"Eh?" Naruto rolled over onto his stomach and looked across the bushy clearing to Jiraiya, who crouched down with his arms folded before his chest and scrutinized Naruto with an odd look. "What do you want?" Naruto demanded petulantly as he painfully stood up and tried to dust himself off. He winced as his fingers brushed against bruises and scrapes.

Jiraiya glared back. "You wanted me to train you, didn't you, kid?" he asked with an odd gleam in his eye and tone in his voice.

Naruto brightened, momentarily forgetting how sore he was already. "Yes! I need to get stronger in a hurry!" He pumped his arms in the air. "I need to be stronger, faster, and better at fighting!"

"Better looking, too, I suppose."

Naruto blinked. "Huh? What does better looking gotta do with being a better ninja?"

Jiraiya smiled suddenly, and the earlier tone in his voice changed to something of satisfaction when he spoke. "Good." He jumped to his feet and strode across the clearing. "Sometimes I don't know about you girls," he said conversationally, glancing sideways at the damage Naruto had inflicted on his surroundings. "These days, more girls seem to place their looks on a higher platform of importance than their skills. There's only one person I know who can fight in high heels and do a damn good job at not breaking her ankle.

"At first I thought you were one of them, but since you seem to be willing to change and because you remind me of someone else, I suppose I can spare a few hours to help you."

"All right!" Naruto raised a triumphant fist in the air. "So where do we begin?" he asked eagerly.

Jiraiya's hand shot upward into the air. "Stop. Before we begin, there are three points I want to make clear." He held up one finger. "One. You are not to question me. You'll have to trust my methods and my advice." He glared suddenly at Naruto. "If not, I'll stop immediately and go elsewhere."

"Uh. S-sure. As long as I don't have to do anything that's, you know, unseeming." Naruto had heard Sakura say something like that when he overheard her and Ino discussing the inappropriateness of certain duties expected of women in their field of work.

Jiraiya didn't blink. "Two. Anytime you stop fighting, or do or say anything pertaining to your hair, your clothes, your makeup, or anything that girls tend to do when they're being silly instead of being ninja, I still stop immediately and go elsewhere."

Naruto shuddered as he recalled Ino's wicked plans for him. "No problem about that," he said wryly.

"Three." Jiraiya paused a moment as he thoughtfully studied Naruto's face with a slight frown of concentration marring his own. A slight wind ruffled the leaves and sent them scattering across the forest floor. Naruto stared back, silently waiting for Jiraiya to finish his terms. Naruto restlessly transferred his weight from one foot to another, wanting to fidget and wanting to itch his scratches and rub his bruises. He felt self-conscious of the scrapes, the discoloration, the damage and the weariness of a body distinctly not his own. "Three," Jiraiya said finally with a firm note in his voice, "I expect you to give me everything you have. I don't want a half-hearted attempt. If you do I'll know you aren't serious, and that training you would be a waste of my time." He crossed his arms firmly before his chest. "Do you accept the conditions laid before you?"

Naruto blinked. "That's it? Oh, good." He pressed a hand against his chest, and then jerked it back when he realized it probably looked like he was groping himself. "I thought you were going tell me I had to wear padded bras or somethin'."

Jiraiya was silent for a moment before he leered quite suggestively at Naruto. "Why? You offering?"

"Ack!" Nuruto waved his hands in pinwheels and shook his head. "No! No! That's unseeming!""

"Oh, then don't suggest anything then." Jiraiya turned his face, disappointment still briefly appearing on his face before it was gone. "Now, fight."

