Konoha's Innocent Vixen
By: Kibou32
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Summary: Story of a female Naruto who doesn't want to be Hokage. She's accepted – somewhat – by the villagers for being the Kyuubi's vessel, her father Namikaze Minato – the Yondaime Hokage is still alive after the sealing happened and is dead set against the thought his daughter would become a kunoichi despite the fact that both of the legendary sannin: Tsunade and Jiraiya, are teaching the kid everything they know in hopes of instructing a soon to be powerful shinobi weapon. Watch as Naruto deals with a negative out look from shinobi all around her – including her father's reluctance to seeing her as anything else than a ninja – to the pressure from those she's captured the hearts of to be the Godaime Hokage when all she ever wanted was just to be a regular shinobi with nothing else of importance besides the bijuu residing inside of her.
Pairings: Gaara + Naruto.
Warnings: there may be debauchery, heterosexual sex, etc.
A/N: Previously known as "A Question of Time". I'm sorry... but the first review was discouraging enough... and I got bored with the outline, so I was playing with a different version of it and ended up with this.
II A/N: Just so other readers don't despair, I am writing chapter thirteen for Shinobi turned Goddess. It could take me another five more days, but be assure I will put it up as soon as I'm done with it.
:-:
Truth is skewed
Part II
:-:
If there was something Sakura learnt that bright sunny morning was that having Naruto sticking around with her at the bridge with Kakashi whilst Sasuke stayed back at the bridge builder's house, it was that she couldn't decide whether or not Naruto was that sane.
Kakashi had warned them that Zabuza might come back. Naruto had given out the warning to Sakura – as soon as that came to be – that the supposed hunter-nin in front of them wasn't the right enemy for her due to her lack of regular knowledge with nin-jutsu and told her she should keep to Tazuna's side instead. At first, she had been enraged to being brushed aside, but she realized that Naruto in truth wasn't being overtly cruel by stating so, but being caring in her own monotone sort of way.
In the end, when Sasuke finally managed to get there to help out, Naruto had seemed to be concerned – there was a horrified look in her face – and Sakura had wondered why she thought she had seen a second Naruto disappear into thin air next to her teammate before the action was sped up.
One moment, she saw Sasuke moving over to protect the seemingly lost in thought Naruto inside the dome, the next the dome exploded into red chakra and the mask-less hunter-nin sailed across the floor and stopped a few feet away from the demon mist-nin dead with a gaping hole in his chest.
Sasuke was cradled in Naruto's lap and for a moment – just one moment – Sakura felt jealous. Then it was gone when the bridge builder said he would walk with her towards her teammates fearing the boy who looked like a pincushion was dead.
:-:
Sasuke was asleep thinking he was dead and cold. Then there was a warmth that seared through his skin for a minute or two before it dwindled to a dull heat that made him feel as if he were in his late mother's lap. He murmured – or tried to at least – say Mom or something like that when he found he was not dead and instead there was a weeping sort of sound coming from his left.
He couldn't hear the words, but the hand shifting through his dark locks was motherly in a sense he couldn't explain.
When he finally managed to open his eyes, he saw the relieved green of his teammate Sakura and nothing else. However, the first thing that came from him was…
"Where is Naruto?" – he wondered.
"She is over there tending to Kakashi-sensei."
"And the others?"
"The hunter-nin is dead and so is the other threat. And Gatou is also dead – that's the one who was opposed to Tazuna-san building this bridge."
Sakura informed him of all that came to pass and Sasuke was sad to know that he hadn't been able to see the end of it, but he wondered why he didn't feel anything else about that subject.
:-:
Tazuna decided to build a commemorative stone for Team 7 and the Wave's inhabitants decided that the First Great Bridge of Wave Country needed a name as great as the one's person who changed things in them… Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto. So... they called it the: Great Uzumaki Naruto bridge. When Naruto heard her name being called in cheers, she found herself unable to compute the reason why they were cheering her on as they took their steps out of Wave Country and into the path that would lead them home.
