Disclaimer: I don't own naruto or any of its characters as they are the property of Masashi Kishimoto.
The author of the cover image is indy-riquez from DeviantArt. You can check the link for the original image in my profile.

Chapter 14: Alone

Kurotsuchi awoke with a groan as the sunshine hit her face. She twisted in her bed, trying to make herself comfortable once more to see if she could get back to sleep. The only advantage that she had by being a Konoha prisoner was that she didn't have any obligation to be up early to start her Shinobi duties. However, years of conditioning to be up as soon as she woke up made it almost impossible for her to get back to sleep, so she made up her mind that it was pointless to keep trying and proceeded to kick the bed covers off herself to sit at the edge of the bed. She gave a long yawn as she stretched her arms before she got out of bed. Had she been in Iwa, she would get some breakfast now, but she didn't have any groceries yet so she just settled for taking a shower.

After Kurotsuchi was done and put on some new fresh clothes she pondered on what to do now. Her options were really limited at the moment as she hadn't really spent that much time in Konoha to know good places to go and whatnot so that only left seeing what Naruto was up to. Even if she was still a bit angry at the blond due to yesterday's little event with Konohamaru, she guessed that she could cut the boy some slack. After all, doing stupid things was what he did best and she should already come to expect those kinds of things from him. Besides, she could make him make it up her by buying her breakfast or something, so it wasn't that bad of an idea. Now that it was decided, she headed out of her apartment and walked just a few feet from her door to reach the blond's living place.

The tomboy knocked on the door for a few minutes and after getting no response she wondered if the blond was even in there. ''Oh wait, that's right, the training exercise.''' Thought the girl as she remembered what Kakashi had told the blond yesterday about meeting him at the training grounds early today. She knew that by now the Jinchuuriki was in the middle of the exercise already, that was what she supposed at least since Kakashi didn't mention what the exercise entailed.

So with nothing else to do, she headed out into Konoha's streets by herself in the direction of the training grounds. As she went her way, she noticed everyone on the street giving her looks of hatred and disbelief. Now that she was wearing her Iwa forehead protector it served to leave no doubt that she was an enemy foreigner. She could have avoided using the protector like she did the day before but she would be damned if she were to keep rejecting her pride as an Iwa Kunoichi just to avoid distressing some Konoha assholes.

''Is that a Shinobi from Iwa?!'' ''What is someone like her doing here?!'' ''I've heard the rumors but I didn't think they were true.''

She could hear the numerous whispers of the people around her and tried to keep herself as calm and collected as possible despite the fact that she felt extremely uncomfortable. Even if she hated these people as much as they hated her, Kurotsuchi wasn't used to this kind of treatment. In Iwa, people greeted her with a smile on their faces whenever she passed them by. Heck, sometimes they even bowed to her. So going from that to be publically scorned was something that she had yet to get used to. Also, she had no choice but take the abuse since the ANBU guarding her would put her down on the spot if she tried anything against these people, and she didn't even know if the ANBU would help her if she was attacked instead. The point was that she couldn't depend on the ANBU to watch her back. So with all that in mind, she traveled the path to the training grounds that Naruto had shown her yesterday, all the while doing her best to ignore the people's glares, and in just a few minutes she arrived at her destination.

''What the hell happened here?'' Thought the tomboy as she looked around the thrashed place. Whatever happened there managed to leave a huge crater on one side of the training ground, left big scorch marks here and there, and some of the trees were down. She didn't have time to think about it too much before she heard a very familiar voice.

''We got you good this time, Kakashi-sensei!'' Said Naruto while catching a small bell in his hand as he came from the woods along with Sakura and the Sharingan user.

''Sensei, I can't believe you fell for that stupid stunt, though.'' Said Sakura with a smirk to her teacher.

''What can I say? I guess you guys know my weaknesses too well.'' replied the cyclops with a shrug.

Kurotsuchi felt glad that apparently she managed to get here before they were over and left, at least now she wouldn't have to be wandering the village aimlessly looking for the blond.

''Uh? Hey, Kurotsuchi I didn't know you were coming!'' Said the Genin with surprise and excitement as he ran over to the Iwa Kunoichi once he spotted her.

''Is not like I have much to do as long as I'm here, so I might as well see what you are up to.'' Said the girl with a smirk, glad to have been able to find the only person she remotely got along with in Konoha, not that she would ever admit it to the idiot, though.

''Hi, you must be Kurotsuchi.'' Said Sakura with a nervous smirk, as she too, approached the newcomer. She hadn't seen the Kunoichi since the day they found her bleeding out in the Land of Hot Water. And since, she had yet to interact more in depth with the girl, so she wasn't sure how to act around her. Literally, the only thing she knew was that Naruto talked with Tsunade to let the girl walk freely in the village as long as she was kept under watch.

Kurotsuchi eyed the pinkette curiously before she decided to introduce herself too. ''I am. And you must be Naruto's teammate.'' Inquired the Iwa Kunoichi. She remembered Kakashi mention that they were going to have a team exercise and since the girl also seemed to have participated, then she had to be part of Naruto's team.