Naruto started to look around. "When — oh." He ducked but wasn't fast enough to dodge Jiraiya's kick. It sent him skidding across the forest floor. Naruto surged to his feet, eager and ready, just in time to see the heel of Jiraiya's palm before it slammed into his jaw. Startled, Naruto rolled and leapt his hands and feet, scrambled forward and ducked below one long sweep of Jiraiya's hand. Something hard slammed into Naruto's solar plexus and sent him skidding backwards. Naruto did manage to keep his balance, but his wits scattered about him as Jiraiya made the hands signs for Kage Bunshin. Three of him were suddenly present, two forms on either side glimmering before they were solid. The Jiraiyas on the left and right jumped into the surrounding brush, and the middle Jiraiya sprinted toward Naruto, his mouth set in a grim smile and his heels digging in the soft soil.

Naruto grabbed a kunai from his pack and tried to perform Kage Bunshin. He concentrated on the movement of his fingers, trying to feel for the energy he only noticed having when there was none. He felt something twinge just beyond his reach and mentally tried grasping at it, but it slithered from his reach like something slimy and inconsistent with gravity. With a frustrated sigh, Naruto swiped at Jiraiya with his kunai. Jiraiya caught the blow with his forearm and twisted against Naruto's arm. The kunai fell from sudden numb fingers. Naruto flailed his arms and legs and caught Jiraiya — oops. The part of Naruto who was male sympathized immediately, but the part of him who was female said, in a very firm voice reminiscent of Sakura, "Huh. Should have used more force."

Jiraiya's clone pounced on Naruto from above. Naruto sensed something coming and lunged forward, stumbling as a sense of fatigue hit him. His earlier training had not readied him for an even more intensive fight with one of the Legendary Three (who, he suspected, calculating the force of Jiraiya's attacks and current speed against what he had witnessed times before, was going rather easy on him) but he still had enough speed to duck beneath the hands. However, his speed was not such that he could fully avoid physical contact with the clone.

The clone's fingers skimmed Naruto's front and clawed at something substantial as Naruto rolled and scrambled backwards. The fingers succeeded in finding purchase.

"IIEEEEE!" Naruto's temper flared at the indignity and invasiveness, and something flooded, like a sticky substance pouring through his blood vessels. It took only an instance, but he grasped wildly at the spiraling, surging energy. It seemed to slide past him before his anger hooked it with a sharp grasp. It bucked in protest and tried to yank itself beyond his reach, but once Naruto had it firmly in his grasp, he was not about to let it go.

Naruto's fist came up with his cry, and smashed into the clone's jaw. It released him in surprise and flew backwards through the air before the jutsu dispelled with a pop and a cloud of loose chakra. He had it. He could feel his entire arm blaze with chakra, tightening the muscle and spilling through capillaries, arteries, veins. It rushed through him, chasing away fatigue, burning away pain, releasing power that had eluded him since the switch.

Naruto, in his righteous rage, had become an empowered woman.

Across the clearing, Jiraya burst from the bushes and rushed across at Naruto, his arms swinging at his side and his mouth twisted in a patient smile, as if he knew the struggles Naruto had with not being able to harness and control the chakra before, but now finally realized success. With a mighty roar, Naruto flung himself forward to meet Jiraiya headlong, and the resulting crash of chakras echoed throughout the forest.

Kabuto studied his surroundings, the scuffing on the ground, the few remaining scraps, and the odd square prints that littered amongst the footsteps. "I've seen this before," he muttered to himself with a deep frown. Where had it been...

"What?" Sakon asked, leaning against a tree and pretending that he wasn't unnerved of what had happened.

"Oh, sorry. I'm just talking to myself." Kabuto waved the other Sound nin's curiosity away with his hand and a brief smile, and then went back to contemplating old memories. He muttered again as he picked up one branch that had been crushed in the scrimmage. He scrutinized it and turned it over and over in his hands.

"What did this?" Sakon asked.

Kabuto stood up and tossed the branch to the side. "You won't believe me if I told you," he said over his shoulder as he adjusted his glasses. "But it's a curse that has been unleashed upon this world. If you should ever see something that should not exist bearing down on you, don't stop to question it." His next words sent chills racing down Sakon's spine. "And you better hope you can outrun it. Ah, we best be going." Kabuto craned his neck to look upward at the setting sun. "It's getting dark and we still have to check Naruto's behavior."

