DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.

Thinking (+ flashbacks, "Naruto speaking to Kurama in her mindscape," etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

Naruto woke up, numb, in a room she was unfamiliar with and was afraid to move.

This is a nice room: too nice of a room. "Kurama?"

"You're awake."

"That's it?! What happened and more importantly where am I now?" she tried to move and felt pain shoot through her entire body.

"My other half is nearby."

Naruto relaxed but only a little. As soon as she was a little less groggy, she also felt her young mother and… Tsunade had just come back, if the sound of a heavy door slamming, shaking the foundation, was anything to go by. Naru moved and winced, feeling like she had been beaten and bruised. One look at her arms told her that was true. She was also hooked up to an IV although she was obviously not in the hospital. She flipped up her shirt, not to see her seal but to see what was going on with her belly and chest but found that she could hardly breathe when she tried to bend her neck like that. "I feel like I've gone several more rounds with Madara."

Kurama clicked his tongue. "Don't say that name!"

"I had some weird dreams," Naruto said in her mindscape, feeling very much like everything she'd experienced in those dreams weren't dreams at all. "You know what happened."

"So do you. You were mind walked a few times and genjutsu-ed during those mind walks, is my guess: something that I had not expected. And then you were given several injections to make you talk."

Naruto didn't remember that last thing at all, and the only reason she knew of a possible genjutsu is that she thought she remembered Kurama saying something about it. She hurt all over! "Oh shit. Did I talk? Did I tell them where or when I was from?"

"No," Kurama laughed in disbelief. "That's why they kept pushing."

"Who?"

"Men in masks, Naruto. I could barely sense them."

"Root?" Kurama only shrugged his shoulders. "I need to kill Danzo."

"I know. Kill Hiruzen for me, too, Naruto. That son of a bitch was THERE."

Naruto gasped but then fell into an incredibly painful series of pathetic coughs and wheezes. Kushina ran in, Tsunade right behind her. Naruto tried to fight whatever Tsunade began trying to do to her because instead of applying her craft to her chest, she first surrounded her head in iryo-ninjutsu. "No!"

"Calm down, brat. No one here is going to hurt you," Tsunade said, a frown plastered on her young face. She moved her hands down over the small girl's neck and chest.

"Like she's gonna believe that, 'ttebane! It's okay, Naruto," Kushina soothed. "You're safe."

Gods did teenage-Kushina look tired and haggard, though. Naruto felt terribly guilty. "What happened?" she mouthed.

Kushina noticed Naruto's worry about her underneath her question - and hoped that the little blonde really didn't remember anything. She had only just gotten back from her mission and ran into Jiraiya on her way home. Jiraiya had been panicked so Kushina followed him when she heard that her little cousin had been taken. "I'll wrap any moron that tries to do any crap to you up in my chains!"

"Chains," Naruto mumbled in a broken, hoarse whisper, remembering a fight had broken out around her - although she wasn't quite sure if it had been real. Saying the word sent her into another coughing fit. Her mother's face burned red before she socked her fist into her palm while Tsunade cursed at her and continued healing her - the Genin guessed.

Kushina bit her lip but tried to cheer her young cousin - please be my distant cousin because otherwise I'm gonna lose it! "You're damn right: chains! –Oops, sorry." Kushina always felt bad for cursing in front of a little person. "I'm gonna teach you to make and use yours; then you don't have to deal with any bullshit like this. –Oh, sorry again."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "No talking, Naruto. You were involved in an incident in which you were injured." Tsunade almost laughed at the way one of the brat's golden eyebrows rose in a silent challenge to her word choice. Really, the kid's expressions were often even more like her own rather than Kushina's. Stupid old fart: sensei mentioned that he thought Naruto might have come from the future.

- And what does he decide to do about such a ridiculous notion? He tortures her.

- What if she's mine? –Tsunade shook that thought right off!

Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't consider his actions torture; no, he considered it "obtaining relevant intelligence." She layered multiple genjutsus on the kid through her iryo-ninjutsu (a Senju Tsunade specialty) and then sank into a chair next to her teenage distant cousin who looked like hell. Naruto-chan (she thought) had to be out cold.

