SA: …
Tori: Say it!
SA: …
Tori: Say it!
SA: …
Tori: SAY IT!
Zas: What's going on?
Saria: I… don't know!
Tori: SA-chan and I had a bet, mainly on how you'd do on that Aircraft Systems and Components test! I bet that you'd get above an 85!
Saria: THERE WAS A TEST TODAY?!? WHO WON?
SA: (points at Tori miserably) She did… You got an 88.
Zas: You didn't remember that test? Why not? It was a scantron!
Saria: You mean in my 8AM class? I thought that was coloring time!
SA: So… you completed the test by filling out the blocks… AT RANDOM?!
Saria: (blushes) Thank god for my good luck!
Tori: SAY IT!!
SA: … I… like… (grimaces) kittens…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Six months had passed since Naruto had gone on the mission to rescue Tsubaki and had killed Radon. Since then, a number of things had happened. The first was that Grei and his family found out that Naruto was the girl he had met at the bar, and was also the one who had killed Radon. When they finally explained that they were looking for anyone, inside and outside of Konoha who would brag of killing a clan there, he was more than eager to help.
The second thing that happened, as surprising as it was, was that Naruto was promoted to chuunin. Naruto had been certain that her reaction to seeing her undergarments displayed at the finals would make her unable to advance. She was happy to be wrong.
The third thing was that they told Tsunade and Jiraiya about the mission. Jiraiya's jaw had hit the floor. Tsunade threw several things, including her desk and Jiraiya, out of a window screaming about arrogant Uchiha and how they always needed to be the center of everything and do everything their way. The assistance of both proved to be invaluable though since Tsunade was able to assign them missions that passed by information gathering areas.
Mariko also returned to the village to report success in getting some of her old allies, including the Fuuma clan, to forward information to them. The Fuuma apparently, had already sent spies into various countries and organizations. No links had been found yet.
Finally, Naruto and Hinata both had their thirteenth birthdays. Naruto's birthday party involved a cake and sneaking out into the forest with it. Surprisingly though, a number of people did show up for this, amongst them were Hinata, Neji, Sasuke, Iruka, Jiraiya (who yelled continuously when Naruto convinced everyone except Iruka to call him ero-sennin), Tsunade (who rolled on the ground laughing at Jiraiya's "pet name" until Naruto dubbed her "obaa-chan"), Shizune (who evacuated everyone except Naruto during the rants of the two sannin), Konohamaru and his friends, Mariko, and Kakashi, who Mariko dragged along.
Hinata's party though, on December 27, was a much grander affair at the Hyuuga estate. The entirety of the Hyuuga clan was there, Naruto was proud to be invited also. Her gift to Hinata though had been different. She had always known how her friend like snow and always wanted to see it, but Fire country never really saw snow, ever. Until that day.
Naruto had searched long and hard for a jutsu that could do something like cause snow, and while on one of her hunts, she had gotten lucky. The jutsu was difficult, called for a lot of chakra, and was considered to be at least an A-class level jutsu. In other words, Naruto ate it up.
The party was scheduled to start at noon and would last well into the evening. That was why Naruto stood on top of the Hokage monument at eleven that morning, wearing a white kimono with an oleander pattern on it, and was quickly doing a long chain of hand seals. As this happened, people all over Konoha began to notice the steady but rapidly plummeting temperature, and panic broke lose when the first flakes of snow actually fell.
Grinning mischievously, Naruto quickly unfurled her banner that she had made several days ago and quickly, but firmly, tied it in place before high tailing it off the mountain and towards the Hyuuga estate.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hinata, needless to say, was ecstatic at her gift, as were most of the children and adults. Even the Hyuuga elders, who usually had sticks shoved really high up in their asses, loved the snow, though it seemed to lack any true monetary value.
The children in the village also loved the snow and asked when she would do it again.
The village council yelled continuously at her the next day about the "hazards" of snow while Tsunade yelled at her for creating a birthday banner and placing it over where the beginnings of her face were on the Hokage monument.
The supposed hazards were that so many people believed that they were either under attack, or in the cases of some fanatics, that the gods were angered by something and descending from heaven to unleash their wrath upon the world. About two-thirds of the council and Tsunade roared with laughter about that last part.
In the end, Naruto got off with a warning and orders that if she ever were to want to do that again, she was going to need to submit the proper paperwork at least a week in advance.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another year passed quickly. Naruto began to interact more with the people that were her age seeing as most of them now knew that she was a ninja. Her closest friends remained to be Hinata, Neji, and Mariko.
Neji and Hinata continued with trying to gather information, but it was slow at best. They had managed to rule out the possibility of other clans in Iwagakure and Kumogakure though, which was a good thing.
Sakura continued to chase Sasuke and tried to convince Ino that Naruto was a witch that was out to win Sasuke.
Ino, thankfully, had stopped pursuing Sasuke and thought Sakura was just being stupid. She and Naruto made fast friends, though it became obvious very quickly that unlike Ino, Naruto despised shopping unless she absolutely HAD to. Tenten joined them sometimes.
