A.N: Hey everyone! I ran into two emergencies last month, so I had to put this fic on hold for a bit. I'm so sorry about that!

I'm still solving the second one - both my PCs died due to humidity problems around here _. The first one's just an urgent work I'm trying to finish :P (I work translating games)

Before we delve into the new chapter, I'd like to point a few things out to you guys, to avoid misunderstandings!

1) Some characters might seem OOC at first. But trust me, there's a reason for that and you'll soon realise what it is!

And no, it won't be the whole "I'm secretly in love with you since I met you at the academy" trope!

2) I have a severe dislike for Itachi Uchiha as a character and how he is treated in Naruto, and cannot wrap my head around why anyone even buys into his bullshit. Despite all that, however, there will be no Bashing in this fic. Every comment on the man will serve a purpose. Otherwise, I'd simply ignore his existence :P

3) Konan, second to Naruto's Databook, is extremely intelligent. That's something seen in the anime\manga as well. That's the route we will take here, and thus she has some deep speeches here and there.

I think you'll love her in battle!

Oh, her speeches won't be many, but they all will have an impact. Specially on our little Naruto.

4) Just wanted to make this clear here: Konan & Naruto and Naruto & Ino won't be involved romantically. You can see it in the tags, but eh.

Check the end for more ANs!

Chapter I: When The Penny Drops

The birds had long abandoned their nests on the tall branches, a distant waterfall and the slitter of snakes the lone screeches throughout the clearing.

Two corpses laid in the brown-stained grass. Tender windblows caressed their bruised faces as Konan's blink-less stare remained petrified on their frozen chests.

Naruto dropped beside her and faced the morbid outcome of his ideals with his own glazed eyes. His shoulder brushed against her legs, but she did not move.

"What do we do now?" A thousand grains of sand ground down his throat.

"I am not a leader."

Her razor tone daggered deep into his heart, and the blond swallowed the urge to growl by shielding his face with both palms.

Sunlight heated his skin and Naruto peeked up between his fingers to meet the frozen woman.

He glanced from her cracked ashen lips to the giant bags under her eyes, and followed the beads of sweat that threatened to fall off her brow.

"Aren't you hot under that robe?"

"We have more pressing matters to worry about."

He sighed and started for the open Rinnegan twins before Konan's hand halted his snail-like attempt to close their lids.

"Do not touch him!" she growled.

"I"–he flinched as his wide eyes found the icicles of her glare–"I'm sorry!"

Konan dropped his arm and broke their eye contact to kneel next to Nagato's anorexic corpse. She traced her fingers along his bony face and caressed the colourless hair that shadowed its features.

"Your village will want to weaponise them." She touched a calloused cheek.

"Konoha wouldn't do something like that…"

"Are you not aware of the Uchiha?"

"It wasn't like that!" Naruto shook his head. "Sasuke ran away for revenge! To kill his brother!"

She closed the lids. "A fool's errand in three points of view, at least."

Naruto blinked, his scowl halfway off his face when their orbs met again.

"Even a blind person could see Itachi was on his deathbed, for one."

"W-what?"

Konan tended to Yahiko's body for a few seconds before she responded.

"The arrogant believe they are entitled to decide who deserves to live based on chances. Many of which are born of their own mistakes."

"And," she continued as she sealed the cerulean eyes behind their own lids, "only a war hound would justify genocide with embellished speeches."

"B-but isn't that what you guys did?"

She shook her head. "We aimed to destroy the world, Naruto, not fix it. The world would fix itself, far from both our touches."

"Isn't that worse, though?"

"That depends on who you ask. The world would find peace once it rid itself of us."

Ice swarmed into Naruto's veins and a gasp threatened to fight its way off his throat.

"You wanted to die!?"

"It was our belief that true peace requires sacrifices."

He used his arms to inch closer to her. "What if someone like Itachi thought the same? That they were saving people by sacrificing others?"

"Never describe that man's actions in this light again." The poison in her words sent chills up his spine. "Sacrifices are born of free will. Regardless of his convictions, Itachi Uchiha was nothing but a butcher."

"I'm sorry"–Naruto's eyes darted to Nagato and back to hers–"I didn't think…"

"It is irrelevant. I did not think of him when I mentioned a war hound, nor did I think of him when I mentioned the Uchiha."

