Figured, since I posted that idea yesterday, I'd post this one as well. Came to me sometime last night, thought about it all today and here it is!
To say the tension was thick would be an understatement. Six figures sat in what could be loosely termed a 'circle' within the sitting room of the bridge-builder's, Tazuna, home. Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Namikaze Namida, Haku, Tazuna, and Inari were those who were comfortable sitting down. Hatake Kakashi and Momochi Zabuza on the other hand; stood on opposite ends of the room. The two jounin were leaning against the wall behind them; Zabuza with his arms crossed, Kubikiri Hocho at his side. Kakashi appeared totally at ease, his nose buried in a little orange book, every now and then a giggle would escape from beneath his face mask. Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, was busying herself in the kitchen. The housewife wasn't actually intending on making anything to eat but had desperately needed a distraction from the tense atmosphere that permeated the room only five yards away from her.
"So~" Namida suddenly spoke, grinning widely as each set of eyes fixed their gazes on her. The young red-headed daughter of the Yondaime had never been one to be intimidated, at least not by anyone other than that guy. He wasn't here though so she had absolutely no worries! "Haku-chan! I knew you were a girl! Why'd you try to say you weren't?"
The female in question, whom had decided that her fake hunter-nin mask was no longer need and as such wasn't wearing it, eyed her fellow kunoichi before quietly answering. "Namida-san, I've never been to Konoha before so I don't know what you've been taught in the academy but, for someone like me; a female bloodline-user with no solid ties to any village, I had to be careful with whoever I was dealing with at any given time. Even after Zabuza-Sama took me under his guidance, I had to be wary of those who would only see me as breeding stock or simply as a "quick lay".
Namida sighed sadly at that. "I should've thought of that myself. I apologize. The academy didn't really cover that type of material as much as my mother thinks it should but she and another person warned me of all the dangers that comes with being a kunoichi. I can only imagine what would've happened if a Kumo-nin had ever come across you and saw you using your blood-limit."
Haku nodded, pleased that Namida wasn't as naive as Haku had first thought. Their meeting in the forest, which neither had gone into detail about with their respective teammates, had led Haku to believe that the young red-head hadn't had her eyes opened to the darker side of the shinobi world. The Hyoton-user was more than relieved to learn that she had been wrong and she was doubly impressed that a girl three years her junior had managed to trick her so easily.
The sudden noise of flapping wings ended the conversation as all eyes turned to Kakashi, who had been standing next to the room's only window, and the messenger-hawk that was no perched on his arm. The gray-haired jounin removed the small scroll from the bird's back and then shook his arm to dislodge the avian messenger. After a couple of seconds of reading the message, Kakashi looked up with an eye-smile.
"Hokage-Sama has agreed to grant you safe passage into Konoha so that he may hear your case. If all goes well, which he is positive it shall, then this time next week Konoha will have two new members to it's ranks."
Namida quickly jumped to her feet and let out a whoop. "Alright! Hear that Haku-chan? No-Brows-san? You're coming home with us!"
Zabuza's hand slowly inched towards the hilt of his sword as his left eyebrow twitched. "What did I tell you about calling me that, runt!"
The redhead paid the Demon of the Mist no mind as she engulfed Haku in a hug and then began ushering her towards the door, all the while calling out to her teammates to hurry up for their departure.
Sasuke shook his head, a smirk on his face. "No one but Namida." Sakura, who was smiling cheerfully, nodded in agreement.
(Several days later, outside the gates of Konoha)
Team 7, plus Zabuza and Haku, were only a dozen or so yard from the gates when they were suddenly surrounded by a squad of ANBU. Each black-ops member had their ninja-to out and pointed towards the group; specifically, Zabuza and Haku.
"Halt! Momochi Zabuza; kunoichi by the name of Haku, the two of you are to surrender yourselves into our custody. You shall be detained until otherwise ordered!"
Namida quickly stepped forward before Kakashi could and shouted at the ANBU. "Hey, what's the big idea? My father said Haku-chan and Zabuza had safe passage into the village! You can't just arrest them or whatever!"
The lead ANBU shook his head. "You are mistaken Namikaze-Sama, these two are known criminals and fugitives. Our orders are as previously stated. Please step back with your team while we detain these two."
"And if I don't!" The ANBU didn't hesitate before responding to this.
"Then you will be arrested as well for obstructing justice."
Namida's eyes widened fearfully, even as Kakashi moved himself between his student and the ANBU. He had been suspicious even before the team had arrived, having sensed them circling around the group before appearing, and he had also noticed something about the words used as well. Before he could say anything, however, a new voice spoke up.
"Yare, yare. Correct me if I'm wrong, but did I hear someone threatin' my cute, little, Imouto-chan around here?"
All eyes landed on the new arrival and Kakashi's eyes widened at who it was. Casually moving towards them at a leisurely pace, walked another ANBU. The difference between this new arrival and the ones wanting to arrest Zabuza and Haku were instantly apparent. The mask wasn't like the others; it had two horn-like protrusions on the top, the eye-holes were slitted instead of wide circles like the others. After a good look, it was easy to see that the mask was designed to look like a fox, or a jackal. The protrusions at the top were supposed to be ears. The mask and the voice were all that could be used to identify the ANBU seeing as he was wearing a white robe that covered him from head to toe. The silver-lining around the hood was what told Kakashi and, surprisingly, Sasuke that this person was not just any ANBU, he was the ANBU Commander.
