Do I, or don't I? It is not so much the question, but the answer, is it not? Unfortunately, the answer's still no...

Plucking Strings

"When you have strings, everyone pulls you here and there." - Fuzzy Zoeller

Naruto opened the door to his apartment and stepped through with a thoughtful expression. His mind was a hive of activity as he instinctually stepped over old cups of ramen and a broken, disused puppet he had never gotten around to shifting. He collapsed into the comfy swivel chair he had managed to find out behind the apartment block and kept in front of his work bench. Right now, his eyes weren't on the odd mechanisms and stray puppet components strew across the wooden surface, but staring blankly ahead, wrapped up in his own thoughts.

The mission to wave had certainly been both an eye-opening and enlightening experience, in many aspects. In truth it was his very first mission, D-ranks excluded for obvious reasons, and it had taught him many things he didn't know. He had learned what was necessary and unnecessary on missions, and would begin to organise his pockets and sealing scrolls accordingly. He would also begin to carry around sealing scrolls capable of carrying human bodies so a bounty wouldn't slip through his fingers.

With the new arrangement with Nami no Kuni he now wasn't exactly hurting for money – on the contrary, he would soon have more than he knew what to do with – but it couldn't hurt to be prepared.

On a similar vein, having both Ramia and Dami destroyed on the same mission told him that he either needed to get faster at fixing his puppets, or he needed to bring spares. He wouldn't always have the grace of a few days between conflicts and, as Sasuke's fight with him had shown, he only had limited uses without his puppeteering. He absently looked down at the senbon launcher on his wrist, another thing he would be upgrading and working with due to how effective it had shown to be, making up for his body's limitations. He would also be upgrading all his puppets to include senbon after seeing how effective they had made Ramia.

The other eye-opening fight was with Haku, the boy had beaten him, the very first time Naruto had tasted defeat. He couldn't say he was disappointed by it though; under different circumstances it may have been fatal but as a friendly spar it simply pointed out his flaws. Namely, it brought to light his body's weakness, and his dependence on puppets. Training in Taijutsu would surely fix that but, to be honest, Naruto wasn't one for physical exertion. He would rather find another way to overcome this particular problem. He left his mind to mull it over in the background as it moved onto more relevant thoughts.

That brought Naruto up to his final, and possibly largest revelation; his new information network. A grin slowly spread his cheeks as he suddenly pushed off his workbench, spinning about on his chair in his excitement. He couldn't believe he had actually done it. His very first mission, and he actually had managed to build a small, effective network of spies. Sure it was in its infancy and currently he couldn't exactly control what information was brought to him, but once again Naruto trusted that he would come to learn the best way to handle it, as he always had done.

Naruto groaned piteously into his hands, slumping forward to lay his head against the workbench. It hadn't been used as such in a while. Right now, it was stacked with books on politics, economics and business management. They were subjects Naruto had a decent grasp of thanks to the academy, but apparently not to the level where he could manage an entire country. He groaned again and slowly banged his head into the wood. It had been almost two weeks since the mission to Nami, and Naruto only found his workload growing by the day.

At the time, he thought it ingenious to have his spies deliver him his information and money through the deliveries between Nami and Konoha that had started up again once the bridge was completed. What he hadn't expected, was for them to bring him everything. Report after report built up on his desk and he just couldn't handle it all; he was only thirteen! He honestly felt as though he had bitten off more than he could chew here. All the same though he suffered through the sleepless nights, as he had done through the academy, and he bore with it. He could only hope that it would get better.

He was suffering. He hadn't even had the chance to make any of the modifications to his puppets that he wanted, nor could he even really practise much. His fingers were used to directing dangerous and deadly puppets, not writing business reports and economic statements. Naruto had a natural flair for on-the-fly planning and tactics; long term strategy was never a particularly strong suit of his. The shadows under his eyes were only growing, and he was becoming increasingly irritable with his lack of sleep – or at least, his greater lack of sleep than usual.

He needed help. but it wasn't as though he could simply walk up to the Hokage and tell him he had decided to take over Nami no Kuni on what amounted to a whim and now he was buckling under the work load. No, he needed discrete help from somebody who wouldn't divulge his secrets; someone who could be trusted.

