Chapter 9. The War Council

She was floating, undisturbed and free in a sea of darkness. This darkness became her shield, protecting her from feeling mundane emotions. It folded and molded itself to fit her body, seeping into her body, giving her a frigid numbness that she welcomed happily. Then, a ringing started to hound her eyes. A low tumult that rose in volume until it became an insistent roar in her ears, demanding she come out from behind her shield.

There were voices in the roar that weren't clear but they sounded vaguely familiar.

"Have you played this game before?" a lazy male voice drawled. The voice seemed familiar but she didn't want to remember.

"A few times." an equally male voice admitted. This voice seemed familiar too.

"You're both very good at analyzing each others moves." this voice sounded gentle and quiet, like a refreshing ocean breeze on a sultry day. Somehow even though the voice sounded female, she knew it belonged to a male. "You've been playing for a couple of hours." he added sounding amused.

"Yeah but if Naruto was awake, she could take me out in minutes." the lazy voice admitted humbly.

Naruto? Naruto was her name, wasn't it? It didn't sound like a very well thought out name, especially for a girl. Sounded more like her parents had been deciding her name over a cup of ramen and her name had been some inside joke to them.

The people in her room were still playing their game concentrated and focused on nothing else. Her astute sense of hearing, though, could pick out the slight sound of a window being opened very covertly as to not draw attention. A slight draft wafted in the room alerting the ninjas in the room to a disturbance.

" No one opened the window." the gentle voice observed quietly walking softly to close the window.

"Someone's here." a guarded voice stated, she could hear the scraping of chairs as they stood to confront whoever was here.

The intruder leapt like a fox from his hiding place and jumped onto her bed jostling her sleeping body. The newcomer straddled her waist but was careful not to put any weight on her fragile body.

"You…get off her! She's suffering enough without you sitting on her." that was the gentle voice from before. This time he sounded more like he was about to take a bite out of this intruder.

"You know this guy, Haku?" the lazy voice asked in surprise.

"Unfortunately." Haku muttered sounding despaired at the admission. " Naruto-kun said he was a cousin of hers. He's living with us now." Haku informed them before directing his attention on Naruto's so called cousin. " Still that doesn't need mean you can sit on her. Get off!"

"Humph. If we wait for this lazy ass to awake at her pace we'll be here till the next ice age. No, I have a more orthodox mean of waking this idiot of mine." this close voice sounded more familiar than any voice thus far. She felt a pressure on her cheek and then on her other cheek.

"Stop it!" Haku yelled and the stinging on her cheeks stopped. "I tell you she's sick and you're slapping her around."

She was trying to sleep, damn it, and some idiots were in her room jabbering. Wait. Her room. This bed didn't feel like her bed. It was small and uncomfortably lumpy. And the smell was acrid, like smelling salts and hydrogen peroxide mixed with rotting corpses. It made her want to gag.

Naruto's eyes creaked open slowly and shut immediately as the bright lights assaulted her eyes. A soft groan emitted from her as her hand came up to cover her smarting eyes.

"Oh! You're awake Naruto." the lazy voice drawled as Naruto turned to look at the occupants of her room. Kyuubi was the one sitting on top of her, his eyes glaring daggers at her as she grimaced before remembering that he was sitting on top of her.

"Get your fat ass off of me." Naruto croaked before dissolving into a coughing fit. A glass of water was presented to her.

Shikamaru, Neji and Haku were looking at her. Naruto blinked her eyes multiple times to make sure she wasn't imagining this.

She could understand Haku being here, he was her roommate and a generally concerned person when it came to her welfare. But why were Neji and Shikamaru here, playing a game of Shogi in her hospital room?

Hospital! Naruto shot up in her bed, looking down at herself. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found she was wearing her own pajamas instead of those back opened hospital gowns. Her sigh of relief turned to horror a minute later when she realized her hat was missing. She patted her head where the familiar weight of her cap was missing. She promised herself that if she ever saw Jiraiya again that he would die in a way that would put Dracula to shame.

Seeing her frantic panicking, Haku pulled the hat out of his kimono, which Naruto took with a grateful smile.

"They needed to check you over for any head injuries and they said that the hat was interfering, so, they needed to remove it." Haku explained trying to ease Naruto's confusion.

Naruto nodded in understanding before taking a sip of her water and trying to get used to be awake again. She had an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach like she had woken at this moment for something important but every time she tried to remember what it was; it slipped out of her grasp like sand.

Sand? Sand? Naruto gripped her head in aggravation. Something bad was about o happen, that much she could sense but what? Naruto lifted her irritated gaze to her visitors. She couldn't try to have a premonition in front of these guys. They'd probably get the doctors in here to get her high on even more anesthetics. She'd probably be better off getting rid of these dorks.

"So, what brings you guys here?" Naruto asked hoping that the sooner she figured out why they were here the sooners she could get rid of them.

"Well, I came to visit Chouji. " Shikamaru informed her as Naruto's brow furrowed.

"What happened to Chouji?" Naruto asked startled by the information.

" A stomachache. The doctors are saying he will have to lay off the chips for a while."

'Of course, the only injury Chouji would suffer would be to his digestive system.' She turned her attention to Neji who was focusing on the shogi board. " Why did you come to visit me?"

Neji's flickered to her, his eyes portraying a sense of arrogance that she didn't have time for. " No particular reason." he answered moving a shogi piece.

"He came here to visit his teammate." Haku answered placating his roommate, so she wouldn't stress herself so soon after waking.

"His teammate?" Naruto repeated waiting to hear what had happened.

" The guy with the bowl cut and bushy eyebrows." Kyuubi answered easily from his seat on the windowsill. " He went up against Gaara of the Sand during the preliminaries and Shukaku crushed the boy so bad he'll probably never walk without a cane again. The same will probably happen to baby Uchiha." Kyuubi added as an afterthought smiling happily at the thought.

"Hold on a sec." Naruto said quickly standing up. " Are you telling me Sasuke is going to be fighting Gaara?" Naruto asked inwardly wondering if she could bet on the match with some feudal lords. Damn, that would be a whole lot of sucker's cash.

"That's right." Kyuubi replied tersely watching Naruto's expression change from confusion to realization.

"I'm going to visit, Lee." the blond said finally understanding what had been bothering her before.

"You barely even know, Lee." Neji pointed out nonchalantly. " Why even bother?"

"You barely even know me. So, why are you even bothering?" Naruto challenged back hotly. The only thing she got form Neji was an aggravating smirk as she stalked to the door and let herself out into the hallway. A moment later she was back.

"Ah…anyone know what room Lee's in?" Naruto asked sheepishly as Kyuubi just shook his head in disgust.

"Well, we might as well go visit Lee." Neji said brushing past Naruto into the hall, leading the way.

"Say, Naruto, are you a natural blond?" Shikamaru asked abruptly startling Naruto.

"Uh, yeah." Naruto answered tentatively, her brow creasing in confusion. Shikamaru flashed her grin that foreshadowed trouble for her.

"You're prettier than any of the girls in the village I've ever seen and that includes Ino. Even your looks are troublesome." Shikamaru sighed as if it was Naruto's fault she was pretty.

"Oi, you better not tell anyone you saw me without my hat or I'll kill you, pineapple head." Naruto growled her face pink choosing to disregard the pretty comment. It made her uncomfortable when people started talking about her looks.

"Troublesome. Its not like Kiba or Chouji would believe me anyway." Shikamaru sighed again as Naruto huffed.

"This village is cracked. Just because I'm not into girly clothes and boys, they think I'm ugly. I used to be offended but now I know that it's better to be ugly in this village, otherwise you get mobs of fans stalking you." Naruto said shooting a look at Neji whose hand was twitching.

"Okay, people backing away from the subject of my looks. New subject-" Naruto glanced around the room in an attempt to find a new topic. Her eyes spotted Neji. "How are things at home, pretty-boy?"

"Hiashi-oji-sama gave me a letter that my father left behind. You were right." Neji said softly speaking to the ground rather than look at anyone.