Sakura nodded. ''That's right, I'm also part of Team Seven just like Naruto and Kakashi-Sensei. Haruno Sakura, nice to meet you. ''Said the medic with a smile as she waved at the Iwa girl amicably. ''Is good to be able to meet you properly.'' Said Sakura cordially even though she still didn't feel comfortable talking to an enemy Kunoichi.

Kurotsuchi raised an eyebrow at Sakura's comment. '' What do you mean by 'properly'? Have we met before?'' Asked the confused tomboy.

''Sakura-Chan is the one who healed you after our fight with those Akatsuki bastards! Isn't she awesome?!'' Informed Naruto with pride for his teammate, which caused Sakura to blush with modesty.

''Is that so?'' Asked the pink-eyed girl as she evaluated the medic with surprise. ''Then I guess I owe you some gratitude.'' Said Kurotsuchi out of obligation. She didn't enjoy thanking some Konoha Kunoichi that she didn't even know, but even she felt that some sort of acknowledgment for saving her life was in order.

Sakura waved off the girl's praise. ''No need for that. It was nothing, really.'' Sakura felt like she didn't deserve any thanks since if it wasn't for Naruto's insistence she wouldn't even have bothered to treat the Iwa girl.

Kurotsuchi nodded in understanding, if the pinkette didn't want any thanks then it suited her just fine. ''By the way, Naruto, are you done with the exercise?'' Asked the tomboy as she addressed the blond once more.

''All done! we had to take these bells from Kakashi-Sensei and we did it no problem!'' Boasted the boy as he held out the little small bell for the girl to see.

''Wait, are you saying you two managed to beat Sharingan Kakashi!?'' Asked the astounded Kurotsuchi.

''I wouldn't say we beat him, exactly.'' Said Sakura as she scratched her cheek with a finger. ''Naruto threatened to spoil the ending of that trash book of his, which gave us an opening to snatch the bells.'' Admitted the medic with a bit of shame.

At the information, Kurotsuchi looked with a deadpan expression to Kakashi.

The leader of Team Seven had just stayed on the sidelines and had refrained from speaking all this time.

Said Sharingan user closed his eye as he scratched the back of his head. ''hehe, it is a really good book so...'' Said Kakashi, leaving the sentence hanging.

''Hey Sakura-chan, what do you say if we go to Ichiraku later? You know, it has been such a long time since we last hung out.'' Asked a hopeful Naruto to his female teammate seeing as they were done with Kakashi's test.

''Sorry Naruto, but I don't think so. You are just probably going to try and turn it into a date anyway, aren't you?'' Responded Sakura as she rolled her eyes.

''Awww come on, Sakura-chan. I promise it will be good.'' Pleaded the blond, finding no use in refuting his teammate statement since that was exactly what he had hoped to do.

''How many times do I have to tell you Naruto? I don't like you in that way.'' Said Sakura in exasperation.

Kurotsuchi had stopped looking at Kakashi to watch the interaction between the Jinchuuriki and the pinkette. ''Are they always like this?'' Asked the Iwa Kunoichi to Kakashi, as the blond and the medic continued their argument.

The copy ninja nodded casually. ''Yea, and it always ends the same way too.'' Responded the silver-haired man just as Sakura finished hitting Naruto on the head for his insistence.

Kurotsuchi frowned at that. She hadn't known that Naruto had a crush on his teammate and it was obvious that Sakura didn't feel the same way in the slightest bit, so in Kurotsuchi's opinion it didn't seem healthy for Naruto to keep chasing after the reluctant girl but she knew very well by now that Naruto was nothing but persistent and was unlikely to stop. Oh well, that wasn't her problem so the idiot could do whatever he wanted.

''I'm sorry Naruto, but any plans you have will have to wait. Now that we are done here, we should head to the Hokage tower and start our mission for the day.'' Informed the cyclops.

Sakura sighed in relief at having something to keep the blond from bugging her any further.

''All right! Is time to show everyone that I'm ready for the tougher missions now!'' Said the Genin in excitement. ''By the way, can Kurotsuchi accompany us?'' Asked the boy eagerly, which surprised both Sakura and said Iwa girl.

Kakashi seemed to think it over momentarily before he nodded. ''Don't see why not. However, we'll still need to ask Tsunade-Sama for permission first. But aside from that, I don't have a problem with it, and as long as Kurotsuchi doesn't mind she can come with us.'' Said the man before he and the rest of Team Seven glanced over to Kurotsuchi, expecting a response.

Kurotsuchi didn't know what to do. On one hand, following Naruto and his team while they did a mission didn't seem fun; but on the other hand, she didn't have anything else to do so she was probably going to get bored anyway so she might as well get bored as she hung out with the only person she tolerated in Konoha. ''I don't have anything else to do, so I guess I'll stick around for a while.'' Said the girl with a shrug.

''So it's decided then. Let's get going, guys.'' Said Kakashi, before turning around and started walking towards Konoha's streets with Team Seven and Kurotsuchi in tow.

