Disclaimer: Nope don't own Naruto, and I never will. I'm only saying this because I'm at gunpoint. I do own Naruto…I mean I don't!
Story: Fem!Naru Minato tells Kushina to flee to Suna, if something were to go wrong in Konoha after his death. Because of this, somehow Naruto is raised in the Sand.
Set as an AU.
Spoilers: …Probably?
Warnings: The usual stuff? I mean, most people who read my stuff are repeated readers, so they should know…otherwise…eh…
Pairings: Yondy!Kazekage/Fem!Naru

Suna no Hoshi
Chapter Fifteen: The Toads Who Desired a Prince

When Naruto woke up, she couldn't believe her eyes, which had widened in shock as her face turned a deep red in embarrassment. She stared up into the sleeping face of Rasa, and she dimly realized that he had his arms around her.

It took a few seconds for her to remember what happened the night before, though she didn't know how or when they'd ended up in this position. She was really warm and comfortable though…

She experimentally tried to slip away, but Rasa just held on tighter and mumbled something incoherently. She gave up and after hesitating a moment, she tentatively laid her head back on his chest and snuggled to his side.

It really was a comfortable spot.

It wasn't a wonder she fell back to sleep. In fact, the two of them were still sleeping like that by the time Baki slipped into the home unannounced, only to see those two still comfortably sleeping and the Sabaku children sitting around and eerily watching the sleeping duo.

"You brats look like stalkers."

The three looked up and stared at him.

"We were debating on whether or not to take a picture of them," Temari smiled widely.

Baki scoffed, but a camera immediately appeared in his hand and he took a quick picture of the sleeping two on the couch. The kids went back to staring at them.

"Where'd the camera come from?" Kankuro asked dumbly.

"Do you keep it around for something like this?" Temari laughed, joking.

Baki scowled. "I just had it."

He wasn't going to admit he had just started to carry it around for exactly these kinds of times, ever since Rasa vaguely admitted, without saying, how he felt about Naruto.

"Come on, stalkers. I'll treat you to breakfast. Let's leave these two here," Baki offered, rolling his eyes.

"Ohhh, awesome!" Kankuro cheered, pumping a fist.

"Shh," Gaara glared at him. Kankuro looked back at his brother sheepishly.

The small group quickly left together and it was soon quiet in the home again. Not too long after, Rasa woke up this time. He grimaced as he looked down, realizing that he had somehow begun to hold Naruto in his sleep and that they'd ended up in this close position. And judging by the silence in his home and the lack of any chakra signatures around, his kids weren't there and had most probably seen the two of them like this.

"Damn it all," he muttered.

Gently pulling away from Naruto, he settled her more comfortably on the couch, before he also left the house. He came back not too long after, holding a bag of hot containers filled with ramen that he put on the kitchen table. Then he came back to Naruto and softly shook her shoulder.

"Hey. Hey, Naruto. Wake up."

She murmured something before sighing and opening her eyes slowly.

"Ah, Kaze – " at his sharp look, she awkwardly cleared her throat and began again. "Ten…Tenoh. Um, what's wrong?"

"I got breakfast," he smiled slightly at her. "Ramen in the kit. You want to eat with me?"

Her eyes lit up and she nodded enthusiastically. He led the way to the kitchen and she followed, a slight bounce to her feet. Once they settled into their seats and had begun eating, did the awkwardness between them set in again.

Casting around for a topic to talk about and make things not awkward, Naruto brought up the first thing that came up in her mind, and that she'd been thinking about these days.

"Um, do you have a Summons?" she asked, surprising him.

"A Summons? No actually," he answered, surprising her this time. "I wanted one back then, and I was going to get one…but there were a lot of other things I had to focus on, so I never got to it."

"Oh. Do you know the hand signs though?" she was still curious.

Rasa pushed his bowl away. "Yeah, I do. Did you want to see them?"

She brightened up and gave him a large smile. "Hai, hai! Please?"

He chuckled and brought his hands up, and then showed her the hand signs. After going at a fast and then normal rate as examples, he went and did it slowly, sign by sign for her.

"And then you smack your hand down on a surface. You'd also have to bite your thumb to get some blood, right before you do the hand signs," he instructed, amused by her attentiveness and awe.

"Hey. For all your complaining about hating lecturing, you're really damn good at it, you know that?" she teased him after.

Rasa blinked before scrunching up his nose. "You'll never get me into that Academy ever again. Not if I can help it."

"Not even for educational purposes, or visiting it and seeing how things are?"

Rasa huffed. "If they want me in a class, they can just do a stupid fieldtrip over to my office or something. Never again, I tell you. Never again. I will never step foot in the Academy ever."