"Argh!" In his frustration Naruto sent a pile of documents crashing to the floor, breathing heavily as he just stared at the now scattered pages like his gaze could set them on fire. The people he knew and had any extended interaction with could be counted on both hands, the one's he could implicitly trust? There weren't any. Naruto had a guarded heart and didn't put his trust out there so easily; so far, none had met the expectations. He sighed morosely as he began picking the sheets back up, his eyes heavy with exhaustion.

Perhaps if he brought his concerns to the people of Nami he had recruited? No, that wouldn't work; not after he had swooped in and saved them. He needed to maintain an image of being in control and that he knew what he was doing. It would have been perfect, if only he actually did know what he was doing. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and let out a small yawn as he dumped the stack back on his work bench, now a glorified desk.

Okay, maybe not somebody he trusted, but somebody shy who, like him, didn't interact much with people and couldn't give away what he was doing? They would have to be intelligent, but naïve and trusting themselves. A political background would be ideal so they would actually know what they were doing and this wouldn't all be pointless. A clan child perhaps? His graduating year was full of them, however none that he had a great deal of interaction with. Ideally he would want a clan deeply embroiled in the village's politics, like the Yamanaka, or the Hyuuga…

"Hyah!" Hinata viciously struck at the training post, watching with concentrated, determined eyes as parts of the wooden pole splintered away at the touch of her Chakra-laced fingers. Again she struck it, vicious accuracy in each of her strikes. A palm thrust tore another chunk off the side, and she watched in her enhanced visual state, the veins around her eyes bulging slightly, as each individual fragment of wood flew off like the beads of sweat on her forehead. Her footing changed as she shifted positions, lashing out to the side and taking another strip of wood for her effort, before finally coming full circle and striking the post with a double-palmed hit that contained all of her recent frustrations.

She had to become stronger, for her team, for her father, for her sister, for… him. She lashed out again, trying to clear her mind with physical exertion, but it stuck with her. She had heard the news about what had happened in Nami from Kiba, who in turn had heard it from Ino. Running into dangerous missing-nin? Having to help free a nation? All thing she believed Naruto could do, but she herself felt so helpless for being unable to keep up. She could see him running ahead of her, only ever seeming to get farther away while she wallowed in the shade.

"So this is the prowess of the Byakugan and the famous Jyuuken?" A very familiar and very unexpected voice cut into her internal thoughts.

Sure enough, when she suddenly whirled around, Naruto was watching her from the branch of a tree with a small smile, a smile Hinata had always wanted to see directed her way. Now that it was, she found her thoughts becoming a jumbled mess, her cheeks flaming up and becoming red and her hands nervously coming together in front of her, her fingers twiddling absently.

"N-Naruto-kun!" She squeaked, her Byakugan deactivating, for all the help it had done her noticing him when she was so focused on her own thoughts and the post in front of her; speaking of which…

"I never realised it could be this vicious."

Confused, Hinata turned to look at the post, only to widen her eyes in surprise. The thick wooden pole was practically shredded, shards of wood and dust littering the ground around it while the top half hung limp and pathetic by a few straining flakes of bark.

"I ah, well, I mean…" Hinata found that if she averted her gaze a bit it became slightly easier.

A moment later and Naruto was right in front of her, still regarding her with that easy, seldom seen smile. His hood was down, which was also a rarity in the academy, and Hinata was briefly entranced by the way his hair swayed slightly in the wind.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" She finally managed, not without a great deal of effort; however, the boy seemed more amused than anything.

"Actually Hinata, I had come to find you and ask for your help; but if you're busy training…" He trailed off and turned to go only for Hinata's body to act on reflex and grab his hand. When she realised what she had done, she quickly released it like it was burning hot.

"No! No… I-I'm not busy." She uttered in a quiet and withdrawn voice. "What do you need help with Naruto-kun?" Internally she was rather proud for achieving that much. Naruto seemed to regard her for a moment and she bit her lip tersely before he smiled and turned back to her, allowing her to breathe an internal sigh of relief.

