Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

Chapter 13

Interlude Kyuubi no Yoko

Kurama didn't know what to make of the ball of flesh that he had been sealed into. She felt nothing! NOTHING! The little flesh-ball was so apathetic towards everything! It irked Kurama to no end. Why didn't she ever get angry?

Why did the human have to be so calm all the time? How would she ever draw on his chakra when she refused to get angry? Come to think of it, she barely drew on her own chakra. It was almost like she was afraid of it. Wait, no that would require her to feel something.

In this small prison Kurama was baiting his time until he could escape this hell.

For year the little flesh-ball would barely communicate with the other flesh-balls, always acting calm and collected, despite the ignorance of the others, which isolated the girl nearly completely. The first instance of any strong emotion Kurama had felt from the girl draw him to look through the human's eyes to see what it was about. The eyes that greeted the demon would have unsettled him had Kurama been a lesser being. Pupil-less, lavender – Hyuuga, then. But, the small panic the girl felt initially faded as quickly as it came. Kurama just grew angrier at his flesh-prison because of that.

Nonetheless, Kurama continued to leak small portions of his chakra into the flesh-ball, hoping that one day it would be enough to finally break free.

Present day

Two newly graduated genin were sitting in front of the academy waiting for their friend to come out. Sasuke was most displeased with the waiting game, having never been too patient before in his life.

"When is she coming out?" he grumbled, feet kicking imaginary obstacles on the ground. Hinata gave him an exasperated sigh. Sasuke was her friend, sure – but they were both friends only because they both liked Nori. In fact, Hinata knew Sasuke wouldn't bother socializing with her if it weren't for Nori – and the feeling was quiet mutual. They both got along much better when Nori was present. However, for the redhead's sake, Hinata would put up with any of Sasuke's more colorful moods.

"Any minute now," Hinata said in a vain attempt to placate the Uchiha.

Uzumaki Nori wasn't at all worried about passing the exam. After all, Gai had taught her the Shadow Clone Jutsu, which she could now perform without many issues. Iruka had no problem handing her a headband with a metal plate carrying the Leaf symbol after a small demonstration of her skills. Mizuki wanted to protest, but his excuses were weak and flimsy. Nori could tell the man was nervous. Clearly, he had thought that something else entirely would happen. What - Nori did not know.

"You made it," Sasuke breathed as Nori exited the examination room carrying the headband in her hands looking quite at a loss as what to do with it.

She looked up at him before frowning. "There was doubt? Because Gai-senp-" Sasuke cut of her rant with a hand across her mouth. He did not want to hear any more about her beloved Gai-senpai. The man was a menace.

"Not what I meant," he said in explanation, already used to Nori's inability to understand social cues.

Hinata smiled from beside Sasuke, her headband already around her neck. Nori frowned at it. "You do know those are supposed to reflect stray kunai - I think, at least. They never made the purpose quite clear." Her eyebrows pulled together in thought. "Either way, wouldn't it get in the way so loosely tied around your neck like a collar? You move a lot when you do taijutsu, it's just gonna start swinging around and hit you in the chin, or worse, come undone and distract you."

Hinata frowned touching the headband with her fingers. She clearly hadn't thought about it. Sasuke had tied his around his forehead, pretty standard, but it got the job done and wouldn't get in his way. Nori's forehead was a bit too small and the headband would just obscure her vision, not something you want when dealing with a deadly profession.

"We can think about that later, let's go," Sasuke interrupted, knowing this was about to become a pointless discussion anyway.

He… He had failed. Months – no, years of hard work and he had failed. Couldn't perform the required jutsu, they said. As if Lee needed it with his speed. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't perform any ninjutsu, damn it!

Therefore, here he was now, sadly watching his classmates show off their new headbands to their parents and guardians. Tears stung his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. He would just try again next year! Yes, he would just work double as much as he did up until now, then it won't matter that he is basically a cripple in the shinobi world.

"Just so you know, I wanted to let you pass, but Iruka was just too relentless this time." The sly voice of Mizuki-sensei broke through Lee's inner musing.

Lee looked up at the man before his eyes turned back to the ground saying nothing in return.

