DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own. PLEASE REVIEW! I will take advice and suggestions from my readers while continuing the story.

Thinking

Biju, etc. speaking

Biju, etc. thinking

Emphasis

Such a bad day to be so tired.

Naruto had already been taxed from the all-day-long training yesterday, not to mention having a migraine on top of it from accidentally dispelling nearly a hundred clones all at once that had been stationed around the village spying for information about the invasion. After sorting through her memories, she was really grumpy and disheartened of learning nothing - nothing about an incoming attack, anyway. She learned all sorts of other things, some of them quite interesting and gossip-worthy, but that wasn't important. Still, having seen Tsume Inuzuka having a heated make-out session outside the Inuzuka compound with Hiashi Hyuuga was something she'd never forget. T.M.I.

It was only in the morning now that she began to really wonder what JiJi had in store for her, and when those time-released storage or mission scrolls would be available to peruse. The Old Man had handed them to her with a wink, but he should've known or at least considered that her sensing abilities were at least good enough to tell that he was riled up about whatever he was giving her to do. She trusted the man, though, despite the mistakes he'd made in her past life. And my present one. She could almost kiss his old leathery skin for marrying her off to Kakashi, after all. Well, if it hadn't been a forced thing at her supposed age… Almost.

Kakashi… She grumbled to herself as she placed even more food in another scroll after pulling a lot out for her apparently - and she supposed, understandably - horny husband. She'd been sleeping soundly when he came home last night, but Kurama had woken her up, growling about the "Pervert disturbing (his) sleep with his stupidity." Sure enough, Kakashi had been pacing the area between their rooms with his chakra crackling and flaring around him. She didn't even care what his problem was then as her headache had come back full force as soon as her eyes opened to the light in the hallway. She just grabbed Kakashi and pulled him into her bed, where he finally calmed down and snuggled into her.

She'd woken up a couple of hours later with a hand on her bare butt - underneath her panties(!) - and had freaked out so bad that she found herself plastered to the ceiling. She had been completely knocked out and wasn't used to anything like that, anyway: how could she be blamed for freaking out?! The perv had the nerve to laugh at her, telling her she looked like a big spider. She flusteredly thought she'd lucked out when he left the room, but the damn man returned with a fly swatter and tried to spank her with it, giggling like an idiot. She pushed him out of the room: he was lucky he didn't get a Rasengan up his ass, especially as he had the nerve to complain about her "neon orange room giving him nightmares…" She was so flipping tired!

Naruto was just about to close the front door behind her when she saw said lunatic come down the stairs, once again waving the fly swatter at her happily. She gave him the finger and closed the door, hearing his bark of laughter before slumping off to go sleep by the village gates.

It was not to be.

"Naruto-nee-chan!" Konohamaru came running up, followed by his troop of cute minions. "Whatcha doing, Yoma," the little shit had the nerve to ask.

"Konohamaru…" Naruto sighed

"Oi, Tsuma! These are my subordinates: Moegi-chan and Udon-kun!" He chirped, totally ignoring her exasperation. "This is my fiance, Naru-chan!"

"Konohamaru-kun, please stop calling me that" Naruto groaned. "Nice to meet you, Moegi-chan, Udon-kun. I'm Konohamaru's big sister, I guess you could say," Naruto offered them a polite nod. Why is Hinata's little sister behind that tree? Udon bowed deeply: such a cutie-snotty-patootie… She turned to face her little brother figure and gave him what he called her scary glare. "If you don't knock that wife crap off, I'm gonna make you start calling me 'Uzumaki-san,' got it brat?"

"Mou, Naru-chan! You're breaking my heart!"

Naruto was sure that she heard either branches or knuckles cracking behind that tree, so she finally called out to the little Hyuuga. "Oi, Hinabi-chan!"

"Eeep!"

For a moment, Naruto wondered if that embarrassed little sound was genetic - and whether or not the girls' father would have made the same squeak if her clone had outed itself to Hiashi and Tsume that night. Stifling down a slight gag, she watched as a red-faced Hinabi Hyuuga pulled her hands into fists and marched toward her, Byakugan activated. Geez...

"Who are you, Baka? How do you know my name?"

Naruto hadn't even sensed her: Hinata came down like a bat out of hell and grabbed her little sister by the ear, apologizing profusely to a stunned Naruto. "You don't talk to her like that imouto!" She growled at her younger sister, before proceeding to drag her behind a nearby bookstore - where Sai just happened to be walking in under a ridiculous excuse for a henge, followed by four other men - two had masks on.