Kurama wasn't taking any chances.
Naruto was semi-conscious but sedated.

"What did Minato-kun say?" Tsunade knew that Kushina had felt Minato's chakra all over Naruto's seal.

Kushina clicked her tongue and turned bright red. "Something I didn't think of at first, 'ttebane." Tsunade gave her a look that told her she wasn't getting out of explaining what had gone on between them. "I… Well, I asked questions later since I was in a hurry. First, he said that maybe I was wrong cuz he's her brother - and so maybe I was just looking for his chakra in the seal or around it, but I wasn't 'ttebane!"

"That's dumb," Tsunade surmised succinctly.

"I know! But that dummy made me doubt myself, being such a smartypants genius baka! Anyway, I flipped him and sat on him which always makes him do anything I say." Kushina blushed even harder when Tsunade raised an eyebrow and smirked at her. "NOT LIKE THAA-AAT! I mean 'cause I'm heavy - 'cause I'm super muscular, ya know!" She flexed her arm just to prove it, showing off her awesome bicep. "Muscle weighs more than fat."

"I'm aware," Tsunade said dryly, wishing Kushina would get on with it. She was an amusing brat, though: that was for sure. The redhead's budding relationship with the boy she'd always called the "girly brainiac" was entertaining.

"Then Minato-baka said, under duress, mind you - and only when I told him about Hokage-sama being…" Kushina looked back and forth, ducking down and whispering the word, "weird," as if it were traitorous or wrong, "HE said that maybe Hokage-sama was right and Naruto-chan was our… daughter from the future." Kushina blushed so hard, she thought her head might explode. "As if! That's crazy, right, 'ttebane," she added, sounding a little hysterical.

That wasn't exactly what her baka boyfriend said but between all of the stammering, rolling around, and Minato struggling to get away, that's what he meant. Kushina knew it!

Tsunade hummed, running her nails softly up her neck, hoping to hide a shiver. What the hell was wrong with smart people thinking ludicrous things? Even her for a moment! She tried to ignore the whisper in her mind that warned her that perhaps Uzumaki Naruto had - in the future - been involved in a sealing accident. Naruto was only a little girl and Tsunade had seen bad things happen with seals.

Especially to Uzumakis.

As a girl, Tsunade remembered one of her older cousins disappearing into a seal, right in front of her, never to be seen again.

She also didn't believe Jiraiya. Jiraiya said that he'd only recently suspected that "someone" had stuck a tiny part of the fox's chakra into his kid before he even met her - and that he didn't think Naruto was aware of it. He believed that the chakra was leftover from when her grandmother transferred the demon into Kushina. Really, everything he said made sense but Tsunade had known Jiraiya since they were preschoolers and knew his tells too well. But sensei believed him, and he also knows Jiraiya well.

Danzo didn't believe it. –Tsunade hated that fossil.

"Then?"

"I knocked him out! –Kinda."

"Ah." Oddly, that made sense to Tsunade. Poor Minato was a glutton for punishment. "You believe Jiraiya?"

Kushina thought about it, going with her gut. "Kinda? I mean, from what I can remember, there was definitely that damn fox's chakra leaking out, all over the place. Not all of it went into me, ya know. I knew some of it was in the air before I passed out, even, and that was pretty early on."

Tsunade knew that what had happened when her grandmother transferred the fox to Kushina (and even discussing it) was painful for the girl. "I'm sorry this has happened, Kushi."

Kushina bit her lips and took in a big breath, sitting up straighter. "It's okay. It's… kinda neat? -That I can share this whole jinchuuriki thing with somebody, 'ttebane. I guess I don't have to feel so alone, now." She smiled at her little cousin - and then blushed all over herself when she thought of what Minato implied. What was she going to do with that annoying rascal? "But Tsunade, some kind of bad guy musta been there at the sealing - waiting to get the fox's chakra, don't ya think?"

"Naruto-chan's seal is supposedly foolproof, though." Everyone that had been there (when Sarutobi Hiruzen had apparently been torturing a delirious or unconscious small child) agreed that Naruto's seal was completely secure.

- She'd never feel the same way about the man again. She'd never call Hiruzen "sensei" or "Hokage" again if she could help it.