"You know," Mizuki began saying a sly smile appearing on his face that Lee couldn't see. "There is another way for you to graduate – but – alas I have said too much!" he said while waving his hands through the air and pulling dramatic faces.

"Really?! I can do it, I swear! What is it?!" Lee was over the moon for another chance to fulfill his dream of becoming a shinobi.

Mizuki hid his triumphal smile.

Uzumaki Nori was happily walking back to her apartment after a celebratory dinner at Ichiraku ramen with her friends. Her headband was still stored in her kunai pouch. She had no idea where to put the damn thing. It really wasn't practical at all.

However, her mood remained light, she was very pleased with herself and her friends for their success, but she couldn't help, but wonder over Mizuki – that rat had looked way too smug when she saw him later that afternoon. Something was wrong, if only Nori knew what.

Then, like a bolt of lightning, realization crashed through her. It couldn't be, right? Mizuki wouldn't attempt it now, right? It's too early. But, then again, she wasn't Naruto. But, he hadn't approached her… Right, again, she wasn't Naruto. However, if he didn't approach her, who did he manage to trick? If it was an academy student in the first place.

As Nori observed the rooftops she took note of the very man her thoughts have been on this whole day. Huh, what is Mizuki planning?

She wasted no time and followed after the suspicious chunin.

The Sandaime Hokage was a wise man – it wasn't without reason people referred to him as the Professor. So naturally when ANBU reported an academy student sneaking into the restricted section of the Hokage tower Sarutobi knew there was something more behind it. He had known that they had a mole somewhere in the village. What hidden village didn't have them? No, the problem wasn't having a mole. It arose when the mole acted. And, especially annoying, it became when you didn't know the exact identity of said mole.

Since he didn't know exactly who it was, he simply ordered ANBU to tail the academy student and see where it leads them.

Slowly Sarutobi lifted his pipe to his lips. Time to observe, he thought as his gaze fell on the crystal ball in front of him.

…

Uzumaki Nori managed to track Mizuki all the way out to the edge of the forbidden forest. She frowned as she laid low. This wasn't what had happened in canon at all. And what if he was meeting with Orochimaru – or worse, Danzo? She really should have thought more closely about this.

Doesn't matter now, what's done is done… besides, I'm almost positive the Hokage is already aware of this.

Nori was a rational person. She thought that if she were in the position of the Hokage and some academy student tried to steal the forbidden scroll she would already put the pieces together. There was no way an academy student would even know there was a scroll, let alone where it was kept, so logically that student had to have been set up, or he was working for someone – either way, she would want to know who that someone is and capture them. So, let the student take the scroll, dispatch ANBU and sit back and watch the show. That's what Sarutobi did the first time around, if memory served her right, right?

She watched from her hiding place as Mizuki was approached by a - blur? No, wait – that can't be right? Despite being different than what she recalled him to be from her memories of an anime show – that was most defiantly a feat only an academy student such as Rock Lee could perform.

So, did that mean that Lee had failed? Wait… was it her fault? No, wait, she already had that train of thought. If it had been up to her she would have never been reincarnated – so, nope, not her fault. She was just living her life, right?

"I got it!" he shouted in excitement as he handed the scroll to the traitorous chunin. Mizuki secured the scroll around his waist. "Does that mean I graduate now?" the boy asked hopefully.

Mizuki's grin was anything but friendly and Nori's eyes widened when she saw him pull the giant weapon from his back, Lee remaining blissfully oblivious to the chunin's murderous thoughts. No!

Before she could even think about her actions she raced towards Lee intent of getting him out of harm's way.

The chunin narrowed his eyes as he saw the black and red blur move Lee out of the way. Just great, he had been hoping to avoid this kind of bloodshed. But, as his eyes zeroed in on the Jinchuriki, he couldn't help but feel some kind of satisfaction. Finally somebody would take care of the demon; after all, it deserved to die, right?

"Well, well, well… if it isn't Konoha's demon brat in the flesh. You have proven to be a large thorn in many people's sides, Uzumaki. Including mine."

