Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, contents of the following text only serve entertainment purposes.

AN: This chapter has been re-edited.

This chapter: A day out with Naruto, how bad can it get?

Chapter: Who is she?

A little more than a week had passed since she was officially 'public'. Sasuke still hadn't talked to her. Yuki tried to approach him but he never seemed to even acknowledge her existence, but she kept on trying. Smiling at him at every chance she got, even though that part of her face was hidden. It hurt. She didn't want it to hurt. After all, she'd revealed herself for... him... didn't she? Kakashi was hinting at that... or was he? Oh, it was too confusing. Sasuke hated her, that was for sure. He'd not even glance her way. If his eyes were looking in her direction, he didn't look at her, he looked through her. With those dark, empty eyes. But she kept on trying. She went with Kakashi every morning to their training grounds to watch them exercise and occasionally help them.

Both Naruto and Sakura were happy at that because, with her around, their instructor didn't seem to arrive as late as he usually would, and when he did arrive... Well, that was a funny scene. Kakashi would be looking sheepishly away, both would have a little blush over the visible part of their cheeks, but Yuki would have this aura that reeked of murderous intentions. The constant clenching and unclenching of her fists told them that she was angry at him for something, but refused to tell what. In truth, Yuki was simply frustrated with her brother.

Every morning, every morning he would be hogging the bookstores for new books, Come Come Paradise was getting a little... unexciting to him. Every morning he would lounge around the living room reading some god-forsaken book, hours past the designated meeting time for his squad. Sometimes she'd catch him, after coming back from the main offices to check on her duties, if any. She'd swipe the dratted book from his hands while he was unaware -that would be normally during one of the really dirty parts, she would guess, because he would be chuckling mischievously- and then hit him over the chest with it... and begin a diatribe about how he was supposed to be a role-model for her. Yup. That was her big brother for her. How... disturbingly perverted. Why he would even fight people while reading it, she didn't know.

After apologizing, although she thought that it was never really sincere, he'd bring her to the training field and then get her to play the target to his squad's ninjutsu or taijutsu practice... as if he was trying to get back at her for it. Sakura and Naruto held back, she noticed. But Sasuke... his movements were so controlled she didn't know whether he was holding back or was trying to give more force to his attacks. So was the routine. But during the time she was with the squad, she'd noticed more about them than she had while she was assigned to watch them from afar.

It was of her opinion that Sasuke and Naruto could already be vying for a jounin position. But their minds were still unfavorably immature. Compared to Naruto, Sasuke was much closer to being a jounin, having attempted to kill his own brother when he was a young teen. Naruto wouldn't be able to handle it for a bit of a while, she remembered the first time Naruto had entered battle -he had frozen then at the new experience, but Sasuke...he just jumped right in. Sakura had barely a chance at all, to Yuki's personal opinion. She had hardly the heart to become a jounin ninja. She had grown enough to be chuunin but it would've been better if she had gone through a different path. If the kind-hearted and slightly emotional Sakura had followed the medic-ninja's path, she would've gotten even further than either of the two young men even at her present age. But... it wasn't really for her to judge, right? Besides, Sakura was trying so hard. If anything, Sakura had the skill to become a truly great ninja. Maybe even give Tsunade a run for her money.

"Yuki-chan!" Kakashi was calling her on the other side of the field. Naruto was next to him, waving at her with enthusiasm, bouncing up and down in a very childish fashion. Really, that boy never really grew up, did he?

"Yuki-chan," Naruto drawled happily.

"Yes?" she replied walking up to them at a leisurely pace.

"Hokage-sama wanted to see you and Naruto-kun about a mission," Kakashi told them.

"Me... and Naruto-kun?" she repeated, looking dumbfounded. Naruto looked shocked. For a moment Yuki was confused but jerked back when she realized the implications of her statement, her question. "No! It's not like that, Naruto-kun! It's just... I... I haven't been sent off on a mission with a partner in... in quite a long while." Naruto was sporting a sheepish look. He'd really thought... well, he didn't really know Yuki that well enough... but as close as they'd become, she... Naruto shrugged off the doubt away when he saw her eyes smile apologetically at her and chuckled. Yuki was alright. But why did those eyes look so familiar? Yuki mentally sighed in relief when he smiled back at her.