Joking around, Sakura told her that it was probably the new name of the newly completed bridge. Naruto had looked at her skeptically and then shrugged.
"Uh… Naruto…?" – Sakura walked ahead leaving Sasuke and Naruto behind.
The young Uchiha was a little embarrassed to have been healed by his teammate. Even more so when Sakura pointed out – blushing a bit – that Naruto had undressed him to his boxers to seek out any lasting damage caused by the senbon.
"Huh?" – she asked confused as to why her teammate looked so embarrassed.
"Were you… were you the one who caressed my hair after the fight was over?"
Naruto frowned for a second. Was Sasuke insane? She walked up to him to check his temperature and found him a little hot to the touch, but knew it wasn't a fever that arrested him. So he was nervous… then she got reminded of Sakura's blushing face when she saw her crush lying in bed unconscious – Naruto had knocked him out to make sure he wouldn't freak out at having two girls looking at him half-naked – and knew what it was about or at least had a brief idea as to what it might've been he was worried about.
"Un." – she was not puzzled as to why his face looked like a round tomato, but did remember briefly about telling him that he was to stay at home until his chakra pathways recovered after the gruesome training he underwent to reach the top of the tree with the tree-walking exercise and frowned even more.
"I thought I explicitly told you to stay back at the bridge builder's house to recover." – she said in her 'I'm the medic-nin, I know best' tone of voice.
Sasuke visibly grimaced in response.
"But I helped out in the battle didn't I?" – he said the words before he could think about it and immediately clamped up.
She turned to him still frowning and said: "Sasuke, you're my teammate. It's not like I'm thinking I'm better than you. I don't think your skills are subpart to mine, but if you hadn't moved… Tazuna-san could have lost his family back there. If I hadn't left a kage-bunshin behind just in case, Tazuna's daughter would have ended up raped and then killed in front of Inari's eyes."
Sasuke looked horrified at the thought. He hadn't thought about that when he had woken up and found his teammates and his sensei gone from the house towards the bridge. He had just thought of helping out in the battle that was sure to come.
"Next time you become insubordinate to a medic-nin's orders… expect consequences, Sasuke." – and then she turned away and briskly began to walk away.
Sasuke began to walk again after awhile thinking quietly over what his teammate had told him.
:-:-:
Three Weeks later…
It was the Hokage who greeted them at the gates. Kakashi dreaded giving in his report, but knew he had to do something about that anyway. He wondered if his sensei was going to let him live after punching him a new one.
Which was why he was surprised when he saw his sensei – the Hokage! – shoo the other two genin away and turn serious eyes towards his own daughter.
"Shinobi. Report."
"Hai. Hokage-sama." – and then they disappeared in a flash of smoke leaving Kakashi standing there in the middle of the street looking alone and forlorn. And more than a little bewildered.
He gathered his wits and disappeared in a flash of leaves into the Hokage's Tower – outside the Hokage's office's door due to an inability to go in there unless the Hokage himself lowered the shields and let him in.
:-:
If there was one thing Minato hated, was the inability to act like a father around his only child. He always felt deeply uncomfortable when speaking to his daughter. She never called him father or dad. Always was so formal with him, it made him inwardly flinch. In the times when he wasn't being dishonest with himself – yet he always felt miserable for ever thinking as such – he would think that it wasn't his daughter in front of him, but a blond blue-eyed version of the Kyuubi. Naruto was so unlike him – she didn't play pranks, she didn't joke around or laugh that much – that whenever those self-doubting moments came, he felt like such a failure. As a Hokage – he was respected, adored. As a father, he was nothing more than a failure. His daughter cared more for her teachers, her friends, her summons – those damn foxes! – than him.
And who was at fault for that? No one else, but his. He had estranged himself from her by giving her away to be taken care of by his perverted sensei and the Legendary Slug Sannin. It was no wonder that Naruto loved them more than her own father.