Before the other Sound nin could say anything, Kabuto quickly shed his clothes to put on black tang-top and fire-knit trousers, silver chest plate and heavy combat shoes, adjusting leather straps as he went. It took a brief moment to wrap the flat cords around his arms and lower legs. Upon removing his forehead protector, he pulled his hair free of its usual ponytail and then rubbed something away from his shoulder to revealing the ANBU's tattoo.

Sakon whistled as Kabuto removed a small bottle with his right hand from the bag slung around his hips. "This is way above your usual ANBU disguise of a cloak and mask."

"The cloak and mask isn't going to work like last time. They'd be expecting that," Kabuto replied as he shook the bottle for a moment, popped the top off, and deftly overturned it to smear some of its crème content across the fingers of his left hand. With his right hand he held the bottle and removed his glasses. He quickly and liberally rubbed the crème over the skin of his face, shoulders, arms, and hands. The crème sank into his skin, changing color and texture. He felt his skin stretching and sagging slightly, taking definition from his facial features, changing the shape of his hands. The effects would last a week if he didn't bathe, but only two days if he did. He dabbed more onto his hand, rubbed both together, and then combed it through his hair. That would take the silver gleam out of it.. He slipped the bottle back into the bag and gathered his hair up at his nape. With several deft twists of his wrists, the hair was twisted into an intricate club and then tied.

Known now as a defected ninja and known traitor of the Leaf, he could not afford to be seen. True, he would suspected of disguising himself as an ANBU should he come back, but ANBU still kept their faces hidden for a reason, and if he had to unveil his face, this would keep him from being readily identified. Orochimaru had sent him for his judgment, wanting to know if what ever effected Naruto and Sakura was contagious, and he was more familiar with medical aspects and personalities of the two than anyone else in the Hidden Sound Village. Not, of course, that there were too many people to be compared with when it came to knowing what sort of persons Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were like.

The glasses were securely placed inside a special container and tucked into the bag. Kabuto pressed two fingers on either hand to the outside corner of each eye, closed his eyes, and concentrated for a moment. The chakra gathered at his fingertips then lanced through his sockets. The extra energy supercharged his nerves and corrected the lenses temporarily. He could see well enough not to trip without his glasses now, but still not enough for any extrinsic fighting, much less wandering around in the dark. He would have to be quick before holing up for the night.

"There. I'm ready," he told Sakon. With a backwards glance at the scattered square peg holes and a shudder not easily suppressed, Kabuto launched himself into the trees and followed Sakon back to Konoha.


The stenchof turpentine was enough to make Ino's mother gag when she entered the house. Choking, she opened every window she happened upon as she made her way from the threshold to the kitchen. Within the kitchen, she saw her daughter hopscotching around a bowl of bubbling, fowl-looking gook set in the middle of the floor. Ino seemed to be chanting something odd under her breath, and made what looked to be obscene gestures.

"Ino?" her mother inquired cautiously. "What are you doing?"

Ino paused on one foot and her hands froze in mid-gesture. "Mom!" She seemed to cringe, glancing from the gook to mother and then back to the gook. "Uh, this isn't what it looks like!"

Ino's mother's gaze traveled nearly the same route. "I'm not even sure what it should look like, much less what it does look like." Then, because she was fairly sure that made no sense whatsoever, she hastened to add, "It would seem you are making some sort of scientific experiment."

Ino looked very relieved, and nodded her head vigorously to that. "Yeah, a scientific experiment. Don't worry about the mess –- I'll clean it up later."

Ino's mother slowly nodded her head. "Very well." As she turned her back to Ino, she heard her daughter begin the chanting all over again and heard the thumping as she continued her jumping. Ino's mother didn't know too much about ninjas and their work; she, after all, only married one. Her interests lay in horticulture, which was not much of a hot topic with ninjas. If Ino wanted to follow her father's footsteps, Ino's mother was perfectly willing to applaud the decision and lend support.

