Day 1 and 2:

-Konoha hospital

Miranda's eyes opened. She tried looking around but everything was blurry and her head was ringing.

"Where am I….?"

She tried to sit up but was too disoriented.

"Is this the Cerebus hospital…?"

"Hello, miss…., miss can you hear me?"

Miranda turned to see a pink haired woman looking over her.

"Yes I can hear you. Where am I?"

"You're in the Konoha general hospital, you have been unconscious for twelve hours. We found you lying face down near the main gate"

Suddenly it all came back to her. She had taken the pill that the Illusive Man gave her. "Guess he didn't want to take on chance on bad acting skills." She felt her head and as he had promised, there was a huge bruise on the left side of her forehead.

"So…. what village are you from?"

Miranda stared at her blankly

Saying it louder and slower "Where…. Are….. You….. From….?"

"I… Uhh… don't know."

"What is your name?"

"Miranda"

The pink haired woman stared at her, then looked at her bruise.

"How did you get that nasty bruise? That's probably why you were unconscious."

"I don't remember. I don't remember anything."

The pink haired woman sighed then walked away. She reappeared with a skinny blonde haired woman.

The pink haired woman spoke, "Your physical condition is stable and the bruise seems to be the only damage you have sustained. We would normally release you but we can't do that without identifying you."

The pink haired woman reached her hand out. "I'm Sakura and this is Ino. Can you get up or do you need a hand?"

Miranda got off her bed and stood up. She was a little dizzy but basically had all her motor skills back.

The two women began walking, gesturing for Miranda to follow.

"Where they are taking me? I need to find a way to get away from them."

Miranda followed, thinking it wasn't the best time to make a run for it. She was led into a small room with no windows. A man spoke to her.

"My name is Inoichi Yamanaka. We suspect that you suffered massive brain trauma and have temporarily lost your memory. I will be performing several tests on you to determine where you are from so we can return you to your village."

He pointed to a bench, motioning for Miranda to sit.

"I'll just be one minute."

He cracked his fingers as he finished his paperwork, slowly walking over to her, "Are you ready."

"Ready as I will be."

His hands felt cold as he placed them on her forehead. Miranda opened her mouth to speak, passing out before she could say anything.

Several minutes passed.

Miranda jolted awake, her vision quickly coming into focus. Inoichi, Sakura and Ino were all staring at her.

"I was unable to determine what village you are from. The images I saw in your mind were very confusing. I saw a see-through man with strange blue eyes speaking to you… and I saw what looked to be outer space. Except you were in outer space, not on the ground looking up."

"Wow this planet really does have amazing biotics. He saw the Illusive Man and probably my view of space from the shuttle."

"Uhh… I don't really know what to tell you. Maybe your abilities aren't working correctly?"

Sakura spoke, "Is it possible that the head trauma is altering her mind?"

Inoichi thought for a second, "Yes maybe…. I have never tried to read someone's mind right after a severe blow to the head. I'll leave her in your care Sakura, I don't think she is dangerous. Bring her back in a week and I will try again."

Miranda left with Sakura. "I actually don't have time to watch over you but I will take you to someone who has an abundant amount of time on his hands. He is kind of an idiot… but a good person at heart."

"Well this is going fairly well. It looks like my mission won't be too difficult after all."

"So…. am I going to be held in custody or I am free to walk around the city?"

"You will be free. We don't think you are a spy so there is no reason to constantly monitor you. However, you won't be allowed to leave the village until we determine your identity."

They reached a small apartment, Sakura knocked on the door.

"Naruto! Naruto are you in there!?"

She barged in.

"Naruto!"

Two eyes peered out from under the covers, staring at Sakura with a dazed look.

"Why didn't you come to the door!?"

"I was asleep. Why are you here?"

"This is Miranda, you have to watch over her. She banged her head and lost her memory so you need to watch her for a week until we can run more tests on her."

He was asleep. "Naruto!" Sakura punched him clear off the bed and into the wall. Shaking him, "This is Miranda, you have to watch over her. She banged her head and lost her memory so you need to watch her until we can run more tests on her. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it."

Sakura stormed out of the room and Naruto went back to sleep.

"Well, looks like I can have a few hours to myself."