Naruto and Gaara kept in touch as pen pals. She stopped by in Suna several times between her missions and caught up with him.
Kiba tried to hit on several of the girls, including Naruto and Hinata. Naruto turned him down; Neji prevented him from ever asking Hinata for a date ever again.
Shikamaru figured Naruto out, but found it was "too troublesome" to tell anyone.
Birthdays came around again; Naruto had another good birthday, and popped out another snow day for Hinata's.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sasuke groaned as he tread through Konoha, fully aware of the fact that Sakura is tailing him for some reason or another. Kakashi had given them the day off and Sakura had asked him again and again to go out with her. He turned her down each time but she was persistent. The one time he dared to ask why she kept trying, she would have put Gai to shame had he been present when she declared, "TO PROVE THAT LOVE IS STRONGER THAN SORCERY!"
For some reason or another, Sakura had become convinced that Naruto was a witch of some sort. That belief had only become more intense when the girl had used the jutsu to cause the snow for Hyuuga Hinata's birthday.
In his quest though to find out all he could about Naruto though; he had nothing. There were no files anywhere, no records of any sorts. He couldn't find any Uzumaki clan, or family, or a single person who had ever had the name Uzumaki other than Naruto. The record stated her birth date, that she had attended the ninja academy, and that she was now a chuunin. Nothing else could be found, not even on the active shinobi lists that were available in the shinobi library.
"Sakura," he called behind him, still deep in thought. "I've been checking all sorts of records for Naruto, and she is listed, but there are no specifications at all. Not even the scrolls in the library say anything on her. How can that be?"
'Does Sasuke-kun just enjoy the mystery surrounding Naruto? That could explain a lot…' "Sasuke-kun, when someone is unlisted in the shinobi library, it is usually for good reason. Various people who wouldn't be listed are department heads, their children, kage children, and those who work in Black Ops such as ANBU and Hunter divisions. I seriously doubt that Naruto could surpass you Sasuke-kun and be one of those!"
"How else would you explain how she is unlisted in the records then?" Sasuke felt his eyebrow twitch at the girl's idiotic comment.
"Well, Naruto is an orphan, I know that for certain. Maybe she is the daughter of an agent or a deceased department head and her last name was changed to protect her?" Sakura didn't even want to entertain the notion that Naruto just MIGHT be better than Sasuke at something. "That could explain why she disappeared from the Academy also, because she needed to disappear for her own protection!"
"When did this happen?" Sasuke kicked himself for not noticing the pattern that he slowly was starting to see.
"When we were about eight, Sasuke-kun. I still remember that you were in the hospital and didn't show up at the Academy for several days. After you returned, we noticed that Naruto was missing as well, but we all thought that she had decided to pursue a different career." 'Why is this so interesting to him?' Sakura mentally raged.
'She left the Academy at about the same time that my clan was destroyed,' Sasuke thought, and he felt as though the pieces were slowly falling in place. 'Naruto isn't listed, because she must have been involved in some way or another and they didn't want her getting hurt or discovered! She was secretly removed, but continued training so she could defend herself, which has to be it!'
Rage, white hot rage began to course through his body at that moment. They had taken a girl who had no clan and trained her privately for years, whereas he was left to the Academy. They had denied HIM training in favor of HER, and he was the one who needed it, HE was the avenger!
'They're holding me back,' he thought as he darkly surveyed the village. 'They're providing training to a useless girl and leaving me behind. Well no more.' He had been facing mounting frustrations over the past few months, trying to figure out what Naruto did, why she wasn't listed as a regular shinobi, and now this was his conclusion.
The seal on his shoulder tingled slightly, and for the first time in months, Sasuke remembered the weird guy at the Chuunin Exams.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto stared at the three scrolls that were addressed to her from Sandaime. So far, only one of the scrolls would open, and Naruto was getting annoyed.
'I need some help here,' she thought as she quietly fingered one of the two scrolls that wouldn't open. 'At this point, not only do I need to carry out the mission to find the true murderer of the Uchiha and prove Itachi's innocence, but I still need to find some way to save Sasuke and myself from these seals that Orochimaru gave us, and save Kyuubi.'
A faint twinge traveled along Naruto's shoulder, starting from where the cursed seal was located.
'At this point, I don't think I have anymore options on what needs to be done for the sake of Sasuke, Kyuubi, and myself,' thought the girl as she got up and grabbed her keys. 'I need to see Orochimaru's original notes on these seals so I can figure out a way to release them, or at least counteract them.'
Sighing, she jumped off of her bed and headed for the door. She hadn't eaten all day, and she felt as though she was going to need to eat something, especially considering how she was going to have to deal with this.
'Eating some food so I can go to the Hokage, get hammered, and trick her into letting me do a long term mission… I bet I'm going to throw up at least once in the next few hours,' Naruto thought as she pulled on a blue jacket that Hinata had gotten her for her fourteenth birthday and grabbed a back pack which she stuffed the first scroll into.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ichiraku's ramen was always good, but that night Naruto found she was only able to down one bowl of it. Ayame and her father must have known that something was wrong, but also knew that she couldn't speak of such things. They did know how to offer comfort though, so when Naruto reached into her pocket and placed down the money owed for that single bowl, both placed a hand over hers and gave what they hoped was an encouraging look.
