LC; Welcome to another chappy! Enjoy!

Naruto; Now to find out what's going on. You made so many changes the entire anime will be completely different!

Sasuke; Fans won't recognize it as a spoof of the original work. They'll hate it.

LC; Lies! All lies! My fans love me! *Turns to readers* Tell them you love me!

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto. I do not own this incarnation of awesome. I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 9: One in a Million Odds.

Tsunade Flashback Continue!

"What are you doing here with the walking dead man?" She asked curiously. A man in that condition should really be on bedrest. With multiple IV drips, and competent medical staff.

"Well, I was hoping you'd do me a favor." He smirked, holding his hands up in an innocent manner. She scoffed, did he really think she'd do anything for him? She may not be on the best terms with their home village, but she wasn't ready to cut all ties just yet.

"I'm going to count down from five, if you aren't gone by then, I'll kill you." She emphasised by punching the wall behind her. The satisfying sound of rocks crumbling, turning to gravel beneath her hand.

"Five." Neither made a move, just looking at her. One with a cocky smirk, the other in near visible disdain.

"Four." Tsunade idly wondered what afflicted his companion. His heart was racing and he was burning up. No outward signs of injury either.

"Three...Two." Shizune prepared to fight, her senbon shooter primed and dangerous. She knew from experience how potent those poisons she used were. A different poison on each senbon too.

"One." Her KI soared and Shizune was already moving. She would take care of the companion quickly.

"I'm offering to bring back your beloved and little brother! With a jutsu created by your very own great uncle!" Time seemed to freeze and Tsunade was over come by flashbacks of the two most precious people she'd ever had. Nawaki and Dan, both lost to wars where it might have been prevented.

"You haven't killed us yet, and you must have noticed Kimmimaru's condition. Do we have a deal?" The snake crooned, his face contorting prematurely into one of victory.

Shizune looked between her master and the traitor, unsure what to do. How could anyone be brought back from the dead? Was Tsunade-sama actually considering this? She can't be! It was immoral, it was wrong! It was-!

Tempting. Tsunade's expression was stony and she felt herself break a little in remembering those two insanely stupid, reckless, boys. Her poor little brother, pushed into a war he wasn't nearly ready for. Dear, fool hardy, incredibely brave, Dan.

"You are a cruel man, Orochimaru. To have them with me again, to hold them at least once more in my arms." Her voice didn't break, it did not waver. If her throat was a little tight with emotion it was ignored.

"I can bring them back, Tsunade." His reassurances had once calmed her, back when they were just kids in an adult's world, bright and ready for adventures. Before they splintered and cracked. Before everything shattered.

"Tsunade-sama you can't seriously be considering this!" Shizune cried. They wouldn't want this.

"Think about them! How would your brother feel? My uncle?" She stopped when she saw the tears.

"Shizune, stay quiet. Do not presume to tell me what they would have wanted!" Orochimaru's smug face seemed all the worst.

"What makes you think I'll trust you?" She growled at her former teammate. Were bonds really such fragile things? To be cut at a moment's notice, with no regrets.

"Fufufufu," He laughed, bringing a finger to his lips. Tsunade caught the scent of blood and she was shaking.

"To think a medic of your standards would have such a fear, a fear of blood!" The red liquid dripped. It was such a shallow cut, but her own blood froze.

Logically she knew blood didn't kill. It perpetuated life in the body, helped nutrients travel to where it was needed. And still the sight of it chilled her.

"You will have one week to decide Tsunade, oh, and before I forget." He chuckled in a way that wasn't really a chuckle. It was more like a sound of amusement, like she wasn't even worth really laughing at.

"We'll need two sacrifices. Human lives." With that they were gone, and Tsunade felt colder than she had, in a long time.

Shizune looked at her master like it was the first time she'd ever seen her. This Tsunade was one she was unhappily familiar with though. The still shaking, fragile old woman with a gambling addiction and a poor disposition at the best of times. A shadow, no, just a shade, of her former self. The Tsunade Senju who cured Chiyo of Suna's poisons, who was largely credited to Konoha's victory in the Third War thanks to her ideas about Medic nin.

"Come on Tsunade-sama, let's get something to eat."

End Tsunade's Flashback!

Naome thrust an unfinished rasengan into a tree, still unable to hold it. When it dispersed there was a spiral mark on the tree, but she knew it could do so much more if she could only hold it!

It was nearing the end of day one and she hadn't made much progress. She could only hold it inside the balloon for a couple seconds before it blew all to Heck. If she wanted to be ready, this would require much more training!

With the unfinished rasengan she made a spiral mark in whatever she used it on, mostly trees. However she knew from Jiraiya that when complete it acted like a drill for however long someone could hold it.

Her right hand was crisscrossed with chakra burns, it stung really bad. Normally she didn't approve of training when injured, but her left hand did just as well as her right. Pretty soon though, it would have the same problem.

She looked stubbornly at her bunshins practicing with balloons. It was amazing how difficult this was! Were all A-rank jutsu this hard to learn? Her most powerful jutsu until now were B-rank, chunin level. How far was the gap in power?

Sasuke had been able to learn Chidori, an A-rank, in one month. She could do the same, better even! She took a deep breath, and began to channel her chakra.

Day two, she could hold it for a total ten seconds inside the balloon. At the end of Day three it jumped to thirty seconds. Day four, no progress. Day five, thirty five seconds.

On Day six, she reached sixty seconds and promptly passed out. Chakra exhaustion, if it weren't for the fox, it would've killed her by now.

Shizune gasped in shock and ran for the unconcious girl. Over working herself was becoming a bad habit. Without her kids around, needing her to be there to make dinner and tuck them in, she never saw a reason to stop before utter exhaustion. It showed.

With Jiraiya, a small pub.

He had watched Tsunade from a distance for a few minutes, eyeing her alcohol intake, idly wondering where her limit was. It was getting late, only a few stragglers left, she showed no signs of slowing down. He sighed and took a seat beside her.

"What do you want Jiraiya?" She asked, bitterly, cynically. With an air of distaste.

"Can't old friends share a drink every now and again?" He asked, ordering another bottle of rice wine.

"...What did she mean by kids? Is she planning on starting a family?" She asked.

"It's a long story, it started almost two years ago." He told her everything, even her secret missions to gain Orochimaru's trust, he stressed the things she risked in doing what she did. He told her about her reluctance to use the Kyuubi's chakra, he told her nearly everything. Nearly everything.

He couldn't bring himself to tell Tsunade about how the blonde gaki had single handedly raised one baby, snatched herself a boy, and then taken on a second child, without a single complaint. He wouldn't tell how he had watched her roam her house at night when she woke up, restless. He wouldn't tell her about the paintings, about how she couldn't stand being away from her kids. About how despite everything, she was happy.

If Tsunade wanted to know all that, then she'd have to get to know the blonde herself. He couldn't, wouldn't, say things about his apprentice that she wouldn't want said. He didn't have that right.

"You'd make a good kage Tsunade, and sensei is getting too old." He sighed, reaching for his saucer. She was looking at him but he couldn't figure out what she was thinking. He'd never been able to read her. Not even after all these years.

"Tsunade-hime, if you betray Konoha, I will be the one to kill you."

His head felt like there was cotton wedged inside, cacooning his brain, fogging up everything. He had enough time to realize she had spiked his drink before he keeled over.

The Lotus Hotel, Tsunade and Shizune's room.

"She won't wake up for three days. Oh well, I guess I win." Tsunade declared. Shizune looked at her master in disbelief. Lately it seemed like she didn't even know her master anymore.

"Tsunade-sama, tomorrow is also that day. Please, tell me you aren't going to go!" She pleaded. She would not betray her home, even if it meant leaving Tsunade's service.

She never saw the punch coming. The lights went out and she slumped to the floor. There was no time to even shed a tear at this betrayal. How could she do this?

Tsunade waited at the meeting place, leaning against the wall. Her green jacket flapped in the heavy wind and she took notice when it changed direction. Were the winds changing?

Her eyes slid closed and for a split second she let Nawaki's face overtake her vision. Then she recalled Dan, that far away look in his eyes when he talked about being Hokage. Nawaki's excitement about a new technique. Dan's support of her dream, for a medic on every squad.

Her eyes flashed open when Orochimaru and his friend, Kimmimaru, dropped in front of her. Kimmimaru-san wasn't looking too good, he was unnaturally pale, his skin almost ashy. His cheeks were hollow, definitely below weight. He looked like he was almost at Death's door. It wouldn't take much.

The Lotus Hotel, Tsunade and Shizune's room.

The Sunlight is what woke her up. She groaned and tried to hide from it's glare, giving up when no corner of her bed seemed free from it's gaze. Her eyes squinted open and she was obviously confused when she realized she wasn't even inside her hotel room. It was a hotel, just not the one she and Jiraiya were checked into.

Shizune was also unconcious on the floor. Seeing that, Naome rushed to her side. The woman seemed alright, and she woke up when prodded.

"Naome! What day is it? What time is it?" She asked, panicked.

"Monday morning." Naome answered, trying to get the dark haired woman to calm down. The pig, Tonton, seemed frantic as well.

"Monday? Are you sure? You were supposed to be out for three days!" She gasped, her mind alight with facts about chakra and the human body. It baffled her logic.

"Well a good night's sleep usually has me right as rain! I'm rearing and ready to go! Where's Tsunade-baba?" A full minute of maintaining the rasengan seemed pretty good. It had been difficult, making the chakra spin in her hand without outside intereference. She managed it though, rather well too.

"You mastered it?" Why was the dark haired lady wasting time? Shouldn't they be looking for someone already? Someone with blonde hair, huge tits, and an age complex the size of the Hokage monument?

"More or less." She shrugged. She really wasn't sure what the critia for mastery was.

"We have to find Tsunade-sama, she's going to make a huge mistake!" Shizune cried, opening the window and preparing to jump out when a kunai thumped into the frame, missing her head by the width of a hair.

"Where is she?" He rasped. Shizune poured some water for him and the white haired sage swallowed it in thanks.

"She slipped me a mickey, I can't even throw straight." Shizune shot him a disbelieving look, her eyes pointedly aimed at the kunai imbeded in the window frame. Naome didn't blame her.

"If she accepts Orochimaru's deal, I will kill her." Naome didn't see anything in his features but his eyes were faded, his wrinkles seemed more pronounced, his hair wasn't as vibrant. He looked his age.

They hopped over houses and buildings, heading for the meeting place, following Tonton. Each one was wrapped up in their thoughts, no one spoke. They already knew what they had to do.

There was a brand new crator in the ground, and Tsunade's green jacket lay abandoned in the dust. None of them could quite say how relieved they were. She had turned them down!

Tsunade meanwhile, was having a little trouble. It was all to easy to draw blood with a sharpened bone and she was feeling a little queasy. She could almost smell it already, the horrible coppery smell that made her want to throw up.

She was left with mostly dodging, waiting for an opening. He was good, she'd admit that much. He slowed a bit, her trick from earlier had crippled him further. The more he tried to fight, the closer to death he became. Just a few more minutes and he would collapse.

He sprang forward, a cry of pain on his lips, coughing up blood. He slashed at her chest. Tsunade had enough sense to move back with the blade, so it was a shallow wound. It bled though, it soiled her clothes with crimson. She couldn't stand.