The smirk he threw her could be considered anything, but kind. Nori titled her head to the side in confusion. Surely he meant the villagers, right? Because, if people like Orochimaru considered her a nuisance, her life would prove to become that much more difficult. Ah, who was she kidding, they probably already consider her a nuisance.

"Mizuki, I honestly don't care," she bit out dragging Lee farther away from the rouge chunin. Her soft, yet firm voice seemed to have snapped Lee out of his daze because he looked up, wide eyed, seemingly finally grasping the situation.

"Y-you are a traitor!"

Mizuki rolled his eyes and looked at Lee as if he was lower than dirt.

"Did you honestly expect someone like you could ever become a shinobi? What a joke!" he taunted causing Lee to stiffen beside her.

Nori drew in a breath before analyzing the situation. Mizuki had a large weapon, Nori had only her kunai with her and Lee, as far as she could tell was unarmed. Further analyzing the situation brought nothing good. Mizuki may be a traitor and a moron, but they didn't hand out the chunin rank like hotcakes, he must have some skill to back that rank up. Nori just graduated to become a genin, well, she wasn't even an actually genin until her team-leader said so, but tomato tomato.

Situation analyses: she was utterly screwed unless a miracle happened. Huh, wait, how did Naruto defeat that guy, the only thing he knew was… Right, if you can't fight with quality, fight with quantity?

Well, at this point, she would try it. She could probably distract him long enough to get away with Lee – wait, the scroll! Shoot!

With quick reflexes Nori pulled out a kunai and aimed it at the straps securing the scroll to the chunin's back. Clearly Mizuki wasn't as clever as he had thought because his mocking smile quickly turned into a worried frown as he noticed the scroll slipping from his back.

"Lee, run back to the village and get help," Nori hissed at him as she grabbed another kunai out of her pouch, her body falling into a practiced stance.

The boy looked at the scene still in somewhat of a shock state, before Nori snapped him out of it. "Now!" her words only slightly louder then before, but just as sharp. Lee had only seconds to react before Mizuki was near them. The last thing he saw before he took off was Nori engaging Mizuki in a battle.

Sasuke was not having the best evening. Nori usually came by to check on him around eight before heading back to her apartment. It was nearly 10 now and the redhead was still nowhere to be seen. That was the reason why Sasuke was currently out the street heading towards Nori's apartment in hopes of finding her on the way.

"HELP!" Sasuke's head snapped into the direction of where the voice came from. He saw a boy with what he would have called the most ridiculous looking eyebrows, had he not met Maito Gai beforehand.

Raising a dark brow Sasuke stopped the hysteric boy. "What's the matter?"

"I – (wheeze) – Mizuki-sen- (Wheeze) –sensei, traitor – redhead girl…" There was more said, but Sasuke only caught the words traitor and redhead before grabbing a hold of the boy shoulder.

"Where? Show me!"

The boy merely nodded. It only later occurred to Lee that he should have probably gotten an adult to help and not another person fresh out of the academy. Even if said person was the last Uchiha in Konoha.

…

"You are no match for me, demon-brat!"

Nori would have begged to differ. He was very much having trouble keeping up with her. He was also getting antsy. The longer she stalled him, the more of a chance ANBU had of finding them.

"NORI-CHAN!"

Nori snapped her head to the side in time to see none other than Iruka running towards her. She didn't mind Iruka, not at all. He was actually fairly decent once he got over the whole Kyuubi thing. But, she would have been happier to see a swarm of ANBU instead of him any day.

"Sensei, the scroll!" She shouted pointing at the discarded item. Iruka ignored her. Nori resisted the urge to slam her head against a nearby tree. Adults could be so difficult.

"Nori, are you alright?!"

"Move!" She shouted as she saw Mizuki's giant weapon head straight towards an unsuspecting Iruka. No wonder, the man never made jonin. He cared way too much which in turn left him vulnerable. She had no time to move him out of the way, but thankfully she didn't have to.

She watched with sharp eyes as Sasuke appeared and moved the unsuspecting chunin out of the way of the large projectile.

"Sasuke!"

The boy snapped his head in her direction, his look clearly questioning the situation. "No time! Get the scroll!"

Unlike Iruka, Sasuke obeyed immediately, leaving the winded chunin to his own devices and grabbing the large scroll.