An hour later they were on their way to the Hidden Snow village on an 'urgent' mission to retrieve a scroll and destroy it after learning the contents. Just one scroll. One jutsu. Yuki was unable to hide the irritation from her face but Naruto was looking happy. She could almost swear to have heard him chanting: "I'm going to learn a new jutsu!" for several irritating hours. Irritating but... Naruto was such a rapscallion.

"Yuki-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, interrupting the silence of the dense forest. They were, at present, jumping from tree to tree in a dash, though unhurried. It was an urgent mission, sure, but at the speed they were in, an unhurried dash was sufficient to cover enough distance in a day. No need for any extra strain.

"What is it, Naruto-kun?"

"What kind of jutsus can you do?" he asked, almost shyly. Yuki was silent, so he cocked his head to one side. He jumped to the tree branches that were closer to her. She was thinking about something. "Hm, Yuki-chan?"

"Most are the same as yours," she said with a little smile, though never breaking her concentration of their current situation. It was alright to get into a conversation before heading into enemy territory, but it was always important to keep up one's guard. You never knew what could come. That was a lesson she learned as an anbu. But the nature of the topic was interesting, she had unconsciously begun a little conversation in her head. She wasn't as skilled as Kakashi was with his sharingan but she was pretty handy with herself. She hadn't copied off that many skills from other ninjas, her former opponents, preferring silent, immediate assassinations. That was what an anbu was supposed to do anyway. Playing with the opponent too much was too risky for their own safety. But when she did manage to copy off a skill, she never used it. Preferring the skills used by his brother's squad to others. With the exception of kaze no jutsu. Now that was one handy jutsu. So, in short she had a variety of skills... but never used them. Most of them required too much chakra anyways.

"Kakashi-sensei said that you used to be anbu... that's true isn't it?" he asked, his eyes twitching towards her covered right arm. Far be it from him to stop being curious. Naruto had always had this cute look on him when he was puzzled or curious about something. Yuki answered affirmatively.

"I used to watch over your team," she said. Naruto looked baffled. He could be so cute at times. "You see, Naruto-kun. Whether they know it or not, most teams consisting of gennin and chuunin are normally watched over by anbu. The anbu don't interfere unless the situation has risen above potential critical damage levels. Unless the situations deem a problem life-threatening to a gennin or chuunin, anbus would never interfere. I'd been doing that the past years." She declined to say how long. Naruto would never believe her anyway. Would he? Naruto could be so trusting... then again trusting people took betrayal seriously. Naruto had accepted her so soon after she had revealed herself. "I'd never been caught till you snuck up on me in the forest." Yuki grinned over at him. "You've grown so much so well, Naruto-kun." Naruto had a frown on his face. He was thinking hard about something.

"There was a time... when I used to sense this strange chakra... It was always nearby... always watching. That was you, wasn't it?" Yuki sharply breathed in, her thoughts running wildly. Was it... possible? "I stopped bothering about it because its presence was always so comforting."

"You sensed my chakra?" Yuki nearly tripped over and fell. Of all the surprises! Naruto had been able to sense her all this time!

"Yeah! I even remember, as a kid, it was always there. Were you always watching me?" There was a hopeful lilt in his voice. Yuki's heart nearly broke. His eyes were sparkling with... such hope. It was almost as if he were pleading with her to tell him that it was true. Well, it was true, and there really was no reason to say otherwise. It must've been the kyuubi's extra senses that had helped him. Might've been.

