Next chapter in my story. I hope everyone reading it is enjoying it. Comment or review, or message me, i don't bite. Over 1000 views :D I would like a cover image for myself and the story, if someone could be so kind as to help me with that. I'm good at art but fall short on computerized art. Let alone uploading something from a scan.

Monica had been walking for some time and already the sun was setting before she got anywhere near Iwagakure. However, she preferred the detour as her nerves kept on giving in and causing her to turn back and forth. She knew she was missing for almost a month and did not know how everyone would react. Although, she could hazard a guess as memories of laughter filled her ears. After she shook her head, Monica was around where she hoped to find her 'sensei' Lee. Lee often took everyone to this spot to train in the evening before last meal of the day. Typically crying about the youth of today, and their enthusiasm to train their bodies into great shinobi.

She kept her presence hidden in the forest foliage on the floor as she approached the sounds of sparring between young genin. Followed by the voice that could only be described as Lee of the Leaf. She smiled to herself with intent as she slunk back to the main road not too far from the training grounds under the shadow of Iwagakure up in the mountains above. More or less five minutes later and Monica found herself in front of a tavern, she swears these things were everywhere. By now she was used to walking in them despite being a year younger than the drinking age. Fukushi used these to pass messages around and to gather information as many ninjas drank here as the locals. Monica headed straight up to a woman who was posted behind the bar and sat on a stool, she got herself comfortable and pulled her hood down to reveal messy orange hair roughly cut to neck length and her two scars were visible to the world. The first being under her left ear which led down her side. The cut was now a pale pink as it scarred over. The second one, on the right side of her neck, was from proving she wouldn't turn back on her choice to Fukushi. She had a third on her cheek but it was shallow and small so she doubted it would remain as the other two did.

"Mind if I have a dish of sake please?" Monica spoke politely to the barmaid who looked up at her before frowning.

"You look a bit young."

"I'm over, but i really need a strong drink. You see I am planning to confess my feelings and my nerves are all wrecked." This made the barmaid grin.

"Oh yeah sure sure, but I get you." She quickly poured out a shallow bowl of sake and placed it in front of Monica. The bar is largely empty aside from a group of drunk men who must have had an early finish to their day. She paid the barmaid with some money she had stolen from some killed bandits.

"So how are you going to do it." The barmaid continued as she leaned over the bar in front of Monica, her hands resting under her chin. She smiled sweetly and probably wanted to pass the time. Monica smiled and wove her lies.

"You see I was going to get him to save me, you know be my hero and ask him in the heat of the moment." Monica sipped the alcohol and let the burning liquid slip down her throat.

"Ooh that's ballsy, you sure he could save you?"

"Oh, don't worry he's a shinobi."

"From Iwagakure? Now you're the ballsy one." They both let off a short giggle and Monica quickly became serious in front of the barmaid.

"You see those drunks?"

"Yeah what about them?"

"Watch." Monica grinned as she turned to the drunks. Finishing her drink in one quick gulp.

She approached them with a light skip at the men who had been stealing glances at her since she came in. They were preparing themselves to either be smooth or try and cover the fact they were looking. Monica stunned them as she leaned against one of them who was sitting on the end of the table. She practically cuddled right into the man's arm. There were five men in total and each one had red drunk noses whilst being surrounded in empty sake bottles.

"Hey boys I'm feeling a little lost and I was wondering if big strong men like you could show me around and take me to the drunken toad tavern for my job." The tavern in question was not too far in fact a little up the road on the other side of this small village, they really were everywhere. Monica was trying to put on her most seductive voice and by the looks the men were giving each other it looked like it was working. "I don't have much money but I'll pay you in other ways." She had their interest. "Pweeze." She pouted and gave them puppy eyes. The men nodded and grinned.

"Alright lady we will help." One man spoke with a slight slur.

"Yeah remember you promised to pay."

Monica took one of their sake bottles and drained it in one fast motion. There weren't much sake left only about two mouthfuls. She smiled at the men who were impressed by her drinking.

"I'll wait for you outside." Monica spoke with a smile and kissed one on the cheek. She felt wrong afterwards and made a note to wash her mouth out. It tasted worse than bad sake. However, she didn't show disgust to any of the drunk men and she skipped outside with a playful smile to wait for them to finish boasting about what they will do to her. The barmaid watched with curiosity about what that woman was thinking. She watched as the drunks got up to leave, still boasting, and leaving behind a mess that she would have to tidy up. The barmaid looked over the bar to see what will happen. The orange haired woman proceeded to punch one guy in the balls followed by a swift kick to the second man's groin. Both men held their manhood and almost fell to the floor. The other three cursed at the woman who had skipped out of range from their fists. She saw the taunting woman turn and shouted.

"Your dicks are so small, blowing them wouldn't even count as a snack." She ran off with the men swearing over their promises once they catch her. It was a story to tell her friends as she laughed at the whole situation.

