DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.
Thinking (+ flashbacks, Naruko speaking to Kurama, etc.)
Emphasis
Bijuu, etc. speaking
Bijuu, etc. thinking
Learning senjutsu was probably harder than anything else Naruko had ever tried to do. And there was still so much she needed to learn!
It took two weeks to "learn to stay absolutely still" in order to gather nature's energy properly. She looked up at the tall spikes that were coming up off the ground and felt a little sick. She'd never liked heights! TREETOPS and branches were okay - there were things to hang onto in case she stumbled (something that as a kunoichi she should never do) - but those spikes reached up as high as the Hokage Mountain! "I don't know about this," she mumbled apprehensively.
"You'll be fine, Naruko-chan! And I'll be right beside you!"
She really liked the toad sages: Ma and Pa were lovely hosts and Pa was an excellent instructor. Well, if you don't count the smacking around she had been getting for taking in too much natural energy. ...And the "food" she had to eat in order not to hurt Ma's feelings. Senjutsu was such tricky business, there was so much to be balanced, and the Kyuubi had been having an absolute FIT ever since traveling to the Mountain. Jiraiya had shown her once long ago how he "fused" with Ma and Pa so they could aid each other in battle, and Naruko was really worried whether or not that would even work with her foxy friend being so adamantly against the toads.
"You know I didn't really get to choose my summons! The toads have the key to the seal! And is there even a fox summons?"
Naruko was grateful that the toads couldn't hear what she mentioned to her prisoner. They were great partners, but the fact stood: she had no choice but to be a toad summoner. Her father had made sure of that when he left her key with them.
"Tch! You and the air stink of amphibians. Bring me my key and leave."
Damn fox. Just when we were getting somewhere...
Back to Pa, who was asking her to scurry up a giant spike of death. Man! She wished Jiraiya was here. She did trust Pa, but how in the world was Pa going to save her if she fell off of one of these things?! He was obviously ridiculously strong for his size, but his speed? Yeah, she didn't know about that. Naruko had started off with smaller spikes, of course, but now they were jumping up to an absolutely ridiculous height.
Swallowing her fear and allowing herself to go into Sage Mode, Naruko channeled chakra to her feet and walked up the giant death spike. When she got near enough to the top, Pa threw a platform at her, and she carefully climbed on top of it, balancing precariously. She ended up meditating on those horrible things for four days and nights. The toads would bring her "food," and she was always grateful for it, surprisingly. She was also grateful that Pa had a tongue that was so strong (Eww,) that it could rescue her most of the times she accidentally fell down.
Jiraiya showed up just as they were about to start training in a new fighting style. The Frog Kata was supposed to be something incredible. After practicing the movements with her godfather and the sages, Naruko went into Sage Mode again to spar with Jiraiya.
She laid him out, breaking his jaw!
"Oh my gosh! I'm so, so sorry!"
Ma provided some kind of froggy iryo-ninjutsu that fixed Jiraiya right up, but still. Jiraiya started chuckling, and Naruko feared that she had bruised the poor pervert's brain. "That was pretty good, kid; I've never had a technique I consider my own turned against me like that! Now, let's see how you do when I'm in Sage Mode, too!"
"Oh shit," Naruko said. She took in the energy of one of the clones she'd left between the waterfall and pond of oil where she'd started her training and immediately took on the look of a Toad Sage.
"Gaki! How did you do that?!"
Naruko scratched the back of her neck and shrugged. "I use clones for most everything, so I thought maybe I could learn faster here. The rest was kind of an accident: I dispelled one carefully ya know, and there it was! I was back in Sage Mode immediately!"
Pa gave Jiraiya a significant look. Naruko thought that the little sage might be proud of her. She could tell that Jiraiya was, and as always, it meant so much to her. "Are you ready, Jiraiya-chan?" Pa asked. Jiraiya smiled and nodded his head, eager to spar. Both the old sages jumped upon his broad shoulders.
