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 Sixteen: The Desert King's Frog

This was not what Naruto had planned when all of that happened. She was being reckless, sure…but since when didn't she do crazy things? It was normal for her.

But her teammates didn't usually do reckless things, at least without any prompting.

Honestly, following her like that. They didn't even know what she was doing! At least she knew what she'd been attempting and had done so without following completely blindly like they had.

"Naru-chan? You don't have to look like the world ended…" Gamabunta scratched the back of his head worriedly.

"Don't worry, they're fine," Shima further reassured her. "Actually, you can probably pick them up in the world of the Fox Spirits. You can get them and bring them here, if you'd like?"

"Hm…Shouldn't we all get back to the human plane though? I don't think our disappearance will be taken well…" Naruto noted to herself. "Plus, I don't think Jiraiya-sama would be happy to see foreign shinobi with his summons…"

"He'll be fine actually," Fukasaku waved her off dismissively. "And though you can't quite summon us just yet, unless you meet Jiraiya and have him let you sign the Toad Summoning Contract, we can still at least teach you the Frog Kata and Sage Mode."

"Ehh?! Why would you want to do that? I don't belong to Konoha or anything –isn't that against the rules?!" Naruto's eyes widened.

"Trust us, we don't mind and it will be all okay," Shima smiled widely.

Naruto was so not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially since her taijutsu definitely needed some kind of boost.

"On the other hand, I'm sure the Kitsune will be definitely happy to get you to sign a Summoning Contract with them," Shima continued, making Naruto look at her in surprise.

Huh. Must be because of Kyuubi.

"I'll bring you there," Gamabunta offered. "Hop on, Naru-chan."

Getting on Gamabunta, she relaxed and awaited the travel to the Fox Spirits plane.

Rasa shook his head and rubbed his hand down his face, feeling disoriented. On second thought, this might not have been a good idea…but never mind that. He now had to focus and figure out how to find his kids and Naruto. He had to focus and think about his self-appointed mission.

He heard a rumbling above him and saw a huge shadow cover him. He looked up and paled.

"Oh fuck," Rasa tensed up and gawped at where the sky should have been.

Instead, a huge, flying serpent thing was above him and glaring down at where he was.

"Puny mortal, who are you and why are you here?" the thing actually spoke.

"Uh…" Needless to say, Rasa's communication skills weren't working right then.

The thing grumbled and then he –Rasa was pretty sure it was a he –moved his body in a circle before shooting down and opening his mouth, looking like he was going to devour Rasa.

"WAIT! Wait, wait, wait! I just wanted to go looking for my kids! And Naruto! And who are all obviously not here! Please let me go and don'teatme!" Rasa practically scrambled from the ground and began running, trying in vain to escape the serpent.

In short, it wasn't long until Rasa ran into a dead end and was surprised he even lasted that long.

That said, when he looked around, the serpent monster was nowhere in sight. He blinked.

"Huh…"

"Boo," a less loud version of the serpent's voice deadpanned right next to him and Rasa jumped away from the source, staring warily at the man-serpent hybrid. "Who are you?" he asked again.

"Sabaku no Rasa, Kazekage of Sunagakure," Rasa cautiously introduced himself. "I'm here because I came to collect some wayward kids of mine, and um…Naruto," he ended up muttering, trying to ignore how his cheeks went slightly red.

What the hell? Was he some kind of stupid schoolboy or something?

The hybrid snorted. "Of course. The now legendary tale of four idiotic humans all traversing into the realm of Summoning Animals and the Spirit Plane."

"Spirit…Plane?" Why did it seem to Rasa that that had become separated on purpose?

The serpent-man rolled his eyes. "Yes, Spirit Plane. The lot of you are being redirected to the Fox Spirits plane, due to one of your group," 'Naruto,' Rasa winced, "while you, yourself, are in the Dragon Spirits realm."

"Oh," Rasa said simply, rather dumbstruck about that fact. "I see. Er, well then, if you could just point me in the direction of the Fox Spirits place…"

The other raised an eyebrow. "You, as the others, entered their separate planes for a reason. All of you belonged and were meant to be there. You are meant to be here, puny mortal."

"You could stop calling me that," Rasa muttered, twitching.

"No," he said bluntly. "You, however, may call me Ryuujin."

"The dragon god?" Rasa asked weakly.

"The Dragon God," Ryuujin stated smugly, with a just as equally smug grin.

"Right. Anyway! Where was that direction to the Kitsune you said?" Rasa whistled and turned, starting to walk away.

Ryuujin's grin twitched in annoyance, and he reached out and roughly grabbed Rasa's shoulder.

"Not so fast, you puny mortal. You are our new Summoner."