"That's good." Naruto closed her eyes remembering Hizashi passing on a week ago. He had been very grateful and he had asked her to watch out for Neji as long as she could.

"Let's go visit Lee." Naruto shouted diverting the attention from Neji.

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'Gaara' Naruto thought downcast. He had hurt Lee to the point where the boy would have trouble walking again. She had felt his unstable mindset and had left him completely unsupervised. She should have been watching Gaara like a hawk even if he was a kindred spirit. To make matters worse he had hurt a boy whom Naruto was indebted to after the Forest of Death fiasco.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Neji's angry cry broke through Naruto's thoughts.

Gaara was already in the room with Lee. His sand was slithering like a cobra, tangling its self with its victim before it squeezed the life out of them.

"I was going to kill him." Gaara replied emotionlessly his body only turning sideways to regard Lee's visitors.

"And why would you want to do that?" Shikamaru said slowly as his shadow extended to capture Gaara's shadow. " Do you have a personal vendetta against him or something?"

Shikamaru's shadow imitation successfully captured Gaara's shadow as the red head realized as his body was forced away form Lee's bedside to face in Shikamaru's direction.

"No, nothing like that." Gaara replied his eyes brightening with madness that was visible to Naruto that she hadn't seen before. " I want to kill him just because I want to kill him."

"You weren't really raised right, were you?" Shikamaru said looking calm and collected but Naruto could tell Gaara was disconcerting him by the sweat that was traveling down his neck.

"No, I suppose I wasn't raised right in your terms." Gaara replied taking Shikamaru's question seriously. " When I was born, I stole the life of the woman I was supposed to call "mother". My father used a jutsu to implant the incarnation of sand, Shukaku, into my body. I was born a monster."

Naruto gritted her teeth painfully. Looking at Gaara was like staring into a mirror. Was this what she would've become if her grandfather hadn't saved her? A deranged, lonely child whose love had all dried up and whose sanity was diving over a cliff.

"A type of possession art that causes the fetus to be possessed?" Shikamaru said seeming to be the only one capable of speech at the moment. " What kind of parent does a thing like that? What a twisted way to show love?"

"Love?" Gaara pronounced the word as if it were a chemistry equation he couldn't understand. "Don't judge me by your standards. "Family"…let me tell you what that word means to me. Sacks of flesh connected by hatred and murderous intent."

Naruto's eyes flashed as voices and words recollected creating a tape of words in her ears.

'Jinchuuriki have no place in this world.'

'Your purpose is to be a tool. To live and breath to serve and protect Konoha. Your body and mind are to be used as we see fit.'

'You're all monsters in human shells! Leave and never taint this village with your presence ever again.'

' You've got it easier than any of the other jinchuurikis. You have family that loves and protects you. For the rest of us, love is an ideal. It's a feeling we will never experience. Like a monkey trying to touch the moon. It's a dream we will never achieve. After all, who would love a monster?'

"My mothers life was sacrificed so that I could be brought to life as the villages greatest masterpiece and as the Kazekage's son." Gaara continued in his monotonous voice, the sound of his voice chilled the bones and froze the insides.

"My father taught me secret shinobi skills, one after another. I was raised in isolation, spoiled and overprotected. At first I thought that was love until that incident."

'She must be put in isolation and put under surveillance at all times. We can't risk her getting out of control and killing more innocent villagers!'

"Ever since I turned six, my father has been trying to assassinate me. I've lost count of how many attempts he's made."

"But…you just said that your father spoiled you. So what do you mean?" Neji asked a visage of a mixture of cool indifference and a mild curiosity. If Gaara's life story was disturbing him anymore, he wasn't letting on.

" A presence that is too powerful becomes a presence that is feared. The fools in my village realized that I had emotional issues. My mind was unstable." Gaara's face twisted into a sardonic smirk. "To my father in his role as Kazekage, I was the village's most powerful weapon but at the same, I was a fearsome and dangerous object."

"To them I am now a relic of the past that they wish to erase and forget. " the psychotic red head continued. "So for what purpose do I exist? Why am I alive? At first, when I asked myself that I had no answer. But while I continue to live, I need a reason. Otherwise, I might as well be dead. So this is what I came up with, I exist to kill all humans other than myself. I would fight only for myself and love only myself. If all other people exist to magnify that love, then there is no more splendid world than this one."

"Still that must be very lonely." Haku said quietly, his normally warm brown eyes clouded in empathy with Gaara.

"Don't judge me by your standards." Gaara roared viciously his hands flying to grip his head. Gaara's eyes dilated as the he shook his head like a rattle, Gaara started to talk to himself " Yes, mother. I'll give you their blood right now. I'll kill them all."

"Mother?" A new voice drawled, his voice full of mock amusement. " Look at you, Shukaku, you've become even more pitiful than you were before. "

"Kyu." Haku said his expression turning into one of irritation and exasperation as he acknowledged the seven-foot man on the windowsill.

Quick as a flash he appeared behind Haku and scooped Naruto into his arms. His crimson demonic eyes flew to Gaara as the boy's words became louder. " Don't want me to kill them all, Mother…. the girl…you want the girls blood." Gaara's sand erupted from his gourd like lava from a volcano flying through the air heading for Naruto.

Before anyone could blink, Gaara was slammed against a wall Kyuubi's hand clenched over his throat.

"Shukaku, don't you dare go disregarding me to my face. You weren't fit to lick the slime off my feet a century ago and don't think that's changed because I've been sealed away. " Kyuubi's eyes were merciless and malevolent. Staring at his eyes was like staring into a sea of flames ready to burn the skin from your bones, unwilling to release you till you were ashes and at the mercy of the wind. " If you touch her, I'll kill you. "

"Kyu let him go." Naruto pleaded tugging on his shirt before he really killed Gaara. She had heard countless times how much he hated Shukaku for causing him trouble from spiking all his drinks to sleeping with his mother.

The sound of the sliding door brought everyone's attention from the quarrel of the two redheads.

"Enough!" Gai shouted entering the room glancing at everyone. "The finals start in two weeks. Don't be in such a hurry unless you're eager to become an inpatient today?"

Kyuubi held onto Gaara a couple of seconds longer before releasing him. Looking Gai up and down, Kyuubi shook his head and said, " The fashion police should just throw in the towel and bring in the tanks."

Naruto kicked him in the shin and steered him out of the room before he got them in any more trouble.

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"Who are you really?" Neji asked Kyuubi the question that both he and Shikamaru had been wondering since he had appeared.

Kyuubi smirked and Naruto sighed burying her head into her pillow. It took too much energy to stop him when he got like this.

"So glad you asked. I'm Naru-chan's lover." Kyuubi announced boastfully as Naruto rolled her eyes heavenward, to curse the Fourth for the millionth time. Haku was glaring at Kyuubi for the bold false declaration. Shikamaru and Neji had yet to collect their jaws from the floor.

" L-lover!" Shikamaru exclaimed surveying the man before him. He was at least seven feet tall, a model like physique that had girls clambering at his feet to be his lover. He possessed a certain elegant grace about him and at the same time there was a sure, arrogant air about him. Most, importantly this man had to at least be twenty." Naruto's twelve!"

"He's just playing with you." Naruto sighed tiredly.

"I should just leave you and go find someone else." Kyuubi said looking pouty for a demon.

"Oh, would you?" Haku said a thousand watt smile appearing on his face at the idea. "You can go right now if you want."

"That's cold, Haku." Kyuubi replied from his seat on Naruto's hospital bed.

"Uh, well I think I should get going now." Shikamaru said muttering something about his mother killing him if he didn't get home before curfew.

"Alright, thanks for visiting, Shika." Naruto said leaning back into her pillows.

"Naruto…I have a request to make." Neji began ambivalently a little blush transparent on his cheeks. It reminded Naruto of the look he had supported in the hot springs, when he had tried to tell her something but was interrupted by ero-sennin.

"What is it?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I'd like it if you would train me." Neji requested firmly banishing all uncertainty out of his mind and standing tall, as a proud Hyuuga should. His ego was lifted to its pinnacle when everyone in the room stared at him open-mouthed.

