Masked Koi: Chapter 12. "Smile"

It was a sunny day. Perfect for anything.

Last week had been tormented with storms and the Academy had been closed all week. Now, with the rain gone, they were finally able to being repairs. It would take another week or so until everything was back to normal. All children were delighted, of course.

Naruto had no friends. He didn't care for them and no one in his class wanted to really talk to him. Hinata would try, but Naruto knew she was trying to make him feel better after Nishiki had died. He figured she thought that Nishiki had died on some mission, but she didn't. Naruto didn't want to tell her. She'd just cry pathetic tears and do nothing. And try to get over it.

Naruto gritted his teeth. How could she get over it?! Nishiki…Nishiki was everything! Naruto knew that if she hadn't met Nishiki, she would've been shy and even weaker.

At the training ground, Naruto punched one of the logs and it splintered. He sighed and plopped down on the ground and ended up staring at the clouds.

Word of the Hokage's engagement with his assistant spread like wildfire. Posters and flyers littered the main streets and Chuunin looking for an easy mission had just caught a break: they were assigned to pass out informational flyers to everyone they saw.

Everyone knew who Namikaze Naruto was. The Chuunin, a group, evenly spaced around the merchant district and other districts with heavy foot traffic, of about thirty or so, were happy, smiling, ready to shove the papers in people's faces. Everyone who saw it was delighted and eagerly thought about what kimono to wear to the very formal occasion. And so on.

But most didn't know who he was.
He was easily picked out in a crowd. He was easily picked out in the Academy. He was easy to find, unless he didn't want to be found. Like during training.

Izumo and Kotetsu were also on the team of informers. Smiling. Happy. Here, take this! It was a nice break from sitting and watching nothing.

They were parallel from one another, on either side of the restaurant street where most restaurants raked in money and gave out food. They had good samples. Izumo and Kotetsu happily munched on some free sample a hot waitress had handed them. They exchanged a look. Oh, yeah bro, bring it on! I'm going to get her number first!

Still, in the meantime, they smiled blissfully at one another. The food tasted good, the waitress was hot…the food was hot and the waitress looked good in that outfit…

Izumo saw a child enter his vision. He gave out the paper. "Here, kid! Give it to your mom and don't be late!"

Kotetsu had tried to warn his friend. The leader of the group of Chuunin had even warned them that a select few of Konoha's inhabitants were to not receive the flyer. Kotetsu had tried to get Izumo's attention and not mindlessly hand out the flyer while he stared at the waitress's ass. He'd truly tried. And, Izumo was supposed to say, 'Here, take this. Please attend!' and smile. Izumo…Kotetsu sighed. Damn his creativity and stupidity.

Izumo blinked, wondering why the child hadn't chirped, 'Ok, thanks mister!' or something along the lines of that. The child was eerily silent. He glanced up at Kotetsu, wondering what was wrong. Kotetsu was deathly pale. At this, Izumo began to get concerned. Kotetsu refused eye contact.

Whatever, maybe Kotetsu was simply trying to get another glimpse at the waitress. Izumo ignored it. It was almost break for lunch anyway.

Then, Izumo looked at the kid.

Shit.

Oh…oh Kami. "I am so sorry; I've just been so busy and I didn't notice you—"

Another Chuunin noticed. "Izumo, you idiot, run!"

Izumo didn't. Instead, he bowed in apology. His friend watched in horror.

Naruto kicked him down and put his foot on his chest and glared harshly. "If you think you're funny, you're wrong. If you think you can just pass out a few worthless papers and act like you can just disregard the sacrifice my mother made for the village and villagers, including your worthless life, you're wrong! I hope you rot in hell."

The whole street went silent. Kotetsu knew this wouldn't go over well. He'd heard stories of Naruto's defiance against some ethics teacher and how he'd frightened her so badly she refused to teach. He likened the kid to a ticking time bomb.

Once Naruto had walked away, Kotetsu ran over to Izumo, who laid on the ground in shock. "Hey, Izumo. Izumo!"

"He's terrifying!" Izumo cried. "You didn't see his eyes! Those aren't the eyes of an Academy student! They're the eyes of a shinobi with murder on his mind!"

Someone took the paper from Kotetsu's hand. Kotetsu didn't pay them any mind, trying to console his friend.

Naruto felt sick. He felt kinda bad for scaring that Chuunin, but he should've known better, considering he was Kushina's son. But that wasn't why he felt sick. As he was training with one of the scrolls, a flyer had flown towards him. He caught it and finally read it.