"Alright, if you insist." He started in a casual tone, his hands moving a bit for effect. "I actually recently decided that I needed a goal for the future beyond becoming an excellent shinobi. I'm not really one to settle though, so I figured, why not aim for the top and try to become Hokage?"

Hinata nodded enthusiastically at that, her hands gripping the front of her bulky jacket. She could see him do it and knew he had it in him. She had always admired that, even through what she saw as unfair treatment and attitudes towards him, Naruto had never given up.

He had just quietly soldiered on until she even heard people begin to call him a prodigy! Hinata knew better though, she knew just how hard Naruto must work for everything he did. He saw it in the hands he bandaged up to cover his training injuries. In the shadows under his eyes others might see as unattractive she only saw his dedication and perseverance. He even went so far as to harm his body, as she had seen when she occasionally watched him in his apartment experimenting with poisons for his puppets. She wished for the past few years to have even a shred of that determination.

"I think you could do it," she uttered, for a minute thinking that Naruto hadn't heard her until he smiled bashfully.

"That makes one person at least; I told the Hokage and he set me some kind of test, likely just as busy-work to keep me occupied so I can't pester him." He laughed to himself but Hinata caught the twinkle of disappointment in his eye and it immediately made her stand up a little straighter.

"I-Is that what you need my help with?"

Naruto seemed to snap out of it and turned back to her, a bright grin spreading over his features that almost instantly set Hinata's face aflame and her heart into flutters.

"Actually yeah; I'm still not used to a lot of this political stuff and I thought someone like you, with a background in a big clan like the Hyuuga, might have a better grasp of it. All I really need is some insight, or a few pointers but I mean, if you don't think-" Naruto was both surprised and cut off as Hinata quickly interjected.

"I can do it!" Her eyes were screwed shut and her hands were balled into fists just in front of her as she practically forced the words out, before cracking open her pale eyes and immediately looking down, suddenly embarrassed over her outburst. "I-I mean, I think I can do it." Her hands came up and she gently poked her index fingers together, finding Naruto's vibrant blue eyes difficult to meet.

"That's great Hinata, what do you think of these?"

When she looked up again Naruto was holding a small bundle of papers; even a cursory glance told her they looked rather complicated. However they at least seemed familiar, similar to the ones she was forced to read over and over as a child, and continued to as her father fervently tried to prepare her for her role as the clan head. If she was honest with herself though, as much as she would like to try and unite the two branches of her family, her younger but more promising sister would likely take the position.

"W-Well, they don't seem too complicated Naruto-kun." She looked at them again, finding a blend of financial reports, various statements from businesses and other such documents associated with managing a city or even a small country. "H-Hokage-Sama gave you these?"

Naruto quickly nodded, running a sheepish hand through his spike locks and causing Hinata's eyes to glaze slightly at the almost Bishounin action. She could honestly say it was more than just Naruto's determination that she felt drawn too.

"Yeah, apparently he made up some hypothetical country or something and asked me to manage it as though it were real." He explained only to have Hinata nod absently as she flipped through them. "I'm sure he's just trying to keep me busy, but I still want to do it to the best of my ability, ya know?"

In her concentration, she missed Naruto's eyes narrow ever so slightly before returning to their previous warm appearance. Really, she was just amazed at the Hokage's dedication to detail, even if it was just busy-work. Then again, she shouldn't be underestimating the village's leader.

"W-Well, if this is all then I think I should be able to help you Naruto-kun." She nodded to affirm her statement as she handed Naruto back the stack of papers; it was all worth it, if only for the beaming smile he gave her.

"Thanks a lot Hinata, that's a load off my mind. If I want to be Hokage, then failure's not an option, right?" He smiled again as she gave another hurried nod; her fingers had stopped fidgeting at some point and throughout the conversation she seemed to become more open, like a turtle emerging from its shell. "Because of this; if there's ever something you need help with, don't hesitate to ask me, okay?" He gave her a quick grin as she nodded her agreement and turned to leave, disappointing the blue-haired Hyuuga slightly. However he took a few steps only to turn back, as if thinking better of it.

"Oh, and could you not tell the Hokage about this; I don't want him to know I had help. Okay?" When he spoke he had such a warm and welcoming smile Hinata couldn't help but melt as she found her eye-lids becoming lidded, her head nodding on its own.