"You want me to train you?" Naruto repeated to be sure the doctors hadn't overdosed her medication.

Neji nodded in affirmative. Kyuubi snorted then burst out laughing. "Kid, you don't want her training you. She couldn't teach a dog how to sit."

"Funny, you should mention sit." Naruto growled softly as Kyuubi's face met the ground again.

"If you're considering training Neji, then could I join in?" Shikamaru asked abruptly making a quick decision.

"I don't mind if Naruto will train us." Neji said looking at Naruto who for the moment looked thoughtful.

"Well, I really don't have anything to do for the next two weeks that would be much fun." Naruto grinned suddenly showing off more canines than was needed as her eyes sparkled with some unknown emotion before smiling up at the two.

"Alright, I'll train you two." Naruto agreed after a moment of silence. "Come to my house at noon tomorrow. Be sure to ring the doorbell first, otherwise I won't be responsible for what happens to you."

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"I can't believe this." Shikamaru let out a groan as his bruised and battered body dodged more ice darts. "She's worse than Asuma-sensei."

"She did say she wouldn't be going easy on us." Neji reminded him wiping some sweat from his face.

"Yeah and by forbidding us from using our family ninjutsu's and kekkei genkais, she's limited our capabilities drastically. She's trying to show us how useless we are without our trump cards." Shikamaru concluded smiling wryly at Naruto's twisted idea of training.

"But why?" Neji pondered out aloud. " How is this going to help us with the Chunnin exam?"

"Well, lets say that someone discovers that blind spot of your Byakugan pretty boy. What would you do then?" A familiar voice asked him from behind as the couple of startled boys swiveled their heads in the direction of that voice.

There Naruto stood on a tree branch directly above them grinning like a wolf that had finally found its prey. There were darts made of ice between everyone of her fingers ready to shred the boys to pieces at any time.

Shikamaru and Neji both shared a look before smirking at Naruto. Naruto's eyebrow rose at the look the two boys shared before she felt something capture her ankle and pull her down.

Naruto's eyes flickered in midair to her ankle. It wasn't clearly visible but it was probably a wire that was attached to her ankle. She flicked her wrist and sent one of her darts to slice the wire. As soon as the wire was cut a barrage of kunais with exploding tags were launched at the unsuspecting Naruto who was floating midair.

A vine from inside Naruto's sleeve shot into the air and grabbed onto a branch pulling her up so she narrowly avoids getting impaled by kunais. She quickly moves a few trees away before the exploding tags go off.

After a few seconds had passed and no explosion sound was heard, the blond started to get suspicious. Those kunais had been a diversion but a diversion, for what?

She got her answer a moment later when the tree she had been resting on shook as the scent of ash and embers enveloped her nose. She leaped with the agility of a cheetah to the adjacent tree.

A surprising electrical shock shot through Naruto's body as she tumbled to the ground. Her eyes caught a glance at the trees where she had been shocked to see a seal. She smirked inwardly as her hand stretched forward her vine sliding out of her sleeve and shooting up like a rocket to stop her fall.

A nearly invisible wire snaked through the air lassoing around her vine before it could reach a tree branch and tugged Naruto down. A smokescreen descended into the clearing obscuring Naruto's view of the clearing.

She felt herself smack down on the ground as dust and pebbles flew in her face. She let out a sneeze sitting up as the smokescreen started to lift and two figures emerged.

"So how did we do?" Shikamaru asked casually his hands in his pockets.

Naruto glanced down at the circle, which she was currently in. "Pretty good, impressive use of the box seal jutsu. Of course, you two do you know that if I had been truly trying to kill you, you guys would be specks of blood right now." she taunted them at the end standing and brushing the dust off of her.

Neji scowled at her while Shikamaru continued to look until he grinned and replied to her taunt. "That's why we came to you, Wise One."

Naruto pretended to rub her imaginary beard. "A good answer my grasshopper. You're catching on quick." Her sapphire gaze turned to Neji whose eye was twitching which it seemed to do a lot in Naruto's presence. "This grasshopper, however, seems a bit slow." she turned to Shikamaru ignoring the pulsing vein on Neji's forehead. "He's probably the type that likes to look at himself in the mirror all day long."

"Lunch is ready!" Haku called from the backyard door.

"Yes! Time for lun-Hey!" Naruto was cut off as a powerful force met her bottom and propelled her through the open door and landed in a heap in the living room rubbing her sore butt.

"Was that really the right place to kick her?" Shikamaru asked Neji whose knee was still up.

"She moved so that's where my foot ended." Neji said his cheeks slightly pink. Why did things always end up like this with this girl?

"Pretty boy, when they say I'm going to kick your ass that doesn't actually mean kick people in their ass. I happen to need this ass!" Naruto shouted in outrage as Shikamaru shook with suppressed mirth.

"She's completely shameless." Neji muttered feeling like smacking his head repeatedly on the nearest flat surface forever considering training with this psycho.

"She's just Naruto." Shikamaru grinned heading toward the door.

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"I have a question for you." Shikamaru turned from his meal to look at Naruto. "Why did you drop out of the Chunnin exams? You're stronger than any genin I've seen so you probably could've made Chunnin easy." Neji and Haku also paused to turn to look at Naruto.

Naruto sipped her soda thoughtfully before her face split into a wryly smile. "I could've won that tournament and shown the most exemplary qualities of a Chunnin but I still wouldn't have been awarded the position." she answered finally as vague as possible.

"That doesn't make any sense." Shikamaru said frowning.

"I've heard my uncle mention your name a few times." Neji added a second later. " They discuss you at council meetings for some reason. They are the ones who judge who is fit to be a Chunnin or not. Do they hold a personal vendetta against you?"

"Something like that." Naruto replied as Haku gazed at her with empathetic eyes.

"It doesn't really matter though. I wouldn't have stayed in the tournament anyway even if I could get the vest."

"Why?"

"I was taught as a child to respect my fighting abilities and use them wisely. To protect something with them. Where I came from ranks were awarded by merit of what you've achieved. Holding a tournament where contestants try to kill each other for a vest while being watched like show dogs is disgusting. If I participated in such an event I would be disgracing myself and my teachers." Naruto explained as simply as she could.

"That sounds like something a samurai would say." Shikamaru said gazing at Naruto strangely. " And anyway I thought you were from Konoha?"

"Well, my mother" Naruto's lips twisted in distaste at the word. " Immigrated here but she wasn't originally from here. As for my father, for all I know he could be King of the Elves. I don't know anything about him but the general consensus is that he was a Konoha shinobi."

"Where was your mother from?" Shikamaru asked curiously.

'A different dimension were there are no ninjas or humans and magical beings live in relative peace safe from human scum.' Naruto wanted to say but she kept it civilized. "It's a faraway place off the continent. "

"Those are very idealistic views they have." Neji spoke up stabbing his meat with his fork absentmindedly.

" Not really. We believe in honor and our society isn't based on lies, treachery and war." Naruto replied evenly spooning some rice in her mouth.

"You keep saying we like you're one of them." Shikamaru said speaking slowly and carefully.

"I am one of them." Naruto corrected irritation flashing across her face.

"But aren't you sworn to Konoha?" Shikamaru questioned in alarm.

Naruto snorted in derision leaning back in her chair. " I'm not sworn to Konoha and I won't ever swear myself to Konoha. I have no interest in becoming a ninja." she told them in earnest earning surprised look from all three boys sitting at the table.

"I thought you were a ninja." Neji commented praying that he didn't get beat by someone who wasn't even a ninja.

"Nope." Naruto had a habit of crushing his hopes.

"I'm confused." Shikamaru announced rubbing his head as Naruto stood up gathering the plates and bringing them over to the sink. " How are you on a ninja team but not be a ninja?"

Naruto smiled warmly at Shikamaru and pointed to the door. " You will find the answer out there."

Shikamaru sighed at the dismissal as Naruto lead the two boys to the door. " Don't be so nosy, Shikamaru. Maybe one day I'll tell you but not today." Naruto patted him on the head before looking at their surroundings.

