Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, and favorite thus far!

This chapter is a bit short, but I wanted to get it out for Christmas.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I profit from the creation or distribution of this fanfiction.

"Things that make your heart beat fast… To wash your hair, apply your makeup and put on clothes that are well-scented with incense. Even if you're somewhere where no one special will see you, you still feel a heady sense of pleasure inside."

- Sei Shōnagon, 1002 CE

Henge – Underneath the Underneath

Chapter 12: Rescues and Risks

Kakashi was beginning to really enjoy his mornings. Some days he still woke up in a cold sweat with a pool of dread in his stomach from the lingering wisps of a memory, but even on the most difficult mornings, the jōnin could work out the worst of his tension in individual training and have meeting with his ducklings to look forward to.

Today, for instance, he arrived to find Sakura tying Naruto's hitai-ate over his hair like a headband and Sasuke keeping a careful distance while still paying idle attention to his teammates. Kakashi was feeling a bit cautious after Natuto's impromptu coming out picnic, but it seemed like a night to sleep on it was enough time for Sakura and Sasuke.

He jumped down to greet the kids, and immediately started hacking. All those things he said about preteen stink? He took it back. No wonder Sasuke was keeping his distance. Someone had dumped a bottle of floral perfume over the bright-colored genin currently yelling about his tardiness.

"I….Ehem! Eh! Achoo!" Kakashi wiped at his eye, "I got lost…." This statement resulted in even more yelling from the smelly kids, and Kakashi took the opportunity to back up. As he drew even with the so-far silent Uchiha, he heard a quiet "hn" and turned to see the brat smirking at him.

"I've got just the mission for the lot of you. Follow me." A few hacking chūnin and knowing looks later Kakashi had all the kids up to their armpits in river water spearing trash.

"You should wear a skirt! All girls with any fashion sense wear either a skirt or a dress!" He heard Sakura exclaim, "I've got this really cute skirt I used to wear at the academy and…." Kakashi let his attention drift away as he tried to picture Naruto in a pink frilly skirt. He thought he'd been really supportive so far, but when he tried to picture Naruto in a skirt, the next thing that came to mind was Minato-sensei in a skirt, and no matter how often he'd heard Kushina-san call Sensei a pretty boy, that was just weird. No, he definitely couldn't picture Naruto wearing a skirt.

With a violent mental push Kakashi focused his attention back on his waterlogged ducklings. Once the mission was completed he sent them home for lunch and a dry change of clothes. He ambled along to hand in the mission report, dodged the more-persistent-than-usual Gai (The YOUTHFUL jōnin had been after him with unusual vigor since the fundoshi incident), and strolled up the steps to the Hokage Tower where he gave his report to a board looking chūnin.

Kakashi grabbed a quick lunch and was back at the training grounds for, well, training. Apparently shaking Gai from his trail took longer than expected, if the "You're LATE!" was anything to go by. All this he noticed only vaguely, because apparently Naruto hadn't gone to his home for dry clothes, but Sakura's. She'd dressed the blonde in a thankfully plain red skirt with spandex and a dark brown shirt. Naruto clung to the sides of the skirt like there was no tomorrow, and Kakashi realized for the second day in a row they wouldn't get anything accomplished.

"Can you train in that?" He asked. Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but Sakura cut in before any sound could get out.

"Of course! I wore it in sparring at the academy all the time. It's too small for me, but it'll fit Naruto just fine since he's smaller than me." Naruto flinched a bit when she said that, but didn't say anything. Kakashi felt a bit skeptical, but there was work to be done so he let the subject drop. With a wave of his hand he sent the kids running. Although Naruto seemed much less secure in the new outfit, the only real problem emerged when Kakashi had him spar with Sasuke. The skirt moved different than Naruto's track suit, and he kept pausing to adjust the outfit. Finally, Sasuke seemed to have enough.

"You put on girl's clothes and suddenly you start fighting like one!" He growled, "If a dobe like you won't even fight seriously, it isn't worth the effort!" Sasuke straightened and turned to walk away, even though Kakashi hadn't called the match. Naruto, enraged, began shouting but Kakashi's eye was focused on the frustrated and conflicted look on the last Ushiha's face. There was a rush of wind as Naruto rushed past the jōnin, then his fist was flying through the air at the back of the Uchiha's head. The taller boy spun and with a few quick movements had Naruto on the ground.

