Naruto managed to make it back to his apartment without too many weird looks. We settle ourselves back into his living room. I look around, noticing the extreme mess around us.

He notices my roaming eyes and sighs. "I'm sorry, I haven't had time to clean up."

It hits me now, just how much has changed. Yesterday morning I was ready to take up the mantle of changing this world by myself, and then this mysterious Naruto appeared. It was like a great weight was lifted off my shoulders, knowing I had a partner in crime. Now, I realized I didn't know anything about this new Naruto. Sure, I heard his side of the story, but he never cared about the care of his apartment before. He was so quiet during the introduction and the bell test – not even insulting Sasuke that much. Thinking on it, I wondered if Sasuke ever came back and stayed back, or simply left and Naruto felt abandoned. I didn't even know what the state of the universe was when Naruto left.

The realizations hit me and I eyed him wearily. "I think we had a great start and things seem to have gone well today, but I think it's going to take time for us to work together fluidly. Even time to begin to trust each other." He nodded in agreement. "You don't even remember me and you're so different from both before yesterday and the manga. We need to get to know each other, but I'm not certain I want to tell you everything right now. Perhaps we should talk about plans for the future. As time goes on, hopefully our trust for each other will go up."

"I agree. I know that I am very different than who I used to be and that this is a very different universe as well."

I pulled my gloves a little higher, trying to make sure my mark wasn't as visible.

"When did things go to shit?" I asked, suddenly very tired.

"Around the time Madara showed up."

"I know that, but how much of your past is similar to what I know?" I questioned curiously. "Wave." I started abruptly. "How did that go? The brothers captured, Zabuza and Haku dead? Everyone mostly uninjured and safe?"

"Yes. I'm still surprised by what you know." He paused and it seemed like he was sorting things out and even trying to decide how much to tell me. We definitely needed to work on trust. "It started out with Tazuna the bridge builder. We left and not long after, we dealt with the brothers."
"You froze?"

His fist clenched. "I did. Tazuna gave us his story and we moved on. Crossed the water and ran into Zabuza – Haku was hiding. Zabuza got into a fight with Kakashi-sensei and got caught. We had to fight him and free Kakashi-sensei. After that, he fought Zabuza and Haku took him away. Kakashi-sensei passed out and we trained not long after. A week passed and Zabuza and Haku appeared on the bridge."

"You weren't there, right? Right away? You were sleeping at the time."

"I was sleeping, and it's a good thing I was because Tsunami and Inari were attacked. After that, I got to the bridge and helped fight Haku. Sasuke jumped in the way and it was Haku and I one on one. He then sacrificed himself for Zabuza." He closed his eyes, seemingly watching the memory and becoming more upset as he talked. I remember that he cared deeply for Zabuza and Haku. I felt bad for bringing this up, but if we were going to change things, then we have to cover our bases.

"Gato showed up and Zabuza mowed down everyone." I inputted. "And that was the end of the arc. You got a bridge named after you."

He smiled, remembering that happy memory despite how pained he still seemed to be by the deaths of Zabuza and Haku. "I remember that. I haven't thought of that in a while. I wonder if we could do that again?"

I laughed shortly, still aware of the tense atmosphere. "I'm sure we can. Or at least try, if you want." I shook my head and stood up. "I think that's enough for today. Going over these memories has to be hard and it's going to take a while to build trust. I know it was hard for you to talk about this with me. I also need time to gain trust before I tell you more."

"That would be best." I was once again reminded how different he was, and I could see how his past had changed him. He was cautious, quiet and thoughtful. I worried about how this would change the timeline and how he would react to things. If we're in a fight that was nostalgic, would he freeze? How will he act around Sasuke and will he and I ever fully trust each other?

I wanted to trust him. I think we even needed each other. He was holding onto the past in an unhealthy way, having just returned to what he thought to be his past yesterday and might even have PTSD. He probably lost a lot of friends in the other universe, too. No, we needed time. D-Ranks would be a good time to get to know each other and gain trust. Not to mention training. You needed trust when training with somebody, but we couldn't forget to bond with Sasuke as well. Even if it was impossible to reach him before the Chunin Exams. I'll have to think about it more closely, how things have changed and how that will affect the future.

"Have a good night, Naruto-kun. Try to clean up a bit –" His eyes got a little stormy and his lips pursed tightly. "Not in a bad way, Naruto-kun. It's better for the headspace. A clean place is better for you mentally. If you want, instead of meeting up tomorrow after training and missions, you could clean up a bit and if you want, I can join you. It's up to you, but I know that when I am unhappy, my room gets messy and it makes me more unhappy. Not critiquing you, just offering some advice."