Naruto opened his mouth with a million questions at the tip of his tongue, his body bent towards her grass-made seat… only to flinch away and shield himself when she darted forward, her hand outstretching towards his face.

The endless stream of apologies never left his lips, however, for her feather-light touch moved one of his arms away and her soft fingers rolled up his tattered sleeve.

"This was not here when you helped me with their bodies." Her whispery voice caressed his ears with its bleak melancholy. "What happened?"

"Huh?" He looked down at himself and spotted the scarlet mark that tainted his skin. "I… don't know?"

"Does it hurt when I touch it?"

He gulped. "It gets… kinda hot?"

"Strange."

A gust of wind blew through the trees and caressed their faces to drop a cold sweat down his brows.

He winced.

"I think there's something wrong," he said as he met her eyes with a half-lidded stare.

"Obviously."

"No"–he clutched his arm–"I'm feeling–"

A howl tore out of his throat, and Naruto fell to the rock-packed ground. His world exploded into a million colours as the earth crushed against his ribs, pushing them deeper into his chest.

Konan's voice screamed something, and for a second her face popped in front of the lights, but darkness swallowed her whole as a vice-like dullness clutched at his limbs.

His entire world dimmed down to the lone paper flower in her hair.

Was it always so…

Black hair strands revealed themselves in a sea of whiteness when he opened his eyes. A single lamp flickered on and off on the wooden ceiling as sparks escaped its yellow-tinted glare.

He averted his gaze to the woman peering down at him, her eyes wide and her lips trapped between her teeth.

A wet smile made its way to her face.

"You had us all worried, Naruto," she said, and touched a trembling hand to his fire-hot cheeks.

"S-Shizune?" He tried to sit up, but she pressed him back against the silken sheets. "What happened?"

"Remember anything?"

"Fighting, and"–his hand shot to his forehead as images of purple hair lanced his mind–"and… waking up here?"

The medic sighed, and he averted his gaze from her half-lidded glare.

"W-what?" His voice quivered.

"You're a horrible liar."

"Hey!"

She offered him a giant smirk, but it didn't take long for the mirth to escape her face.

"Kakashi found you in the forest…"

"Oh," He lowered his eyes to the cast wrapped around his left arm.

"Sakura said this happened before, when you reached four tails. But she said it wasn't…"

"How bad?"

"You had second and third degree burns over your entire body, Naruto." Shizune's voice carried a weight straight into his lungs, and all air escaped their embrace. "Almost all your ribs broke, your jaw dislocated, your arm is still broken, and y-your skin–"

"No." He shook his head and met her stare. "How bad are things? Is everyone okay?"

Onyx eyes bore into his as a frown twisted the Shizune's face, and a large gulp slid down his clenching dry throat.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," she said, the words gritted through her teeth. "Have you heard a single word I said?"

"I–"

"Shut up!"

"But–"

"Shut. Up."

He opened his mouth, but clamped it shut at the fire behind her glare.

"You had no skin left, Naruto! No skin. At all!"

His eyes stung. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't…"

"Do you know how terrified I was?"

"I just…" He lowered his head. "I'm sorry."

"I thought you would leave us"–a sob shattered her voice in two–"I thought you both would…"

Frost gnawed up his spine at the words, and he battled against himself to sit up on the bed. Far too busy drying her tears, Shizune failed to push him back down.

"Granny"–he gulped–"is okay, right?"

Whimpers and sobs stretched through the wooden room as distant voices shouted outdoors. Wind dove into the windows to blow against the curtains that caged it from the bed.

It sent a frozen grip to his throat.

Naruto's hands and lips trembled as a gasp exploded out of his throat. A scream lodged itself deep into his racing heart.

He fixed his blurred gaze onto hers. "Please, tell me she's okay!"

"She"–the medic drew a lungful of air–"She's not. She's not okay at all, Naruto."

Numbness spread through his limbs as his hand clutched at nothing around his neck. It froze his nerves and chewed at his bones.

An ant-like tingle swallowed his fingers as he raised them to grip his spiked hair.

"B-but Nagato saved everyone. He s-sacrificed himself for it! She can't be…"

Shizune dried the rest of her tears before she sat on his bed and landed a hand on his shoulder.

"Lady Tsunade isn't dead."

"Then–"

"Whatever this 'Nagato' person did, they only affected the dead. The hospitals are swarming with the injured." Her fingers squeezed his hospital gown. "It was already a miracle none of the intensive care patients died from lack of proper equipment after… coming back from the dead."