"Did you give up on being Hokage so you could become a girl instead?" it came out like a sneer, "don't waste my time."

"Teme! Get off me! I'll be Hokage! Believe it!" Suddenly Kakashi heard a bird cry from directly above his position. Was it that time already? He glanced over. The kids would be fine for now. The argument had moved into familiar territory.

It took a minute for Sakura to pry the boys apart. Or, well, her teammates apart. Naruto didn't really look like a guy at the moment. Sasuke took off shortly after, and when she looked over, Naruto was pulling at his skirt again.

"You'll stretch it out if you keep tugging on it like that," she scolded, "we should go shopping and get you one that fits better."

"Maybe…" Naruto agreed, but he didn't look too happy about it. "It just feels really weird, y'know? An' I don't want anyone seein' anything—" Naruto turned as red as his skirt, "—underneath, y'know?" Sakura felt her own cheeks heating up. She did not need that image in her head. She gave herself a mental punch and switched gears.

"We could get you some capris then? Yours are really baggy and girl's are made a bit different." It was almost like being back in the academy with Ino before their rivalry pushed a wedge between them. Naruto's face brightened at her suggestion, but before anything else could be said they both noticed a cardboard box with some squiggly lines drawn on it and holes cut into one side. Naruto immediately called whoever it was out and a group of kids scrambled out from underneath.

"Naruto-niichan… you're… a girl!?" One of the boys pointed. Naruto turned bright red again and his eyes widened to huge disks. Sakura thought he was going to run away, but instead he swallowed forcefully and squatted down so he could look the kid in the eye.

"Yeah, what of it, huh!?"

"But-! But-!" The kid flailed.

"Konohamaru-kun," the other boy sniffed, "she looks like a girl to me…"

"How could you mess that up?" the third member, a girl sent – Konohamaru – a look that clearly said 'You are an idiot.' Sakura supposed that the other two hadn't met Naruto before today. Konohamaru cast around for a moment, probably trying to find a way to save face in front of his friends, until his eyes lit on Sakura. His arm shot out, his pointer finger aimed very rudely at Sakura.

"You! You're the one who turned my niichan into a girl!"

"What?" Sakura asked. Well sure, she was the one who lent Naruto the outfit and lip-gloss, but it wasn't like she'd forced him or anything…

"Turn him back! Boss promised to play ninja with us today, so turn him back you ugly!"

"Why you!" Sakura cracked her knuckles. She could feel a vein popping on her temple and her fists shivering with energy. This brat needed to be taught a lesson in manners. Naruto, brave idiot that he is, stepped in-between and waved his arms in a 'settle down' manner.

"Ehe… sorry Sakura-chan… Konohamaru," Naruto turned to the other side, "I really am a… not a boy. …Sorry I didn't say anything earlier, y'know?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, but the kid seemed to buy it.

"Fine," The brunet mumbled, and Sakura let her fist relax, "prolly for the best. If she turned you into a girl then you'd have that huge forehead to, humph." Scratch that. The brat was dead! Her prey took off, and Sakura went after. There was no way she'd let that brat get away with calling her forehead big! They went up a hill, around a tree, through an alley, into a trash can (Sakura went over), down some park stairs, hopped across benches - and that idiot Naruto had the audacity to laugh - past a sleeping dog, over a fence, and along a cobbled path.

She'd hardly worked off any steam when the brat rounded a corner and she heard a sharp cry. Her anger quickly leaving her, Sakura hurried over and found Konohamaru lifted off the ground by a mean-looking guy. There was a girl to, and they both looked like skilled ninja. Quickly deciding a confrontation was not the way to go she began to apologize, but Naruto had to run his mouth off at them.

"Let 'im go! Fatso! Ugly!"

"Watch it," Sakura noticed his hitai-ate wasn't Konoha's when he tilted his head to sneer at them, "I hate brats, and I won't go easy on you just 'cause you're a girl," Naruto jerked back as if struck and got that grin on his face that said he was about to do something stupid. Before anything worse could happen the foreign girl put her hand on the weird guy's arm.