Naruto was only able to smile weakly at them in thanks.
As she walked through a park by the Academy, taking in as many of the sights as she could, she noticed Sasuke, except he was walking in the opposite direction, and he was carrying a backpack also.
"Going somewhere, Sasuke?" she asked as she stepped out of the concealing shadows.
The look Sasuke gave her was venomous, but had a sort of sick recognition to it also.
"Yes," he replied, a faint smirk appearing on his face. "I'm going to get the training that I deserve so that I can kill a certain man, one that you reminded me of just now."
Naruto felt her eyebrows lift a little, and could only whisper one name. "Orochimaru."
"I'm an avenger, and this village is only holding me back. They provide someone as worthless as you with training after removing you from the academy, leave you as an unlisted shinobi, not telling in any record what you do. I'm an Uchiha, I will always be better than you, yet they favor you, WHY IS THAT?" The last part was roared as he charged the girl, not caring what the consequences would be.
Waiting until the last moment, Naruto did a low sweep with her foot and used the momentum to haul herself back upright in time to catch Sasuke in the side of his face with a hook punch before gravity could catch up to him for not having his feet under him anymore. Grabbing into her backpack, Naruto withdrew a single syringe and jammed it into Sasuke's arm, injecting the drug quickly.
A brief sweep of chakra later, and Naruto knew that the coast was clear. Reaching down, she grabbed both of Sasuke's arms and hauled him off the trail and into a brushy area where they would be mostly safe from the eyes of others.
Shoving the supposed "genius" into a sitting position against a tree, she set down her backpack quickly and withdrew a scroll from it.
"You know Sasuke, you may not be able to move right now, but I know you can still talk, though quietly. And I do believe that seeing your behavior right now, it is time to put you in your place and make you understand the situation so you can stop acting like a spoiled child."
She briefly glanced at the dark eyed boy, aware of his glare at being compared to a child, but he held his tongue.
"For what I'm about to tell you, you must understand fully the implications, and why you are wrong with your chosen path. I will answer your questions after I give a brief explanation, and I will answer as truthfully as I can, no more secrets, understood?"
At Sasuke's nod, she opened the scroll, already changed to the hidden message.
"Your brother, Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi, is innocent of the Uchiha massacre." In all her life, Naruto never thought she would see Sasuke look dumbstruck while paralyzed. It was a rather amusing sight. "The true murderer is unknown as of now, but it is still an open investigation. Before you ask, Itachi knowingly took the blame because he knew that your drive would lead you to try to kill the responsible party."
Sasuke was staring, and doubt was showing on his face. He needed another push.
"Sandaime was investigating this matter, and after his death I started to head the investigation. Sasuke, there are documents showing that there was absolutely NO way that Itachi could have been the murderer. He was at the Hokage's office, witnessed there by several people, including the Hokage, signing documents."
Hope was starting to spark faintly in Sasuke's eyes, but it was extinguished right as he asked his first question. "Then why isn't he here, why didn't he tell me the truth?"
Naruto sighed. 'And he called ME an idiot.' "Sasuke, didn't you hear me the first time? He knew that you would try to kill the responsible party. He left Konoha knowing that you would come after him and try to kill him. Your BROTHER is risking the possibility of being KILLED by YOU so he can protect YOU because he knows that he COULDN'T kill you and the TRUE guilty party would see that as no problem."
Sasuke's glare was apparent, but despite the ice in it, Naruto knew that he was also mad at himself.
"What are you, truthfully?" he demanded.
"I'm a Hunter nin, Sasuke," Naruto admitted.
Sasuke's eyebrows arched slightly, but he moved on to his next question. "That answers why you're unlisted… Is Uzumaki your real name?"
"I don't know." At Sasuke's accusatory glare, she waved her arms in silent defense. "I really don't know, Sasuke. I was an orphan that was found after the Kyuubi attack. No one ever reported a missing child that was unaccounted for, so the Hokage named me."
"One more question," Sasuke said after a few moments of silence. "Why were you removed from the academy at eight and why did you become a Hunter nin?"
"That's two questions, teme," Naruto interjected in a playful manner. "But, to answer your question, I graduated from the academy at eight years old, and I became a Hunter so that I could bring my first sensei."
Sasuke's eyebrows shot up again as he stared at Naruto again. "Itachi… the papers, innocent, sensei?" He blurted out, confusing Naruto very badly for a moment.
Realizing what Sasuke meant though, she nodded again. "Yeah, Itachi was supposed to be my jounin sensei."
Silence reigned over the two fourteen year olds for a few minutes longer, before Naruto suddenly grabbed Sasuke and hauled him to his feet.
"What?" Sasuke asked as he was dragged somewhere again, his mind suddenly sharp with all that he had just heard.
"I know how we can both get what we need, Sasuke. The best part is, I won't have to go alone now."
"Where are you taking me?" he demanded once again.
"To see Tsunade, Sasuke. We're both about to become missing nins."