The alarm blasted into Naruto's ears, and with a manic flinch he slammed his fist against the off switch. Six hours, supposedly, since he'd crashed here last night, but he felt as though it might as well have been two. His brain was still muddled, but his body, ever fueled by the damn fox, felt energetic and ready to go.

Which was good, because he knew what would happen to him if he was late.

He went straight to the shower to start, not even bothering to dry his hair after as he then went to this kitchen. Taped onto his fridge was a weekly schedule, and next to it a list of simple recipes. Today, he would heat up toast, eggs, and a fruit of his choice, along with carefully jarred jam, courtesy of the Akimichi clan.

Naruto would have just enough time to finish the last of his toast when a knock sounded on the door. Hastily, toast still halfway in his mouth, Naruto ran to his front door. First came on the boots, then his jacket, and finally his shinobi equipment; thirty seconds from the knock until Naruto opened the door.

Ino Yamanaka stood at the door, foot tapping impatiently as she stared at a wrist watch. "You could set your alarm five minutes earlier, you know."

"But I need every damn minute, Ino, you've seen how hard Pervy Sage's been working me." Naruto whined, locking his door behind him. "He's determined to kill me after I gave him the slip last month."

Ino gently knocked a fist against the side of Naruto's head. "Then maybe don't be so reckless next time, idiot."

Naruto laughed. They both knew reckless was Naruto's middle name.

With that, the two were off.

It was still dark, and the cold of winter had already begun to set in. Small flakes of snow had settled on the Konoha rooftops, but Naruto and Ino left no trace of footsteps as they flew through the night.

"Which one do you want to take today?"

"Well, I took Chouji yesterday, so this time you get him!" Naruto offered. Chouji was the easier of the two. All Ino would have to do to wake him up was wag some bacon in his general direction.

Shikamaru, however…

The Nara was a nightmare.

Ino seemed grateful for the reprieve, and as they approached the clan compounds, the two split off. The Nara compounds were peaceful, surrounded by woodland and generally quiet. Naruto had learned that Shikamaru wasn't the only one of his family with a lazy streak; it seemed more a clan trait.

With a small 'thud', Naruto landed on the roof of Shikamaru's house. If he could catch Shikamaru off guard, it would be easier...but the bastard would do anything for an extra hour of snoozing. Ino had claimed last time that Shikamaru had even gone so far as to set up traps.

For a lazy bastard, he sure was dedicated.

Jiraiya had taught Naruto how to begin making his chakra. It was a difficult feat for Naruto, as he had far more chakra than the average shinobi, so Naruto considered this a challenge in the works. He concentrated, pulling his energy inward, and sending a quick thought to the fox to keep his shit together.

He could have sworn he heard the fox grumble at that.

Quietly, Naruto reached for the latch on Shikamaru's window. Locked, but Ino had shown him basic lockpicking weeks ago. Any shinobi needed to know how to break into a home, she'd lectured, especially a team that specialized in infiltration. Naruto grabbed a couple of small tools from his pouch and popped the window open in less than a minute. Step one down.

He saw a bundle in the bed inside, wrapped up so tightly that he could barely tell it was Shikamaru. Naruto frowned. He'd been around this block before. Without bothering to be quiet now, he walked over to the bed and threw the covers off.

A wooden decoy.

That son of a bitch.

Now it became a game of tracking. Naruto only wished he had access to Kakashi's shinobi puppies, but what he did have was numbers. With a quick hand sign, he summoned a dozen clones.

"Scatter through the compound until we find him!"

There was a chorus of agreement, and then all twelve Narutos jumped through the window and into the night.

The final, original Naruto quickly hid inside Shikamaru's closet.

The past several times, Shikamaru had hidden himself in other buildings, once even in his own parents' room. If he had gone for a new hiding spot, he'd be found.

But Shikamaru was a smart guy, and something told Naruto that maybe this time, if he just waited…

There was movement underneath Shikamaru's bed, and after a moment Shikamaru himself crawled out with a yawn. He looked around before sleepily pulling himself into bed.

Naruto grinned.

"I CAUGHT YOU, LAZY ASS!"

Shikamaru flinched, flailing to get out of bed but failing as Naruto pounced on top of him. There was a brief struggle, a few punches and kicks thrown, before Shikamaru was promptly tossed into his closet by a triumphant Naruto.

"Get dressed and get ready for missions! Are you a chuunin or not?"

"I didn't ask for that troublesome promotion." He heard Shikamaru answer. "It was dumped on me. You can have it."