"… halfway out of Fire Country, we encountered the demon brothers of the mist. I dispatched of them in the true ANBU fashion and collected their heads in a scroll which now I'm presenting to you Hokage-sama. Then no mere hours before we reached the bridge builder's humble abode, we were forced to meet head on with Zabuza the demon beast of Mist Country. I was unable to kill him due to superior's dangerous health condition after he faced off with A-rank missing nin. However, in the final face-off at the bridge, I managed to collect not only Zabuza's head and sword, but the body of Zabuza's only weapon for further inspection of his body. The weapon's name was Haku and he had narrowly missed being killed off for having a bloodline limit that could manipulate ice or water in Mist Country. From what I was able to ascertain, Haku became Zabuza's loyal dog only because the missing nin in question acted out with kindness towards himself. Since then Haku devoted his life to the whole-hearted service of Zabuza."
"I See." – was all he could say.
"Further details – I'm sure – will be given by my superior officer Hatake Kakashi." – she stated firmly while standing there awaiting for judgement.
"You did good shinobi." – she heard a voice from the left side of the Hokage's only window office say.
She wanted to grin at the unexpected pride heard in that gruff old voice of her ero-sensei, but she didn't. This was a different ball game and she didn't want to look like an over-eager fool in front of the Hokage.
"Jiraiya-sensei… you shouldn't have hidden there." – the Hokage chided at her sensei and she frowned inwardly.
"Ah… but I was only hidden away there from Naru-chan's senses. You already knew I was there, Minato." – she heard her sensei say in a cheerless voice.
"Even so. Very good Naruto, you're now dismissed."
"Thank you Hokage-sama." – and then she nodded towards her sensei and disappeared into thin air.
Minato sighed.
Jiraiya knew his student felt forlorn and decided to tease him about it.
"Ah Minato… you're not moping now… are you?" – he said in his usual salacious way.
"Iie. I'm not moping. I just… feel so tired… every time Naruto steps into this office, I feel like such a failure as a parent."
Jiraiya was undoubtedly worried that his student would set out to bawl right at the minute.
He was wrong, because when there was a knock from the door, Minato sighed once again and then hardened his features to greet Kakashi in.
:-:
Naruto decided that she needed to relax before meeting once again with her two senseis when she heard the distinct crying of the Sandaime's grandson. She sighed. Although Sandaime-sama used to be one of her father's faithful supporters in not letting a kid get the type of training she invariably got, she still cared for that old geezer and she'd be damned if someone hurt his grandson.
"Hey you! Leave him alone!" – she heard her teammate Sakura exclaim and instantly ran over to prevent anything worse from happening.
"Get out of my way, Pinky!" – came out a decidedly older voice. She would have thought that she had heard him before.
When she came out in the open, she found a kabuki male with a puppet on his back and he himself grabbing – almost choking the poor boy in his arm – and holding him high in the air.
"Let him go!" – she stated calmly but felt only mildly disappointed that the male was anything but intimidated.
"Kankuro, don't you dare to make trouble for us!" – said an older girl beside the guy and she was inwardly shocked. She was taller and she had a very feminine figure. But if there was anything that she looked like she wanted the most, was not the sexy figure the girl had, but the huge fan hanging off her back.
A wind mistress by the looks of it.
Naruto looked ready to cry for a second. If there was a weapon that Naruto could never really get her hands on here in Konoha, it was a battle fan. She lapsed into silence for a second before recovering her wits and moving forward to knock the guy out.
Before she could do so, a shuriken was thrown to the kabuki's male hand and he was forced to let the little boy go. She quickly made her gaze go up the tree to discover Sasuke looking mildly troubled. But she was unsure as to why he'd be so.
"You little brat! Come down so I can kill you!" – she heard the guy called as Kankuro say in anger but she was more transfixed by the sight of Sasuke's gaze on her and the battle fan rather than anything else.