She snickered at him. "I can't say I share your sentiments. Of course I hated the work, but…"

The red head glared at her. "Of course it's different for you, Ouji-sama. Everything would go smoothly or be made to go smoothly, and everyone was nice and adored you, and bending backwards for you, Girl-With-the-Academy-Cult."

"…Eheh?" she smiled guiltily.

He pouted. "It's so not the same. Of course you like the Academy! You get fond memories because you have some weird following! I hated the Academy. Boring, too much work, too much writing, too much blah blah blah."

"That's normal for most students, isn't it?" she grinned in amusement.

"Duh. Except it was extremely worse for me. School is supposed to be hell, and no one should like it. Minus you, but you and the whole thing is abnormal –you had an abnormal situation and experience in school, so it can't count."

Naruto gave him a shrug, but she patted his hand in consolation.

"Tenoh, there was one other thing I've been wondering about," she hesitantly brought up

Rasa nodded, though he wasn't looking at her and had been in the process of eating some of his noodles.

"About that time in Wave, where you were acting weird in that village and before, and then you kissed me and your send off to me going to Gato's base…and then afterwards when you got me back from the base…Um, what was all that about?"

Rasa promptly choked on his ramen and started hacking and coughing. Alarmed, Naruto leaped over to him and began pounding slightly on his back, trying to help him clear his airways.

"C-clone," he managed to choke out, feeling anxious and fidgety.

Naruto blinked and nodded knowingly. "Oh yeah. I know how they go crazy sometimes. Those rascals."

Rasa snorted, glowering. Yeah, crazy. That's it. Crazy.

He didn't know if he was upset over his clone still, or that she was dismissing his clone (that reflected his very real feelings, he now admitted and understood that) as crazy and not seriously considering that he might have feelings for her.

His priorities were kind of all mixed up. And this was all rather depressing actually.

Rasa felt a cloud form over his head and rain down, while Naruto looked on in concern at him.

The door to their house suddenly slammed open, and they could immediately hear loud voices.

"I'M HOME, DAD, NARUTO!" Kankuro could be heard hollering into the home.

Rasa twitched, while Naruto stared bemusedly.

"You knucklehead! Why do you have to be so loud and obnoxious?" Temari could be heard berating the other loudly.

"Shut up, Bun-chan!"

There was a screech, some loud crash sound, and then absolute silence.

"Uh, we'll pay for that, Dad…" Kankuro laughed nervously.

Rasa face planted into his hands and thought it wasn't too late to pretend they weren't his kids and shuffle them off to someone…probably Baki.

Gaara was the first into the kitchen, where they were at. He held up a bag.

"We brought leftovers. We can eat it for lunch so that Naruto doesn't have to cook, and we don't starve or get poisoned," Gaara said, as usual very monotone.

"Aw, that's sweet, Gaara. Thanks, guys," Naruto said, smiling widely.

Rasa just glared at his son.

"One more crack about my cooking…" Rasa muttered.

Just then, Kankuro and Temari came in next, with Baki following close after.

"Eh, Team Kickass is here to pick up their third member!" Kankuro announced, holding out a finger.

Sand crept up and took hold of Naruto, wrapping around her waist and tugging her towards the group.

Naruto stared blankly at it. "Gaara, if your sand isn't sanitized before touching my person…" she said threateningly.

Gaara stubbornly kept his expression close and didn't answer.

Shivering, Naruto broke away from the sand and darted back over to Rasa. As payback for stealing her noodles while she'd been in the process of getting "captured," Naruto ruffled his hair roughly and glared down at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "It was payback," he said simply, somehow similar to her thoughts.

"What? What did I do?" she blinked in confusion.

"Tormenting me," Rasa deadpanned, getting up and shuffling her over to her team. "Now go on with your team."

"But I haven't finished my noodles yet!" Naruto yelled in panic, as she was already being dragged away by Baki.

"I'll finish them," Rasa told her, all serious-faced and toned, while inwardly he was cackling in his revenge for everything.

"Nooooo!" she went dramatic on them.

Once they were gone, Rasa finally relaxed and let himself look haggard.

"Geez, Dad. You look like crap. And really exhausted…Don't tell me Naruto kept you up all night?" Temari's worried tone from the start turned into a tease that had Rasa glaring at her.

"I'm going to pretend you did not just say that double entendre and go to sleep. Otherwise, I would be sending you on D-ranks all week."

Temari shrugged. "If I'm on them with 'Team Kickass slash BAMF.'"

"Temari, just get out of my sight, won't you?"

She finally left him behind, snickering, while he trudged to his room.