"Why would an enemy seal up the fox's chakra like that and then make it so they couldn't drag it out of her someday?"

"Maybe it was a mistake," Tsunade hoped.

Kushina shook her head. "Huh-uh. There's an enemy we don't know of out there. I can feel it."

Tsunade clicked her tongue but didn't deny it.

.

Naruto relaxed and fell asleep, glad for the pain relievers being pumped into her but even more glad that the story she and Jiraiya had agreed to (in case things went haywire: which they HAD) was working thus far. Now she just had to pretend she didn't know about Kurama - unless she had told them that she was aware of him while being interrogated.

What a drag.

Sakumo learned about what happened to Naruto from Minato who looked like he'd been put in the dirt by Kushina again. Minato was so upset that he blabbed about Naruto's current condition right in front of his son.

"And I've been thinking about it and what if she's my daughter from the future?!"

Sakumo refused to unpack THAT.

"Hm," Kakashi mumbled, grasping his masked chin. "Father has said that Uzumakis were reckless when it came to seals."

"GAH!" Minato hollered. "Don't agree with me, Kakashi-kun!"

Granted, Sakumo had basically ordered a beat-up-looking Minato to report - and Minato was the one to question saying anything in front of Kakashi…

But when I realized Minato was upset about Naruto, I wanted Kashi to know about his dangerous teammate. What the hell was I thinking?

I was scared for my boy.

Sakumo would like to think that he was always methodical and thought things through, but when it came to his child, all that flew out the window.

Now his son was a feral little nightmare and was demanding to see Naruto. "Fine."

Ten minutes later, Sakumo wished that he'd just taken Kakashi home. –Once again, he'd shown himself that he really needed to lay down the law and not put up with some of his kawaii son's demands.

Naruto looked like hell; Minato was beside himself; Tsunade was openly questioning Hiruzen's decisions and leadership, laying the blame for her condition at his feet. Thankfully Kakashi didn't seem to hear any of it. But he's so damn smart and observant, Sakumo thought, as he watched his son approach his teammate who looked SO small in the bed.

So much of what he could see of her was black and blue. Was this all his fault? What in the world had they done to her?! It should have been no more than a mind walk and a check to see if she possessed a seal.

How could Sarutobi Hiruzen do this to a child? No matter what!

Naruto slowly opened her eyes and tried to smile at all of them. "Hi," she whispered and then began choking again. It was super painful! Tsunade scolded her to be silent and Naruto pouted while she did something to her chest again. She was embarrassed like crazy when the possibly future Godaime pulled something gross out of her chest through her mouth. Nasty. She patted her nearly hysterical brother/father's head; he was kneeling down next to her, trying to let him know that everything would be okay, and waved at Kakashi with her other hand. "It's okay, Aniki," she whispered to her father.

Minato began openly crying - which made Kushina cry. Gosh, it was no wonder she could sometimes be such a crybaby. She would've cried, too, if Kakashi hadn't been there.

Naruto wondered where Jiraiya was. Hopefully, he wasn't in the brig or something.

She bit her lip. Kakashi was such a little kid and he looked like one right now. She must look like shit because jerk of jerks, Kakashi, almost looked teary-eyed and was occasionally softly patting her arm or tapping his index finger around her pinky for a sec while the adults talked. Her mind blanked when a painful memory hit her hard.

.

She was in a clinic since the hospital never took her back then; her chest hurt felt almost as bad as it did now

For just a second or two, a silver-haired lanky ANBU in a dog mask patted her arm and hooked his half-gloved pinky around her finger after she'd suffered a major beating

"I didn't mean to be late this time, Pup. I promise."

That had to be impossible, right?!
It had to be… The only ANBUs Naru ever recalled guarding her were those two ladies with purple hair: the one with the soft voice was around a lot, often guarding her in the village all the way until sometime around the Chunin Exams. The other one, Naruto only remembered because when she was very little, she thought they might be twins. Could've been a clone, I guess.

The only other ANBU she knew sometimes guarded her was Uchiha Itachi until the massacre. Naruto only knew who he was because he was (Sasuke's big brother and) famous and young (thus small) when he was her ANBU.

