Chapter seven

Skylar was sitting with Iruka on top of the Hokage tower and lying on their backs, looking up at the sky and Hokage Mountain. Skylar was doing a focus exercise with a leaf hovering overhead using only chakra and to keep it stable when the wind blows, it's a more complex exercise than walking on water and on a smaller surface. The leaf wavered a little and she furrowed her brows as she felt two presences come close.

"Keep focused, don't let anything distract you." Iruka reminded her.

"Yeah, easier said than done." Skylar mumbled and she nearly lost the leaf again with her eyes widening and then furrowing them again with concentration and the leaf floated, stable again.

"How are you doing, you've been doing it for one day solidly now, you should be running low on chakra?" Iruka asked.

"My coil feels like its burning again but it's more of an itchy burn." Skylar replied, watching the leaf carefully.

"How much longer do you think you can hold it for?" Iruka asked with a smile.

"I'm aiming until the sun goes down." Skylar replied. "What do you need Tsunade?" Skylar asked, nearly loosing the leaf again as sweat trickled down her forehead.

"Oh nothing, one of the ANBU said you'd been up here doing this exercise since yesterday and I wanted to come and see while I could get away from my desk for five minutes." Tsunade said, sounding like she had a smirk in her voice, next thing she knew she had Tonton trying to eat the leaf and Skylar got a fright and freaked, dropping the leaf. "Dammit." Skylar hissed as she lay back on the ground. "Why exactly do you have an exercise like this?" Skylar asked, sitting up and hugging Tonton who was happy to get her attention.

"We either use it as detention or to help students with low chakra supply and control, it's torturous for them for half an hour to three hours at the max." Iruka said with a slightly scary smile. "You just need to work on your focus, I counted you nearly loosing it forty-seven times, that twice in every hour. There's also a level after this that I want to put you through then you should be fine." Iruka said with a gentle smile.

"Thanks for helping me Iruka… Can I go now?" Skylar asked and he nodded. Skylar stood up and stumble with dizziness before shaking it away and walking with a little wobble back home. She got some of the feeling in her legs back as she kept walking and yawning, Iruka had thrown her right into that exercise after her lesson with Shikaku and she still hadn't caught up in her sleep.

"Hey Skylar." She heard a familiar voice call and she turned around to see Team Kurenai.

"Hey guys, what's up?" She asked with a smile.

"We're going off to the training grounds." Kiba said excitedly with Akamaru barking with him.

"My father said he would like to see you sometime today." Hinata said.

"So you're the famous Uzumaki Skylar I've been hearing a lot about, it's nice to meet you, my name is Yuuhi Kurenai, leader of this team." She said holding out her hand, which Skylar took and shook.

"Nice to finally meet you too Kurenai-san. How about I meet you after training and I'll go back with Hinata to the Hyuuga complex?" Skylar asked.

"Why don't you come and train with us, I'd like to see your skills then you can go with Hinata." Kurenai suggested.

"Ah, what the hell, sure, it's not like I can get any sleep during the day anyway, let's go." Skylar said with a shrug and Kiba and Akamaru shouted in happiness. Shino gave up trying to beat Skylar with his bugs and her wind and lightning, Kiba and Akamaru also eventually gave up after she kept dodging all of his attacks and Hinata and Skylar ended up sparring for most of the time. Hiashi didn't want much but to offer his hospitality to her and Skylar finally began her way home again.

"Yo Skylar, your home late." Kakashi said, sitting on the couch and reading his Icha Icha.

"Good to see your injury healed quickly." She said back with a smile and a yawn.

"You need to get some rest, you look like you haven't slept since before the mission." Kakashi said with worry as he stood up and felt her forehead.

"I slept when we got back then Iruka dragged me into an all nighter last night." Skylar said, pulling his hand away from her head.

"What your saying is that you can't sleep." Kakashi stated and Skylar looked away to avoid his eye. "Hasn't Shikaku-san taught you how to turn off your brain so you can sleep?" Kakashi asked as he led her to her room.

"He has but… " She said hesitantly and stopped to stare down.

"But?" Kakashi asked calmly.

"I guess I'm just having a bit of personal trouble… I'll get over it soon enough so don't worry… I'm going to get some sleep now." She said with a smile that was obviously fake and Kakashi closed her door when he left and sighed quietly.