When she entered her bedroom, she saw her husband lying on the bed, a dazed expression on his face. As she approached, he pushed himself upright on his elbows and looked at her almost in accusation. "If it weren't for the blonde hair, I'd ask if you were absolutely sure she was my daughter," he said.

With a long-suffered sigh, Ino's mother removed her scarf and looped it over the bed frame. "Darling, you will not be pinning this on me. I've already explained to you that she gets most of it from your side of the family."

With a sigh, he flopped onto his back. "I was afraid of that," he said mournfully.

Back in the kitchen, Ino finished her chant. She contemplated the bowl on the floor for a moment before she picked it up and set it on the counter. With a wooden spoon, she quickly mixed the contents with efficient twists of her wrist. The dough was sticky and thick, and her eyes watered from standing in close proximity to it. She was beginning to have doubts that she should do this, let alone to say nothing of the guilt for having to resort to drugging someone into liking her. But, one had to do what one had to do. And, if nothing else, this could be a useful ninja trick to keep ion mind for missions. If her mind jutsu wasn't enough, then her cooking surely would be used as a deadly weapon.

Now, why did that sound so bad, when she stopped and thought about it?


Sasuke's walk slowed slightly, as if he could perceptibly sense something was close at his heels, silent as a shadow and as noticeable as the kiss of sunshine on the pavement he strode upon. Then, as if nothing ever happened, his pace returned to normal. Jiroubou hesitated only slightly, careful not to catch notice. Who ever thought up the oh-so-brilliant plan of following the leftover Uchiha prodigy in broad daylight in a recently demolished village of up-in-arms ninjas must have been smoking something interesting.

On the other hand, Jiroubou suspected that would explain a great deal of Orochimaru-sama's history, not the least including a set of vocal cords warped and made raw by something. (And whatever it was, Jiroubou wished that Orochimaru-sama would be oh so generous and share it. Oh, he knew he should have taken up Tayuya when she said she was off to raid Kabuto's stores.)

However, did Sasuke suspect something? If the boy was as good as Orochimaru-sama hoped, then surely the boy must have sensed something. It was times like this that Jiroubou wished he could read minds. What he would give to be able to understand what was going on through Sasuke's.


Sasuke's pace slowed once more, almost too slight for the average human being to notice, as doubts once again assailed his mind. I did turn off the coffee pot. Didn't I? I could have sworn I did, but I don't really remember. The doubts would continue to plague him until he returned home.


Sakura finally bounced to a halt in the fork of the mountains. With a sigh, she settled comfortably in the branches of the tree, willing her muscles to relax. She was closer to the village now than when she had been when she first began experimenting, but still far way from it to avoid detection. She willed her aching muscles to relax as she took slow, deep breaths. Meditation was not something she often did, but it seemed like a good idea now. Without being told, without really knowing why, urged by a silent voice, she knew she had an important conversation to engage in. She closed her eyes and relaxed into the darkness of her mind, allowing it to fall over herself like a dark veil. Inner Sakura rose upward and offered a hand.

Accepting it, Sakura was tugged into the deeper recesses of what could be termed her soul. Perhaps it was a bit of Naruto's soul clinging to his body, anchored still by the malignant spirit of the nine-tailed fox demon.

The outline of her mental surroundings took shape; a dark, cavern-like basement with pipes running overhead and cold, stone walls. Inner Sakura's hold on Sakura's hand was firm and secure; she exuded confidence like the sunshine exuded light and warmth. There was something enduring, permanent, and strong about Inner Sakura. As they traversed through the corridors, it was as if two personalities became one. Vision shifted and skewed, becoming jaggedly split down the middle as two merged into a misshapen one. Inner Sakura absorbed into Sakura; Sakura melted into Inner Sakura. It was a strange hybrid of two voices, two minds, two personalities, and one being that came to a halt before the great bars that held the kyuubi in check. The darkness beyond the bars stirred, demonic chakra coiled just beyond, and a pair of gleaming eyes opened its malevolent gaze.

