DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own.

Thinking (or flashbacks, etc.)

Emphasis

Biju, etc. speaking

Biju, etc. thinking

"Wasn't sure I'd see you here today," Shikamaru commented, seemingly off-handedly, as he pulled out his shogi travel set at the Academy. Only he and Naruto, plus Sasuke, were in the classroom so far. Sasuke sat a row down from them so that he could sit next to the window, and Shikamaru wondered why he didn't just sit next to Naruto so that he could fully avoid his fangirls on either side of him. He was just about to mention that to the Uchiha when Hinata and Choji walked into the room, each taking up the rest of their desk.

"Hi guys," Naru said "happily," but it was pretty obvious that she wasn't offering one of her normal smiles. Shino walked in at that point and tilted his head slightly at Ru, who only gave him a wave, and began to take his things out next to Sasuke. Sasuke's tense shoulders eased up and Naru did giggle at that more genuinely. "Must be rough, Sasuke-kun!"

"Don't call me that!" the little Uchiha nearly whined. He received a few chuckles for that from everyone but Shino who pulled out his homework to most likely compare and discuss the work with Sasuke. The two boys had a lot in common, both being so serious and all.

After taking out one of his pieces - and how did that happen? - Ru leaned over to whisper to Shikamaru.

"I wasn't sure I'd come either. Supposedly I've already met the graduation requirements, but honestly... It's all, pretty much, in your dad's hands now." Shikamaru sighed, and of course said "troublesome," before telling her that he wasn't all that surprised.

Unlike in the anime, Uzumaki Naruto was very skilled. She might even be a prodigy for someone of her age, but now it made more sense to the Nara. She'd been raised by ANBU, and Shikamaru wondered if that was only because she was a girl in this dimension, as he was calling it, rather than being a boy. Or was the anime's writing that flawed when it came to Naruto's early years? He certainly didn't remember everything about the show, but he was certain that "Naruto" had been on his own in a village of jerks that didn't see him as the one who had saved them from the fox at the cost of everything to him. What additionally never sat well with him was why the citizens of the Leaf didn't see him/the real her that way, and why they would find it logical to be offensive to someone who could get angry enough to turn the fox loose on them again.

Shikamaru had no desire to see a raging Kurama, thank you very much.

Ru was much more likely to do that than the canon Naruto was, Shikamaru thought as he took out Naru's Lance - Ru whined and pouted cutely at that, giving him a dirty look for a moment - but she was far more responsible than to unseal the fox, thankfully. He had been excused from listening to Ru's conversation with his father, but the Nara heir wasn't stupid. Somehow Uzumaki Naruto - no, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, had figured out who her parents were, and maybe where they lived? He wasn't sure about the rest of it, but what pizza had to do with it, he had no idea.

Pizza... God, how I miss real pizza, he thought longingly. He'd tried to make it with his mother a few times, but it never came out the way he remembered it.

"Alright, class; pass your homework to the center of the classroom," Iruka-sensei said as he placed his bag on his desk before pulling out a couple of books. He saw Naru wince as she stopped talking to Hinata - Ru was at his house until very late in the evening - as she passed Hinata's homework to him without a page of her own. When Iruka reached the top level of desks, the sensei was much more careful to make sure that everyone there had completed their homework, so of course, he noticed that Ru hadn't turned hers in. "Uzumaki, where's your assignment?"

"I'm sorry, sensei, I didn't have time to do it last night," Naru said with a slight edge to her voice. Shikamaru understood why: he'd seen it, too. Several of the other children rather obviously hadn't passed down papers - not to mention that what they'd been asked to complete was so uselessly unchallenging anyway - but Iruka hadn't said a word to them yet.

"Out," Iruka snapped his finger and pointed at the door as he turned around to return to his desk. Ru silently packed up her backpack and gave her friends a grim smile as she walked out the door and into the hallway, shutting the door behind her. Shikamaru shook his head, deeply resenting his teacher. When he had first seen the man, he'd been excited to have such a kind soul as a sensei, but this Iruka hadn't yet recovered from his grief or blaming Naruto for surviving, it seemed. Oh, Iruka: I bet you're going to regret the way you're treating her one day, Shikamaru thought as he put his head down for a nap.