Still, when she felt the massive killing intent from someone she had previously met, albeit from afar; she shook her head to dispel her thoughts and looked at the redhead who looked a bit manic if the widening in his eyes was anything to go by.
"Kankuro." – it was Sakura – who shivered at the cool tone of voice on the redheaded boy – who acknowledged the fact that these three were here for the chunnin exams.
Something she had found out from Ino's excited drawl earlier that day. She noticed how the guy with paint on his face seemed to shrink a little bit and wondered if she really wanted to know why he looked like he was facing an unbelievably harsh opponent.
"Let's go and not cause trouble." – Temari said.
They turned as one and began to make their way to leave although neither made excuses for being 'troublesome' as Shikamaru would put it and Naruto was hard pressed to let them go like that.
Instead, before she could even say anything; the redhead transported himself from the tree to the ground in a swirl of sand and stood right in front of her.
Both Sasuke and Sakura were a bit concerned for what the redhead would want with their teammate.
"What is your name?" – he asked in a monotone sort of voice.
By that time Temari and Kankuro had turned around at the other corner and watched in amazement as their little brother – their little murdering maniac of a brother – ask in an almost civil way for a girl's name.
"What's it to you? I already know who you are. I don't think I need to prepare myself for your visit tonight, if I give you my name." – she said in a bored tone of voice and slouched her stance a little bit to give the idea that she was unbothered by his question.
"Really?" – he asked looking even more excited if there was anything to go by the way his green eyes widened up a little bit more.
"Un."
And before either of the spectators could do anything else, Gaara of the desert, holder of Shukaku, the one tailed bijuu; had crushed Naruto towards him in what seemed to be an odd embrace.
Naruto was horrified. But she didn't dare show it. If there was anything she hated, it was being hugged by the opposite sex. She didn't like boys the way Sakura liked Sasuke. She figured she would be okay if she ever encountered a mission where she had to lay down with a guy to obtain information, but either way she didn't like boys one single bit. So she pushed him away with chakra laden hands and grimaced inwardly at the burn.
"Never do that again, suna shinobi!" – she exclaimed and then she poofed away from them.
The redhead didn't mind. He looked too pleased with himself. And then when he tried to leave, Sasuke yelled out.
"Hey! What's your name?!" – he called out.
"None of your business, shinobi of the leaf." – the redhead said before disappearing in a swirl of sand.
No one said a word after that.
:-:
Gaara laid on top of the roof watching the moon. He liked the sight of it here more than back home. He knew that his behavior towards the blond kunoichi was out of character of him. But the way she had looked while looking at his sister's fan had ignited this longing in him he didn't know even existed in him. He still felt the bloodlust coming off from his mother, but it seemed as both he and his mother's spirit were in true concordance in that they didn't really wanted to kill the girl.
However, he would crush the blond's teammate if the boy ever dared to touch her. Or anyone else for that matter.
:-:
Meanwhile, inside the hospital wing; Tsunade was privy to one thing that unsettled her. The sight of Naruto upset.
"Okay… what is wrong with you?" – she said finally.
Naruto looked unsure as to what she could say. Finally she sighed and sat down on one of the empty chairs in Tsunade's office.
"I met up with Suna's jinchuuriki by mistake." – she stated softly.
"From what I gather, this isn't the first time you met him. Right?" – Tsunade asked as she too took a seat next to the girl who she considered as her own daughter.
"Un. I met him in passing at the Fire Lord's daughter's birthday. He was sent to kill one of the dignitaries from Wind Country. I stopped him once when he tried to do so in front of the girl, but the next time I was late to stop it. Back then, we weren't introduced, but I knew that the brown haired young man was his older brother and that they were stand-ins for the Kazekage like I was for the Hokage. Since we were both the Kage's children, it was easy to see why we were invited."
"Go on."
"I… today I saw them again. The brown haired guy was harassing Konohamaru and well… I had to stop him from abusing the boy. But…"
"But…?" – she prompted again wondering why her little girl looked so ashamed.