"Of course, Naruto-kun." She got the fright of her life as Naruto suddenly moved toward her, far closer than he had ever been before, making her cheeks redden immediately. It didn't end there though; after what seemed like a moment of hesitation on his part he leaned in and quickly wrapped his arms around her in a brief hug. That finally proved to be a bit too much for the Hyuuga heiress and, by the time he let go, her body had gone slack and fell limply to the ground, a dazed but intensely satisfied grin occupying her lips.

Naruto stepped back from the collapsed girl, a worried look briefly passing over his features before he realised she was actually unconscious. The look slipped from his face to show his usual impassive mask, his cold, lidded eyes glancing over the girl before smirking down at the papers in his hands.

That was far too easy.

The young puppeteer lay on the rail of the little red bridge that ran over the small stream through Training Ground Three. He, Sakura and Sasuke were currently waiting on their chronically late sensei for their daily training or mission. After the debacle in Nami no Kuni they had briefly been demoted to D-ranks once more, but Naruto was sure they would be back on the good missions soon enough. He had been making sure their team dynamic was as good as it could be so Kakashi had little reason to keep them away from C-ranks.

Normally in this situation, he would be tinkering with some small mechanism, or going through one of his many dexterity exercising like flipping a ryo coin through his fingers. Right now though, his mind was far too abuzz with activity for such mundane tasks, so he had instead taken to resting his head in his hands and looking up at the sky as he mulled them over. It did somewhat irk him that he seemed to be doing far more thinking than, well, doing lately.

Hinata had been a massive help in organising Nami no Kuni, suggesting he begin to delegate various tasks within the spy network – although she didn't know it as such – to others. He had taken this on board and created a kind of hierarchy within the group through repeated correspondence using the merchant-caravan method. It was fairly reliable, as trips between Konoha and Nami only took a few hours, and the caravans came in a near constant stream making their round trips. Currently, all of the information he received from the country was routed through a woman called Rikai, a housewife before Gatou had her husband and eldest son killed for being unable to pay their taxes.

She had been elected as somewhat of an intermediary between Nami and him even before the reorganisation, as she had been a well-known activist within the village during Gatou's regime. She would do the best she could to provide orphans and other runaways board for the night using the money hidden by her late husband. Naruto rather admired her ability to continue helping her country during the nation's strife and had been glad to take her on as a direct subordinate. Now she was the one organising what information was or was not relevant to him, which took a great deal of pressure off his shoulders. He couldn't exactly say he trusted the woman, but he knew, that she knew, that he was the best hope for their country.

At that moment though his thoughts were de-railed as Kakashi appeared on the bridge uncharacteristically early, a rather unwarranted smile crinkling his eye as he looked at his assembled students. Instantly Naruto was drawn to the slips of paper he was carrying as the man hopped off the railing.

"Good morning everyone; I know this may be a bit sudden, but I've entered you all for the Chuunin exams." He took a moment to take in Sakura's shocked expression as well as Naruto and Sasuke's interested looks. "These are the application forms you need to fill out; don't worry though, it's a completely voluntary affair. If you don't feel ready then there's no pressure for you to participate." He flourished the slips a moment as he regarded each of his Genin in turn.

Sasuke was sure to want to enter, he would naturally see this as a challenge that he needed to overcome. As much as Kakashi hated to agree with Naruto on these things, the boy was a tad predictable. Sakura he also believed would enter, No doubt she would agonise over it for a while, but she would come to the conclusion that advancing to Chuunin would be the only way to stay with Sasuke. Naruto on the other hand; he was, and continued to be, an enigma for the usually perceptive Jounin. Normally, he would say the boy would be thrilled to have an opportunity to not only advance, but also show off his puppeteering.

Ever since the mission to Nami no Kuni, he just wasn't sure what to make of the boy anymore. He seemed even more secretive than usual, drawing away from the team where before he had been slowly integrating more and more into it. Kakashi would give up one of his Icha Icha books to know what was going through that boy's mind. Hell, he wasn't even sure if the blone even wanted to get promoted; he seemed more interested in simply developing his art.

