It was so good to finally have Naru back in the village where she belonged and after a warm greeting form the blond, Kakashi and Sakura politely kidnapped her so that they could spend some time with her to make up for the past five years that they had lost, feeling that rebonding with her was as important to them as breathing.

The second missing link in team seven had finally returned home. Lessening their worries and fears considerably.

After leaving the meeting with Naru, Kakashi and Sakura walked with her through the village quietly until they reached training ground seven. "I'm more than a little bit surprised that you remember us after everything that Jiriaya-sama said that you went through-" Sakura said suddenly as Naru did a little walk around the memorial stone as Kakashi gracefully dropped to the ground to sit, trying to conserve his energy.

"I recall your names-" Naru said as she paused beside the large marble stone for a moment. "I recall your names but not your faces. Or was it the other way around?" Naru asked no one in particular, she seemed to be partially talking to them and partially talking to herself. And Sakura and Kakashi resigned themselves to merely listening for the moment.

Simply enjoying the sound of her voice as she partially babbled. "It was one of the two. I can't really recall which-"

"Is that why Shika called us wolfy and pink?" Kakashi asked curiously. Naru's head bobbed a little bit indicating that she had nodded.

"Yeah. I can't always rely on my memory for things so I mostly tell people apart now by physical appearance. Pink for your hair-" Naru said as she pointed at Sakura, then turned her hand a little bit and pointed at Kakashi. "And I called you wolfy because of your eyes. They're very sharp, very cunning, and entirely ruthless."

Kakashi sighed and hung his head a little bit as Sakura clapped a hand to her mouth and snickered as she said, "She's got you pegged good sensei."

"Yeah...sounds like." Kakashi muttered in a sulky tone while thinking, Now why does that hurt my feelings? He should consider what Naru said to be a bit of a compliment shouldn't he? But more to the point, Kakashi lifted his head to look at Naru as she once again started to walk around the stone and frowned.

He knew from what Jiriaya had said that her memory was messed up, but he didn't know why she was behaving in such a child like manner. Was Naru perhaps brain damaged like Tsunade had asked? Sure Kakashi knew that there was all types and varying degree's of damage that affected people differently, but-

He glanced towards Sakura who had sombered up and was frowning at Naru in the same way he had been, her expression troubled. "Naru, how well do you function?" Sakura asked curiously, the medic in her coming to the surface. Naru looked a little startled at the question and tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground with a soft yelp.

Both Kakashi and Sakura cringed a little bit and sighed.

Geez, no matter how grown up Naru looked some things would never change, would they? Naru lay on the ground for a second before lifting her legs into the air and brought them back down as she arched her back and used the shift in her center of gravity to jump back up.

A faint blush staining her cheeks as she chewed on her bottom lip for a second with small white teeth. "I function well enough." She said after a moment or so. Sakura gave her a calculating look.

"Has anyone ever tested you to make sure that your-" Naru nodded her head and dusted herself off before walking over to Sakura and saying.

"The memory holes, the different speech patters and behavior are all part of the change I went through. Kyubbi couldn't let me keep those thing. Not if I was going to stay sane once the change was over... It's frustrating, but I haven't really adapted yet. It's sort of a long process, ya know."

"So Kyubbi took certain parts of yourself away when it was taken?"

"Yes."

"So this child like-" Naru bristled a little bit and shot Sakura a dark look and said in a peeved tone.

"I'm not a child and thinking that I'm anything like a child could get you hurt. I'm not an invalid. Not a child. Not stupid. Not slow. Not brain damaged. Remember that." Sakura looked a little startled by Naru's tone but didn't seem to take any offence in the blond's warning.

"Okay, okay, I get it. I just wanted to know why you were acting so...innocently. Dropping your guard and such. I mean this is a shinobi village after all. And you never know-"

"That's not true." Naru said as she lifted an hand and ran her fingers through her long hair, pushing some of her bangs back from her face a little bit in a subconscious guesture. "I would know. There's very little now that I'm not aware of on some level."

Frowning, both Kakashi and Sakura looked at her strangely. What the hell did that mean?

(******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

"Okay so now that I know what happened to keep you and Naru away...Tell me something that I don't know." Tsunade said as she crossed her arms over her breasts and leaned her back against the wall next to the window. Jiriaya turned his head a little bit, the cigarette he'd just lit up hanging on his bottom lip.

"Naru isn't human anymore." Jiriaya said suddenly, his dark eyes never wavering from Tsunade's face as he gauged her reaction. He saw a sudden flicker of sorrow and worry, but she quickly masked them and said in a rough tone.

"I suppose that I should say that I'm not surprised. After all the Kyubbi killed itself to make her something more than human. So that she would live. So if she's not human anymore, what is she?"

"I think you already know." Jiriaya said softly as he turned his head back so that he was staring outside, the smoke off of his cigarette wafting up to be caught by a small gust of wind. Scenting it of red wine.

"I think I do, but I'm scared of examining the answer too closely."

"You have every right to be scared Tsunade. But before you full on freak out on me you should know that Naru doesn't seem aware of what she is now. Or if she knows, she simply doesn't care. To her nothing has changed. People are still precious- Worth fighting for. Freedom is still something worth dying for. And the village and it's people are still all she has. All that she lives for."

"You say it like I shouldn't be worried."

Jiriaya made a humming sound as he took a drag of his cigarette and held it. "I don't think you have any reason to worry at all. Kyubbi saw too it that Naru would never use her new abilities against us to do harm in any shape or fashion. It took away every part of her heart and mind that could be currupted by her new power. She has no drive or ambition...anymore."

"What about her hopes? Her dreams?"

"Those are still there. I'm merely saying that Kyubbi saw to it that no matter what may happen next, she would always be content with what she's got." Tsunade stayed quiet for a long time, unsure of what to say to Jiriaya's assessment of Naru's new situation. And after a while decided to change the subject to Kakashi's upcoming retirement.