DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own.

Thinking

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

A/N: We all know how the First Stage of the Chunin Exams went in canon, now don't we?

Naruto somehow managed to laugh and scoff at her silly pervert of a husband at the same time. "So why do I have to sleep naked when you're at least half-clothed?!"

Kakashi continued tickling her, then sat back on top of her thighs, knowing full well that he looked like a lovesick fool before she smiled up at him then rolled him off of her. So unfair!

"Maa, first off, you're a furnace of heat and you know it. Secondly - and you know this as well - your feet are the only part of you that isn't and they're like blocks of ice!"

"That is so untrue," Naruto fake-gasped in outrage. Her feet always felt cold to her, but she was embarrassed that he'd noticed this about her.

"Three," he said before giving her a kiss on the nose, "you always rub those icy feet on me, so I have to keep socks on. And..."

"What?" she eventually asked, her eyes big, wondering why in the world Kakashi's ears were red. What did I do this time? she wondered. She stroked his face when he looked away and told her not to worry about it. "I have to worry about you! That's my job! And even if it weren't, I'd do it anyway." Because I love you.

Kakashi looked at her with both of his eyes from his pillow, wondering if she might feel the same way about him as he did about her. This is so dangerous. Over the past couple of years, he'd tried to "begin living life" as the Psych Department always said that he should, but it had all been a ruse. His entire life consisted of missions, occasionally having a drink with the boys, bedding a woman who didn't matter but mainly talking to his teammates at the Stone. Then she came along, crashing into his life in both trickles and waves, and now he was caught up in the maelstrom.

Naruto felt something burn within her and wondered if Kakashi was mad at her - or if she should be mad at him? Lately, her emotions were sometimes out of whack and didn't even feel like her own. "Are you alright, Kash?" she asked as she sat up in bed, holding the covers against her bare chest. When he didn't say anything and turned away from her, she laid back down and snuggled close, pressing her chest against his back. His room - their room, now that there was a little toad statue and a few other pictures in it - was cold and if she was a furnace then maybe she could at least warm him up and make him feel better. She kissed his shoulder then wrapped her arm around his waist as she snuggled down into the pillow.

It had been a long day. And though she'd never admit it to him, Naruto felt exhausted more than she should have. Maybe it was just the emotional turmoil of meeting Fu, the actual alive and so, so sweet jinchuuriki from Taki - then having her immediately pulled away by her stupid, cold teammates that she had to threaten and curse quite profoundly at for being dickheads just because they were scaredy cats... Assholes, she thought irritably. Kakashi's shoulders twitched and she kissed his back again before snuggling her face between his broad shoulders. She closed her eyes and knew that it wasn't just the thing with Fu, though.

God, I totally scared Fu by spilling all that KI at her teammates.

She was worried. She didn't see Gaara before the exams, although she felt his chakra in several places that she'd just missed. Fu was at her Chunin exams, but she wasn't in her first life. Neji was a Chunin, which was weird because he'd been an unforgiving fate-obsessed bastard in her first exams, nearly killing his cousin. Would the Hokage really promote someone so presently selfish and bitter? And why had he been flirting with her - or being a perv or something - at that multi-teamed training event? Thanks to the Academy's new age restrictions for shinobi, she and her classmates were much older rookies, and their senseis (including Tenzo!) were all actually training them. Things were so different now - she was MARRIED, for Kami's sake - than they were in her first life, she wondered if Orochimaru would try the same thing he did last time. They had a plan, but... She felt her heart speed up at not knowing what would come next - and it all would begin tomorrow. Kakashi turned back toward her and gently stroked her shoulder and arm, a pained but sweet look on his handsome face.

The truth was, she was also still tired from what had happened in her last mission. She couldn't understand it. Why did her mother hurt her like that without even saying anything? Were the chains even hers? She'd used them to pin down Kurama in her last life to harness his chakra, but they'd never ripped through her body into the world outside her mindscape. Naruto's hand moved to where they'd come out of, and naturally, Kakashi's eye followed it to her breast. She nearly smirked at the man who kept staring at her boobs.

"So why the pants then, Hatake-sama?" she asked silkily. "You said my feet tortured you, so why don't you just wear socks to bed? Only socks?" Moving the conversation to something that wouldn't worry him was mandatory. He was being a little weird again right now.

"Maa, it looks... stupid."

"Huh?" Naruto asked obtusely. "What looks stupid?"

"Hmm... I look stupid in just socks," he said with a pout.

He was pouting! "You look stupid?" Naruto deadpanned. When Kakashi wouldn't meet her gaze she could almost feel his embarrassment. "Have you been looking at yourself and comparing how you look with your pants on and off with your cute little socks?"

"They're not little."