"I will make your end quick." The boy rasped, his voice dry and forehead sweaty. She couldn't move. His blade came closer.

"Don't touch her!" Naome went in for a full tackle, taking Kimmimaru by surprise and knocking him away from Tsunade. She quickly followed up with a kunai to the shoulder. She remembered from class that a well placed kunai could prevent a shinobi from using his arm.

Which is why she was surprised when that arm swiped at her with a bone sword. She flipped away, landing between him and his target. She eyed the bone weapon and a vision of her daughter flashed through her mind. So this is Yurei's father. Did he know about her?

"How are you still moving that arm?" She asked him suspiciously. It was bleeding, and hard, but his arm was still fully mobile.

"I can manipulate my skeleton." She blinked at that. So rather than the usual manipulation of the muscles, which the nerves she just stabbed should have rendered useless, he was bypassing that to go straight to the bone. Could Yurei do that? With a little more training?

"Impressive, but weird." She admitted. She quickly moved in to draw his fire while Jiraiya went after Orochimaru. Shizune was trying to comfort Tsunade, who looked like she was finally having her mid life crisis.

She ducked and pivoted under his attacks. He was faster than she was but his speed didn't do a whole lot of good if she was so close he couldn't breathe without her feeling it. This close and with that type of weapon he threatened to stab himself.

At least she thought that was the case, up until his entire rib cage burst from his chest, intent on spilling her guts. She jumped away, feeling minor scratches from where she just wasn't fast enough. She was at a comfortable distance now, she needed to think of a way to beat this guy.

She flexed her right hand, could a rasengan drill through those bones? She would need a way to tie up his hands though, otherwise she would be sliced in half.

A plan in mind, she had to move forward and vault over him to avoid his lethal stabs. When she reached the apex of her climb, she carefully tagged him with a super powered shock tag. She needed to make more knock out tags, this was a horrible time to realize she was out.

The super powered shock tags, where normal ones cause a constant stream of pain on the victim, these modified ones paralyzed all muscles. If she revved it up too much, the lung and cardiac muscles would stop working properly.

Kimmimaru cried out in pain, blood flowed from his mouth, he was bleeding inside. He mentally growled. This girl was keeping him from completing the mission Orochimaru-sama gave him. He had to kill the sannin, Tsunade for his master.

He put on another burst of speed, forcing his skeleton to move despite the tearing of his muscles. Before they simply refused to respond, now they were rigid and tore with every move he forced. He ran towards Tsunade, knowing he didn't have much longer to live.

He ran past Naome, pushed aside Shizune, and prepared to bring down his bone sword to finish the job when he hit a snag. Namely, one blonde haired genin grabbing him from behind in a psuedo-hug, shoving something into his stomach. He felt intense pain and tried to hit her, but safely behind his back he couldn't get at a right angle.

He managed to tear himself from her grasp but the damage was done. In doing so he cut across her own stomach, putting her in the same position as him. He clutched at his stomach, his hand the only thing preventing the sloshed remains of his guts from staining the ground. He coughed again, his entire body covered in blood, and fell.

Naome caught her breath and cautiously looked down at herself. Blood poured from her stomach, her hand clenched the wound shut. She couldn't feel any pain, the adrenalin blocked it, but she knew she'd feel it in a second.

She fell backwards and closed her eyes, gasping for air and feeling the first pangs break through. She cried out in pain and groaned, her eyes fluttering. She needed to keep pressure on the wound, try and buy time for the fox to heal her, but her limbs felt like lead.

Suddenly Tsunade was over her, her hands over the wound, glowing with a warm, sea foam green. Naome felt the pain drain away and watched in morbid fascination as new skin began to grow and stretch over the wound.

"You crazy, impulsive, reckless, kid!" Tsunade cursed.

"You aren't shaking." Naome whispered. That was odd. Wasn't Tsunade afraid of blood? She was covered in it now, it would never come out of her clothes.

"Don't forget, our bet." She muttered, her stomach felt numb and she barely registered the blood loss. She was already unconcious.

"...Just one more time, I want to believe it one more time." Tsunade whispered, taking off her necklace and placing it around Naome's neck.

Orochimaru was visibly upset. Jiraiya was clearly lacking, yet he was holding him off. Certainly the toad like man wouldn't be able to keep it forever, but that he could do so when he himself was not inhibited, irked him. Could Jiraiya have grown even stronger? Or had he himself grown soft?

Kimmimaru was dead. His illness and the wound proved it. That the girl had been able to learn the rasengan surprised him, she had great potential. However, she shouldn't have used it against him.

He took Kusanagi into his hand and spared a moment to look at Tsunade, Shizune, and the girl. From this distance he couldn't tell if the girl still lived, but he wasn't taking that chance. She was more trouble than she was worth, it was time he end this. Afterwards, he'd deal with Nina and the jinchuriki spawn.

He sped past Jiraiya, in his state he wasn't able to stop him. The snake slithered to the group of woman, fully expecting to make it past a comatose Tsunade and a pathetic apprentice to kill a blonde deader than dead.

Tsunade's glare caught him by surprise. She wasn't shaking, she wasn't cowering in fear like she'd been doing since their encounter. No, right now she looked calmer than he'd seen her in years. She calmly stood up, between him and his goal, and took his blade straight through her chest.

He was knocked back, feeling the force of her powerful blow and feeling thankful that the pain was diluted since this wasn't his true body. He watched his sword poof away, returning to the summoning realm he called it from. Purple markings covered her entire face, and before his eyes her wound healed.

"A new technique Tsunade-hime? Could you explain it to me, you know I'm always interested in new jutsu." He hissed, watching as she purposely faced him. Blood dripped from her lips, her clothes were stained, but she wasn't trembling. Had she gotten over her fear?

"It's called Creation Rebirth." She smirked, looking for all the world the confiden kunoichi who was credited with their survival through the third shinobi war.

From there it was a battle royal between the three legendary shinobi. Their respective boss summons were called forth, destruction was wrought. Tsunade used Gamabunta's knife to pierce through Manda's mouth, forcing him to return to his realm. From there, she tag teamed with Jiraiya against Orochimaru.

It didn't matter that neither were at full strength, just fighting one sannin would have been hard enough. Orochimaru mentally cursed his luck as he got enough distance to escape. When he was miles away, and knew they weren't following, he roared in outrage.

Shizune was in awe. For the first time since meeting the sannin after the death of her uncle, she saw the war hero in person. It was amazing to see such a change. Looking down at the peacefully sleeping Naome, she couldn't help but marvel at the one responsible for this change in character.

"Hokage huh? Why don't I doubt that?" She muttered, smiling.

They waited for her to wake up, it took one day. In the meantime she and Tsunade-sama inspected the girl's strange healing ability. Personally she thought it was kind of weird that the Kyuubi's only visible ability seemed to be healing, rather than pre-emptively making sure she didn't get hurt.

It seemed that so long as it wasn't immediatly fatal and she was given a chance to rest, Naome would heal on her own. It was amazing, from the standing point of a medic. If they could somehow recreate this and then inject it into regular shinobi, death rates would fall drastically!

Naome had a headache, which was the first thing she realized upon waking up. The second thing was that she needed a bath, badly. The third was that she should kill Jiraiya.

Why the last one? Well, waking up to see him looking at her chest with a calculating gaze was probably a big deciding factor.

"Ero-sensei!" She screamed, her fist firmly planted in his right cheek.

"It's not what you think!" He cried ineffectively.

"You asked for it Jiraiya, you old lech." Tsunade sighed, coming in through the door.

"I was just doing the girl a favor by measuring her breast size." Naome dug a kunai out of her pouch and looked pointedly at him in warning. He laughed awkwardly before turning away so she could properly dress. She was only wearing bandages on her upper torso.

"Stupid old peadophile." She muttered, pulling a shirt over her head. The choked protest was music to her ears.

"Sooo~...Judging from the necklace, I won. Does that mean Tsunade-baba's gonna be hokage?" Before Tsunade could kill her over the nickname Shizune quickly answered that they did intend to return to Konoha. Good, because otherwise Naome would've been pissed. She wanted to go home and see her babies!

She inspected her new jewelry when they began the walk home. It was actually pretty small, and the string worn and thin, it would cut easy in a bad fight. She'd replace it later, for now she used the calm walk back to Konoha to make a list of things she needed to do. Her list of mental notes was all too easy to misplace after all.

Naome's To-Do list!

1: Further research into Interrogation and information gathering.

2: Buy Weights for arms, legs, and torso. Preferably gravity seals.

3: Continue study of Fuinjutsu, maybe something like the Yin Seal Tsunade has for Creation Rebirth.

4: Look into training a fire affinity.

5: Set up Emergency Trust Fund for Yurei-chan, I've put that off for too long.

6: Have Zoro gather some defensive jutsu? Some Non-lethal capture jutsu?

7: Consider a change in wardrobe? Maybe something with lots of pockets for hiding weapons.

8: Train in Genjutsu, sensing and dispelling. Pretty big weakness there!

9: Look more into First Aid.

It was a start at least. For now she should just work on those areas. Especially the big ones about her weaknesses. It would suck for some enemy nin to sniff them out and use them against her.

The Sun glinted off the sea foam surface of the crystal and she felt strangely at peace to have it around her neck. She finished the list and surveyed her travelling companions. Jiraiya was grinning like a loon, his eyes lower than strictly polite while Tsunade walked in front of him. Shizune carried Tonton and seemed to be day dreaming about something. Tsunade herself walked forward without looking back.

Tsunade was famous, she had logically knew it, after all she read about her in history books. It was just a healthy reminder when shinobi kept stopping to gawk on their walk to the hospital. There was Kakashi-sensei to heal up, possible Sasuke if he was still here, and she also had her mind on Lee.

As such, she had happily convinced the slug sannin to heal her friends. The ones who'd been hurt and were languishing in the hospital at the moment. They could afford to go to the tower later on.

Anko was sitting beside Kakashi when they arrived. Naome kicked herself for forgetting her nee-chan. Newly married of course she'd be incredibly worried when he was in a comatose state! She gave the toku-jounin a hug while Tsunade healed Kakashi, trying to apologize without saying anything at all.

"Naome-chan you really are a miracle worker." Anko chuckled, maybe a little bitterly. She was 18 weeks along now, showing off her baby bump. When Kakashi started to wake up she moved right beside him, already talking to him.

Naome gave a small smile and turned away, leaving the newly weds alone for now. She'd have to catch up with Anko later, invite her out for dango or ice cream, the violet haired woman's craving.

Tsunade watched Naome back away with an unreadable look. She knew that Naome was a single mother of two, one adopted, but she hadn't given much thought to the girl's emotional state because of that. It couldn't have been easy, ten and pregnant while hiding it in the academy.

"Come on Tsunade-baba, you still have someone else to heal!" She might be able to grounge up more sympathy for the girl if not for that nickname. Whatever happened to sama?

Naome didn't actually stay to show her where Lee was. Gai was apparently anxiously awaiting their arrival and swept the next Hokage away before she could get a word in edgewise. As it was, she didn't really mind. She had two kids to pick up and a Hokage to report to!

"Kaa-chan!" Came two voices. As soon as she stepped into Sarutobi's office she was assaulted by two little blurs that came flying out of nowhere. She was caught by surprise and fell down, happily accepting their tackle hug, returning it ten fold.

