Hello people, another late update as usual. You should be used to this by now, but er...the next update will be soon... along with bad news...

I don't own Naruto.

FIGURING IT OUT

After the battle, I only remembered sitting on a hospital bed with some medics hovering around me. Images were blurred slightly and voices were garbled. There was a continuous ringing in my ears that was irritating me.

I caught sight of silver flyaway hair coming towards me and simply stared at Kakasi sensei as he sat down on the edge of my bed. He spoke something and I frowned as I tried to make out the words"...visitors...see you..." was all I heard. There was someone here to see me?

"Who?"I heard the question come out of my mouth. His eye went into the smiley shape and looked at the was a familiar cough and I smiled as Hayate's head poked in through the door.

"Hello there, heard you did quite a lot today." he said, shuffling over to a chair with a small smile.

"I wish I didn't have to." I said honestly, sighing. Kakashi left after a while, saying he had work to do. Bullshit, in my opinion. He just misses his Icha Icha books after such a long fight. But Hayate kept me entertained by talking about his moon blade technique. I was engrossed by his knowledge of swordsmanship and didn't even realize that I was good to leave the hospital.

"If I ever get a sword, would you train me?"I asked as we stood outside the hospital.

"Sure, I owe you anyways." Hayate gave a tiny smile and poofed away. He was very quite and reserved but I liked his company as there were very few adults who could listen to my talkative self patiently.

I have to attend one of those person's funeral tomorrow.

I tugged at my sleeve just to give me something to do as I finished dressing up. "Akemi-chan?"Naruto walked into the living room. "Let's go." I nodded, taking one last look at my complete black robes before following Naruto out of the door.

The priest saying his prayers seemed like a person from a picture - not real. The whole time I stood there, everything seemed unreal. I kept remembering all the conversations I had with the gentle man who considered the entire village as his family. My eyes went to the stone monument which showed a crack in the Third Hokage's face.

'Fate's way of giving warnings...?' I wondered absently. I remembered the scroll he had given me and the words inscribed in it. That scroll holds one of the most important keys to changing the future. The very idea of being in the possession of that scroll gives me chills. The scroll had the power to change a lot of lives as well as destroy them.

It seemed so terribly clichéd that it was raining as well. Each drop that fell on my skin that wasn't covered by cloth, felt like it was making me aware of my surroundings and yet taking me far away. I had begun to shiver slightly as a cold wind whipped through the area as well. Without anyone knowing, I quietly teleported away to someplace else.

Sighing slightly, I stretched out on the tree branch that stood at the end of the field where the funeral took place. "Oy kid, shouldn't be there at the front with your team mates?"

I glanced down and replied "Not really, it feels too stiff there. It's uncomfortable." I shrugged nonchalantly. Jiraiya snorted and shook his head, sitting at the root of the tree trunk. "What was he like?" I asked out of the blue.

He must have been surprised by the question as there was a bit of silence before he responded "He was a pervy old man." A laugh spurted out of my mouth after god knows how long since the whole Chuunin exam business had begun. He began chuckling as well and soon it faded to a comfortable silence. "You know, jii-chan…" I began unsurely.

He huffed at the term but listened. "I was wondering about a few things…like the Akatsuki."

"Go on."

"Did the Sandaime tell you about…where I come from?"

"He might have mentioned it."

"I'll take that as a yes." I rolled my eyes and continued despite the small chuckle. "I have an idea as to how to reduce their numbers…only by two though."

"That's pretty good too, let's hear it then."

"I can't really say now because it's still half-cooked, but it depends heavily on Kakashi and myself." I turned and landed on the ground before him. He looked up in surprise. "When that happens...will you help me?" I asked earnestly.

He blinked and laughed loudly. "Is that a thing to ask, squirt?!" With that, he slapped me on the back, sending me to the ground with an odd sound effect from me.

"Gooyah!"

"Hahaha! What the heck was that sound?!"

"Urusai kono ero sannin!"

"Oy shut up! It's bad enough that Uzumaki brat calls me that!"

After throwing insults at each other for a while, we sat in a roadside foodstall. "A Godaime will have to be selected right?" I said, sipping at my tea. He 'hmm' d and chewed on some dango.

"The council members will approach you." I said and watched Jiraiya choke on his mouthful. "Don't worry, you have another team mate besides Orochimaru, remember?" I said calmly, picking up a stick of dango.

His eyes suddenly brightened and he nodded."Of course! That means I'll be seeing Tsunade again!" With that, I gave a laugh and left him perving over Tsunade.

I thought about the state of affairs in Suna and cringed as I remembered that the real Kazekage had died long back. Well, Orochimaru gets hated by Suna too, yay.

I reached home, wrinkling my nose at the underwear left in the bathroom as I washed my face. "Just being in these black clothes is making me gloomy, not to mention hot." I muttered and started to change my clothes.

Suddenly I froze as there was a thump and a loud call "Akemi-chan! You home?!"

'I'm an idiot if I ever thought this wouldn't happen!'I screamed internally and realized that I had thrown my top out of the door on the floor. "Ok, just calm down and ask Naruto to give the top back." I gave a sigh and poked my head out of the bathroom door.

"Naruto, could you please hand me that shirt on the floor?" I spoke and watched as Naruto turned around, startled. He caught sight of my head poking out and combined with my question, his imagination ran wild and made him pass out.

I deadpanned at the blonde on the ground, vowing to kick him hard once he wakes up. "Naruto, what's taking so -" I was on the floor but behind the door still, trying to reach out for the shirt when Sasuke looked inside the room.

