Warning: Long chapter up ahead. Angst and drama again, but don't worry, it will lessen from now on.


Chapter Twenty Nine After the Rain... Comes the Sun

"You don't need to understand who Naruto is now, you need to know the Naruto who made it all the way here." - Uchiha Sasuke


Kurama growled deep in his throat, his eyes narrowing as the space flickered briefly around him.

Ever since that day they'd been in complete darkness. He could no longer hear Naruto in the air, no longer connect with the seal that once had allowed him a peek into the outside world.

That man… The Yondaime. The bane of Kurama's existence...

If Kushina's death hadn't been payment enough Kurama would rip him to pieces one of these days. He paced back and forth inside the locked cage, his irritation keeping him restless. He knew what was happening and it made his fur stand on end.

Isobu's heaved for breath, the other bijū hung suspended opposite his cage and was even more restrained than Kurama, at least he could stretch his legs. Once upon a time - both long ago and simultaneously just a short time ago - when he'd been inside Kushina, Kurama had been trapped in a similar seal and couldn't say he envied his younger brother.

But Isobu's new seal wasn't as strong though, not nearly as sturdy as the one Kushina had. It was an addition to the existing seal imprisoning Kurama, because Minato had to improvise when he'd come in to trap them like bugs.

Though the Yondaime had been helped by the fact that Kurama had no plans of leaving Naruto. It was annoying to realize he had actually grown to care for the insufferable brat, but there were other reasons too. Here, Madara would have a very difficult time getting to him. If the Sharingan user somehow managed to break Naruto than nothing else could keep him safe either, and Kurama much preferred the brat to the Gedo statue. Madara needed to be dealt with and he had decided to help his jinchūriki do it, because a Naruto with his help… Well, who knew what they couldn't achieve?

Like him, Isobu had stayed for a similar reason. He'd been informed of what the future held and found Naruto the lesser evil for now. Kurama knew she was just an escape route to the Three Tailed turtle, though Isobu seemed to have taken a liking to her. Especially after almost killing herself to release them. Kurama also suspected he was getting ideas of who she might be.

Personally Kurama wasn't entirely sure, but he had never met a human that fit the old man's description better than she did. "A blue eyedyouth..."

Well… Minato had the same eyes… But still, he was almost eighty percent certain that if his Father's prophecy ever came true, than the person he described was Naruto.

But things had grown troublesome after the Yondaime brought Naruto back to Konoha. Kurama had stayed quiet and let the girl heal in a show of cooperation. It would be obvious then that neither Kurama or Isobu meant any harm.

Now he regretted the diplomatic line of thought and blamed it entirely on Naruto. Because of course she was different, she was unique compared to the rest of these blundering humans.

Without any warning Minato had showed up so abruptly after he'd brought Naruto to Konoha, and hadn't left until they were both locked up. Their only real way to escape would have been by exiting the seal entirely, which for a short moment Kurama had considered, and yet… hadn't.

Neither had Isobu.

And then it was too late.

Minato had used clones… Kurama still couldn't believe he'd been fooled by his jinchūriki's favourite technique. In fury he recollected how swiftly the Yondaime had trapped him inside his cage again, with a clone,while spending the majority of his effort on strapping Isobu to the wall.

When would Kurama stop underestimating that particularly annoying human?

And this time Minato hadn't even had the decency to die for the effort either… Though he guessed Naruto might have gotten a bit torn up if he had.

Maybe not so much now though.

He could still vaguely feel her. Their chakra connection might be dormant thanks to the suppression seals, stopping the flow that usually allowed them to communicate here in the mindscape, but he still felt the tinge of her in the air. Her sorrow and desperation seeking through the cracks of the seal that could never be entirely separated from her. Deep down Naruto could probably feel the tinge of his annoyance if she really tried, like he did with her.

But now a new presence could be felt, a similar but separate chakra Kurama would recognize anywhere.

His eyes narrowed and his growling rose in volume. His ears falling back as his claws came out. He appeared less elegantly and swiftly than Naruto could, but still in the same fashion.

Within another moment the man was fully visible. His familiar blue eyes looking straight back at him with a coldness he'd never seen in his jinchūriki.

"Yondaime." Kurama growled, and then he sprang at the bars, the whole room shaking as his temper got the better of him.

"Kyūbi." The man replied above the noise of the clattering bars, not a muscle flexing as Kurama tried to slap away the aggravating bug. "Or should I say Kurama?" Kurama's jaw snapped between the gaps of his cage. Wanting so badly to rip him apart for using that name. His name. "I came to ask you something."

Kurama roared. He wouldn't cooperate with this piece of flesh no matter what sort of relation he had to Naruto. He'd eat him. Chew him until there were no piece large enough left of him recognisable as a human. "You despicable ant. You know nothing, and I will tell you nothing!" He roared.

Minato looked over his shoulder at Isobu who was leaning forwards in his chain. "Free us this instant, human! Or you will regret it when I get out of here!" Shouted Isobu.

Minato looked dismissively away, his eyes meeting Kurama's again. "Why did you save her? Why did you stay with Naruto? What is she to you?"

The bijū turned quiet at once, only their growling intensifying. The Yondaime frowned, his fists clenching. "I see… Naruto might trust you two, but I do not. I'll be back later then. Until you can answer me, Naruto stays imprisoned."


Her footsteps echoed through the dark hallway as Naruto was guided by two guards in their late thirties. She had no idea who they were or where they were leading her. If at the end of the walk would lead to freedom, a prison cell or an execution room.

She kept her head low, feeling a burning shame at her situation. Clad in grey prison clothes, bound by the hands and chains to her feet.

It was a nightmare.

Each step made her think of time moving forwards and how little control she had over it. How utterly at mercy she was at their hands. Her village which had turned against her, and in a way it was so many times worse than anything she'd experienced in Kirigakure.

The fright which had slowly been building up inside her was starting to take a hold of her, and her thoughts had turned dark. Just the thought of Minato was enough for an anger so violent to flare up in her and halt her movements.

He knew. He knew who she was and yet… How could he go through with this? This wasn't the Minato she had met before in her mindscape where she'd first spoken to him. Or in the memory Kushina had shown her of the night she was born.

Was Minato even him? Her father? Or was he just someone who could have been?

Traitorous tears were pressing against her eyes, but she forced them back by taking calming breaths. She was helpless and there was nothing she could do. Minato had made sure of that when he had sealed off her chakra completely. She couldn't even access her mindscape anymore. There was just endless silence.

They walked past a window, and Naruto spotted sunlight and a blue sky, making her think of those who were still out there.

What were Anko and Shisui doing now? Or Kakashi and Rin? Were they worried? What would they think? If she was executed how would they recall her? As the girl who got completely screwed over during the war? Reckless Naruto who got herself kidnapped? What would they say?

And what if she were just imprisoned for the rest of her life? It wasn't unheard of, but what life would that be? Never be allowed to be free... As if she wasn't imprisoned already.

Out of her time. Out of her home. Out of peace.

Just sitting there and wait for the Akatsuki to come get her and put her out of her misery. Wait for the Uchiha massacre. Wait for Madara…

Naruto gasped for breath as panic welled up inside her. Halting in her steps as her legs started shaking.

Her escorts turned as Naruto stopped. "We're almost there." Said one of the guards without emotion. Naruto heeded them little mind but forced her feet to take one step in front of the other. If anything it was nice to be able to move again. Who knew how many steps she had left.

The guards stopped in front of one of the many doors. It had the number 1173 written on it, and Naruto held her breath when he held the door open for her. Naruto was apprehensive as she walked inside, almost too scared to find out her new situation.

But it was just a room. A small one with nothing inside. Concrete walls, concrete floors and concrete ceiling. No windows.

She turned back to the guard in confusion. Was this prison? Wasn't Minato or anyone even going to tell her what the verdict had been before throwing her in jail? "What…?" She asked subdued.

"We'll be back soon." Said the tallest of them, and without further explanation closed the door. The click of the lock rang through the room, and then there was complete darkness.


Naruto wasn't sure how long she'd been in there. Time was a funny thing… Without any way to indicate time in the form of passing daylight or distractions, and with nothing but your own breath to listen to an hour felt like a whole day.

Naruto was sitting in the corner. She'd used her tied hands to find the wall, and followed it to a corner where she'd sunk into a ball like a pathetic cornered animal.

She was also in more than emotional distress. Something was very wrong with her.

Maybe it was the effect of being under chakra suppressing seals for so long or maybe it was the unbalance in her system, but Naruto was experiencing pains.

She'd heard Minato say her chakra was acting up. That Isobu on top of Kurama was a bad combination because their natures weren't compatible. There was a reason why people didn't use the same person twice to hold bijū, and Naruto could testify now why it wasn't recommendable.

It was why Minato so frequently had to deal with Naruto these days. Every other day he came to suck out her chakra and do a series of techniques Naruto didn't know. Simply because it lessened her pain.

How he knew she was in pain in the first place was a mystery though. She'd never said a word about it. No way she'd tell them that now. Who knew what they'd do if she did.

Another round of these pains were shooting through her now. Her whole body crawled with stinging pain, an agony that made her nerves burn, and Naruto gritted her teeth while she waited for it to pass. It always had so far. Either it was an hour or six, eventually it would go away. It had so far.

With nothing but pain and her thoughts Naruto let her mind wander once again to everything that had gone so wrong in the last few weeks. From friends and warmth to a prison cell.

