Saria: Ok… I think there are more people that I need to thank and give shout outs for right now.

SA: Whoo-hoo…

Saria: First off is Roy, who has helped me a whole lot more than I think he'll ever know, both in writing this fic, helping me kick around new ideas for fics, and of course, for helping with my computer.

Zas: And helping you when you went off the deep end!

Tori: Cookies!

Saria: (blush) I would also like to thank my faithful reviewer, Ash! Also, if anyone else likes the stories written by Stars of Yaoi, please help me bother her into continuing her writing!

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Naruto grinned at Kabuto, who obviously was the one who planned to jump in now that Kidoumaru was out of the picture.

"Hi four eyes," Naruto greeted with a perky smile, keeping her disappointment to herself when Kabuto actually smirked at her antics.

"Shall we continue the evaluation of your skills now, Naruto-san?" he asked, not missing a beat.

Grinning faintly, Naruto slipped into her traditional fighting stance, knowing already that this would be a close combat taijutsu match. Of course, since she was trying to make herself seem as appealing as she possibly could in reports, she decided immediately that it was time to pull out the stops. Her stance was the opening stance for her version of the Jyuuken. And she was certain that she saw Kabuto blink in surprise when he noted the similarity in the stance.

Kabuto's stance, Naruto's hunter training told her that it was for a style that was typical for medical ninjas, but he was obviously very well trained in it. The fact that he was also focusing chakra to his hands also clued her in that he probably had some sort of cutting technique lying in wait for her, especially considering that medical ninja usually preferred cutting to other forms of destruction.

There would be no point in delaying the fight though, because that would just give Kabuto time to formulate a plan anyway.

So it was no surprise when Naruto immediately surged forward, pulling her hand back for her first strike, forming her chakra into the spikes that were a part of her style. For Naruto that is.

Kabuto wasn't surprised by the head-on charge that Naruto did. He was surprised though by the feeling of a spike piercing his arm when he made to block the strike. Jumping back, he immediately sent healing chakra to his arm and found that there was indeed damage there, not unlike what a chakra blade would do, and it didn't even leave a mark on his skin!

'Impressive,' he thought, as once again he lunged at the girl with his chakra scalpel technique. 'High flexibility,' he continued as Naruto twisted her body and evaded his strikes, 'and yet no power is lost.'

Naruto dodged most of the blows that Kabuto sent at her, not really wanting to show the full extent of her abilities. She kept most of her blows a little slower than she was capable of, and also made it seem like she had to focus hard on the spikes to manifest them. She sent one last blow at Kabuto, a glancing strike that hit the area around his appendix before jumping back.

'That may have looked like an accident, but he'll surely be feeling that!' Naruto mentally chuckled.

Kabuto did feel it; he felt the strike very well. 'I'm going to need further medical attention than I can give to myself. The really humiliating part is that she seems to be holding back still.' Taking a single step forward, he mostly held back a hard wince as he felt more pain rocket through his body. Not even his advanced healing ability was really helping him.

'She hasn't used the cursed seal yet though, and I don't have one to use. Looks like I'll actually have to call out Kimimaro.'

Kabuto then pulled out what Naruto thought she recognized as a summoning scroll, but rather than try to rush forward and try to keep track of him, she jumped back even further and took cover behind a tree while at the same time sending out a chakra thread to where Kabuto was, one that was only meant to help her keep track of him. She felt it through the thread when he threw the scroll, and had a slight start when she realized that what was summoned was not an animal of any sort, but a human being.

Peeping around the tree trunk, she saw that the one summoned was a man, one with white hair that was more or less shoulder length and very vivid green eyes. Naruto also noted that an air of control and sickness seemed to hang around him as well.

'Why does he seem so sad?' Naruto thought as she stared out at him.

Kabuto broke the momentary silence. "Naruto, Kimimaro here is going to continue this fight."

Neither Kimimaro not Naruto spoke a word as Kabuto dragged himself away. Neither moved for several minutes after Kabuto had left, until Kimimaro reached up to his shoulder area, moving the collar of his shirt slightly, and pulled out… a bone.