Please attend the Yondaime Hokage's wedding to a stunning woman named Yori!

Time: 1pm.

Place: Training Ground 1

Wear: Formal

Gifts are optional, though highly recommended. Food and drink will be provided free of charge.

There was more, but Naruto didn't feel like reading it. He knew he'd overreacted, but if Kushina hadn't sacrificed herself, most people in Konoha wouldn't be alive and water and electricity wouldn't be as repaired and back to normal as it was now. Naruto had a feeling that even he wouldn't be alive. Now that was a chilling thought.

He shook it off and tried to shake off his feeling of nausea. He heard Kayo yelling at her mother and then an abrupt halt in her protests. Naruto cringed and quickly left his house with a scroll in his pocket.

He jumped over rooftops and streets with ease and ended up on a building that overlooked the wedding preparations. Out of a sudden sheer curiosity, he started down and used a henge to pass of as some random, average, and forgettable Chuunin. He walked around and ended up at the front. There were a few chairs that were in a different color, as if marked off for VIP or something.

Upon closer examination, Naruto saw that it had people's names on it. Obito, Rin, Shikaku, and some others. He read the rest of the names.

There was a lack of a name. Naruto felt anger again and almost lashed out at the hand that rested itself on his shoulder. He turned and saw another Chuunin. He looked spooked. The Chuunin next to him looked worried but not overly concerned. Like he was consoling him, but not doing a very good job of it.

"H-hey, don't pass out any flyers," the Chuunin said. His voice shook a little.

"Why?" Naruto asked. "Everyone seems like they want to go."

"Don't pass out flyers to Namikaze Naruto! He looks like a normal Academy student but the kid's got something wrong with him! He's got eyes that scream murder. He wants to kill!" Izumo lowered his voice. "I think it's the thing in him that wants revenge!"

"Hey, Izumo," the other Chuunin said. Then he turned to Naruto with a small frown. "Just…stay away from the kid. As your senior Chuunin, we're just looking out for you. By the way, what are we supposed to carry?"
Naruto didn't know and told them so. They disappeared to ask someone else. Naruto crept into an alley and changed back into himself.

What the Chuunin had said weighed down his mind, even from the anger he felt from his father's remarriage to a stupid woman without even talking to him. Just what did the Chuunin mean by the 'thing'? Naruto didn't think he had any kind of problem, the mental or physical. By any standard, he was a normal Academy student with top-notch grades. Some might say he trained too much and was anti-social, but no one could go toe to toe with him at school. The boys were too angry at him when they fought and the girls were too weak. Even Haru, mainly because Naruto had had to teach her. Even now, her taijutsu was still weak but good enough to graduate.

He slipped his hand into his pocket and felt the scroll he'd taken from his father's house.

Shisui had given it to him when he'd entered the Academy on behalf of Nishiki, who'd wanted to give to him when he entered the Academy as a sort of makeshift present. There was no note, but Naruto didn't mind. The fact she could still reach him and teach him even in death was astounding to him.

A wave of nausea came over him again, just as it had earlier. His ears rung slightly but he kept walking until he reached a training ground far from the wedding. Maybe he wouldn't be able to hear the celebrations and cheers of the masses.

Mission: Become shinobi that are of use to Konoha's shinobi ranks and not dangers to Konoha's civilians

Client: Namikaze Minato

Rank: A-Rank

Payment: 50,000 ryo

Other details: Please come back after two weeks of departure.

Shisui hated being forced to do things. Kakashi did too, but he was more willing to bend to Minato's will, seeing that Minato was a father figure he could look up to without the guilt in his eyes. Back then, Minato had kind eyes and looked to the future and gave more genuine smiles.

Shisui had no obligation, though. He didn't owe Minato anything like Kakashi did. Shisui owed his own Genin team for keeping his ass alive during their Genin and Chuunin and Jounin days. He knew he was no Uchiha elite; he'd had to practice just as hard as everyone else, but no one knew he practiced, so it seemed like he was born with being good at everything. The only real Uchiha elite was Itachi.

Oh.

Itachi.

Shisui felt his head get hot. He didn't like being forced to do things. Here he was, going over tree branches with another Jounin. Kakashi had been silent for the trip and Shisui believed he was because he was silent. He was silently fuming.

Stupid Minato.

Stupid Hokage.

Stupid mission.