"How's my big boy and girl? Were you two good for Hokage-sama?" She asked them teasingly.

"Hai!" Came Yurei-chan's answer. Naome took a moment to marvel at the fact she appeared to be outgrowing the sundress Naome bought her when she first arrived. She was at least three inches taller now. Hikaru's shirt was also a bit small.

Hikaru's bangs needed to be cut, he was also getting a bit of a rat tail on the back. She needed to schedule a dentist visit for the both of them, and check ups. Especially Yurei-chan. Even if Orochimaru said she hadn't inherited the family disease she wanted to make sure.

"I take it your mission was a success?" Hiruzen chuckled, watching the small family on the floor. Shikamaru had been by a couple times, growing more comfortable after the first visit. The lad was earnest in his care for the children, and in his care for Naome.

"Yep, we brought Tsunade-sama back! I even won this necklace off her!" She said, showing off the Shodaime's crystal. Worth two gold mines and the mountains on top of them. She could retire in the bahamas!

"I suspect your mission report will be very entertaining to read. I'll put the mission funds into your account. In the meantime there's a meeting for all the genin who participated in the exams tomorrow, be sure to attend." She nodded. So they were finally announcing who had become a chunin? For all the work she did she deserved a vest at the very least. Heck they should just scrap chunin and make her a jounin! Maybe even ANBU!

She didn't go straight home, no matter how nice it would be to just curl upp on the couch and relax. Instead she went off in search of Shika-kun. It might be because every other time she ever came to team ten's training ground, they weren't doing anything, but she was truly and honestly surprised to find them sparring when she arrived.

She sat with Yurei and Hikaru in a tree nearby, across from Asuma-sensei who was doing the same, and watched the carnage.

It was a surprisingly brutal match. Apparently Ino had learned a new family jutsu and they were trying to help her get faster in using it. She wasn't sure what it did, since mind techniques were invisible, but Ino didn't collapse every time she tried it, which was weird. She thought Yamanakas did that after every jutsu.

Finally Chouji stumbled and froze, caught in whatever jutsu Ino was practicing. Immediatly Naome could tell a difference. Chouji's body looked terribly confused and his movements were all stilted, like suddenly he didn't know how to use his arms and legs anymore.

"I finally did it! Ha, caught you!" Ino boasted happily, panting from exertion and sweating far more than she really should. She hadn't even moved around that much. Either that technique was chakra extensive, unlikely, or she didn't have very much stamina.

"What did you do?" Naome asked curiously, drawing attention to her perch. Shikamaru smirked lazily up at her, nodding in greeting. She grinned down at him but looked back at Ino, who was ready to explain.

"It's called Dokushin jutsu! It's a mind reading jutsu!" Ino's original technique was Mind Body Switch, she took over her opponent's body. However with this one, she instead gained whatever knowledge she wanted from the opponent. It was very useful for interrogation, since it was difficult if not outright impossible to defend against. Especially since this one didn't leave her totally helpless, as it didn't involve removing her mind from her body, just downloading new information into it.

"Sugoi!" Hikaru cried happily, not completely understanding but knowing that it was cool.

"So why are you guys only now training? Every other time I've come by you're all sitting around." She asked.

"It's troublesome, but Asuma-sensei said we have to train even more for the next chunin exam." Shikamaru answered, sitting down and taking Yurei into his lap, absently combing his fingers through her loose hair.

"Huh, well on a totally unrelated note, I just came back from a mission to bring the Godaime back! It's gonna be Tsunade Senju!" She reported happily.

"A new Hokage? Troublesome." He sighed. Change was always troublesome, it's just that some changes were less troublesome than others.

"I think she'll do fine, so long as no one lets her gamble away the treasury." Naome amended. Maybe it seemed odd to accept a leader with such obvious flaws, but in their world it was reassuring. Tsunade's gambling and drinking were her coping mechanisms, it was the shinobi without any outward quirk that people were hesitant around. These were unstable ones.

"Anyway, you'll never believe what happened while I was getting her!" She said excitedly, thinking of telling him all about the fight with Orochimaru and Kimmimaru. Of course, she'd edit it so that it didn't sound too bad for her kids, and neglect mentioning that Kimmimaru was Yurei-chan's father.

That night, after supper she was giving Yurei and Hikaru a bath. Hikaru was sitting on the toilet now, wrapped in a towel with his red bangs shadowing his eyes whenever he yawned. Naome washed Yurei-chan's snow white hair, getting out the dirt and grime of the day and being careful not to get the soap in her eyes.

"Kaa-chan, when do I get to become a kunoichi too?" She asked after rinsing.

"I'll sign you up for the academy when you turn seven." Naome answered, pulling the small girl out to dry her with the towel.

"...I was born November Tenth, then I'll be six!" Naome smiled and nodded, running the towel roughly through her hair to get it dry.

She put Hikaru to bed at eight thirty, but Yurei had earned the right to stay up until nine. Naome had never had bedtimes before, when it was just her in an old, dingy apartment. Being a responsible parent was still a little new to her, and sometimes she made mistakes.

She sat on the bed next to Yurei, inside the princess canopy, reading Konoha's number one story book. It had stories of their best shinobi and their deeds, cutting out all the ugly parts to make it into a bedtime story for little kids.

"And the Yellow Flash stopped the war, saving everyone, the end." She finished, closing the book and watching Yurei curl up under the covers.

"I wanna learn how to read." Yurei sighed before falling asleep. Naome made a mental note to start on that, since Yurei was the right age anyway.

Naome sighed before getting up and heading to her bedroom. Inside she uncovered her easel and got to work on the wedding painting she hadn't gotten around to starting. Soon Anko and Kakashi were directly in the middle, viewed from the side a bit so the shadows played on Anko's kimono.

There was Hokage-jiji, smiling a little sadly as he tied the knot. She defined each of his wrinkles, making up a story for each one. This one he got when his first son died, this one he got when a shinobi didn't come back. She made the light glint off of Shikamaru's headband, which was around his neck in respect of the formal occasion.

She even put in Danzo, standing off in one corner of the hall but not looking at the love birds at all. He was looking at Hokage-jiji with his one eye, the other covered by bandages stained a light red.

She finished late that night and left it to dry while she slept. She had a meeting tomorrow, and so many things to do. She'd have to make a few bunshins. She'd buy the weights and start the trust fund, maybe send Zoro to the library for a scroll on advanced interrogation and beginner's genjutsu.

Morning came all too soon and she whipped up breakfast for her kids, already up and running. Naome wondered if she should start buying coffee or something, since she was always tired in the mornings.

The meeting wasn't until one, so she decided to take care of all her other business. She decided to take Yurei and Hikaru as well, since they would need to learn their way around the village. First they went to the bank, so she could take out some money and add Yurei's trust fund. Hikaru already had one, she had made it before even giving birth.

Yurei made sure Hikaru didn't wander off while she filled out the paperwork, filling in things like age and status. It would have to be updated when she started the academy, and then again when she graduated and became a genin.

"Thank you for your cooperation." An elderly shinobi thanked her, accepting the papers and filing them away. With all that done she took out some of her savings, filling Gama-chan back up to the breaking point. It was time for some shopping.

Hikaru was riding on her back while they walked to the shinobi district. Here is where everything shinobi related was sold. Everything from weapons, to foreign kits, to the latest issue of the bingo book was sold on this street. Naome went straight to a weapon's shop.

"Yurei, don't touch anything." She warned her daughter. Normally kids weren't allowed in here, so all the weaponry was out where little hands could reach. Yurei nodded in understanding but looked at everything, her eyes gleaming.

Naome got the weights she needed and bought a bokken, a wooden sword, on impulse for Yurei-chan. From what she saw of Kimmimaru, the Kaguya clan were pretty damn good kenjutsu users, so the bokken would be good for practice until she was good enough to draw out an entire bone sword.

A retired shinobi rung up her purchase and she left the shop feeling pretty good. Two things off her to-do list and it wasn't even lunch time! Yurei was happily swinging her bokken around, although being very careful not to hit anyone they passed by. Naome would need to look at those clan scrolls Mizuki gave her when he dropped off Yurei.

They decided to go to the park, since it had been a while and they wanted to play. Naome sat on a bench and watched Yurei cautiously walk up to a group of kids near her age. It looked like they were playing ninja.

Soon enough Yurei was laughing and running off to hide. Naome hoped they didn't go too far, since she wasn't sure yet if Yurei could find her way home on her own yet. Hikaru was happy to play in the sand though, building a little castle and using a stick as a sword to defend it against enemy nin.

In half an hour all the kids playing with Yurei were back, and now she was on the team trying to find everyone. She was smiling and laughing, waving at Naome whenever she ran by. Naome made sure to wave back but didn't do anything that might hurt Yurei's chance at a friend.

"How have you been doing Naome?" She eeped and found Haku and Hana standing beside her. She made room on the bench.

"Haku! Hana-san! I'm well thanks for asking. You?" She inquired politely.

"It takes some getting used to, being on the new Momochi compound." Yeah, Haku took on Zabuza's last name to represent his connection to the man who had raised him.

The three Haimaru triplets played a bit with Hikaru, pretending to be the enemy nin he had to beat back from destroying his castle. The three sat in silence, listening to kids laughing and dogs barking. It was peaceful, it was a beautiful kind of day.

"Naome-san, could I ask you a favor?" Haku suddenly spoke up. Naome gave him her attention, looking away from where she could just see Yurei climbing up a tree for her turn to hide.

"When my children are born, would you be the God mother?" Hana twitched and her hand wandered to her stomach, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Are you sure? It's such a big honor." She stammered. Hana watched Haku, her husband and the father of her pup, talk to a genin girl that she barely knew. She had given her title as heir to Kiba, because she didn't want to end up like her mom and have to be responsible for an entire clan.

She agreed to marry Haku after going on a couple dates with him. He was kind and considerate, not pressuring her into anything. He liked the dogs and he had accepted the conditions of the marriage without any fuss. He was a good guy, and the other wives were bearable, if not overly friendly.

Shiho was in the Cryptanalysis division of Intelligence, a good kunoichi and very loyal. Twins apparently ran in her family, and she was expecting two. Hana could see herself becoming close friends with Shiho, especially after the pups were born.

Hisoka was the third wife, and the lowest ranked in the household. She was somehow related to the Haruno family, and a civilian. She had no idea what she had signed up for and Hana just prayed the pup was a boy so he wouldn't inherit her attitude. Although she was the third wife and a civilian, she was haughty and didn't help with the housework.

Eventually Naome Uzumaki agreed to be named God mother for all four pups and they got up to leave. Naome had a meeting about the chunin promotions, and Hana herself had an appointment with a doctor.

"Why did you choose her? She's so young." Hana asked Haku when they were out of ear shot and on their way.

"Naome-san already has a son, the boy the triplets were playing with. She also adopted a young girl. I've watched her take care of them and I know she would take care of our children as well as her own." She hadn't known that. She looked over her shoulder where Naome was calling to a little girl with white hair, and picking up the boy with red bangs and blonde hair.

"She loves them very much and I know she would do anything to protect them." Haku finished, smiling knowingly when he saw Hana looking back.

Hana decided that having Naome as the God Mother wouldn't be a bad thing when she saw her swing her son into the air, while her daughter swung a bokken. They were a good family, and whatever her circumstances were, she didn't smell like a fox.