"But they are cute!" They were super fuzzy and he had them in fun colors and patterns. Naruto's look turned to astonishment. "You have! You've been checking yourself out! ...How you look with just socks on, and you think you look better with pants on!"

"Maa, go to sleep Naru-chan!"

Naruto laughed at the silly man. "Kakashi, believe me: you look damn fine... Ahh! Gorgeous even: with socks or without. With pants or - well you look especially great without pants or clothes in general because you're all sculpted and... huge, and..." Her eyes had already traveled down. Dammit: this man had made her a total pervert.

"Alright, you. I'm gorgeous, you're really gorgeous, and now it's time for you to get your beauty sleep." He closed his eye and snuggled into his wife's hair. It always smelled so good and her scent was so damn calming.

"Hai, Kakashi-sama."

"Stop calling me that... for now at least. It's distracting and makes me think of doing all kinds of naughty things to you," he grumbled. Naruto just faintly giggled and almost immediately fell asleep.

She's pushing herself too hard... He could feel her exhaustion and moved his head to hers to see if she had a fever again. When he was reassured that her temperature was just fine - for her, anyway - he allowed himself to begin to drift off to sleep. They both had a big day tomorrow. He had a Jonin meeting in the morning, and the Chunin exams began in the afternoon. Her freezing feet made their way to his legs again and he let out a sigh of resignation. Pants or not, it seemed that he'd be stuck with freezing shins forevermore.

She'd been up for over an hour, knowing that Kakashi had a meeting to attend and that she and Shikamaru were meeting up with the other rookies, plus Gai's team to discuss strategies before the exam began.

Naru had really gone all out making Kakashi's favorites, even though he wasn't really a big breakfast eater. He usually ate whatever she made, however, and although he'd commented that he'd gained two and a half kilograms since marrying her, he didn't seem to care. She couldn't see it on his rock-hard body and wondered if it was all muscle. She let out a perverted giggle then reached into her obi once again, wondering if she really had the guts to do this.

If he rejected her, would he give it back? Her father's ring was special: it had some kind of fuuinjutsu all over it, and she didn't know what kind of metals it was made from. When she found it and her mother's ring, she had hoped that they might hold some of their chakra, but they didn't. She was able to put her own chakra into the rings and wondered what it would do, or if it could do anything at all. She'd tried to decipher the seals but needed Ero-sennin's help - but right now, he wasn't too happy with her or Kakashi. He was especially unhappy with the Hokage for "marrying her off like cattle."

Since when do cows get married?

She sighed heavily and pulled out her scrolls, going through all the smoke, stink, and paint bombs, normal bomb-bombs, chakra sealers, paralysis seals, weapons, and other mayhem she intended to unleash on anyone that would hurt her or her friends, then made sure that she had enough of her little blood seals to give all of them. She had enough food, rations, and soldier pills on hand to get through two weeks, she hoped, and knew that Sai would come packing scrolls, too. Sasuke would just have weapons. Naruto hoped that he'd be agreeable today and not be his bastard self. She had to keep him safe this time.

She'd already made arrangements with the toads yesterday, but the foxes were as impertinent as ever. Even Kurama was getting a little impatient with their attitude, but what could they do? She'd begged them to come to her aid if she was in need of putting a genjutsu on someone, but they said that they only MIGHT help her find Kakashi, but that was it. Damn foxes: every single one of them is making my life harder...

And how did Kurama change his cage so drastically? The figurative-bastard fox wouldn't tell her but was really enjoying his new environment. As frustrating as the big furball had been recently, (he was unhappy about Kakashi yet had been oddly silent about his disgust for "dogs/Ningen" in the last couple of days,) Naruto was genuinely happy that Kurama seemed to like his almost endless-seeming new digs. He had a waterfall, trees similar to the forest he'd once lived in, and a spacious clearing with lush grass that he really liked. His only complaint was that it was always daylight, but he'd found some trees to hide from the sun under so that he could sleep better.

There was supposedly even a damn cave behind the waterfall large enough that he could hide in! Unbelievable!

Naruto looked down at her stomach and put her hand against the seal. So now she had a toad and a mountain-sized fox in there with some kind of endless habitat... Hopefully, she wouldn't need Itachi to stuff a damn bird in her, too. That crow had been a real bitch to both swallow and then to spit out. Yuck!

"Wow," Kakashi said, interrupting her thoughts as he walked into the kitchen in his Jonin uniform, his hands in his pockets. "You know, you don't need to keep doing this." He sat down at the table that was overflowing with food. "Kami, Naruto: how much do you think two people can eat?!" He looked at his blushing wife who just shrugged, but already looked guilty - probably for being able to eat so many extra-large ramen bowls at Ichirakus. He'd seen it with his own eyes: 12 bowls! And she could've eaten more, he was sure of it!