"..." Rasa stared at Ryuujin in disbelief. "You're kidding, right? There's never been a dragon summoner before. There's no such thing."

Ryuujin glared at him. "Of course I'm serious, stupid mortal! You are the first, duh. No one else has been worthy and has entered our realm. Spirit Realm Summoning did not exist prior to this time –there isn't even physical contracts in your world for us, fool!"

Rasa stared at him. "Oh."

"'Oh' is right," Ryuujin said sarcastically.

"…Isn't there some kind of test or something I need to pass?" Rasa remembered that normal Summonings required some kind of test to accept a new summoner.

"Hn, no," Ryuujin lifted his nose. "One, you appeared here. As I stated, you are meant to be here. There is something to be said for that. And unlike regular Summons, we are omniscient. We know everything. Of course we'd know already if you were worthy or not, without some test."

"Okay," Rasa was rather relieved actually. He was pretty sure a normal summons' test was hard; he was sure that these 'Spirit Summons' would have been impossible.

"That said, just for the heck of it, and because it'll be amusing, to officially initiate you as our Summoner, I'll, on behalf of my brethren, make you endure a little something," and then Ryuujin transformed into a miniature version of his draconic self, and flew towards Rasa, biting down on his finger.

"Ow! What the hell?!" Rasa shook his hand in a panic, trying to shake Ryuujin off. "Are you a freakin' snake or something?!"

The dragon bit down even harder at that.

This place was really pretty, Gaara noted to himself as he ate his bowl of rice.

Honestly, it was rather peaceful too.

Currently, he and Kankuro were sitting at a table, and were enjoying the peace and calm after the terror they'd gone through. Kankuro looked especially roughed up, sporting cuts, bruises, and scratches everywhere, but sporting an accomplished grin. Apparently, he'd gotten the Crow Summoning Contract.

"At least it's not an Ant Contract or something," Kankuro had told him earlier, when he'd first arrived after Gaara. He had a feeling that statement had something to do with Kankuro's Ant and Crow puppets.

"Guys, guys! You're here!" they heard Naruto's voice, and they stood up quickly, turning to her in relief.

They sweatdropped when they saw her riding atop a huge toad that was practically stomping their way.

"Gaara! Kankuro! This is Gamabunta! Gamabunta, those two are my teammates," Naruto enthusiastically did introductions.

Suddenly, their father appeared in midair, and then dropped to the ground. He looked frazzled and was panicking as he whirled his head around and was trying to gain his bearings.

"How did I do that?! What happened? Where am I!"

"We are in the Kitsune realm, where the kitsune live. You teleported here, as granted by me –though you can only use that ability in these planes," they heard a voice they couldn't see speak out.

"Get off my finger, damn it!" their father shouted.

They all then saw a miniature dragon climb up from their father's hand, their arm, and then somehow all the way onto Rasa's head, settling comfortably onto the nest of red hair.

"Get off my head!" Rasa tried to pry the thing off of his head, but it only clamped down hard on Rasa's locks. Eventually he gave up, twitching irritably.

"Tenoh~ You're here too?" Naruto's head popped up into view above him, over the top of a large toad's head.

While Kankuro and Gaara wondered why Naruto was still calling their dad 'Tenoh,' Rasa tilted his head back and he gaped at Naruto and the large toad she was on.

"Yeah…I kind of followed after you guys…" Rasa muttered, not quite out of shock yet.

"What? How'd you do that?" Kankuro stared at him.

He cleared his throat. "By, uh…doing the same thing."

"Ahaha! Now that's a family!" Gamabunta chortled.

Kankuro grinned. "Hehe, yep! Now we just gotta get Temari to do it too!"

"Then it will be a complete set," a smirk briefly flitted onto Gaara's lips. "Otou-san, Temari-neesan, Kankuro-niisan, myself, and Kaa-chan."

Rasa had already been heading over to his sons when Gaara said that, and in consequence had stumbled badly. He stared at his sons with wide eyes, while they looked back innocently. He looked at them in betrayal before the look turned into one that promised retribution. He'll give those two hell when they got back home…

Naruto had Gamabunta suddenly toss her into the air, to which she began freefalling.

"Catch me, catch me, Tenoh!" she laughed loudly, holding out her arms.

Rasa's eyes widened again and he got into a ready position to catch Naruto, holding out his arms too and bending his spread legs. He forcefully caught her safely, though he stumbled back a bit, while her arms and legs wrapped around him. Her hair falling forward and onto his face, the warm feel of her cheek against his, her breath tickling his skin…His nose flared.

Her smell of oranges and rosemary invaded his senses immediately.