Yurei didn't want to leave yet, she wanted to stay with her new friends to play. Naome sighed but decided that she could just leave a bunshin at the park to take Yurei home later. With that decided she also left Hikaru to play in the sand. Another bunshin took her purchase back home and to do some other errands, like getting rent from the people in the apartment she still owned.

Meanwhile the Original went to her meeting with the rest of the genin. Everyone from Neji to Sasuke was there, teams seven through ten present and accounted for. Naome was actually the last to arrive, although she was right on time.

"Alright then, we're here today to discuss the results of the third test of the chunin exams." Hokage-jiji announced, looking over the potential candidates. Tsunade-baba was also there, sitting beside him and smiling faintly, although she refused to make eye contact.

"Due to circumstances, we didn't get to watch every match, but I believe there are at least two genin who deserve the promotion." Naome felt nervous, though she had no idea why. She was practically garunteed that promotion!

"The first is Shikamaru Nara, for excellent battle tactics on the field against Temari of Suna." She clapped louder than anyone else and grinned at her boyfriend, who smirked as usual and accepted the vest and chunin tanto.

"Next is Naome Uzumaki, for services above and beyond what a genin would be asked to do and for showing great knowledge of tactics and jutsu in her match against Neji Hyuuga of Konoha." She felt her grin spread until it threatened to split her face as she accepted the vest and tanto, practically bouncing in her excitement.

She saw Shikamaru smile at her and nod, he was already wearing his vest. Sakura congratulated her and Sasuke nodded his respect. She had done what she always said she would, she had surpassed him. Kakashi nodded at her, eye smiling in pride.

"Would everyone else leave so I can give the new chunin their new posts?" It was a bittersweet feeling as the teams began leaving. Did this mean no more meeting up for training with team seven?

"Being chunin is a big responsibility, and includes several new duties you are expected to perform." He lectured them, two scrolls lie on his desk. One was brown and the other was grey.

"Shikamaru Nara, you are being assigned to Border Patrol, squad D, until further notice. This means doing the majority of the C-ranks that come through the tower and keeping the peace along our borders." Shikamaru accepted the brown scroll. Naome didn't need him to voice it to know how troublesome this was to him. Border Patrol meant alot of running around, something she knew he hated.

"Naome Uzumaki." She stood to attention. This time it was Tsunade who spoke.

"I don't completely agree with this but you have been placed in T&I under direct control of Ibiki Morino. This means learning the arts of information gathering via torture, investigation, and as a kunoichi, seduction."

Naome accepted the grey scroll, thinking hard on that last one. It was unlikely she'd actually be sent on a mission requiring no clothes and a bed, since she was already a mother, so she wasn't too worried about that. Besides, the prospect of continuing her studies of interrogation certainly interested her.

"You two are now chunin, the main fighting force of our village. You will be asked to take on C and B-rank missions to that affect, to use every weapon in your aresenal to protect the walls surrounding us." Hiruzen explained, catching their attention although nothing he said really stood out. Listening to him go on to explain both the merits and the down fall of chunin level shinobi, Naome started to wonder why she wanted the promotion so badly.

The future looked promising, but oh so terrifying at the same time. If there was a war, they would be among the first sent out to fight. They were in charge of basic security, their priority was protection. Protecting clients on C-ranks, protecting the borders, protecting their civilians. A chunin was expendable. A chunin was cannon fodder.

"Report immediatly to your new platoon leaders and make our village proud as it's representatives." He finished, dismissing them. For her record, Naome managed to wait until the door closed to tackle hug Shika-kun.

"We're chunin!" She squealed, her vest was unzipped and flapped a bit in the breeze. It had all sorts of pockets too, for all sorts of things! She counted at least twelve fully visible pockets!

"We have to celebrate!" She decided, pulling him out of the tower to meet their respective teams.

"To Ichiraku!" She declared, already happily tugging Shika along.

"Troublesome girl, we have to report to our commanders now." Shikamaru pointed out, ruining her good mood. No ramen!

"Fine, but we're going to Ichiraku's later!" She swore, by rain and by thunder she would have her miso!

She remembered the T&I headquarters from her pranking days. She once painted a beautiful satire of Konoha shinobi pulling foreign shinobi in to their doom. It had been a moving piece, one of her best, if she said so herself.

One wouldn't know such a thing ever adorned those walls now. They were painted a boring egg shell, just like the rest of the buildings on the street. If she didn't already know that this was the place, she'd never suspect it.

She had read the scroll given to her, which was orders to report directly to Ibiki and information such as business hours and helpful suggestions. Among the suggestions was a useful one for three spare changes of uniform, which would be handed to her upon entering. Another suggestion was copious amounts of shinobi soap.

She wondered what exactly she was signing up for when she pushed open the door.

The inside itself was boring as well, at least the registration room was anyway. There were two desks, one with a sign saying Check In and the other saying Check Out. At both were two shinobi wearing grey button ups with matching full length pants. The basic uniform, from the looks of things.

"Excuse me, I've been assigned under Ibiki Morino-san." She said to the check in desk, showing him the scroll.

"Go down the steps and take the direct right, he's at the end of the hall." The nameless chunin informed her. She thanked him and entered the door, heading down a steep flight of stairs.

She reached a circular room with several different hallways, branching off to just about anywhere. She had a feeling she'd get lost alot here and made a mental note to explore using bunshins.

She took the furthest right path and walked down a hall littered with other doors. These doors all had a different plaque on them, with names of different higher ranking shinobi who worked here. When she reached Ibiki Morino's door she raised a hand and knocked.

"Enter!" Came a gruff voice. She took a deep breath and opened it slowly, poking her head in cautiously. Ibiki was sitting at his desk and looking at a file. Her picture was clipped to it and she could guess that he was looking at her ANBU file. She wondered if they had updated that.

"Naome Uzumaki, welcome to T&I." She flashed him a confident smile, more out of habit of meeting new authority figures then because she was confident in her abilities.

"So Ibiki-san, what should I be doing now?" She asked curiously, taking the liberty to walk on in and lean against the desk. From this angle she could read the file and made no attempt to hide what she was doing as she read what she guessed was her Official File.

ANBU files held basic facts, things like age, gender, status, and important notes. There was an ANBU file on everyone in the village, from new borns to the elderly, shinobi or civilian. Official Files were for the shinobi, and far more detailed.

This file was alot thicker than the ANBU file had been. It had a couple pictures of what she looked like at different ages, pictures of her kids, a picture of Shikamaru (Ahem). There was intensive information about her personal life and ninja who she had connections with, reports from past missions, and what looked like a grocery list she threw out last week.

"...Should I ask why there's a receipt for my tampons in here?" She asked a little nervously. The level of information was a little disturbing.

"Lie to me." She looked up at Ibiki in surprise, wondering if he really said what she thought he had just said.

"Bubblegum turns my tongue blue!" She said on impulse. He blinked, slowly and with purpose. She had to remind herself not to fidget even as her head tipped to one side and a challenging smirk made itself comfortable on her face.

"Again." Came the order.

"Our Yondaime was a woman." She shot off.

"Again." He demanded, this time leaning forward, giving her his undivided attention.

"Wood chucks scare me!" She whispered, conspiringly.

"Again." Said the scarred man.

"The sky is red when it rains!" She replied.

"Again." He gave the order while starting a pot of coffee that sat behind and a bit to the side of the desk.

"I'm a cross dresser!" She was having fun with this. Was there some kind of point to this or just a random game?

"Topic: Personal Secrets." She didn't miss a beat.

"My hair's the flavor of a rainbow!" She giggled.

"Continue." He said, waiting for the coffee to finish heating.

"I miss Orochi-chan! Foxes are my favorite animal! Toads are secretly ugly frogs! I abducted Hikaru from the Hyuuga! I pick my nose when no one looks! I hate every living thing! I plan to destroy all ramen noodles!" She stopped to take a breath.

"Enough." Ibiki motioned for her to sit down while he poured them both some coffee. Naome took a healthy amount of milk and cream into her's before taking a sip. She decided she liked coffee.

"You are pretty good at lying. How good are you at detecting them?" He asked her after taking a long drink of his black coffee. Black as his soul!

"Lie to me." She watched his eyes flicker in obvious amusement.

"I hate my life." She gave him a thumbs down.

"I despise kids." Another thumbs down, this one a little more hesitant.

"Not bad." He congratulated her after another five minutes of reverse twenty questions.

"You have talent and good instinct. You got twenty out of fifty, which is better than what most give me." She grinned again, a look that clearly said You-Know-You-Love-Me.

"Most of what you'll be doing here at first is mastering the art of lying. After that we'll work more on detecting lies. Then we'll let you in to watch a few interrogations and tortures depending on your stomach." He went on to explain that she wasn't expected to do this all day every day. She would have work hours, which happened to be from nine until five with a lunch break at one for thirty minutes. When on duty she would wear the uniform unless otherwise instructed and run errands for him around the building and village between her 'lessons'.

"I don't want to hear a single complaint from you. I don't want to hear 'I can't' pass your lips. While you work under me you will remain professional and always address me as Morino-san. Wear the uniform. Do not tell anyone what goes on inside this building. Do not touch any files. Do not touch anything that I leave out. Follow these rules and both our lives will be infinitely easier." She nodded in understanding, accepting the uniform and it's copies that she was handed. Wearing these was not going to be fun. They were ugly and looked very uncomfortable and too warm for this climate!

"Go change and we'll get started right away. Back down the hall to the second left, the showers should be empty now but if not then I don't care." She nodded and jogged off, eager not to make any enemies on her first day.

She found the showers with minimal trouble and found two shinobi washing away blood. One of them was a prisoner and could barely stand. She mentally shuddered and drew a curtain around her so she could change without anyone staring.

It was too big on her. It was at least three sizes too big in the chest and torso, it reached half way down her thigh! The pants were baggy and she had to use her on duty pouch as a belt to hold them up. With that done she rolled up the sleeves to her biceps and used two hair clips to keep them in place. After that though, she had to fix her hair.

She sighed as she turned her Hitai-ate into a choker and used a bandage as a hairband to keep her bangs out of her face. A tuft of hair escaped the band and landed between her eyes but she ignored it in favor of using another bandage to tie her hair up in a bun.

Eventually she used another bandage to tie the button up closer to her chest, so it didn't feel so much like she was wearing a sack. With this it looked very much like an ugly dress in the way it suddenly seemed form fitting. With that she tied up the ends of the pants and declared herself ready. She sealed her normal clothes and the uniform copies in a scroll and headed back to Ibiki.

"That was the smallest size we had but you seem to have made due. Memorize this." He tossed an over sized tome at her that nearly made her buckle from the weight. It was massive! Advanced Interrogation: How to Lie?

She sat down, making herself comfortable in one of the hard armchairs in the corner. She opened the book and took a quick peek at the index. Chapter one was labeled Classifications and The Counter Measures of Lies. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

Naome wondered if she'd get in trouble for sending a bunshin here instead of coming herself. She then decided she didn't want to risk him finding out and punishing her. If this was the lesson, she was afraid to find out what his idea of detention was.

It was actually an interesting read. She ended up taking out a note book from her scroll to take notes. It was alot more in depth than the beginner's books she'd gotten at the library. The four classifications of lies were white, grey, red, and black. White lies benefited the other person while we lost out. Grey lies benefited both parties. Red lies benefited no one. Black lies purely benefit ourselves and hurt whoever we lie to.

