looked up, everyone gaped at that. "Before he was used to be the vessel of a crazy lady that people once called her the Rabbit Goddess," she continued.

"That ...is some crazy sh*t I just heard," Genma muttered as he rubbed his forehead.

"I am actually thinking about Jounin," the old Kage muttered before he turned to the Jounin Commander and the head of the Analysis Team from the Intelligence Division. "You have been silent for quite a while, Shikaku, Inoichi. What are your opinions about this?" He asked.

"Jounin would be preferable actually. Her having that much power in her arsenal and inheriting many sides from the Yondaime but that can't be a valid reason. Tokujou then?" Inoichi sighed before he too turned to Shikaku. "Shikaku?"

"Hm... Based on what you said, you only mentioned wind-infused Rasengan, were you only trained your Wind on Rasengan only?" He asked, looking at the blonde, which she nodded and he nodded back.

"Right. Being a Jounin, you need to have proficiency in at least two elemental affinities or if only possesses one, fully mastered that one particular affinity. But if neither of those Ninjutsu-related applies to you, you will have to fully mastered either Taijutsu or Genjutsu," Shikaku said as he raised two fingers.

"Take Gai and Kurenai for examples of those. And as stated before, you only trained your Wind on Yondaime's personal jutsu, which means you weren't trained on any other," he continued. "You don't fulfil the requirement in being a Jounin and if you were to stay being Chuunin, you will be limited to many things, so I think you can get the title of Tokubetsu Jounin", Shikaku ended.

Hiruzen nodded at that and turned to Naruto. "Is that okay with you..." He trailed when he saw the sheepish expression on the blonde's face. "Is there something wrong?"

"Uum... Not that I have any problem with being a Tokubetsu Jounin because really, I would prefer Tokujou than Jounin, but I just wanted to say that I may or may not have forgotten to mention that I am able to use the other four affinities?" Naruto grinned sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head.

"I inherited those after the other eight Bijuus gave me some of their chakras* so... Yeah... Oh, also three Kekkei Genkai..." She added slowly.

"Naruto, you are way too overpowered," the old Kage sighed as he sweatdropped.

"Uuh... If it helps, casting Genjutsu is still a lost cause to me," she smiled sheepishly. "...And my sage of six paths mode given by the sage is no longer with me...?"

"...I guess not...," she muttered, sweatdropping when the people around gave her a blank stare as, Sage of Six Path's power aside, she only mentioned "casting" rather than the whole Genjutsu related.

Naruto sighed. "Truthfully, I am pretty sure those disappeared alongside the power granted by old man Sage. After all, both I and the holder of the Yin side of the power lost half of our arms that held the powers, right elbow for me and left elbow for that person," she stated as she waved her right arm around.

"Wait, what?!" Jiraiya gaped, everyone's eyes immediately turned to look at her attached elbow.

"We had a huge major disagreement at that time," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "For some reason, my missing elbow grew back and able to function normally when I was sent here," she continued.

Hiruzen sighed at that as he crossed his fingers together before clearing his throat. "I have decided. Chuunin Uzukaze Tooru, I hereby promote you to Tokubetsu Jounin. I hope you will still continue to protect the village and her King," the old Kage announced before Cat dropped into the office and handed a flak jacket to the blonde.

Naruto immediately straightened up as she activated the seal on her neck, which painted her hair red and hid her whiskers-like birthmark. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," she said as she gave the Kage a small bow before accepting the flak jacket, which she then put it in her storage seal on her left wrist.

Before anyone could question her about that, they blinked when they heard a scratching sound and all of them turned to the source.

A grey kitten size ninneko with darker markings on his cheeks**, wearing a Konoha hitaiate with Uchiha symbol printed on the cloth, was standing by the window, scratching it as he tried to get their attention, particularly the Hokage's.

Deactivating the silencing seal, the Kage went and slid the window open, which the ninneko entered, landing on the said Kage's desk. "Hokage-sama, I am Sasuke-san's messenger ninneko, Meji. Uum... His Jounin-sensei fall unconscious after informing him and his teammates that the Kirigakure's Seven Seven Ninja Swordsmen they fought was actually still alive. All of them are injured so Sasuke-san sent me to request a back-up and hopefully a medic too in his sensei's stead," the ninneko informed.

The air surrounding the office turned tense at the request as everyone immediately stood up straight. "You may go, Meji," the Kage nodded, which the ninneko nodded back before poofing away.

Turning to the Shinobis in front of him, "I will be sending you there, Tooru," he said. "The rest of you are to stay. We still haven't finished yet," the old Kage stated, making everyone blinked at that before the man turned to Tooru again.