Her eyes adjusted to the noon sun as she left the dim apartment. "They must not care if I escape if this is their idea of "security" She looked around "It doesn't look like I'm being followed. So… where should I go? I might as well walk while I think." The main street was teaming with people, ninjas and civilians alike. "Wow, this is almost as densely populated as some of the smaller cities of earth, that's impressive for such a primitive culture. Maybe they're a bit more advanced than the Illusive Man led me to believe" Miranda closed her eyes, thinking of the Illusive man brought unpleasant thoughts to mind. "I never did find out if he knows about what I did." Images of the fateful day flashed through her mind. The terrified look in her sister's eyes as her captors presented her. She was bound and gagged, scared out of her mind but smart enough not to try anything. Miranda nearly punched a hole in her holo-screen, desperate to strike out as her sister's captors made their demands from some unknown location. Miranda breathed deeply, trying to expel the thought from her mind. But that smell… the awful chemical smell… the taste of iron in air... that god forsaken corner of Omega where she handed over the files containing the location of the Cerebus fleet in exchange for her sister. She knew what fate would await her if the Illusive man found out, but it didn't matter. "What's done is done. Oriana is safe and now I'm half way across the universe. He may know or he may not, but either way he won't do anything to me until 9 months after I complete this mission. Two more deep breaths, and then Miranda regained her calm.

Several hours passed as Miranda lazily walked through the streets of Konoha, taking in the sights and smells of this bizarre but somehow endearing city. "This place is a little different, but still fundamentally the same as any other city, albeit significantly less advanced."

Just as that thought crossed her mind a young man running on his hands and wearing an unbelievably tight green jumpsuit plowed into her.

"I'm sorry!"

"Oh it's no proble"

Bang! A full grown man running on his hands and wearing the same hideous green jumpsuit plowed into her and knocked her off her feet.

"I'm sorry!" The younger one spoke up,

"The springtime of youth is upon us and we are training our hardest!"

"Lee! You must continue your training!" And with that the two jumpsuit wearing companions continued down the road, running on their hands and yelling about the springtime of youth. "Okay… so maybe this culture isn't THAT civilized." Miranda continued down the main road for several hundred yards watching out for more jumpsuit wearing freaks. "Hmm, those are the city gates." Miranda paused, "Just for the heck of it, I'll see if they truly have no one watching me." Miranda passed through the gates without even having to identify herself. "Wow, I kind of assumed that someone would come and stop me. I'm almost insulted that they didn't bother assigning someone other than that useless boy to watch over me." Miranda walked a ways into the forest and sat down in the shade of a large tree. Just as she was beginning to doze off she heard a voice. "Nice day for a walk."

"Was someone already here? I didn't see anyone."

"Yeah it's a beautiful day; don't have many days like this where I'm from."

"O, where are you from?"

"Crap, shouldn't have said that." "Well… it's a long story. I actually just suffered a severe head trauma, so I'm not really sure where I'm from."

"You're still sticking with that story. Look, I don't care if you're from some country that Konoha doesn't get along with, I won't rat you out."

"Still sticking with this story… have I talked to this person before?"

Miranda walked around the tree to see who it was. "How did you get here!? You were sound asleep when I left, how did you find me!?"

"I still am asleep. Well…. my true body is still asleep. I have dozens of clones of myself all over the city." He smiled up at her, his stupid orange jacket and bright yellow hair were beginning to piss off Miranda. "So even if I'm asleep, don't try anything funny." *poof* and like that, the clone was gone.

"I guess I underestimated him quite a bit." Miranda spent the rest of the day walking around the city, talking to its citizens and taking in the sights. When night fell she returned to Naruto's apartment and went to sleep on a mat that was spread out in the corner.

Miranda awoke the next morning, "Ugg… I haven't slept on a bed that uncomfortable since…. well…. ever." As she stood up and stretched out she realized that Naruto hadn't moved at all. "Jesus does he sleep all day?" She slapped him on the chest, "Are you a clone too?" Naruto sprung out of bed, nearly hitting his face on the ceiling. "Oh no! I'm late for the tournament!" He ripped off his clothes as if he didn't notice that Miranda was there then proceeded to put on an identical orange jumpsuit before bursting out the apartment.

"Is everyone in this city so bizarre or am I just lucky enough to run into all the strange ones." Miranda walked out the door and immediately noticed that everyone in the street seemed to be heading the same direction. "Is there something over there? O right, Naruto said something about a tournament before he bolted out the door. I bet that's where everybody is heading." She followed the crowd all the way to the gigantic arena, gasping as the massive coliseum came into view. "Wow, this must be quite the event, it seems like the entire city is here." She continued following the river of people, eventually finding herself a seat on the second balcony.

An announcerwalked out into the arena. "And for the first match… we have… Uzumaki Naruto versus….. Hyuga Neji!" The crowd exploded into applause. Someone a few seats over snickered, "Heh, do think Neji will beat him in under or over one minute?" the man next to him responded,

"Neji has a cruel streak. If he wants to drag the match on it could last for a while."

"Damn, Naruto seemed pretty strong to me, this Neji person must be amazing if he is even stronger than Naruto. Actually… this tournament will probably be a great place to look for a suitable "partner". I wonder if this Neji person is someone I should be interested in."

"First match of the chunnin exam….. begins now!"

