Oh my God, an update! Who would have guessed?!

Yes life has (and still is) been a jerk and messed with me in every way possible so I had neither the time nor the inspiration to write anything, unfortunately... But I try to find more time writing again, let's see how much I get done...

Guest review:

Evangelina: Hehe, I'm surprised that someone actually wants a strong OC (I hear people yelling 'Mary-Sue' from miles away whenever I write a strong character)! But don't worry she'll get stronger soon enough! ;) And how did you guess that at first I wanted to name Ayano Amaya? o.o

So here you have the next chapter, enjoy!

Sins and Sunshine

Chapter 26: It's an Uchiha thing

It's been three days since the invasion and the Sandaime's death. The burial for him and all the fallen shinobi had been just the day after. It was a sad day for all the villagers to lose so many beloved people. So many had given their lives in order to protect ours.

Sighing heavily I watched the busy streets from the window of my small apartment. We may have lost many lives but at least the material damage wasn't as severe as we had first thought. A cold comfort, I know, but in these times it's important to see the positive side!

And at least Naru-kun was able to beat some sense into Gaara, I thought a smile tucking on my lips.

And this brat had needed it. He got spoiled way too much as a child, Kumiho commented.

Yes, that was definitely his biggest problem, I retorted sarcastically and rolled my eyes, both mentally and physically.

Of course it was, just look at your little fox friend. He was in the same position as the brat and didn't turn out this twisted.

Okay first, Gaara isn't twisted. If you get called a monster for your whole life eventually you start to believe it yourself and start acting accordingly. Secondly, What do you mean with fox friend? I agree that Naruto's whisker marks and his grins slightly resemble a fox but-

My mental conversation got cut off by a knock on the door.

I slipped down the windowsill and opened the front door just to be greeted by a flashing mob of blond hair.

"Naru-kun! When did you get discharged from the hospital? How are you feeling?" I asked while pulling my friend into a quick hug before examining his body for any left injuries just to find none.

"Hello, Minari-chan. I just left a short while ago." he answered with a sheepish grin and scratched his cheek.

"I'm actually here to make a proposal to you."

...

"So I should accompany you and your mentor on your little training trip?" I summarized what the blond had just told me enthusiastically.

He nodded frantically in confirmation.

"Yeah, the ero-sennin wants to teach me some super cool new jutsu and wants you to tag along."

"But... why?" I asked the question that had occupied my mind since Naruto had explained his teacher's plans.

"I don't really know, he didn't want to tell me." he grumbled with squinted eyes that showed his annoyance. Then he suddenly bowed his head deeply with hands folded pleadingly at my face. "Just tag along please! He refuses to teach me anything if you're not coming!"

"Okay, okay, I'm coming along." I answered with hands held up defensively, otherwise I was afraid he'd shove his praying hands up my nose with how close they were to my face.

"Yes! You're the best, Minari-chan!" the boy cheered and pulled me into a bear hug almost cracking my ribs.

"C-Can't... b-breathe!"

"Oh hello, little Minari-chan. I fear we weren't introduced to each other yet. I'm the great toad sage Jirai-"

"Minari-chan, that's the ero-sennin." Naruto helpfully introduced his teacher to me making said man face palm.

"Naruto-kun, stop calling me that name. Especially in front of such lovely ladies!" the white-haired man scolded his student.

"I'm sorry sir, but I fear I'm too young for you." I answered with a polite smile but holding my distance to the infamous pervy sage. I had heard enough stories to permanently avoid Konoha's public baths and don't want to risk anything.

"Oh no, it's not like that!" the man quickly defended himself "I just enjoy the beauty of all females, even not yet fully blooming flowers such as yourself."

Then his eyes wandered to my chest, or more like the lack of it. I responded with a hit in his face. Too bad I hadn't enough strength in my arms to break his nose. Would have deserved it. Jerk.

With a huff I turned on my heels and strode along the path that lead out of the village, my previously packed backpack zestfully thrown over my shoulder.

"We should just get going." I snapped without deigning a second glance at the perverted old man. Naruto just laughed at him and quickly followed behind me.

"So why did you want me to come along?" I finally asked Jiraiya after ignoring him for the last two hours of walking through the forests of the Land of Fire.

"I have a mission to do and decided to take Naruto along to train him." he explained with a relaxed smile.

"And what does that have to do with me?" I inquired further.

"The elders requested that I take you with me." he said while giving me an intriguing look.

Would than mean... he knows about Kumiho? Or didn't they tell him and he wanted to find out the reason for himself? But at least I was now sure that the elders had made me accompany him so he could have an eye on me, now that the Sandaime had passed away.

I nodded in acknowledgement and didn't probe into it any further. Though I could still feel the man's calculating gaze on me.

"Ne, ero-senning, when will you start teaching me that cool new jutsu you told me about?" Naruto spoke up and ended the awkward silence that had rested on us.