"Let it go. We'll get yelled at later." It didn't seem like he'd listen.

"Fine. As soon as I teach this shrimp a lesson," he gave Konohamaru a shake.

"Naruto-ni—Neechan!" the boy cried.

"Let 'im go!" Naruto insisted, and took a step forward. Sakura could see his fists clenched at his sides, starting to lift into position, "Fatso! Your makeup sucks!" Sakura would swear she heard something snap.

"ITS WAR PAINT!" The older guy roared and suddenly Konohamaru was on the ground scrambling over and he was nose to nose with her blond teammate.

"Now look here! This is clearly kabuki war paint!"

"Kabuki's red! Yours is purple! That means its makeup!"

"Maybe I like purple!"

"Maybe you like makeup!"

Sakura heard a sigh and glanced over to see the older kunoichi pinching the bridge of her nose. She quickly looked back to check on Naruto, but the sense of danger had passed. Now it was just another of Naruto's stupid yelling matches. The other girl walked up behind the black-clad shinobi and walloped the back of his head with enough force to send him crashing to the ground.

"Shut up." the sandy-haired girl ordered to who Sakura assumed was her teammate. Taking her cue, Sakura pinched Naruto's ear and dragged him away from the older boy. After a few steps she looked back to see the pair bickering with each other and completely ignoring the presence of the Konoha genin. It would be safest to just turn and walk away, but the pink-haired girl had a nagging sense of duty that wouldn't let her alone. She swallowed and took a deep breath.

"Wait," Sakura called before the two walked off, "Even if our villages are allies, you need permission to enter Konoha. Please state your purpose for coming here." The two turned back, and the kunoichi pulled something out of her pack. Sakura flinched away, thinking now she'd caused the kunoichi to snap, but instead of a weapon she pulled out a wallet. Sakura flushed when she heard the older blonde quietly snort at her reaction.

"You must be really green not to know. We're here for the Chūnin Selection Exam," Sakura took a few steps forward to study the card she'd pulled out. It was a passport into Konohagakure.

"The what?" She heard Naruto ask.

"If you don't know, I'm not explaining it to you," the older kunoichi huffed, "go back to your D-rank changing diapers," she looked pointedly at Konohamaru and the other two – Sakura still didn't know their names, "Maybe in a few years if you don't wash out your sensei will enter you." After that the two left. As they were about to round the corner at the end of the block there was a swirl of something brown and a third person appeared. It must have been their teammate, but the person was small and they rounded the corner before Sakura could make out much else.

Once they were out of sight Sakura let out a relieved sigh and let herself smile. That could have gone much worse. There was a rustle in the tree nearby, but when nothing else happened Sakura gave a shrug. Must have been a squirrel. She was still wound up from the encounter. She felt a sudden pang in her chest wishing Sasuke-kun had been there. She would have felt more confident about the encounter if he'd been there to take charge instead. Then her brow furrowed. It would have been much less frightening if Sasuke-kun was there for her to fall back on, certainly, but then she'd just be hiding behind him like always. And didn't she feel good about having successfully handled it herself? Sakura bit her lip, and with a wave towards Naruto and the three kids clinging to his skirt made her way home.

Kakashi tucked his book away when Hokage-sama called for the newest jōnin sensei to step forward. Making the half-ram sign he declared his nomination for team seven to join the Chūnin Selection Exam. Asuma and Kurenai followed suit. Hakage-sama gave all of them a hard look.

"It's been a long time since a rookie team entered the exam, let alone three," he challenged their resolve. Before any of the jōnin could say anything, a familiar voice cut through the murmuring crowd.

"Wait one moment please!" the chūnin Iruka stepped forward, "I'm sorry for the interruption, Hokage-sama, I know it isn't proper, but I have to protest! I've taught all of these children in the academy, and they aren't ready. This exam is the real deal." Kakashi could feel Asuma and Kurenai bristle on either side of him, and knew his own hackles were raised. Iruka was a decent guy. He was a great teacher, and Kakashi held a great deal of respect for his ability to put up with both Naruto and his appetite, but Kakashi had been a ninja since before he was born.

"I took the exam when I was half their age," Kakashi pointed out with a bit of steel in his voice. He could hear Asuma and Kurenai whispering warnings, but tact was never Kakashi's strong suit.