"I kind of blanked out for a second at the sight of the Kazekage's oldest's fan. I was kinda jealous of it. Konoha doesn't make battle fans. And since the Hokage never wanted to acknowledge the possibility of inducting me into the shinobi world…"
"Ah. They don't sell battle fans to Konoha. It's something purely from Wind Country. Like a tradition they want to keep. But… I have been trying to find you a cooler weapon, you know." – trying to cheer her up a little bit but knowing that there was also something else that bothered her.
"I know that baa-chan. It's just that… anyway… Sasuke stopped the other guy from harming Konohamaru and when the guy was ready to retaliate, the bijuu holder stepped into the scene. I… don't think he'd come that close to me. From what I understand, he resolutely hates human contact and he is kind of like a maniac for killing… but he asked me what was my name and when I refused to tell him, he hugged me."
Tsunade sighed but inwardly she knew where this was going.
"Naruto… I know you absolutely hate when guys and other boys touch you. But you have to recall that the only reason they do so is because they like you. They're not about to harm you. I knew it was a bad idea for Jiraiya to teach you how to read with his porn novels. Honestly!" – she said as she stood up and walked around the office for awhile.
"Why would a boy – any boy – like me when I don't have that stuff older girls have?! I'm kind of flat in my chest – not that I want breasts per se – and I'm kind of small compared to other girls. I don't get it." – Naruto complained a bit.
"Naruto… some guys like petite girls. And maybe you don't have breasts right now, but you could probably get them later on after puberty. Even so, your personality is the thing most guys like anyway. You're serious and even though no one else would think it, you are mischievous in your own way.. look. I understand right now that boys and men – respectively – for you are completely gross and useless to you. But you have to understand that they're pretty useful from time to time. I suggest you give them a chance one of these days." – Tsunade said in a soothing voice but still knew the outcome of what the girl would say after her small lecture.
"Eww no! I hate boys, you know that!" – she watched semi-amused when the girl shuddered in disgust.
"As for the Kazekage's youngest son… I should suggest you have as minimum contact as possible. The chunnin exams are not on until three weeks more. It all depends as to whether or not Kakashi would appoint you to take the exams or not."
"Un." – she said but was thinking of ways to never see the redhead again if it were possible for her.
:-:
The next day after a long weekend of leisure, found Team 7 by the bridge. Since Hyuuga Hinata was currently away on a mission with her team, Naruto did not go on to train that early in the morning opting for once to be lazy. While if asked why didn't she continue with her schedule, she would answer that she was still stressed out from the last mission; it wasn't true as to why she didn't want to do it though.
Sakura noticed the tension in her friend and wondered what had brought it on. Sasuke on the other hand, looked pensive and a little worried whenever he looked at his blond teammate.
It was to this atmosphere that Kakashi came to the bridge at exactly 900 hours. Even though his students knew him to be much later than the hour he had called them about, he was still unbelievably early for his usual standards given that they had arrived around 8:45 am.
"Yo!" – he said cheerfully and then wilted at the depressed sight of his team.
Sasuke looked awfully worried and Kakashi was sure it had to do something with Naruto since every so often he would looked at her with longing in his eyes. Naruto looked pensive and at the same time disgusted. He was sure it had something to do with what had happened with the jinchuuriki from Suna. He didn't think the process of birth was that gruesome, he'd seen people being disemboweled in the field while Konoha was on war with Iwa; but he guessed that since the sight of Naruto tending to a woman giving birth while the husband kept being rude and weird, should have in any case brought this sort of dislike for any guy coming that close to her. Sakura on the other hand looked calm even though she did seemed to be thinking hard on something.
He sighed and said in the end: "D-level mission today. Let's get going."
And so as a team they moved towards Mrs. Chang's garden and began the torturous process of taking out weeds. Despite the quiet atmosphere, Sakura and Naruto paired up whilst Sasuke did the other side and finished in record time. Then they planted seeds and by the time they were finished, Sasuke was too finished with his side.