''This is Sweet! It feels like being in a four-man team again'' Said Naruto with excitement before his expression turned sour shortly after, and even Sakura seemed to get a sad look on her face.

Kurotsuchi wondered what happened all of a sudden. ''Did a member of their team die or something?'' At least it sure felt like it. ''What happened to your last member, then?'' Kurotsuchi couldn't help but ask.

''He left the village three years ago.'' Explained Kakashi simply, as he guessed that neither Naruto or Sakura would feel comfortable talking about it.

''But I'll bring him back. I'll definitely get Sasuke back to the village.'' Said Naruto with determination.

Kurotsuchi widened her eyes in surprise. The last member of their team was someone named Sasuke and left their village? ''Are you by any chance talking about the last Uchiha?'' Asked Kurotsuchi. The desertion of the only surviving member of the Uchiha massacre was widely known in Iwa, and everyone in her village was glad to know that Konoha had pretty much lost the lineage of the Sharingan, and once Kakashi died, they would lose all their users.

Sakura nodded at the girl. ''Yea, Sasuke-Kun is also part of Team Seven.'' Explained the medic with the same melancholic look on her face.

Kurotsuchi was surprised at the news. She didn't expect that someone like the last Uchiha had been Naruto's teammate. It just seemed that Naruto was surrounded by talented people: Jiraiya, Kakashi, the Uchiha prodigy, etc. Made her wonder why the blond wasn't that strong himself if he was stuck in the middle of such talented ninja. One would think some of their genius would have rubbed off on him by now.

''But is it really worth it trying to make the guy come back?'' Asked Kurotsuchi which earned her a resentful look from Sakura and an expression of disbelief from Naruto. ''I mean, I heard that he ran away by his own will. If he went through the trouble of risking being labeled a missing nin just to get away, I don't think he will want to come back.'' The tomboy explained her reasoning.

''Sasuke-Kun was lured by Orochimaru to join him using the promise of power. But in reality, he just wants to steal his body and Sharingan!'' Exclaimed Sakura.

''Yea, Sasuke is our friend and there is no way I'm letting Orochimaru use him as he pleases!'' Said Naruto, backing Sakura.

''Hey, I'm just saying alright. You can do as you wish but I don't think it will be that simple.'' Said Kurotsuchi with a shrug.

''That's why I'm saying that I'll bring him back no matter what even if I have to beat his ass half to death!'' Said Naruto with resolution.

Kurotsuchi chose not to comment this time, as she knew first-hand how stubborn Naruto could be when he put his mind into something. Besides, she would be more comfortable if she didn't make Naruto's team hate her so soon after starting to spend time with them, so she decided to stay silent for the moment.

They didn't take long to reach the Hokage tower, and Kurotsuchi couldn't help but feel nervous as they went past the secretary at the front and went up the stairs since the last time she was here she could have been sentenced to death, or worse. So, even if she knew that logically there was nothing to fear right now, she was having a hard time not feeling uneasy.

The teens stopped just behind Kakashi as the Jounin knocked on Tsunade's door, and after hearing the Hokage say ''Enter'' they all went in, even if the Iwa girl was a bit reluctant to do so. As they entered, Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes when she noticed the ANBU guarding her positioning themselves just outside of the Hokage's office, should they be needed.

''Hey Tsunade-Baachan, I'm ready for a mission!'' Said Naruto with excitement as he entered the office which earned him a punch from Sakura.

''Naruto, show some respect to Tsunade-Sama!'' Sakura scolded Naruto with a shout while the blond rubbed his aching head.

''I was wondering when you guys would show up.'' Said Tsunade as she stared at them from her desk with a smirk. ''I take that you already tested their abilities, Kakashi?'' Asked the busty woman.

''Yes, they passed the bell test. I'm pleased to say that they have grown exponentially in these three years.'' Informed the copy ninja.

Tsunade nodded with satisfaction at Kakashi's report before she glanced at Kurotsuchi with a raised eyebrow. ''I see you brought the girl with you.''

''I can leave if me being here is a problem.'' Offered Kurotsuchi politely, feeling tense now that the Hokage's gaze was on her and she would rather not do anything that might make the woman angry.

''I was meaning to ask if it would be okay for Kurotsuchi to come along with us on a mission?'' Said Naruto expectantly.

Tsunade looked curiously at the nervous Iwa Kunoichi before addressing Naruto once more. ''I don't think it would be prudent to let her go along with you. You'll already be busy enough with your mission to properly keep watch on her. Not to mention, it would be a waste of resources sending ANBU with you if you have to leave the village.'' Explained the Hokage.

''Come one Tsunade-Baachan, She will behave, I promise. Besides, what if we get some mission that requires us to be in the village or somewhere close by?'' Insisted the blond, which caused Kurotsuchi to look at him worriedly, fearing that the idiot would make the woman angry at both of them.

Tsunade looked at Naruto incredulously. ''Naruto, the only missions like that are D rank missions and very few C-ranks. So unless you guys want one of those, I don't see the girl going with you.'' Said the Female Sannin.