"It's just a story that some of us need to have a match with the rest if someone were to ask. It will be grave if your background matches but our first meeting didn't," the Kage chuckled, which Tooru gave a soft "oh". "If someone were to ask you, just said we met through Minato, which is not wrong but the details will be informed to you when you come back," he added.

"Yes, sir," Everyone replied at the same time.

"I will be leaving now, jii-chan, Ero-Sennin, everyone," she grinned.

"You have your necessities with you already?" Jiraiya asked in confusion.

"I always bring them with me in a seal for a just-in-case situation," she replied, not mentioning that everything in the seal was also brought back from the future.

"Be careful then and here is your pass," the Kage nodded at her, handing her the copy of Waves' mission scroll.

"I will!" She accepted it with a smile before shunshined out of the room after excitedly reminding the Toad Sage about her promised foods.

"I guess she's more Kushina when it comes to food," Jiraiya sweatdropped, which everyone laughed at that.

Tooru, complete with the flak jacket that she wore it after leaving the Hokage office, jumped from one roof to another, heading towards the village gate. 'It changed. Sasuke is requesting help ...and when did Sasuke get a cat summon. The Sasuke I know had hawk and snake. Did Totsuka make these changes?' She thought with a sigh.

Not that she's complaining but if there were too many changes, her knowledge from her future timelines would be useless.

"Well, Team Seven is more important now," she huffed and landed in front of the two gatekeeper Chuunins.

Both jumped at her sudden appearance. "Uuh... Who are yo-" Kotetsu was cut off with a slap on the back of his head.

"Forgive his rudeness. How can we help you..." Izumo trailed, which Tooru smiled at him. "Uzukaze Tooru," she replied and Izumo nodded. "...Uzukaze-san?"

Tooru nodded. "Team 7 who left for Waves mission has requested a medic nin so Hokage-sama is sending me there," she said as she handed the scroll to the man, which he accepted it for verification before pulling an out-for-mission paper.

"Please write your name and put your signature beside it, Uzukaze-san," he said, handing the scroll back to her before Tooru did what she was told after putting the scroll back to her pouch.

Izumo nodded, putting the paper away. "Good luck on your mission," he said, waving at her.

"Thanks!" She grinned, waving back before dashing out of the village.

The moment she was out of sight, both Izumo and Kotetsu turned to each other. "Who was that? I don't think I saw her before," Kotetsu muttered, staring at the direction the red-head disappeared to.

"She is a recently promoted Tokubetsu Jounin, who just came back a few hours ago after travelling with Jiraiya-sama since she was 7," Izumo replied instantly, handing Kotetsu a piece of paper. "Burn it after you finish reading," he added.

"That long? And where did this coming from?" Kotetsu asked as he kept reading the said paper before promptly burned it away with a campfire jutsu.

"It was given together with the mission scroll she handed to me," Izumo replied as he shrugged his shoulder. "But still, you are right when you said we have never seen her before. Should have caught a glimpse of her at least once, especially with that eye-catching bright hair, before she left the village and/or when she came back," he added with a mutter.

"Now that you mentioned it..." Kotetsu frowned as both Chuunins stared at the direction Tooru ran towards for another moment before back doing their guarding duty.

On her way to Nami, Tooru encountered a familiar Mist Chuunin pair struggling to release themselves from being tied up on a tree, which she ended up having a staring contest with the two foreign Shinobis when she reached them.

"..." "..."

"..."

"What are you looking at, red!" "Mind your own business, b*tch?!" The Demon Brothers shouted as they glared at her at the same time.

A punch to the head and the one calling her "b*tch" fall unconscious with a visible lump on his head. The other stared at his partner with wide eyes as if he was an idiot. Why did he have to tick someone, especially a ninja, off at a time like this?

"What was that? I couldn't hear what he said just now, do you mind repeating it?" Tooru smiled kindly as if she hadn't hit someone at all.

"Uuh... He said please don't mind us and proceed to where you are planning to go, lady," he said the heavily edited sentence.

Tooru smiled. "Ah, that's what I thought but before that, here, let me cut that rope for you," she pulled out a kunai, making the conscious Demon Brother wondered if she was going to kill them. Because if so, then he really hoped he was unconscious but to his surprise, she really did only cut the rope.

"Now please leave the Land of Fire, otherwise, I will not guarantee your safety and will do what is needed to do in handling intruders," she smiled as she put her kunai back.

"Tha-thank you," he stuttered, hurriedly picking his unconscious partner up and promptly ran away.

Tooru huffed. "Well, hopefully, they didn't do something as stupid as going to Nami trying to assassinate old man Tazuna," she muttered under her breath before dashing towards the small village she just mentioned.