Contrary to Kakashi's beliefs, at that moment Naruto couldn't be more excited, a hidden grin spreading over his lips as he took the application form. This represented a great opportunity for him as the Chuunin exams were an international event. He would finally be able to show the world his hard work. Who knew? Maybe even Sasori himself might take notice; the thought alone was enough to make Naruto eager. What's more, with the situation in Nami settling, it presented a wonderful opportunity to test himself like he used to.

He nodded to himself slowly as he left the bridge, Kakashi having vanished off to wherever that man tended to go – most likely to read his smut. He would need to build a new puppet, one equal to Ramia in ability. This would finally give him the push he needed to learn how to manipulate Ramia fully with only on hand. Sure, he only had a week to do it, but Naruto always worked best under pressure. As he walked down the street, his mind already patching together ideas he had already had in the past and never gotten around to acting on, he felt a chill run down his spine.

Looking up, he immediately spotted the cause in the form of a young boy around his age with rusty red hair and the coldest set of teal eyes he had ever seen. It was hard for his attention not to be drawn that way, due to the boy's small stature and the comically large gourd he was carrying over his shoulder. There was also the small fact he appeared to have the kanji for love tattooed above his left eye in what could be mistaken for blood at first glance. The headband of Suna wrapped around the gourd gave away his allegiances, and at the sight of the engraved hour-glass symbol he felt something in his blood stir.

Sunagakure, the original, and supposedly only users of the puppeteering Ninja arts in the elemental nations. As they passed by, the red-haired boy not giving him a second glance, Naruto couldn't help but smirk. Wouldn't Suna be surprised come this Chuunin exams? However, as he passed by, he seemed to catch the eye of a boy just behind the redhead. He was dressed up in a full-body suit and, most noticeable, had purple markings over his features. The war-paint seemed a bit archaic, but Naruto ignored that in favour of the wrapped bundle slung over his back and the fingerless gloves he wore.

Then it was over, and the two passed one another, Naruto returning his attention to the road and the boy returning a rather more nervous gaze to the boy with the gourd and the older girl walking next to them. For the first time in a long time though, Naruto felt the stirrings of anticipation build within him; the Chuunin exams had seemed inviting before. Now? Now he couldn't wait.

Sakura tittered nervously in front of Naruto's apartment door for a few minutes, occasionally bringing her hand up to knock only to hesitate and begin pacing again. This would be the first time entering a boy's home. She had always wanted that privilege to go to Sasuke, but he always rebuked her attempts to get closer. She was also a little unnerved about how quiet Naruto's apartment building was. She had expected signs of other residents, but there was nothing; it was almost as though the entire place was abandoned.

The only reason she was even here was because this was the third consecutive day that Naruto had missed team training and she had finally been sent over to get him. HSe hesitated, because Naruto unnerved her at the best of times, freaking her out at the worst; although in that respect she supposed he was a bit like Shino. She eventually mustered the courage to knock, only to hear sudden clattering from inside followed by the sound of too many bolts being drawn back before Naruto finally cracked the door open.

That was another reason he weirded Sakura out, he always seemed so paranoid and guarded, yet at random moments he would suddenly open up and become amicable. It was like he could turn on normal human emotions at the flip of some internal switch and go from withdrawn and introverted to easy-going and friendly. Sometimes Sakura swore that Naruto didn't even know what hewanted to be feeling, and it was just confusing at the best of times.

"Oh, Sakura." He greeted a little awkwardly as he rubbed his slightly bloodshot eyes. "Uh, hey," His eyes seemed to have gained even deeper shadows than normal in the time she hadn't seen him. "What's up?" He finally offered, somewhat lamely in Sakura's opinion, as he fully opened the door.

Immediately Sakura screwed her nose up as she saw the clutter that lined his floor. Old ramen tubs – which was evidently a favourite of Naruto's given the boy was holding one right now and seemed to be in the middle of eating – as well as random bits of wood or metal littered the floor randomly.

"What do you mean "What's up?" You missed three days of team training!" Sakura finally lost her temper, forgetting her earlier hesitance once she saw that Naruto didn't even seem to have a valid reason beyond just not coming. "I'm here to get you, baka!"