She felt a bit better after a night's sleep, so she dressed, leaving the long gloves off and wore gloves like Kakashi does and flashed to the senbon placed by Ichiraku's and continued on to the Hyuuga complex.

"Hiashi-sama, I request to spar with you today." Skylar said calmly to the Hyuuga head. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Very well, do you have something in mind?" He asked, leading her to the training ground.

"Pure taijutsu and gentle fist, I have some… Issues to work off my chest and I know I will be more aware of your hits than that of a normal taijutsu battle." She said as she pulled out her earphones and blasted them up and stood ready. Hiashi didn't know what to make of this but decided she knew what she was doing and began.

Skylar sat and winced as Hiashi opened up her chakra points again, it felt like pulling a giant bee sting out without the poison stinging it. He didn't come out unscaved either but it's going to take a lot more than opening up some chakra points to heal them. Skylar repaid the favour by healing him up as well that he was grateful for even if he didn't say anything. That was what she liked about the man, he may be stubborn and stoic but he was quiet and didn't pry unless the person wanted to talk.

"I find your type of taijutsu very interesting, where did you learn it if you don't mind me asking?" He asked, watching Skylar heal the bruise on his arm.

"You could say it's my own style. Its based on many forms of dance with the taijutsu coming into it with the stance, striking and defence." Skylar said as she sat down next to him and picked up her tea.

"It is quite powerful, perhaps something like that should be taught at the academy for girls, I notice they don't do well with the stiff and normal taijutsu." He said and Skylar hummed in agreement as they sat peacefully. "Are you feeling better now than before, you definitely look calmer." Hiashi noted.

"Yeah, I feel a lot better, thank you for your hospitality." Skylar said and stood with a formal bow, he had a surprisingly calming presence but she was still weary with him the way he treated his daughters when they were younger.

"You are most welcome Skylar, now I must be getting back to my duties, you may continue to train here if you would like." Hiashi said, standing up and leaving. She shrugged and got up again with her earphones and worked off the rest of her stress doing her katas.

She left later that day for a bigger and empty training ground to practise her more destructive ninjutsu and work on her chakra. Her max was three rasen-shurikens and two Chidori based attacks before she couldn't get up again. She tried forming a rasengan.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Naruto called from the edge of the destroyed ground. She ignored his warning and gritted her teeth, it worked and then failed. "Why are you pushing yourself so hard, you've only just recovered?" Naruto questioned sadly as he walked over to her and picked her up off the ground and hugged her close.

"I don't like feeling helpless like I have and I still feel that way, I want to be back at my top form again as soon as possible but these stupid bodily limitations are holding me back… I can't even summon one dragon without it draining half of my chakra, I can't even keep up with Lee anymore and Hinata nearly beat me yesterday, I know I can do better… Yet alone my Hiraishin taking a lot out of me as well." Skylar said, frustrated as angry and annoyed tears welled at her eyes. "My depth perception is still shit, these damn D-ranked missions are a waste of my time, my brain refuses to rest and the worlds biggest threat at the moment is after me with three supercharged jinchuuriki and I can't even stand up to one." She said, turning away from Naruto and throwing an anger filled rasengan into the tree nearby. "Dammit!" She hissed as she fell to her knees and gripped at her lower chest as it burned after forcing that last attack.

Naruto knelt down next to her and let her cry out her frustrations… He knows exactly how it feels like to be helpless and for someone to be after him for who he is. She gripped his jacket tightly and he rubbed her back gently as she began to stop crying and fall asleep. Naruto put her on his back carefully and walked her home.

"What happened to her?" Kakashi hopped up with worry when he noticed Naruto walk in with her on his back.

"She's just pushed herself to far, her whole situation is taking a toll on her mentally but she just keeps pushing everyone away and pushing herself to her limits and beyond." Naruto explained as he put her down on her bed carefully, removed her shoes, weapons and flak jacket, tucking her in and following Kakashi back to the lounge and both of them collapsed on a couch. "She's not coping being a normal ninja, I'm just glad she wasn't a jinchuuriki or she would have broke a long time ago." Naruto explained with pure worry.

"What exactly did she say?" Kakashi asked carefully, noting the worry in his voice.