"Its dark." she commented absently putting her finger to her lip as she remembered something. "I'm supposed to walk you two home, right?" Naruto asked uncertainly.

"It's the opposite, Wise One." Neji grumbled annoyed by the way she regarded them as children.

"Is it? I'll walk you two home anyway." she said sticking her head in the door to tell Haku.

"You don't have too." Shikamaru quickly reassured her as she walked down the stairs.

"No way. I'm not letting anything happen to my grasshoppers after I just got them." Naruto retorted stubbornly as Neji just shook his head at how everything was backward.

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"I can't believe you agreed to train those guys." Obito commented sourly as he trailed after Naruto who had just dropped off her two new pupils. Naruto smiled at the pouty look on his face. His arms across his chest, in an Indian sitting position with his eyes flashing from behind his goggles as he levitated after her.

"I have my reasons." Naruto said her eyes flickering toward the slight illumination of light at the corner of the end of the street.

"What's wrong?" Obito asked as she came to a stop in a deserted alleyway.

Naruto looked up at the sky where a full moon shone brightly. It was a beautiful and mystical sight to behold. The moon represented so many different things too so many people. Hope, power, fear, insanity, bloodlust and so many other things. Today, though, it outlined the silhouette of a certain jinchuuriki whom she had just had a run in with yesterday.

"Uzumaki!" A dark, pompous and unwanted voice called from behind her. Obito turned around immediately at the voice going pale at the sight of the newcomer.

Naruto took her sweet time turning around to face, Uchiha, Fugaku, Head of the Uchiha Clan, Chief of the Konoha Police force and one of the biggest assholes she had ever had the misfortune to meet.

"What do you want?" Naruto answered curtly cocking her head to the side to ready herself for a battle of words and maybe even spells.

Fugaku's gaze scrutinized Obito disapprovingly as Obito glared at him defiantly. " You've broken your word." Fugaku stated hotly trying to burn a hole through Naruto with his eyes.

"My word?" Naruto repeated waiting for an explanation and fighting the urge to roll her eyes.

"My son has gotten mixed up with your…your kind of people." Fugaku spluttered heavily his face starting to turn red from anger, Naruto's offhand manner starting to vex him.

Naruto's eyebrow rose at that piece of information. Sasuke, had gotten himself involved with a magical being?

"Whom exactly did he get involved with?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"That redheaded boy with your psychotic tendencies." Fugaku answered as Naruto slumped in inward relief.

"Gaara is not my kind of people. He is a Suna ninja. Sasuke is mixed up with shinobi matters not mine. So this is hardly my fault." Naruto returned fed up with Itachi's father. Honestly how did such an irritating, ugly and horrible tempered man like this one have a sexy, calm and dreamy son like Itachi?

"He was probably drawn here because of your psychic energy or some hocus pocus like that." Fugaku protested angrily as Naruto bit her lip to keep from laughing at the ludicrous theory. Psychic energy, hocus pocus, that sounded so ridiculous it was humorous.

"You have been nothing but trouble for this village since the day you were born." Fugaku burst out as Naruto smirked.

" And you!" Fugaku rounded on Obito his face purple with rage. " If you had left this rift raff alone, she wouldn't be alive to cause trouble for my son."

"Hey! Don't talk about her like that. Its not her fault that your son has as big a head as you that he thinks he can face down a demon and win." Obito yelled belligerently surprising his uncle with his defense of Naruto.

"Why you!" Fugaku snarled his hand stretching out to grab Obito by the collar. " You never had the proper decorum of the Uchiha clan. You were a disgrace alive, dieing in battle and giving your Sharingan to someone outside of our clan and you are a disgrace now-"

"Fugaku!" A soft, feminine voice called distracting him for a moment from his tirade against Obito. It also distracted him from the fist coming from Naruto, which caught Fugaku full on in the face.

He fell back on the floor, releasing Obito and clutching his nose in pain. Obito looked back from his uncle lying on the floor in agony to Naruto who was smiling quite pleased with herself.

"Did you have to do that?" Obito hissed at her as Mikoto went dutifully to her husband side.

"Yeah." Naruto nodded after a minute of fake consideration. " His voice was starting to make my ears bleed."

"He has a gift for that." Obito muttered under his breath as Naruto snickered.

"It's not funny. Now, he's going to haunt me." Obito whispered back, his face twisting into a grimace.

"No, he's not." Naruto assured him staring at Sasuke's mother tending to Fugaku intently. " Not if he knows what's good for him." Obito blinked and turned to look at Naruto only to shudder at the pure malevolent gleam in her eyes directed at the whimpering Uchiha head.

" Anyway, Obito you do know what he said isn't true, right?" Naruto asked carefully.

Obito didn't answer her immediately, which caused a gnawing suspicion to grow inside her chest. Just as she about to speak again Fugaku's obnoxious voice interrupted her again.

" So this is how it is!" Fugaku hollered at the two his nose healed and his face twisted into a smug smile. As if he had just figured something out that they hadn't. " In love with the dead, are you, Uzumaki?"

Naruto froze, the blood in her veins running cold as Obito looked at her worriedly. Fugaku smirked at having the upper hand for once. " I should've guessed. If a monster like you couldn't get love from the living then-"

"Enough, Fugaku." Mikoto broke in her voice hard and leaving no room for any argument. All three heads turned in her direction at the authoritarian like voice coming from a woman who had always stood in the shadows of her husband.

Obito and Fugaku who had known Mikoto a lot longer than Naruto had looked dumbstruck by the fierce, smoldering look in her eyes. The rigid set of her face and the tenseness of her body.

Naruto shook herself from her frozen stupor to regard this woman quietly. She had really never met her properly or spoken two words to the women. Truthfully, she didn't even like her due to her subservient way of following her husband. She disliked anyone who followed someone without ever questioning them.

"Uzumaki-san, Obito-kun, I'd like to sincerely apologize for the poor way my husband has been acting." Mikoto began bowing to the two of them as Fugaku gaped at her in outrage.

" Now see here Mikoto, I-" Fugaku began but shut up firmly when his wife turned around to face him. Naruto couldn't see what kind of look Mikoto sent to her husband but it stopped him cold. He gulped, swallowed and shut up. Naruto touched the ground to be sure that hell hadn't frozen over.

"Uzumaki-san, truthfully the only reason my husband has been causing you such trouble is because he is deathly afraid for our son." Mikoto explained as Fugaku's cheeks turned pink.

"How is that my problem?" Naruto retorted disinterested with the reasons for Fugaku's attitude problems.

"You are the only connection between the dead and the living." Mikoto reminded Naruto. "Its only natural that we would seek you out."

"I see." Naruto said the reason for Fugaku's constant instigations becoming clear to her. "You want me to look after Sasuke."

"That's right." Sasuke's mother confirmed.

"Whatever happens to Sasuke is none of my business." Naruto replied her eyes glaciers and her voice frosty.

"I owe the Uchiha clan nothing. If you think I've forgotten for a second about the part the Uchiha clan played with my childhood then you have got to go get your ectoplasm fixed. You guys were supposed to protect the innocent of the village. Stop crime and all that shit. But when it came to me, did you?" Naruto smiled in bitterness and spite.

" Of course you didn't, if someone wanted to rape or beat me or whatever and a cop was around they turned a blind eye. Like I didn't exist." she spat her fist clenching and her eyes blazing through them like lasers. "Well now let me ask you, how does it feel to be the ones not to exist? How does it feel when your cry for help will never be heard?" Naruto asked them her face dark.

"Don't come asking me for help when you never extended your hand to help me." She turned and strode in the opposite direction of the Uchiha's.

"The police force may not have done its duty to protect honorably but there was one…one Uchiha who honored those laws." Mikoto spoke softly her voice carrying out to reach Naruto's ears through the quiet night. " He protected you for a long time and he enjoyed being with you even more than pockey."

"Pockey?" Naruto repeated stopping in midst ride. That word rang a bell in her head. She just couldn't remember from where. She turned to Mikoto. "There was no Uchiha's protecting me ever."