Monica ran ahead and made sure the men were still hot on her trail. She didn't use any ninja techniques and instead ran and jumped between the roots of the trees around them up the bank. After a jump into a small dip about half way between the training grounds and the bar. She quickly set to work taking her cloak off and wrapping her wakizashi blade and a couple spare kunai, her money, and pouch of small scrolls.

"Genus Ignis: Sigillum Libri." She quickly uttered under her breath and a blue summoning banner shone brightly in front of her before vanishing into a puff of smoke. She was getting the hang of this. With more hand signals, she completed her second jitsu of summoning a kunai into her left hand, and proceeded to cut into her clothes whilst rubbing dirt as much as she could.

"Found you bitch." One of the now sober man from the bar was behind her. Panting but soon joined by the other four. Monica stood up and dispelled her kunai. She turned around to face the angry men who were all grinning at catching her.

"I'm going to make you beg for forgiv…" He paused as she winked at him followed by tears running down her cheeks. Monica threw herself back into the trunk of a tree and screamed in fear.

"No! please! Someone help!" She screamed loudly amongst sobbing uncontrollably and hiding her face. The men were coming to senses over her sudden act. They realised the trap but had no time to act.

"Leaf Hurricane!" A proud voice called out as a green-clad man launched a kick into one man, who quickly found himself in a tree thirty meters away easily. The second man received an upper-cut punch followed by a roundhouse kick. Too fast for any of them to see let alone react to.

Lee stood in front of the crying Monica and facing off the three remaining men. Two immediately routed and fled into the forest while one begged.

"Please believe us. She tricked us to chase her. It was that bitches doing not ours. Believe me!"

"A highly unlikely story." Lee kicked the man in the chin which caused him to do a backflip and with a strike from Lee's palm the man was knocked back to his fallen comrades down the hill. Lee turned to the crying girl he had just 'saved' and he was stunned at what he saw.

"M-Monica? By the power of youth, you have returned!" Monica forced herself to rush up to Lee and hug him close while sobbing into his shoulder. Her crocodile tears soaked the green jumpsuit but she was going to put on as much of a show as she could. In reality she cringed at the thought of the green jumpsuit after Lee had managed to persuade her to wear the damn thing. He was blissfully unaware of the bullying that dragged her down, which was made much worse after being caught alive wearing the jumpsuit.

"You're hurt though, I'll get someone to look at you." Lee walked with Monica in tow who had begun to shake in fear, tears were still streaming down her dirty face making distinct lines. Lee was going to make a big thing out of this she could already tell.

"Make way! Make way! Everyone stop training, as much as I don't wish to stop you in your youth." Lee commanded and a lot of relieved sighs from the genin were heard across the field. Monica realised people were starting to notice, her anxiety began to kick up as she started to expect them to laugh. 'Shit' she spoke to herself. I should not have. Keep calm. No. Her internal war caused her to shrink further behind Lee and shake faster with her eyes darting around. Phantom pains and memories rushed and fled as fast as her mind would work.

"Monica has returned. I knew she would! Monica? Monica! Are you ok? What happened to you?"

"I.." She opened and closed her mouth before breaking down in sobbing. She got concerned looks from the genin who didn't know her well and more uninterested looks from the genin who came with her to the land of stone from Konoaha. She couldn't tell the difference between reality or her imagination but she was sure she heard her old teammates cursed their luck that she returned. After all they were making 'some decent progress now she wasn't dragging her down'. Lee slowly walked her away from the training ground.

"I want you all to lap Iwagakure ten times before returning for dinner." Lee shouted as he picked up Monica to speed off and find help. Monica felt pathetic, she let her fears control her and break composure. However, she comforted herself in knowing this probably helped her case. She was able to stop crying but she was still shaking uncontrollably.

Lee had helped Monica to her feet before entering a hotel which she didn't recognise. This wasn't where they were staying? Lee lead her into the lounge where four leaf shinobi were relaxing after a long day of reading. They sat around the fire on some comfortable looking green couches. Hinata and Naruto shared the longer sofa while Sakura, who had similar hair to Monica, only cleaner and bright pink, sat opposite them. The last one, who wasn't engaged in talking, was Shikamaru who was reading a book to himself. There weren't any markings on the cover to indicate what he was reading though. Sakura turned to see who entered and immediately had the look of utter shock. She had wanted Monica to be on her genin team for the three years she attempted to pass the genin exams. By the time she passed though Sakura had a squad already and she always felt bad because she felt medial jitsu would be good for Monica.

"Monica? Shit what the hell happened." Sakura jumped over her seat and rushed up to the girl and pulled her away from Lee into a good light where Sakura ran her hands over Monica with the green medical jitsu glowing brightly.