"You still have to be a bit more patient until we reach our destination." Jiraiya answered with a smile and tore his gaze away from me.

So I guess I will have to avoid this guy until his probably week-long trip is over? Great.

"You two just stay in here while I do some research." Jiraiya explained and handed me a key to the hotel room he had just rented for us while his eyes never left the hot chick that had given him a seducing wink with her long eyelashes when she had walked by us.

After he had dropped the key in my hand he ran off to apparently follow said chick and left it to Naruto and I to find our room in this shabby hotel in this flashy town full of casinos and blinking signs and lights.

"I don't want to sit around moulding chakra while stupid pervy sage chases after some woman." Naruto whined while he plopped down on the hotel bed.

"We don't have any other choice though." I retorted and locked the door behind me before joining the blond on the bed.

"Wanna play cards?"

"Sure! … But without betting." he hastily added, remembering my previous luck in card games.

After what felt like four hours of playing cards, practising our skills in the (kage-)bunshin no jutsu, playing charade and just goofing off, a knock on the door made us look up.

Hopping off the bed I made my way to the door, unlocking it, and carefully peeked outside. There I could see two tall figures in black clothes and I opened the door a bit more to fully take in their forms. One of them was really tall and had blue hair and skin and oddly resembled a shark while the smaller (but still tall) man had black hair, a handsome androgynous face and the Sharingan. Wait, Sharingan?

"Is that the Nine-Tails? I thought it was a boy?" the tall man asked his partner and revealed two rows of pointed teeth in his mouth that reminded me of Zabuza's.

"Naru-kun, there is a blue man and one with Sharingan at the door, asking strange questions. Do you know them?" I shouted back into the room while my eyes never left the two curious forms in front of me.

"Huh? Blue?" I heard the boy ask and join me at the door where he instantly froze at the sight of our visitors.

"Naruto-kun, we would like you to come with us." the black-haired man demanded unemotionally.

"He can't, we still have to wait for Jiraiya. Wait, you mean you want to kidnap him? So you two are bad guys?" I questioned with wide eyes.

"Of course we are, wasn't that obvious?" the shark man answered flashing his sharp teeth at me with a grin.

"Normally the bad guys just blow up the door, not knock on it." I reasoned.

"Well, maybe we're bad guys with manners?" he suggested.

"Oh, that's good to hear. Most bad guys are such rowdies, it's just sad." I nodded, appreciating his consideration. "But I still can't let you take Naruto."

"That's too bad then." the blue man retorted with an evil grin as his hand wandered to the hilt of his … wrapped popsicle-thingy?

"It was been a while... Sasuke."

"Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke answered standing at the end of the hall, glaring at the Sharingan wielding man in front of me with his own set of scarlet orbs.

"Another Sharingan. You seem familiar to Itachi." the blue man eyed the boy before turning to his partner. "Do you know him?"

"He is my younger brother." the man called Itachi explained.

So he is Sasuke's older brother?, I wondered. So he is the guy Sasuke wants to kill so badly?

Then Sasuke activated his chidori and charged at his older brother, a battlecry escaping his mouth as he aimed to kill. But Itachi caught his wrist and redirected the jutsu to hit the wall, blowing it up. And the wall behind it. And the next wall as well. That was going to be expensive...

Naruto wanted to support his friend and called upon his large chakra reserves but the shark man drew his wrapped sword and all the molded chakra got absorbed by it. At the same time Itachi broke his younger brother's wrist rendering him unable to use any more jutsus.

The blue man then turned to Naruto and contemplated whether to cut off his arm or leg. I used his hesitation to pull the blond behind me, now standing in front of him protectively with a kunai in hand. I tried hard to put up a look of determination but cold sweat gathered on my forehead, giving away my bluff. My other hand twitched to the pouch where I stored my explosive tags though I was unable to use them in this narrow hallway unless I wanted to blow us all up. Damn me and my combat style for being unsuited inside hotels!

Too bad shark guy caught on to my bluff and gave me a predatory grin before letting his huge sword crash down on me.

I readied myself to parry the attack with my puny little kunai (my chance of success proximately about 0.0001%) but was slightly surprised that the hit never came.

In a puff of smoke a toad appeared right before me, stopping the sword with his bracers.

Then Jiraiya appeared from behind Naruto, the chick from before now unconscious on his shoulder, and he spouted some nonsense about how he would never fall for the charms of a woman and oh how sexy he was.

We all (including our two attackers) paused at what we were doing to deadpan at the toad sage with disbelieving looks. Then Naruto yelled at him, voicing out the thoughts we all shared in this second. That lecher actually succeeded in bonding us all together in this small moment of insanity, who would have thought.