"What happened, then?" he whispered as Tears slid down his face.

The brunette touched her forehead to his, their gazes never wavering from each other's depths. "She's in a coma, Naruto."

"But she's gonna be okay, right?"

She closed her eyes.

"Won't she!?"

"I don't know," she said, her words but a breathless whisper against his ears. "I don't know…"

An eucalyptus worth of bullshit and misfortune stained Ino's last months. As if losing the man who taught her everything she knew about ninja didn't count…

Life always found ways to throw wrench after wrench at her face. Enough so that blackened circles twisted the underside of her eyes.

Hell, her parents' screams still haunted her ears! They lashed at her mind like Kiba's nails used to scratch down Iruka's blackboard during their academy days.

A shiver slithered up her spine, and Ino hugged her white coat closer to her chest as she quickened her steps through the wooden hallways.

Funny how it took the 'un-death' of almost everyone for her to wear a medical coat and… for her mother to lower her damn voice.

She shook her head and stopped in front of the makeshift hospital's counter. Her eyes moved to the head doctor's back as the woman sat on her chair with quivering shoulders.

Ino frowned. "Ms. Shizune?"

The brunette jumped off her seat to spin around wide-eyed and brushing the back of her hand against her closed eyelids.

"H-hello, Ino!"

The blonde irked an eyebrow, and battled down the urge to tease her superior.

Why couldn't things just go back to what they used to be?

"You called for me. On the loudspeakers."

"Naruto woke up."

Despite herself, Ino's cheeks strained at the enormous grin that reshaped her face, and she clutched a hand against her throbbing heart.

"Finally some good news!" she shouted, unaffected by the childish pitch of her own voice. "About time that knucklehead woke up!"

Shizune offered her a tight-lipped smile. "Yes… you're right."

With a sigh, the blonde stepped forward and brushed some documents aside so she could sit on the counter and flip her legs around to face the older woman.

"Look…" She fixed a strand of hair back around her ear. "Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but shouldn't you be feeling happier about it? The idiot is kinda like your younger brother, isn't he?"

"Must you really destroy my desk?"

"Not a desk; not yours. Stop distracting me and tell me what's going on… please?"

Shizune sighed, too, and pressed her back against the counter. She pushed against Ino's swinging legs until the blonde moved them aside.

"He asked about the village first."

"Oooookay?"

"He didn't care about his injuries or that his skin was peeled off–"

"His skin was peeled off!?"

"Oh!" Shizune fussed with her own hair and averted her gaze to the floor. "I forgot you didn't see his condition after Kakashi found him."

"Who did it to him? Those people with crazy-ass eyes?"

The brunette shook her head. "No. Sakura said it was the fox. From what I gathered, he thought Hinata died to protect him and snapped."

Ino hummed as she stilled her legs to take hold of the woman's shoulder.

"You know it wasn't your fault, right? Neither of those."

Shizune offered her a mute nod.

"Why call for me, though?"

"We have many patients in need of care, and…"

"No way in hell!" Ino threw herself down the counter and stepped in front of the doctor, face twisted into a scowl.

Shizune's molten glare found hers. "Taking your friend home is so far beneath you now, is it?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it! That damn idiot just woke up. He needs to stay here!"

"Naruto won't need it, but I have at least twenty other patients who might die if I don't treat them properly!"

"Are you listening to yourself? Don't you care about your so called 'little brother'?"

The slap echoed throughout the wooden halls, and Ino's bruised face twisted aside. Her ponytail hit the other woman in the face, but their eyes never left each other's.

Their harboured breathing rung inside Ino's ears, and she refused to touch the furious mark she knew would form on her cheek.

"Don't you ever dare insinuate that again! You know how much I care for Naruto!"

Ino's teeth gritted, and she pushed herself forward, invading Shizune's personal space to force the doctor's back against the counter.

"Then let him take the proper treatment, damn it!"

"What part of 'he doesn't need it' can't you understand?"

"Any of it! How can you be so fucking sure?"

"You think the fox is just for show? You think I'd even suggest it if I wasn't sure he'd be okay?"

The blonde lowered her head, using both her hands for support against the counter. They trapped the older woman in place.

Nostrils flaring, Ino forced air into her lungs, and exhaled it all through her open mouth, less than an inch away from the doctor's face.