Oh, Sai… Why was he even bothering to make himself taller if he still looked just the same? Blowing off her teammate's eccentricities, Naruto moved toward the forest to make several clones, three of which herded the whiney Konohamaru troupe back to the Academy. She directed the others to make 12 more each, and to discretely place barrier or strengthening seals around significant places within the village, just in case the combined Oto and Suna attack was still coming. After all her other clones left, she closed her eyes and further checked the range around her before giving instructions to another clone.

"What's up, Boss?"

"I've been giving this a lot of thought," Naruto began with a frown. "Use whatever you need to, and feel free to make some more of us…" Fortunately, the clone she had just summoned looked to be a serious one, so she felt some relief at it actually following her commands. She leaned into the clone and spoke quietly. "I'm thinking - you know. An alternative method with the Warhawk."

Before the clone even nodded a masked man appeared so fast that Naruto stumbled backward. The man gently grabbed her arm, helping to right her, and immediately held up his hands in a surrendering posture as he backed away a step. Naruto felt Kurama's presence stir angrily in her mind, but she had a weird feeling about this guy…

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that Naru-chan, or I suppose I should say that to you, Naru-Two?" The masked man had redirected the latter part of his statement to her clone.

Naruto flinched and was really thrown off by this weird guy. What was even worse was that she couldn't see anything behind his mask - not a glimpse of his eyes or anything like one normally could with ANBU masks. He had dark brown - almost black hair - but that was all she could tell, along with him being relatively tall.

He suddenly let out a rather loud snort, "Naru-Two-chan… Get it? Like, you're a dad?" He let out a snicker. "Two-chan?"

"The fuck?"

"Language, Naru-chan!" He popped her on the end of her nose with two fingers, which seemed... Familiar. "I'd hate to SEE my optic nerve getting poisoned, ne?" He said in a low voice before letting out what sounded like an embarrassed choke or snort at his lame… Joke?

Naru stared at the guy like he'd grown another head. The man's shoulders slouched and he grumbled something Naruto didn't understand. I should be running… Why couldn't she run? And what did Kurama know that she didn't?

The masked man was suddenly in her face and grabbed her shoulders. He bent down and whispered in Naruto's ear while holding her closely. "I want my eye back, Naru-chan, safe and healthy... Danzo stole it, remember?"

Then he was just gone. Not a normal sunshin of any type that she could remember! Although it wasn't like Dad's teleportation… Naruto stared at her clone, wondering why the idiot didn't do anything. Her heart was beating wildly and she shook her head. Sunshin… Sunshin no Shisui! No, no! It just couldn't be! He was dead! He'd died twice! Naruto was in the middle of a nervous breakdown when a man's voice broke through.

"Uzumaki-san? Are you alright?" One of two identical Hyuugas standing in front of her asked.

Naruto screamed and sunshinned away.

"You alright? I've been waiting for you."

"Shika! Oh my god, I'm so glad to see you!" She hugged her brother, nearly squeezing the life out of him. He finally used his shadows to pry her away.

"Troublesome woman… I came to give you some information that could help. But you've gotta change my hair back before I tell you anything." Shikamaru pulled the strangely behaving blonde into an alley.

Naruto finally got her wits about her, but still found it hard to speak. She gestured for him to lower his head, but he just sat down in front of her. She released the seal and his hair went back to its normal rich brown. She slouched down beside him and put her head on his shoulder, then finally checked her surroundings. She could only feel Sai and his weird blank buddies really close to them.

"Thanks - I guess," Shikamaru drawled, giving her a dirty look for putting the damn seal on him in the first place. "I talked to Dad, and he said that Terumi Mei is likely to be declared the Mizukage; the civil war in Kiri is definitely over."

Naruto nodded her head. They knew that the war ended sometime around the Chunin Exams in the past, but had no idea if it was perhaps even a year or more before or after the current timeline. She had only known that Kiri's war was presumed to be ongoing around six months ago from having "accidentally" finding intelligence on it on the Jonin commander's favorite shogi board.

"ANBU is investigating Gato Corp. They've been at it for a while though - it seems certain evidence has gone missing from the files once too often" the Nara added.

Well, that was a surprise.

"That's about all I've got. I would've radioed you, but I wanted that crap out of my hair." Naruto only nodded back at him, staring at the wall in front of her, deep in thought.