Then she'd started thinking about her mistakes.

About why she hadn't tried harder to get back to her own time. Naruto had never really tried. In her years as the no-name orphan on team Orochimaru she had never asked anyone about time travel ninjutsu before recently. Why hadn't she? Maybe someone, somewhere, would have known. Maybe someone did. Instead she had messed so much up, and now she was wasting away before she could right her wrongs.

When had she run out of time? Despite turning back the clock and growing younger, she had somehow shortened her lifespan. She had abandoned her old friends. Shino would never be born, Ebisu was dead, Kushina was dead, Iruka was dead and so was her unborn self in this timeline.

Was this the universe's way of making sure that happened? Since Kushina and Minato never had a child this time, it meant Naruto was never born. Never conceived, and therefore had to die. To be erased. The universe was righting up her mess.

And Naruto was scared because she didn't want to die. She didn't want to go yet.

She thought of Anko. Her best friend would be so furious at her for screwing up so bad and leaving her behind. At Minato for executing her. At the next jinchūriki for being picked.

Shisui would… Naruto wasn't sure. He would be sad, she knew that. They were friends and Shisui valued his friends almost as much as Naruto did. But he understood the system better. In his eyes everyone had flaws, but everyone could be redeemed too. If the council executed her he would still see the good qualities as well as the bad. He didn't see the world in black and white. Not to the extent Naruto and Anko did. He didn't let his emotions rule him, and that would allow him to get over it. He understood sacrifice.

The idea that he would one day be happy again made Naruto unreasonably angry. She wanted everyone to miss her. To see that she shouldn't be dying!

Anko, Shisui, Kakashi, Ensui, Jiraiya, Minato… They would all get over it. The world would keep on turning, and it would do so even without her. It made herso angry.

She missed Sakura. She missed Sasuke. She missed her sensei, Kakashi. She missed the old gang.

Shikamaru would have known what to do. He would have had some silver lining which ended with the word; troublesome.

Kiba would have called her baka and Hinata would have held her hand and just been there for her. Ino would have thrown a fit, badmouthing the guards and sharing all the dirty secrets she'd come across.

Choji would have offered her food. Lots and lots of comfort food. And that would have been quite a sacrifice too, seeing as the boy was only ever selfish when it came to nourishment.

Neji would have been quiet about it, but all the while shown that he was worried for her. He would have been helping in his own way. Lee would be crying. Not much help but the idea that someone would miss her meant a lot to Naruto.

TenTen would be trying to get Lee to stop crying while at the same time cursing Naruto for getting herself into trouble again. Shino could have sent her bug messages, keeping her distracted, and Sai would have drawn her a cartoon.

She kept herself busy like this. Picturing her old friends and how they would have acted in this situation. But she wasn't sure if it was correct what she was imagining. Would it be so much more different? Sure, they knew Naruto's true origins, but they didn't know her any better than her friends in this time, and they couldn't oppose the village. Naruto didn't want them to.

So she reminisced about their old missions. When they had tried to rescue Sasuke and failed spectacularly. About Gaara and their first meeting during the chūnin exam. About dinner at Ichiraku ramen stand, and Teuchi was old and white haired instead of middle aged and brunette. About classes where Iruka was her sensei, and not her dead classmate.

Naruto had no idea how long she sat there. Because inside her head she was years into the future, and Madara was dealt with, there had been no Fourth War and she had brought Sasuke back home to Konoha. Tsunade was retiring and handing Naruto the ropes, while Sakura and Kakashi was buying her ramen.

The dream was so much more beautiful than reality.


From outside she could hear people coming up the hallway, but Naruto didn't pay it much attention. She was too deep inside her own mind, her imagination so much better than her existence.

But when the sound of the handle being turned rang through the thick silence her eyes opened. The guards from before were back, but so was a third person.

Minato.

After giving the room a quick check they locked him inside with her.

The mask was up again, the man Naruto had now started identifying as the yellow flash instead of her potential father was as cold as ever. During their meetings he never let his guard down. "I'm sorry I couldn't come down sooner." Minato apologized eventually in a dry tone, clearing his voice slightly at the end.

Naruto didn't reply. What was she going to say anyway? That's okay?

It wasn't.

"I've been talking to the council all day. We came to an impasse, but well…" Minato took a deep breath and shook his head. "Some wish for a transfer of the bijū, but that's not happening." Minato explained.

Naruto tilted her head to the side. That was good news… It meant she wouldn't be executed.

"But Naruto… You did do something wrong. I can't explain to them the truth, so me and the Sandaime has given an alternate story. It's still just us that know that you're..." He stopped again, lost for words while he dragged a hand through his hair. "The fact is that you withheld crucial information from us for years. Information we could have used to track down Madara already. When you became a ninja you took a vow to protect the village to the best of your capabilities. To serve honestly and loyally to no one but Konohagakure. You've failed that vow by keeping this secret, and though it was not done out of disloyalty it will still have consequences."

Naruto felt her fists tighten. What was she supposed to have done? It had gotten more and more difficult too. At first the secret had been at the tip of her tongue so many times, but as time passed it had grown harder and harder to admit the truth, until it came to a stage it felt just about impossible to admit. It still did in many ways. And had she come out and told them right away they might have acted a lot worse than they were now. Back then she'd been an outsider brought back by Jiraiya. They wouldn't have put any credibility behind her words at all. The only reason they were now was because they were forced to.

"However, you won't go to prison and you won't be executed. Eventually you'll be allowed back into the troops, but there are conditions." Minato summarized. Naruto opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"So, you will be… exiled… for the time being." Minato said silently.

Her eyes widened, and finally she got her voice back. "What?" She croaked, feeling the lump in her throat thicken.

"The time frame is still not specified. They wanted five years, but I'm working on getting it down." Minato said and sat down cross legged on the floor in front of her.

"Exiled? What… Where will I go?" Asked Naruto confused. Minato grimaced, his hands fisting.

"Look at it as a probation. To be exiled is permanent, but this won't be. You won't be a ninja of Konoha for some time, but once the probation is over you'll go back to being a chūnin." Minato summarized.

"… But..." Naruto said, not sure what exactly she could say. It was better than prison and death, so she could feel herself come back to life now that the numbing panic was slowly ebbing out, but it still didn't make sense. Probation? Exile?

"I have a few ideas for what you'll be doing while away. We need to find a solution for your current condition. Your chakra network is overloaded and your body can't handle the imbalance. It's a better option to have you away from Konoha when you start that training anyway. Until a permanent solution can be found you need to be under chakra suppression seals too - if not entirely than partly. That way you will have access to your chakra but some of the bijū chakra can't harm you to such a degree. You should know that no matter what you will be in pain if you do though. Your own chakra use can hurt you… So for now… that's what's happening." Minato said into the silence.

"I see..." Naruto muttered.

Minato got up to his feet, already on his way to leaving. Naruto looked up when she heard him knock five times at the door. When the door opened he looked back at her. "I'm sorry." He said genuinely.

Naruto was too numb to do anything but nod. "I am too."


Kakashi sat nervously in the brick clad lobby while they waited for Naruto to appear. It was a month since she'd been imprisoned, and the process had taken extremely long. Today however they would finally let her out, and he and the others had made sure to be mission free for her release. Minato had gone to fetch her ten minutes ago but they had yet to return.

While they waited they kept themselves busy in various ways. Orochimaru was reading through some papers he'd brought along, not really affected by their current location and from his nonchalance it seemed he regularly used the prison lobby as an office.

Anko was pacing in circle like a dog chasing its tail, while Shisui was leaning against the wall, using the time to study the cracks of the floor with unnatural focus. Rin had joined Kakashi on the bench, her hands nervously fisted in her lap. They were all eager to get Naruto home, but the wait was showing the strain.

Weeks had passed by though, and the time Naruto had been kept imprisoned had not been uneventful. Because of her imprisonment she had missed Kushina's funeral along with Hitomi's and Iruka's, and none of them had been allowed access to visit on Minato's orders. Especially after Minato had taken over the Hokage seat a couple of weeks ago.

Kakashi felt happy, sad and angry all at once at his sensei these days. It was confusing to have so many conflicting emotions concerning someone he looked up to like he did with Minato.

He was glad the village was now under his sensei protection, and he believed from the bottom of his heart that Minato would do a great job under his new title. But Kakashi was also worried for him because he just lost Kushina, and though he kept himself busy it was clear Minato was suffering. And lastly he was so angry he could throttle Minato for keeping Naruto locked up for so long.

The day after Minato came into office he'd summoned the squad who'd led the "Uzumaki Rescue Mission" into his office - namely those who knew Naruto was a jinchūriki - and finally they had received an adequate explanation for everything that had happened since their return to Konoha.

Naruto wasn't just the jinchūriki of one bijū, but two.

That was the reason so much confusion had arose in the beginning. The council wanted to make sure she was both a suitable candidate to hold the bijū physically, and make certain she was mentally capable of keeping her two new charges. It was all about the village's security and Naruto's future role in it.

It had been quite a shock to have it confirmed. Kakashi had often wondered what had happened after Naruto had left Orochimaru and him to fight Ao and Suikazan, but apparently she had succeeded in her wild attempt at reclaiming the Kyūbi. Kakashi had already suspected as much though he was puzzled as to how she did it.

Minato hadn't gone into details on that though; breezing through it when Ensui had asked by saying she had used the already existing seal from the previous bijū sealing and her chakra chains.