"Yes. I was looking over you most of the time." Though Yuki could never really understand it herself then. But she'd always been drawn to him. Maybe it was because... perhaps it was the influence of the Third that had pushed her towards him. Whenever there was a stealth exercise, Naruto was always the target. After a while it had become habit. She was used to following him. "I could never make myself appear in front of you, though, at least, not after... But I was always there to help you out. To give you a little push. Do you remember, Naruto-kun? When we were children..."

flashback

"Uzumaki-san..." A little girl wearing a hood was offering a lollipop to the blonde child sitting alone on the swings. Nobody seemed to want to get anywhere near him. Two sparkling blue eyes looked at her in surprise. The little girl kept silent and still until his hand hesitantly reached up to accept it.

"T-th-thank you," he said gratefully. He saw the little girl's mouth curve up to a smile. He looked shyly at her. This girl was different. Not just her eyes... they were maroon, but, she was... nice. No one had offered him any candy before. He felt himself blushing a little at the unexpected attention. "P-please call me Naruto."

"Okay!" she piped up. "Naruto-kun." The blonde boy now stood up and edged closer to the girl. A friendship offering was right before him. He wasn't about to miss the chance!

"What's your name?" he asked. Suddenly there was a shriek.

"It's that boy!"

"Get that girl away from him!"

Immediately, the girl was picked up and carried off, wailing to be let go. Naruto took a frightened step back and dropped the candy. Those people... they were looking at him... with that... look... "Stop looking at me like that!" he thought desperately as he edged away from them. Their eyes... cut his heart. He felt tears start to form in his eyes as he took a few shaky steps back. When one of the adults took menacing step forward, Naruto turned around and fled.

end flashback

"I'm really sorry. I tried to get back to you but-"

"It's alright," Naruto said solemnly, though he had a blush on his face. So that was Yuki. Those maroon eyes were hers. It was one of his most important memories. Always, it had been the thought of that little girl that had kept him going, that kept him fighting onwards. Always, it had been the thought of her that kept him sane. That kept reminding him that somebody wanted to make friends with him. She had acknowledged his existence and offered to be friends with him. That memory cut his heart, and soothed it at the same time. Naruto stopped moving. Yuki, in curiosity, hopped back to the tree branch he was standing on. She saw a tear mark the tree and jerked back.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun! I didn't mean to remind you of your past." Yuki gulped down that painful suffocating feeling. She should've known not to bring it up. Those villagers... called him such horrible names as they had her taken away. She tried to follow him after that but she couldn't find him then. It was only later that she had found out, from the Third, that Naruto had hidden himself in the forest. The Third forbade her to reveal herself to anyone again. That was why she couldn't get back to him. That memory must've been one of the most painful he had... Naruto still wasn't looking up at her.

"It's not that," he choked. He put his chin up, finally, trying valiantly to keep himself from crying harder. "All this time... I- I just didn't realize that anyone outside m-my squad and the other ninjas I've w-worked with could ever really care ab-bout me." Yuki relaxed her shoulders in relief. So he wasn't angry with her. She moved towards him and put her arms around him in a tight hug. Naruto let it out right then as he hugged her back. She had no idea she had struck a chord so deep. So very deep. "Thank you... Yuki-chan." He clenched his teeth and tried to keep himself from actually breaking down. Yuki brought them both down to kneeling positions on the tree when she felt Naruto start trembling. She almost felt like crying herself.

"Come on, Naruto-kun," Yuki said grinning at herself with difficulty. Naruto stopped sobbing and was rubbing his eyes to clear his vision. How embarrassing, he was thinking. But... this was Yuki. Naruto sniffed back a tear and tried to smile. "I'll teach you a new jutsu as we go along." His ears pricked up. She knew that that was going to cheer him up. An amusing fact but... as long as Naruto didn't dwell on the past, it was alright. Heck, Naruto didn't dwell much at all, so it was easier to draw his attention to something he might actually enjoy. Crying was too sensitive a side to her. She didn't want to all-out breakdown on him. The change of topic was needed. "It's a simple technique, but it's a little hard to control." She began her explanation while resuming their path towards the Hidden Snow village. One step. Two step. Forget about crying. "Use too much chakra and you'll get blown off your position. Use too little and you won't be able to control its path and it might end up going out of control."