Kakashi being another one of them? That would be too weird although it made sense, Naru guessed, considering that she was his sensei's kid.

Jeez, he'd been such an ass half the time as her sensei, though, and had sometimes been downright cruel to her.

She tried to smile at the little person he was now, regardless, more genuinely when what she guessed was morphine came out of the timed pump that was attached to her IV. It made her feel really giddy and numb.

- Did they realize that she was also small and not an elephant or boar or something?

Man, today had SUCKED. Was it just today? She tried to ask and began coughing again - although she tried not to. Naru appreciated it when Kakashi brought her a pad of paper and a pen. At least SOMEBODY was thinking.

What time is it? Day?

She gave Kakashi a deadpan look when he wrote down the answers instead of just telling her. "Dude." *cough, cough, cough*

Kakashi blushed. Naruto could usually tell by the tips of his ears but this time he was even pink around his eyes. It made her laugh and then cough again. When she got herself under control, she patted Minato's fluffy head some more while jotting down a Tic-Tac-Toe symbol with her other hand. She let Kakashi go first and he beat her over and over again even though she was the one who was hurt. How rude!

Naru was glad when he eventually flipped the page over and they began playing Hangman. They played until she fell asleep sometime later. Naruto didn't hear too much of the conversations around her but fortunately, Kurama listened in.

"Considering what I've heard, I guess I don't remember if you told them or not," Kurama admitted regarding the whole future thing as if it was no big deal. Naruto huffed at him. "I think you mentioned the psychopath."

"He Who Shall Not Be Named?" Naruto asked in half-jest. Kurama nodded and looked happy about what she'd called Madara. "What about Zetsu?" He would eventually be the real threat - and already was. It was a little weird that they both agreed on that but Kurama allowed Zetsu's name to be said without being a grump. Naruto understood that Kurama hated being controlled more than anything, though.

Even though Zetsu has been manipulating Madara.

What a drag.

"You might have mentioned that rotting plant. –I wouldn't doubt it. You have a big mouth."

Naruto nodded; that was true. She was only a little surprised that "Jiji" had done as much damage as he did to her. One, she was a little kid, and two, she always thought Sarutobi Hiruzen was a softie. The man was smart, "The Professor," but there was so much he let get away from him. Naruto would have never believed he would try to protect Konoha as he had. Against her!

He was right to do what he did, no matter what everyone else around her seemed to think. As she thought more about it - she felt somehow disconnected from the whole thing aside from the pain she was in - Naru realized that she couldn't do this kind of thing to a child. She also couldn't seal someone - or anything - in a child the way her father had. "I guess that means I'm not fit to be Hokage."

"Hmm? You're too decent to be Hokage, Naruto. Unless… HA! Maybe your boytoy filthy former teammate had the right idea."

"That's… Yyyyyuck. Please! Let's not mention Sasuke, either. And don't ever call him that." Sasuke had wanted to kill all the Kages, cage all the tailed beasts, kill her, and rule the Shinobi World by brute force. Aaaand that's what got her sent to the past. She felt large hands that covered her shoulders and upper arms and blinked several times, trying to properly wake up and focus on Jiraiya. "Hi."

"Hey, you. How are you, kid?"

Naruto gestured for a pen but then realized that Jiraiya had been - very slowly - tapping code on her hand. He began to start over after she wrote down the word, "fine."

"Kids aren't supposed to lie to their parents, Naruto."

Naruto gave him a look. She was pretty sure they both knew that wasn't true. She might not have grown up with parents but she saw other kids lie to their parents all of the time, even civilians! Plus they were ninjas and literally trained to lie. She began writing again.

I'm glad you're okay
I don't remember

"Don't worry about it," he smiled fakely while tapping slowly on her arm. Naruto noted that he seemed to be hiding what he was doing and was talking about the time and weather of all things. So we're STILL being watched, eh? That was seriously uncool because right now they were in Tsunade's house.

Plan 2
I'm taking you away. Don't react

Naruto swallowed hard and tried to play off the way her face had probably looked panicked. She tried to slow down her heart and smiled at her adoptive father. She nodded her head at him in silent thanks.

She didn't know what he was planning but Naruto trusted Jiraiya.