He'd told them they were still testing Naruto's seal, and were making sure she was ready to rejoin the village. Because at that time she hadn't been. He'd even hinted that Naruto wouldn't be back on active duty for quite some time either, and that she might need training outside the village.

He'd also explained what Naruto had already told Kakashi. That she had jumped into the chidori because of the cursed tag seal giving Naruto commands to act against Konoha. Kakashi's attack had squashed not just her heart but the seal too, and her jinchūriki status had done the unimaginable and saved her despite the sure death sentence.

Her teammates had all been stricken by that, though an underlining understanding was finally blooming within them. Kakashi had told Rin what Naruto had told him, but not Anko and Shisui.

If he were to explain it would just sound like some desperate excuse. And he didn't want to give excuses. No matter how it came to be Kakashi had still nearly killed one of his closest friends, and he had to live with that knowledge.

Ensui had also taken a leave of absence.

Losing his whole team had crushed him, and the boy didn't know if he wanted to continue being a ninja after what went down. Kakashi knew Shisui had visited a few times and tried to talk to him, but the boy wasn't ready to discuss the matter yet. He was not allowed to leave Konoha anymore though, his knowledge of Naruto's jinchūriki status made him tied to the borders of Konoha as long as he was off active duty. The knowledge was now an S-ranked secret they didn't wish anyone but those who already aware to know of.

Then there was Orochimaru… He was on the warpath for being overlooked for the Hokage post, and was still refusing to address Minato as anything but Namikaze-san both in public and in private. He'd also refused to speak with the Third since the announcement had come up.

Kakashi wondered if Naruto's situation had spoken against Orochimaru for the Hokage post. He'd been the senior shinobi on the mission and in charge of the platoon which left from Konoha, and yet it had been such a spectacular failure it reflected badly on the Sannin in hindsight. Kakashi suspected that was what Orochimaru thought at least.

And then just a few days ago Shisui and Raidō had been promoted to jōnin.

Kakashi had been startled when Anko told him and Rin of the news. It was Minato who had pressed for the promotion, and though he understood Raidō quite well - after all they were the same age and Kakashi knew exactly how good his old classmate was - he was surprised by Shisui's promotion.

He was just so damn young. Kakashi was considered an extremely young jōnin himself, but Shisui was three years younger than even he was. Kakashi hadn't worked much with him except on the latest mission and during the Hiraishin training with Minato, so he couldn't say for sure, but the boy had a very good head on his shoulders at the very least.

But according to Anko, Shisui was good all around. He didn't really lack in any area. He specialized in ninjutsu and genjutsu, but he could do all the arts to a considerable extent. From strategy to medical ninjutsu Shisui had above average skills, which made him suitable for a jōnin position despite not being old enough to be allowed access to the adult section of the book store. But then Kakashi wasn't, technically speaking, allowed there either...

And then there was the fact that the village was extremely short on jōnin these days. After the war a lot of their higher ups had been killed, and the shortage was affecting everyone's workload. Had the times been different they might have waited with Shisui's promotion, but unfortunately the Uchiha wasn't that lucky.

All in all the weeks had passed by eventfully in the aftermath of the Kiri mission, but they were glad the waiting had come to an end.

They all looked up as the door opened, and Naruto came out followed by Minato. Kakashi noticed she wasn't wearing grey, but standard dark shinobi clothes. The absence of a forehead protector also caught his notice. But though she was being released, the girl was still not reinstated as a Konoha shinobi.

"Naru!" Anko screamed the moment she saw her and tackled Naruto. They stumbled backwards but Minato caught Naruto's shoulder in time to prevent her from falling.

The girl recoiled at the touch, and Minato hurriedly removed his hand.

"Anko..." Naruto whispered with a relieved smile and hugged her back. Anko released her just so Shisui could hug her too. The boy was smiling from ear to ear.

Orochimaru put down his papers and stepped up to his students, he placed a hand on the top of Naruto's head making her look up at him through her messy bangs. The girl got a strange gleam in her eyes as she studied her sensei. A small smile gradually growing on her lips. The Sannin smirked back before letting his hand fall.

"You are the worst, you know? I'm going to get Kakashi's hair color if you keep doing this to me!" Anko said happily while shaking Naruto back and forth like rag doll by the shoulders.

"Yeah, I'm considering locking you up just to keep you in check from now on." Shisui partly joked.

Naruto spotted Rin and him as they came forward, and then next moment Rin had thrown herself at her too. Pushing away Naruto's team while crying and laughing as she squeezed the short girl as hard as she could.

Kakashi watched them with a warm feeling in his stomach. Everything had been scattered and disorganized, but now something was shifting back into its rightful place. Naruto met his eyes over Rin's shoulder, and he could see the emotions there. Trepidation, hurt and relief swirled under glossy cerulean irises. But as Rin released the girl, he refrained from moving into the crowd.

They'd made their peace already.

"Thank you so much… I'm glad you guys are here." Naruto said, her eyes suspiciously red as she looked them in turn.

Anko laughed, her voice light and relieved. "Hey, Gai and Ensui tried to get in too, but there's only so many allowed in the lobby of a prison at a time. Wired law though… I wonder who had so many visitors they had to get a law to limited the number."

Naruto chuckled weakly, still quite on edge. "Can we just leave? I have spent so much time doing nothing. I want fresh air! I want to use my chakra now that I can access it again! And ramen! We are so having ramen today, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed. Despite her effort the words didn't hold the same energy he remembered, but it was a thousand times better than how she'd been in the prison cell.

Kakashi couldn't stop smiling as they left, but in the doorway he turned towards his sensei.

Minato was looking at them with distant eyes, a deep rooted sadness just underneath the surface which he couldn't quite conceal from someone who knew him as well as Kakashi.

It was almost identical to what he'd seen in Naruto.


She knew it was temporary, but Anko couldn't help feeling over the moon with happiness with Naruto's return. They were all back in the apartment, and quite a few had joined them for Naruto's home coming.

Everyone but those who'd been involved were under the impression Naruto had been severely injured, and was returning from a very restricted hospital stay. She knew Asuma believed Naruto had been poisoned with something extremely contagious during the mission, which was why none of them had been allowed to visit. They had let them believe as much by answering with the now tedious; "we-are-not-allowed-to-speak-of-it" line.

But now they were having dinner all over the living room again, just like before, though Anko could sense Naruto wasn't entirely with them.

Her smiles were just a little less wide, her eyes a bit less lively and there was just less of Naruto as a whole. In the back of her mind Anko worried, but she was still too jubilant about having her best friend back to really think much of it.

And after everything it was to be expected Naruto couldn't just fall right back into old habits.

Rin and Kurenai had taken over Anko's kitchen to make dinner for everyone, demanding that as long as Anko focused on cleaning the hell hole they could make the food. Anko had rarely been home the last month. She'd crashed at Shisui's as often as she could and only came home for the occasional shower and clothes. It had showed at the state of the place.

Now it was back to its old standard, Naruto included where she sat in the middle of the crowd with a tender smile on her face. She was looking at each of them with something akin to wonder. The list of people who had wanted to join tonight was admittedly a bit ridiculous.

In total eighteen people had squeezed into their tiny flat, and Anko had luckily gotten the window seat this time around. She sat with one leg on each side of the frame while Kakashi had taken the other. It was just claustrophobic sitting with the crowd.

The Uzumaki rescue mission squad were all there, but some of Naruto and Shisui's old classmates had tagged along this time too. Chou and Mizuki were for the first time joining for dinner on Shisui's insistence when they'd walked past them on the street. Anko had been miffed about the invitation. After all it was no secret that Naruto and Mizuki could barely stand each other, but it was going fine so far.

Two of Naruto's classmates from before she jumped up a year, Izumo and Kotetsu - a duo where you couldn't see one without the other being far away - had also joined for the first time. The boys had pestered Shisui and Ensui for information after they heard Naruto had been severely injured, so they'd been invited too.

Akiko was a constant at these dinners, but the civilian girl was talking more confidently than Anko had ever seen her with Asuma and Aoba about her new accommodations. The girl had lived outside the orphanage for a while now, and had already been forced to switched homes about three times despite being only ten years old. But this last place was apparently a lot nicer than her earlier ones.

Asuma and Kurenai hadn't been there that often, though they were no strangers to these dinners. However Shizune was, but she was doing a good job of ignoring the absolute ruckus around her while enjoying herself.

The night was cheery, and Anko couldn't help feeling as if things were finally looking up.

It struck her that the crowd had changed a lot since the dinners started. At first there had just been Naruto and her, but soon Shisui, Ensui and Iruka had joined. They had eventually wrestled Kakashi into coming, and soon three teams had been making food and chatting. Of the original nine, three were now dead.

But the absence of Obito, Iruka and Hitomi was not forgotten, and tonight was in their honor as much as Naruto's.

It would be a hell of a cleanup, and it was always stressful to have these dinner parties with a bunch of children, but Anko wouldn't trade these chaotic events for anything in the world.

The only downside was the continuous ice front between Kakashi and Shisui. Ensui was also subdued around the older jōnin, but not to the extent Shisui was.

It was a strange sort of fight. There had never really been an argument, and the two could coexist within proximity of one another, but Shisui had developed a seething resentment for Kakashi bordering on obsessive.

Anko had forgiven Kakashi a while ago. She had never really blamed him to such an extent to begin with. Even in the heat of battle Anko had saved Kakashi when the Three Tails had exploded from Naruto, but she suspected that if Shisui had been the only one to witness the event he would have left Kakashi there.