And as those two were left behind, the group that had left them had finally made their way to their training ground. There, Baki was assaulted by Kankuro, who had tackled and clamped on tightly to the sensei.

"Baki-senseiiii! Where's those clone jutsu you promised?" Kankuro wasn't going to give up.

At that, Gaara also focused intensely at the teacher, who had begun to sweat nervously at the intense glare of the One-tailed jinchuuriki. Naruto cleared her throat and they all turned to look at her, with Baki inwardly thanking her for the interruption.

"Didn't you learn the regular bunshin in the Academy?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at them.

Kankuro scoffed. "Bah! That's boring. I want a real clone jutsu."

Naruto sighed in exasperation. "What about the Sand Clone? It's one of the choices for the Suna-versed jutsu you have to learn."

Kankuro looked sheepish while Gaara looked away and pretended to study the sky.

"It was the Academy," Kankuro muttered. "It's school. School sucks and who wants to do more work?"

She blinked in confusion. "But then what did you do to pass that part of the Genin Exam?"

"…Chakra strings?" the pupper user revealed weakly. "It was one of the choices…"

"Ehhh?! But that's cheating!"

Kankuro held up his hands in surrender. "No, no! I-it was one of the choices, I said! It's never been part of the school curriculum. I just, uh, already knew how to do them…"

Naruto glared at him before turning her glare on Gaara, who flinched. "And you! What did you do?"

He hesitated before reluctantly holding a hand out and forming a shuriken.

"Sand…Shuriken," he mumbled, tossing it tentatively at her before looking away and pretending he wasn't involved.

"UGH!" Naruto grabbed the two of them and put them in a chokehold. "I should-should…spank you two! Dammit, you deserved to be spanked or something, you lazy idiots!"

The two of them looked at each other and shared a quick grin.

"Yes, Kaa-chan!"

"You two! And why are you grinning? Don't test me! I really will spank you both!"

Baki interrupted them, finally having gathered his bearings.

"Alright you three, time to get started on training."

Naruto let go of them abruptly and bounced up to Baki, grinning widely. It made him nervous.

"Ne, Baki-sensei. I learned something new and wanted to try it! Look, look!"

And she bit her thumb and began doing a very familiar set of hand signs, before slamming her hand onto the ground.

Naruto promptly disappeared.

Kankuro screeched, while Gaara's eyes widened.

"Don't worry, Kaa-chan! We're coming! We'll save you!"

And, disbelievingly, copying Naruto, both of the boys did the Summoning jusu and disappeared as well. Baki stared dumbly at the spot where his genin had disappeared.

"Fuck," he cursed.

Naruto glanced around in awe, seeing the vibrant colors of the world she was in with wonder. It was all lush greens and pretty blues, with every other color spotting about like paint being randomly splattered about. She could see many waterfalls and plants, as well as tall trees littering the place.

"Eh? Who are you?"

Naruto turned around and stared.

"Huh? A frog?"

The creature croaked indignantly. "I'm no frog. I'm a toad! There's a difference, ya know!"

Naruto blinked and then shrugged.

10 minutes later…

"WAHAHAHA! You're a funny girl!"

Naruto didn't know how or when, but she was suddenly surrounded by a ton of toads. What was once just one toad, had multiplied until there were more than a dozen of them hanging around her, all in various sizes and personalities. Well, at least she was having a good time and partying with them for her troubles.

Suddenly, there were loud thumps and miniature earthquakes coming their way, and Naruto (surprised and wary) looked around for the disturbance. She gaped at the sight of a giant toad, the biggest yet, coming their way and towering over her by far. She could guess he must be the boss toad or something.

"What's this?" his voice was loud and booming, his attention having been drawn by the loud entertainment they were indulging themselves in. "Who is this girl?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you," she said dazedly, bowing in greeting.

"Ohohoho, a polite one, eh? Jiraiya-baka could learn a thing or two from this girl! Well, since you introduced yourself, I should too! I am Gamabunta!"

When he started laughing uproariously, Naruto inwardly cringed. What had she gotten herself into?

It was sometime later, when she'd finally gotten used to Gamabunta's loud and rowdy behavior, that he was taking her to go see the "Elders." Whoever they were.

It turned out that they were small toads, much smaller than Gamabunta, but still actually much more powerful and had more authority than the boss toad (she'd been right about that).

"Hello, child. I am Shima and this is Fukasaku," the female toad introduced the two of them.

"We are the Great Toad Sages," Fukasaku continued off. "Why don't you introduce yourself and tell us how you got here?"

Naruto gulped and related her stupid idea to just do the Summoning Seals, and how that somehow got her there. She didn't expect them to all burst out in laughter though.

"Oh dear, it's just like Jiraiya-bozu, isn't it, dear?" Shima looked to her husband.