Naruto pulled away slightly and was grinning widely at him, though she still held on.

"Good catch, Tenoh!" she cheered.

"Idiot, you could have really gotten hurt," he scolded lightly. "What if I hadn't caught you?"

But he still turned and began to walk towards the other two. He almost put her down, before he hesitated and pretended to have forgotten and carried her along, his arms tightening around her. His two sons gave him thumbs up and winks, and he glowered at them. When he reached them, Naruto extracted herself from his arms, and landed on her feet. He ignored the disappointed feeling he had, and instead focused on two foxes, both with two tails, coming towards them and bringing two more bowls of rice.

"What's with the rice?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"You know…Inari…rice?" Kankuro shrugged. "I'm guessing it's somethin' to do with the rice god Inari, what with all the foxes and all…"

"Ah. Although, I shouldn't be too surprised. I'm guessing this part may have to do with me," Naruto sighed.

"Eh, with you? Why?" Kankuro started to scrutinize her, to see if he could see what she meant just by looking at her.

"Because you know. I've got the Kyuubi no Youko inside of me and all," Naruto told him nonchalantly.

Kankuro and Gaara both promptly started choking on the rice they had been eating. Rasa stared at her, and made a note to emphasize heartily to her to not so easily spread information like that.

"Oh," Kankuro just said dumbly.

Gaara remained silent, but was watching Naruto speculatively.

"Awkward," Ryuujin suddenly spoke up from atop Rasa's head.

They all turned to stare at the dragon god, making Rasa twitch.

"Assuming we all came to our realms for a reason, which could be guessed…I believe we all were meant to have them as Summons. Kankuro said he has the Crow Summoning Contract, and I would have had the Raccoons' had I, apparently, been on good terms with Shukaku," Gaara speculated about their situations.

Well, unlike Naruto, it was a well-known fact that Gaara held Shukaku in him.

"Meh, I would have signed the Toad Contract, but I'd have to hunt down Jiraiya-sama and get him to let me sign it first," Naruto pouted. "But they want me to stay awhile and learn Frog Kata and something called Sage Mode…"

Rasa gave her a wide-eyed look at that, and realized she didn't understand the extraordinariness of that was.

"Naruto-sama," one of the numerous two-tailed foxes around came forward. "When you're ready and would like to get started, you may sign the Kitsune Summoning Contract."

"That's awesome!" Naruto beamed at it, cheered up. "Where is it?"

"Like the other Spirits realms, Summoning Contracts do not exist. You will be the first and a physical contract will come into being once you've been initiated. Also, Gaara-sama, you mean Raccoon-dog Spirits. Although you will also have command over regular raccoons as well, alongside tanuki…"

Gaara gave it an uneasy look, fidgeting a bit.

When they remembered the topic though, they turned to Rasa questioningly.

He looked away. "I…have the Dragon Spirits'," he muttered.

"Ah hell, Dad gets to have a cool Summons," Kankuro started to pout himself. "That's awesome, Dad."

Ryuujin preened from atop Rasa's head.

Somehow, their discussion devolved into theme songs about their Summons.

"It's perfect!" Naruto crowed triumphantly. "'What does the Fox say~?' It's mine and my Summons' song!"

"That's no fair! You, lucky, got a song that's absolutely perfect for you! Who sings about crows anyway? Unless it's something morbid!" Kankuro shouted, shaking a hand at the sky about the unfairness of it all.

Gaara glared at them. "Who sings about raccoons? Worse –raccoon-dogs? No one, that's who."

"Yeah, well, it's just this one song!" Naruto huffed. "No other song will have something about foxes in it! I'm just lucky that this song came out and was luckily enough completely fitting and matching to me and apparently my new Summons."

Rasa opened his mouth and shut it as all three of them turned their glares onto him.

"Don't talk!" they yelled.

"There are probably dozens of songs talking, mentioning, having something about dragons in them," Kankuro muttered bad-temperedly.

Deciding to start his campaign against his sons and to further punish Naruto for continuing to 'torment' him (aside the noodles he planned to continue stealing from her), he went on to be a bad sport.

"Well, it's not my fault that dragons are cool and everyone seems to really like them," Rasa smirked.

"Shut up, Dad. Just shut up," Kankuro growled, giving his dad the stink eye.

"I don't mean to burst anyone's bubble or anything…but we've been here for a long time. Our absences would have worried everyone by now, right?" Naruto suddenly spoke up and everyone froze. "Especially since Kazekage-sama's one of the ones missing."

Rasa narrowed his eyes at her grumpily, but she just gave him a look that was a cross between apologetic and sheepish.