To Anko it just proved that Shisui really was a kid despite his jōnin promotion. He knew what had happened now but still held onto his irrational anger. In truth she was a bit relieved. Shisui was sometimes too mature for his own good and didn't really let his emotions rule him. So it was nice to find out he was as human like the rest of them somewhere in that prodigy head of his.

"Oh, and Aunt Mikoto just told me I'm getting a new cousin!" Shisui exclaimed suddenly, drawing smiles from the people around him.

Naruto's head snapped towards Shisui so fast her hair whipped Rin straight in the face. "What?" She asked breathlessly, and Shisui – happy to get such a reaction out of Naruto grinned widely.

"Yeah, she's due this summer so she's well along too, which means Itachi will have someone else to terrorize instead of me!"

"Uchiha Itachi terrorizes you?" Asked Anko skeptically. The boy was a prodigy like Shisui, but a completely different type. Where Shisui still had social antennas the other boy was an introvert to frightening degrees. He was just scary sometimes. It just wasn't natural for a child that age to be that freaking composed at all times.

"You don't know him like I do, Anko. Itachi has his own way of terrorizing people."

"What does he do?" Asked Ensui doubtfully. "Eat your ice cream?"

Shisui's face fell, meaning Ensui had hit spot on, and Anko barked out laughing at the pout Shisui was sending his old classmate.

"It's really bad. Every time we look after him he empties the freezer of ice cream!"

"You should introduce him to dango then," Anko suggested. "It's so much better than ice cream anyway."

"Nothing is better than ice cream." Shisui argued and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Wrong, ramen is the food of Gods, dattebayo." Naruto countered at once, looking affronted that Shisui had even suggested that anything could be more appetizing then her precious instant food.

"Your team has a strange obsession with food." Ensui said while sipping water from his paper cup.

Anko mused over the fact for a second and smiled evilly. "You're right… Sensei eats almost exclusively eggs."

"Well obviously. He's basically a snake isn't he?" Naruto muttered, but the normal loathing was absent from her tone. It was more of an reflex to diss their sensei by now.

"So Naruto," Kureni's voice cut across the crowd, "When will you be back on duty? Anko told us you're still not on the roster."

Naruto's hand absent-mindedly fell to the back of her head, her expression closing off at Kurenai's question. "Actually, I'll be leaving the village for a while."

The voices around the room quieten down, and Anko looked down frowning. She already knew this, but she didn't appreciate the reminder.

"Why? Where are you going?" Asked Izumo.

"I'm actually… sort of.."

"She's going on a training trip." Kakashi cut her off, saving Naruto from the blunt lie she was about to sprout to them all. The truth was Minato was sending her out of the village for her to gain control of her new powers. The new Hokage didn't want her anywhere close to Konoha for that. "And Rin is going too." Kakashi added at the end.

"What? You're leaving too?" Asked Kurenai disappointed as she turned to Rin. The brunette smiled back warmly.

"Shizune is going as well. We get to travel and train under Tsunade-sama!" She replied excitedly. She'd been bursting to tell everyone about the news for over a week. They weren't sure why the slug Sannin had been seen in Konoha so much lately, but she was well on her way out again and now she was taking two apprentices with her.

Originally she had just planned on taking Shizune, but Rin – fed up with just waiting around for Naruto's verdict – had heard that one of her old classmates was going to train with the Sannin, so she had gone to pester Tsunade until she accepted her too.

"Wait, are you going with Tsunade-sama too? But… you're not a medic." Asuma said confused, pointing to Naruto.

Rin interrupted before Naruto got the chance to answer. "Just for a while. Jiraiya-sama has agreed to train her, but he's currently on a long term mission and he'll meet up with us later. But she'll leave the village with us and stay for a few months before she starts training with Jiraiya-sama. I am so excited about this!" Rin was almost bubbling over, and Anko couldn't help but smile at her excitement.

She wasn't looking forward to Naruto's departure at all. She would be gone for years, which meant Anko had to sublet her room until Naruto returned. There was no way she was giving up the place though.

Naruto would return eventually and when she did she'd need a place to live, and Anko was determined it would be here in their flat. The place they'd made a home and grown stronger together. Two orphans who had managed to get out of their circumstances despite the odds being against them.

Aoba whistled to show his impressment and looked at Naruto. "Wow, Jiraiya-sama has offered to train you? He was Hokage-sama sensei, you know. I'm so envious of you right now."

"Wait!" Interrupted Kotetsu, holding up a hand to stop the sudden ramble starting up in the room. He was smiling crookedly at Naruto. "Does that mean you'll have trained under all three Sannin by the time you get back?"

Naruto was thoughtful for a moment before shrugging. "I'm not sure how much Tsunade can teach me. I have no talent what so ever in medical ninjutsu. But I guess it can't hurt to know some tricks if things turn bad on a mission."

Shisui and Anko snorted in unison despite not finding it funny at all.

"When are you leaving?" Asked Kurenai, addressing Rin though Shizune answered.

"Not for a while. To give Naruto time to recover properly Tsunade-sama said we'll leave in about two months."

That was also a lie, though Shizune didn't know that. She just repeated what she'd been told. Because Shizune didn't know Naruto had already recovered, and she also didn't know that the reason for the delay was that the council was making sure her security was adequate during her absence. They were not about to send a fresh jinchūriki of two bijū out into the world without making sure they got their weapon back intact.

"Oh, so we still have some time then." Kurenai said relieved. "I'm glad. It will be so weird when you three leave. I'll be like... The only female left of our graduation class."

"Hey!" Anko shouted, and Kurenai grinned back teasingly.

"You don't count, Anko. You're brasher than all the guys put together."

Anko couldn't help but glance at Gai. Feeling truly offended now. She was more brash than Gai? But he was in a league of his own. Though she was a bit more sarcastic than the green clad chūnin. Gai was brash in a nice way. Anko in a spiteful one. It was just how she was, and she didn't feel bad for it.

"How long will you be gone?" Asked Akiko, cutting off Anko as she was about to retort to Kurenai's taunt. The Chūnin was startled, wondering when the hell the girl had grown a spine. To Anko Akiko always been the meek, pretty girl Naruto had taken pity on.

"A few years." Rin replied eagerly, though peeking at Kakashi from the corner of her eye. Kakashi was staring out the window without paying them much attention anymore. At least that's how it looked.

"Well, here's to Rin, Shizune, Naruto and their inspiring new journey in life! They will grow stronger with their hard work and dedication!" Gai shouted over the crowd, raising his paper cup of water in a toast. People cheered and mimicked him. Not noticing how Naruto hadn't raised her cup at all.


The party came to an end later than anyone had foreseen, and the only one left was Shisui who had offered to help the girls clean up the worst of the mess.

The three were exhausted and it was close to midnight. The next day would be their first team meeting in forever, and Naruto hoped Orochimaru wouldn't be too brutal though...

She was quietly dusting the floor while Anko was doing the dishes. Shisui was crawling around on the floor picking up any leftover paper cups or plates disregarded at the most random of places. He came back to the trash can with his arms full of half dirty one-time cutlery and disposed of it before leaning against the counter. Wordlessly he started drying the dishes Anko had washed.

"It's nice to have you back Naruto." Shisui said quietly without turning away from his task. Naruto stopped her dusting and looked at the back of his head.

"I missed you guys." She answered quietly. Anko let the casserole fall back into the sink and turned towards Naruto. Her wet dishwashing gloves spraying soapy water over the counter and floor.

"We knew it would be okay." Anko replied.

Naruto grasped the handle tighter, finding it hard to look at them directly. The last time she'd really spent time with them were before her kidnapping. And though she'd been released that morning the day had been filled with people who had wanted to catch up with her, and Naruto had felt so incredibly blessed to find out so many people cared.

Because she had been missed, and not just by her usual crowd. Even Mizuki had said he was glad she was okay. If it was true or not Naruto wasn't sure, but it was still nice to hear. For once the boy was being polite.

Shisui's dad had even bought all of them ice cream and smiled brightly when he'd seen Naruto, and Gai's dad Dai had almost crushed her with the hug she'd received on the street. It had been really awkward too, because Naruto had never met Might Dai before. Neither here or in her last time line, but now she finally understood where Gai got his personality from.

But she hadn't really talked to her teammates yet. She had not asked them how they had been while she was away. Not shared any stories of the last month at all. Not asked if they were okay.

She knew Shisui had been promoted though. About sixteen different people had commented on it before looking pointedly at Ensui while mentioning what a shame it was that he was considering quitting.

"How are you really?" Asked Shisui while drying a wooden spoon, some water spilling onto his dark shirt.

Naruto rested her head against the broom shaft. "I'll be fine. It just… sucked." She finished lamely.

Anko walked up to Naruto and roughed up her hair. She felt water run down her face from her dishwashing gloves and gave a small smile. "We know. But you're back now, and you will always be our annoying teammate no matter how many demons you try to absorb in the future." Anko sighed and tilted her head. "But just to clarity; you're the most insane person I've ever met, Naru."

Naruto felt like she was about to cry again. Damn. She had to stop crying soon. She'd cried so much in the last month, and she was surprised she was even capable of it anymore. There had to be a limit somewhere.

"We'll always be here, Naruto. You have to realize that." Shisui added quietly. His tone was serious and he'd finally turned to look at her.