Naruto stared, and stared, and stared. A part of her was deeply disturbed and disgusted by what she was seeing, but another part of her was fascinated.

'Thank god Kyuubi didn't give me an ability like that…' she thought as she moved out from behind the tree and entered her ready stance. Kimimaro seemed to take no stance, and once again she was reminded of how utterly wrong he seemed.

Both charged forward at that same moment, Naruto aiming a strike at his shoulder, Kimimaro blocking with his sword, only for her to grab the sword with her striking hand and use it as leverage to bring herself up to try to land a side kick, which he avoided with a smooth lean backwards.

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Sasuke and Tayuya had made it to the clearing in time to see the end of Kabuto's attempt to fight Naruto and now watched as she and Kimimaro faced off.

"Not very good, was he?" Tayuya said, referring directly to Kabuto.

"It wasn't that as much as it was a bad pairing on his part," Sasuke answered. "Naruto is faster than him and she surprised him somehow and landed a very heavy blow it would seem."

Tayuya merely "hmphed" at Sasuke's remark before adding, "She can surprise him all she likes, but she won't be able to defeat Kimimaro."

Both focused on the field and watched the two go back and forth for a few minutes more, both trying to obviously figure the other out. It drew a look of shock from Kimimaro and a shouted expletive from Tayuya though when, as Kimimaro blocked another of the girl's strikes, his bone sword some how blew apart.

"Looks almost like this match could go either way to me," Sasuke stated.

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For the two Hyuuga, luring Mariko back to Konoha was actually very easy, they simply promised to buy her some ramen and ice cream. Once back in Konoha, they began the next phase of their plan, make Mariko talk and also make her promise to pretend to be Naruto when Gaara arrived. It soon proved to be the only part that would be easy.

"So now Gaara will be coming, but we don't want to tell him about Naruto because he may do something really rash," Neji finished, as Mariko called for her third bowl of ice cream.

"Why not just tell him the truth?" Mariko asked as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "If I know Gaa-chan, he'll understand!"

"Gaa-chan?" Neji asked as Hinata did her best to suppress her giggles.

"Yeah, Gaa-chan! Calling him Kazekage-sama or something like that would be too much of a pain, so Gaa-chan works just great!"

"Gaa-chan…" Hinata tested the name, and found that she actually somewhat liked it.

Neji shook his head; it was too weird of a name for him to even wish to try. "Wait a second, Kazekage-sama?!"

"Yeah, I found it weird too," Mariko said with a laugh. "Apparently, his father, the previous Kazekage was killed before the attack on Konoha and afterwards Gaara became the Kazekage! Pretty cool, huh? More ice cream!"

Neji nodded numbly, setting more money on the counter to pay for the ice cream. Then, turning to Hinata, he whispered; "Now we know that there is absolutely no way that we're going to tell him. If he asks us, we say that Tsunade assigned her a mission."

Hinata nodded before stepping forward.

"Mariko-san, you said earlier that you had gotten some information about the case we are working on, is that true?"

"Yep!" replied the girl in between heaping spoonfuls of the sweet.

Hinata gave Neji a pointed nod, and he immediately did the handsigns for a limited reception jutsu so that only he and Hinata would hear Mariko's words and so no one could hope to read her lips. Barrier in place, he nodded back to Hinata.

"So, what is that news that you have for us, Mariko?"

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Naruto's match with Kimimaro ended in a draw, Kimimaro holding a bone sword/whip that he had made from his spinal column at her throat, her holding a Rasengan to his temple, their free arms locked. Neither moved nor backed down. They just stood there, looking almost like statues.

"Wow," Tayuya murmured as she took in the scene that was before her. She had been certain that Kimimaro would win, yet here he was, pitted against a younger girl who apparently matched him.

Sasuke smirked slightly at the scene. He had been right about Naruto possibly having a chance, and it felt great to one up that Tayuya girl. Still, he would have been more pleased if Naruto had won.

"You know, neither of us can win at this point," Naruto muttered to Kimimaro.

"So it would seem."

"So, are you going to let go any time soon?"

"Are you?"

'Great,' was the thought that flashed through Naruto's head, of course in a sarcastic tone. 'This guy is so blank that I'm surprised he's even aware that he's alive.'