"When do you have to be there?"

"About ten minutes ago," Kakashi answered with a lopsided grin as he sipped some black coffee before switching to water. The one thing he could make better than Naruto in the kitchen was coffee, which was probably because she never drank it. He remembered Shikaku's warning that Naru was never to be given caffeine. He could understand why now.

"You are going to eat, though, aren't you?" she asked sweetly - yet somehow it was a little threatening.

"Yes ma'am." Kakashi swallowed a spoonful of his miso soup before proceeding to the eggs and rice. He saw the eggplant and went straight to that afterward. Naruto was so nervous that she just watched him eat until he looked up at her, studying her intensely. His little wife wasn't eating, which was a little disturbing. She smelled nervous and he could feel her anxiety twisting through both of them. It was so bad. "What is it, Naru-chan?"

"Nothing," she chirped awkwardly. Naruto picked up her soup and swallowed it whole. It did soothe the jitters in her gut a bit, so she ate a bit more. Looking at the time, she knew that she needed to go. But first...

This was it. Hopefully, he wouldn't freak out, but even if he did, the man needed to know. He was her husband, after all, and... and... she might never see him again if Orochimaru got her! In her last life, the second stage of the Chunin Selection Exams began immediately after the first stage ended, so this could be her one and only chance. He'd have a week to think about it, calm down, and well, if she wound up dead, he'd know... I'm being stupid! And he's staring at me! Get a grip, Naruto!

"You are being stupid! Just get it over with; you're making me ill with all these... disgusting emotions."

The fox certainly didn't look ill, laying there on the grass. Naru could've sworn he'd been rolling around in it just before he spoke. He had grass in his tails, for gods' sake.

Naru stood up quickly and knocked over her chair. She gasped and jumped around to pick it back up, then shoved it under the table. Now Kakashi was really alarmed. He instinctively reached for his weapons pouch but stopped himself. Naruto wouldn't hurt him: he was being ridiculous.

"Okay, so we both know these exams are dangerous, 'ttebayo," Naruto began while also beginning to pace in front of the breakfast table. "If anything happens to me and the boys it's because we chose to be in these exams, alright? It's not because of anything supernatural or..."

"Actually, you were forced to take the exams," Kakashi interrupted. Naruto stopped and stared at him, paling drastically.

"Oh come on now! Don't you think that Sasuke and I want to be promoted? We're pretty skilled for Genin, plus this could be Sai's chance to get out of ROOT, although who knows what that asshat Danzo is doing." Naruto had become lost in her own thoughts and was pacing again. She stopped herself and shook her head, trying to force herself to act. This was it! And it could be it-it: her last chance. She had to make sure that he'd know and be okay without her.

"I'll do everything to protect the boys and get myself out of there, but if I don't make it back, there's something I want you to know."

"Naruto," Kakashi said in a warning voice. He didn't like where this was going and wasn't prepared to... His swirling thoughts and emotions stopped when he saw his wife reach into a pocket in her obi. Then she screamed at him.

"Gah! Stop LOOKING, 'ttebayo! Close your damn eye, you cyclops!"

The fight had been taken right out of him. "Mou, Naru-chan's so mean," he sighed. His own little wife calling him a cyclops: how rude. He felt her slip something over his neck but before he could see what it was when he opened his eye, she held his face up firmly in small hands. She kissed him deeply, passionately, and Kakashi finally needed to breathe! Opening his eyes and untangling himself from her, he marveled at her beautiful face, and how angelic she looked at that moment. He was glad that she'd pulled his headband up. Smiling down at him so sweetly, she looked down and then stared straight into his soul.

"I want to make sure you know that I love you, Hatake Kakashi."

Kakashi sat there, stunned for a moment. It felt so good to hear that, but...

*POOF*

Naruto stared at the back of Kakashi's chair as she realized what he'd done. Once again, he'd disappeared on her: sunshinned away without a thought about what she'd do, how she'd feel, the breakfast she made for him... anything! She hiccupped grossly as her eyes blurred with tears, grabbed her stuff, and sunshinned away, too. She had to see Shikamaru, anyway.

"You alright?" Shikamaru asked, even though he could tell that his little sister wasn't alright at all. His mother had been hugging her and trying to find out why she looked like a kicked cat, but Naru wouldn't admit that anything was wrong. He figured how she'd respond to his query.

"Yeah," Naru lied brightly. She bent down to stretch just so Shika couldn't see how red her eyes must be. She could blame it on lack of sleep - something that she was actually feeling now, along with everything else. She wondered if she'd have to take a soldier pill before the WRITTEN exam, which was just ridiculous, but she once again felt exhausted. Letting out a loud groan, she laid down in the grass and stared up at the fluffy clouds in the sky. A soldier pill won't cut it: they always burn through my system and make me feel jumpy and distracted if I have to sit still after taking one...