Naruto smiled weakly. Not sure what exactly he meant by that. He'd said it in a strange way. "I'm glad I have you… I don't know what I'd do without my friends."

"Comrades."

Shisui had said it automatically. Correcting her without seemingly being able to stop himself. Naruto frowned.. "Well… yeah, that too."

"Really? Do you really understand that?" Asked Shisui as he put down the towel on the counter.

Naruto blinked. Was he mad at her? "What?"

Shisui shook his head. "Never mind..." He mumbled and turned back to his task.

Anko looked as puzzled as Naruto felt, but she just shrugged as if to say; "I have no idea what's up with him."

"I'm just glad we're still… us. Despite what happened… to me." Naruto said carefully, getting a bad feeling Shisui was not as okay with her jinchūriki status as he'd first seemed. Now that the rest were gone and it was only them, Shisui's behavior was slowly changing. The mask he'd worn falling.

Anko picked up on her hesitant tone, but if Shisui did he didn't show it. The boy continued drying dishes without looking back. "Of course. You're still you, Naru." Anko snapped towards Shisui's direction. "We saw what happened,didn't we, Shisui?"

The Uchiha's shoulder slumped, and slowly he turned back again. His jaw locked tight as he stared at Naruto with calculating eyes. "I don't give a crap about the bijū, Naruto. You should know me well enough to realize that." He said bluntly. If anything he seemed highly offended she even suspected he might have turned on her. "Nothing has changed."

But from his tone that sounded like a bad thing.

"Don't mind him, Naru. He's been so fucking grumpy lately. You should see how he treats Kakashi. Man, you need to chill, Shisui." Anko said and rolled her eyes at how tense Shisui was acting.

His lips pursed and his eyes narrowed at the mention of Kakashi's name, but otherwise he didn't say anything.

Naruto just felt sad. Shisui was not acting like the carefree kid she'd come to know. He could deny it all he wanted, but all day she'd felt as if something had changed. That somehow Shisui was different.

Naruto placed the broom against the wall and made her way across the room to the window where she sat down in her favorite place. They might have a couch and four chairs, but Naruto loved the view from their living room window.

The frame was wide enough to sit in and since the living room had two windows Naruto and Anko had a habit of sitting in one each and watch the scenery. Sometimes they brought their breakfast over and had a window picnic while watching the sun rise over Konoha on early days.

What was she supposed to do? What if Shisui couldn't accept she was a jinchūriki? The idea hurt just to think about, and though she had feared this outcome she hadn't really believed it would happen. How could she convince him she was still the same as before? She'd been a jinchūriki from the beginning, but only three other people were aware of that.

Anko had drifted back to the sink to finish the dishes in the awkward silence, but Shisui had pushed himself away from the counter, crossing the modest room to lean against the other window.

"I think you should do better." Shisui said firmly.

Anko stiffened by the counter, her head turning with incredulity written all over her face. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Naru did fucking everything she could, you little shit." Anko hissed, but Shisui didn't heed her words.

"I didn't mean it like that." Shisui said exasperated and his head tilted down. Naruto noticed how tired he looked. Anko did too, and she wondered how stressed out they'd actually been. They had seemed the same at first, but now she could feel the tension as if someone was painting it on her skin.

Shisui gripped the window frame and turned to watch the village. Going distant as Naruto and Anko waited for him to continue his explanation.

"Did I ever tell you about my family?" He asked suddenly, peeking at Naruto from the corner of his eye. Naruto shook her head.

No, Shisui mentioned his father often enough, but only trivial things. Such as what his father made for dinner or generally how he wanted to one day beat him. And heespecially never divulged any information about his clan. Anko shifted a bit uncomfortably by the counter, suddenly tense at whatever Shisui had said.

Shisui dragged a tired hand through his hair and looked back out of the window. "It's just my father and me now, and I don't really remember much about my mother, but over the years I've found out her history." Shisui started.

Despite hiding it, Naruto could see the words made him uncomfortable. Anko and Naruto looked at one another in confusion. His mum? Whatever did that have to do with anything?

Shisui continued hurriedly, looking like he wanted to get the story over with as fast as possible. "My mother was strong. She made jōnin at fourteen, but personally she was a bit of a mess. When she was young, she lost her mother to illness and later her father, which she witnessed. Back then she was arranged to marry a man she grew up with, but he died too on a mission when she was fifteen… There were others she cared about who died too, and she didn't really cope well with it." Shisui paused; he was scowling at the translucent glass while he fiddled with his forehead protector. His hands leaving fingerprints on the worn metal.

"Despite losing so many at a young age she was very skilled and became part of ANBU… but it probably would have been better if she didn't though."

Naruto tilted her head curiously. Shisui never mentioned his mother. Not once since she met the boy. He never spoked about his mother besides his father. Despite not seeing the connection she was still curious what he had to say about her. "She mostly did solo missions. She worked better alone, as she felt it unnecessary to have a partner or a squad. I think she was about twenty when she got engaged to my father… another arranged marriage, but they were friends. And I think… for a short while they were happy at least." A flicker of a smile tilted the corner of his mouth up, and though he still fumbled nervously with his forehead protector he was growing less uncomfortable.

"But my mother only took one break as far as I know, and that was when she got pregnant with me. In fact she kept the pregnancy a secret from my dad until she was four months along just to keep doing missions, and then she was forced to stop. She was off active duty just long enough to give birth to me, before returning to ANBU..."

The words halted for a moment and he pushed himself away from the window frame to tilt his body towards Naruto. "My mother took on a lot of assassination missions. And for each year they kept getting more and more dangerous. It became normal that she came home injured and spent most of her time off duty in the hospital recovering. Because of that I don't have many memories of her… I remember visiting at the hospital, but mostly it was just dad and me… And aunt Mikoto of course. She was my mother's sister, and also a sort of my surrogate mother despite the fact she was a busy jōnin herself. Mikoto came home at least."

Shisui seemed lost in his memory by now, and Naruto wondered why he hadn't told them any of this sooner. But then she wasn't one to criticize her teammates about keeping secrets… She would really be a hypocrite if she did. "I think I was four… maybe five? I'm not sure exactly how old I was when one of her missions went horribly wrong and she was captured by Kumogakure. In the Uchiha clan we take our bloodline seriously, and she destroyed her eyes to prevent Kumo from getting a hold of the Sharingan." Shisui swallowed and looked Naruto directly in the eyes.

"But she was a woman, and there were other ways of getting a hold of the Sharingan despite my mother being blind. So they kept her alive and raped her."

Naruto felt her throat go dry as Shisui kept her locked in his gaze. "My father and his team managed to track her down and get her out after three weeks of captivity. With some difficulty she was brought back to Konoha blind and pregnant with some Kumo ninja's child. And she was just… destroyed. I actually remember her best from that time. It's the clearest memory I have of her... we humans have a habit of remembering negative memories better than the positive ones, you know? Though my mother was never the liveliest or talkative she was so much worse after that. Day in and day out she would sit in our living room chair with bandages over her eyes. In a way she'd lost her life on that mission, and now she was just merely existing. She rarely spoke and dad did the best he could. Aunt Mikoto too. She was over all the time and helped out."

Shisui looked back out over the village, his hands absent mindedly tracing over the Konoha emblem scratched into his forehead protector. "Dad took her out while I stayed with my aunt. Hoping she'd get better with some fresh air. All her life she had been in such a hurry. Always working and never sitting still… They took a walk through the forest and ate lunch there. I remember I had helped dad make the onigiri they ate… But while dad was getting water from the river she managed to slip away from him. He got help from the clan and spent the rest of the day and night searching for her without result. The next day they found her at the bottom of a cliff. She'd jumped and killed herself."

Naruto had no idea what to say, or even if it was required. Shisui shook his head and looked away from Naruto. "My mother had a death wish, Naruto. It was always only a matter of time before one of her missions went wrong. She was sick and should have gotten help years and years ago, and she wanted to die long before she was captured by Kumo. Though I think she expected it to be quick. That if she one day failed a mission her death would be swift, but the opposite happened. It was prolonged and painful, even if her body was technically speaking healthy."

"I'm so sorry." Naruto said quietly.

"I'm not telling you this to gain sympathy from you, Naruto. I don't remember her well, and when she died nothing really changed. Everything went back to how they used to be… I guess I didn't really understand. I found her selfish. I was angry she didn't want to spend time with dad and me and even angrier when she died, because she'd finally gone and left us for good. At least that's how I rationalized it. But I moved on soon enough. I didn't really know her to begin with, and I never will."

Naruto wondered how Shisui had dealt with it. She pictured the young Shisui from the story, and couldn't really form a proper idea. He was one of those people you couldn't really imagine had felt pain. Not real one like she had. But maybe he was just as good an actor as Naruto had proven herself to be. Or maybe he truly had moved on. Naruto leaned more towards the latter. She knew him well enough by now. "I'm still sorry. It can't have been easy to deal with. You're lucky you have Kagami though."

"I know. But..." Shisui hesitated, folding his arms and leaned his shoulder against the frame while he tried to find his words. "I'm... I'm worried about you. The reason I always bugged you about safety and precaution isn't because I like to nag at you, but because I'm concerned about your recklessness. You always charge in with no concern for yourself. It's like… I mean, how many times haven't you ended up injured? The fact that you heal quicker doesn't take away the fact that you're dangerously close to being suicidal in your actions. You're taking unnecessary risks with no one's input but your own."