"Now get it out of here!" she managed to shout before she intercepted Mizuki in a futile attempt to go after Sasuke. She managed to push him back which in turn made Nori wonder, who gave this man his rank? He was being pushed around by an out-of-the-academy genin.

"I'm not leaving you here!"

What's with all the stubborn people?!

"I'll be fine!"

"Like hell you will!" Mizuki shouted as he came down on her with a katana that Nori barely managed to block with her kunai.

"Nori!" Sasuke was clearly not having it. Nori clenched her teeth. Why did people have to be so difficult in such situations?

Iruka seemed to have regained his bearings and came right at Mizuki with his own kunai in hand. Nori let him go at it as she moved to join Sasuke and Lee? She had nearly forgot about the kid.

"Lee-san, please take this scroll back to the village and find adult help. Preferably of the jonin kind," she stressed seeing Lee go red with embarrassment. The boy nodded franatically.

Sasuke just looked confused as Nori handed the scroll to Lee and watched the boy take off.

"Well, the gist is. Mizuki is a traitor, who tricked Lee into obtaining a secret scroll from the Hokage and now he is trying to kill us!" she shoted as she moved Sasuke out of the way. Alright, clearly leaving things to Iruka had been a bad idea. Memo to self, don't let your guard down.

…

Meanwhile Lee was racing through Konoha with the scroll in his arms a thousand thoughts racing in his mind. Would he be labeled a traitor now? How did that girl know his name? What would he do now? Get somebody to help… Right, he could do that!

A heavy hand fell on his shoulder startling him into the conscious world.

"Now, young man, I'm sure we can settle this, just give me the scroll," Lee felt his bottom lip tremble as he gazed at the shinobi behind him clad in a green jumpsuit with a Konoha forehead-protector tied around his waist, the man's expression serious.

"You have caused quite the uproar," he continued as Lee just stared.

"I – help!"

Gai shook his head as he looked at the child. Something didn't make sense. The kid din't look like a traitor, nor did he look like he had a plan. Beside's what thief would be heading back to Konoha with the scroll?

"Hold on. Tell me everything slowly."

Nori was at the end of her wits. Sasuke and she were doing a decent job at holding back Mizuki, but for how long? The man may be a moron, but unfortunately for Nori her previous assessment had been wrong. The man did have some skill to back up his rank. Unfortunetly for him, however, so did Nori and Sasuke.

Sasuke gave Nori a nod as he saw an opening in the chunin's stance. Nori's gaze told him she understood before she created a diversion so Sasuke could go in for the finishing blow and hopefully incapacitate the nin.

Nori went ahead and struck the man from above with her kunai putting her entire bodyweight behind it, forcing him to block with both hands. That gave Sasuke just enough time to slam his foot into the man's side causing him to lose balance, after which Nori managed to grab a hold of his katana. She quickly held the sword beneath his throat. Sasuke was a bit concerned at the cold and detached look in Nori's eyes as she held the man at blade point.

The man laughed. "You think you have the guts to kill me?" His maniac smile faltered as his only responde was for the sword to press harder into his neck drawing blood. He glared at her. "Of course, the demon brat would be capable of murder at such a young age. Do you know why the villages hate you? Well –"

Nori cut of his monologue. "I'm aware," she told him shortly; meanwhile Sasuke was shooting her a confused look.

"DINAMIC ENTERY!" And cue a tree was falling, well, actually, it was broken in half. Was that necessary? But the starry look in Rock Lee's eyes, clearly it wasn't a matter of necessaty, but rather, other… ugh, things?

"Senpai!" And cue happy Nori. Sasuke shook his head a soft smile finding his way across his usually serious face.

Gai made quick work of Mizuki, resorting to knocking the man unconscious after he started to ramble nonsense as Gai put it. Clearly Mizuki was not over the fact that the Kyuubi jinchuriki had defeated him. Well, she and Sasuke, with the (un)help(fullness) of Iruka respectively.

Lee bowed to Nori as he was apologizing for the trouble he caused. "Aaaa, that's fine," she told the boy who was emotionally crying about how cool Nori was. Sasuke kept his respectful distance from the scene figuring as long as Nori wasn't being hurt, or anybody was trying to steal her away, he didn't have to intervene, right?