Still, Shisui needed the money if he was going to fund his jelly habits. He suspected Kakashi did too, for his coffee and his books. And neither man liked going to the bathhouses in Konoha; all the women tried to hit on them. Shisui still hadn't gotten over anything and Kakashi hadn't either.

They were the stereotypical broken war veterans: reclusive, angry, depressed, had questionable habits, and all sorts of other problems. They'd hoped it would go away. It hadn't.

"You know, maybe Minato-sensei is right. Maybe sending us away for a break would help," Kakashi broke the silence. To Shisui, he'd dropped a bomb and the shrapnel were embedding themselves into his ears.

"I don't think so," Shisui made it sound less like a question and more like a command. Kakashi remained silent until they reached the clearing where their all-paid resort was.

There were two main buildings painted in a pastel blue with some weird murals in black paint. Women in traditional yukata with golden name tags on their front scurried here and there surprisingly quickly on their shoes. There were a few couples walking around and the women had parasols and everything looked peaceful.

The two walked towards the path and were greeted by a group of employees and were led to their rooms. They ordered food and then headed off to the hot springs. Soap had been provided and after scrubbing up and rinsing, the two Jounin went into the steaming hot water.

It was hard to relax.

"Here," Kakashi tossed him a small bottle. Shisui caught it and looked at it.

"Alcohol?" Shisui gave him a questioning look. "And we're at a hot spring. Kakashi, I know I'm not a 100%, but I'd give you at most a 30%. You know what'll happen."

"We'll relax. Just don't finish it," Kakashi drawled.

"This is why I don't like having ninjas here…" the proprietor of the resort muttered as he led the way towards their room. A few male employees carried the two men to their room. Both Jounin were unconscious with about twenty beer bottles strewn around them and floating in the water. Their faces were bright pink.

They were dumped in their room and the door closed with a loud 'click', enough to wake the two Jounin up somewhat.

Shisui sat up, mirroring Kakashi. Both of them sent dirty looks at one another and refused to make eye contact during the entire meal. Once they were stuffed, the two passed out far from their beds. To some extent, it was working. Relaxing, anyway.

By midmorning, they awoke with a terrible headache, dizziness, fatigue, and nausea.

"I hate you," Shisui glared at the younger Jounin. "You…you suck. This is your fault."

"Wha…it's not my fault, idiot. You agreed," Kakashi shot back. Both them sounded like a bad orchestra and hiccupped a few times.

"You kept unsealing more and more! I thought you liked coffee," Shisui raised a brow.

"I do. It was a gift. I felt like opening it a few years late," Kakashi defended. Then he groaned and threw a pillow at Shisui. The man didn't make an effort to dodge. Instead, he laughed so loud that the entire building must've heard.

"You're terrible!" Shisui laughed. "Who the hell opens a gift of alcohol years late?"

"I do!" Kakashi yelled back, getting up with some difficulty. He picked up his thin mattress and whacked Shisui with it. Shisui, this time, dodged just barely. "I bet you have gifts you've never opened!"

Shisui went silent. Kakashi did too, seeing his face go stark white. "I…do," Shisui gave a small smile. "Let's open it!"

Shisui brought out a scroll, unsealed it, and a small box was produced. It was wrapped with plain white ribbon on a white box. The two, with a scary amount of surprise and anticipation and focus, watched the Uchiha's hands move deftly to open it.

The box's lid was pulled off and there was a small candy wrapped within a large piece of wax paper. There was a small note.

Shisui—I thought you looked hungry and jealous so I saved the other half for you. Be glad I did because I don't give out candy this easily. You just looked sad, more than you usually are.

"Who's this from?" Kakashi asked.

"This is a decade old…" Shisui said. He let it linger in the air.

"You should eat it," Kakashi said after a long pause.

"What?!" Shisui's head whipped around to look at him. "No! It's a decade old! You know, ten years!"

Kakashi shrugged. Shisui could just see the smug smirk on his face. He narrowed his eyes.

"Fine."

Shisui unwrapped it and gingerly picked it up and placed it on his tongue. In a mix of horror and amusement and delight, Kakashi watched as his mouth closed and his teeth began to grind up the crispy candy. A strange high-pitched sound came from Kakashi's throat and it was responded with a punch to the face. Kakashi flew into the wall, but didn't crack it. He simply felt a little bit of pain on his back and cheek.

"Let's walk around," Shisui said. He grabbed Kakashi's arm and painfully yanked him up. "I don't want to have to see your face every time I look around."

In the back of his mind, he knew he'd still he able to hear the celebrations. It was a nice thought, though. He'd hoped not, but considering how happy his father looked and how average the woman looked, he supposed it was inevitable they'd have a huge celebration.