Naruto grimaced at the prospect of doing one of the lower ranked missions, but still he decided to keep insisting. ''There has to be a higher ranked mission that we can do that doesn't require us to leave the village.'' Said the Genin.

Kurotsuchi saw Tsunade frown, clearly starting to lose her patience. so the Iwa Kunoichi tugged the sleeve of Naruto's jacket to get his attention. ''Naruto, it's okay, really. If I can't go is no big deal.'' Said the girl, trying to placate the situation before the Hokage decided to vent her anger on both Naruto and Kurotsuchi.

''Good that you understand.'' Said Tsunade pleased to know that at least the girl had some sense to not be pushing her luck. ''Now, let me see which missions I have available right now...'' Said the Hokage as she started going through some papers trying to find an appropriate task for them when the door to her office burst open and a woman with short brown hair entered the room in a rush.

''Hokage-Sama, I have urgent news!'' Said the altered woman and caught the attention of everyone in the room. ''The Kazekage has been kidnapped!'' Finished the Kunoichi before anyone could ask her anything, and everyone in the room widened their eyes in astonishment at the news.

''What?! Explain at once and don't forget to give details!'' Ordered Tsunade with urgency.

''Suna was attacked by an organization called Akatsuki and they took the Kazekage Gaara for reasons still unknown!'' Explained the woman which made Naruto get even more preoccupied.

''Gaara you say?!'' Asked Naruto in worry. He didn't know that Gaara had been appointed Kazekage while he was away with Jiraiya, but he didn't have time to think about it too much since his friend needed help.

Kurotsuchi wondered if Naruto knew the Kazekage personally since he called him by his name and seemed to be particularly worried about him. But she didn't share the same urgency as the blond. Iwa and Suna weren't in good terms. In fact, Iwa hated Suna almost as much as they hated Konoha, so she couldn't say that she cared much about what happened to the Kazekage.

The woman ignored Naruto's question and continued her explanation. '' Suna was attacked by two individuals from this organization. One of them appeared to use a large metal tail as a weapon. And the another one, the one who kidnapped the Kazekage, used a weird explosive clay like sculptures.''

Kurotsuchi looked with alarm at the woman and couldn't help interrupting. ''Wait! Was that guy with the explosives a tall blond with mouths on his hands?!'' Asked the tomboy. She only knew of one person who used clay explosives and wanted to confirm her suspicions.

the brunette looked at the girl with surprise. ''Yes in fact. How did you know?'' Asked the woman. They had gotten a description of the attackers since Suna was trying to make public knowledge the appearance of these missing-nins, since kidnapping a Kage made them international criminals.

Kurotsuchi looked furious at knowing that. So, that was how the Akatsuki had managed to infiltrate Iwa. With someone as knowledgeable about the place as Deidara that made it easier for them to do it. Actually, she wouldn't be surprised if the bomber himself was the one to lay waste to her home since Deidara would never let an opportunity to blow shit up get away.

Now, everyone in the room was looking at Kurotsuchi expectantly as the girl explained herself. ''That guy you are talking about must be Deidara. He is a missing-nin from Iwa and is the only person I know of that uses that kind of Jutsu.'' Informed Kurotsuchi seething with anger.

''So you know him?'' Inquired Tsunade.

Kurotsuchi nodded trying to keep herself calm. ''I did, years ago before he defected. Now there are very few things I would like more than skinning him alive.''

''I understand.'' Said the Hokage before she turned to Kakashi and his team again. ''Team seven, your mission is decided then: You are to go to Suna and inform Konoha of the situation in there, also you are to follow their orders in helping them get back the Kazekage.'' Ordered Tsunade with authority.

''Wait! You have to let me go with them!'' Requested Kurotsuchi, getting even further looks of surprise from everyone.

''I thought I made it clear that you can't go outside the village with them. Also, I don't appreciate you wasting our time when we have such a delicate situation on our hands.'' Said Tsunade sternly, annoyed that the girl had changed her mind about not caring if she went or not.

''I promise I won't get in the way or try anything funny. I just want to help you get rid of Deidara. I won't ever forgive that asshole for what he did to my home. Besides, his Akatsuki friends have almost killed me twice and I want to return the favor.'' Said Kurotsuchi with a fierce look in her pink eyes.

''That's right! Kurotsuchi knows this guy, doesn't she? so she can be a big help if we are to fight him!'' Said Naruto backing up the girl.

Before Tsunade could object with both of them, Kakashi decided to speak his mind also. ''I'm with Naruto on this one, Tsunade-Sama. If the girl is familiar with one of the Akatsuki's techniques, this could give us a boost in our fighting strategy along with an element of surprise since the Akatsuki won't expect us to know anything about them.'' Said the copy ninja calmly.

Naruto and Kurotsuchi didn't expect the cyclops to agree with them, but still they gave him thankful looks for helping them in trying to convince the Hokage.

Tsunade sighed, trying to think of what to do. However, she didn't have a lot of time to waste so she had to make a decision fast. ''I'm sorry, but I still can't risk sending her with you right now.'' Said the Hokage with finality.