"Kankuro and I will head back first then," Gaara decided for them. "We can inform whoever needs to know what happened and where we went, and get things to be on track. Father, you should stay here and watch over Naruto as she trains."

However, there was a look to both of his sons' eyes, as well as Gaara's ever increasingly present barely there smirk, that told Rasa they were hinting to him at something. He scowled at them.

"We can reverse summon them back," the same fox spirit that told them about Naruto's "Kitsune" Contract spoke up. "Naruto-sama and Rasa-sama may travel to the Toads' realm with Gamabunta-san."

Rasa noted the honorifics for everyone, inwardly frowning as he did so.

"Alright then, Dad, Kaa-chan," Rasa glared at Kankuro again. When the hell did they start that habit? "We should be going now."

"What's with this 'Kaa-chan,' you two?" Naruto growled and alarming Rasa, who was inwardly panicking about her might finding out why. "Stop being little punks."

Gaara took over immediately. "Why? You want me to start calling Shukaku 'Kaa-san' and muttering to myself and talking to him and my sand, acting like they're my mother instead?" causing them all to stare at him wide-eyed in horror.

"I could always do that instead," he deadpanned.

Naruto face palmed and gave up. "Fine. Do whatever you want."

Rasa didn't know whether to yell at Gaara later or thank him thoroughly for aiding in Rasa's self-delusions.

"Goodbye, Otou-san, Kaa-chan," Gaara also told them goodbye, before he and Kankuro were teleported out of there by two kitsune.

"Before you go, Naruto-sama," a new voice joined the group and they turned to see a kitsune with five tails come forward, actually walking straight and tall like a human, and dressed in a white kimono. "I am Mamori, kitsune goddess of protection. To you, as initiation as our Summoner, eat a bite of this special rice. You will need to only endure seven days of the effects."

Mamori handed her a silver bowl filled with rice that glinted like gold, although Rasa may or may not be biased about the color. However, he was pretty sure he wasn't, and that the rice was strangely gold-like and different from any rice he'd seen, including the rice they'd previously eaten there.

Naruto shrugged and took the bowl, using the chopsticks she'd been using to scoop up some and eat it. Without warning, she dropped the bowl and chopsticks and held her hands to her throat, coughing harshly. Rasa rushed over to her, alarmed at her reaction.

"What did you do to her?" he glared at Mamori, who only smiled slightly at her.

"Do not worry. She will be fine. Just as you must endure Ryuujin-sama's constant presence for awhile, she must endure something from the Kitsune."

She disappeared suddenly and Rasa furrowed his eyebrows. But when he looked down, his mind blanked and he stared at Naruto's new features.

She had a fox tail and ears.

"N-Naruto…"

"W-what is it?" she asked breathlessly, reaching up and gripping onto him tightly. She leaned on him and he helped support her.

"Um…you may, uh, have some new additions," he mumbled.

She blinked at him in confusion and he grabbed a cup of water, holding it up to her so she could see her reflection.

"Kami-sama! What the hell happened to me?!" she screamed, before wincing at the volume of her own voice and clutching at her new ears.

"Never mind that, Naru-chan," Gamabunta interrupted her. "We should get back, so you can begin your training. It will take awhile, but I have a feeling you may take a shorter time than Jiraiya-baka."

Naruto pouted about her new additions, but nodded and began to look eager for the new training opportunity.

"Yeah! Let's go," Naruto pumped a fist into the air. "Come on, R-Rasa," she stuttered, surprising him.

Naruto looked at him from under her eyelashes and gave him a shy smile. His heart fluttered (how does that happen?) and he automatically smiled back.

And she called him Rasa.

He hid his dreamy look and grabbed her hand, determinedly marching towards the huge toad.

Rasa had been itching to pet Naruto for awhile now. As she meditated, his hands kept twitching and he couldn't stop staring at her new ears. He really wanted to pet them…

"They look so soft," he muttered to himself, still watching.

"They do, they do," Ryuujin agreed, bobbing his head.

Rasa squashed the dragon god back onto his head.

"How about a break, Naru-chan?" Shima, one of the Elder toads Nagi had been introduced to, told Naruto and broke her concentration. "Your meditation is much, much better. Your med-nin training has helped a lot with that. Soon enough, we can maybe try it again with the special toad oil."

"Ne, Shima-sama," Naruto grinned at the female toad. "Maybe there's a toad I can kiss and will turn into a prince!"

"Ahaha, instead of 'Desert Prince,' you should be upgraded to 'King!' You won't have to fight for power with your prince!"

Rasa gained a glint in his eye. "That special toad oil can turn one into a toad, right?"

"…Yes," Gamabunta watched the other in confusion.

"I see."