She couldn't tell him about Shisui, not here, not yet. Naruto's skills as a sensor were nearly unparalleled, but she hadn't known that Shis- er, the masked shinobi that she spoke to earlier, was anywhere near her before he just suddenly appeared. Scary! Naruto suddenly came back to herself and grabbed Shikamaru's arm harshly, making him wince and grumble. "Ne, Shika… You woulda told me if Neji's dad was still alive, right?" At his expression of disbelief, she sighed heavily, accidentally emitting a snarl along with it. Shaking it off, she continued. "I just ran into what looked like TWO Hiashi Hyuugas."

"A clone most likely. What were 'they' doing?"

Naruto shrugged her shoulders and threw her arms out comically. "Standing in the forest?!"

"What were you doing?" Shikamaru asked after a brief pause.

Naruto sat there thinking for a moment. Yeah, I'm not telling… "Standing in the forest? Oh! And Neji's a pervert! Or weirdly flirtatious at least."

Shikamaru just stared at her with a blank expression on his face, wondering if she could possibly be serious. He would've asked for more info on this entirely too troublesome… He let out an annoyed grunt. I saw Neji a few times at the Academy. The only thing he noticed that was different about the guy in this lifetime is that he would hide stoically from his apparent fangirls. I probably only noticed because I didn't even know the guy until we all had to work together - and that was after the Academy. He was most likely doing the same thing before. "Troublesome."

"I'd better go," Naruto said, giving him a hug. "Thanks for the info!" As she walked away, one of Naruto's clones popped, giving her memories of inside that bookstore. She shook her head, wondering why her clones couldn't just simply follow orders. It was pretty funny that Sai, along with those she guessed were his ROOT pals all bought copies of Icha-Icha, though. No wonder he henged; he wanted to make sure he looked at least 18. The boys - or maybe men - had also bought book covers in different colors and placed them over their smut before they left the store. She saw her clone make another clone in the bathroom of the shop just before it dispelled, the newest clone giving her a thumbs up with an utterly stupid grin on its face. How embarrassing!

Kakashi was unhappy.

Naruto had male scents all over her and it was making him itchy. Itchy to kill something… He really wanted to go dunk Naruto in a river and soap her off, but they were behind schedule.

Then there was the client who was doing his best to get drunk again, and who also seemed determined to argue with her, and had been at it for at least a half-hour.

"Yeah, well that sake sucks!" Naruto retorted to whatever the old man had said.

"Oi! I'll have you know that this is just my walkin' sake, Blondie!" Tazuna responded as if that were a good excuse.

Plus there was Sakura: something about her is off, Kakashi thought. And I need to talk to her about that perfume. It was citrusy and strong and really bothered his sensitive nose. He could tell that Naruto noticed it, too, but she seemed to eventually blow off whatever had seemed different about his pink-haired student. Tenzo's student…

Hours later, he'd already had just about had enough of this mission. An obnoxious drunk, the ROOT kid tripping over things as he learned to read his Icha-Icha Paradise as he walked with it in his face: the proper way… A smelly, oddly silent Pinky and Uchiha, Tenzo's complaining about Sai - and Naruto still smelled like… Definitely the Nara brat, but some other male, too. Kakashi felt so on edge, it wasn't until he gave up pretending and stared at his little wife that he noticed her tenseness. Something's up.

It was a few hours later after they'd taken too long of a break thanks to their client's aching feet that he felt the hair on his neck begin to rise. He heard Tenzo inhale in that way of his to let him know something was amiss at the same time. Naruto's face was set in a snarl and her hands were clenched, but twitching. At that moment, Sai put away his book, and his other two students then nodded at him. Very good.

Five minutes passed before she saw it. Naruto sighed. A fucking puddle in the middle of the still sunlit grass. It was so out there and obvious… How in the hell did I not notice this last time? Kakashi's gloved hand fell on her shoulder and she nearly jumped. He shook his head at her a bit and looked toward Tazuna with his one visible eye. Naruto lazily made her way over to the man, while Sakura moved behind him.

It all happened at once, just like last time. Kakashi had substituted and "died" while Tenzo kept a hand on Naruto's shoulder before seeming to disappear before the duo had even looked toward them. Sai used his tanto to decapitate one of the Demon Brothers and the other completely lost it. Screaming and crying, he swung wildly while threatening to kill them all. His movements made no sense and were completely chaotic in his grief. Sasuke's kunai struck the man's chains, but he was still nearly able to get to Sakura. Naruto threw herself between the two, dropping to her hands and using her feet to kick the remaining brother backward and into a tree. Once again, she managed to get poisoned - this time the cut was on her leg.