Naruto looked disappointed while Kurotsuchi clenched her teeth with impotence before she turned around with an angry huff.

''Fine. I don't know why I even bothered to ask.'' Said the tomboy as she walked to the door and left the office, all the while feeling like a fool for even considering the idea of asking the Hokage something like that.

''Kurotsuchi, wait!'' Said Naruto with an arm extended towards her to grab her attention but she ignored him as she closed the door behind her.

''Let her go, Naruto. You have an important mission right now so you all better get moving.'' Said Tsunade.

''Roger'' Said Kakashi and Sakura in unison, while Naruto just nodded sadly, as he was just informed that one of his friends was captured and the other couldn't even come to help despite the fact that she would be a big help. But even if the blond wasn't feeling in high spirits, he still tried to shake off his bad mood as he needed to be at his best if he was to help Gaara.

So without nothing else to add, Team Seven left the office to gear up for the difficult mission ahead of them.

-Konoha's Streets-

Kurotsuchi strolled angrily towards her apartment building. It had been a few minutes since she was denied the chance of finally taking part in Deidara's demise. She was sure that the bastard had played a major part when the Akatsuki attacked Iwa, there was simply no way that they hadn't used someone familiar with the village to facilitate the attack. Even if she didn't like working alongside the Konoha Shinobi, she was still a Kunoichi and she couldn't stand not being able to test her abilities once in a while, and what better way to do that than by tying some loose ends and hopefully killing Deidara.

She rushed up the steps of the building and passed Naruto's apartment door before she reached her own and went inside, all the while as she tried to keep her temper in check. It would do her no good to make a scene over this. She honestly didn't know what she had been expecting. She was a prisoner and of course, they would not send a prisoner and risk her escaping.

The tomboy decided to go straight to lay down on her bed and did just that. She wasn't in the mood to be wandering Konoha as a fool by herself, so she might as well just stay inside her temporary domicile as long as she felt like it. And as she was staring at the ceiling as she laid on her bed, she heard some noise coming from Naruto's apartment. No doubt the blond was gathering supplies for his trip as quickly as possible, so she just ignored it for the moment. And after a couple of minutes passed, she heard the door to Naruto's apartment close. But instead of the boy going away as she had expected him to, she heard someone knock on her front door, who no doubt had to be Naruto. The knocks were easy to hear since she left the door of her room open.

''What do you want Naruto?'' Asked the Kunoichi in a loud voice so the boy could hear her.

''I just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving already and probably won't be back for at least a couple of weeks or so.'' Said Naruto at the other side of the door. ''Since I'm not going to be here, I thought it would be a good idea to leave you a copy of my key so you can go to my place to eat if you wish. I already bought plenty of groceries, so you don't have to worry about only finding ramen to eat.'' Informed the blond.

Oh right, she had forgotten that if Naruto wasn't there then there would be no one to pay for her expenses. well, at least he made sure to not leave her starving while he was away. She thought it was very thoughtful coming from Naruto since he wasn't exactly a great example of responsibility. So with a groan, she got up from the bed once again and rapidly got to her front door and opened it to see Naruto outside.

Despite not feeling too cheerful himself, the Jinchuuriki still managed to give a girl a small grin. ''Hey.'' Said the blond with a wave of his hand before he presented a small key to the girl with his other hand. ''Here you go. It's an extra copy of my key. I have it in case I lose mine, but I guess that it would be more useful to you right now.''

''Thanks.'' Said Kurotsuchi as she tentatively grabbed the key from the Jinchuuriki's hand and stared at it for a bit.

''Look, I'm sorry that Tsunade-Baachan didn't let you come with us.'' Said Naruto with a guilty look on his face.

Kurotsuchi sighed and shrugged off the boy's concern with her hand. ''It's fine. I know that wasn't your fault, so don't worry about it.''

Naruto was happy at the girl's understanding. However, he needed to hurry. Not only was his team waiting for him, but also Gaara was in trouble and needed his help ASAP. ''Then, I'll see you later!'' Said Naruto with a wave of his arm as he turned around and started sprinting away.

''Naruto.''

The blond stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at the pink-eyed girl with a puzzled look.

''Be careful out there. I won't be there this time to cover your ass from the Akatsuki pricks.'' Said the girl with a playful smirk.

Naruto gave her one of his usual broad smiles and a thumbs up. ''Don't worry, I won't let my guard down. And besides, Kakashi-Sensei and Sakura-chan will be with me the entire time.'' Assured the blond Jinchuuriki before speeding off again.

Now that Kurotsuchi was left alone, she stood there wondering what to do now that she was left to her own devices. And after a moment of thinking, she got a sly grin on her face as she started repeatedly tossing and catching the key on her hand. ''I'm sure Naruto won't mind if I take a quick look through his apartment, Right?'' Thought the girl deviously. She was bored and looking around the blond's apartment to find something embarrassing to tease him later with sounded like fun. She also doubted that the ANBU would bother her since the blond technically gave her permission to enter his apartment.