"Nu-uh. No getting out of this one, Team Leader."

Shikamaru grumbled, but when he came of the closet he was dressed and ready to go.

Ino had been equally successful. When they met at the front of Shikamaru's house, it was with Chouji in tow, munching on a similar piece of toast to the one Naruto had made that morning.

"Lucky you, getting Ino." Shikamaru grumped as they walked to the Hokage's office. "She won't give you a black eye first thing in the morning."

"Maybe if you didn't try to run away!" Naruto protested.

"If you brought me toast instead of violence, maybe I wouldn't run away."

"Lazy ass."

"Idiot."

Chouji laughed. "You know, mornings have been way more interesting since Naruto joined up."

Naruto's Super Fantastic Schedule for Becoming Hokage started with missions.

Unlike under Team 7, Shikamaru's squad focused on reconnaissance and capture missions, which Jiraiya claimed to be his specialty. Naruto had to focus on concealing himself, blending in, and learning how best to speak with others without giving evidence that he was really spying. His Henge jutsu proved invaluable; nobody, it seemed, could make a disguise better than Naruto could.

Naruto's job was to find the target. Chouji's job was to position the target. Shikamaru went for the capture, and Ino went for the interrogation. It worked...surprisingly well. It had taken Naruto several weeks to get anywhere remotely good enough at information gathering, but now he was certain he was the best damn spy in Konoha!

(Jiraiya insisted he had a long way to go, but Naruto knew better.)

Lunch with the team ended most missions, and then Naruto trudged up to Tsunade's office for Studying.

The woman was ruthless. Every day she sat him down with stacks of books about Konoha history, Konoha laws, governance, clans, trials...everything, she claimed, a Hokage would have to know in order to successfully run a village. She would quiz him relentlessly as he read, and every time he got a question wrong, she made him run a message across the village for her.

Naruto started out getting a lot of questions wrong.

But slowly he was finding that some of it was beginning to sink. Even if he didn't know the exact details behind how the Aburame and the Nara had decided on clan borders, he was starting to remember the big picture. The laws began to look familiar. And the paperwork, the never ending paperwork that Tsunade seemed constantly drowning in, started to look less and less intimidating.

"This one is from a family applying for citizenship." Tsunade told him that afternoon. "So I have a job for you. You need to go and confirm that they've been living here as long as they've claimed, and make sure they aren't troublemakers."

Naruto loved it when Tsunade sent him on errands like this.

For one, it wasn't bookworm. But for two...well, at first he'd hated these missions. The locals refused to talk to him as always, and it had taken a bunch of pleading and claiming it was work for the Hokage until most people bothered to talk to him at all. But now, after weeks of running similar errands...things had changed. Some people smiled at him when they saw him rushing by. Some people even waved or greeted him. And most importantly, he didn't see people scowling anymore or muttering as he passed them.

Maybe Tsunade was a hardass when it came to studying, but sending him out here on these errands…

It made him feel like a part of something.

And perhaps that's why she continued to send him off, since Naruto always came back to her office with a big grin, ready to try and hit the books once again.

Dinnertime came quickly, and from there Jiraiya would take him out to one of the training grounds and work him to the bone.

Elemental manipulation was difficult for even jounin to master. Naruto was still barely a genin, and Jiraiya had talked him with taking the Rasengan, an S-ranked jutsu that he still needed a clone to help perform, and adding his wind element to it.

It had been weeks with no progress.

Evenings were the most frustrating part of the day. By then he was already tired from missions and running about, and he didn't want to waste energy on a jutsu that he wasn't even sure was possible.

But, as Jiraiya pointed out, it would be really really cool if he could figure it out.

(And that was all the motivation Naruto needed.)

Fire took strength from wind, wind negated lightning, lightning disabled earth, earth overtook water, and water quenched fire. Jiraiya pounded this concept into his head. Against Sasuke's chidori, Naruto would succeed using his wind element.

(But all Naruto could consider is that he could be the wind to fan Sasuke's flames and lead him to success.)

Naruto wondered, briefly, what elements Sakura might have. He'd have to ask her when Kakashi brought her back.

It had been months since Sakura had gone. Months. But Kakashi was going to bring her back soon…

Wasn't he?

For the first time since Sasuke had arrived in the Land of Sound, he was alone.

Orochimaru had a mission that required his extended absence, and Kabuto, of course, would be ever present at his side. Sasuke had secretly wanted to join them, if only to keep an eye on the snakes, but there was a certain relief in having the place to himself.