"Summoning takes half her chakra, she can barely keep up with Hinata, her Hiraishin takes a huge toll on her and she says her depth perception is still pretty bad. Iruka-sensei says she barely has much more chakra than he does and improving very slowly… Maybe Tsunade-obaa chan needs to take another look at her." Naruto said.

"Let's just keep an eye on her for now, once the summit is over, we'll try to help her out a bit. Everything will turn out fine Naruto, we just need to keep our hopes up high and help her anyway we can." Kakashi said, trying to console his student. "Why don't you stay with her tonight, I'm sure she will appreciate it when she wakes up." Kakashi suggested. Naruto smile tiredly, got up and left to her room.

Skylar felt protected and warm as she woke up the next morning as she snuggled closer to the chakra enveloping her, healing her, soothing her. The heartbeat underneath her was calm but strong, almost purring sound like a cat, playing with her hair, she turned towards the body next to her and snuggled closer with a peaceful smile playing on her lips.

"Come on, it's time to wake up now Skylar." The body rumbled next to her. She smiled and snuggled closer, putting her head on his chest and hugging him as close as possible before she opened her eyes up to the most dazzling blue she will never forget in a million years.

"I think that's the best sleep I've had in ages… Do we really have to get up right now?" She asked as she looked up with the best sad eyes she could, Naruto just chuckled and ruffled her messy hair.

"Kaka-sensei has already gone to let Tsunade-obaa chan that we're gonna be a bit late and one hour later is enough, she'll come for blood just now." Naruto said sitting up, causing Skylar's head to fall back to the pillows with a sad and annoyed groan, causing Naruto to chuckle and look back at her. He reached down and pulled on his black t-shirt and got up to use the bathroom.

"Why does Tsunade want to see us today?" Skylar shouted to Naruto in the bathroom while she continued to lie in bed as the shower started up.

"She probably just wants to go over what will happen about getting to the summit and how it will proceed and give you pointers on dealing with each Kage's question, they're all actually really nice once you get to know them." Naruto called. "Hey do you think if I throw your senbon far enough, you can take me back to my house so I can get some new clothes?"

"Lazy ass… Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem if you can throw that far." Skylar teased and then challenged.

"Hell yeah, I can throw that far, don't underestimate me." Naruto called back and Skylar laughed silently. "Stop laughing, I can feel it." Naruto called and Skylar shut up right away. Skylar sat up and yawned when she heard the water shut off and stood up for a stretch that reached all the way to her toes when she thought she heard the bathroom door open and close again. She blinked at the door, recovering from her stretch and shrugged as she went to get some clothes for her shower.

Meanwhile on the other side of the door, Naruto was hyperventilating and his cheeks burning crimson red. The muscles on her legs gave the perfect shape all the way up to where her shirt had ridden up, exposing her perfect stomach with the muscles barely visible and how sleek and slender she is!

"Hey, are you finished yet?" He heard her call.

"Y-yeah, just a minute." He called back as he stood up from where he had sat down by the door and hoped she wouldn't notice the slight bulge in his pants, taking a deep breath, he opened the door and she brushed past him through the door frame and the door was closed once again, she didn't see. He moved to the kitchen to grab the breakfast Kakashi left for them and made her coffee while he willed his slight erection down and it eventually worked. He took the food and coffee back through where she was finishing dressing, putting on her maroon straps over her flak jacket and her pouches and strappings on. She smiled and instantly reached for the coffee with a sigh after the first sip.

Naruto sat on the bed and ate and watched her brush out her hair and dry it with the blow drier, it was pretty long, down to her butt already and still just as beautiful and he was glad her eyes were back to normal. She saw him looking at her in the mirror and she smiled at him and he smiled back. She picked up her coffee and downed it and ate some food quickly as Naruto gathered his things and they jumped out of her window onto the roof. He pulled out his senbon and aimed for close enough to his house and threw it as far as he could and it hit the wall of his house and she grabbed his hand and flashed red with him to his house and waited in his room while he got dressed in the bathroom. He came out again dressed and dug in his pouch for something and handing Skylar a scroll.

"Kaka-sensei asked me to give you this, he went to see if your katanas could be repaired but the one is too damaged to fix and the other is on it's way out and he said it's rightfully yours anyway." Naruto said as Skylar opened the scroll and unsealed the Executioners blade.

"Dammit, I told him to keep it, he looks better with it." Skylar said with little annoyance but happiness with a smile as she examined the blade.