But it got serious again when Itachi and Jiraiya started talking about a certain organisation called 'Akatsuki' and that they need to abduct Naruto but the sage stated firmly that this wouldn't happen because they'd die by his hand.

In this moment Sasuke struggled to stand up and declared that Itachi was his prey. His older brother gave him an unimpressed glance before effortlessly kicking him into the far wall, making it crack under the force of Sasuke's body crashing into it. Sasuke's will to fight was still unbroken even in his beaten up state so the older Uchiha punched his abdomen then grabbed his throat to pin him forcefully against the wall and whatever happened then – I couldn't tell because Itachi's back was the only thing I saw right now – caused Sasuke to scream out in utter horror and agony.

Naruto stormed off to aide his friend but Jiraiya acted quicker, forming a jutsu that turned the hallway walls into the wobbly and squishy oesophagus of some mountain toad.

The two criminals were able to flee unfortunately but at least now we were safe and hurried over to Sasuke to help him. He was in some sort of trance, he wouldn't snap out of it or respond to anything we did though.

Then Maito Gai came in and kicked Jiraiya's face.

"Please take care of Sasuke-kun." I said to the green spandex-wearing man in front of me. Gai assured me that he'd protect the boy with his life and flashed his shiny teeth at me with a thumbs up, though all I meant was that he should be careful where he walked when carrying the still unconscious boy back to the village...

Then after he offered us one of his spandex suits of horror and we kindly (frantically) declined Naruto, Jiraiya and myself went on our way to the next village where this ominous woman, Tsunade, was supposed to be currently staying.

While we were on our trip Naruto was uncharacteristically quiet when suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks and looked up thoughtfully to his mentor.

"Ero-sennin." he called out, the addressed man's brow lightly twitching "Why were those guys after me?"

Jiraiya turned serious and let out a silent sigh as he turned to face his student. The while I just stood on the side lines watching the exchange. I smelled some very interesting information was about to be revealed! I wish I had popcorn right now...

"Those guys are not so much after you" Jiraiya explained after an overdramatic pause and a meaningful look towards the boy "as they are after what's inside of you."

While I was slightly taken aback by this piece of information, Naruto was less surprised but suspicious of whatever it was that was sealed inside of him. So Jiraiya further elaborated on the demon fox that was called the Kyubi, but as to those suspicious men in black clothes that wanted their hands on the biju he was at a loss.

"So Naruto's a jinjuriki?" I called out a bit surprised of the sudden revelation then mumbled to myself "That explains a lot." Including those bad guys talking about some 'Nine-Tails' and Kumiho's remark about Naruto being a fox boy... How did she know about that anyway?

Upon hearing my voice Jiraiya jumped up a little and turned to me with an expression of shock as if he had totally forgotten that I was here – which he probably had. He started to laugh awkwardly and scratched his cheek.

"Oops, sorry Minari-chan, I totally forgot about you." he said with a sheepish grin "But now that the cat's out of the bag, I hope you will be discrete about this. After all, you know the dangers of being a jinjuriki all too well, don't you?" His suggestive look made me want to roll my eyes. Of course he knew!

"So the elders told you I guess?" I asked and couldn't suppress a little laugh.

"What? What are you talking about? I don't understand. What does the pervy sage mean Minari-chan?" Naruto asked frantically looking from the old man to me and back.

"What he means, my dear Naru-kun" I explained while patting his clueless head sympathetically "is that I, too, am a jinjuriki."

Ohhh, that look of utter shock and surprise on Naruto's face. How I wished to make a picture of it right now...

His eyes were perfect circles from how much they had widened and his open mouth seemed it wanted to scream "Whaaaaaat?!" but no sound came out.

"Now, since we're about to share our deepest darkest secrets with each other" I mused out loud before turning to the amused Sannin that had also laughed about his student's reaction "Jiraiya-san, what exactly did you do with that poor hypnotized woman, before you appeared to rescue us?"

Instantly the grin got wiped off his face and his skin instantly paled to the colour of his hair before abruptly starting to proceed down the road and turning back to us with a sheepish laugh but not being able to look us in the eye.

"We already wasted enough time here. Let's go find Tsunade and teach you a new jutsu!"

Naruto instantly replaced his look of suspicion with one of ultimate joy about the prospect to learn a new jutsu and ran after his perverted sensei.

I just shook my head and followed behind the two idiots. Maybe I should have followed Gai back home...

~ End of Chapter ~

Total overkill on Itachi's side... But on the other side it was duck-butt's own fault for not leaving it be after his beat-up. Should've noticed that he stood no change by no later than when his strongest attack got stopped with a simple moveent of Itachi's hand but apparently Sasuke lacks of any common sense regarding his brother... Yeah, yeah, I know, this whole 'blind with rage' thing, but... Duck-butt! Stop trying to kill your brother with your lesser chunin skills when the last time you saw him he was Anbu captain level! Geez!