Mikoto and Fugaku turned their heads to Obito, who looked really uncomfortable. Naruto followed their gaze and frowned in confusion. "Are they talking about you?"

"Him! He couldn't protect a-"Mikoto elbowed her husband stopping him in mid bellow.

"Obito." Naruto gave Obito her best evil eye. "Who are they talking about?"

"Uh, well, that's-" Obito turned his head side ways as if he was looking for a way out. " My mom's calling me, so I'll just go." Naruto grabbed his arm before he could dematerialize.

"Obito." Naruto drawled fixing him with a glare that would move a mountain out of her way.

"My eldest son, you ingrate!" Fugaku shouted in disgust saving Obito the discomfort of answering. " He wasted his ANBU career looking after you like a nanny. All because the Third didn't want to send a thirteen year old on bloody missions."

A gasp passed her lips as the thoughts in her head whirled around like a merry go round. Itachi had taken care of her when she was a child. It was impossible. She had never met Itachi until a month ago. If Itachi had been as close as a nanny to her - which was a disturbing thought to begin with- then there was no way she wouldn't remember him. Mikoto was lying. She had to be, so she would agree to look after Sasuke.

A darker, sharper wisp of doubt lurked into her mind. Was Mikoto really lying? When she had met Itachi she hadn't felt threatened or in any danger. Her general dislike of the Uchiha clan had seemed to misplace itself as she talked to the elder Uchiha. She frowned as she recalled what Kyuubi had said to her once.

'You don't remember?'

"You're lying." Naruto stated finally turning her back on the Uchiha couple again.

"If you don't believe me then go ask the Third. He'll tell you himself." Mikoto offered her eyes and body language completely reassured. No sign of tenseness or deceit anywhere on her form, a hard form to keep when someone was lying.

Naruto didn't reward her with an answer. She leaped onto the building closest to her and ran away as far as possible from the disconcerting ghost.

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"I'll take care of our little rat problem." Baki said his eyes flickering to where Hayate was hiding. Naruto cursed under her breath as Baki and Hayate started to fight swords to wind sword.

"You have to help him." Obito said as Naruto gritted her teeth from her place hidden by the bushes.

"How? I can't just barge in and kick ass. They know me." the agitated half-demon returned causing Obito to ponder her dilemma.

"Transform into the Vixen." Obito suggested as Naruto frowned and shook her head.

"Not demon related and the Vixen is a known hater of ninjas. She doesn't help ninja villages."

Obito ran his hand through his hand before a mischievous glint danced through his eye . He smiled at Naruto, who for the first time ever felt like it would be a very safe thing for her to run away from Obito in the opposite direction at full speed .

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Naruto asked warily on edge.

"You said that Ibiki told you that the village thinks that it has a guardian angel watching out for it, right?" Obito questioned as Naruto's eyes widened in horror.

"HELL NO!" Naruto exclaimed aghast as Obito's plan came to light.

"HELL YES!" Obito yelled back at Naruto who shivered. " You have to. You promised you would help Konoha in any way you could."

"But-But-" Naruto spluttered as Obito's opal eyes bore into hers and she groaned. "OH MAN!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Hayate panted as Baki's wind sword cut him again. His blood splattered on the roof as he moved out of the way of Baki's next attack.

Baki redirected his sword to come in contact with Hayate's abdomen. His attack would've probably been fatal if a gust of powerful wind hadn't whizzed past them and separated the two fighters from each other.

The two men turned their heads up to see who the interference came from only for the jaws to drop at the sight the beheld.

A shimmering light was sparkling above their heads like a clutter of diamonds. Glittering feathers that looked so yielding you would never expect the ferocity of their sharp edges. Two feathery wings were unfolded holding this other being up. Connected to the wings was a beautiful woman. A long white billowing cream dress covered her curvy body. Long, black hair that fell to her knees, lustrous blue eyes peered at them in a calm triumph and her luscious full red lips twisted into a calm serene smile.

"Konoha ninja, flee now and go warn the Sandaime of the betrayal of Sand." The angel said to Hayate who was staring at his savior.

"I said MOVE YOUR DA-" Naruto felt someone pinch her from behind as she cut off her statement. She didn't think angels were allowed to curse but damn, would this idiot move.

Hayate sheathed his sword slowly watching Baki from the corner of his eye and then he jumped to the next building, heading for the Hokage tower. Baki made to go after Hayate but Naruto shook her finger at him, tsking slightly.

" Move out of my way, you damn butterfly!" Baki exclaimed angrily, afraid that the entire invasion plan had just been compromised.

'Butterfly! Why you!' " You know since you've done such a good job of pissing me off. I have a special treat for you, bastard." Naruto spat out angrily a vein pulsing on her angelic forehead.

Baki growled at her as she began to recite a spell.

" Ninja, plotting to reek destruction with the demon of Sand.

After your meeting with Orochimaru's hand.

You will forget everything on my command."

A glaze descended in Baki's eyes as he began to wobble, swaying left to right. Naruto brought herself down parallel to his ear and whispered " Forget."

Baki tumbled forward unconscious as the "angel" smiled victoriously. With a wave of her hand, the sand ninja was sent back to his hotel room. He would wake up not remembering how he had even got to bed.

"Pff. What kind of spell was that? The ones in the book are so much cooler." Obito commented standoffishly as Naruto glared at him.

"Well, sorry. It was the best thing I could come up with at the time. Please forgive me great one for not possessing the eloquence and articulation of spell casting that you deem worthy." She replied the glamour fading away to leave the normal tomboyish Naruto.

"See, this is why you got a D in spell casting." Obito informed her as Naruto scowled at the memory.

"I hated that teacher. It doesn't matter what words you use in a spell as long as it gets what you were aiming for. Like anyone's going to have time to write a sonnet in the face of emanate death. Naruto, you must feel the words coming to you, don't indulge in the hedonistic way of picking any word that a simpleton could rhyme with." Naruto imitated in a nasally voice. " I hardly ever showed up for that class because I was too scared I'd lose it and hex that lady to her death bed. "

" Obito." She said a moment later looking at him with large eyes that spelled trouble for him. " If you ever tell anyone about this, you'll be seeing the insides of your ectoplasm ."

"You are really not cute." Obito sighed floating after her toward the Hokage tower.

" I'll pretend I didn't hear that." She yelled back leaping from house to house on her way to interrogate a certain Hokage.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

" An angel helped Hayate escape from the Sand ninja?" Kakashi repeated dubiously as snickers were heard through the room.

" I don't know what she was but she saved my life." Hayate replied before he dissolved into another coughing fit. " She seemed to want me to get the information to the Hokage as soon as possible."

" I still don't believe that the Sand has allied itself with the Sound." One ninja commented as some other ninja's made known their agreement.

"Hmm. This is a troubling development. " Sarutobi agreed even though he already knew about the alliance thanks to Naruto.

"We've already sent our ANBU to every village on recon missions. They should be reporting in soon. In the mean time, the ANBU will be stationed at every strategic location in the village. Everyone is to be on their guard. Understood?" Sarutobi asked his voice weighing down on everybody with its authority.

"HAI!" the ninja's answered their voices resounded in the walls.

Sarutobi nodded pleased. " Then, you're all dismissed."

The jounin filtered out of the room until only Kakashi remained. The Third lifted his head to gaze solemnly at Kakashi.

"What happened to Kushina-san?" Kakashi asked as soon as the Hokage gave him his full attention.

The Sandaime sighed heavily leaning back into his chair. " I'm sorry Kakashi but Naruto reported in that Kushina was already dead when she found her."

"You told them she was dead!" Obito yelled at the blonde who was eavesdropping, from her covert in the ceiling.

"Yeah, so?" she whispered back.

"So, she's still alive. Why are you lying to them?" Obito hissed back.

"Shhh." Naruto whispered as Kakashi began to speak.

"How did Naruto take the news?" Kakashi asked sounding disturbed.

"You're surprised that she took the news that her mother had been kidnapped and now killed so well." The Third said perceptively.

" Naruto gets emotional over small things. When I told her I'd signed all of them up for the Chunnin Exams she called me a monster. But when her mother came up it just seemed like she thought of her mother as an…"Kakashi trailed off not able to think of a word to express how Naruto had treated her mother.