The thought of being happy for his father never occurred to him. To him, it was the true disgrace to Uzumaki Kushina. She is one of the roots to the tree of Konoha and everyone else is simply a leaf. Unimportant in the long run because there are other leaves that look exactly the same and do the same job.

The thought of crashing their wedding, however, did occur to him.

But he decided not to. It would be, in a word, a 'drag'. He didn't want, strangely, his father to notice him. For as long as he could remember, that was what he'd wanted. Sure, he wanted his father to say 'hello' and try to spend a little bit of quality time with him, but Naruto didn't rank that as highly as he did other things when prioritizing his goals.

Besides, the woman would get in the way and quality time wasn't worth it when he'd have to endure seeing his father's look. The guilt, the shame, and the resemblance he had to his mother. Naruto, at first, wished he looked like his father so he wouldn't make him sad and then maybe daddy would look at me, but now, after meeting Nishiki, a woman connected to Kushina, both of them so strong, he didn't care. Besides, spending money on hair dye wasn't worth his time. Training was.

The celebrations were loud and by nighttime, fireworks streaked the night's darkness. It was pretty, Naruto would admit that. It was nice. Stunning, even if fireworks were more of a summer thing. It wasn't summer yet.

Midnight came swiftly and Naruto still hadn't gone home. He was busy training. He'd been working on the same damned jutsu forever! It was chakra manipulation, but with elemental aspects. Offhandedly, Nishiki had told him that on addition to being able to channel wind, he could also use fire, but it was very, very weak in comparison. Naruto planned to work on wind later, but the fire jutsu that was in the scroll was interesting.

But it was losing its charm quite quickly. Frustration was dangerous to an Uzumaki; their fiery tempers escalated quickly. He tried to calm himself down, telling himself he'd get it after trying just one more time, but even that was sounding more and more fake.

Like the Chidori and rasengan, the jutsu he was trying to perform was expelling chakra in the form of fire from his fingers, and then his whole hand. He could barely do it with one finger.

Naruto groaned and flopped down onto the cool grass. He grabbed the scroll from the ground next to him and looked at the other things Nishiki had assigned him to be responsible for performing. He didn't think of it as work. It was precious to him.

There was…tree climbing and water walking. Naruto frowned as the note she'd written underneath it. Her handwriting was nothing to boast about, even for his standards. He squinted and turned the scroll this way and that way, trying read it.

"Oh."

Naruto sighed.

Have fun (lol).

Naruto read the directions and shrugged. It couldn't be that hard, considering he twirled pencils around his fingers all day, something that required chakra control. It required a bit more finesse than simply sticking paper to his hands, but it wasn't that hard. Just chakra manipulation. It wasn't expelling any like a jutsu so theoretically, one could keep practicing and practicing. Theoretically. Chakra burns and other things could occur, but for Naruto, he healed much faster than his peers. He didn't know why and he didn't care to know.

It didn't look hard.

"Okay," Naruto grinned to himself. "Kaa-san, Nishiki-sensei, I'll get this one right!" And he laughed, genuinely. For the first time in a long time.

A week and a day or so passed. It had been quite relaxing. The two felt as if they'd gotten something off their chests and didn't quite feel so attached to their eating and drinking habits. Shisui knew that eating jelly wasn't good for him, mentally speaking, and he'd hoped that his time here could help him come up with something to pass the time with.

He couldn't pick up reading as his hobby; that was Kakashi's thing. He still hadn't quite figured it out. He supposed he would in time. Time…Shisui smiled at the word. The one thing shinobi wanted, but never given. Things came up to soon and why hadn't anyone warned them. It was annoying. Sometimes painful.

Shisui tossed Kakashi a comb. It was his. Kakashi eye-smiled. "Thanks."

The two finished packing and their pace quickened after a dark glare from the proprietor. They started down the path towards the general direction of Konoha.

"Why do you think that guy was so mad looking? He must've been paid a large amount considering how nice our room was and the food and all the amenities. Plus, it must've said 'Hokage' on the order, so he shouldn't have been so angry. I don't get it," Shisui shook his head.

Kakashi glanced out in the distance towards 2 o'clock. He held up a hand and Shisui stopped. The younger man glanced back at him with a hard look and Shisui nodded imperceptibly. His eyes turned their signature red and he looked out towards where Kakashi nudged with his head.

"Do you hear that?" Shisui asked.