She closed her eyes as her chest heaved and her heart raced.

"I'm sorry," She let go of the wood to take a step back. "It's just that… Well…"

"You're scared someone else will go?"

The words cut straight to her heart, and she met Shizune's reddened orbs with her own.

"Yeah…"

"Naruto will be okay, Ino. He's almost healed. He's gonna be okay."

"You promise?"

The woman ruffled through the documents on top of the counter and fetched a single file. She handled it to the blonde's trembling fingers.

"See for yourself."

"A discharge paper?" She scrolled her eyes throughout the yellow-tinted pages. "Sakura already signed this!?"

Shizune nodded. "Didn't take as much convincing, either."

"With the way she pummels him around, I don't doubt it."

"You don't mean that."

"Maybe I do…"

"Please." The quiver in the woman's voice made Ino raise her eyes back to the onyx pair. "He's the one who suggested it."

Ino sighed, and picked up the pen attached to the papers. "Should've started with that…"

Shizune's snorted giggles filled the halls, and the blonde irked an eyebrow at the sound, her name already scribed on the page.

'I swear if Tonton and her weren't together all the time…'

"Here"–she handed the document back–"you got all three signatures."

"Thank you. It means a lot to me."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just tell the knucklehead he owes me big time for this."

"Actually…"

Ino blinked. "What is it now?"

"I can't really take him home myself, you know? So…"

"Okay, scratch that!" She crossed her arms with a growl. "You owe me huge fucking time for this!"

Shizune's face split into a smirk, and her right hand shot to the back of her neck in such a familiar gesture that all rage left the blonde.

"I promise to buy some expensive seeds for you!"

"You better keep that promise, miss," Ino said as she shook her head and walked towards the idiot's room.

"I will…"

She had re-done her messed ponytail when a hand took hold of her arm. Her wide eyes turned aside to catch Shizune's lowered gaze.

"I'm sorry, too," she said. "For the slap, I mean. And shouting at you."

"It's okay. I was a bitch, too."

"Hey!" Shizune's eyebrows twitched. "I never said I was a bitch!"

Ino pulled at her coat's sleeves and feigned a glimpse at a phantom clock. "Oh, would you look at that! Gotta go take the idiot home now, yes?"

"You–"

"Bye, Doctor Shizune!" Ino shouted behind her back as she sprinted down the hallways like a housewife at a 'buy one, get one free' discount.

"Ino!"

The silken touch of Ino's hair did nothing to help the strain on Naruto's left arm as it bent around her shoulders, his casted arm limp at his side. The occasional faltered step added salt to the injury as Konoha's night-time flooded his eyes.

He glanced from the giant rock-crafted walls around the village to the makeshift houses and tents that filled its soon-to-be streets. Anbu guards spread along each rooftop and improvised lamppost in sight, but no civilian showed their face outside.

Just how much of that was his fault?

If he didn't talk to Nagato and Konan, how much of the village would still be on the ground?

How many would live?

How many would still die?

Why did the woman abandon him?

A different set of blond locks entered his mind, and he moved his free hand to his neck, where her necklace should be.

It gripped a handful of air.

Again.

His eyes shut with a groan, and he almost missed a step, but Ino held him upright.

"You okay there?" Honey dripped down her tongue.

He scratched the bandages around his neck and face against her body. "I think it was a rock."

"Watch your step then, idiot." Her hair brushed against his cheek as she shook her head. "Would be hard to fix that face of yours if you dropped on it."

He scoffed and reopened his eyes to glare holes at her exposed neck.

"Seriously, though, you sure you're okay?"

"I was just… thinking about stuff."

"Stuff?"

The night breeze touched both their faces, and he couldn't help but hide his against the crook of her neck. Ino, for her part, did not shy from the touch.

He shivered. "Stuff like what would happen if I took longer to come back."

"And what's the point of that?"

"What you mean?" His eyes narrowed into slits.

"You have any idea how many 'what ifs' I thought after Asuma?"

He lowered his head. "Oh…"

"Yeah. 'Oh'." She moved her neck away from him so their eyes could meet. "Wanna know how many helped me out?"

"…None?"

"Nah! Some of them did."

A vein throbbed in his forehead at the smirk that split her face in two, and a growl trembled out of his chest.

Just a little push and bam! She'd take him with her, but it'd be so worth it!

"Relax, blondie." She put an end to their steps.