"As an inconvenience." Sarutobi supplied helpfully as Kakashi nodded in agreement.

"Ibiki told me that Naruto has been visiting her mother for the last four years but that she always seemed so distant. Like she wasn't there to visit Kushina-san but she wanted something from her." Kakashi explained pensively looking at the Third with unseen apprehension.

"Naruto doesn't care for her mother." Sarutobi said quietly as Kakashi's eye widened slightly not with surprise but with disbelief. " She was trying to heal her mother from herself induced coma because Naruto needed her help for something. It looks like, though, now she doesn't need her anymore so her loss wasn't anything to be upset about."

"But why?" Kakashi asked not comprehending.

"Kakashi, Naruto isn't very fond of Konoha. Both of her parents were once Konoha ninja's. They died protecting the village. That may seem like an honorable thing to you and I but to Naruto who hates this village, she sees it as a betrayal. Her parents chose the village over her. They chose to die or in Kushina's case go insane, over living and taking care of her. It's the way Naruto thinks of her parents. Not as great heroes but as people who abandoned her." The Sandaime explained heavily as Naruto's insides squirmed from her covert in the ceiling. Turning his chair to face the Hokage Mountain he added " After all, the knowledge that her parents were heroes doesn't matter to a child whose crying at night to be comforted by anyone, for anyone to love and care for her. It doesn't matter because at the end of the day one truth remains." Sarutobi turned around in his chair to regard Kakashi with eyes that were haunted by pain. " No one's here to love you."

Naruto bit her lip so she could feel physical pain instead of joining in the old man's emphatic speech. It wasn't fair how understanding the Third was. It wasn't fair how adept he was at reading her.

"Hokage-sama, speaking of Naruto I have a few questions regarding her." Kakashi said after a pregnant pause.

"What did she do this time?" Sarutobi sighed exasperatedly awaiting the oncoming onslaught of complaints.

"Well, Naruto seems to think that she is leaving the village when she turns sixteen." Kakashi informed the Sandaime whose eye twitched.

"That is true." The Third commented as he contemplated what he was going to do when he saw her next time. " But she wasn't supposed to be running her mouth off about it."

"But why can she just leave like that?" Kakashi asked.

" It was one of the only ways I could convince to even consider becoming a ninja. She can leave or stay when she turns sixteen. The choice is hers." Sandaime replied his tone indicating how unlikely the second option was. " Anything else?"

" Ah well, I've been curious about her skills so far. They're unusual, especially since you said she hasn't had any previous ninja training." Kakashi confessed as the Sandaime blinked in puzzlement.

"How exactly?" the Hokage asked curious.

"Sasuke told me that she used wind ninjutsu, lightning ninjutsu, wood ninjutsu and she flew them over the Forest of the Death." Kakashi's voice got even more uncertain as he listed off what his student had told him Naruto had did in the Forest of Death.

'Damn you, Sasuke, you tattletale. I'm going to dye your hair pink the next time I see you.' Naruto growled in her head as Obito shook his head in mirth.

"Wood ninjutsu and flying?" Sarutobi repeated dubiously his eyebrows disappearing into his hairline. " Are you sure Sasuke wasn't just imagining things?"

"No. I don't think so." Kakashi said rubbing the back of his head a bit sheepishly. " He was feeling…pretty inferior to Naruto after she supposedly saved him and Sakura from Orochimaru by shooting him with a thunder bolt and then flying over the forest." Kakashi blinked at the end of his sentence, the words sounding insane even coming out of the mouth of a ninja.

The Third's shoulders came up and then sagged down as he let out a huge sigh. His wrinkles more prominent then ever with all the stress the old man had been under for the past few weeks. " Kakashi, regarding Naruto, I'll let you in on a little secret that will save you lots of time and energy."

Kakashi's eyes perked up with curiosity as he looked at the Hokage expectantly. " Yes sir?"

" Don't think about it." Sarutobi breathed out slowly as the jounin nearly fell over from receiving such an obstructive answer.

"I know it sounds ridiculous." Sarutobi cut in before Kakashi could voice a word of protest. " But it's the best policy you can have with Naruto. Otherwise you'll waste half your time looking for answers that she isn't going to fork over. All you need to remember is, listen to her when she speaks." The old mans brown eyes turned serious suddenly marking how serious this was. " If she tells you something, then believe her. Don't question her just believe if she says something is going to happen then it will."

"Are you saying that Naruto is clairvoyant?" Kakashi asked in astonishment.

"Who knows with her? I remember when she was a baby, numerous caretakers quit because they claimed she was possessed." Sarutobi informed him looking exasperated.

"Possessed?" Kakashi echoed the word sounding humorous on his lips before he remembered how devious Naruto was. She still had that picture of him unmasked which she was using as blackmail.

"There were numerous incidents. One claimed that she placed her baby food on the top of counter, too far for a baby to reach and when she turned around and turned back to Naruto it was in her hands and she was eating eat. One said that after she tried to dress Naruto in this very bright orange outfit she turned around and the outfit's color had changed to baby blue. Actually, I do recall that one nanny did try to poison Naruto's food but somehow her food got switched with Naruto's. The woman wasn't dead when the ANBU got there so they were able to get a few words out of her before she died. She kept saying terrible things about Naruto switching their food. The really odd thing was that they both had different types of food, so it was strange for the woman to get it mixed up." the Hokage crossed his arms together and nodded once. " Yes, its best not to think about things like this. It's all just confusing and a waste of time. All that matters is that Naruto isn't against us and whatever strange abilities she has she uses them to help us."

"Yeah. I suppose." Kakashi's head processing all the information he had just received. " But what about the wood ninjutsu? I thought only the First Hokage could perform those kind of jutsu's?"

"I have no idea. I could ask Naruto but I assure you I won't be getting any answers. She has a talent for digressing from the subject." Sarutobi's eyes crinkled in mirth as he recalled the blond's dramatics for skipping from one unrelated topic to another so that you completely forget what you were talking about. " Kakashi, go home and don't worry about Naruto. If anyone can look after themselves, its Naruto."

"Hai." Kakashi obliged exiting the room with more questions then answers. Too many unanswered questions floating around in his head. Where did Naruto learn all these techniques? How did she get enough money to buy a house when she was on an allowance from the village for orphans? Who was Uzumaki Naruto?

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"You aren't going to ask the Third anything about Itachi?" Obito asked following Naruto as she exited the Hokage Tower stealthily making sure no one caught a glimpse of her.

"No. If I'd just barged in then he would've thought I'd been eavesdropping. Besides-" Here, Naruto grinned at Obito foreshadowing an unpleasant conversation ahead. " I have you."

"Me?" Obito repeated swallowing anxiously as they arrived at Naruto's house. She went into the backyard where it was still a mess after Shikamaru and Neji's training session. The place was quiet and it seemed Haku was sleeping since all the lights were out.

"Itachi's your cousin. Plus if I'm doing the math correctly then given the time Itachi was still in the village and the time I met you, I was six or seven. Which means you would have been around when Itachi was allegedly babysitting me." Naruto concluded placing her hands on her hips in the universal female position of a fight about to break. " So spill, goggle head." When Obito remained silent fidgeting relentlessly until she barked. "Now."

"Look, when you first met me we weren't exactly best friends." Obito started awkwardly as Naruto nodded in remembrance.

" I know. I thought you were an invisible stalker who only I could see. Sorry, for taking your goggles and making them snap until they broke your nose, by the way." She apologized with a lopsided grin as Obito smiled back at her, his lips pulled back into a sardonic smile.

"Thanks. That means so much considering it took you over a decade to apologize." He retorted sarcastically as Naruto shrugged in response.

"Better late then never."

"It's usually late with you." Obito commented as his friend turned a scowl of irritation on him.

"I'm sorry I picked on you but you were creepy and you wouldn't leave me alone." Naruto defended. Before Obito could answer to that she said " Stop trying to digress from the subject and tell me about weasel boy."

"What does digress mean?"