"I'm not. I promise you I'm not suicidal Shisui, I know our last mission was-" Naruto argued at once, finally starting to see why Shisui had shared the story with her, but she didn't get to finish before he cut her off.

"Hn, you're not listening Naruto. It's your actions that worry me. You're too independent. It's like you forget you're part of a team and that it is not your job to take on the danger just to make sure the heat is off Anko and me. You… you act like Anko and I are just-" Shisui struggled for words, before biting out the one he found the most appropriate. "...baggage. And since you don't like sensei you disregard him too. We're there for entertainment and strategy, but the moment things get dangerous… It's all you Naruto. It's always you whohave to fix everything. You're a one man show, and I think if you continue the way you are now you'll die."

Shisui frowned, visibly upset at the idea. "You rely on no one but yourself."

"I do not do that." Naruto shot back angrily. "The risks I take are necessary.No one knows as well as I do the importance of comrades. To me not having my friends would be the same as not living at all! You are wrong."

"No you are." Shisui was hissing now. "Look at our lastdisastrous mission, Naruto. You knocked out Rin, effectively stopping the only person who could possibly have warned us of what was happening before too much time had passed. And why? Because you had such a great handle on the situation? No! It was because you seem to think we're all a bunch of civilians! You didn't want anyone to save you, because it would endanger us, right? Well you should know us better than that Naruto! We care about you just as much as you care about us!"

Shisui had worked up quite a pulse by now. Naruto's eyes widened at the accusation, growing just as angry Shisui seemed to be. "I don't think that! How dare you! I know perfectly well how strong you are Shisui, and I have never doubted your friendship! Knocking out Rin was the only right thing to do! They were after Rin. They would have taken her and I can just imagine what would have happened if she had gone running to save me on her own. It was the right thing to do!"

He took an angry step towards her, his eyes narrowing in frustration. "No, you were doing what you always do! When thing gets bad you are somehow always the one getting hurt. Haven't you noticed that? It's like you're… trying to take the weight of the world or something. Well…look where that left us, Naruto. You got kidnapped. You were experimented on. You tried to commit suicide."

Shisui swallowed once, his Sharingan changing pattern for a short moment, before he continued. "And would have succeeded if it wasn't for your absurd luck. Where the hell were we amongst all your plans back at the Kiri base? You certainly didn't look happy when we came to rescue you. No, it was all about what your plan was. Not ours. Kakashi somehow managed to tag along, but you lost him along the way to the Kyūbi too. So you were alone. You're always trying to do it on your own, and I will not let you continue like this. We are your comrades Naruto. Your team. Can't you trust us to have your back?"

Shisui took a rushed breath of air. "Because believe it or not, but you do need us. You can't do it all."

Naruto was growing pale. She stepped backwards while Shisui stepped forwards, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder. "Look at me Naruto."

She was already looking, not quite able to break eye contact as Shisui's eyes morphed and changed patterns. She knew what it was but still had problems believing it really was the Mangekyō Sharingan glaring back at her from Shisui's face. It wasn't right.He wasn't supposed to have those eyes. Naruto was struck with a strange sense of deja vu. The image of a crow screeching flashed before her eyes before returning to the present.

"You activated these eyes Naruto. Do you know how that's done?"

Naruto wasn't sure how to answer, so Shisui plunged on. "It's activated when an Uchiha loses someone they love. When such a grief takes over them it changes something fundamental inside. But not only that, it is also about responsibility. Everyone who came to rescue you felt a sense of duty, because we all wanted and needed to save you."

Naruto looked down. A nagging shame bubbling in her stomach now.

"And then youdied, Naruto. You ran into Kakashi's chidori. I still can't see either of you without thinking about… You should know how hellish that felt. Because if you had the Sharingan yourself they would have activated when Iruka died. So you can start to picture what I felt when you… again... completely disregarded us, and went ahead withyour plan to get yourself fucking killed."

Naruto tried to argue, meekly though it came out. "It's not that simple. I had to remove the cursed tag seal."

"I know. I know why you did it, Naruto. But it doesn't stop me from being furious at your stubbornness to accept help. It was a horrible and chaotic situation, but you should at least have told us. Toldme. You had the chance to explain when we broke you out - but you didn't. Because again this was something you had to do alone, wasn't it? If I remember correctly it was because you were the strongest." He said the last word with a sneer. Releasing Naruto's shoulder and pushed her gently away.

Naruto closed her eyes painfully. Taking in Shisui's word as if he'd beaten every syllable into her. She dragged both hands through her hair and tried to fight away the guilt flaring up inside her.

Because Shisui was right.

Naruto had ever since coming to the past tried to do it all on her own. Her paranoia of being discovered had made her self-dependent and controlling. She had truly believed this was a one man mission for her to complete. What had she imagined? That she could save the fucking world all on her own? When had Naruto ever been at her best in solitude? Hadn't it been her connection to her friends which had allowed her to grow stronger? It had never been about being the best. It was about being able to help. And helping would indicate she was relying on someone else but herself.

But now… Her unwilling to risk those she cared about and her own obsession with getting strong was bordering on something she'd seen in Sasuke. He too had wanted to go it alone. He'd been in a team, but hadn't he too always felt stronger than her and Sakura? How stupid hadn't Naruto thought he was back then? How idiotic hadn't she thought Sasuke's independence was? And now... had she turned into that too?

A hand touched her cheek and Naruto opened her eyes again. Shisui was still stern looking, but he was drying away a lone tear from her whiskered cheek. "I'm sorry." Naruto said through gritted teeth. Not feeling the words were even remotely adequate to express her regret.

"I know."

Sighing Shisui turned and left without another word. His hands going into his pockets as he closed the door softly behind him. Naruto listened to the fading footsteps fading down the stairs.

"Well..." Anko said awkwardly from the sink, and Naruto jumped as she realized they hadn't been alone through that conversation.

"You know he means well… Shisui was just scared that's all. Did you know I had to punch him to get him to react back at the Kiri base? He completely spaced out after… Um…So yeah, he's still adjusting... probably. He had a valid point though, but I think he could have gone a bit easier on you."


After going to bed Naruto was finally allowed some peace while Shisui's words still rang in her ears.

This would be the first time Minato allowed her an unsupervised meeting with Isobu and Kurama too.

During her imprisonment he had slowly started testing out her seal. Minato had even accessed it several times to see the bijū inside there himself.

The meetings had been catastrophic if the pains she'd experienced were anything to go by.

Isobu and Kurama had not been happy at all, and Naruto was afraid her imprisonment had been prolonged thanks to their meetings.

Now however her chakra was partly free, and technically she could enter her mindscape again. She'd refrained from doing so all day, focusing on her human friends while she was under so much scrutiny.

Closing her eyes Naruto sunk into her mindscape. The world going black before shapes of space morphed into existence around her, and finally she landed on the other side.

"NARUTO!" Roared Kurama at once, the bars of his prison rumbling dangerously as he knocked against the now closed bars.

Isobu was standing chained to the concrete walls opposite the cell. The chains a lot more sturdy than his last one. They were pierced through his neck and had him suspended from his arms and chest. It looked like a crucifixion.

Naruto grimaced. She had a new level of empathy for their situation after the last month.

"Oh kami..." She breathed, shocked at what she saw. When Minato had gone in Naruto hadn't really been allowed access. She got the gist of what was going on. The seal and herself couldn't be completely separated while Minato was in there, though he'd done his best.

"You better open this cage again! This was not what we agreed on! You better set us free!" Kurama shouted so loudly the walls shook.

"I will!" Naruto screamed back, her panic growing as she looked from one to the other. "But I can't yet! I promise you both, the moment I'm sent out of Konoha I will, dattebayo! Right now I'm under too much surveillance!" She answered, her arms flailing up and down at her side.

"That horrid human. One day I'll show the Yondaime exactly what I think of him. For him to blackmail us like that…" Kurama growled low in the back of his throat.

"Are you okay, Isobu?" Asked Naruto in a small voice. Kurama might be behind bars, but what Minato had done to Isobu looked a lot more painful.

The Three Tails looked at her with a narrowed eye. "Oh, just peachy. What do you think, baka."

"I'll get you… down..." Naruto said unsure, looking at the chains perplexed. How the hell was she supposed to do that really? She had the key to Kurama's prison, but this was a more messy form of fuinjutsu than what Kurama was under. She suspected it was because it's was just an addition to an already existing seal, which made it less cooperative than Kurama's.

"You better, brat." Isobu growled.


The next day team meeting was tense. Naruto and Shisui were keeping an uncomfortable distance between them, and Orochimaru raised an eyebrow at the strange development but refrained from commenting. Setting out to torture Naruto for the day instead.

His excuse was that being locked up for a month was no excuse for being out of shape, but Naruto suspected he was just being malicious for the hell of it.

After warming up he had Naruto and Anko do pushups together while he stood with one foot on each of their backs. He'd done this plenty of times before, but Naruto hadn't really used her muscles in a month, and the strain was real.

Shisui was set to train with Hebimei and a dozen other snakes in a perverse game of cat's vs mouse; with Shisui as the mouse.

While the girls were shaking from head to toe while pushing themselves off the ground, Orochimaru barked out orders for them to keep going. From far away Shisui screamed like a girl as Hebimei almost sunk her teeth into him when he was caught unawares. The snake was poisonous, so it would hurt quite badly if he got bitten.

And that part of the training was only the beginning.