"How about this," she replied. "On the count of three, we both let go and jump back, ok?"

The bone user simply nodded.

"Alright, one… two… three!" Naruto deactivated her Rasengan while simultaneously unlocking her other arm from his and jumped back. Kimimaro in turn also let go of her arm and pulled his bone weapon back.

"You two need to fight now," Kimimaro intoned smoothly, blankly, as he nodded toward Tayuya and Sasuke. "You should come with me," he added, looking at Naruto this time. "Orochimaru-sama wished to see you once you were done here."

Naruto nodded as she moved to follow Kimimaro, the sounds of Sasuke and Tayuya squaring off behind her as they moved through the woods.

'He's so quiet,' she thought as she followed the white haired man. 'Reminds me of how Neji was before I corrupted him! Maybe he is still salvageable…'

"How long have you been with Orochimaru?"

At first it seemed as though Kimimaro was going to ignore her, then he simply answered, "A long time."

'How talkative…' "Many good fighters here?"

"Some."

Naruto sweatdropped. "Better than average or just good fighters?"

Kmimaro seemed to only shrug at her question.

"Have you ever been able to compare what you see here to what others can do?"

Kimimaro still didn't answer as he began to descend the stairs into the dark underground hide out. Once again, as she also descended the stairs, Naruto felt the darkness in the air. Anyone could tell that this was a place of pain. The dark hallways that extended out in front of them didn't help the mood either.

Down one hallway, up the next, the path to Orochimaru's inner chamber seemed pretty straight, none of the hallways curved, they simply ended and a new one began. Before she even really felt ready, they were standing before a door that Naruto recognized as the one that entered into Orochimaru's "throne room".

Kimimaro didn't move to open the door, but he did nod to Naruto before turning and heading else where.

Naruto understood and immediately pushed the door open, quietly entering the room, trying to screw her face into a barely concealed scowl, as though she were angry to be interrupted from training. And there sat Orochimaru, in his supposed throne.

Her scowl momentarily became a real one; Orochimaru was still trying to pass himself as nobility or royalty.

'Great, a pedophile who is convinced that he is nobility or something. What is this world coming too?!'

"You wished to see me?" she asked in a tight, slightly agitated sounding voice.

"Yes Naruto-chan, I did." Naruto fought back a huge scowl at the –chan suffix.

"Naruto-chan, what did you do back in Konoha? What were you trained for?"

"I was trained with purpose of infiltration, reconnaissance, and assassination. Right before we left, the counsel spoke of promoting me to Jounin." 'Not the truth, but not a lie either.'

Orochimaru smiled wickedly at that point.

'He's planning something…'

"Naruto-chan, I do have a mission that will require your skills, based upon how well you perform is how I'll decide how you should be ranked."

Naruto nodded, suspicion rising in her gut telling her that there was a trick in this somewhere.

"A man who used to work for me and his two assistants have outlived their usefulness to me. His name is Amachi, you'll find him in the Sea Country, on a little island where I used to have experiments done. Go there and kill him then destroy the lab."

"Hai," was all she said before she left to gather her things. 'Looks as though I will get breaks from this place, but I doubt that Sasuke will be as lucky. Thank god that this is only a criminal that I'll have to knock off, I'll actually be doing the world a favor while here. I can also check for those notes while there.'

Arriving at what was her room, she picked up her pack, removing things that she wouldn't need such as some of her equipment scrolls. A brief once over and she headed to the medical center to pick up some bandages just in case she would need some.

Kabuto was in the medical center, which was just as dark as the rest of the complex, and was actually very willing to give her some supplies for the mission. As she waited for him to come back, she noticed a person who was hooked up to several monitors, and had white hair.

'Guess Kimimaro really is very sick…' she thought as her gaze wandered a little farther. 'And that is probably not helping in the least,' Naruto added when her gaze caught a rotting corpse, one that was barely more than a bunch of bones. The odd thing was that the corpse still had a ring on one of its hands, but Kabuto returned before she could investigate it any further.

It wasn't even 8am yet when Naruto emerged outside and headed for the Sea Country.