"What's the name of this jutsu, Yuki-chan?" He was looking eagerly at her. Yeah, that's Naruto! Come rain or shine, Naruto loved learning new skills. This how she was trying to get him to cheer up. Apparently, it was working. But Yuki was still very sorry about bringing up that touchy subject that was his past.

"Kaze no jutsu." (Wind Skill)

"What! You want me to learn that?" Naruto was dumbfounded. Those sparkling blue eyes had forgotten the tears it had just shed. Yuki felt her heart lift a little as she returned her attention to the current subject. Clearly he was already underestimating the jutsu. Yuki put up the seal and let out a shot of air in his direction. Because he didn't think it was powerful enough to hurt him, he earned a blow to the ground. Yuki jumped down beside him and looked over his surprise expression. His eyes were getting wider by the second. Yuki knew what was going to happen next. "I didn't even see that coming! Your face mask twitched a little so you must've opened your mouth a bit and then- incredible! You're going to teach me that, aren't you Yuki-chan? Aren't you?" Yuki nearly laughed at that typical reaction. Naruto was Naruto.

"Only if you listen well and promise to do what I tell you. It's no easy feat and I don't want you destroying the forest." Naruto was enthusiastically jumping up and down. Naruto was so very cheerful. He had been reacquainted with the only person that had ever been kind to him during his childhood - with the exception of the Third and Iruka-sensei. Yuki was such a good person to him. Even when they met in the forest, she'd always given him kind and heartfelt attention. Of course, there was that... fact that she didn't... that she hadn't... informed them about her position in Konoha. About her relation to Kakashi. Hell, Kakashi didn't even tell him! But it was alright now. At least she actually did, in the end, tell them. Everything was just fine. Yuki was there. That's all that mattered. But Naruto still wasn't aware that his history with her went all the way back to the days of the Kyuubi war.

"Yuki-chan..." It was officially their first week on the road. Yuki was surprised that they had traveled at an even faster pace than when Naruto was with his original squad. Really surprised. Naruto... shouldn't've been able to handle it. No. Naruto's body functions just had not developed in such a way that it could stand the constant pace they were making. Had it? "When are we going to reach that darn village?" It was true to what she thought. Naruto wasn't used to traveling at that pace. Especially since he was also learning a new jutsu. He had been showing signs of muscle strain the day before. They were slight. But the signs were there all the same.

"In an hour, Naruto-kun," she said brightly, trying to make the thought sound tempting enough to speed up a little. Even for only a quarter of an hour. But it was hoping too much. She didn't want a strained partner during that mission. Naruto didn't rise to the bait and instead looked painfully tuckered out. He must've been under more strain than she thought. "Then again, I'm kinda hungry. Let's stop for a short while." Naruto tried to hide the sense of relief that had washed over him as Yuki jumped down to the ground with him. "Why don't you build the fire while I go scout? I'll be back in a short while."

Naruto desperately didn't want to admit that he was feeling strained. It was awkward enough that he had let his emotions go out of control earlier, she didn't need to witness his body breakdown too... His body was used to spurting big chunks of chakra during battle but it wasn't used to maintaining constant levels of chakra for days. Getting used to that steady flow of chakra and the jutsu he was learning was threatening him to exhaustion. How did Yuki do it? She seemed so at ease with it. Then again... girls seemed to be so much better at controlling chakra.

"Maybe controlling the chakra this way is the same as trying to control chakra to walk up a tree... A steady, controlled, outflow of chakra..." he thought absently as he began to dig a hole in the ground for the fire. He left off in search of dry firewood, still thinking.He kept on going, thinking of all his past lessons of chakra control. Once he had dumped the wood he collected into the hole he had made, he started a fire. The image of the fire made something jump into his mind. Goukakyuu no jutsu. It was the same, wasn't it? Only it'd be something like... spitting. Naruto smiled in anticipation and took a ready position.