"Obito!"

"Fine." Obito relented seeing no escape from the situation but also resigning himself to the fact that Naruto had a right to know, even if she was going to be pissed. He probably should find shelter before that happened. " After Itachi became an ANBU captain the Sandaime wanted to give him a mission that would require someone of his strength but at the same time keep him from doing missions he thought would damage a child's psychological welfare. So he came up with the idea of having Itachi be your bodyguard. Okay, is that all? That's great. I think I hear my mother calling. I have to-ow ow ow ow."

Naruto yanked on the black haired boys ear rather painfully sending him a look that dared him not to finish what he had been saying. "Are you telling me that Uchiha, Itachi was my bodyguard?"

Obito rubbed his abused extremity nodding at Naruto's incredulous face. " Itachi was supposed to watch and protect you but he also left for other missions from time to time."

Naruto was desperately trying to recall anything regarding her childhood in Konoha but it was like trying to capture water with your hands. It kept slipping between the cracks. It was like something gliding around in her mind avoiding capture.

"Naruto! Hey! Are you okay?" Obito asked worriedly as Naruto leaned against the wall of the house in a daze.

"I don't understand." She whispered faintly her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, her eyes rising to meet Obito's. "Why can't I remember? I mean I thought something was wrong when I met him. It felt like I knew him. Even though he had those eyes I didn't want to hurt him."

Obito was quiet for a few moments before explaining. " Before the Uchiha massacre you had an accident. You really liked Itachi when you were a kid and you didn't really get along with anyone besides him. You were recovering in the hospital when Itachi killed my clan. When you heard that Itachi was going to be hunted down by ANBU you started to go berserk. You wanted to see Itachi right then and there. I don't think you really understood that he was a mass murdering lunatic. The lamps started exploding, the building would shake, and the wind got violent. They thought it was because of Kyuubi and they needed a way to calm you down. The Sandaime thought that it would be best if you forgot Itachi."

Naruto couldn't speak for a few moments. It was like her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth. She sank into one of the chairs on the backyard porch. When she could finally articulate it was in a low, horror struck voice. " Are you telling me that the Third did something to my memory?"

"I'm not sure what he did." Obito admitted softly kneeling next to Naruto. "I wasn't there but one minute you're crying for Itachi and then the next you don't even know who he is."

"Did…Did Itachi care for me or was he just using my affections for him like Madara used my grandmother?" Naruto asked tremulously trying frantically to remember anything before the orphanage.

"I don't know." Obito answered truthfully, his eyes drifting to the ground in helplessness. "Itachi is a real good actor. He played Sasuke and it is possible that he was playing you too."

Chaotic thoughts were whirling around in her head. It would explain a lot, like why Kyuubi had acted like he knew Itachi. The jutsu had affected her memory not his. It also explained why she had been so comfortable with the Uchiha when she thought they had first met. The questions that remained, however, was should she get her memory of him back and how was she going to do that without arousing suspicion? It's not like she could go up to the Third and tell him Itachi's mom told her that Itachi was her nanny/bodyguard and she had found out that he did something to her memory. People were already getting suspicious of her, now definitely wasn't the time or place to do something supernatural.

Naruto pulled on her bangs in frustration, the pounding in her head reverberating like a pair of bongos. " I can't deal with this right now. Those brats are going to be here in the morning for more training and I have to think about what I am going to do about the invasion." She glanced at her watch and groaned. " It's two in the morning, damn it."

"Hey, relax. Just get some rest and we'll deal with it in the morning." Obito suggested as the blond agreed tiredly pushing the back door open.

As soon as she entered the house something felt off. When a hand clamped over her mouth she cursed herself for not being on constant alert.

"Shhh. Its just us." The Nidaime's voice wafted into her ear as the light flickered on.

Naruto's eyes widened as her eyes took in the number of people inside her living room or to be more accurate the number of ghosts in her house.

Naruto's head swiveled toward the two Hokages. " How many times have I told you, two? No poker games at my house. I don't care how funny it is to see the Shodai blow his top. I don't want to see it at the expense of my furniture." Naruto said exasperatedly as the First scowled and the Second grinned.

"I don't blow my top." The First grumbled as his younger brother patted him on the shoulder sympathetically.

"This isn't a poker game. This is a war council." Nidaime informed gesturing to the, at least thirty, ghosts who upon closer inspection were all former ninjas.

"A war council!" Naruto and Obito chorused together, eyes scrutinizing the ninjas in incredulity.

"That's right, little girl." One of the ninja's said a snare that made his face seem scary with seriousness. He was bulky with muscle and had a deep voice that seemed to have a talent for scaring the shit out of people. " You know about an invasion about to hit our village but you haven't taken any action. No infiltration of enemy base, no lookouts, no preparations have been made at all. I don't think you care at all about this invasion."

"Well, that is probably true." Naruto muttered to herself her eyes shifted to the ground in nonchalant guilt.

"Now, now, Tatsume. Naruto has no experience with this kind of thing. She has no idea what she's expected to do. That's why we're here." Nidaime said placating the man as Naruto grumbled under her breath.

" I know you two have been training her for a while but are you sure she can do anything? I mean she isn't even showing any interest in any of this." Tatsume asked skeptically of the two Hokages, his eyes trained on Naruto who was staring at her fingernails.

"That's just Naruto's personality. She doesn't show an interest in anything important." Obito put in trying to be helpful.

" Well, what kind of abilities does she even have? How is she going to stop an invasion led by the Sand and Sound village?" Another Konoha ninja asked looking down his long crooked nose at a disgruntled Naruto.

" I have something to say." Naruto announced her lip curling up in agitation as she stood her face stiff with exhaustion. " Who the hell are you losers to come in my house and pick at my methods of preparing for an invasion? You're all dead for Merlin's sake. No one cares what you think. All you losers can do is rattle chains and boo everywhere so hahaha. You can't-"

The Second's hand conveniently found it's way around Naruto's mouth. " Are you insane? What's wrong with you?" he hissed in her ear.

" It's been an emotional day for her and she hasn't had any sleep." Kyuubi told them coming out of his vessel's room, running his hand through his red silky hair. " I love her when she's like this. If you're nice to her, you can ask her to do anything and she'll say yes."

"Kyuubi!" Tatsume sneered; some of the dead ninja's advanced while others backed away in fear.

"Well this is going well." Obito muttered foreseeing the chaos about to ensue.

" Enough." Shodai shouted his voice holding a commanding tone that could not be disobeyed. Everyone turned to face the First who was looking solemn.

" Listen, we have an invasion to prepare for and little time to do so." Shodai turned to Naruto who looked resigned. " Naruto, I know it's late but this is the only time where we could discuss this as loud as we want and without worrying about any villagers. Zabuza is keeping Haku asleep so he won't wake up even if a hurricane were to hit. Now, we need your full cooperation."

"Fine but tell them to stop acting like they're in charge of me." Naruto complained with a pout and a glare at the dead ninja's.

"Of course. We meant no disrespect. We only wanted to extend our assistance to you, so you can prepare for the invasion adequately." Another ninja said politely with a pleasant aura. He was lithe with a handsome face. He didn't radiate the open animosity that Tatsume had displayed.

"Oh, I like this guy." Naruto pointed to the ninja who had spoken.

"Can we start now?" Tatsume interrupted impatiently, receiving a glare from Naruto.

"I don't like you." She added scowling at Tatsume.

"Here's a map of the village." Nidaime said setting a topographical map of the village on the table.

"Now we've all been in surprise invasions before, so we can predict where the enemy will attack to an extent but I still think it will be a good idea to place traps and sensor's at all strategic points of the village. It will alert us to when the enemy is infiltrating and at the same time cause some damage." Nidaime suggested pointing to the locations on the map.

"I guess." Naruto said a thoughtful look on her face. Her face was scrunched up as if she was trying to figure something out.

"What? You just thought of something?" Obito exclaimed loudly turning everyone's head towards Naruto.

"Well, we could do what Nidaime said but there's also something else I can do. See, this-" Naruto gestured to the map of Konoha.