Oh great; now there's two of you. As if one wasn't enough, already.

"This had to happen," said the Sakura hybrid. "We need to talk."

We have nothing to say. I do not care to communicate with your kind.

"We're stuck in the same body."

Not if I had my way.

"You don't, which is why we need to talk."

There is nothing to say.

Something stirred beyond the reaches of comprehension, took form of a single question, unspoken, but made known to Sakura's attention. "It needs to be said, and if you don't, then I will. We are stuck with one another until this mess is cleared up." The fox demon remained silent, as if it was making a show of ignoring Sakura. The glowing eyes blinked lazily as the demon regarded them openly with cruel malice. "So let's have a truce. We don't poke fun at you, you leave us at peace, and everyone will be happy by the time we leave and regain our normal body. You can stay her, and have Naruto."

I've spent twelve years living with that obnoxiously loud-mouthed brat. What makes you think you're an improvement?

"So you're saying you enjoy having feminine companionship?"

There was a sudden sense of disgust and impatience. If they could see the shape of the demon in the darkness, Sakura was sure the kyuubi would be swishing its tails and flexing its claws in irritation. What utter nonsense, and yet nothing I am surprised to hear from the mind, or rather, minds of such a useless creature! You being Naruto and Naruto being you merely provides me with the best entertainment I've had in a long time. Still, there is nothing that can compare to the preciousness that is freedom, of not being trapped to what is disgusting and vile.

"Yet, why is it that I feel there is something more to this that you are not admitting?"

There seemed to be an amused loll of the tongue. Child, the word was spoken with mockery, I have known life since the dawn of your kind; there is so much that I know I shall never admit. The secrets of life, the secrets to power and strength. My knowledge is infinite, beyond the scope of humankind. You are not worthy to even live within my shadow, much less my knowledge being imparted upon you. Be lucky that all I can do is, as you humans say, point and laugh.

Sakura tried to wrap their mind around that concept, but the dualism seemed unable to comprehend. They resolutely pushed the idea away and sought something else. "So, then about that truce."

No.

"Why not?"

It is not within my best interest.

Sakura felt a trembling run underfoot, up the bars and into the seal across them. The glowing eyes flickered from her to the seal, almost too imperceptible to notice. Sakura seized the observation and wrung it for all its worth, remembering what was said during seemed so long ago. "It would be in our best interest." The kyuubi remained silent. Sakura stepped back and studied the seal. "We could be driven insane, and if driven insane, then to death."

A subtle shift in moods, in the level of chakra, told Sakura those words had hit the kuuybi in an unexplainable area. "Why don't we get along, just for now. Imagine tormenting Naruto about this whole misadventure when he gets back into the body."

If he gets back into the body, the kyuubi pointed out with infuriating correctness, too mild and complacent to be anything but. I do recall a certain statue has gone missing. Sakura mentally stumbled over that, and then continued on along that line of thought, using it on their behalf.

"That's right. Do you really want to be stuck with us for the rest of our life?"

Bah. Between the psychopathic split personality and the rather useless Sasuke-screeching teenybopper, I'm almost willing to live with the obnoxious loudmouth. At least he knows how to fight.

One half of Sakura — the screeching "teenybopper" — winced at the description, although she felt there was more to her than that. The other half of Sakura — the psychopathic split personality — rose end on end to snarl. "Don't think that a mutant dog is any better!"

How dare you compare me with a mongrel!

"Now, about that truce."

No means no. Need I break such a word into even smaller, simpler components that your puny mind may comprehend?

"Life is too short to be arguing forever with you."

Life matters not to we immortals.

Sakura comprehended something just then, as if the great Lightbulb of Understanding was thrown on in the dark recesses of their Confusion, banishing it far away. "Life should be very dear to you, since your end is tied to that of this body's."