She read about list of things Liars did to avoid detection. She loved the idea of False Replays, which was repeating the story but with a few elements misplaced to see if the original person would catch on or not. If they did and corrected the mistakes, it was usually a good sign that they were telling the truth!

The book emphasised that none of these methods were full proof though. One could tell a lie and still get caught. One could hear a lie and still not catch it. It was all about a good bit of observation and instincts.

"Tomorrow you will use what I've given you to lie to me about the personal aspects of your life. Parts that enemy nin could use against you." He told her at the end of the day. She nodded and walked back to the showers to change. The Uniform was uncomfortable, just as she first thought!

She met up with Shikamaru and their teams before finally heading to Ichirakus! She happily downed five bowls without coming up for air.

"So how does working with Ibiki sound?" Kakashi asked when she finally stopped long enough to breathe.

"It sounds like alot of reading so far. I didn't know there were so many rules about lying!" It was a little intimidating. So many rules and classifications to memorize, so little enjoyment.

"Well since you have nine to five hours team training will have to settle for early mornings and late afternoons." Asuma reminded them. Shikamaru would also have the same hours as she did. Although all he had to do was sit at the gate and make sure everyone who came and left had the proper paperwork.

"Troublesome, I have to get up early?" Shikamaru groaned.

"On the bright side, chunin get more days off." Naome pointed out, pointing to a section in her scroll that listed what days she had off. Shikamaru took out his scroll and found that he had different days. Troublesome.

Shikamaru came home with her, both eager to enjoy the rest of the day spending it like a family, with every member. They played in the backyard, and Shikamaru didn't say troublesome at all! Not a single complaint!

"Kaa-chan, what's a chunin?" Yurei asked after they sat on the grass, completely wore out.

"Well Yurei-chan, a chunin is a kind of shinobi. First is Academy student, then genin, then chunin, then jounin, then ANBU, and then kage." Naome explained, she was sitting with Shikamaru's head in her lap and his hair tie on the ground, toying with his hair.

"I thought Kaa-chan was strongest." Hikaru pouted, like this new information didn't fit into his picture of the world.

"Not yet Hikaru-chan, not yet."

Sasuke's POV, Uchiha Training Ground.

He was panting, trying to catch his breath. Dodging the swipes of two cat summons and had been doing it for nearly an hour. Kirara was a tabby, and the size of a small bear. Chiaka has a tiger print but with dark blue paws and ears. He was the one Sasuke was having the most trouble with.

He'd been trying to work on his teamwork with the summons since the Forest of Death, against those Snakes. The cats were primarily genjutsu users, able to weave illusions so well a man wouldn't get out for a day and a half.

"Faster Suke-kun! Faster!" Kirara hissed, her claws taking a chunk out of his pant leg when he jumped upwards to avoid it.

He didn't say anything, to distracted by having to backpedal away from Chiaka before becoming a scratching post. Training with these two is always rough, especially as it means I am already low on chakra when we start, having summoned both of them.

At first I could barely last ten minutes after summoning both of them, now lasting an hour was almost easy. Soon he'd get strong enough to add a third summon, probably Tsuna, who actually specialized in lightning ninjutsu, which he had an affinity for.

He was getting stronger, and soon he'd catch up to Him. Naome was already a chunin, and normally he'd be upset for being passed over for her. He could hardly complain though, since he hadn't shown any planning during his battle. What sort of planning one can do against that Gaara guy though, he didn't know. If he'd gotten the chance to fight Naome he might have given a better showing, but as it were he'd just have to wait six months for the next exam.

Shikamaru had officially claimed Naome, not that he particularly minded. Beyond idle musings he just couldn't see himself with her. She was everything he was not, and she was already a single mother.

Sakura had the potential to shape up, but she had lost alot of time. She was still annoying, and she was still a fangirl.

Sakura's POV, Konoha Hospital.

She worked as a volunteer at the hospital whenever she had free time. In her trainee smock she did errands for the certified nurses, things like changing beds and getting medicine from the supply closets. Just yesterday Kana-san said if she kept up the good work she'd be allowed to work with the children patients, doing things like reading them stories and giving them their medicine.

The Medic Nin program was very study intensive and she thrived off of it. She could use the Mystical Palm technique fairly well now and could heal basic cuts and scrapes. She was working on mending broken bones now but she didn't have a whole lot of time to practice, what with her work and studying and regular team training.

She huffed in annoyance when her hair fell in front of her eyes again. Long hair might be elegant but it was so bothersome! With all the running around she did now her hair kept getting free of the hair tie!

After work she was walking home, more than a little sore and suddenly hating herself a little for wearing the stupid dress she was wearing. It was thick and kept getting in the way. It was too tight for her to be able to move around, which was especially annoying when one had to run up and down stairs delivering medicine and blankets in a hospital.

She was enjoying the benefits of being a kunoichi who didn't have to pay bills though, thanks to her parents. She paused by a clothes shop, her inner Sakura arguing relentlessly that she didn't need new clothes, the ones she had were beautiful and sexy!

Sakura sighed and continued walking, when another sign caught her attention. This one for a barber shop, giving discount hair cuts to shinobi. The argument started, the biggest point being the rumor about Sasuke liking short hair.

This time though, she won out. She shifted the books in her arms and opened the door, the bell hung above ringing her arrival.

"Greetings kunoichi-san, can I interest you in a hair cut?" The elderly man asked politely, gesturing to a chair.

"Yes please." She undid her braid and picked up a magazine for short cuts. She pointed to a cute bob and leaned back while he did his thing. She needed to make a change, may as well start small.

"Sakura-chan!" Her mother cried in alarm upon seeing her hair. Her mother had mid length hair, straight as an iron board and a duller pink than Sakura's own.

"It's just a hair cut kaa-san." She placated.

"Oh, your beautiful hair! What boy will want to marry a girl with such short hair!" Her mother bemoaned, inconsolable.

"Kaa-san, my hair kept getting in the way." She tried to explain.

"Sakura what is your mother crying about?" Her father asked, entering the living room from the kitchen.

"Dear kami, Sakura why did you cut your hair!" He demanded, where her mother was upset, he got angry.

"It kept getting in the way so I had it cut." She sighed, it was tiring to say the same thing over and over again.

"Sakura, we know being a ninja is important to you, and we certainly don't mind you becoming a doctor, but doing such things to yourself without telling us first is not permitted." He said sternly, frowning in displeasure but obviously confused.

"What do you have to say for yourself young lady?" He finished, putting on his best defeated look to guilt trip her. Sakura was startled to find that she even noticed. Why was he so angry? It was just hair!

"I'm sorry." She was lying. She could count the number of times she had lied, and been caught, to her parents on one hand.

"We'll forgive you this one time but don't do it again." Her father nodded, apparently satisfied. Sakura held her books closer to her chest and forced the feelings of anger down, she imagined a well within her mind in which she pushed everything that she didn't want to think about.

She went up to her room and locked the door. She looked around, taking in the full length mirror, the pink wall paper and bedding, the flower on her window sill, and the picture of team seven on her nightstand.

Under the surface were the kunai and shuriken waiting to be sharpened on her desk, the scrolls with genjutsu theory lying open on the floor. Her book shelf had books filled with books and scrolls on medic jutsu and things from the academy. There was a pack of ration bars waiting to be packed into her travel bag, needle and thread to repair her clothes when they were ripped.

She sighed and set her books down next to the team photo. She had a list of things she needed to study up on before going to bed. She absently stretched her arm and marveled at how different it seemed than the arm in the picture. In the picture, the arm was smooth, without any lines that marked muscles like on Naome's arm.

Now though her arms were stronger, thicker in places where the muscle had been excercised by carrying things. Her legs were more sculpted too, with her thighs being thicker from running up and down stairs. She walked over to the mirror and inspected herself.

She liked her hair short, her hitai-ate still worn like a hairband and her bangs framing her forehead. Like how Ino taught her years ago. She'd lost some baby fat on her cheeks, she was a bit thicker in the abdomen, where muscles had developed. It wasn't the feminine figure she had always imaginned, she'd gained weight from not staying on her diet.

"So this is me, Sakura Haruno." She felt like she was meeting herself for the first time. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine her life if she'd been faced with Naome's challenges.

She would have buckled under the pressure. Naome, at ten, did what fully grown women struggle with, and without even one complaint. She was raising two kids when she was still a kid herself!

No, not a kid. Sakura felt a little ashamed by it but Naome was most definitely not a kid anymore. Naome was strong, getting stronger, firm in her beliefs, and unwavering. Naome was everything Sakura dreamed to be. Not because she was a picture perfect kunoichi, not because she could defeat an enemy single handed and raise a baby.

Naome was everything she dared to dream for because she was happy. She was happy and proud of her son, loving towards her adopted daughter, she smiled and laughed when plenty others would have cried. Naome was happy.

Sakura looked around her room, the well of her mind was over flowing and she was unsure about this world that kept changing just when she got used to how things were. Because it forced her to remember, that despite being the second best kunoichi, being on a team with Sasuke-kun, and even rebuilding her friendship with Ino, she wasn't happy.

Sakura frowned now, and the face in the mirror was foreign again. That was a reflection of a true kunoichi, one who didn't let the world change under her because she was changing with the world! This kunoichi hadn't been forged of fire, she hadn't grown from a rock in the middle of a desert. This kunoichi grew from the fertile soil of Konohagakure, this kunoichi was one who trained not to kill but to heal. This kunoichi had it easy, and this kunoichi was content.

Sakura nodded, like she had decided something but didn't know what or what would happen as a result of such a decision. She went back to her bed and leaned against the wall, a book in her lap and a notebook in one hand.

Naome's POV, T&I HQ, Nine A.M.

Naome was wearing her uniform as she stepped into Ibiki's office. He was already there, calmly drinking coffee as he filled out some paperwork. He looked up at her entrance and put away whatever papers he had been looking at.

"Read this, then lie to me about it." He tossed a scroll at her and she obediantly opened it. It was a mission report, one of her's. This was from her mission to get information from Orochimaru as Nina.

She rolled it back up, remembering everything about that day all too clearly without reading about it again. Writing it had been nerve wracking.

"Hmm, you know I forgot to write in that Orochi was wearing a big snake as a scarf. Do you have a pen?" She asked him, looking over the desk for the afore mentioned writing utensil.

"Not bad." He praised her.

"Kabuto's here right? You think I could ask him why his hair was dyed blue then?" She continued without blinking an eye, leaning forward like she had yesterday.

"Good job." He said, almost visibly surprised. Naome was glad she read that extra chapter about reading faces. Knowing Tells was great, but being able to read and dissect a person's thoughts was all too tempting.

"I thought so!" She said cheekily.

"By the way, I lied in the original report. It should say Nina is a chain smoking hooker wearing little more than a bikini. I have no idea where old woman came from!" She said this while leaping onto the armchair from yesterday and making herself comfortable, looking all the world like a cat about to take a nap in the Sun.

"Alright, now we're done with that part. Follow me, don't speak." She raised an eyebrow but followed, wordlessly.

They walked down the third to the left hallway, then opened a door with descending stairs, then another branch, taking the middle one. Now they reached an interrogation room, where one Kabuto Yakushi sat, listless and paler than Naome had ever seen him.