Tenzo reappeared. "Excellent job, Team Seven."

Kakashi was furious. He stalked over to the unconscious rogue-nin who his bleeding wife was checking on and pulled his headband up. Ignoring Naru's rather obvious little intake of breath, he harshly pulled the shitbag's eyes open and used his Sharingan to get the information he needed, and punish this fucker… The rogue Mist nin began screaming. Finally, Kakashi closed his eyes and lowered his headband. He shook his head once, then took a deep breath. "Naruto," he looked into her big blue eyes with pain in his own. "I… need you to kill him."

Naruto immediately swiped her kunai across the man's throat. Everything seemed to freeze. The burning pain in her leg had stopped and she was on a very different battlefield.

"Neji! Neji, why?!"

"Naruto… I would do ANYTHING for you - to..." Neji choked out blood. "To keep you safe, to keep Hinata-sama safe…"

"You're… You're like THIS and you're," Naruto let out a choking sob, "still using honorifics, you ass?!"

"Gomen, Naru. Don't give up!" Another series of bloodied coughs, as he looked into Naruto's eyes. "There are those that love you, Naru-chan. Hinata-sama loves you. I love you!" He inhaled raggedly, before placing his bloody lips against Naruto's. "I'll always love you, Naru."

Those were his last words as his weight fully collapsed against her. The battlefield was silent.

The only thing she could hear was a high-pitched screeching in her head.

"-to, Naruto!" Kakashi picked his wife up and sunshinned to a nearby stream. "You're poisoned, hime! Stay with me!"

Naruto felt that crazy vertigo before once again feeling Kurama's warm chakra in her head. "G-gom… Gomen, Kakashi!" She grabbed another kunai and drug it across her leg where she'd been poisoned. Both Kurama and Kakashi began ranting at her - Kurama was much louder.

"Moron! I had it! Then what do you do? Tch! Now I've gotta heal you again!" Oops, her leg had already healed. She doesn't need to know that.

Kakashi watched her self-made wound heal and looked up at his apparently crazy little wife and shook his head. That healing is something else… "Naru, are you alright?"

"Hai," she squeaked. She tried to get up but stumbled. "Gomennasai, Kash, I just - I - I'm really, really super sorry!" Naruto tried to run or even sunshin away from him, but he held her still, even as she began to gag. Fortunately this time, she kept the bile down.

"It was more than the kill - or was it?" Kakashi sighed after she failed to respond. "PTSD." It was more a statement than a question. After desperately looking away for a bit, she finally nodded, only to feel an unmasked kiss on her forehead.

"I'm glad you told me." He blew out his re-masked cheeks and held Naru tightly as he made sure that the team was still far enough away. "Think you can walk?"

"Of course!" Naruto jumped up, only stumbling a bit, although she was shaking like a leaf. She tried to put out of her mind what she'd just done and concentrate on her surroundings.

Her leg was a little numb - more like that pins and needles feeling she didn't like - but she managed alright. Kakashi held her hand until they came closer to the clearing. Tenzo was just putting the bodies into scrolls when they arrived. Naruto looked her teammates over as Kakashi pulled Tenzo away to speak with him.

Sai had apparently cleaned off his tanto and was now at least partially reengaged with his book; he did seem to be watching Kakashi and Tenzo, although he was being discrete about it. Sakura was just standing there - rather blankly. That's odd. She remembered Sakura being pretty shaken up when this happened in her first life. Maybe spending time at the hospital changed things. Sasuke though… Sasuke looked stricken! She approached him slowly, only momentarily wondering why Sakura wasn't the one to do so. "Ne, Sasuke…"

"Don't."

Naruto could only nod her head and step back. It was really awful to see him so obviously traumatized. Gods, I must have been so self-centered before. The thought made all that self-hate bubble up within her. It was hard to breathe. If I'd just been better, maybe I could've saved…

"Alright, then: we go forward." Tenzo had apparently been speaking. It seemed to Naruto that she had missed out on a complete conversation.

Get it together, idiot! Naruto grabbed some water and drank from it before splashing a bit on her face. Back in formation, the team began walking, surrounding a rather broken-looking Tazuna.

Please Kami-sama, if you're listening? Please let us make it out of this alright!