Tooru, with her hair hidden under a hood, was walking within the small village, halfway to Tazuna's house, when she stopped her track and blinked.

How was she going to explain that she knew where Tazuna's house was?

Thinking for a while, she shrugged. 'Silly me. You can just claim you asked the people around and you are a sensor, just say that you are following Kakashi's chakra,' she thought, which she could faintly feel the man's chakra from where she was standing, before continuing her civilian-pace walk.

She was actually planning to go by roof to roof but given the state of the place and the conditions of the buildings, she wondered if they could support her weight if she were to land on one.

"Please give those back! They are for my injured guests!"

"Please give those back, sir!"

"Shut up, girl! That woman hasn't paid the tax for living in this town for the last two months! We are taking these!"

The red-head immediately paused when she heard that and frowned. Someone needed a punch at least once. And more importantly, the woman and girl's voices sounded familiar.

Heading towards there, she caught a glimpse of pink hair and she immediately knew why, before landing swift hits on the back of the two thugs' heads after saying a soft "have a good rest, sirs", rendering them unconscious. Tooru was actually contemplating in punching them on the head as she stared at the fallen bodies but...

Tooru sighed, picking the bandages the two thugs took and slightly narrowed her eyes when she saw bandages on the pink-haired girl's arms as she walked to the woman and girl.

"I believe these are yours," she said with a smile, handing the items to the woman.

"Thank you," the woman smiled as she took them gratefully before both the woman and the girl widened her eyes and gasped the moment their eyes landed on the hitaiate tied around her neck. "Uum! Are you... Are you by any chance a ninja or maybe a medic Hokage-sama send by Sasuke-kun's request?" The girl asked hopefully.

Tooru nodded. "Yes, I am," she replied, making both the girl and woman immediately sagged in relief.

"Ah. My name is Haruno Sakura. I am one of the Genin sent to escort Tazuna-san back," the pink-haired girl immediately introduced herself.

"I am Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami," the woman smiled.

Tooru smiled back at the two. "I am Uzukaze Tooru, just as you know, I am a medical ninja," she introduced herself. "...Though I am a bit different comparing the other medic," she added.

"What do you mean by that, Uzukaze-san?" Sakura blinked in confusion as the three of them walked towards Tsunami's house.

"Hm... Tsunade-sama of the Sannin made a rule that whether you are a combat medic or not, you are not allowed to stand and fight at the front line, unless you have mastered a certain technique that only Tsunade-sama herself possesses and can teach you," Tooru started. "That rule, however, is not applicable to me because while it's true I am a medic, I am a fighter first," she added with a smile and blinked when she looked at the two.

Both Tsunami and Sakura looked at the red-head in awe at that.

"Oh, we are here," Tsunami smiled, pointing towards her house and went to open the door but before she could do it, Sakura did it for her. "Let me, Tsunami-san!"

"Thank you, Sakura-chan," the adult smiled at her.

"Tou-san, we are back!" Tsunami called out, which her father, greeted her back from the kitchen. "And we brought Shinobi-san from Konoha too!"

"Welcome back! And welcome, Shinobi-san!" Tazuna greeted as he walked towards them slightly limping.

Tooru narrowed her eyes as she looked at his injuries. 'Tazuna-san and Sakura-chan weren't injured during my time but this...' She wondered if the three males' injuries were worse than simply bruises, or in Kakashi's case, other than chakra exhaustion.

"I am Uzukaze Tooru, pardon my intrusion," Tooru gave Tazuna a nod as she entered the house last before she turned to Sakura. "Sakura-chan," she called, immediately taking the girl's attention. "Please sit down. You too, Tazuna-san. I need to check your injuries before going to Kakashi and your teammates," she waved towards the chairs.

Sakura blinked. "Uum... Uzukaze-san, I am sure Sasuke-kun's summon had informed you that Kakashi-sensei had collapsed so shouldn't you check on him first?" She nervously asked.

"He's not going to die that easily so he can wait," was what Tooru said simply. "Now sit, both of you," she said, waving at the nearby chairs.

The two of them did what they were told, Tazuna with the help of his daughter.

* According to Naruto Databook 4 (and Narutowiki), Naruto possesses all five affinities and three Kekkei Genkai.

Magnet Release (Wind and Earth) from Ichibi Shukaku, Lava Release (Fire and Earth) from Yonbi Son Goku, and Boil Release (Fire and Water) from Gobi Kokuou.

** Meji's appearance is based on Ninneko Denka or Momo from Sora-ku (both have the same appearances with different colours) but with grey fur and darker markings on each cheek instead.