"Prisoner K2Y, stand against the wall." Ibiki ordered. Kabuto's eyes flashed but he did as he was told, without a single sideways glance at her. Where did the confidant shinobi that she had tricked go?

"When will Orochimaru be at his weakest?" He asked, pointedly. The question gave the feel of one that had been asked a dozen times already, and was getting tiresome.

Kabuto stayed silent, he didn't move, didn't speak, didn't lift his eyes from the ground. He looked more like a ghost than a man. He was wearing what once must've been a white robe, but was now stained to a yellowish color. His hair was loose, unkempt. He wasn't even wearing his glasses.

"He is a good shinobi, he can withstand our torture and hasn't given up anything substantial concerning Orochimaru." Naome mentally reviewed that statement, noticing that he hadn't said anything about information on others. Just nothing about Orochimaru. Had Kabuto ever worked for someone else? How many masters did this guy have?

They stayed for an hour, Ibiki asking a question that would be ignored by Kabuto. An hour of Naome trying hard not to stare but being unable to help herself. He looked so different! They left him when another T&I guy came in to take him away. Walking back to Ibiki's office, Naome spoke.

"He looked so different." She murmured, mostly to herself. He looked like someone had taken a hammer to his reflection and the glass was all cracked. He was holding together, almost stubbornly, but Naome just knew that it would only take something small to break him now.

"Breaking people is easy Naome. Fixing them is harder, but often doable. To do it many times, breaking, healing, breaking healing, that is the life of an interrogater." Ibiki said slowly, pausing in the middle of the hall to turn back and look her in the eyes.

"It is not easy, and it's not a glorious job for a shinobi, but it is a necessary one. The few who are able to break someone by speaking are the ones that keep those walls around our village tall." They started to walk again. Naome stayed quiet as he reviewed her knowledge and practice of everything that had been in the book.

She lied, again and again. About everyday innocent things like what she bought when she went out for groceries, to the names of her kids' friends and who she commonly left them with when she was at work. Those kinds of things that could be deadly if she couldn't lie well enough.

"You know, with all this emphasis on lying I'm starting to wonder if there's a secret plan to have me captured and give false information to an enemy village." She joked at the end of the day.

"All newbies go through this training, you're just going through it faster than most. Next we'll work on resisting torture." She blinked and nearly missed a step. They weren't going to seriously hurt her, were they?

"There are different rules for interrogation of captured shinobi." He started, setting about making a new pot of coffee. Naome could see herself becoming addicted to caffeine at this rate.

"The lower ranked a shinobi is, the less they are allowed to use drastic measures. A genin for instance, would logically only have the most basic information about the village anyway and wouldn't be seriously tortured, only thrown into a cell to later be traded for one of their own." She nodded her understanding.

"Chunin, go through mild forms of torture which are used to figure out in which division that chunin belongs in. T&I, Border Patrol, maybe Intelligence." Naome accepted the cup of coffee with extra cream and sugar.

"Depending on where this chunin normally works, is how the torture is carried out. In Border Patrol you have good knowledge of the surrounding area, including potential ambush points and such. In T&I you know about all of Konoha's enemies and some important intel from other shinobi villages. Intelligence is where the big guns come out." She listened with rapt attention to his exposition.

"Intelligence means you have knowledge of how the village works. What does it import, what does it export, how many weapons does it order yearly, small things that when coming together mean the enemy has us at a disadvantage. They could cut off our trade routes, sabotage shipments. Which in time would cripple us." Cripple most villages anyway. Konoha had the benefit on being on fertile soil so getting food wouldn't be too hard, plus the mountains had an iron deposit so making their own weapons wasn't too much of a stretch. Even though eventually it would run out.

"Naturally, the Border Patrol guy will be more or less ignored unless they need to get past other Border guys, while the Intelligence guy will be tortured for anything possible relevant to the running of a village." He finished his coffee and took out some papers to sign, giving her a look that warned her against trying to read them upside down. She shot him her best Who-Me? look at which he scoffed.

"Jounin, like Kabuto is in Oto, will be tortured to the breaking point. Jounin always know things, important things. Things like the level of shinobi currently in the village, potential weaknesses of other strong shinobi, closer connection to the kage who can then be targetted." That made sense, especially as there were so few jounin.

"Naturally, if anyone chunin or higher gets captured, we want them to be prepared to lie. Lie because their lives are forfeit." She felt her coffee grow cold, left mostly untouched in favor of listening to Ibiki.

"Trading prisoners doesn't happen as everyone seems to think. Hostage exchanges are complicated business and we don't like giving back the jounin we capture who could stay as potential bargaining chips later, for say a genin." Naome forced herself to keep a calm, innocently interested, look on her face while she took a big gulp of her coffee. It scalded her tongue but she gave no sign of notice.

"So when a genin or low level chunin is captured, a little more leeway is given to them. With higher level chunin and jounin we encourage them to lie and to never give away information, comitting suicide if it comes down to it." His empty mug was set aside as he leaned forward, looking her in the eye and looking for something she wasn't sure was there.

"You are considered high level, because of the Kyuubi, your association with me, your tutelage under Kakashi Hatake, and your mission streak. You will be expected to create a subtle method of death for the event that you are captured. Some put suicide pills in a cavity in their teeth, and just chomp down when it feels like they might not be able to hold out." Suddenly the sugar in her coffee made her want to spit in distaste.

"Others use a Devestation Seal, which destroyed the body and anything around it upon activation. This is used commonly for those with gekkei genkai so it can't be studied." He leaned back, breaking eye contact. Naome couldn't tell if he'd found whatever he was looking for.

"So shinobi are expected to kill themselves if they get captured?" Naome couldn't be proud of the fact her voice didn't shake. At the moment she was calm, like a sea before the storm. Only this storm would be hard and fast, gone as suddenly as it appeared.

"Would you rather an enemy getting information of your kids from you? And then targetting them? Like Orochimaru, for instance?" It isn't about you. That was the hardest, and easiest, thing to swallow about her training. She represented a larger whole than just herself, larger even than the village.

That night she questioned herself, not what should she do, but what would she do. If it was the village she was protecting, vs if she was defending her children. Naome was a little startled to find how deeply they had wormed their way into her heart. If it was just the village she was protecting, just the village? Would she have the strength to kill herself?

If it was her kids, Naome couldn't hesitate. The moment the questioning turned to her family, Hikaru-chan, Yurei-chan, Shika-kun, then she wouldn't hesitate. She would kill herself. She would rather die then let them be hurt.

A Hokage had to protect everyone in the village, they were the central pillar of strength in the village, which everyone leaned on in times of trouble. Each life was precious to them and they would have to send their own family on missions they might not come back from. Could she handle that? Would she be able to send Yurei on a suicidal mission, knowing it would be the last time she ever saw her daughter? Could she bear to send Hikaru away only for him to return in a body bag?

It frightened her a little, what being a Hokage would mean. Maybe the part that scared her the most was she didn't care. She still wanted to be Hokage, knowing someday she would send a friend or worse, a child, on a mission they would never return from. She still wanted to sit in that office someday, looking over the village. Just the thought filled her with pride and warmth.

If she were captured before then, captured and tortured for information on those she cared about. Was she strong enough to die? Could she bring a kunai to her own neck and cut it without flinching?

Slowly, she got up and walked to Hikaru's room. She watched him sleep in the crib, absently reminding herself that he would need a bigger bed soon. He was clutching the stuffed frog she won him with one hand, his hair was a mess, she should get it cut.

If he was threatened, if the enemy ever tried to get information about her son from her, would she kill herself in order to protect him? She looked around the room, the locked window that showed a view of the backyard. She had given him this room because she didn't want just anyone on the street looking in and seeing him, making connections.

Would she kill herself to protect him? Yes, undeniably and without hesitation, yes! Tears slipped from her eyes but she didn't cry, not really. She smiled and ran a finger over his cheek, his two whisker marks standing out, feeling rough under her finger tips. She would do anything for this boy she hadn't planned. She laid a kiss on his brow and left.

She wiped her eyes and walked to Yurei's room. Her pale hair stood out on the dark purple bedding, and Naome pushed aside the canopy to sit down by the bedside, watching her sleeping face. Her two red eye brow marks, the gentle curl of a mouth on the verge of becoming a smile, the twitching eyes that she knew were a dark brown, chestnut.

Would she give the greatest sacrifice for this girl that wasn't even her's. She hadn't even known her for very long, a few months, barely that. Why did she love this little girl so much already? Why would she sacrifice her ambition, and she already knew she would, for a child that wasn't her's?

Because Yurei didn't care that she wasn't really her mother. Because Naome didn't care that Yurei really wasn't her's. They were eachother's and Naome already knew what she would do if Yurei was threatened.

She gently kissed her cheek before leaving, gently shutting the door behind her so she wouldn't wake up. Naome stood in the hallway, feeling the weight of her hitai-ate like no other time. Would it always be so hard? Would it always hurt, the thought that she might not come home one day? The thought that someday they might not come home?

She couldn't sleep, she took out her easel and began a painting, completely fabricated, not from memory. She painted a crowd of people, her friends, her rivals, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Hikaru, Yurei, Ichigo, Anko, Asuma, Kurenai, Shino, Hinata, Haku, Kiba, Hana, Danzo, Jiraiya, Ibiki, Tsunade, Hokage-jiji, and even in the darkest shadow was a face she barely recognized but knew all too well.

They surrounded the Hokage tower, looking up at a figure framed by the Sun. It was a woman wearing Hokage robes. The robes hung open, revealing a kimono-esque shirt, three-quarter shinobi pants that hugged her figure, leg guards, and blue shinobi sandals. The woman was wearing the Hokage robes and the hat rested on her head, shadowing her face.

The woman's hair was blonde, framed by the golden Sun behind her. She was shadowed where the crowd was brightened, three whisker marks, like God's faintest pencil had drawn them on, lay on her cheek. She wasn't smiling, even though everyone else was. This was a Hokage.

The Next Day, Inaugiration Ceremony.

"I swear I will protect Konoha and it's inhabitants, as the Godaime!" Tsunade finished her speech, to the roaring approval of the crowd. Everyone in the village was there, witnessed a new kage taking power. The start of a new age.

"A moment for the history books." Kakashi-sensei remarked, his eye shining in the bright light. He was the only one among them to have seen a Hokage take power before. Naome wondered what it felt like, watching his sensei die. Watching his sensei die to seal a fox demon inside her.

"Kaa-chan, when are you going to be hokage?" Yurei asked curiously. She had been pleased with Tsunade thus far, because her kaa-chan liked Tsunade-sama, but she still wanted to know.

"When I become strong enough and Tsunade decides to retire!" She promised happily, remembering last night and the painting sitting alone in her room. Had she painted that in a fit of hubris? Where did it come from, all of a sudden. Everyone who did something remarkable in her life was in that painting, all her precious people.

"Kaa-chan, looky!" Hikaru said, pointing behind her. Naome blinked and turned obediantly to see what had interested him. The world froze in place as she met the eyes of Ichigo.

He was glaring at her, disbelief, anger, hatred, and a civilian equilavent of KI directed right at her. She calmly faced him, feeling all her feelings of upset and fear that he finally knew the truth. He finally knew who Hikaru's real mother was.

