Part One, The Cat, Chapter Seven

Part Two, The Prodigy

Sasuke Uchiha was many things. Among them was ninja, prodigy, doujutsu wielder, and slightly frightened of the creature Naruto Uzumaki had become. He would never say that last one out loud.

It had happened almost over night. At one point he wanted to challenge the Dead Last to a spar, just to see how he measured to the creature that Kakashi had only barely gotten away from.

Now, he'd prefer that she was on a different team.

It was a few days after the Genin exam, the true one where Naruto had nearly shredded their sensei and forced him to pass them. Naruto was dozing lightly while they waited for Kakashi to show up.

Sasuke walked over to her.

"Dead Last!" He grunted at the blonde cat demon. Her ears twitched and her tail flicked to the side, but she didn't wake.

Unwilling to be ignored by someone like Naruto, the black haired boy pulled a foot back to kick her awake.

Before he could halfway complete the move, a single blue eye opened to glare at him. His lungs tightened, his body froze and, deep below his conscious mind, his primitive instinct center was screaming conflicting signals of, 'DON'T FUCKING MOVE!' and, 'RUN THE FUCK AWAY, STUPID!'

Then, like a switch was flipped, everything suddenly became brighter, slower, easier to understand. The feeling intensified for a moment, then it all went back to normal, almost painfully. It left him gasping for breath, hands on his knees.

"What's up with your eyes, Sasuke?" The monster asked.

"What?" He gasped out, sweat dripping from his brow.

"Your eyes," Naruto insisted, standing up, moving closer and grabbing him by the chin to look into his charcoal eyes, "they turned all red, and stuff."

Were it any other girl doing this to him, at any other time, Sasuke would have brusquely pushed them away. As it is, he was barely registering that Naruto had forced the activation, then deactivation, of his Sharingan.

He almost missed it when she leaned closer and sniffed at him, "And now, you smell," she took a long breath through her nose and licked her lips, "like ramen."

Sasuke learned the truth that day. Naruto was a monster, a real demon. The Sharingan was said to be demonic in origin. He now knew that it was. He knew that whatever spawned these eyes of his, it was naught but food to Naruto, to her species.

Even now, months later, Sasuke could not get his Sharingan to activate when he was looking at Naruto. He could use it in her presence, certainly, but if he tried to focus it on her, it just turned off.

So, when Kakashi gave them the signup sheets for the Chuunin Exam, he took it as an opportunity to push Naruto into passing. Oh, he'd say that he was forcing the Dead Last to study so she wouldn't bring him down, but the truth was, he planned to bow out just as soon as possible, after making sure that she could make it through the rest of the tests and pass.

He told this plan to Kakashi only. He knew telling Sakura would backfire because the girl was obsessed with studying the demon. She would try something to get them to remain on the team together. Although… Two birds, one stone? Get them both off his team with one exam? He'd have to train Sakura as well.

It was a sacrifice he was willing to make. Kakashi fully agreed. Together, they put the girl and the monster through the gauntlet. By the time the exams officially started, the two of them were more than ready for whatever the exam could throw at them.

The first test was simple for Sakura and Sasuke. The brainy girl simply knew the answers and Sasuke used his Sharingan to copy off of her.

Naruto had fretted herself silly for a moment, until Hinata subtly offered up her own test sheet as a reference.

Then the cat demon had a brilliant idea.

"Hey! Scar guy!" She said loudly, gaining the attention of everyone.

Ibiki glared at her, employing his most devastating killing intent. It appeared to affect the girl creature as much as it did the desk she was sitting at.

"What?" He growled at her.

"Can I have an answer sheet?" She put one clawed, furry finger to her lips for a second then added, "Please?"

Ibiki glared at her for a few moments longer, then reached into his coat and pulled out exactly what she asked for.

"This is the only copy. It doesn't cover the tenth question," he looked around the room, watching as eyes quickly darted back to the test sheet before them, "Uzumaki, two point deduction for disturbing my exam."

"Uh-huh," she grunted dismissively, already copying the answers down. She passed the sheet to Hinata, who passed it on and et cetera.

When it came time for the final question, Sasuke was unmoved by the threat of never being promoted again. People liked to exaggerate the amount pull he had with the Council, but he did have some political weight to throw around. He'd be promoted when he was damn well ready.

Sakura was confident after all the training that she'd done, all the studying, that she would get it right.

Naruto…

Naruto was sleeping.

They passed.

The Forest of Death was a debacle. Halfway through, something had drawn Naruto off. They heard her say, "Catnip?" Before she darted off.

Orochimaru attacked. Sasuke fought him until he was given a curse mark, then passed out.

The team from Sound showed up to kill them the next day.

That was when Naruto came back, too. She decimated the Sound Gennin before they could even get their sonic jutsu going. The poor guy with the gauntlets ended up losing an arm in the ordeal.

When sasuke woke up, all black chakra and bad attitude, ready to fight nearly anything, the blonde cat girl dropped in front of him with a big smile on her lips. Her pupils were dilated, her skin was flush, she appeared to be having a little trouble standing normally, so chose to move on all fours. She smelled vaguely of mint.

"Play?"

The cursed mark receded almost as fast as his Sharingan. He took a step backwards. She took one forward.

He was about to run when Sakura wagged a branch along the ground. Naruto's eyes noticed it immediately. She pounced, skid along the ground and pounced again. She giggled uncontrollably as she chased the branch.

Sasuke was pretty sure that he hated Naruto right then.

By the time the monster had come back to her wits, they were approaching the tower in the middle of the forest.

"What was that?" Sasuke demanded an explanation.

Naruto just shrugged.

"I think it was catnip, or nepeta cataria," Sakura began, "For regular cats, it is a powerful Narcotic that has stronger effects the longer the exposure. After eight hours of exposure to a fresh source, domestic cats can lose all mobility and eventually sleep off the effects. Naruto appears to have a rather strong reaction to it as well, but it regresses her mind to a more childlike state, boosted by pure instinct from the cat side of her anatomy," she smiled at her crush as if she had just said the most romantic thing ever. Deep inside the prodigy, the functional human part of him, a part buried by mountains of psychological issues, wanted to pat her on the head for the information.

"Yeah, that," Naruto affirmed.

Sasuke grumbled something under his breath that had Naruto grinning. He stomped forward, ready to have this blasted test over with.

Combining the Heaven Scroll they had started with and one of several Earth Scrolls summoned Iruka. The Academy instructor was obviously glad to see them, but paid particular attention to Naruto.

The two of them obviously had a close, familial, relationship. It probably helped that the instructor knew just where behind her cat ears to scratch to get her to calm down.

"There are still a few hours left, but at this stage, if you've received injuries you think will keep you from participating, you can bow out without affecting the chances of your team," Iruka told them as he lead them to a cafeteria.

Sasuke started to open his mouth when a hand fell on his shoulder. He found Kakashi standing there.

"I need to speak with Sasuke," he drawled, "We'll be back in a few minutes."

Once they were alone, Kakashi said, "Orochimaru had a confrontation with one of our Jounin, just after you fought him in the forest. He marked you, right?"

The prodigy touched the back of his left shoulder, near the neck, and nodded, "What about it?"

"He threatened to attack the village if we pulled you out of the exam," the man sighed, "We have to assume the same will happen if you forfeit. And don't bother throwing the competition. Orochimaru will be able to tell, and will assume we forced you to comply."

Sasuke glared at the wall, his brow knit together with annoyance. This was not the plan.

"Damn it."