By the end of the day Naruto was too exhausted to remember to be cautious around Shisui, and he seemed in a similar state. Orochimaru ordered them back the next day, intent on getting as much team training down before Naruto left the village.

When it was time to leave Naruto hung back while Anko and Shisui shakily made their way home. It had been years since their training had been this intense. It was becoming increasingly clear Orochimaru took out his frustration on them instead of dealing with his jealousy for Minato.

"I wanted to say thanks," Naruto said awkwardly. Her feet shifting slightly while she looked at anything but Orochimaru as she spoke. The Sannin was packing up his equipment, but stopped when Naruto spoke up.

"Why exactly?" Wondered Orochimaru, his dark slick hair falling over his shoulder when his head turned.

Naruto shrugged. "For coming for us. For helping out. For fighting for me. I heard from the Hokage you argued against the council on my behalf. You're not even required to train me, seeing as I'm not a Konoha ninja at the moment, and yet..." She gestured to the training ground.

"You're my student, Naruto. Despite your appalling personality and brashness I put a lot of effort into training you. I was not about to let that go to waste. And it was entertaining seeing Namikaze-san and sensei sweat."

Naruto laughed loudly. Their relationship was messed up. Most of the time they used their time insulting one another, but despite everything Naruto was starting to see what Jiraiya had.


The weeks flew by in this matter. The training was grueling, but thanks to them Naruto was back in shape in no time.

Things remained strained with Shisui, who still wasn't finished being angry at the world in general, though they came to a silent agreement to pretend things were fine. It wasn't really anything to do about the matter. Shisui would have to see her rely on them before he calmed down, and Naruto wasn't sure how to do that.

It was three weeks before she was set to leave that she was summoned to the Hokage, and Naruto was dreading it. Until her probation was over Naruto wasn't a ninja, so she had very little reason to go the Hokage. And because she no longer received missions her financial status would soon grow strained too.

Luckily Naruto had been careful with her money over the years, and had enough saved up to pay for rent and food for a while longer, but Anko was helping out too. So what exactly Minato wanted with her now was confusing.

Upon entrance to the meeting room she found not just Minato, but Hiruzen too. The two were standing by the window, both looking at her when she walked in with steel in her stomach.

"Naruto-chan, I'm glad you could come at such short notice. How are you feeling?" The Third said with a warm smile. It was warmer than anything he had directed towards her since she'd fallen back in time, and for a moment the sight made her freeze up.

"I'm good. It's not like my schedule is full these days." Naruto replied, a bit more sarcastic than she'd intended.

"True, true." Hiruzen replied and gestured towards a seat. "Please sit down. We have a few things to discuss."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, but did as instructed. They all sat down, Naruto on one side, the other two on opposite her. Minato cleared his throat before starting to speak. "We learned a lot from Inoichi's mind walks last month. He's been showing them to us for information concerning possible threats to the village."

Naruto grimaced at the reminder. They'd extracted so much information she had gone around with a constant headache for over a week on top of her chakra pains. Now they knew just as much as she did concerning the lost future.

"First and foremost we have started investigating the Akatsuki and Uchiha Madara. We have a team gathering information as we speak, and once you and Jiraiya-sensei meet up you'll be tasked to find out as much as possible. He has been informed of our suspicion towards them, and he's already left for Ame in an attempt to speak to his old students. He's not been in contact yet, but we remain hopeful he'll have something concrete for us soon."

Naruto was surprised. For all his excuses she was sure she was being thrown out of the village because Minato couldn't stand the sight of her. Even now he had problems looking her in the eye.

"And then there is the matter of your background story," Minato continued, his lips twitching slightly, before picking out a paper from the pile next to him and handing it over to her.

Curious she accepted the paper and looked at it. Her eyes narrowed the further she read. Once finished she put the paper down slowly, more confused than anything.

"You want me to pretend to be your daughter?" Asked Naruto. Finding the sentence incredibly ironic. For years she'd pretended she wasn't, and now she was going to pretend she was the daughter pretending she wasn't when she really was. The thought made her snort.

"Technically, or at least genetically, you are." Hiruzen pointed out, smiling sadly at Naruto as her eyes hardened.

She looked at Minato who finally got a grip on himself and met her gaze. "It's the best solution. The story is plausible since Kushina was out of the village often around the time period of your birth. Pretending she had a child and gave it up for adoption is not unimaginable, especially since we were already in a relationship back then. It will be classified information though. After your adopted parents died you came to Konoha in an attempt to find your real parents, you never knew for sure though but you suspected the truth from the beginning, but you never confronted us. I didn't find out until recently myself, and Kushina found out during captivity."

He paused and straightened up a few of the papers. "We don't plan on you ever having to tell anyone this. As I said this is a classified story and it shouldn't be possible for people to find out, but since the impossible usually happens to you we thought it better to have the cover story straightened out."

"So… I'm the kid you and Kushina put up for adoption." Naruto muttered dejectedly.

"From now on, yes." Minato replied firmly.

"There is nothing about reasons here." Naruto pointed out and gestured to the papers.

"Those aren't necessary. If people do the math they'll notice Kushina would have been seventeen when giving birth to you and unmarried. Some will assume that was the reason in itself. The secret that Kushina was a jinchūriki has been compromised too and some might speculate that was the reason. Others might think she wanted to hide your identity as an Uzumaki, seeing as the clan has been hunted down for years. If this is ever discovered we can let them assume what they want."

Naruto pursed her lips, but agreed anyway.

"A few people will be informed of your cover story though…" Hiruzen said and pointed to the paper. "Orochimaru, Tsunade and Jiraiya will be informed. Orochimaru as your sensei will need to have the proper information, and the same goes for Jiraiya and Tsunade while you're travelling. We can discuss letting Anko and Shisui know at a later date, but only if the situation requires it, but the less that knows the better."

Naruto nodded, her mind spinning with possibilities. "Even Orochimaru?" She asked, one eyebrow arched as she looked at Hiruzen.

His eyes hardened slightly, but otherwise he remained unchanged. "We have been over it many times, but we believe Orochiamru is not the same as he was in your time line. To makesure we have put up surveillance, but they've came back empty handed for months. Orochimaru might have the potential, but now that we are prepared we can prevent the darkness from overtaking him. You have already helped just by being here, Naruto-chan."


On her way back from the Hokage office Naruto's mind was so full she didn't really registered where she was going. It wasn't before she stood in the middle of the Uchiha district she realized she'd taken a wrong turn.

For a moment she was startled, looking around at the people walking by as if they'd popped out of thin air. Her attention was drawn to two figures on the other side of the street, exiting a house she'd visited many times over the years.

Mikoto and Itachi were smiling, neither really noticing Naruto staring at them. Mikoto had her hand on her bulging stomach while she talked to her son on their way home from Shisui and Kagami.

Sasuke. Mikoto was pregnant with Sasuke right now.

Naruto swallowed. Her old friends were coming back, and it was hard to deal with, because they were no longer the people she remembered.

As Mikoto and Itachi disappeared around the corner Naruto set out and walked determinedly towards the house. After she knocked it only took a short time before the door opened, and Kagami smiled surprisingly back at her. "Naruto-chan? How nice to see you! Shisui isn't here right now. He just went out."

Naruto nodded, and after a few exchanged pleasantries she left to find her teammate. Luckily it didn't take her long. She knew where Shisui liked to train in privacy.

The sun was setting and the forest cast long shadows when she found him sitting on a branch. His clothes looked worn and he had fresh cuts and scrapes that had been absent the last time she'd seen him. It looked like he'd just finished training because there were ninja wire and kunai scattered all over the area.

Shisui watched her as Naruto climbed up the tree at sat down next to him. Taking a deep, calming breath Naruto turned to look at Shisui.

"You should come by for dinner soon." She said awkwardly, and Shisui found the sentence as lame as if the arched brow was anything to go by.

"Sure." He replied sarcastically while twiddling a kunai around his ring finger absently. "Just make sure it's only the three of us."

The message was clear. As long as Kakashi wasn't invited he'd come along too. "You should be a little easier on Kakashi, Shisui. It really wasn't his fault." Naruto murmured, feeling horrible about being the source for the animosity between her friends.

Shisui disagreed, because a scowl was starting to set on his mouth. Naruto was shaking her head before he could answer her. "No, I mean it. I choose to jump in front of his technique. He never would have hurt a comrade that way and you know that, Shisui. In fact… it's me who should be asking for forgiveness. And I am."

"I forgive you." Shisui answered automatically.

A deep sigh punctuated the tension. "I don't think you are."

"I am."

"You're not."

"Well, Kakashi should never have used that technique. Just because he has a loaned Sharingan doesn't mean he's mastered it yet. Even we Uchihas spend time mastering it. If he had you never would have been caught up in it."

"I see..." Naruto mumbled and shifted were she sat. "Then I guess it would have been you instead then."

Shisui stiffened. Slowly he turned to look at Naruto. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. If Kakashi hadn't done it, you would have."

"I would never-"

"You would Shisui." Naruto interrupted quietly. "Don't you remember? Before I jumped from the boulder I tried to talk to you. I tried to ask you to kill me, but I never got the chance to."

Shisui's breath caught in his throat and a small tremor went through his body. "That… I..."

"And you would have." Naruto continued, her eyes landing in her lap. "You don't see the world like I do Shisui. You don't believe there's a right or a wrong answer. Just answers which leads to the best for as many people as possible. And right now you're angry at me. You're angry at Kakashi and you're angry at the situation we ended up in. But the truth is that if you had known everything the way I did, and you had to decide between me or Konoha..."