Jiraiya was barely able to keep up with his goddaughter's attacks. She was amazing! As soon as the toads began to sing, Naruko stopped dead in her tracks, a blank look on her face. He pushed her over and watched as the amazing girl was gone; Naruko fell down on the ground, not returning to herself until the toads had stopped singing. "Kami. She REALLY sucks at genjutsu."
"What happened?" Naruko asked. Jiraiya explained that it was a genjutsu.
"I thought you agreed to help me get out of genjutsus," she nearly yelled at the Kyuubi.
"I TOLD you that I don't like amphibians!"
"Are you jealous?" Naruko asked, seriously wanting to know. The Kyuubi stuck his nose in the air and scoffed.
"One as great as I has little reason to even consider those lower than me. Amphibians," he sneered, "are MUCH lower than me. I will not allow it."
"Son of a gun!" Naruko cursed.
For the following three weeks, Naruko worked with the toads on her Sage Mode and enhancing her Rasengan, until the day that Jiraiya - who had come and gone as he pleased during that time - came to get her. The fox still wouldn't allow her to fuse with her allied partners and was now refusing to talk to her.
"I'm sorry, Naruko. I have bad news," Jiraiya said. "And it's time for us to get back anyway. I talked to the village's foremost ninjutsu expert, and he had some ideas on helping you complete the Rasengan. You'll be required to have someone there just in case things get ugly again."
Naruko slumped, knowing that either he, her godmother, or the village, in general, might be worried that she'd lose control of the Kyuubi's chakra. On two occasions it had almost gotten away from her, and the demonic chakra had scarred Jiraiya's upper arm since she'd been here. She and her clones had been trying so hard to enhance that Rasengan... She looked at his wrapped scars and winced. She'd bet anything they still hurt badly. "What's happened?" She prayed that Orochimaru hadn't returned to attack the village while she was gone.
"Uchiha Sasuke left the village - and my arm is okay! I've told you not to worry about it." He'd seen that she still felt guilty for losing control.
Thoughts of Jiraiya's upper arm becoming a secondary concern, she didn't understand what he meant about Sasuke. "Is... what do you mean by 'left the village?'" she asked slowly. Her gut clenched with suspicion to the point of making her feel ill.
Jiraiya sighed and put his huge hand on her shoulder heavily. "He's with Orochimaru. He went willingly."
Naruko had to hold down her stomach contents. "No... That's... He wouldn't, would he?"
"You know the answer to that, Naruko. That kid has been a flight risk ever since that day." Jiraiya helped her stand up fully and patted her back in a comforting manner. He knew how that massacre had affected her, too. "A team went after him, and he ran away from them. I can give you more details once we see Tsunade." The "Original" Toad Sage, as he later began calling himself, watched and waited for his sorrowful goddaughter to gather all of her things before he summoned them back to the village. Appearing by the Hokage Mountain, he watched the blonde's eyes dim in grief. "C'mon, Naruko. Let's go see Tsunade."
"By order of the shinobi council of Konohagakure, I, Senju Tsunade, Godaime Hokage, grant you, Namikaze Naruko, the promotion to Tokubetsu Jonin. Congratulations, Naruko," Tsunade said warmly. Naruko nodded her head, glad for the promotion, but more concerned with what her otouto had done. "...Thought you'd be more excited about it, brat. Look at the names on this: you were signed off by Shizune, Hatake Kakashi, your cancer-courting monkey uncle, and the Sannin! What do you say to that?!"
Naruko looked at the names that had approved her promotion; Shikaku's name - he was their Jonin commander - was on it too. They were all indeed impressive shinobi. She turned to the men in the room. Shizune was behind Tsunade's desk, as usual. "Thank you all for going out of your way for me," she said softly as she bowed to each of them. "It is an honor to know that you have faith in my abilities. I won't let you down." She turned to the Hokage, bowing to her and Shizune before taking a knee. "Thank you both. As a newly-promoted Tokubetsu Jonin of Konohagakure, I hereby reaffirm my pledge to..."