The next time Naruto woke up, she froze. Orochimaru was standing there, holding her wrist and hand: his hand felt cold, like death. "Don't you have a mission or something?" she managed to slowly get out in a whisper.

He sneered at her. "You truly are Jiraiya's brat, rude girl."

"Thank you." Orochimaru swung his shiny hair around and gave her a sassy look.

"Tell me child: what do you know of… ssssssoothssssayersss?"

Wouldn't you like to know? Naruto's lips twitched. Tsunade must have given her some heavy drugs because the way Orochimaru was slinging "s" sounds seemed comical. "Sssssnothing!"

Her blood ran cold when Orochimaru narrowed his eyes at her, looking like his neck was going to grow by a few dozen meters so he could seal her with one of his nasty hickeys. He didn't need to grow his gross white neck, however. The snake was literally standing right beside her and was holding her hand a lot more firmly now. "Oww!"

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, 'TTEBANE?"

Orochimaru dropped her hand and scurried off to the corner. (Naruto's eyes went wide in amazement and awe.) "You were running late," he said simply, gesturing to the clock. Kushina began madly checking Naruto's IV, drug pump, and then chart.

"Are you okay, Naru-chan?" her mother asked, smiling dangerously at the snake summoner. "Your big brother and I are here, don't worry, okay?"

Naruto was more impressed with her mother and felt like with her around, she didn't have to worry about anyone - at least for however long she was going to stay here. "My hand hurts." All of her mother's hair flew into the air in nine directions when Kushina checked it and Naruto almost jumped to the ceiling.

"Sorry! Settle down! I just um…" Kushina felt sick. There were bright, adult-sized bite marks on her little cousin's hand going around both sides. She had heard about what had happened and had kept her eyes averted from them up until now. She glared at Orochimaru. Her senior or not, that guy was a dick. "Everything's okay, then? Orochimaru wasn't bothering you now, was he?" Kushina's grayish-violet eyes bled red - just for a second.

Naruto grinned her head off. Mom's awesome! Orochimaru quickly left the room and Naruto wished she could cheer. "You're so cool!"

Kushina snorted loudly and waved the little blonde off, but hid her pleased expression behind her hair.

"Why does it hurt?" Naruto gestured to her chest because she didn't want to even touch it - still!

"Ah," Kushina breathed uncomfortably before biting her lip. She wasn't quite sure how to say it. "Maa, you got CPR by the strongest person in the world. She kinda broke your sternum and ribs, but she did fix ya! I mean, you're alive, right?" Kushina winced. Biwako-sama was right: her bedside manner really did need work.

Naruto's eyes popped out. Holy shit!

Her heart had stopped! Those bastards!

Meh, at least the Sage of Six Paths didn't bother her this time.

She'd thought Kurama was totally slacking off but he'd probably been busy healing her; she could never tell unless her wounds or skin was steaming closed.

She also thought she'd been whining about the pain she was in but it sounded like Tsunade crushed her whole chest!

Naruto weakly shook her tiny fist threateningly, wishing Tsunade was there to fear her retaliation. Or receive her thanks? Right now, Naruto wasn't sure.

A month later -

Jiraiya had been sent out on an S-class mission and weirdly enough, Kakashi's father was keeping Naru close by and in check when Minato wasn't around. Anko's arm had completely healed while Naruto had been off and so she was back to her old "team." Naruto didn't really mind being teamed with Kakashi, especially if she could learn kenjutsu from his father.

Sakumo-sensei was being overprotective and too parentlike for Naruto's taste, however. And it wasn't just her: Kakashi felt the same way!

After dinner (she was even staying with them but the dogs and wolves made it okay,) Naruto went back to studying a seal Jiraiya had left her that "will definitely give that old fuck an aneurism:" it was a Tsunade special.

Danzo needed to die before he fucked anything else up. Naru decided that if he kidnapped her, she'd become the absolute best little ROOT drone imaginable until she could touch him and lay that old fuck out. Kurama even thought it was a good idea BUT until she could push a seal through her chakra, doing it with paper would leave a mark.