"Yeah," Kakashi said lowly. "It sounds like a battle. What do you want to do?"

"Let's check it out," Shisui said.

Kakashi followed the older Jounin and readied himself. After a few minutes, the ground shook roughly. The two were traveling in the trees and nearly fell from their branches. They exchanged a shocked look and then looked forward, towards the source. There was a sudden explosion of hair-raising chakra, the kind that gave you the chills and made you want to scream.

As Jounin, as terribly curious Jounin, they plowed ahead.

When the tree line ended and gave way to a clearing, it was far from what they'd expected. They'd expected maybe a rogue shinobi fighting another rogue or something like that. It wasn't even that.

There was a thing in the middle of the clearing and a woman who looked just as shocked as the sixty or so shinobi with hitai-ate that had a deep line running through it. Rogue shinobi.

The thing roared and another quake shook the ground.

"Looks like we'll have to end this quickly," the woman said. Her fingers formed a single seal and copies of her appeared with a puff of smoke. Senbon with lightning running through them were gripped between her fingers and she let them fly. It was so fast that only Shisui and Kakashi saw it; they were using their sharingan.

The senbon went through the sixty or so rogue shinobi's heads and came out the other side, covered in blood and a few had brain matter skewered on them.

The copies of the woman disappeared and she dropped to her hands and knees and panted raggedly. A large gash was on her side and a purplish liquid along with blood seeped out. The thing in the clearing seemed to growl and sand swirled around it.

The woman stood and tore off the bottom hem of her shirt in one swift motion. She wrapped it around her side to try to stop the bleeding and with one tight knot, had her hands free.

Her hands began to mold chakra and seals and then after about fifty seals, she slammed her bloody palms onto the ground. Sweat and blood ran down her face, scrunched up with a cringe and something akin to fear. Both Jounin were so mesmerized by the show she'd shown with the senbon and large amount of seals and then, now, the black markings snaking their way towards the thing that emitted a terrifyingly large amount of killer intent. It could've been a manifestation of dead and angry shinobi for all the two Jounin knew.

The snaking seals made their way onto the thing and within a few moments, sand seemed to melt off it, revealing a child. The child was barely conscious, but the moment the woman was finished, she collapsed.

Kakashi carried the child and Shisui carried the woman. After a bit of searching, they found an abandoned house.

It was getting late and darkness was approaching quickly. Kakashi was trying to calm down the child in another room while Shisui was left with the job of making sure the woman didn't die.

The black shirt the woman was wearing was covered in grass, singed, and stained with blood all over. It wasn't wearable. The shirt was taken off the woman and Shisui was shocked by what he saw.

It wasn't her chest; she barely had anything. There was a large scar on her back that ran down from her neck to her waistline. On her shoulder was a tattoo that both he and Kakashi sported on their right shoulders. It had another scar running through it, as if she'd tried to defile it, to get rid of it. But there was no way that kind of tattoo could be removed. It was a seal, after all.

She didn't stir.

Shisui blinked and then took out some medical supplies and disinfected her wound. He could've sworn the wound was larger, but her might've been wrong. He used some sterilizing liquid that was standard issue and carefully applied it. He dabbed it away, along with the blood and strange purple liquid from her wound. He frowned at it. He applied some gel that was supposed to help heal faster and then wrapped her torso with bandages. She had a surprising amount of cuts and scrapes.

Shisui took out a shirt from his pack, something he always took on missions. The shirt was slightly big on the woman, partly because she was slightly on the skinny side. She needed to eat more.

Shisui then took off her hitai-ate and cleaned and wrapped the wound on her head. She was a Suna shinobi.

Shisui sacrificed his blanket to the woman, who was burning up with fever. Shisui didn't know what to do. On his Genin missions, he was never the one to deal with sick people. Ko did that.

He was about to call for Kakashi, but an angry cry came right before the door slid (more like burst) open to reveal the child. She had long spiky red hair tied back in a ponytail and pale green eyes. And an angry look on her face.

Kakashi caught the girl's ponytail and suppressed a yawn that looked very much like how Koi did it. He glanced at Shisui, who was staring at the girl with a confused look.

"Hey old man! Let go!" the girl protested.

Kakashi did so, even if he didn't seem like he wanted to. The girl sat on the floor next to the black-haired woman and scowled. Shisui grabbed his bag and took out a bag of crackers and shared it with Kakashi, who nibbled when Shisui didn't look his direction. The Uchiha man had seen the Hatake as a toddler since he and Koi were friends and knew what Kakashi looked like. Kakashi just didn't know that.