And then Rasa got up and started manically making his way to a pond full of that special toad oil. The many toads around him, who had been watching Naruto with him, panicked as they all tried to grab onto him and keep him away from the pond.

"No, don't do it! You'll turn into a toad," one of them screamed.

"Exactly," Rasa muttered, somewhat insanely in their opinion. "Naruto will then kiss me."

Kiss him. Not him kissing her (without her knowledge) or-or-or Gaara making her kiss him when it was really Rasa still doing the kissing –

The point was that Naruto would be kissing him!

"It won't exactly work like that, Rasa-san," Gamabunta finally reached out and picked him up, relieving the other toads of their task and all who let out relieved sighs as well. "You won't exactly get turned back just from a kiss. And really, that's just a fairytale."

"But I would still get to be kissed by Naruto," Rasa grumbled.

Gamabunta set him down and patted his back with one toad finger in condolence. Ryuujin chewed on his hair.

"R-Rasa," Naruto tripped on his name again, but at least she was saying it. He beamed happily at her. Nothing mattered then. He was on cloud nine. "Did you see! I'm doing great so far! Just you wait, I'll be in Sage Mode in no time!"

"Will you kiss me then?" Rasa blurted out. Ryuujin yanked his hair in warning and Rasa snapped his mouth shut.

"What was that, R-Rasa?" Naruto said as she finally reached his side.

"Nothing, nothing," he muttered.

"Sorry I keep tripping on your name," Naruto rubbed the back of her head. "I'm trying though, 'cause I know it means a lot to you."

Rasa ruffled her hair. "And that makes me happy enough."

"So…let me get this straight," Baki stared at his subordinates. "You two, Naruto, and your father…all ended up in the Summoning Worlds…with your father landing specifically in another realm dealing with spirits altogether…before all of you were dragged all the way to yet another separate spirit world that was full of kitsune and who apparently regard Naruto highly."

"Yeah, 'cause, you know…Naruto's got the Kyuubi in her and all," Kankuro shrugged.

Baki's brain halted.

"What kind of sensei are you, huh? Not even telling the rest of us something as important as that," the puppet user insulted him.

"Unless you didn't know that little fact," Gaara slipped in slyly. "In which case, that makes you an even worse sensei."

Baki breathed through his nose hard and pinched the bridge of it.

"I have a headache. Just stop."

Kankuro snorted. "Fine, whatever." He suddenly gained a glint in his eyes very similar as to what his father had gained in Mt. Myoboku in his odd temporary madness. "I got some info to spread around. We're making Suna a zoo!"

He left laughing and Baki almost thought he was alone and free to sort through his thoughts, trying to figure out what to do with Rasa's absence and apparent sudden vacation.

And then Gaara coughed slightly and unblinkingly watched him.

"Gaara, please leave me to bemoan the fact that, for once, your father decided not to be a workaholic and suddenly had the desire to take a vacation on us. And find out how to get the work done."

Gaara's sand brought his father's robe and hat to him, and Gaara slipped on the large kage robes and plopped the hat onto his head. The hat kept slipping over his eyes and he kept having to push it back upright with hands that were covered with long sleeves. The kage robes themselves dwarfed Gaara.

Completely serious (and yet also looking ridiculous), Gaara strode over to his father's chair and plopped down on it.

"I watch Otou-san. I can do it," Gaara said stoically.

Baki stared. And then he threw his hands up.

"I give up! You're hired."

Started 12/24/13 – Completed 12/25/13

A/n: Thanks for the birthday greetings! Anyway, I'm skipping the omake again so I can just post this, since I'm not sure when the next update will be, considering I've got a long-term job assignment and I'll be pretty busy. I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and please don't forget to review!

To A W Yeah, "The Desert Prince" is more because of her looks and charm (ala being the "Uchiha Sasuke of Suna" in terms of popularity), but she does have skill in the things she's interested in. Medical ninjutsu and Sealing being the two main stuff that she's fantastically good at –she just ignores the boring, normal stuff XD

To kagome higurashi: I'm glad you're enjoying it! As to how they escape the Summoning World, you can see in here how they get out. And do get Summons (although Gaara will have to wait a bit to make it official). And they do enter the Chuunin Exams, and eventually run in with Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke, although that and the CE fights is far off.

To Kitsune: Ahah! Someone finally mentioned Yashamaru. I was wondering when someone was going to mention him. But yeah, he's absent from the fic after being in the beginning, but it's purposeful. You'll get to see him later on, with a more important arc with him much later on.

Citations:

1. Title derived from the fairytale (best known version by the Brothers Grimm) called "The Frog King" aka "The Frog Prince," "Iron Henry," etc.