He watched me for a second, the look dropping from his face gradually. "Thank you. I'll think about it and it would be a good idea to take a break from meeting up for a while." He said grudgingly.

I understood, though, that last part. We need time. We jumped in and I wasn't thinking clearly. He's a bit of an unknown and I needed to be cautious, no matter how much I wanted a partner to help get through these difficult events.

I left with a short nod, the seals dropping from the home. I wandered over to the shopping district, walking into a clothing store. I headed towards the glove section, looking for something longer, but not cumbersome or a liability.

I found some mid-length gloves that came between the wrist and elbow, long enough to hide my undesirable mark. That would work. I paid for them gladly and immediately put them on.

I'm a kunoichi now. I need to start thinking ahead and not jump into things. I shook my head disdainfully. I got too excited by someone I had hoped would be a close ally or friend. I did trust Sasuke and Kakashi to keep my mark quiet, and even Naruto to an extent – no matter how much he was different, but my mark was…not good. Embarrassing even. I thought of Ino and Sakura, despite their rivalry that still happened to come upon them, they were happy. It was a fun and friendly competition between them and I knew that they would not take back their marks for anything. Since they met when they were younger and because soul mates are so revered, it never occurred to them to become obsessed with Sasuke. While he still had a crowd of people impressed with him, he wasn't theirs, which meant that they would never match perfectly.

There was such a thing as platonic soul mates as well and some people even dated people who weren't their soul mate just because theirs either died or had a platonic one. I was afraid I'd become one of those. Perhaps I would just not date anyway, but staying away from your soul mate was hard. I hope I didn't run into them anytime soon. I couldn't stop myself from worrying about Orochimaru. That'd be just my luck. It could be many people from the manga, or it could be someone the characters in the manga never met. I needed to stop thinking about it; otherwise it would take over my mind.

I smiled at the people I passed in the shopping district. Finally, I made my way back to the training grounds with the intent to work on my kekkei genkai. Today proved that I was not very powerful with it and that hopefully it needed some working on. With that in mind, I threw kunai and shuriken out and tried to bring them back to me, catching them easily. I tried to make them go faster as well. Time passed by quickly as I worked and exhaustion began descending on me.

It was dark when I got home and I realized I had skipped both lunch and supper. Oops. I did that often, too often. I made something quickly and headed to my room and pulled out my book and notebook again and began to work intensely on medical ninjutsu. I knew I would have to head over to the hospital at some point to get formal training before doing actual medical ninjutsu, but for now I would simply read.

The book was written by Tsunade and I took extra care of it. I thought about dropping by the bookstore to see if there were any other books written by her. Perhaps one on poison? Definitely something to look into.

Although I had snuck in late at night and I would no doubt be sneaking around for a while, I knew it was only a matter of time before my parents cornered me about my graduation, test and teammates. It was a long night of reading, but I made a big dent in the book and I was running out of pages in my notebook. Perhaps the trip to the bookstore would be more urgent than I thought.


I woke early and began making my breakfast and made some for Naruto, Kakashi and Sasuke as well in case they didn't eat. They probably did, but I thought it would go a little way into encouraging cooperation and trust between us.

I had a lot of time before I had to leave to get to the training grounds. However, I wasn't excited to be around when my parents awoke. I headed out quickly with two bentos in each hand. I hurried to the training grounds and began to eat silently as I read.

After I ate, I began to train some more. I decided to work on my taijutsu and began to pound on the training dummy as I waited for the boys to arrive. When they did, Kakashi was noticeably absent. Of course. We'll definitely have to wait a while. In the meantime…

"Hey!" I exclaimed, trying to stay upbeat. "I made breakfast for everyone. If you ate already, that's fine. You can eat it for lunch instead, or not at all. That's fine, too." I looked over meaningfully at Sasuke and Naruto. While they were eyeing the uneaten and one empty bento uncertainly, I added, "I ate mine already and I made one for Kakashi-sensei as well."

I grabbed the eaten bento and lifted it up. "I wouldn't poison you guys." I said in a joking voice.

"I ate." Sasuke muttered.

"I did, too." Naruto said with a shrug, sitting away from the bentos.

I sighed quietly, unnoticed. "That's okay. I understand. You can have them for lunch or not at all. I don't mind. Just thought I'd try to help out – that's what teammates do."

This trust thing is going to be slow-going, isn't it?