He closed his mind to the world as he focused his chakra to his mouth. He made the one-handed seal and then let out a bullet of air from his mouth, air that was mixed with his own chakra. He 'saw' it run off, increasing its velocity along the way, ending its course with hitting a tree with the force of a full-powered punch. Naruto saw that it had made a huge dent on the tree at closer inspection. Oh YEAH! Naruto wanted to scream and shout in happiness but instead delighted himself with running around the clearing, up and down the trees, flailing his arms in the air. Screaming would've been much better, but much more risky since they were so close to the village. Even he wasn't that silly. Yuki stepped in just as Naruto finished one round up the tree.

"Naruto-kun?" She saw his teeth flash before something was shot her way. She dodged expertly and looked up at him in surprise. In a moment of confusion, she had actually contemplated knocking him out but she noticed what that attack was. She turned around to look at the damage it had done. There was a big dent in the tree. Suddenly she felt a surge of pride exploding in her.

"That was brilliant!" she praised. Naruto flashed her a peace sign before snickering at his own obvious pleasure. "That was really good, Naruto-kun! Now... on to the next level."

"Huuuuhhhh!" Naruto's jaws practically dropped to the ground. "There's more!"

Yuki gave him a playful wink and said, "Of course! That just makes it even more interesting, right? But! We'll eat first." Naruto jumped again in glee as he sat down and let Yuki prepare her catch.

"Hey, Yuki-chan," Naruto said through a mouthful of food. Yuki thought it was incredibly adorable the way Naruto did that. Chuckling, she took off her mask to dig in to her own portion. "What else is there to kaze no jutsu?"

"You see, Naruto-kun," she said. "What you've just accomplished is only a part of releasing the jutsu in a forced manner. The next stage is to learn to allow your chakra to flow through you. Pretty soon you'll be able to create gusts of wind or just plain breeze." Yuki stopped eating for a moment and demonstrated, making sure that she wasn't blowing in the direction of the Hidden Snow village.

"How many more stages are there?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Well, you see... just learn how to create a gust of wind first alright? Then I'll tell you about the next stages." Yuki was smiling when she said this. Naruto pouted at her but she simply ignored it and continued eating.

"Yuki-chan... why do you wear a mask like Kakashi-sensei?" the blonde boy asked. Yuki froze at that question. "You look so much prettier without it." Naruto didn't manage to catch his words before it came out of his mouth and he blushed. Yuki smiled a little.

"I- I suppose it's a way I use to protect myself. I-... I was always used to hiding behind my anbu mask. It's... not an easy transition."

"I see..." Naruto said thoughtfully. "But don't you ever get tired of it? Well, I still think you're prettier without it." Yuki blushed at that and Naruto snickered. That cad! He tried to make her blush on purpose. Yuki threw him an exasperated look. Well, Naruto really had grown, didn't he? He wasn't so much the simpleton he used to be. He maintained his old habits and had picked up new ones.

Naruto was up and kicking less than half-an-hour later after they cleaned up all their tracks.

"Are you ready to get into the village?"

"It's going to be cold isn't it?" he asked, critically assessing her lack of garments. Yuki was still garbed in her vest and shorts. "You're going to die of frostbite!"

"No, I won't," she answered defiantly, making a face as she carefully put her mask back on; but she knew full well that Naruto was right. She had forgotten to bring a proper change of clothes. Yuki mentally scolded herself for having another slip up. No matter. They could always shop for clothes there anyway. "Naruto-kun. If we go at the same speed we did this morning, we'll be able to reach the village's defense corps boundaries in another half-an-hour. Before then we'll need to use henge no jutsu to transform to something less conspicuous. Once we reach the gate-"

"You're starting to sound like Shikamaru..." Naruto was giving her an odd look, she just waved it off and continued with her instructions.

"Once we reach the gate," she began again. "We head towards the village motel to check in. We go scouting. If we get separated, we rendezvous at our room at sunset." Naruto was listening intently to her. "Then we go retrieve the scroll at the office near the school. We leave the village tomorrow at first light."