Fukasaku snorted. "Exactly like that brat."

Naruto practically had question marks all over her head as she listened. Gamabunta took pity on her, noticing her reaction, and explained who this Jiraiya was and what he did that was exactly the same thing as what she did.

"Oh," she was surprised and rather relieved. If a renowned and powerful ninja like Jiraiya of the Sannin had done exactly what she'd done, then what she'd decided to do wasn't really all that stupid and terrible a decision, was it? Right?

Why was she getting the feeling she was entirely wrong…

"Um, why are you telling me all this?" Naruto asked hesitantly. "You've only known me for awhile. Isn't it bad to say so much to a stranger like me?"

"Well, for one, you're just a little girl," Fukasaku snickered, while Naruto's face turned red and she pouted, glaring at him.

"Two, you wouldn't be here if you weren't meant to be, sweetie," Shima told her gently.

"And…we've been sort of forewarned of your future presence here," Gamabunta said cryptically, confusing the Suna kunoichi.

"What do you mean?" Naruto looked at them strangely.

"Never mind that. This is an unprecedented event," Fukasaku chortled. "One, an occurrence of a human actually coming here, but also several humans! Which is another unusual occurrence in of itself!"

"What! What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto was getting more and more confused, and just the slightest bit panicking.

"Apparently, two more humans have entered the Animal Spirit plane –a boy with makeup and another boy with a tattoo on his head."

Suddenly, Naruto felt very faint.

Her teammates had followed after her.

Gaara was not sure what happened. One moment he was in their team's training ground, and then Naruto had done some kind of jutsu and disappeared. And then recklessly, he and Kankuro, without communicating with each other even, had shared the thought of rescuing her and coming up with one solution. Doing the same jutsu and to follow her.

Of course, they hadn't even thought of whether or not they'd go to the same place as her, or what exactly she had been doing…

For some reason, he was now surrounded by a bunch of raccoons, and no Kankuro or even Naruto in sight.

"You must be Gaara-sama," one of them peered closer at him.

Gaara's eyes widened. "You…talk?"

Apparently, not only was he surrounded by raccoons, he was surrounded by talking raccoons. It just kept getting better and better…

One of them bit his leg and he twitched, lifting his leg and trying to shake it off. For some reason, his sand was just milling about restlessly.

"What the hell?"

"Ah, well you see," the one that talked first watched, sweatdropping at the scene. "You have not reconciled with Shukaku-sama, so you're not quite welcomed."

The group he was with all started growling and making loud, discontent noises. He backed up warily, before turning tail and running. The raccoon group started chasing him.

The others had better be having better luck or else.

Well, on his brother's end, it was something this –

Kankuro opened his eyes, and he stared in confusion. He was moving…but he wasn't on the ground. In fact, he was somehow in the air.

"Oh my Goooood! What's happening?! Where am I?!" he screamed, flailing about.

"Shut up, human, before I eat you," something rasped from above.

He tensed and slowly lifted his head. And then he screamed.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

And then he remembered what else the huge crow that was biting onto his shirt to carry him had said.

"Don't eat me! I have worms! I'm terribly sick! I'm disgusting! I won't taste good!" Kankuro continued to further babble and then started rambling nonsensically.

"I SAID SHUT UP BEFORE I EAT YOU!"

Kankuro's mouth snapped close and he sniffled miserably as he continued to be flown off to some unknown location, probably to be eaten and pecked to death.

It was a good thing for Gaara that at least he was rescued. Oddly enough, by a fox.

A fox with two tails?

"They did what? Wait, Naruto is gone?" Needless to say, Rasa was freaking out about this new development.

Baki awkwardly cleared his throat. "Um…yeah. Naruto performed the hand signs for the Summoning jutsu somehow. And then disappeared. And then those two idiot kids of yours followed after. You know, I didn't know that was what happened, or could happen, if you perform Kuchiyose without having signed a Summoning Contract…" he added as an afterthought.

Rasa suddenly gained a thoughtful and concentrated look on his face, before without warning, he too performed Kuchiyose and then disappeared without another word to Baki.

Baki cursed again.

"Not again, damn it!"

Started 11/1/13 – Completed 11/26/13

A/n: Sorry no omake again, but hey! It's my birthday and I want to update after a long while of not :D Please review as a birthday gift! XD Hahaha…

To Guest 1: Thanks! I like inserting cute stuff when I can :)

To Guest 2: Sorry for taking so long, but here's an update!

To kingoftheomgs: Haha, glad you're enjoying it and laughing so much!

Citations:

1. Chapter title based on the Aesop fable "The Frogs Who Desired a King."