The boy just blinked before leaning out of the apartment and looking out one of the windows in the hall.

"Oh… right," he once again offered without much energy, and looking into his apartment Sakura could see why. He had all his blinds and curtains closed so not a drop of natural light entered the place. It was no wonder he seemed so tired all the time and had no semblance of a natural sleep cycle if he spent so long in this place. It would also explain why he was so inexplicably pale, considering they lived in one of the sunniest nations on the continent – barring Kaze no Kuni.

"What have you even been doing all this time?" She couldn't believe Naruto hadn't slept in three days, so he must have had some semblance or notion he was missing out on things. If he did, he didn't seem too upset by it.

All she got for her trouble was a lame shrug as the boy slipped back into the apartment.

"Preparing for the Chuunin exams."

It was only as he turned that Sakura noticed the nasty-looking red markings running down one of his arms and part-way up his neck. They looked like a terrible rash but they were far-too defined from the skin to be that, Sakura's medical training let her know that much.

"What? By poisoning yourself?" After beginning the process of learning medical Ninjutsu and the knowledge that came with it, many of Naruto's absences and following appearances back at the academy made a lot more sense to her.

The blonde just shrugged as if it was no big deal what he was doing to his body.

"Among other things…"

Sakura just gaped as she followed him into the apartment, her earlier reservations pushed to the side by her shock. Anything she might have said was immediately forgotten as she stepped into what she supposed was once a living room. She had known even in the academy that Naruto had a somewhat unhealthy obsession with his puppeteering, but it only really hit her then. Pages of drawings and schematics littered the walls and floor, cluttering up what appeared to be a workbench in the corner of the room.

"Y-You made all this?" Sakura had never been more creeped out in her life as she looked about the various puppets hanging from the walls, the ceiling, and anywhere else Naruto could fit them. She could literally see the progression of his art as their faces and bodies became more defined and detailed, the woodwork becoming smoother and more professional. A few she even recognised from when he would sneak them into the Taijutsu spars in the academy, only to get caught by the instructor.

"Huh?" Naruto looked up, noodles dangling from his mouth as he quickly pulled on his jacket, flipping the hood up in a practised motion so that a few locks of blonde hair hung out and shaded his eyes.

"Oh, yeah; feel free to look around I guess," he managed, after slurping up the food in his mouth; he obviously wasn't one for manners. As he went about collecting the things he would need, Sakura found her gaze drifting about, at least until her eyes fell on a particular puppet.

Like most of the others it seemed only half-finished, suspended by wires as it gathered dust in a corner, apparently not having been touched in a while. Like Naruto's other combat puppet, it had a sort of half-woman, half-animal theme to it, with the body and face of a woman – although they were rather grotesque in their half-complete form – and the features of a bird. It only had one wing though and the opposite leg, giving it a mal-formed, misshapen look that made it stand out from the others.

"What happened to that one?" As unsettling as she found Naruto sometimes, he didn't seem like the type to simply give up on things. He always seemed so passionate about his puppets.

Naruto poked his head out from around the bathroom door, toothbrush in his mouth and only took a single glance at the puppet in question before giving it a dismissive wave.

"Hane? Ah she was a good concept, at first. I liked the idea of a puppet that could fly, but would also be used for more than just recon. However it was too difficult to put into practise; I couldn't the get the wings right to sustain flight without it becoming unwholesomely inefficient." He had a few puppets that were the same; what seemed to be good ideas at first, only to find out they were useless practically.

Sakura looked at the broken, unfinished puppet with a frown; it just seemed so out of place.

"Why keep her…" She caught herself quickly; she wouldn't call these things like people, it made her sound crazy "Why keep it around then?"

Naruto just shrugged as he slipped back into the bathroom.

"The failures are just as good as the successes; they at least show me what not to do." He emerged, looking his usual overly-clothed and pale self, although he now had bandages winding up his arm to hide the effects of the poison he was testing. "And who knows? I might get an idea later to make her work. Shall we go then?"

Sakura nodded immediately, already feeling like she had spent too long inside Naruto's apartment. There was only so much crazy she could take in one day, and Naruto alone was beginning to fill her quota.