Miranda watched the fight intently, mainly focusing on Neji to see if he would be a suitable partner to accomplish her mission with. Everything about him impressed her. He seemed perfect, so far above Naruto that he almost didn't notice him. Miranda was interrupted mid thought as Neji assumed a stance, froze, then launched an attack at Naruto. His blows moved faster than her eyes could see but by the end of it, Naruto was on the ground and seemed unable to get up. "He really is superior. I never imagined that I would find my target so quickly. Hmm... but how to go about pulling off my mission. Accomplishing the mission in a consensual manner would take months, if not longer, accomplishing it in a less than consensual manner might be even harder given how strong he is. Of course... I do have biotics if I have to use them, but that almost feels like cheating. Then again, I don't have any problem with cheating to achieve my goals so it might be the best solution." Miranda suddenly realized that she had been lost in thought and hadn't watched the end of the match. But…. something didn't make sense. Why was Neji on the ground… and why was Naruto being congratulated as the victor? "Is this some kind of joke? What the fuck happened?"

"Wow! Did you see that!? That was amazing! Neji didn't stand a chance."

"Yeah, I've heard rumors about Naruto having the nine-tails sealed inside him, I always assumed it was just gossip but now I think it might be true."

"Nine-tails…what's that? The Illusive Man's logs didn't tell me anything about a 'nine-tails.' Maybe this is something I should look into."

Miranda watched the rest of the matches before following the crowd out of the stadium. None of the other competitors were anywhere near as impressive as Neji, who had apparently lost to Naruto while Miranda wasn't paying attention. "Hmm… where would I find information about this 'nine-tails?' I guess I'll ask if there's a library somewhere."

"Excuse me sir, could you direct me to the nearest library?"

"Yeah sure, walk to that large red building then take a right and it will be the fifth building on your left."

"Thanks a lot."

Miranda ran to the library. She still had 13 days to complete the mission but she wanted to complete it as fast as possible. "Can't waste any time, the Illusive Man doesn't accept failure. I still don't know my fate but impressing him can only help."

Miranda burst into the library.

"Excuse me miss, do you know where I can find information on the nine-tails?"

The librarian went about her business, clearly pretending that she didn't hear the question.

"Miss… Excuse me, do you know where I can find information on the nine-tails?"

The librarian turned to her, she was clenching her fists and obviously didn't want to answer.

"Umm… no I have never heard of such a thing."

"That seems unlikely… O well, she probably won't tell me even if I pester her, I'll just go look myself"

Miranda walked off and began to aimlessly search through the library herself. After 20 minutes of getting no where she sighed and leaned her back against the wall.

A raspy voice spoke to her

"I hear you're looking for the nine-tails."

Miranda whipped her head around to look at the man speaking to her. "Yes… I am. Can you help me?" The man had gaunt skin and bandages covering much of his face. Even to Miranda, who had witnessed all forms of terrible people and creatures, this man was somehow deeply unsettling.

"I am known as Danzo. I am not well liked around here so it is best not to tell anyone of your association with me."

"My association with you? We have only exchanged a few words."

"Yes, but we will do much more than that. You seek the nine-tails, I can't divine what is driving you to seek it, but I can tell that you have a malevolent purpose. Just knowing that, I will aid you in your mission."

"Who is this guy? He can't possibly know anything about my mission, he is just bluffing."

"How can you aid me?"

"With information. The nine-tails is a massive, unbelievably powerful beast made solely out of chakra. Its wrath knows no bounds and it nearly destroyed our village once. It is currently sealed inside Naruto."

"Ouch!" Danzo accidently pricked Miranda during one of his exaggerated hand gestures as he attempted to convey the enormous destructive power of the nine-tails.

"Why is it sealed inside Naruto? Why does it have to be sealed in a person at all?"

"The nine-tails is one of nine tailed beasts. For the beasts to be contained they must be stored in "containers" known as jinchuuriki. However, even among jinchuuriki, Naruto is special. He is the only person alive capable of containing the nine-tails. He bears a special bloodline that allows him to contain the powerful red chakra of the nine-tails."

"Is his being a jinchuuriki related to how he defeated Neji in the tournament?"

"I didn't watch the tournament but I would assume so. Before the endless power of the nine-tails, even the mighty Hyuga bloodline is helpless."

"Well…. Thanks for your help, I guess."

"His logic is very suspicious, why is he helping me so easily? Fortunately, it sounds like I found my target, this red chakra that he spoke of sounds like it has extraordinary potential in the hands of Cerebus."

The two parted ways. Miranda glanced back at Danzo as he exited the library. "He's probably plotting something. Good thing I'll be gone long before I have to begin worrying about him."

Miranda walked back to Naruto's apartment and sat down on the mat she had slept on the day before. She stayed up late into the night plotting her next moves, eventually falling asleep with a smile on her face.