"What? It's Konoha, kid." One of the other ninja's said as Naruto's brow twitched. "I know that, genius." The blond said pointing at the geography. " I was referring to how Konoha is mostly all forest and slightly mountainous."

"So?" A kunoichi pressed.

Naruto sighed in exasperation, looking up at Shodai who had a knowing look in his eyes.

" So, I've been learning a jutsu that could connect me with every tree and plant in the village. If I could do that, I could feel when the Sand and Sound invade and I can blow them to pieces."

"That's true but that would leave you in a mediation like state. Your body would be completely defenseless." Shodai pointed out.

"Yeah, that's the sucky part. Most likely, I'm going to have to be the one to fight Gaara, no I want to fight Gaara. I also have to make sure Orochimaru doesn't kill, oji-chan. Then, I want to activate my most powerful jutsu of all time that will completely destroy Orochimaru's attack force like I said I would." Naruto listed the things she had to on her fingers aware of the people staring at her in surprise. An animalistic grin worked its way on her face. "That'll show the Pedo-hebi who he's messing with."

"You already had a plan before all this, didn't you?" Obito asked a wary look on his face as Naruto just continued to grin with the thought of destroying Orochimaru's plans.

"Of course she did." Kyuubi butted in giving them a 'duh, are you stupid?' look. " She can't even order something in a restaurant without going over it ten times. It's really annoying."

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled throwing a pillow at him, which he dodged with no effort. He came over and slapped his vessel upside the head.

"That jutsu that you were talking about wouldn't happen to be that one, would it?" Kyuubi asked looking excited for some reason. When Naruto nodded yes, a demonic grin broke his face and made him look like the Demon king everyone loathed and knew.

"There isn't a better jutsu in the world for a war like that one." Kyuubi agreed in appreciation of Naruto's choice. " By the way, there is a spell in that book that could create real clones of yourself." Kyuubi whispered in her ear as the rest of the occupants of the room discussed with each other on other plans.

"Really? Real clones that won't disappear like shadow clones." Naruto asked for clarification with ebullience of a curious witch.

" The terms of the spell aren't that clear but from what I understood it'll make you as many clones as you want but they will only disappear when their purpose is fulfilled or they're killed. So, they're more effective than kage bunhins for something like this." Kyuubi explained.

"Great going, Kyu. Now, Orochimaru's going to go down so fast he's going to make Atlantis look like it's still floating."

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Naruto yawned tiredly lying on her backyard beach chair, her third coffee cup in hand she watched as her kage bunshins made mince meat out of her two grasshoppers.

" Isn't that a little too much?" Haku asked referring to her excessive caffeine dosage this morning, taking a seat next to Naruto who only groaned in response.

"What's wrong, Naruto? You've been groaning all morning." Haku asked in concern taking in the bags under her eyes and the exhaustion in her usually energetic face.

" I hate this village." Naruto whined sitting up to rub her eyes with her fists.

She had spent the rest of her night with the most boring ghosts she had ever had the misfortunate to meet, planning strategies for the invasion. She had gone out all over the village planning numerous traps and other surprises for the enemies. She had the entire village wired and she had all the ghosts on intelligence missions with orders to report tonight for another meeting. She was inwardly wondering if it was even fair to be using dead people for something like this. She dismissed the thought immediately; they were the ones who had come to her. Besides its not like she asked to be able to see the dead twenty-four seven. It wasn't a witch gift and there were no necromancers in her family so she had always wondered where she had gotten the gift.

" I don't see what the point of all this is!" Neji said coming up to Naruto his clothes spotted with dirt and his expression irritated. Shikamaru came up behind him to sit on the back porch near Naruto.

" The point of what?" Naruto asked taking a long gulp of coffee.

"Having your kage bunshins beat us up." Shikamaru suggested lying back to stare at the clouds.

" That? That's simple, girly man. See there's something my sensei's told me along time ago that I have always believed to be true. They said that the reason so many ninja's die is because they're not well rounded enough. Like let's take Shikamaru for instance." Shikamaru closed his eyes already understanding where this was going. " His entire team is perfect for spying but let's say if on a mission they're discovered. They'd be killed easily because it would probably be ANBU assassins that come for them. If, however, Shikamaru's team was skilled in combat, genjutsu and maybe some medical ninjutsu along with their spy expertise, they'd have a much better chance of survival."

" Why do you think the Uchiha's and Hyuuga's are so feared throughout the ninja world?" Naruto asked without waiting for an answer. " It's because they're good at dispelling genjutsu, they have some kick ass ninjutsu, and they're masters of taijutsu."

"You should come teach at the academy, Naruto. You'd make an amazing teacher." Haku smiled as Naruto choked on her coffee.

She laughed nervously her mind coming up with horrific images of little devils running around and duck taping her to a chair as they caused mayhem and chaos. " Not happening. I hate kids. They're the spawn of devil."

"The more I get to know you, the less I think you're a woman." Shikamaru commented sitting up, as Neji inwardly agreed. Even his teammate Ten-ten fantasized about children once in awhile

"Shut up, you lazy bum. It's a myth that every woman wants kids and just because I don't want any doesn't make me any less of a woman than any other women out there." The crystal-eyed women yelled at the lazy Nara who backed away slowly in fright.

"You're right. I take it back. You yell louder than my mom." Shikamaru took a step back off the porch as Naruto smirked setting her coffee down to crack her knuckles and stretch.

"Alright, boys. We have less than twelve days to turn you into men. So prepare for hell."

Haku's light, mirth filled laughter was heard in the background as Neji and Shikamaru frowned. Well, Neji frowned while Shikamaru muttered his catch phrase.

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AN: I am a (insert all the bad words you can think of). I know. I know. I'm sorry. The next chapter has already been started and should be out very soon. I mean it this time.

I've been getting lots of complaints about my grammar and spelling. So I went back and took a look at my past chapters and I was cringing in horror. To tell the truth I'm really not a bad speller it's mostly typo's and my computer didn't do spell check. It was a stupid computer. I am going back and reediting them all. Those should be up soon too. I've even changed things around a little but. Nothing major. This chapter is the first to have spell check (new computer) so hopefully it's an improvement. If not, I'll just accept that I suck at spelling and grammar.

There was also a complaint about my misspelling my title. Just wanted to let that person know. I'm not an idiot and people do make mistakes so that's no reason to lecture them like they're stupid. The Trapt in my title was my intentional spelling of the word trapped. I got it form the band Trapt whom I was listening to before I started to write this story. I liked the way the word looked and chose to spell trapped like that. Titles don't necessarily have to be grammatically correct and it was my choice.

Someone also told me that my writing seemed rushed. That is true probably because writing stuff that people already is very boring and I'd really like to get this story to where my ideas start taking over which should be soon. Nevertheless, I will be going back and reediting that as well.

Another person also told me that I seemed to be making Naruto act older than she really is. Truth is, Naruto is a lot older than twelve as you will find out later. Still, even in canon the Naruto characters are twelve and thirteen but they act much older regardless. Unless anyone knows any twelve year olds that are being trained to kill people in the future then I think its safe to say that the Naruto characters act a lot older than they are sometimes. They act like children sometimes and adults sometime. It's a mix. I'm trying my best to convey that. Sorry, if it seems confusing but it will be explained later.

Someone also thought I was giving credit to someone for the whitelighter idea. I didn't mean it like that. I meant to thank them for encouraging me to use whitelighter's and elders in my story. It gave me an idea. Whitelighter's and Elder's, though, are from Charmed and I give them all the credit for the idea. I also want to get one thing cleared up that's been bugging me. The idea of a book of shadows does not come from Charmed. It was believed that witches kept journals of their whatever and passed it onto the next generation. The Book of Shadows wasn't something the people in Charmed created. It is something that lots of people whom right about witch stories use.

Sorry that this is such a long AN but I had to address several matters, now everyone can get back to their lives and tell me if this chapter sucks or was it okay or whatever.

Thank you all for reading and encouraging me through my long absence. I was going through stuff but now I'm back and I'm going t o try my hardest to make the next chapter kick ass.