So, after closing and securing her apartment, she walked towards Naruto's door that was just beside hers and unlocked it. Once she stepped inside, she could see that the place was cleaner than the last time she had been there, as she didn't see any dirty clothes on the floor or any empty instant ramen cups as she had been expecting. She supposed that Naruto had cleaned recently and she could only see a couple of Kunai and Shuriken scattered beside the bed, probably the blond inadvertently left them there when he packed in a hurry.

Kurotsuchi decided to pay no mind to it at the moment, and instead, just walked a few steps as she glanced around the small room curiously. She peeked a bit inside the closet, but as expected, she only found hanged clothes there so she left that alone. She approached the cabinet instead, but inside there were some dusty scrolls and a couple of books on gardening, not really anything of interest. Having enough of that, she thought about searching under the bed. She finally gave a victorious grin when she felt some kind of thick book on her grip. She pulled out said book and she noted that it was some sort of photo album. She would have hoped to find something more interesting than that, but it was good enough she supposed.

So, the pink-eyed girl started going through the pages, only to see all different kinds of pictures with either Naruto in it or some of his friends, as she could tell since she had already met some of them. She was getting disappointed as she continued going from image to image as she really wasn't seeing anything that caught her eye. She eventually found photos of a little Naruto no older than maybe four years old. She smirked, and thought that she would never have imagined that the blond idiot could have been such a cute little kid, at least she thought he looked rather adorable. However, she started to get a bit thoughtful as she continued to stare at the photographs, and not because of what she could see but because of what she didn't see.

She noticed that there seemed to be no photos of Naruto with his parents or family at all. Or at least that was what she supposed since not one of the adults in these photos looked remotely similar to the Genin. And in fact, she could recognize most of them, like that Iruka guy, Kakashi, Jiraiya, some photos of Naruto's team, and some of the other teams she met already. There was even some man that looked like a chef along with what seemed to the man's daughter or niece if she had to guess. But no matter how much she looked, she couldn't find any trace of the blond's family. Strange, even if most Jinchuuriki were hated by their village so much that a lot of times even their parents left them to their own devices, it was simply too weird that there was nothing here. Even when Jinchuuriki were ignored, they still kept some sort of contact with their families. For example, the Hachibi Jinchuuriki was the brother of the Raikage, even if he had been adopted, and to her understanding, they were on good terms. She knew that the Ichibi was the child of the late Yondaime Kazekage, and even had siblings who he lived with. Hell, even Han and Roshi were distant relatives of Kurotsuchi and her grandpa always made sure to check on them from time to time.

By the time the tomboy had finished the album, she had a frown on her face as she pondered on this matter. She realized that she didn't know that much about the blond idiot now that she thought about it. It may be wise to look into this if it concerned the only friend she had in Konoha -Or at least the closest thing she had to one anyway- but she didn't know if it was prudent to ask Naruto himself as it may come across as nosy and/or rude. As she was deep in thought, she was startled by a knock on the door, and in a hurry, she closed the album shut and hastily put it back under the bed. She stood up and wondered if she should open the door or just ignore it and let whoever it was, go away, as it might seem a bit awkward if any of Naruto's friends found her inside his apartment.

''Naruto, are you there?'' Asked a voice on the other side of the door, and Kurotsuchi though it sounded familiar. And after thinking about it a little bit, she remembered that it belonged to Iruka, the one guy from Naruto's friends that trusted her the least. ''Just my luck'' Thought the girl in frustration. But on the other hand, this might be a good opportunity. She could get some information on Naruto's family from his former teacher and she might be able to get the guy to realize that she wasn't out to get Naruto's blood, at least not anymore.

So, having made up her mind, she proceeded to open the door of the apartment to find Iruka. The young Chunin seemed to have been about to go already as he was facing away from the apartment, but as soon as he heard the door open, he turned around with a smile expecting to see his blond student. ''Naruto, I thought you already...'' However, his smile vanished as soon as he saw the Kunoichi, and instead, it was replaced by a look of shock and surprise. ''What are- I mean, what is going- I mean...'' Iruka was at a complete loss for words as he tensed up. He was clearly unsure of what to make of this situation.

Kurotsuchi was worried that the man would take this the wrong way and deduce that she came here to assassinate the blond or something. In fact, he almost looked ready to fight by his tense posture, which she found to be a bit of an overreaction. ''Hey, I'm sorry but if you are looking for Naruto he already left.'' Despite her relaxed behavior, Iruka was still tense, but at least he calmed somewhat.

''So, where is he?'' Asked the man tentatively, no doubt wondering if she had hurt Naruto in his own home.

''He left a little while ago. He had a very important mission, so he was in a rush.'' Explained the tomboy as calmly as she could to avoid upsetting the man any further.

''Oh, that's right. His mission.'' Said Iruka, feeling a bit absent minded. He had come here in the first place once he heard that Naruto got a mission to rescue the Kazekage, so he had been hoping to get to the blond before he left to wish him good luck and see him off. And in his shock at seeing the girl in the Jinchuuriki's apartment, he had forgotten to consider that the boy had already left. But still, that didn't answer another question... ''And may I ask, what you are doing here?'' Asked Iruka with as much politeness as he could muster, but still he couldn't help but sound a bit abrasive.

Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes at the man's paranoia. ''He has the responsibility to look after me as long as I'm here in Konoha. But since he will be gone for a while, he left me a key to his apartment so I could help myself to anything I may need from his home, mostly just food.'' Explained the girl a bit annoyed and ashamed to say out loud that the moron had to take care of her, but there was nothing to do about it since it was the truth.

Iruka gave a sigh of relief. ''I guess that makes sense.''

''I was just about to leave anyway.'' Said the girl as she stepped out of the apartment and started locking the door behind her.

''Well, since Naruto isn't here, it seems that I came all the way here for nothing.'' Said Iruka casually. ''Then, I think I should be going now. Sorry for disturbing you.'' Continued the man as he started turning around to leave.

''Wait.'' Said Kurotsuchi, which mad Iruka halt with a puzzled look as he stared at her. ''You are Naruto's former teacher, right?'' Inquired the girl.

Iruka looked curiously at the tomboy for the sudden question. ''Yes, I used to be his academy teacher. Why do you ask? I believe we were already introduced to each other before'' Answered Iruka, wondering what was the point of the Kunoichi's question.

''Then, you must have known the guy for a very long time. correct?'' Kurotsuchi continued her questioning.

''Yes, you could say that.'' Said Iruka with suspicion. What was the girl getting at here?

''I'm just saying because I couldn't help but notice how close the two of you are.'' Said the pink-eyed girl with a small smirk.

''It's only natural for a teacher to worry about his students. Even former students.'' Replied the Chunin in a matter of fact way.

''Maybe, but is easy to see that you are particularly fond of Naruto, and more than a bit protective of him too if the way you are cautious of me is any indication.'' Said Kurotsuchi with a hard stare. ''Don't think I haven't noticed how wary you are whenever he is around me.''

Iruka narrowed his eyes at the accusations. ''Well, you'll have to forgive me for not trusting my student with someone from an enemy nation that has already tried to kill him before.'' Said Iruka with a look of his own just as harsh as hers.

''And I totally get it, but I don't want to start an argument over it since that is not my intention. Trying to defend myself is not what I wanted to talk to you about.'' clarified the girl as she crossed her arms.

''And what else would you want to talk to me about?'' Said Iruka mimicking the girl's previous action, as he too, crossed his arms.

Kurotsuchi sighed as her features softened just a little bit. ''There is something I wanted to ask you about Naruto since you seem to know him well.'' Admitted the tomboy.

Iruka raised an eyebrow at the girl. ''I don't think it is my place to be talking about Naruto's matters. Whatever it is you want to know, you should ask him directly.'' Not to mention that he didn't feel comfortable giving this enemy Kunoichi any information about the Jinchuuriki.

''I can understand that you have your reservations about telling me anything, so I will just ask and you can choose to answer the question or not.'' Said the girl with a serious face, and when she didn't see Iruka attempting to leave, she guessed that was her cue to continue. ''Is just that... I have seen a lot of his friends, his team, Jiraiya. You know a lot of the people closest to him. And that is good and all, but I have yet to meet any of his family.'' Said Kurotsuchi, and that made Iruka tense up as he realized that the girl didn't know who Naruto's parents were, which was good. ''And I found it odd. Even with his 'condition' I find it weird that they don't keep some sort of contact with him.''

Iruka was at a loss, he wasn't sure how to approach this question. He could just ignore the girl as he probably should, but if she was dead set on knowing more about Naruto's family, he feared that she would go researching on this matter by herself, and if she were to somehow find out who Naruto's parents were, he doubted it would be pretty since almost all Iwa Shinobi absolutely despised the Yondaime. So after Iruka gave a sigh, he went right into answering the girl. ''I'm afraid to Say it, but unfortunately, Naruto never knew his parents. He grew up in an orphanage for most of his youth.'' Informed Iruka with a heavy heart. Even if he didn't feel right telling this to the Kunoichi, he hoped that at least with this answer it would give her some finality on the matter. She was only focusing on Naruto and didn't have a reason to be taking an interest in the parents of an orphan.

Kurotsuchi widened her eyes in shock at hearing that. ''No way...that is just...'' She couldn't find the words to express herself at the moment. Naruto was an orphan who never even knew his parents? That was a sad thought for the pink-eyed girl. She herself couldn't imagine growing up without her father and grandfather. Not having her mother was bad enough, but she couldn't fathom the sorrow of growing up without any family to look out for her. Naruto didn't have that and she would have never guessed. ''I never realized that...'' Said the tomboy with a much softer tone and sad features.