In fact, Iruka would deeply regret how he'd treated the blonde. He'd only realize what he'd done years later, the first time she'd saved his life.

Ru plopped down in the Academy hallway, huffing as she did. It only took a few minutes to complete her ridiculous homework, and she was utterly failing to remain upbeat about her situation. First, Iruka was a dick no matter what his deal was, and she couldn't deny that he might even be as bad as Mizuki-sensei although Mizuki's chakra was still worse. She pulled her hair and let out a snarl as she tried to shake off the unkind words the kids in the classroom had muttered - not under their breath - as she'd left. She'd nearly slammed the door behind her but fortunately remembered that such a thing would only get her in a world more trouble. The things those kids had called her, though...

- Lazy - I most certainly am not!
- Monster
- Bimbo
- Demon - naturally
- Slut
- Demon-whore

Honestly, how did such young children even learn such awful language? She was quite sure that she'd never heard the last two terms until she was in middle school, at least. And she didn't think that she'd called someone a "slut" out loud - other than while singing along to music with her friends - until her first assigned roommate in college had... Well, she had let one too many sleazy guys share her bed and thus their room, and Rachel hadn't been able to take it anymore. Especially not when she'd woken up to the guy going through her jewelry box.

Her lips turned up at the memory, which she knew was just wrong. But sending that guy back into her roommate's bed with a solid roundhouse kick to the chest was more than satisfying. Making Leslie (was it "Leslie?") cry when she called her out for her slutty behavior hadn't been kind, but it wasn't until the next semester that the girl brought another guy back to their room, and he was actually nice, from what she could now recall. I think they may have gotten married... Ru let out a sigh, remembering how Leslie or whatever her name was ended up pregnant but eventually excited about it before she moved out of their dorm.

Memories came back of the baby shower she'd helped arrange with "Leslie's" college friends, and she wiped her eyes in case a tear wanted to fall. Or maybe that stinging in her eyes was due to the horrible words that children (supposedly her age) spat at her. Who really knew?

I hope they're all well, she thought, thinking back to Rachel's college friends and their families again. Ru pulled out one of her journals from a storage scroll and began sketching the faces and names of those she'd just thought of, and even eventually wrote down the names of the "baby games" they'd come up with for that party. It was probably a stupid thing to focus on, but she had nothing else to do.

"You draw quite well," a pale boy that had just been excused from the classroom said to her kindly as he sat down next to her.

"Thank you," Ru said quietly before shutting that journal. "You're new to class, right?"

"Hai! My name is Sai," the boy said with a smile so... It wasn't big at all, but his smile still seemed to make the boy's eyes close anyway.

"Uzumaki Naruto. Forgive me for asking, but are you an Uchiha?"

"No, I don't have parents."

"Oh, sorry," Ru said awkwardly. This kid seemed a little different, but she shook that feeling off: he was just a little kid, after all. "I'm an orphan, too. Holy... wow! You drew that?!"

"Hai! This is my brother."

"Amazing," Ru sighed in appreciation of the young boy's drawing before bopping him gently with her shoulder, which she could tell made him immediately uncomfortable. "Sorry about that, it's just that you complimented me on something you do so well!" That comment seemed to make the kid almost proud, although he only offered her a nod of acknowledgment of her comment as he flipped through a few more pages, giving his impressive drawings more detail here and there.

Ultimately her butt hurt from sitting on the cold tile next to the quiet kid as she watched the child begin to draw a picture of trees as they might look from within an arch or a cave or something, so she did some katas. The boy watched her for quite a while without commenting and when she turned around, she saw that he was now drawing HER! "Hey! Whatcha doing?! That's embarrassing," Ru groaned while beginning to go through what Gai-san had taught her so long ago.

The boy only smiled back at her and continued to draw her or what she was doing. It was cute how serious he was.