"No, no, no," Tsunade said, waving her hand dismissively. Shizune put the hand that wasn't holding an inordinate amount of paperwork up to her forehead, rubbing it and whispering curses at her mentor. "Get up. That crap's for when you're promoted to Jonin. And that's old-timey stuff."
"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune said in a scolding tone.
"Well, it is!" Tsunade reached into her bottom desk drawer and pulled out two magnums of sake. Shizune complained but did bring saucers out for everyone. "Now. We need to talk about our lost Uchihas."
They ended up speaking about only one: her poor little brother. Sasuke had left with a team from the Sound; they were possibly the same four shinobis that held up the purple barrier that her grandfather was murdered within. Naruko wasn't sure whether or not Sasuke knew that about them, but the information hurt.
Shikamaru had been on that mission, and the group of Genin he commanded had all been hurt. Some almost fatally. Naruko was so glad that Tsunade and Shizune were back in the village; they were the absolute best med nins in the world. She also felt bad for being on the Mountain while all of this happened. Perhaps she could've talked Sasuke out of leaving? She could've fought off this "Sound 4" group? She could've aided those wounded on their mission to retrieve her little brother? Or maybe she could've just kicked his ass so hard that she'd drag him back to the village with broken bones if necessary.
Shikamaru was out on a diplomatic mission, so after cleaning up, Naruko once again went to check up on Ko-chan. She found him skipping school with his little friends and dragged them all back to the Academy. Well... Ko-chan was the only one she had to manhandle. Udon-kun and Moegi-chan were very good listeners, and unlike her little brother(s,) were quite well behaved. "Now let's go inside and don't let him influence you!" Both children agreed and Naruko tied Ko-chan to his chair, something Iruka-sensei seemed to appreciate.
What a brat!
Jiraiya and Tsunade had something important to discuss, so without direction and feeling empty inside from Sasuke's loss, Naruko made her way to the Hokage Memorial. She gave Kakashi his privacy as she steered clear of the KIA stone on the way there, but ran into Ebisu.
...Who was a pervert. A closet pervert: the worst kind! "Ebisu-san," she greeted the panicky man politely.
"Naruko-hime! What a pleasant surprise." Naruko was sure that his eyes were feasting on her body underneath those dark sunglasses of his. She always felt a pervy feeling coming from him. "I wonder if you've seen the Honorable Grandson?"
"I have."
Kakashi walked up and Naruko almost giggled as he threw a little Killing Intent at the closet pervert. "I found him and his friends defacing the mural across from the Academy." Ebisu sagged, losing several inches of height. "I returned him to school and tied him up."
"Bondage," Kakashi said with a smile. "Interesting." Naruko laughed and Ebisu seemed to break out in tremors.
"Ya know, Ebisu-san, Konohamaru-chan prefers to be called by his name. As do I."
Ebisu made some weird noises. Naruko wasn't sure if he was agreeing to call Ko-chan by his name or not now. "By your leave, princess," Ebisu said, making Naruko internally groan. He was obviously glaring at Kashi underneath those glasses of his. Naruko turned around to smile at her Sharingan warrior.
"How are you, Kashi-kun?"
Kakashi felt like he'd melt into goo! "Kashi-kun" sounded super sexy coming from her soft, pink perfect lips and was SO much better than "Kashi-chan." He chuckled awkwardly, rubbing his head underneath the back of his hitai-ate. "Maa, I'm alright. How are you?" He was surprised when Naruko came closer to him and wrapped her arms around his right arm, warming him with her internal heat as she squeezed against him. He tried not to stiffen in shock and gave her an eye smile to say that she was fine when she looked up at him, her big beautiful eyes questioning whether or not it was okay to be so close.
It was more than okay. She was more than fine.