He backed away, his face unshaven and twisted into a hideous scowl as he blended back into the celebrating crowd. He didn't stop glaring even as he lost sight of the Kyuubi. Naome stared back at where he'd gone, her arms unconciously tightening around her son and in Yurei's hand. She wasn't hiding anymore, and he wouldn't ruin this day.

"Kaa-chan?" Hikaru asked, visibly upset by the scary man glaring at his kaa-chan.

"It's okay Hikaru-chan, you can't please everyone all the time!" She down played it. He didn't know why she was hated, he didn't know why other children weren't allowed to play with him now that she came to the park with him. He didn't even notice.

Yurei did though, she noticed that parents were hesitant to let their kids play with her. They would look at Naome, who would always sit on the farthest bench, and whisper amongst themselves. Sometimes a parent would take their child and leave, but usually the kids were allowed to play.

Yurei looked back for that strange man, confused about anyone possible hating her kaa-chan like that. He hadn't said or done anything, but Yurei was confused and worried. What was this bad feeling inside her? Not anger, although it was there at the strange man. It wasn't fear either, she knew what that felt like and kaa-chan would always protect her.

This feeling was like a chill down her spine, a cold wind that sent shudders through her body on an otherwise warm and happy day. This feeling was a bad omen.

Later that Day, Hokage Tower.

She could still go on missions with her team, that was a relief. They took a B-rank escort mission in the land of Tea and set off, for the first time without Kakashi-sensei. He was busy with a more important mission, as was nearly every high ranked shinobi in the village in the wake of the invasion, despite how well they turned it away.

"So who are we escorting?" Naome would be the leader of the mission, as she was a chunin. There was some big race in the land of Tea where they'd have to defend the runner against the ninja hired to help the opponent. Straight forward enough.

"I don't know." Tsunade answered. She was visibly displeased with the paperwork drifting about and waiting to be done. If she'd known being Hokage involved sitting at a desk a majority of the time, she might have thought about it a little more.

"You'll have to ask when you get there." With that they were dismissed to enjoy their remaining free time before leaving in two hours. Plenty of time to pack up for a B-rank mission, especially for this team.

"How long will you be gone?" Yurei-chan asked, her mouth curled in an adorable pout.

"Not very long, only about three days. One to get there, one for the race, one to get home!" She promised as she packed a spare outfit into her bag.

"Who are we staying with?" She asked this time, Hikaru being busy fiddling with the bag buckles because he wanted to do it himself and Naome let him.

"Shikamaru." That particular meeting of the parents had been nerve wracking. After having it all explained Naome fully expected Yoshino to turn her away and shout to never look at her son again, not that she would have obeyed.

As it stood, Yoshino didn't forgive easy. She liked Hikaru though, and had already fallen in love with Yurei. She didn't really understand why Naome went to such lengths to hide her identity, and her son lying to her was only the tip of the iceberg. Still, at least Shikaku already knew and only shrugged when Yoshino asked what he felt about all this. He was withholding judgement.

Naome met her teammates at the gates and took the chance to look over the both of them. Sakura with her cute bob hair cut and red dress, noticable muscle mass gain on her arms and legs. She looked more confident, even if it was shaky.

Sasuke was wearing a dark blue shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back. His black shorts ended just below the knees and he wore a single kunai pouch strapped to his leg, a shuriken pouch strapped to a belt and resting on his right hip. His hair, which had grown out before the final round of the chunin exams, was tied back into a short ponytail with his bangs framing his face around his hitai-ate.

Tsunade was there to see them off. Naome watched her walk up to Sakura, obviously throwing the pinkette through a loop when the new Hokage deigned to speak to her.

"I've heard good things about you in the hospital Haruno-san. If you keep up the work you'll make a good medic." She praised the girl.

"Uh well, I want to be able to protect Sasuke-kun and Naome!" Sakura gulped, wondering how childish that made her sound. Tsunade didn't seem to think less of her.

She was actually a little impresses. This pink haired little girl wanted to actually fight beside her teammates? It reminded her of herself, when she was still just a kid.

She shoved a bottle of poison antidote into Sakura's hands before letting team seven get on the move. She watched from her position at the gate as they got ready to leave.

"Alright, let's get a move on!" She said with finalty, for once not wearing her T&I uniform and enjoying the oppurtunity. Now she wore her chunin vest, her arm and leg guards and dark blue shinobi pants, her Hitai-ate stationed on her forehead and her done up in a ponytail as she still hadn't gotten it cut!

Nearing dinner time they decided to stop at a quaint little tea shop for a bite to eat before heading on to Jirocho-sama's village. They sat down, ordering their respective meals, and were just biting in when they were interrupted.

"Heh, stopping to stuff your faces? Being a ninja looks pretty cushy." Came a condescending voice. Naome looked up questioningly to see a boy only a couple years older than them looking down at them like they were filth on the bottom of his sandals. He seemed to notice her look because he bent down to be face to face with her.

"Hey there beautiful, I didn't see you there! I didn't mean you of course!" He apologized in a way that sounded kind of like he was making fun of her. Naome could see resentment in his eyes and it confused her, since she didn't know the guy so she couldn't possibly have done something bad to him.

"So don't you think it's time to embrace your destiny?" He asked her, flashing what might've been a good imitation of a flirtatious smile if it reached his eyes. Sadly for him, she could read his game from a mile away.

"If by destiny you mean my ignoring you until you go away, then I completely agree." She snarked, turning back to her curry to finish up her meal. She had been travelling all day, eating lunch on the go, she deserved a nice meal in peace!

"Actually I meant where you give up this stupid shinobi business and run away with me." He said, leaning down so that he was only a few inches from her face. She indulged herself with comparing him to Shika-kun and decided she liked the lazy boy over the wannabe player.

"...Naome, are you going to hit the guy or should I go ahead and tell him you have a boyfriend?" Sakura spoke up, looking in distaste at the older boy.

"He's a civilian, we're not supposed to hit civilians. I just got promoted chunin, I have no desire to turn in my vest." She chuckled at her pink haired teammate, still ignoring the older boy.

"Feh, if that's the way you want to be." The boy snapped, turning away like she had hurt his pride or something. Naome was surprised to see genuine hurt and jealousy in his expression. What was he jealous of?

With that he left and it seemed like they could go back to their dinner in peace, until the owner of the tea shop came up and told them that the weird guy left them his bill. With that, they downed the rest of their food, Naome slapped the money on the table, and they were gone.

"Young people these days, always in such a rush." The woman chuckled to herself, memories of her own youth flashing through her mind as she wiped the tables clean.

The guy had a head start, but they managed to catch up to him when he tripped on a tree root and fell off the cliff side. Luckily some vines broke his fall, because they weren't feeling generous enough to have saved his worthless hide after the trick he pulled.

"You have some nerve, sticking random shinobi with your bill like that." She frowned down at him, really only mildly irritated by the loss of the money. She was doing very well for herself so money wasn't as big an issue as it once was, back in the long ago, before she discovered the joys of owning an apartment and renting it out to anyone willing to pay.

He was panicking, his eyes darting to and fro for an escape route, and then he just seemed to deflate. He dropped to an apologetic crouch and began begging for forgiveness.

"I'm sorry! Bandits stole all my money earlier, I was hungry and you were there and I didn't know what else to do!" He wailed in a very convincing manner. If not for her recent training under Ibiki she wouldn't have realized it was anything but the truth.

"You know, you should work on your lying skills. I work in T&I so I know what it means to lie." She advised him, only now taking a good look at his clothes. He wasn't roughed up or injured in anyway, like a bandit victim would be. In fact his clothes were in pretty good condition, they looked pretty expensive too. 'The bandits' would've taken his threads if he'd really been attacked.

There was a thunk as something landed on her head, leaving what would be a big bruise if not for her healing abilities. She looked at her feet to see what hit her head and saw a switchblade, good quality, the kind that hid the blade and opened when you pushed a button.

"That's mine!" The boy cried suddenly, his hand darting out and grabbing the knife. He flipped away in a method that screamed shinobi, putting her on edge. Then he took off some ankle weights.

"3...2...1." He dropped the weights, which activated a smoke screen. They jumped out of range and ran to catch the punk, each of them recognizing training in an instant. He also happened to be heading towards Jirocho's village, so they made good time.

As it stood though, they didn't have a prayer of catching him. A long trail of dust was left in his wake but at his speed and with no signs of slowing, it didn't look too good for them.

"He's out of our league." Sakura panted. She had actually lasted better than Naome expected. All that running around the hospital evidently came in handy.

"Lets just find Jirocho and get this mission started. Wasting our time on some punk isn't really what we're being paid for." Sasuke pointed out, surprisingly calm. Then again he wasn't the one who had to pay for four meals instead of one. Sasuke and Sakura officially owed her money!

"Welcome to my home, I trust your accomodations are satisfactory." Naome had met him on the way back to Konoha with Tsunade-baba. He was a kind hearted old man, and the head of a very influential clan that gave alot of good business to Konoha.

"Couldn't be better!" She assured him.

"Ano, the scroll didn't say who we would be escorting." She left the sentence open and waited for a moment.

"Ah yes, Idate is our runner. I asked him to be brought here as soon as he got back from his errand." At that moment the door slid open to reveal a familiar figure.

"Sorry I'm late Jirocho-sama." If she was anymore hot headed and brash than she already was, Naome would have screamed. As it were, she settled for a very unladly like groan and left it at that.

Dinner was a tense affair. The food was wonderful, the entertainment very tasteful, but the air could have been cut with a kunai. Idate sat across from her and his glare bored into her skull. She was certain there should be scorch marks on her forehead from the intensity of his scowl. Sasuke still put him to shame though, Idate's glare didn't communicate how far beneath him the target was.

"Naome, who did you leave Hikaru-kun and Yurei-chan with?" Sakura asked awkwardly, eager to break this uncomfortable silence. Naome jumped at the conversation.

"With Shika-kun. Hikaru was really excited about staying with 'tou-chan'!" She chuckled, remembering the first time Hikaru ever called Shikamaru daddy.

"It's so romantic!" The pinkette sighed, feigning swooning at the cliche of it all. Naome laughed, loudly and without holding back. She really didn't have a right to talk though, she still liked Sasuke.

"You're going to spoil them you know. Especially Yurei. I thought you didn't play favorites." Sasuke spoke up, getting in to the conversation now.

"She deserves a real childhood before I'm forced to put her in the academy. She's told me a little about her life before and I still kind of hate her mother." Naome tried to justify herself. Besides, Hikaru was a boy and didn't like wearing pretty dresses like Yurei-chan. He was only a year old, there wasn't much she could do in the way of spoiling.

"Forced? Doesn't she want to be a kunoichi, just like her kaa-chan!" Sakura snarked, emphasising the kaa-chan because she knew Naome would get embarrassed by it.

"I'd prefer her to just stay five years old forever. So I could eternally buy her new dresses and dolls!" Naome swore, feigning a sigh and momentarily forgetting about the boy sitting across from her.

"Who are they? Your siblings?" It was the first he'd spoken since arriving at the manor. Naome purposely drew out the moment, looking him over and trying to decide how much she wanted to say.

"They're my children." She said, straight faced and unwavering, looking into his eyes and seeing surprise, disbelief, and confusing all vying for dominance.