"Uzumaki Naruto," a sober voice said from down the hall. Ru immediately came to attention as the pale boy looked on.

"You have an appointment with the Hokage," Shisui began before giving the boy who was drawing a long contemplative look. He gave the boy a very stiff and small nod before walking into the classroom to tell the senseis that they were leaving, then came back out to retrieve the blonde. "Let's go."

Ru walked beside Shisui-senpai who didn't speak until they were away from the Academy. They weren't headed toward the Tower, though, and Ru was really curious if she could finally leave that idiotic place for good. "We're going the wrong way, ne?"

Shisui's shoulders slumped as he let out a deep sigh. "We've got some time, but Mikoto-san wanted you to come over first." He finally looked down at her when they were closer to the Uchiha compound as he pursed his lips. "Hey Naruto-chan, did you say anything to that boy?"

He'd almost sneered the words "that boy," and Ru immediately came to the kid's defense. She'd had enough people sneering at her in the village to last a lifetime, and she didn't appreciate someone doing the same to another kid. "What?! He seemed like a nice boy! And I didn't say anything to him, other than compliment him on his artwork: it was really amazing for someone of his age!"

"Whoa! Calm down, little Uzumaki!" Shisui said as he held his palms up. "I didn't mean anything by it! I just wanted to know if you'd told him anything about yourself or your situation." He almost laughed at the way Ru glared at him. She was adorable.

"Hmph! No, I only told him my name, I think," Ru said before tapping her chin as they came to a halt. "Yeah: for sure. I didn't tell him anything else, and why would I say anything about 'my situation,'" she said with air quotes, "to a stranger? He seemed alright, though."

"Really? Well, let's forget about him, but do inform me immediately if you see him again, alright?"

Ru nodded her head slowly, knowing now that something was up with that kid. Why else would Shisui care about him being around her? It felt like a warning. But he's just a little kid!

...So was that ANBU guy when I was little. Ru couldn't really remember that kid; she only recalled that someone that used to guard her was really young, too, which meant that he was powerful.

"Naruto-chan, take off your henge," Shisui requested.

"Hai!" Naruto's plain teen guy image dropped and a much smaller, brighter girl was standing in his place.

"Good. I want you to stop using a henge everywhere you go unless you're alone at night," Shisui said - it almost sounded like an order.

Ru sighed and tried not to whine about it, although... "I won't be able to buy food and stuff unless I'm henged, Shisui-senpai," she said in a small voice. "I tried once, and once was enough to know that I don't want to go through that again. Please?"

Shisui nearly took a step back at seeing a flawless execution of the puppy-eyes-no-jutsu. Resist! Must resist! He utterly failed. Oh well: she was so darn cute! The young Jonin took out a camera so fast that Naru couldn't react to it before he'd caught the girl's expression/jutsu in a picture. He let out an almost evil laugh before capitulating. Ru now looked like a kitten that wanted to scratch him. Oh, this whole thing is going to be so fun! He took another picture and got swatted for it. "Insubordination! How dare you! And yes, you may use your henge to shop." He nodded to the Uchiha Compound's gate guards who greeted him and his new apprentice as they allowed them to pass. "It's best that no one sees you put on the henge before you go out with it."

Ru knew that and she told him so.

As soon as Shisui entered the main household's door, he was bowled over by his aunt who gave Naruto a suffocating hug. Naru reciprocated haltingly before it was obvious that she needed air.

"Mother, you're killing Naruto-san," came a voice from the couch on the other side of the main room.

"Oh! Gomennasai, Naruto-chan! I'm just so glad to see you!" Ru tried to reply but was really overwhelmed as she was literally dragged into the kitchen for cookies and milk. "Itachi-chan! You ate too many! You're going to get a tummy ache!"

Naru looked up and recognized the pre-teen standing next to her as one of her stalkers. He was blushing, although as soon as his mother turned around he stole another cookie and ate it quickly. Ru started to giggle, but "Itachi" quickly shook his head at her. He seemed almost afraid of his mother taking his treat away as he took yet another. It was pretty funny. She'd seen the boy in a Chunin vest, and to see him being a normal kid was somewhat comforting. "We haven't met formally but I remember him acknowledging me when he was with his father one time - plus he was following me around, of course," Naru said, a little sassily.