She couldn't allow that. It would do Naruto no good to finally kill off Danzo and then get stuck in a cell for the rest of her life - or maybe even be put to death before she could hit Madara and Zetsu.

She'd talked to Kurama about pushing his chakra into the old mummy but he reminded her that demonic chakra burns were pretty damn noticeable and distinctive. She stood up and peeked outside the window, seeing that Kakashi was in the backyard sending sparks out of his hand. "Awww. Little baby lightning jutsus!"

Sakumo crossed his arms over his chest. "I'll have you know that Kakashi is very advanced for his age," he grinned, not mentioning the way the girl had grabbed her chest and yelled "GAH!" Sakumo knew that Naru was a very good sensor, so he could only assume that she felt that his chakra was safe.

After what happened, it made him feel even worse. "Studying your seals?"

"Yeah," Naru grinned shyly, leaving her book behind and ready to train again. She couldn't let Lightning Boy get ahead of her. "You wanna help me work on making a Rasengan or the Hiraishin?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Sakumo said, wincing when he saw Kakashi completely losing his cool on the training post. Sakumo guessed that one of Kakashi's little fangirls had said something about his son's teammate because SO many kids in the village were saying things that simply weren't true. Kakashi got wind of it and had interrogated him, his little face so red and angry - and probably embarrassed - behind his mask that it had made him coo at his son. (Thus infuriating Kakashi further.)

And they're only six for heaven's sake!

"Minato should be back this evening." Naruto brought her hands together and bent over into a cute bow with a big smile.

"Thank you for having me! You don't need to keep doing this, ya know."

"I need to do something," Sakumo said to himself. She had been taken just like Kushina had. More importantly, he needed to do something to relieve his guilt and ensure that Jiraiya's daughter would be okay after what had happened.

Naruto considered his words even as she turned when Kakashi screamed his head off outside. She laughed quietly when Kakashi took out his kunai and began hacking it into the training dummy as if it were an axe. "What did that wood ever do to you?!" Sometimes it was still so weird seeing him completely losing his shit as a child when as an adult, Kakashi had been so aloof and "cool," to quote Gai.

Wood.

Yamato-taicho!

Oh shit. How far apart in age were Kakashi and Yamato-taicho? Kakashi-sensei had looked older with that hair, of course, and Yamato-taicho had always called Kakashi "senpai," but after seeing Kakashi's father, now she bet they weren't very far apart in age.

Was Orochimaru already experimenting on children? Were he and Danzo already in cahoots?

Well even if Naruto would like for Yamato-taicho to have his wood release, she would never want him to go through some of what she'd heard about. Orochimaru called him his experiment.

Naruto really liked Yamato-taicho. Determined, she decided to get kidnapped by ROOT. Glad to have an immediate plan, she skipped off to follow Sakumo-sensei, feeling her "main" sensei's chakra outside. "Shikaku-sensei!"

"Brat," Shikaku nodded in acknowledgment before giving a lame and lazy impression of a bow to his senior. "Sakumo-senpai."

"I wasn't expecting you here, Shikaku." Sakumo grabbed the cigarettes he saw sticking out of the teenager's Jonin vest.

"What a drag."

"Uh-huh," the White Fang chided. "You're too young to smoke and it's a very unhealthy habit."

Shikaku knew that was coming - he should have hidden his cigs better - but almost felt guilty or something at seeing his tiny blonde Genin mouth "Don't worry about it," as she winked at him. What a troublesome girl.

It's not as if Naruto used to like that Shikamaru smoked, she just liked the way he smelled in spite of it.

"I need both brats for this."

Minutes later Naru and Kakashi sat in front of the Nara heir; Naruto not understanding why Kakashi was so antsy and kept moving away from her. She sniffed her pit and was relieved that she smelled good. She'd just taken a bath so yeah… Plus, Kakashi was the dirty, smelly one. "Do we have a mission, sensei?"

"Not tonight. But," Shikaku said before groaning. "It's troublesome - but I'm signing you two up for the Chunin Exams." He tried not to react when Sakumo-senpai began choking with wide eyes. Oh great: and now he's shaking his head at me and looks furious. That did make him wince.

Well, this is what leadership got for putting someone like him in charge of Genins, Shikaku figured. "Troublesome."