"Hey, Yuki..." She knew what he was going to ask for. She nearly laughed. He did so in a lot of his missions with the other ninjas that were his friends. Even to that lazy bum, Shikamaru, who always found it less of a hassle to say 'yes' instead of 'no'.

"Yes, Naruto-kun. We'll go find a ramen restaurant before we check into a motel." Naruto was jumping up and down at her permission. "But, Naruto... you promise to listen to me?"

"I promise!" he said, looking at her with admiring puppy-dog eyes. Yuki sighed in mock-exasperation. What would she do without Naruto's antics? Even watching them from afar as she used to, it was a great source of both irritation and entertainment. It made life interesting.

The plan went along well so far. Yuki had praised Naruto for his compliancy and ordered an extra ramen for him to be sent up that night. Of course, Naruto was overjoyed at that.

Naruto volunteered to take the watch outside the school as Yuki would retrieve the scroll. It was a relatively easy task... until ninja look-outs started popping out of nowhere. Really, they just popped up for some obscure reason. Did they know that there were infiltrators there? Naruto gulped down in panic and created a clone to stand watch outside while he ran inside the school to get Yuki to hurry. Hallway after hallway. It was getting too confusing until he burst into a room where two glowing red eyes looked up at him. It vanished. What the-?

"Naruto-kun?" It was only Yuki. But those red eyes. Did those red eyes belong to her? "Naruto-kun!" she hissed, snapping him out of his astonishment.

"Ninjas outside the school," he said quickly. Yuki rolled the scroll she just just reading quickly and followed him outside. "I saw five ninjas the last time I checked. My shadow clone tells me that there are more than that."

"Dispel that jutsu," Yuki told him.

"Done."

"We need to get back at the motel, quickly," she hissed as they reached outside the school. There were ninjas everywhere. Best leave before they were surrounded. "Hurry, Naruto-kun." Boy, did the taijutsu training do the trick. They were running at their top speed, though not as fast as Lee or Gai could ever go, heck, just what sort of ninja could compete with those two taijutsu-geniuses? They were back at the motel in a jiff, but not before a ninja had picked up their trail.

They tried to look unconcerned as they entered the motel in their disguise, walking casually slow. They had switched their genders and had registered there as a married couple. Walking unconcernedly slow... Once no one was looking they rushed into their rooms and overlapped their transformation with another and dove under the covers. The sounds of coming ninja was getting slightly alarming.

Naruto snuggled his female form to Yuki's male body and evened out his breathing. It was the oldest trick in the book.

When somebody had rudely opened the door, male-Yuki's head snapped up as glared at the intruder in anger, holding female-Naruto closer. On seeing the intimate scene, the intruder muttered a few embarrassed apologies before finally shutting the door. Once the footsteps had faded away, Yuki released her hold on Naruto and jumped off the bed. Naruto did the same and released his jutsu, as did Yuki.

"T-that was close," he huffed, looking on one side of the room's wall. Yuki nodded in silent agreement, she was breathing heavily, too. "They managed to catch up with us so fast."

"We were walking pretty slowly back up to the room," she pointed out. Naruto nodded.

"You have the scroll?" Yuki tossed it over to him.

"We'll learn it as we go back... that's after we reach the safety of Konoha's boundaries. Go get some sleep. We're leaving early tomorrow." Naruto gulped and prepared for sleep. Sure, some he'd been nearly caught in some missions but that was too close. Those ninjas came out of nowhere.

Meanwhile, Yuki's mind was reeling with worries and question. Did Naruto see her eyes? Was he going to ask about it? Would he ask about it? Was he going to tell anyone? Did he even notice the different color of her eyes then? Maybe he didn't. But what if he did? That was too close.

Naruto fell asleep feeling troubled. Yuki looked like she had dozed off immediately, but he was left half-awake thinking of those red eyes. Red eyes. Those red eyes that seemed so familiar. Eyes like Kurenai-sensei. Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke... Itachi. Like the sharingan. Who was Yuki really?