I'm swearing off Icha-Icha for a month, he vowed to himself. They walked back to Team 7's training ground and sat down underneath a tree. Naruko scooted closer to him, and slowly - very slowly - Kakashi put his arm around the girl he couldn't get out of his head so that she could get comfortable. He felt like his heart was going to explode.
She's too young! Get it together, Hatake!
"How are you doing, really? I'm so sorry about Suke-chan," she choked out. Kakashi rubbed up and down her arm consolingly. She wiped her eyes and finally met his coal gray one. It has silver flecks: so pretty, she realized. "You worked so hard with him, with us. Maybe if I'd been here..."
"I wasn't here, either," Kakashi said mournfully. "I had a mission, which was why a Genin team was sent out to find him. I don't know if it would've mattered, Naruko. Sasuke was determined to leave..." And so full of hate. Honestly, part of Kakashi was glad that the Uchiha was away from the young woman. Sasuke had said some disturbing things about getting stronger, getting the eyes he needed. If the brat ever used his technique on his big sister-figure like he tried to do with Lee-kun, Kakashi would kill him, last Uchiha or not. He looked down at the woman curled up so perfectly beside him, wondering what she was thinking.
"We'll get him back." She grinned up at her friend - whom she finally admitted (only to herself) that she had a huge crush on - before putting her head back against his chest. They sat together like that, each in their own thoughts, for quite some time.
"Naruko, why were you really so interested in fighting the Sharingan?" Kakashi had been wondering it for a while. Before Naruko left for training, she was attacking him every time he turned around, almost always with Sasuke. It had actually been fun.
"I had a run-in with Itachi." When she realized that the quiet man next to her was waiting for more answers, she clenched her hands together. "I... need to be able to fight it. The Sharingan can control the fox, you know, and... I lost control with Itachi." She closed her eyes, trying to will away the images and sensations Itachi gave her in that hotel room. Wrong or not, she had wanted him so badly. He made me feel things...
Kakashi frowned as he looked down on the blushing young woman. "Lost control, eh?" Then his nose was hit with the sweet smell of her arousal. He squeezed her, putting his other arm around her waist. Using the one wrapped around her shoulders, his hand brought up her chin from behind her neck so he could meet her eyes. "How far did it go?" he growled out. Watching her blue eyes dilate was a thrill, but he let go of her and stood up to get away from the little vixen.
"Vixen." A fitting name.
"Not... too far," she admitted. "Not all the way or anything close to that, ya know," Naruko said in embarrassment. Cripes, she was so hot for her Kashi. This topic was embarrassing, though.
When the hell is Shikamaru going to be home?! I need to get laid!
She looked up at the Jonin who was standing several feet away from him and smirked, getting a great idea. Making a hand sign and creating two shadow clones who fell into a sitting position on either side of her, Naruko beamed at her recent sparring partner/training dummy. "Ya wanna spar?"
Kakashi hummed and smiled underneath his mask. Yes, sparring was fine. Everything else was not! "You think you can make me bring out the Sharingan all by yourself, princess?" She thought he might have winked at her, but since she could only see one eye, Naruko couldn't be sure. "I don't know if you have it in you."
"Really?" she asked pointedly. One of Naruko's shadow clones popped and Naruko's eyes simultaneously turned yellow, a pretty orange lining her eyes and eyelids.
Sage Mode, he realized. Oh shit! Kakashi remembered her father kicking his ass while chasing him around the village with those creepy toad eyes once before! He raised his headband and she attacked.
Later, Naruko cheered after punching the crap out of Kashi. "I did it! I did it! Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" She ran back to the Jonin and began healing his face. "Oh man, I really got ya, huh?"
"You did," he eventually said, and Naruko saw pride in his eyes, which made her feel wonderful. She jumped on her friend and hugged him before turning over to look at the clouds. He pulled her closer to him and they continued watching the sky and stars into the night, laying in the grass on Training Ground 3.