No more asinine genin missions. Just himself and his training.

(He should have known it was too good to last.)

As he meditated, he heard a knock on the door. Sasuke frowned, his chakra flaring up with anger at being disturbed. As the door swung open, his eyes flashed, Sharingan at the ready.

A shock of red hair and a slim figure...Karin.

Sasuke sighed and deactivated his Sharingan. He'd met Karin weeks ago, one of Orochimaru's lackeys that managed a different lair within Oto's borders. When he'd seen her last, she'd been smitten over him, trying to snuggle up close when Orochimaru wasn't looking.

Sasuke had never liked fangirls.

But Karin had a different look in her eyes as she approached him. She didn't seem smitten at all, only determined. She sat, cross legged in front of him.

"I'd been hoping to get a chance to talk to you alone. Too bad Orochimaru hovers around you like a vulture."

"I'm not interested in flirting, Karin." Sasuke growled. "Leave me be."

"Oh, I'm not either." Karin answered with a wave of her hand. "But when everyone thinks you're a lovesick puppy trailing in Orochimaru's footsteps, they're way less likely to suspect you of anything."

Sasuke blinked.

Alright, now things had gotten interesting.

"So what do you want?"

"I'm trying to gauge where you stand." Karib admitted. "If you're one of Orochimaru's perfect little angels or if you're here because you have to be. It's always one or the other, and from what I've heard, I kind of get the feeling it's the latter. You've got a brother that needs killing and Orochimaru is the only one who can train you to do it, am I right?"

Sasuke didn't answer, but that only brought a grin to Karin's face. Silence spoke as loud as words, it seemed.

"Oh goodie. I was hoping that was the case. Do you remember the chuunin exams, Sasuke? You rescued me after my team had died. When I heard you'd come to Orochimaru, I knew it couldn't have been because you were like him. You're far too nice."

Sasuke scoffed. "You don't know me very well, then."

"I'm not saying you're not strong. But you're not a psychopath. You don't get your kicks off of experimenting for him, and you sure as hell don't worship him. Which means, as soon as you've learned everything you can from the old snake…" Karin's eyes gleamed. "Yours and my interests will align."

"And what interests are those?"

"Putting the snake in the ground."

So she wanted to kill Orochimaru...that didn't surprise him. It seemed like half the people in Oto wouldn't have minded seeing Orochimaru dead.

"I can get strong enough to kill him on my own." Sasuke argued. "Why should I trust anyone else?"

"Because you're not thinking big picture." Karin replied. "Orochimaru is just a stepping stone to your brother. But once Orochimaru is dead, how are you going to find your brother?"

Sasuke frowned. It was true...on that front, he had absolutely no idea.

"Now, if you helped me kill Orochimaru, and helped set me up at leader of Otogakure...I could arrange search teams to find your brother. Any resource you need, I'd give it. I look after my friends, Sasuke Uchiha, and I wouldn't forget the man who helped me come into power. You need your brother? I'll deliver. A home when your revenge is complete? I'll always have a spot for my friends. At the end of the day, helping me means nothing extra for you and all of the extra benefits."

Tempting. Sasuke thought on this. He didn't trust Karin, not completely, but he did trust that she wanted Orochimaru dead.

Really...he had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

"I suppose I could cooperate, as long as you kept your word."

"Excellent." Karin pushed herself to her feet. "Then it is decided. I, Karin Uzumaki, will be the next Otokage! And once I am in charge, I will bring Itachi Uchiha to you. We have a deal?"

She held out a hand, and Sasuke reached up to take it. For a brief moment, his thoughts wandered. Uzumaki? He'd never heard of anyone but Naruto with that last name, and maybe it was the way she was posturing about becoming a Kage, but something about her suddenly seemed…

Familiar.

He chuckled. Uzumaki were all the same, it seemed. Annoying, loud, and stupidly ambitious.

And now there were two of them

"Deal." He confirmed. "So where do we begin?"

"You have two years, Uchiha. Milk as much knowledge out of the old snake as you can. When the time comes, we'll have a plan at the ready." Karin started for the door, but hesitated. Then, suddenly, she began to mess up her hair, and unbutton several of the buttons on her jacket. "It'll be less suspicious if everyone thinks we're sleeping together." She explained. "Though...if you ever really want a good night…"

She gave Sasuke a wink and a kiss as she headed for the door. As she closed it behind her, Sasuke shuddered.

Women were absolutely terrifying sometimes.