Naruto trailed off and looked back up at Shisui. "You would have killed me."

She reached out and squeezed Shisui's shoulder in comfort. "You know how to make the hard choices Shisui. You always have. It's your strength more than anything, and I admire that about you. You will always make the right call, because you're… you. You see everything so clearly. I don't even think it's an Uchiha thing, it's just a Shisui thing."

Shisui was teary eyed and angry now, but he looked stubbornly away while Naruto spoke. "So use those eyes of yours and see clearly again Shisui. Kakashi was not at fault, it was all me. You already told me that remember?"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"You should, and you did. I needed to hear that because I've been slowly pushing you all behind me, and I understood what you meant. I also think you were right. Again. It's a bit annoying you know? I'm getting tired of you correcting me all the time." Naruto finished teasingly.

"Don't do it again then. It's such a hassle keeping you in line all the time." Shisui muttered, a hint of a smile on his mouth.

Naruto chuckled and shook her head. "I'll do my best, dattebayo."


Naruto was watching the clouds and she couldn't help feeling a strange sense of nostalgia gazing up into the blue. Her fingers were wrapped around the straps of her bulging backpack, while her tattered orange trousers were half covered by a sweater she'd borrowed from Shisui.

She was dangerously low on clothes again. Everything she bought got torn apart either during training or missions. And so last week Shisui had taken pity on her again when her last jacket had lost one of the sleeves when she'd reached for a glass in the cupboard.

It was a quiet gathering, standing by the gate.

Shisui, Anko, Kakashi, Ensui and Rin were sitting with her, all of them subdued.

They were all wearing their forehead protector except for Naruto. Minato had said he'd return Iruka's forehead protector upon her return.

"I heard the Land of Grass is beautiful. You should try going there while you're travelling." Suggested Ensui, breaking the silence between them. Naruto looked up at him and tried to smile, but it appeared more like a sneer. Rin nodded next to her, a lot more energetic than Naruto could hope to be.

"Mah, stay clear of Kumo. They're ruthless. And Kiri, but I don't think I need to remind you of that." Kakashi advised.

"Or Iwa. I hear the Tsuchikage has a grudge against all Konoha ninjas." Anko added.

"I'm not a Konoha ninja though." Naruto replied quietly.

"Yes, you are." Shisui hissed.

"You are." Agreed Ensui seriously. "This is a probation. It's unjust, but it's not forever. We're here when you come back, and you better come back."

Naruto smiled weakly towards Ensui and nodded. She would be back. She'd been away from the village for more than two years before, but never on the premises that she wasn't allowed to step foot within the borders in that time frame. That she would be punished for being seen too close to her own village. She would be homeless for the next few years. And she had no idea what to do with herself.

"You need to train hard. I gave you all those books for a reason." Kakashi interjected. "Rin will so you shouldn't fall behind." Rin smiled widely at Kakashi's word. Naruto knew she was trying to cheer her up, but no matter what people said about this trip it didn't take away that the fact she was being banished from her home.

"I… I'm banned from the village. I am basically a missing nin." Naruto said in a shaky voice. Anko twitched and looked down, but Shisui actually growled.

"You are nothing even remotely like a missing nin. This is just a mess… When you two come back we'll throw a big welcoming feast and we'll get past all this. In the meanwhile you keep your strength up. Use the time to explore the world. And if either of you happen to run into any Kiri ninja, give them hell from us." Shisui said and gave everyone a dark look.

"Don't be reckless." Kakashi said quietly. "We won't be there for the next two years, so keep all your limbs intact. No suicide missions, okay?"

Both of them nodded, but Naruto's lips pursed as if thinking about it.

They looked up when they heard footsteps, and Minato followed by Tsunade and Shizune came towards them. Naruto stood up in unison with her friends.

"Are you ready?" Asked Minato and looked from Rin to Naruto at her searchingly. "You know what to do if you get in trouble." He said, addressing Naruto now.

"Sure," Naruto said and pointed to her stomach. "The seal works fine."

"Huh?" Asked Rin confused.

"He put in the Hiraishin seal on my stomach." Naruto explained.

"What?" Asked Shisui confused. "You put it on her?"

Minato nodded.

"But… that seal never goes away." Shisui said and looked between Naruto and Minato.

"It's a precaution and protection at the same time. If she needs help I can get there quickly, and it will also be a way of track her down in case she… breaks our agreement." Minato explained. As if this was just another mission briefing and completely normal.

"It's fine, Shisui." Naruto said quietly.

"Fine." He said and stared darkly at Minato. It was disconcerting how much more like an Uchiha Shisui looked when he was pissed off.

"Okay gaki. Are you ready to get going?" Asked Tsunade with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto nodded to Tsunade, and looking at her timeless face Naruto felt something else. The tightly wrapped knot in her stomach loosened ever so slightly, and her chest filled with a spark of warmth for the woman who had thrown Minato's desk out the office window a few weeks ago. "I'm ready for anything, dattebayo." She answered with a shrug.

"Then let's head out girls." Tsunade called and looked down at Rin and Shizune standing next to her.

Surprisingly Naruto felt the flickering spark igniting now, becoming a dozed flame inside her stomach. "Let me say goodbye first, yeah?" Naruto asked.

"Sure, but we'll start walking ahead so come and catch up. I've waited around for you long enough as it is. Say goodbye to your friends quickly." Tsunade ordered and pointed to the road.

Without heeding Minato a second glance she marched past them. Tsunade was angry on Naruto's behalf, but she wasn't sure when it had happened. When exacty Tsunade had started backing her up.

Shizune waved uncertainly to the younger children and bowed to Minato before following after Tsunade.

Naruto turned to Minato again. "I'll see you later then, Hokage-sama." She said quietly.

Minato didn't react to the use of his title, though his eyes hardened in the bright spring sun. "Be safe. If you need assistance you know what to do. You're still a citizen of Konoha, and you have responsibilities to the village despite this situation." He stated firmly.

"I know. I won't betray the village."

"I believe you. But… just don't be audacious."

"I'll try."

Minato gave a weak but yet sincere smile. It was the first time in months she'd seen it, and then the next moment he was gone.

"That was rude. He didn't even say he had to leave." Muttered Anko darkly, and Naruto remembered fondly back to a time her best friend had been so smitten around Minato she had problems forming words. How things had changed...

"I'll miss you guys so much." Naruto said and looked at each of them in turn. All of them smiled back to her. "We'll be back before you know it. Enjoy the peace will you?" Naruto added with a chuckle.

"We will. Come back in one piece." Kakashi said, his eyes trailing from Rin to Naruto in undisguised worry.

"Don't do anything stupid. And I'll have whoever takes up your room kicked out by the time you return. So you know you have a place to live when you come back." Said Anko.

"Be safe. And… Try wearing something else but orange, Naruto. It's just so much easier to stay camouflaged." Shisui added and handed her a scroll. Naruto looked confused down at it.

"It's some more of my old clothes. You won't be getting paid, and I know how fast you tear up your clothes. There's also a sewing kit in there and patches to fix the stuff that gets ruined."

"Huh… Thanks!"

"I'm going with you of course, but I still have something for you too." Rin said and handed her a package. Inside was a medic kit identical to the one Kakashi had. "I won't rest until you know the human anatomy inside out and know what to do in an emergency. It's my new goal and this is the starter pack."

"Thank you… You really didn't have to-"

"Here." Interrupted Ensui and stuck another scroll up in front of her. Overwhelmed she looked at that one too.

"Weapons?" Asked Naruto surprised after reading the kanji on the scroll.

"Some shuriken, kunai and normal knifes. I'm sure they'll come in handy."

"And you have my books." Kakashi added.

"I don't have anything…" Anko said, a look of guilt on her face when she gazed at Naruto.

"You don't need to Anko. You just make sure the apartment building doesn't collapse while I'm away." Naruto told her and laughed when she nodded in all seriousness.

"We really need to leave now," Rin said, "I'll miss you all so much."

Naruto didn't doubt her, now that they were about to leave Rin looked pensive about the trip, which was ironic since Naruto was finally starting to see it as an opportunity. In the span of five minutes the pathetic spark had burst into a fire flaring inside her chest.

Naruto could get away from her troubles for a while. Take a break, focus on finding out about Madara and make sure she was doing something productive. Minato and Hiruzen would take care of thing back here in Konoha, and maybe… just maybe together they could achieve what Naruto hadn't managed alone.

"Take care. I look forward to see how much stronger you are when I return." Naruto peeked quickly over her shoulder. Tsunade and Shizune were almost out of sight by now.

To remember the people she fought for she cast one last look at them and grinned widely. Turning on her heel Naruto left Konoha and her comrades behind at a run, hearing Rin shouting at her to slow down.

.

.

.

The End of Part One


Author Note: Thank you so much for reading! The chapter was beta'd by the wonderful AnjoRemix!

This was the end of Part One of After the Rain! Next chapter will be the start of Part Two!

Which means I can finally start letting these guys grow up a few years. Chapter thirty sets off Part Two, which will probably turn out just as long as part one.

When I started writing the story I honestly thought Part One would be between 100 000 – 150 000 words, but damn was I wrong. The first part of After the Rain turned out closer to 300 000 words… Dear me… I hope the second one will not be that long too. I'm still planning on 150 000 words, but I seem to have a habit of underestimate how long these chapters are...