DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.

A/N: Sorry this is a short chapter. I wanted to get something out, transition to the main story, plus my family's been dealing with COVID. I finally got a negative test result back, but I still feel kinda awful!

I hope that all of you in the States had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

While dealing with cabin fever, I did post a new story that's a crossover called "A Kunoichi at Hogwarts" - check it out if you'd like. As always, thanks for reading, reviewing, and following!

Thinking (+ flashbacks, Naru talking in her mindscape to Kurama, etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

It was too easy at first, or at least it felt that way until the Forest of Death's Tower came fully into view.

Sure enough, other Genin teams were fighting for a scroll very near the Tower, and Naru wished that they'd kept that other scroll to trade so that they could get this damn test over with nonviolently.

The "Kabuto" guy Hana had mentioned earlier seemed weird but his teammates were even stranger. They just seemed void of any emotions to the point that Naru had had a hard time figuring out their chakra levels or affinities, something that was a first for her among Genin. They were (sort of) hiding in the bushes right next to the Tower. Unfortunately, there wasn't any cover between the treeline in which she and her teammates were hiding and them, but Naru had an idea.

"Look," she began, sighing uncomfortably. The only Genin team that close to the Tower and thus their goal made her nervous - really nervous. "I can sunshin each of you to that gate, past Kabuto and whoever they are, then come straight to you when I'm done. Y'all can hold the ninken and we'll be home free." She looked at each of her teammates and raised her eyebrows. "What do you think?"

"I don't know, Naru-chan," Maruten began, always the careful one. "That leaves you last and kinda unprotected..."

"I think it's a good idea," Hana said as she pursed her lips and quieted her pups. "Naru's fast enough that no Genin's gonna be able to touch her. We can get by Kabuto and his posse... She can take you first," she said, turning to Maruten, "and you can do whatever you're supposed to do with the scrolls." Naru nodded her head in agreement and turned the scroll she'd been holding over to the Akimichi. "By then we're safe: what are they gonna do? We're comrades so they won't..."

"Don't say!" Naru pouted childishly, waving her hands. She quickly shook her head, causing her ponytails to swing around. "It may be superstitious, but let's not court disaster!" Both of her teammates snickered at her, but in the end, their plan was agreed upon. "Okay! Hang on Maruten-kun." With Maruten's hand on her shoulder and his other arm tightly holding one of Hana's ninken, Naru body-flickered to the gate then flickered back to Hana who would be a little more difficult to transport. Both of Hana's arms were filled with the other two Haimaru ninken triplets. The older girl managed to hold her pups while grasping Naru's forearm so that she could still wave hand seals, telling her pups to hold on tight.

When they arrived at the opened gate - Maruten was already inside - Naru could've cheered. But then she got stabbed in the back, literally, as she stepped inside.

Kabuto's teammates, Yoroi and Misumi, had both attacked her - Naru guessed that it was because she was the smallest, weakest link on her team. Even while Hana, her ninken, and Maruten jumped them, the team seemed relentless in what Naru could only guess was their pursuit of a scroll.

It hadn't been long until the little blonde was coughing up blood, panicking as she guessed she'd been hit in a kidney or worse. It had been too painful to move at first, plus the absolutely horrible Killing Intent coming from Genma as he subdued her attackers had made it easy to stay down. She did everything she could to pull herself all the way inside the gate.

"I'm so sorry! I'm SO sorry," the silver-haired Genin with the glasses said. Naru could feel what had to be iryo-ninjutsu healing her skin, but only her skin.

"'ts okay," Naruto ground out for God only knows what reason, trying to remain calm and keep her wits about her. And breathe: yeah, breathing would be good, she tried to convince herself. Her chest hurt, too.

For some reason, she felt the boy that was healing her was lying as he continued apologizing and begging to be forgiven for his teammates' actions.

"What the fuck, Kabuto-kun? I know you can do better than that!" Hana screamed as she pushed the boy away harshly. Genma had his teammates in custody. She immediately began healing her chibi teammate. Naru passed out as a furious Genma charged back into the gate.

She woke up on her stomach hours later. Groaning, she opened her eyes to be met with the Sharingan of her shishou. "Yo."

"Don't 'Yo' me you brat! You scared me to death!"

"D- Did we lose?"

"Lose?" Shisui shrieked, making Naru wince at the volume and high pitch he used, "You lost a lot of blood you brat! You could've lost a kidney or lung or something vital! Do you know how lucky you are that you have the uhh... healing ability you have?" He asked, stomping his foot hard as he almost mentioned the Kyuubi right in the middle of the Tower's infirmary. "Damn you, Naruto." His student began chuckling - which led to coughing - infuriating him even more.

"Sorry," she mumbled before wincing and shaking in pain. Shisui screeched for pain medicine, and Naru realized he must have been successful in getting it for her because she soon began numbing out before falling asleep again.

Waking up much later, she found herself propped up in a bed with wires and tubes hanging out of her. Honestly, some things in Konoha were so archaic from what she - or RACHEL - had been used to, it was frightening. Other things, like electricity and TVs (although they only had two channels that she knew of,) were similar to what her past life had.