The darkness snapped. Chakra flooded through the gate bars and slammed into Sakura, tearing them apart and throwing them out of the subconscious. Inner Sakura bounced to her feet and threw herself headlong into the flow of chakra, screaming and flailing against it, surging forward to squirm through the bars and throttle the nine-tailed fox.

With a sense of rage, tinged with disgust and annoyance, the nine-tailed fox seemed to withdraw itself out of Inner Sakura's reach, swat her defenses aside, and then crushed her beneath one massive paw.

Sakura screamed. She was dying. No, the Other was dying. She was the Other, but the Other was not her, and the force that dwelled against its will within Naruto's body finally lashed out, with all its endless power and ice-cold fury, at the little insect that had been bothering it for the past two days. Something bucked beneath the paw, but the struggles were weakening as form, being, and something indefinite and unexplainable was crushed out of existence.

It could have happened faster, but the nine-tailed fox did not believe in such a thing as mercy. Too entangled with Inner Sakura, Sakura could feel her own self being crushed beneath the enormous weight. As her force dimmed, the kuuybi's seemed to swell, as if gaining power. The bars before the fox buckled and shifted, as if made out of rubber. The seal marked across the bars flared a sudden pale blue light. A presence that had been lurking beneath the surface, always just outside of understanding and recognition, blossomed forth into reality.

Like a swirling tornado with all the force and beauty of Mother Nature, it slammed into the kyuubi, throwing it from Inner Sakura and forcing a retreat. The chakra that had been pouring beyond the bars choked off, as if a gigantic hand had scooped it all up and crammed into the prison the kyuubi was kept in.

Can't we, said a gigantic voice, reverberating through the entire complex, overpowering the kyuubi's snarls, jolting Sakura from her pain, forcing Inner Sakura into living awareness, just get along? Is that too much to ask for? When no one said anything in reply, being either too stunned or too indignant, the voice said contentedly, Good. So long as this doesn't happen again. As quickly as the presence had made itself known, it receded to wherever it dwelt. The seal stopped glowing as Inner Sakura scrambled out of the kyuubi's reach.

"Wh-what was that?" Inner Sakura asked.

With a mighty swish of its tails, the nine-tailed fox folded itself into a lying position and grumbled something about that being the first time that particular punk had shown his face since forcing it into this wretched prison.

With the nine-tailed fox curled up to nurse its wounds, Inner Sakura and Sakura both retreated to their own world.

Sakura opened her eyes to a setting sun, and then forced her tired body to stand. Her knees shook, whether from exhaustion or from not eating, she couldn't tell. All she felt like was going to bed and sleeping for the next three centuries to come. Let someone else resolve this mess; she deserved some rest.

"Hell yeah!" Inner Sakura agreed tiredly.


Itachi drew himself up suddenly, so quietly that Kisame took two steps before he realized that his companion was no longer keeping up. Kisame remained silent as he looked over his shoulder at Itachi, who was frowning deeply and twitching.

Itachi wasn't prone to twitching, much less facial expressions. "There's something," he began, and then his voice trailed off. Kisame waited patiently; Itachi would make himself known if he cared to, because certainly no prodding from Kisame — either with words, or with his sword — would hasten the process. Itachi seemed to be sorting something in his head for a moment, as if he had received an overload of knowledge and was forced to take the time in sorting through and cataloging everything. "I felt something flare, as it had two nights ago."

Kisame turned his back to Itachi and looked off into the distance. It was twilight, and as they hadn't reached the perimeters of the Leaf's stronghold, bandits would be roaming in search of innocent victims. "Is it the fox brat?" Kisame asked softly. He heard Itachi nod, which was a different shifting sound of rubbing robes than was a shake. "Ah." Without saying a word, Itachi resumed walking, and Kisame matched his pace.

Kisame hoped that bandits would be unwise enough to attack them.

He was starting to get hungry.