Iruka was taken aback by the girl's reaction. It was weird to see her show something even resembling concern. However, she could have just been faking it for all he knew. But if that was the case, she was pretty good at masking her emotions, since he couldn't tell if she was, even with all his years of experience as a Shinobi. ''Not only that, but he spent most of his life without a friend. I'm ashamed to admit it, but even I was reluctant to befriend him for the longest time.'' Iruka wasn't exactly sure why he was saying all this to her, but he supposed that some side of him really wanted to believe that the girl really did care about being a good friend for the blond, at least he hoped so, since it seemed that it didn't matter what Iruka did, he could not protect Naruto should she want to harm him. So, that only left having faith that she really didn't intend to do it.

Kurotsuchi felt even worse at hearing that from Iruka. Not having a family growing up was bad enough, but no friends either?! Along with everyone in the village hating him, she was convinced that it was a miracle that he didn't end up as a demented antisocial psycho. Naruto was always so cheerful and friendly, he was always trying to see the good in people, and on top of that, he believed in a peaceful future. Sure, she herself thought that those dreams were stupid because they simply weren't realistic. But the point was, that Naruto should have ended up much worse. ''I see...thanks for answering my question. You can go now, and sorry for bothering you.'' Said the girl melancholically, and after going over the new information in her head for a few seconds, she proceeded to walk towards her own apartment.

Iruka looked inquisitively at the young woman's actions, and just before she stepped into her apartment, he called out to her again. ''You really have nothing against Naruto, then?'' Asked the Chunin. It seemed senseless to ask, since even if she really did plan to stab the boy in the back, she would never admit it. But this was pretty much his last chance to try and detect any lies that the girl might throw his way.

Kurotsuchi stopped halfway through the entrance to her apartment and turned to look at Iruka directly in the eyes with conviction. ''He has been a friend to me even when I didn't deserve it, and I owe him for that. I don't care if you or the rest of his friends don't like me, but if there is one thing I want you to have clear is that I do consider him a friend too, just as he considered me one even when he didn't have to.'' Admitting that was surprising even for Kurotsuchi. She had been debating with herself for a while now if she really thought of Naruto as a friend, but she was finally being honest and could admit that she really did consider Naruto as such.

Iruka eyed the girl throughout her explanation looking for anything that could betray any lie she was trying to say, and despite his best efforts, he couldn't. After analyzing for a minute all the girl said, he finally gave a small smile. ''I'm glad that you think of him that way.'' It seemed that Naruto had done it again and managed to befriend even the strangest of people; People that shouldn't have been possible to befriend, but here he had an Iwa Kunoichi that seemed truthful in her intentions of friendship with the blond. ''I really should be going now. But I'm glad we could clear things out.'' The Chunin then turned to leave, hoping that trusting the words of the girl wasn't a mistake.

Kurotsuchi silently watched the man go, and once he was out of sight, she went inside her apartment. Once inside, she went straight to her bed, not feeling like doing anything more for the day right now.

She laid there on her mattress, looking at the ceiling for the second time that day, thinking on what Iruka had said. She pictured the little blond boy that she saw in the photos and thought of him alone in the rain in the middle of Konoha, crying while no one came to help him, and the passing villagers just scorned him as they passed him by. In Iwa, there was nothing more important than family, everyone knew that. They were told that it was fine to stab allies in the back as long as it benefited the village in some way, but they were also told that everything they did, they did it to get a better future for one's family.

Knowing that the happiest-go-lucky guy she knew, and the only friend she had in this place, had lived such hell, left her feeling reasonably depressed. even now, the very same village he tried to protect with his life still hated him. And even after living the way he did, he was still positive and never gave up hoping for a better tomorrow. She knew that if she were in his place, and had the strongest of Biju sealed inside her, she would have given herself up to the demon a long time ago and would have gone on a rampage until she either killed everyone who ever wronged her, or they killed her.

And on top of that, he had an organization full of S-class criminals out for his blood. Now, she went back to lamenting that Tsunade hadn't let her go to help the blond with his mission, but now not only because she wanted to make them pay for what they did to her, but also because of what they wanted to do to Naruto. She didn't even know why she cared so much about this; maybe focusing on the blonds problems was a nice distraction from her own shitty situation. But whatever was the case, she couldn't seem to get the issue out of her head, and before she knew it, night had already fallen and she went to sleep with her thoughts filled with worry.

Author's notes: Hello everyone! How have you been lately? hehe...Please don't kill me!

I'm so sorry for having left for so long! I never really intended for that to happen. But this chapter man, the freaking chapter! the first half was fine, I didn't have any problems there, everything was good, but all went downhill in the second half. I don't know why exactly, but something in the later half gave me writers block, and until now I didn't even know how that felt like. I think is that I didn't know where to go after the first half, but the point is that I simply couldn't think of anything that I thought flowed well in the story, hell, even now I'm not entirely happy with it. But I admit it, I just said 'fuck it' since if I never continued, I would never finish this story so I rolled with it.

Now, I'm not going to lie to you guys and say that I'm going to be uploading two times a week to make up for the delay or something since that is a promise I can't keep. But what I can promise, is that I will really try to not let this happen again.

Anyway, now that I cleared things out, I apologize again. And the only thing left to say is that I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please review if you get the chance! thanks for sticking with me and my story guys, you are awesome!