He took them to round up cows and watched a bit amused how Naruto seemed to be doing the D-level missions quite well despite not having done them before. He was surprised to see that Sakura – as opposed to the first two weeks after they became Team 7 – and Naruto got along quite well. The only other thing he didn't like was that Sasuke was being left behind so to speak.
They had time for one more D-level mission and then he really needed to have a little chat with them.
:-:
Once things were done, he thought he'd take his students for a late lunch and then… spring up the idea for the chunnin exams.
Things turned awry when before he could make the offer for some barbecue, Morino Ibiki – of all people – arrived from out of nowhere – one could even argue that he could've fallen from the sky – and said he needed to borrow Naruto from this moment on. Before he could take the young girl away, Kakashi thrust the chunnin exam's entrance exam sheet and saw how Ibiki grinned at him. He found he couldn't quite hide the shudder that went through him at whatever implications he could find for Ibiki grinning like that at him. Sasuke was the second one to go – after Kakashi managed to give the lecture he had been about to give to the whole team – with his brother who turned up out of the blue and Sakura just took the sheet and said goodbye saying she had something else to do.
:-:
Naruto saw her team for a much requested – from Sakura anyway – dinner date at the Haruno household two days before the chunnin exams were to be held. She came by – wonders of wonders – with her father not wearing the proverbial Hokage hat or the robes. He was wearing standard jounin uniform. He charmed Sakura so much, Naruto turned her head away in disgust. Kakashi thought the Yondaime was pushing it a bit too much. Itachi – who accompanied Sasuke to the dinner date – agreed with his sempai.
Dinner was uneventful. But Kakashi could see that whatever Sasuke held in his lap – a large package if there was anything to go by – whilst Sassha – Sakura's mother – served them tea and coffee after dinner at the living room was something of great importance.
Eventually, Sakura's mother shooed the younger ones away to take a walk to chat a little bit and let the older ones talk amongst themselves.
"Ne… Sasuke-kun?" – Sakura asked in a soft shy tone of voice. Kakashi was eavesdropping to be sure, but he really wanted to know what was in that large package as much as Sakura did.
"Hn."
"Oi! Don't talk to Sakura-chan like that, teme!" – was Naruto's harsh reply. Kakashi was sad to acknowledge the fact that she was in a bad mood due to her father's appearance at the dinner date.
"Gomen. It's just that, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I didn't get you anything and this one is for Naruto." – Kakashi could see that Sasuke's response had Sakura rattled and depressed.
"Oh. In that case, I'll give you a minute alone, ok?" – and then she ran ahead leaving her two teammate alone.
"Tch. You just had to do that, didn't you Sasuke?" – Naruto said as she gazed with troubled eyes at Sakura who was way ahead of them.
"Un. I had to. Better this way than if I were to give this to you in front of her. I… I noticed that you looked infinitely upset to see that Suna kunoichi carrying a battle fan and I wanted to thank you for being the best teammate ever… so… …" – he stopped there for a second before looking to the floor and thrusting the package towards her without looking up.
Naruto looked pensively at the package for a moment before she took it. But she didn't open it.
"I don't like boys Sasuke. So you better not be having ideas in your head that I'd grant you a date or whatever in thanks to this!" – she stated softly watching not directly at him but to the side as if warding herself off from his blush at being caught dead on.
"Hn. I wasn't about to ask you out anyway." – he said pouting a little bit.
"Good." – and then she turned to look at him and sighed.
Kakashi was surprised to see her leaning towards him in what looked to be a kiss on the lips. It turned out to be a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks for the gift." – then she turned away from him and started to walk away leaving him standing there frozen shocked and speechless.
"However, just to show you have no favorites in between Sakura and I; you have to get her a gift too!" – she stated softly so as to not attract Sakura's attention from where she was seating a block away at the park.
Sasuke dazed could only nod.