"That's different!" the chūnin protested.

"The real issue here is Naruto, isn't it?" Kakashi pushed forward, "But from the moment he put on that headband, he wasn't your kid anymore; he became one of my soldiers." The other jōnin were beginning to whisper and Kurenai decided to tell him he'd said enough, but Sandaime-sama remained stoic. Vaguely, Kakashi remembered that this was Iruka's first graduating class. It couldn't be easy on the man, letting go of his students, but it had to be done. He could tell the chūnin had something else to say, he was biting his tongue, but the man held his peace. The meeting continued, and as the Hokage moved on to other jōnin Kakashi pulled out his book and slowly shifted to the back of the room where Iruka was taking down the minutes.

"Right now Naruto, Sakura, even Sasuke are more focused on other aspects of their lives," Iruka protested quietly, not looking up from his writing, his knuckles white around the pen, "throwing them into the exam… it's too dangerous."

"That's not your call to make," Kakashi drawled back. He flipped a page of his book.

"Naruto… Naruto doesn't even know if he's a boy or a girl. He needs the time to work through that before getting thrown unfocused into a situation he's unprepared for."

"Again, not your call," Kakashi glared at the new page as if It had caused him personal insult, "Whatever may be happening in their personal lives, it's their duty as shinobi to set it aside for any mission or work they may receive."

"You know that's impossible."

Kakashi knew that better than anyone. Memories rushed to the forefront of his mind, and with an almighty shove he pushed them back. That wasn't the issue here. The issue was a chūnin overstepping his boundaries. It was only too bad said chūnin didn't see it that way.

"Is it because the exam is being hosted by Konoha this year?" The man shot Kakashi a look when there was a temporary gap in his writing, "or because of Naruto's importance to the village? He's not ready. None of them are."

"None of them are ready to become chūnin," Kakashi agreed, "but all three of them are ready for the Chūnin Selection Exam." Iruka's brow furrowed, and he took his time to think the statement through before replying in carefully measured words, his patience as thin as Kakashi's own.

"You plan on forcing them to grow."

"They're ready to grow."

Kakashi left the meeting with three slips of paper and a headache. After arguing with Iruka quietly in the back of the room, he had to convince the man to give him the participation forms early so he could slip out before Gai had the opportunity to latch onto him. He didn't want to know what the man was after; where the Green Beast was involved it couldn't be good.

He'd already dismissed his ducklings for the day, so Kakashi tucked the participation forms into his book pouch and made his way to a discreet training field to complete his daily regimen. After working up a good sweat the jōnin felt much better about how his day had gone. He picked up some laundry detergent and extra polish for his kunai at the convenience store and made his way back to his apartment to fix up some dinner.

The next day he met up with his genin and handed them the slips of paper. A long explanation ensued, in which he explained the genin-chūnin-jōnin system to Naruto, the purpose of the exam to Sakura and the benefits to Sasuke. In the end only Naruto showed much interest. Sasuke seemed a bit more open to the idea after Kakashi told him there would be strong opponents. Sakura looked nervous. He didn't want to scare her off, but there was one last thing that needed saying.

"The chūnin exams are no joke," Kakashi winced at how much that statement echoed a certain chūnin's concerns. He saw Sakura pull her arms into her chest in an instinctive and most likely subconscious move to protect herself. He saw Sasuke's eyes sharpen with the knowledge that Kakashi felt the exam would be challenging enough to merit cautioning them. He looked directly at Naruto who'd shown up in fitted orange capris and a loose yellow t-shirt he kept tugging on.

"They aren't a place for experimenting. You need to wear the clothes you are most comfortable in. Put your hitai-ate where it wont be a distraction-" Naruto froze with his hands where they'd shifted to the forehead-protector-turned-headband, "-and be in top form." Naruto was silent for a few moments, his usual smile gone as he took Kakashi's words seriously. Good. Looking Kakashi in the eye, the blonde gave a single nod. It reminded Kakashi very much of Minato-sensei, but before he could lose himself to nostalgia the look was gone and Naruto was proclaiming his emanate rise to Hokage.

Instructing the kids to rest up and think on their decision, Kakashi took his leave.

Published: December 23, 2014

Words: 3,547