"Itachi! Did you do that?! You must've scared her," Uchiha-sensei said while swatting her son's hand. Itachi looked either ashamed or embarrassed, or something between the two.

"They did it long enough that I got used to it - so it's alright," Naru said brightly.

"You, too, Shisui?" She looked at her nephew before glancing back at Naruto to see if she was right in her assumption that "they" meant her son and nephew. The girl nodded her head and dunked her cookie in milk and looked very happy. It warmed her heart immensely. If only Sasuke-chan was here, too, this would be perfect. She turned away as she nearly cried out, knowing that it would never be perfect because Kushina and Minato weren't here, either. And Fugaku, of course. Who is being ridiculous; what am I going to do with that man?!

"How did you know it was me - or us, rather?" Shisui asked before getting a carton of milk grabbed away from his mouth by his aunt who began scolding him for not being civilized. He pointed at the milk that had "SHISUI'S" written in black marker on the side and she daintily threw up her hands before pulling more cookies out of the oven. Both Itachi and Shisui were now drinking straight from their cartons of milk. It made Naru laugh, remembering how Rachel's brother and her friends used to do the same thing when they were young.

Must be a boy thing... Suddenly an image flashed in her mind of her childhood friend, Susan(?), doing the same thing out of her fridge. Alright, maybe it's just a gross thing... "Ichika-sama says I'm a sensor. I can feel people's chakra levels and sometimes what their affinity is. Oh! And I can feel emotions and stuff," Naru replied to Itachi's question openly.

"Very impressive, Naruto-san," Itachi said as he looked - Jesus! Ru felt like he was looking straight into her soul! She gulped and pretended that the probably obvious action was from swallowing a piece of the shortbread cookie - it tasted like one of those girl scout cookies - which made Ru think of making one of those that had the caramel, chocolate, and coconut and nearly groaned just remembering those and Thin Mints. Oh yeah, she growled to herself. If she could go on missions, she could make more money and maybe afford ingredients like that. She started to bounce in her seat, the sugar getting to her.

"Maybe if I learn to cook well enough, I can become a chef like Gordon Ramsey!"

"Who is Gordon Ramsey?" Uchiha-sensei asked as she put even more cookies on a baking rack.

Naru felt her face heat up. "Some guy that cooks really well!" Oh God: get a hold of your hyperactive self, Rach- er, Ru!

"What a weird kid you are, Naruto-chan," Shisui said as he stuffed another cookie into his mouth. "Aunty Mikoto, we've got to be at the Tower in an hour."

Ru spent most of the rest of that time getting a lesson on how to make those cookies along with an overview of what a formal tea ceremony was like. Uchiha-sensei said that she'd put one on as an example for her the next day, and Naru was excited and extremely grateful, knowing that it would take the Uchiha matriarch a lot of time to do such a thing. What really blew her away, though, was that Uchiha-sensei had made her some clothes... and not just anything.

"I'm..? I'm supposed to? I mean, gomennasai, Uchiha-sensei! Thank you so much for making me something like this... Well, anything really - and for thinking of me and takin' all the time you musta spent on it..." Naru's words and thoughts were spiraling, and she knew that she'd had way too much sugar as her heart was beating fast, plus what she was being asked to wear was so... so...

Mikoto laughed at her goddaughter. She supposed it was overwhelming for more than one reason. "Relax, Naru-chan. Breathe! One day soon I'll teach you to make clothing, yourself. And I was happy to do it, my girl!" She beamed at Naruto who had tears in her eyes as she looked over her work in awe. The girl also looked bewildered - even more so as Mikoto pulled out a matching cap. "Now go change in the guest room upstairs, dear. Third room on your left. Go on, now!"