Her teammates were with her, both teary-eyed. "I'm sorry," Naru began. Maruten tried to throw himself at her but Hana jumped in front of him, taking the brunt of his weight.

Hana groaned at holding back the Akimichi. "She's still healing, dammit!"

Maruten wiped the tears and snot off his face and nodded his head. "Sorry, Hana-chan!"

"It's fine. Why are you saying you're sorry, chibi-chan?" Hana asked as she sat back down. Her pups were all standing up to get closer to her young blonde friend.

"I - I," Naru began but found it difficult to express... She let out a wail and covered her face with both of her arms. Whether it was the pain, pain medicine, blood loss, or emotional stress of this whole lifetime plus part of the last, she finally fell apart. She felt so overwhelmed and guilty! "I wanted y'all to get promoted!"

Hana scoffed but soon patted the girl's head as her ninken whined. One by one the triplets gently climbed onto the bed with their partner's permission.

"Good doggos," Naru said in English, sniffing and wiping at her eyes. The ninken all wagged their tails as they snuggled up to and onto her legs.

Hana snickered before leaning into Naru's personal space, a fierce look on her face that made her look even more like her mother. "That ANBU guy nearly killed Yoroi and Misumi: we found out that's what their names were; Kabuto's teammates," she explained. "They got disqualified. It was against the rules to attack a team that reached the gate."

"It was?"

Maruten huffed, blowing his hair out of his eyes. He was aggravated with the little one's attention problem but was much more worried about her. "You should pay more attention, Naru-chan. As soon as a Genin reaches the Tower, that's it! That portion of the test is done!"

"So do we get to move on to the Third Stage?" Naru asked, hoping that her injury wouldn't hamper her temporary teammates who had waited years for promotion.

"Yep," Hana said happily. She gave each of her teammates a fist bump, more gently with Naru than Maruten. "We've got about a month to practice, then it's a one-on-one battle!"

"Wow," Naru breathed. "Do you know who you're fighting?" She frowned, wondering why Kabuto's team didn't enter the gate that was right behind them. I guess they didn't have the scroll they needed.

"No!" Hana exclaimed. "The Mist has something going on: they removed their attendees from the exam so it kinda screwed things up. Who knows? I might even have to fight you!"

Naru's lower lip began to tremble and she sucked in a shaky breath. "I don't wanna do that," she admitted defeatedly. As much as she wanted to get promoted so that she could eventually (soon) become a Jonin, she didn't want to hurt two kids who had been so nice and accepting of her.

Genma watched from a beam near the ceiling as the kids continued to talk and sighed a breath of - almost relief! He'd heard that his little Naru-hime had become incredibly focused and fierce, but seeing the little princess act this way reminded him of the baby girl he'd help raise and guard for years.

He wondered if Ibiki and Anko were getting anywhere with their interrogation and admonishment of the Genin that had attacked her. Anko, especially, had wanted to kill the little jerks.

"Thank you again for healing me so fast, Kyuubi-san."

"Tch. You already said that. ...As if I had a choice in healing you," the Kyuubi said sorely, but it lacked the heat he normally scolded her with. "If it were up to me, you could bleed out. Sadly, I have no choice…"

"Yes, I know - and don't be so grumpy. 'If you die, I die:' that works two ways, ya know."

"'We're stuck together,'" he snarked, making fun of how she always responded. It was as sad as it was true.

Naru laid back to go to sleep again. She smiled at the big fox in her mindscape, wishing more than anything that she could curl up in his fur. It looked so soft...

Kurama rolled his eyes and hid the smirk on his lips, wishing that he hadn't heard that. "Dumb kit..."

Mikoto opened her front door to find a surprise visitor late in the evening. "Lady Ichika!"

"Mikoto," Ichika said as she pushed past the Uchiha matriarch and into her home as if it were her own. "I hear the brat got hurt."

Mikoto pursed her lips and nodded her head. "She did, but Shisui told me this morning that Ru-chan's healing well. We'll be able to visit her in the morning after they transfer her to the hospital."

"HOSPITAL?! What happened? The only reason I went along with this thing is that Hiru-kun told me she'd be guarded!"

Mikoto nodded, feeling the same way although she understood that whatever had happened had happened very quickly. "From what I understand, Genin were fighting near the Forest's Tower for scrolls. Ru-chan took a hit as she entered a gate at the Tower.

"Entered? Aren't there supposed to be proctors set up at the treeline to direct the brats inside? That's what they've always done!"

"Shisui said they weren't posted," Mikoto said, frowning. She also felt it was suspicious. "Many Genin did post excellent times for making it to the Tower, so perhaps they hadn't set it up yet." Seeing the skeptical look on Lady Ichika's face, Mikoto could only shrug her shoulders as she offered to get tea, biting her lip. Both women heard angry voices outside and tensed. Mikoto grabbed her gear and suited up as Sasuke came downstairs.

"Mom?"

"Sasuke," Mikoto said seriously, making the boy straighten up. "I want you to stay here with Lady Ichika. Stay together and lock the doors." She almost left immediately but went back to her youngest to kiss him on the head. "I love you, baby." Shutting the door behind her, Mikoto ran, searching for those attacking her compound.