"He said it will intimidate the Kages and make them think twice about challenging you, plus you're really good at using it, the last person Zabuza was a pro at using it." Naruto said as he finished up. Skylar shook her head and hooked it onto her back, crossing over with the three-blade scythe.

"I'll kick his ass later for this but let's go, we're really late now." Skylar said, taking his hand and flashing to Tsunade's office where both teams were waiting already.

"Alright, now that you two have finally decided to join us, we'll be going over what will happen during the summit. We will be leaving tomorrow morning early for the Land of Iron and take two days maybe less to get there. We will discuss what we need to before hand and then Skylar will be brought in first and the Kages will be asking you a lot of harsh and taxing questions, physically and emotionally and you must answer them accordingly. Then Sasuke's case will come up and depending on the circumstances of Skylar's previous meeting, Skylar will be with me defending Sasuke as well as Kakashi… Depending on how it goes, you might both be able to go free and carry on as shinobi of Konoha or one or both of you will be sentenced to death." Tsunade stated. Skylar's eyes widened and Naruto gripped her hand and stepped forward with anger.

"I won't let you kill Sasuke or Skylar!" Naruto growled out in anger.

"I won't let it happen either Naruto… It's already been decided by your captains that should either one or both go wrong, you are to all run and figure this out, Konoha and Suna will cover for you as best as possible… There's just too much at stake to kill either one of them… Now Gaara has offered to help both cases as well but the hard ones to crack will be A and Ohnoki. I'm not sure about Mifune or Mei but it should go okay, we just need to hope for the best." Tsunade continued to explain and Naruto relaxed a little but still kept Skylar's hand.

"What do you mean 'there's too much at stake'?" Skylar asked.

"Whether the ninja world sees it or not, you came here for a reason and you're still here after the damage you took because it hasn't been completed yet… Whether you like it or not, you four…" She said pointing to Kakashi, Naruto Sasuke and Skylar. "Are pieces to a bigger puzzle with your team following your paths and backing you up… Any questions so far?" Tsunade asked. They all shook their heads. "Alright then, Sasuke, Skylar, hand your hitai-ate's to Kakashi and Skylar, you must remove your flak jacket tomorrow, showing no ties to Konoha as yet or they'll all have a shit fit." Tsunade whined and Skylar had to hold back a laugh behind a large smile.

"Shut it brat." Tsunade said to Skylar, which just made her pack out laughing. Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Yamato were shocked for a second before they smiled, glad to see she was feeling better. "So what do you know of the three other Kages and Mifune?" Tsunade asked when she had calmed down slightly.

"Ohnoki is stubborn and tends to live in the past ideals. A is a passionate man who tends to get his point across by his fists but he has a level head to a point unless it involves someone close to him and Mei… She has a thing about marriages, she's calm and level headed until you mention marriages, normally directed at her right hand man, Ao. Mifune is the most level headed and speaks for the neutral nations, he works on facts rather than rumours and such." Skylar explained. "Kiri use to be known as the bloody mist during the previous jinchuuriki to the sanbi, Yagura, Yondaime Mizukage who was being manipulated by Tobi early on, because of their genin exams, forced to kill your best friend in battle, Danzo took on the same principle with ROOT members. Kumo has been a rather peaceful and powerful village, one to rival Konoha but has been after the secret of Konoha's kekkei genkai, especially the byakugan and Uzumaki's, having attempted to kidnap Uzumaki Kushina when she was a genin. Iwa… known to use mercenaries during war like Akatsuki, like I said earlier, tends to run under old principles and another village to always rival Konoha through all first three wars." Skylar finished and all eyes were wide.

"What do you know of Suna?" Tsunade asked with surprised glee.

"Suna, very sandy place and one of the weaker villages after an alliance with Konoha was established. The Yondaime Kazekage was Gaara's father and user of the Gold dust release, Sandaime Kazekage was killed by Sasori of the Red sand and turned into a human puppet he was also user of the Iron sand, Chiyo-sama gave her life to Gaara after having the Ichibi removed from him when Akatsuki was on the move again." Skylar recited.

"Well then, you shouldn't have many problems getting the Kages to believe your stories… You have the rest of the day to yourselves so get packed and rested. Dismissed." Tsunade said with a smile that said 'not bad kid'.

"Wow, that was amazing." Yamato said as they left.