Their eyes met once more, and a twinge shot straight into his heart at the dullness that crept into her stare.

So much like hers…

"I had to learn to get my shit together and stop crying about things I couldn't change."

"But what if you could change them?"

Twin blonde eyebrows shot to her hairline, and he slumped against her shoulders.

"Okay, okay, no need to rub it!"

"And skip all the fun?"

He shook his head, but lost the battle against the smile that strained his mouth.

"Let's just go…"

"No."

Were Naruto in charge of their walk, his face would've planted itself deep into the ground.

"What you mean 'no'!?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" The gravity of her voice crashed him back to earth, and all the rage left him bare.

An ocean of stars met his gaze when he lifted it upwards, away from her exploring eyes. Not a single cloud revealed itself above, an unfamiliar event in the Land of Fire.

"Why did you take me home?"

"No one ever told you only idiots answer a question with another question?"

"Then just answer it, dattebayo!"

The warmth of her lungful brushed against his chill-filled cheek. "Should've known this was about Forehead…"

He said nothing, just continued to lose himself in the endless sky and the odd shooting star that raced across its frame. The bandages around his 'good' arm itched up to his elbows, and he battled the urge to rub them against the blonde's body again.

"Look," Ino said, gripping the hand he dangled atop her chest. "Didn't you go fox-shit because of what they did to Hinata?"

He flinched, and the dust-packed ground met his eyes for the hundredth time that night.

Of course they knew… How couldn't they, when he messed everything up again? If his father hadn't–

"Shouldn't you be, you know, a little less heart-eyed about Forehead now?"

"Huh?" He blinked. "What's that to do with anything?"

The wind howled and pierced their ears as it climbed off the crater Konoha laid in. It sent shivers up his spine and he winced at the sandstorm in his throat.

Ino shook her head, and her jaw brushed against the back of his hand. "Never mind, Naruto."

"If you say so…"

"Come." She dragged him forward. "Your place isn't far."

Pitch black assaulted her eyes as she shifted Naruto's weight on her shoulder to flail around for the light switch. Her hands met the harsh wood, and a splinter or two tried to force their way into her palms before she hit the damn thing.

She grit her teeth at the light, and winced when the boy groaned far too close to her ears.

"Deafen me, will ya?"

"Hehe…" He scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry, Ino."

She shook her head. "It's okay. Let's just–"

The one-room apartment halted her mid-speech: an oak bark bed laid on a corner and a sink-like furniture on the other. Pipes littered walls and ceilings to cross a makeshift door at the other end of the room - the bathroom, probably.

A scowl twisted her face. "What bullshit is this!?"

"I'm"–Naruto's voice broke as it raised to a sugar high–"sorry?"

She groaned at the quiver in his words, and stomped into the building to sit him on the 'bed'.

"Where the fuck is your stuff?"

He gasped. "I've never heard you curse…"

"Naruto…" She silenced him with a glare. "Focus."

"Destroyed, I guess?"

"Not what I meant, and you know it."

He blinked.

"Your new stuff, you idiot!" she said, her fists clutched into a ball. "Why isn't it here?"

Naruto shifted his gaze to the ground, and a vice-like grip clutched her stomach. His shoulders raised into a meek shrug and she veered her attention from the pipes to the window-less sills.

"There's not even windows here…"

"It's okay Ino." He met her with a grin. "This place is waaaay bigger than my old one!"

"But–"

Naruto threw himself backwards on the oak with a childish sigh. "Oh, man! I can't wait to fill it up with stuff!"

Ino's eyes twitched and a vein exploded inside her forehead as he ranted on and on about which stupid things he'd put where. She closed her eyes and hugged her arms closer to her chest.

Why was it so hard to count down from ten, again?

"… And then I'll get a biiiig poster just like a ramen bowl and put it beneath that brown pipe over there and–"

She snaked her arms beneath him and he drew a sharp breath. His tattered fabrics brushed against her exposed arms as she dragged him to his feet, but his cast kept itself safe at his side.

"W-what the hell are you doing, Ino!?"

"You stink," she said.

"I'll take a bath later, I swear!"

She slipped his arm around her neck once more. "Now, Naruto."

"But I don't have other clothes!"

That same thing gripped her heart tighter, and she almost halted her steps. A lungful later and she braved forward to push him into the bathroom, however.