The group of ANBU all sheathed their blades and bowed towards the approaching commander, the lead ANBU quickly moving forward and dropping to a knee.
"Sir! I wasn't aware you were in the vicinity. We were just..." The man cut himself off when the commander stepped past him. Despite this the ANBU remained where he was.
"Hm~ 'detainment' you say? But...whoever gave such an order? I may have done such a thing but I am quite sure that I haven't been drinking today, so there goes that idea. Tell me...' The commander pointed at one of the ANBU to his front-right. 'Boar, who gave this order?"
The lead ANBU quickly spun around and appeared as if he was going to answer instead when he jerked to a stop. Those watching, could only do so in absolute shock as the commander seemingly appeared directly in front of the lead ANBU. The other reason for their shock was the blade, the lead ANBU's blade that is, was currently sticking out the back of the now dead black-ops operative.
The commander pulled the blade out and turned back towards the group, not even sparing the former ANBU a glance as the man slumped to his knees before keeling over to the side; dead.
"Ah! Sumimasen Minna-san! If there are two things that I can't stand, it's being interrupted and traitors. Not necessarily in that order!' The cheerful man declared. 'You see, I never gave the order that Traitor-san claimed to be acting under. So, he must be a traitor then! Hence, Traitor-san! See?"
Sasuke and Sakura could only stare at the masked-man before them, neither sure if they should be afraid or be incredulous. This man was the commander of the ANBU forces, the commander. He answered to no one except the Hokage. Yet, here he was, acting almost just like...
Sasuke snapped his head towards Namida, then looked back at the commander. " You said 'Imouto', you meant Namida right? You're Namida's brother!"
The commander chuckled as he reached up and removed his mask as well as pull down the hood of his cloak, much to the shock of all those gathered. Shoulder-length blonde hair; pulled tight into a pony-tail, was the first characteristic noticed. Then the deep blue-eyes. Lightly-tanned was the skin-tone, which was surprising for someone who constantly wore a mask. If there had been any doubts about a sibling relationship, the whisker marks on each cheek banished them. The bright grin on the man's face could also lead a person to associate the blonde with the red-head of Team 7.
"Allow me to introduce myself! Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto is my name! Teasing my cute, little, Imouto-chan when I'm not on duty is my game!"
Namida covered her face with her hands to hide the blush. She was beyond embarrassed. She had always wanted to tell her friends about how cool her Nii-Sama is, about the important position he had in the village and how strong he was. Then he goes and ruins it by calling her "little" and "cute" and...she was blushing again. Never let it be said, that Namida was not her mother's daughter. Faster than anyone could tell, the young spitfire launched herself at her brother.
"Well, let us head up to Hokage-Sama's office. He's been waiting for a while now.' Naruto ordered casually, even as he held his struggling sister tucked under one arm. 'As for the rest of you. Report yourself to Neko-Taicho. I'm sure she'll figure out a fun way to instill a good dose of fear into the lot of ya when it comes towards dealing with my cute, little, Imouto-chan!" The ANBU squad all nodded, each gulping a bit in fear, before vanishing.
Namida growled as she tried to bite her brother's arm, or his side, but to no avail. "NIIIII-SAMAAA! Let. Me. Go! And stop calling me 'little' and 'cute'!"
I modeled Naruto's behaviour while he's under the mask after Ichimaru Gin, the most badass character ever; my fav ;-) . I chose the name "Namida" because I had long ago decided that it was a much better name for a female Naruto than "Naru" "Natsumi" "Naruko" etc. At least in my opinion. In this idea, Naruto is currently 18 years old. Namida and Team 7 are all 13-14, depending on their birth-dates and the month this took place in. Sarutobi did the sealing, Namida is the jinchuuriki, and Naruto is the older brother that was revealed as a prodigy on Itachi's level. NO! There's no neglect towards Naruto, he doesn't hate his family or anything and they love him just as much as they do Namida.
Namida isn't canon-Naruto. She had her mother and father right there with her while she grew up and they taught her what she needed to know, she also mentioned that she had "another person" who taught her, that person being Naruto of course. She might not be like her brother when he was her age, but she's not a dead-last or anything. I had actually thought of her being the top kunoichi in the class. Sasuke being the Rookie-of-the-year and Sakura is the "dead-last". If you want a visual on where Namida might stand as a kunoichi, I'd say she's a mix of Tenten, canon-Naruto, and young Kushina. She knows when to be serious, she doesn't take crap from anyone and isn't afraid to fight (and she knows how to), but she's also bubbly and likes to have fun.
Yes, Sakura was able to do the academy 3, she even got high scores on the written parts. I had Naruto later revealing to Sakura that she was considered "dead-last" because of the fan-girl phase she was in and the fact that she is still at the same level she was when she graduated. She hasn't done much to better herself. This isn't bashing either. Sasuke isn't a stuck-up emo who only wants power and revenge (he does want the latter, but with friends and rivals like Namida and a few others, he's more grounded) Sakura isn't being bashed either, she is just canon, but I figured on her changing before the Chunin Exams, or at least around that time. Not way after.