His eyes widened and his jaw went slack. Sputtering something incoherent, he stumbled out of the room. Still frozen in that position, I felt my fingers touch fabric. With my shirt in hand, I darted back in the bathroom and fell on my butt. 'Looks like Uchiha just got a good view of my bare back...' I thought with embarrassment.

Sasuke and Naruto didn't look at me for the rest of the day. Sakura made a weird face when Naruto shrieked on me sitting beside him. Kakashi didn't bother to ask and ignored us, making off - topic comments from time to time. Sasuke must have had something close to a seizure everytime I looked in his direction. I, though awkward for a while, managed to see the funny side of it. I wish the same could be said for the other two.

Due to the attack, Konoha was now busy in rebuilding the main town square, where Orochimaru had let loose his giant snake summoning. Genin teams like ours were doimg odd jobs to help with the construction. Team 7 and 8 had the duty this, whereas Team 9 and 10 had it the next week. So, here I was, ignoring the yelling between Naruto and Kiba as well as Sakura trying to convince Sasuke about...something.

By the look on Sasuke's face, it was nothing pleasant. Meanwhile, I was trying to have a conversation with Hinata amidst all this. "My eyes have been said to be lavender." The shy girl replied to my previous question, her voice hardly audible. Sighing, I rubbed my temples before turning to the noisiest pair.

"Omae ra..." I growled, drawing their attention. "Can we get back to work noiselessly?!"

And would you believe it, they just looked at me and went back to arguing. Sasuke had sneakily shifted behind me andSakura just noticed that, so she began yelling at me instead."Sakura, please shut up for a moment..." I muttered in a fake pleasant voice with the scariest expression.

THIRD PERSON

Sakura eeped in fright as she saw Ame's scarily blank expression, her pupils wide. Her face went pale and she backed off. Keeping the same face, Ame turned around "Sasuke, let go of me." It had the same effect on, only he tried not to show it while keeping his stoic look in place. But his face did drain of color.

Finally, she turned to Naruto and Kiba, walking right up to them. The killer aura she exuded was enough to freeze them in their places as she said eerily"Let's all play nicely, shall we?"

FIRST PERSON AME

Judging by what took place just now, I should use that face more often.

On days when we didn't have rebuilding duty, I sneaked off to train with Hayate, specifically my chakra sensing. "Well, you shouldn't bump into…much." Hayate said unsurely, looking at all the trees around where we stood. I was standing with a blind fold, feeling nervously at what I was about to do. "Are you sure you want to do this? You just got out of the hospital." Hayate statedwith his usual cough.

"There was nothing wrong with me in the first place." I retorted, shuffling in my spot. I heard a sigh and he said "I'm not going to use weapons though, and I will take it very easy."

"Okay." I huffed and focused my attention on Hayate's chakra. I felt it move to the right and immediately readied a block when he suddenly whirred to the left. Panicking, I made a sloppy block and I was thrown to the ground.

"See?"

I just gave a frustrated growl in response, not bothering to move from my spot.

Since then, Hayate suggested that I start from the basics and get a hold of my surroundings first, sensing people simply walking around me. So, I must have raised quite a few eyebrows when I walked around in the village, blind folded. Not that I saw them. I bumped a lot, bruised quite a few but Naruto's stubbornness had rubbed off on me more than I realized as I kept at it.

Anyways, my chakra sensing had improved quite a lot since I first came here. My range had increased quite a lot but not my accuracy in sensing the little details. I had to have more chakra control for that.

As for Hayate, I asked him to teach me swordsmanship but he just patted me on the head and said "Grow up a little." It was the same with Kakashi as I asked to be taught some lightning based jutsu. Honestly, it feels as if no one really wants me to progress...

Things in Konoha as of yet, are at a standstill. Naruto and I still go to Ichiraku's for meals, occasionally getting a treat by Jiraiya. We never really had a home-cooked meal because I didn't know crock about cooking and Naruto didn't really bother. Days seemed to pass in a breeze and everyone seemed to have all but forgotten about what happened. I suppose it's a trait of Konoha to forget and move on so quick.

I often hung out with Jiraiya, listening to stories of his travels. I have to admit that they were interesting though I did deadpan at him when he exaggerated. Most of the time I found him on the roof tops above the women's hot springs, giggling while looking through a telescope. The first time I saw him like that, I had burst into hysterics just by the look on his face, scaring away all the women in turn.

Jiraiya had knowledge to offer and was quite good-natured despite his perverseness. I had come to grow fond of him like a family member, who gave bad advice at times. But he could be counted on when the time called for it. I asked him a lot, in fact, about summoning jutsus and had casually asked how I could learn.

He had given me a long stare before bluntly saying "No." Well, I'll remember that as the day I pushed him into the hot spring and let him get beaten by the ladies. Bet he'll remember it too.

Angry, I had stomped off. Jiraiya seeked me out later, bandaged in a few places but extremely satisfied. He sat me down and patiently explained. "Look kid, Konoha has been through a lot right now and everyone wants to relax. I know you have your job to do and whatnot, but everything has its time. And right now, you need a timeout. "

Sasuke's curse seal, Orochimaru's appearance, Neji and Hinata's problems, the Third Hokage dying, Naruto fighting with Gaara and the power of my knowledge...I had unknowingly taken on all of these and the worries that came with it without a second thought. I hadn't realized that I had been keeping so much stress inside me as I cried with relief and frustration that day.

So, I took it easy but did what I had to in small doses.

So, coming to the present time where was lying on a random roof, without a care in the world. That's what I'd like to think, when in actuality, the rooftop I was lying on was not random at all. I was above one of the best dango stalls in shop was situated near the village gates, so travellers could easily stop for a bite here.

The dangos here were so good, that they were bound to be remembered. Even by S - class criminals.

Guess who's coming? *Wink wink*

~BLuKage