"Just wash yourself, okay?" she said, her voice soft as she sat him on the closed toilet seat. "My parents would kill me if you dirtied their stuff."

"Your–" he choked–"parents?"

She opened the valve and let the frost-like water drench her naked hand. A twist or two later and a pleasant warmth spread through the makeshift waterfall.

Her eyes met his. "Need help?"

"Ino!" he shouted, something close to a glare on his face.

"What? I helped you with the clothes didn't I?"

"Your parents?"

"Oh!" She backed towards the door. "You're staying at my place."

"I… What?"

"I can't let you stay in this shithole, dude."

"But why?"

She shrugged. "You're my friend. Plus, you saved our lives three days ago. That gotta count for something, eh?"

She rested her back against the doorway as he lowered his gaze, and the sharp wood dug into her back.

"Hey." Arms crossed, she waited for him to meet her eyes. "It'll be fine."

"Really?"

A huff escaped her nose. "Nope!"

"Terrible idea, Ino! Terrible idea!"

The blonde lost the battle against her laughter, and had to use her arms as support when his wide eyes almost exploded behind their lids.

"Relax, Naruto," she said. "They're always throwing a fit, so it's nothing new."

"I don't want to cause any more problems, though…"

"A bit late for that, eh?"

"Y-yeah…" He nodded. "I'm sorry about that, too."

She tilted her head at his words, before a cold shiver raced up her spine.

"No, no!" she shouted and winced at her own volume. "T-that's not what I meant at all! I meant the whole 'dressing you up' thing!"

"If you say so."

"Look…" She turned her back to him, hand on the door frame. "The water is running, so don't overthink."

"… I'll try? "

"Good enough for me," she said with a smile.

Her right foot crossed the door when he called her name and stopped her in her tracks.

She glanced back. "What is it?"

"Thanks, Ino!" He offered her his sun-kissed smile. "This means a lot to me."

"Don't sweat it, Naruto."

"Hehe!"

Stupid fucking grin…

Naruto lowered his face into his palms to mess up his hair as the makeshift door closed, the water a hiss in his ears. Had it always been so loud?

How could Ino think her parents wouldn't mind him around? No one left him a flower, or wrote silly stuff on his arm cast, or sent him a message of goodwill or…

A dragged sigh left his lips and he stood from the toiled seat.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad…

His legs shook and his right feet slipped, but nothing a bit of chakra couldn't solve. He gripped the hem of his torn shirt and pushed it over his head.

The fabric wrapped around his face, and his violent tugs did nothing to help.

"Damn it…" he whispered.

Another tug and the chakra drained from his feet.

Eyes wide, he flailed around for something to hold on to.

His hands gripped thin air, and frost frost stabbed his heart as he fell into the shower…

Until a pair of strong hands gripped him by the shoulders and tugged him backwards into a silken embrace.

He let out a breath before the hands turned him around to untangle the shirt.

The fabric hit the ground, and purple hair and caramel eyes met his gaze.

Naruto froze.

A scream raced to his throat, but a torrent of papers sprouted off Konan's outstretched arm to drown out the sound. Sweetness flooded his mouth as they slipped inside, and he tried a step back, only for her other arm to snake around his waist.

"Careful," she said. "You will slip again if you keep this up."

A.N:

Here's a minor challenge, if you're reading this:

Can you pinpoint what Konan was talking about with her speech? Is it a person or an ideal? GASP is it Danzo!? (nah)

What do you think is gonna happen next? How did she get in that bathroom to begin with!?

One thing is certain: A dattebayo just changed the course of history!

Oh, and here are a few extra thoughts about this chapter!

1) Yahiko's eyes are light blue in the manga. They turned brown in the anime. Probably so they wouldn't seem too akin to the Rinnegan's purple hues. I thought the blue eyes would be a good fit for this fic, however, as they make Yahiko look even more similar to Naruto - it is a suitable metaphor, I think.

2) The story itself will explain Konan's aversion to Itachi to its fullest later, but you can figure it out right here if you pay attention.

3) I love working with unexplored characters. That's why Karin will be a huge part of this! Expect some other interesting fellows later on, too! I wanted to use Deidara, but he is already dead by now *evil pout*.

4) The fact Naruto went 8 tails and didn't even get too hurt because of it afterwards was always a plot hole to me, as he was skinned alive when he went 4 tails. I'm addressing this in this story.

See you guys in the next update!