"Aaa, Gai-senpai?"

"Yes, youthful kohai?!" He finished that sentence with a thumb up and a blinding smile.

"I was thinking, since it was Mizuki's fault that Lee didn't graduate," Nori didn't know this to be a fact, but Gai didn't have to know that," I was thinking that he deserved a second chance to prove himself. I believe that after tonight's actions he does deserve the chance to be a genin –" She was cut of by both Gai's and Lee's loud tears.

"Nori-chan, your youthfulness shines so brightly!" Gai all but, screamed at her.

Lee was no better crying and mumbling about how noble she was. All that display made Nori uncomfortable, and so Sasuke came to the rescue.

"Maybe we should take Mizuki into costude and then discuss details?" He suggested which promptly caused Gai to stop his wails and jump into full jonin mode.

Nori smiled, her head titling to the side. Maybe very thing would be alright after all, she thought as she railed after the three shinobi and one prisoner. But, I have a feeling we are forgetting something…

Meanwhile Iruka was groaning and sitting up, looking around in confusion. When did he get here?

OMAKE

Meeting the princess

Akuma was walking around the village minding his own business. His human wasn't currently available and Akuma found himself terribly bored. His little human was a good human. He had his suspitions about her in the beginning, especially because of the strange faint fox smell. But, as time went on he found he liked the little human's company and it was a bonus that she fed him, too. He nodded to himself; he had trained his human well. If only his human didn't insist on having other stupid human's around. Wasn't he enough? He especially didn't like the small male one, with the dark fur on top his hairless body.

He heard stories about such a human. Akuma was fairly sure that it was the same human that cat's told their kittens about. The Paw-stealer. Akuma scoffed. How demeaning would it be to be caught by him and – oh, the horror of having his paw-print take was too much, even for a strong cat like Akuma.

"Get back, here! Quick, after her! Catch the beast!"

Akuma's ears perked up at that. He watched as a small brown Molly-cat came rushing into the alleyway Akuma was currently occupying. The stupid human's rushed past it.

Akuma noted the red bow attached to her head with amusement. His human would never do that to him.

Akuma snorted before his tail swished and he approached the Molly-cat with curiosity.

"Not that it's any of my concern, but why the rush?" he asked a sly smile painting its way across his face. The Molly-cat hissed at him back herself up into a corner.

"Stay back!" she shouted.

Akuma rolled his one good eye. "Please, as if you are that interesting, princess."

"Excuse me!" she shrieked causing Akuma to regret asking her anything in the first place. Curse him and his curiosity. "Do you have any idea about that day I just had? The year? My entire lifetime?! Do you have any idea what it's like to be nearly squished to death every day of your life?!"

No, but he thought he preferred death to her annoying voice.

"I don't wanna go back to that horrid human!" she cried. "I'm at my end! Since I was just a little kitten…"

Oh, great, a sob-story. He was so not looking forward to this.

A/N: I don't hate Iruka, but I did need a comedy relief and Iruka was my (unwilling) victim. Anyway, I'm not dead, yay! (*note sarcasm*) I know, I know, I'm a terrible writer, but I had lost my muse and this chapter was sitting on my desktop half finished for over two months. Anyway, I found my muse and I should have the next chapter up in around two three weeks, maybe a month (depends and college duties, that lately seem to be pilling up).

The omake was a little bonus since I'm terrible at updating. Hope you enjoyed it and if you want to see more omakes featuring Akumi let me know.

I know I suck at fighting scenes and I'm not happy, with this chapter, but I figured it was better to get it over with now, continue with the story and maybe come back to it later. Rather than updating year from now. If somebody had any suggestions how to write them do please let me know :)

Anyway, thanks so much to the people who reviewed and followed and added this story to their favorites. I hope you enjoyed and see you next time.

As usual please REVIEW/FOLLOW/FAVOURITE it keeps me writting! :)

Since it's been too long I will not be responding to each review, but if oyu have a question or suggestion leave it this time and I will answer/adress it next chapter!