Ru ran up the stairs and into the room, wondering why she'd be wearing an MPF police uniform of all things - or a small version of one. She knew the hat would be way too big for her, and as she redressed, only hoped that she didn't look ridiculous. A full mirror was on one side of the room, and Ru looked at herself as she buckled her matching blue and gray belt. The fabric and details made it seem like she was wearing one of those super-nice Halloween costumes Rachel sometimes rented for the night as an adult, only this was nice and new - and chibi-sized, of course. A horrific thought occurred to her, though: Am I going to have to wear this out in the village without a henge?!

Naru was shocked by people's attitudes as they walked through the Uchiha district and then into the village, unhedged as she feared. Mikoto-oba, as she now insisted on being called, had twirled her hair around in circles on her head and then pinned the ends of it in a small bun so that the police cap wouldn't either fall down onto the bridge of her nose or just fall off completely. She felt like she needed a bag to attempt to gather candy in, ("Trick or Treat!") but surprisingly, people only gave her and Shisui a respectful nod or outright bowed to them. ...Well, bowed to Shisui and acknowledged her at least a little, anyway.

At least they weren't being mean! Naru would take that as a positive any day.

"The bill of this hat is sharp! Can you throw it like a shuriken?"
"I need some sunglasses so I can have that whole cool cop look, ne Shisui-senpai? Do you have sunglasses?"
"You could really do a number on someone with this billy club. Can you put chakra through it?"

Those were some of the many - and he meant MANY - questions his little apprentice asked that were worrying him. As if I'm not worried enough... He didn't know what had changed between yesterday and today; he only knew that the Hokage and Jonin Commander had asked for his attendance early this morning, the Hokage staring at him intensely for more than several seconds before he finally gave his orders.

"I'll allow you to apprentice Uzumaki Naruto, but Jonin Uchiha, remember well: Naruto-chan is Konoha's greatest weapon, and you must ensure her present and future loyalty to me, my position, and this village beyond anything else. You will report back on how this progresses."

With that, he was dismissed - although he did see the sour expression on Commander Nara's face.

He stopped before reaching the Tower and saw fear flicker through Naruto's expression, most likely due to the fact that they were directly in front of the Academy. "We will be speaking to the Hokage about your apprenticeship." Had her nose just wrinkled at the mention of the Hokage? Great - just great. "I must ask you a question, though, Naruto-san. Do you wish to hurt people with your cap or baton?" And what's a "billy club?" That question was less important, though.

Naruto paled, then gathered her wits about her and bowed to her hopefully soon-to-be shishou. "I never want to hurt anyone, Shisui-senpai!" Her throat felt dry. "I'm sorry about my stupid questions. To umm, tell you the truth," she bit her lip in embarrassment and nearly whispered an explanation for her stupidity. "I think I had too many cookies. Uhh! I mean, I umm, had too much sugar which makes me hyperactive. I'm a little hyperactive anyway and always have been."

Two lifetimes worth of ADHD: just great, Ru thought.

Shisui let out a subdued bark of laughter at the sad, slouching girl. "That makes sense, and from now on, you'll give your treats, dango, and such to me!" He wanted to pat her head, but his aunt had already told him that if he touched her hat, the whole hair spectacle would come raining down. "Seriously, though, Naruto-chan... You will be forced to hurt and even kill as a shinobi, but that should only be done in order to protect your comrades."

"Yes sir," Ru said as she looked down sadly. "That's what I've been told." They resumed walking into the Tower and as they climbed the stairs, the little blonde said something that made Shisui feel better. "Maybe there are things that can be done to change that, though. Change the need to inflict pain or worse on someone, I mean?"

"Indeed, Naruto," Shisui said as he patted the girl's shoulder twice, "it is always best to seek out peaceful solutions to any problem."

"If everyone did that, we could achieve peace!" Naruto chirped. Shisui gave her a brilliant smile in agreement before he knocked on the Hokage's door.

The way Naruto's shoulders stiffened, her smile replaced by a grimace that flattened out into an apathetic expression, was worrisome. It was already obvious that the little girl didn't like the Hokage. Honestly? He couldn't blame her. That just made his job even harder.