"Hikaru was definitely unplanned and is a year old, beautiful little boy. Yurei is adopted but for all intents and purposes she is my beautiful, five year old, daughter." With that it was back to uncomfortable silence as everyone tried to think of something to say to make the tension ease. This was going to be a long mission.

The next morning they stood at the port, in front of the crowd but behind the runners. Naome's chakra sense, and Sasuke's too she was sure, were focusing in on three genin level signals to the far right but they ignored it for now. If they didn't do anything then team seven had no reason to cause problems.

Idate's opponent Fukusuke Hikyakuya was a fully grown man. Naome could read him as easily as any instruction scroll. He was cocky, he obviously knew about the shinobi body guards he had and kept looking at them with looks that plainly said he looked forward to them dying, but there was also fear. It might've been because Naome sent a strain of concentrated KI at him after the fifth time he looked over his shoulder at them.

He was the runner of the Wagarashi family, the head of which, Kyuroko, was a fine piece of work. Naome had sent a couple bunshins to scout out the town, just in case, and had experienced deja vu at the startling similarities of Tea and Nami. There weren't as many orphans or homeless, but people here were down trodden. Their only hope was this race.

Naome met the eyes of Kyuroko and briefly played with the idea of sending more concentrated KI at him, but thought better of it. He looked like the kind of guy to make a big scene and she didn't want to put something like that in the mission report.

"The Todoroki Shrine Race...Has Begun!" Cried the flag waver, and the two opponents were off. They went through the gate and team seven began moving to join Idate on his boat when he made a wrong turn.

Well, by wrong turn she meant he turned left and started running even faster, completely ignoring the boat that was right in front of him. Naome felt a little like breaking his legs and dragging him back and carrying him over the finish line herself for that. She held herself back though, because as she was running to catch up to him something caught her eye.

Fukusuke's sails were blowing back towards the port, making it rock back unsteadily. She let herself think about that, unsure what it could mean, and came to an epiphany. The wind was against him, but if Idate was the kind of guy she got the feeling of, then he already knew that, and he was going to work it to his advantage.

Following after him, Naome wondered again and again if he had previous shinobi training. He had the chakra for it, and the physique. An academy drop out who had retained his training, expanding on it? It was possible.

"Oi, I hope you got a boat waiting for you! Otherwise we've lost alot of time!" She was right behind him now, close enough to grab him if she reached out. He was still wearing his weights.

"Unlike you I use my head!" He insulted her at the same time as he reassured her. She mentally scoffed, rolling her eyes at the moody teenage boy, and pushed forward.

Something about the surroundings seemed off to her but she brushed it off. She hadn't sent any bunshins this way so she didn't know the area. How would she know if something wasn't right, besides Idate seemed intent on this direction?

"Naome! You and Idate are in a genjutsu!" Sakura shouted down. Naome immediatly stopped moving, stopping herself from running into Idate's form, which had also froze. He was moving again in a moment though, after dispelling it. Naome felt irked that she still hadn't improved in genjutsu dispelling and waited for Sakura to free her, impatiently.

She then had to go and save Idate from falling off a cliff. She grabbed him by the belt, feeling a rope wrap around her waist and the resulting burn as it dug into her skin through her vest. It cushioned the blow though, so the pain wasn't anything that she couldn't handle.

"You idiot! Watch where you're going!" She screamed at the heavy boy. He seemed to be in shock after the near death experience.

"Oi you stupid girl! I didn't ask you to save me!" So much for being in shock. Idate wiggled around, trying to get to an angle where he could hit her probaly. Naome struggled to maintain her hold, yelling for him to stop moving so they could be pulled out. She was kind of contemplated dropping him though.

"I didn't ask you to save me." He grumbled once they were back on solid ground. Naome wondered if his parents dropped him on his head as a baby.

"It's our mission." She sighed, rolling her shoulders to try and ease the ache. Note to self, work on upper body strength more.

"Let's hurry up now, I don't want you to lose the race." She stood up, holding her hand out to Idate. He swatted it away, scoffing at the helpful gesture. Naome wondered why he looked afraid, even though he was safe now.

The property was run down, the shack may as well have sat on that beach for fifty years for all it fit into the scenery. Idate ran up to the door and talked to an old man, she was too far away to listen without actively trying, so she ignored it in favor of looking across the to the island on the other side.

"The current is heading straight to that island, along with the wind." Sasuke mentioned, his gaze fixed on the water being pulled from the beach.

"We have a race to win don't we? Get on the boat!" Idate snarked at them, coming up behind them from the shack and heading to board the sailing boat. It was smaller than the ones at the port, it would be faster.

They had been aboard for five minutes and she was already bored. Naome had only been on a boat to get to Nami and hadn't been able to admire the water as much, but here there was nothing but water to look at. The distant island, and the finish line, was just a smudge on the horizon.

"How long have you been a chunin?" That was a surprise. Out of all of them Naome didn't expect for him to speak up.

"Not long, only about a week." She answered. A little more or a little less didn't matter. She wasn't obligated to answer him with exact times.

"Feh, the standards must've gone down." He scoffed at her answer, turning back to the front of the boat. Was it called a prow? Should she look up these things?

"Wait, standards? How would you know what standards the chunin exams have?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"Wait a minute, I heard Jirocho-sama say his last name is Morino!" Sakura gasped, she wasn't the only one to know that name. A flash from the interrogation room swamped her mind and she forced herself back to the present.

"Ah, Ibiki-san is the one who requested me to be assigned to T&I when I got promoted. The guy gets a kick out of making me sick to my stomach with all his torture technique talk." She shuddered, remembering quite clearly the first unfinished chapter of her new text book. Torture Techniques and You was not a pleasant before bed read.

"M-My brother? He's alive?" Idate stuttered, looking stunned, relieved, and a little scared. She hadn't known Ibiki had a brother!

"Course he is, and enjoying screwing the minds of innocent genin in the chunin exams. The tenth question was such a curve ball." He really did get his jollies out of scaring small children didn't he?

"Curve ball? You were cool as a cucumber!" Sasuke accused her, a valiant attempt at easing the tension. Naome would have probably responded with something sarcastic and witty if an arrow hadn't imbedded itself at her feet, narrowly missing her toes. She really didn't want to know if the Kyuubi could regenerate lost appendages.

"You know, I was kind of hoping our brand of luck was only for C-ranks." She said bitterly. Things could never be easy, could they!

Sasuke had to jump away from the tiller to avoid more arrows, landing by her side with Sakura and Idate behind them. Yep, there was the boat following them. The shinobi on board looking a little familiar but she just couldn't place them. Where had she seen them before?

More arrows rained down, attaching themselves to the mast and the railing. These arrows had ropes tied to them, which the enemy boat was using to draw beside them. That didn't look too good.

"Sasuke, I want those ropes cut! Sakura, keep an eye on Idate!" Naome barked out her orders, moving forward to start slicing. A kunai was in her hand and she started cutting, already starting to realize it was too late. How had they gotten so close? Why had she let her guard down?

"Clones!" They weren't moving though. They should have started attacking right away to give them less time to put up their guard.

"Sakura, Naome, they can't attack unless it's the real one!" Sasuke's sharingan eyes spun dizzyingly as he inspected the embodiments. Where was the real one? Behind Naome, of course.

"Naome, behind you!" He cried in warning. He was too late though, because Naome was mowed down before his eyes. He felt panic set in as his kunai came down to stab through her when she vanished in a puff of smoke.

Two bunshins fell from atop the mast, landing on top of him and nearly finishing him off when he managed to escape back to his ship, which had gotten all the closer. Things were looking bad.

Naome was looking over at the ship, wondering how exactly they planned to attack next, when she felt a difference. Of course the clones would turn into water clones. Of course those stupid ame genin level in would be strong enough to creat a dozen water clones!

"They changed!" She growled, dispelling two of them easily. Her other bunshin was already locked in battle with two more. Water clones only had about 1/10 of the original's power, and made by genin that translated to alot of weaklings.

Sakura's role was bodyguard while Naome and Sasuke-kun got rid of the threat. She stood in front of Idate, holding a few kunai and helpfully sniping at whatever clone happened to garner her irritation. These guys really were weak, why use these when all they were doing was making them mad? If they were hoping to tire them out then they had another thing coming. Naome was a stamina monster and Sasuke-kun had been training in stamina since Nami.

She felt a drop land on her cheek and brushed it off in confusion. That's weird, it hadn't looked like rain today. In fact it was a perfect day, sunny with only a few clouds drifting across the sky. So where did the rain come from?

Only it wasn't rain. She gasped when she realized she could smell oil and it began falling all over their boat. Oil typically meant fire. Sasuke's preferred ninjutsu was katon.

"Sasuke-kun don't use any fire jutsu!" She cried in warning, images of them all being burnt to husks in a second entered her mind and refused to leave.

Luckily Sasuke heard her over the sounds of battle and dropped the signs he'd been forming. He cursed a little at that, since he'd been planning to take out the lot in one blow. Doing things the slow way was so annoying when the opponents were weak.

It was looking like they were just going to have to muscle their way through, until a flaming arrow landed in a puddle of oil. Within seconds flames were stretching over every inch of the sail boat, the smoke billowed up, shielding them from view at the same time it choked off their air.

"We have to make a break for it, swim for Nagi island!" Naome ordered, coughing a little when the smoke got to her lungs. It was like being stuck inside Gamabunta's pipe all over again, without the smell of tobacco.

"Idate can you swim?" Sakura asked, he lived on the mainland after all and not alot of civilians actively learned how to swim.

"Of course." He answered a little absently. He was looking at the fire, his eyes didn't stray from the flames reaching to devour him.

"Idate you go first, I'll cover you!" She promised, focusing more on the water clones that had reappeared. When would those guys get tired of making them? They weren't doing anything but making them mad!

"No way! Do you think I'm stupid! You probably just want to use me as a decoy so you can get away!" He accused in a panic, his entire body was shaking in fear. He wanted to run, but on a burning ship there really wasn't anywhere to run to.

"Idate I promise you that we'll protect you!" It wasn't going to work. Naome could see the blatant denial on his face like the kanji had been painted on. He wouldn't believe them.

One of the clones decided to get smart and threw a kunai. Sakura saw it move in slow motion as she automatically moved to shield the mission objective. The bite of the kunai was minimal, given somewhere safer and she might even be able to heal it. For now though, that wasn't an option.

"I'll be right behind you!" She told the older boy, pushing him to the edge and then pushing him overboard. From there he really didn't have a choice but to swim for it, and pray his trust wasn't misplaced.

Naome, Sasuke, and Sakura dived into the water after waiting for Idate to make some space. Luckily they didn't seem to be too far from the island. Naome wished she could walk on the water, but the smoke was doing so well concealing them that she decided a little wet clothes wasn't going to kill her.

She felt the hand wrap around her ankle and immediatly regretted this decision. Wet clothes was going to kill her, it was going to kill her very much dead. Naome didn't want to be killed very much dead.

As she was dragged under and forced to take one last breath of fresh air, Naome decided that she hated swimming.

End of Le Chapter, now please Review, review, review, as I bid thee, adue!

LC; Well that was fun. I finished it before we had to ship the computer too!

Naruto; Sorry folks but this might be the last for a while.

Sasuke; She's not abandoning it, she's just moving and has to ship the computer.

LC; Please don't be too angry with me! I'll try my hardest to update as soon as I get my computer back! Review!