Shisui glanced at Kakashi, "Who are they?"

"She's the Kazekage's daughter and this is her guard, a Jounin," Kakashi informed. Then he tilted his head. "You look a little spooked. What's wrong, did this lady's body surprise you?"

"It's not that…she's got this," Shisui tapped his shoulder, where his ANBU tattoo was. "I might be crazy, though. Suna has ANBU; they probably have the same seal just like they all have masks."

"Come to think of it, I have seen a Suna ANBU with a Konoha ANBU seal. We are allies, after all," Kakashi said. Shisui caught the way the last part came out. Things didn't seem so stable.

"Wake up! We're going home!" the girl screamed, bringing the two men out of their thoughts. They looked over and saw the girl shaking the woman's shoulders frantically. Shisui grabbed the girl's hands and looked into her eyes. The girl was out in an instant.

Gaara couldn't sleep. It wasn't that she wasn't able to. Four years ago, her guard had fixed her seal that kept the Ichibi at bay. The elderly woman, one of the advisors of the Kazekage, had created the seal and placed it on the unborn girl. There were major flaws, including the mental block between human and beast being entirely missing. The old woman was no seal expert and that showed when Gaara was unable to sleep, or Sunagakure would be terrorized by its bijuu.

That changed, though when the slender, flat-chested black-haired and black-eyed woman showed up on the Kazekage's doorstep, stating that she could help, in return for citizenship. The Kage was understandably suspicious and threw her in T&I, only for her to come out perfectly clean. The Kage also didn't want a financial burden on his village either, only for the woman to quip that she had the skills of a Jounin. The report from T&I confirmed her words. It seemed that shinobi skills were all she knew. No family, no village, nothing. Severe amnesia.

The man had no choice but to agree. Here she was, a gift from Kami, and he'd be a fool to take it, not only because it would save his village. He personally watched the seal of his youngest child being practically overturned and remade, along with Chiyo.

Naturally, he didn't tell the woman he agreed to her terms. He simply said that if she were unable to fix his daughter's seal, she would be kicked out of Suna. She didn't seem fazed in the slightest.

As the woman fixed the seal, Gaara became mesmerized by the look in her eyes and the amount of concentration the woman was putting into it. Then, Gaara fell unconscious and the cries of the child along with something more sinister filled the room. The two Suna shinobi braced themselves from the shockwave of the demonic chakra.

"It isn't working!" the Kazekage yelled.

"Don't worry!" the woman said, her voice clear and didn't waver. This is the hardest part; when the contained rebels. It happens with inanimate objects too, but no one notices when they rattle or have a small crack on it or the pages of a book (if that's what you're sealing) seem a little ragged or a few pages fall out. That's why sealing is so delicate; in the action of putting something away for safekeeping, you could very well break or kill what you're sealing, or the seal could break. It's also why seals have such intricate inlays and kanji and why seal masters must have perfect chakra control and a feel for when things are about to explode.

Then, it was over. The seal had been repaired and the woman fell to her knees, her face covered in sweat. She wiped it off with the back of her hand and wiped her hand on her pant leg. The Kage offered her a hand and she took it and tried to stand as steadily as she could, even if she felt unspeakably dizzy and would probably pass out soon from chakra depletion.

"To ensure your work doesn't unravel in the future, I entrust my daughter to you until she makes Chuunin," the Kazekage said.

The woman didn't process what he said at the time, her only goal being getting to a bed and sleeping forever. She nodded dumbly and was directed to her apartment that had its rent paid for the first month, ample time for her to earn some money off missions and pay the rent.

When she awoke, there was a child drawing on her walls. From that day on, she was forced to care for the girl. Thankfully she didn't cook for the brat, someone else did that at the Kazekage's home, but it was still very hard to deal with the girl.
At first, the girl had been humble, sullen, and frightened from being away from some other child named Aki. As the time passed, the girl grew more and more outgoing and…spoiled. The Kazekage had plenty of money, which the girl obtained and spent on anything and everything she wanted. She became impatient and rude and no one could silence the girl.

Gaara looked guiltily at her guard. "I'm sorry." The woman didn't stir.

He left his home very early and didn't come back until very very late. He didn't want to see the orange-eyed busty woman or his father. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind and focused on what was before him.

Naruto had made it halfway up the tree. He grinned and started up once more. With a kunai in his hand, he marked the tree. Another three inches up, three inches closer to his goal.