"Thanks and by the way Kakashi." Skylar said, slipping behind Kakashi. She kicked his ass, which made him jump in pain and surprise. "That's for giving me the blade… Don't look at me like that, I told you to keep it but no, you just had to give it to me." Skylar said with hands on her hips with an annoyed pout. "But thank you." She said with a smile and tackled him into a hug quickly and they all went their separate ways. Skylar jogged up to Naruto and with a smile at him, entwined their fingers together.

"You got much packing to do?" She asked, something glinting in her eyes mischievously.

"No not really, it can all be done real quick… Why?" He asked, looking at her with a questioning look as they stopped in the corridors. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"I think… We should…" She started with and with a familiar red flash, Naruto dropped into the river by the training grounds while Skylar smiled down at him. "Go swimming." She finished with a wicked smile. He grabbed her ankle and she fell into the water with him with a slight squeal. She coughed a little as she resurfaced and Naruto was already on the shore, taking his jacket off, Skylar followed him to the shore and quickly made sure her Executioner's blade and three-blade scythe was okay and looked back at Naruto and stared wide eyed and mouth literally hanging open.

He was unhooking his pants off of his ankles and standing in just his green boxers and he noticed her staring and grinned with a blush. Naruto was amazing… Skylar would swear he was a sex god personified. Broad muscular arms and shoulders, thinning down his stomach a little with a six-pack just sticking out and his boxers just hanging on his hip bones, dipping low, nice muscular legs, Skylar wiped at her jaw just to make sure she wasn't drooling and that tanned skin looked as delicious as caramel.

"See something you like?" Naruto asked with a slight blush, standing right in front of her with his hands loosely on his hips. Skylar swallowed and stood up straight and he pulled her close by the hips and Skylar couldn't resist running her hands down his body, making him shiver a little, both blue and purple eyes hooded slightly with lust as they stared into the opposite colour as Skylar reached his shoulders and ran her hands down his arms. "You know… It's not fair if you have more clothes on than I do." Naruto teased, Skylar instantly flipped back to reality, pushed him back gently and slapped his arm a little hard.

"Pervert." She said with a pout that was failing to hide a smile and she finally blushed and Naruto grinned as he walked onto the water and dropped in again. Skylar was swallowing hard as she took off her weapon pouches and hesitated at the hem of her shirt… It was that self conscious voice thinking over questions like 'did I put on matching underwear and bra?' She had her back to him and gripped the hem and pulled it up and off quickly as she took a deep breath, her face burning with a blush as she slid her pants down and kicked them off with her shoes. She walked hesitantly to the water and got in quickly, Naruto having disappeared underwater and swam right up to her and gripped her sides so she didn't swim away.

"Your beautiful, don't hide away." He whispered to her, eyes meeting again as he ran his rough hands down her sides and gripped her thighs as he pulled her into the middle of the river as her arms wrapped around his shoulders and her knees gripped his sides. Skylar felt so many emotions she wasn't use to; Happiness, joy, peace, warmth, so many she wasn't use to feeling after her childhood but this boy, no man in front of her was giving her everything she needed for years and she felt like she wanted to cry with joy. 'Is this love?' She asked herself as she stared into his endless blue eyes.

Naruto could see such raw emotions showing in her purple eyes that it almost scared him but he didn't, no, couldn't run away, she would never recover if he did, this was something they were both still a little hesitant about but both wanted at the same time but it was so very fragile at that moment. He didn't push her to do anything but just held her, showing he wasn't running away.

"Thank you Naruto." She said with tear glistened eyes as she hugged him and he hugged back. He pulled back and smiled and she was looking away blushing.

:Aw, come on Skylar-chan don't go all shy on me now." Naruto teased and she smiled and swam away, with him chasing her, splashing and laughing after the heavy and emotional atmosphere.

They lay on the grass later that afternoon and watched the clouds float by, side by side as their clothes and they dried off, both of them linking their fingers behind their heads as they pointed to a cloud and said what it reminded them of. She pointed to one that looked like the Statue of Liberty and she went into a whole explanation of her old home, still watching the clouds as Naruto lay on his side, his head propped up by his hand and elbow as he examined her body, half listening to what she was saying and soon she fell asleep so he carried her back to his place and she stayed at his place for the night, sleeping of the good day they had.