"I found her by the training site with some unsavoury people chasing her." Lee answered

"Did they hurt you?" Sakura spoke to Monica without replying to Lee. By now Naruto and Hinata had gotten up to be of any assistance. Monica looked over at the jonin and shook her head. Sakura hesitated. "I think you were spiked." Sakura had horrific images of what these men were trying to do to Monica. Her hands pressed on the young girl's forehead and proceeded to cure her from the alcohol in her system. Monica began to feel drowsy from the jitsu's effects. "Don't worry you should get cleaned up and rest, Naruto and Hinata could you take her back to where the genin stay?" Naruto didn't say anything but he rested both his hands behind his head and with a little stretch he started to walk about of the door. Hinata smiled at Monica with her almost pure white pupils and nodded for her to follow.

Monica blushed and looked away, she could feel everything she had built since she was with Fukushi had just melted away as if nothing ever happened. She had to constantly remind herself that she has to get the page for Fukushi, no matter what. She did promise him with her first kiss. Her hand covered her lips as the three left the Hotel. She could hear Sakura call for Lee.

"Lee, could you find her old teammates, I think they'll help her calm down enough to talk about what happened." Sakura ordered her colleague around while Shikamaru remained out of the situation and read more of his book.

As they walked down Iwagakure's roads, Naruto asked Monica a blunt question. "Was it that demon who caused that scar?" He looked over his shoulder at Monica who nearly had to bite her own tongue for nearly speaking his name.

"N-no, it was, other people." Monica spoke as quietly has Hinata used to.

"You're safe now though." Hinata comforted.

"Yeah nothing like a scar to give you character, you know I'd be covered in scars if it weren't for Kurama." Naruto added. Monica blinked as she wasn't sure who Kurama was. She had the image of Fukushi's scars across his face, certainly character building.

"Y-yeah, I still want to be stronger." Monica admitted.

"You know you can ask us for help, Naruto is always willing to help anyone with anything." Hinata spoke. "It's one of the many reasons I-Everyone likes him." She dropped a not so subtle hint but Naruto didn't give an indication where or not he picked it up.

"Thank you, I-I feel like I know w-what I'm doing." Monica quietly spoke, Naruto didn't look at Monica but he was amused at how alike Hinata she sounded when she was younger. Hell, they were only five years older than her but he knew how much Hinata improved in five years so why not Monica.

"So what was it like being lost, ya know?" Naruto spoke out loud to Monica, not turning to see her reaction.

"Hell." She spoke coldly. Her composure was back and she was able to think a bit more clearly now. Monica was half right, although she was with her saviour she also had to follow him through rain, training, and killing, she was hungry and thirsty and had many sleepless nights, where danger kept the pair awake. The two jonin ninja kept quiet as if they were satisfied with her answer and did not want to pressure her further.

"What brought you to Iwagakure Naruto?" Monica asked softly and as casually as possible. She hadn't realised that more leaf ninja had arrived.

"Oh? we are on the mission to get the guy who's been killing everyone. He's the demon guy in case you hadn't heard anything." Naruto replied with a hint of anger in his voice when he spoke about Fukushi. Monica's eyes widened but she was grateful no one saw her reaction. 'Shit' she thought, 'I gotta tell Fukushi, Naruto is going to destroy him. Does he know what he's doing?' She was becoming frustrated about not being able to be there to help Fukushi. Against Naruto he will need her help. As bad as it sounded she liked the idea of saving him though, maybe before he would get too injured. She gave off a short small smile.

"I-I don't suppose I could be any help, I don't th-think Sakura would let me train and I-I don't want to be stuck doing nothing.

Naruto turned and looked up at Hinata who answered Monica for him. "I don't see why not, we are only trying to look for a page or whatever he's after."

"We will have to clear it with Shikamaru but hey, if it makes the job go by faster." Naruto added.

The trio reached the other hotel where all the genin had been staying since their join training program started. It was a large building which was close to the Tsuchikage's tower. The architecture remained identical to the rest of the village, a building cut from the very stone which while looked rough and cold from the outside. Upon entering the hotel the floors were made of wood with a large fire in the lobby and radiators throughout keeping a very snug feel to the place. The walls were also made of wood to about waist high which the rest was white washed. Red curtains and paintings broke the otherwise plane décor and their stay was an elegant one.

"Thank you Hinata and Naruto, I remember where my room was." Monica politely gave them a small bow and left to find her room. Naruto and Hinata returned to their party members, Hands slowly inched towards each other as they walked away.

Meanwhile Kurama inside Naruto was face-palming himself hard. He had thought about telling Naruto but instead he lay down with his head resting on his paws. With the nine long tails thrashing excitingly about his new game. 'This will keep me entertained' He thought to himself. While he no longer desired to destroy he still had some malicious enjoyment in other people affairs. Especially the small game he made for himself whilst living inside of Naruto. He took some counters and looked on his small board he had made just before. 'Now who will find out about Monica first, Shikamaru would be the safe bet… I'll give Hinata a gamble I think.' Throwing the counters over Hinata's name. 'Urg, I wish I had someone to gamble with, I can't even ask Naruto on this one.'