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," Naruto said, trusting that Shikamaru would drop it unless she came unglued, (something she would not allow to happen. She had her pride, dammit!) "Say, you didn't happen to see Temari and Gaara, did you? And Kankuro, of course. Or their sensei?" When Shikamaru didn't immediately answer, Naruto looked over at him. He was lying in the grass next to her now. "So?"

"I did see her. She was going into that new pastry shop on First street," Shikamaru answered and pulled a long blade of grass only to put it in his mouth to very slightly ease his mad craving for a cigarette.

"You didn't say anything to her?"

"Couldn't get the nerve up. She's even more beautiful than she was last time, Naruto." He looked away from his sister and gazed at the clouds he loved to watch so much. Knowing that she was in her own little world, he finally told her why he couldn't approach her. "What if she's already found some guy - some dick that's..."

"Shikamaru! Come on now, you guys are fated to be together!" Shikamaru tsked at Naruto's words, but she felt - about the two of them - that it was true. She wasn't so lucky apparently, but she'd make sure that her friends would be happy, one way or another. "And if there is some dickhead in her life, we'll just kick his ass, then you can pull some smooth moves and talk usin' that big brain of yours to knock her off her feet," she rambled on and on, trying to make her brother feel better.

Shikamaru finally cut her off, smiling at her gratefully. "You're troublesome, but you're alright Naruto. Let's see what happens, ne?"

"Yeah!" Naruto felt expected to jump up in excitement for seeing her friends again but just couldn't muster the spirit to do so. "You're alright, too, ya know." She wondered how Shikamaru would react to the same words she'd said that horrified Kakashi. She loved Shika in a totally different way, but she still loved him all the same. He was her family, which made her a very lucky gal, she reminded herself. "I love you, ya know." Shikamaru didn't disappear, but... maybe he was just too lazy to?

No, he threw his arm around her as they walked together toward the compound's gate.

"I know," he smirked while glancing over at his sister's pinched expression. "And I love you, too, you troublesome blonde."

He wasn't sure why Naruto broke down in ugly sobs and tears a few steps later, but Shikamaru was happy to hold her while she cried.

Hours later, Naruto and Shikamaru were heading up a meeting that was supposed to include the Rookie Nine plus Gai's team. It had been going on for a while and they were nearly out of time.

"...So if you could put these on your clothes somewhere, like, on top of them, that would be best. If the second stage of the exam starts right after the first, this will really help," Naruto said. She was relieved that she could make them feel better about Sakura-chan's disappearance, although when Ino asked if Naru was really responsible for kidnapping the girl, it almost made her get all emotional again.

Dammit, Kakashi...

No, it was her fault: Naruto knew how he was. The tortured man just wasn't ready to love or accept love: everything they had was just physical for him. She should have kept her mouth shut; then she wouldn't have ruined everything.

"Why henge as you guys, though?" Tenten asked as she slapped the tiny seal on the back of her shoulder. Naruto nodded approvingly before patting it down to put a small amount of chakra into it. Tenten was impressed by how the thing seemed to dissolve and disappear into her blouse. She watched as Naruto did the same thing with each other person in their group, even her weird temporary teammate with the smut in his face.

Shikamaru answered Tenten's question. "When Naruto's clones dispel, she gets their memories. It takes an incredible amount of chakra, but it's no big deal for an Uzumaki. Apparently, it's the only clone they can make."

"That's not true! I bet I could make a water clone or something like that!" Naruto said, scandalized by what her brother had just said. There were probably lots of different types of clones that Uzumakis could make. They just couldn't make regular ones, which is exactly what she explained to the Sorta Rookiesh-12 plus a ROOT guy, minus Sakura-chan and Sai who hadn't arrived yet. What a mess.

"Tch! You know what I meant," Shikamaru scolded her. They just needed to get Naru's clones of Team 7 to be any and everywhere in the forest to distract and hopefully delay Orochimaru. There was no need or time to have an in-depth discussion about clones!

"It is not logical for only clones of your team to be staged throughout the second stage of the exam," Shino said, dry as ever. "Why? Because although Naruto-chan will retrieve the memories of the clones that are destroyed, it will not get her any closer to those of us who may be in danger."

Shikamaru was a little surprised that it was Naruto that logically responded to that - or began to. "They'd have to take out all three of my clone look-alikes that are with ya, because I can just substitute with one of the other two that remains. Zip-Zap: I can do that," she finished, snapping her fingers.

Never mind, Shikamaru thought. Naruto had such a good, steady answer until she threw up one of her little catchphrases for her (usually flashy) jutsus.

"Hn."

Shikamaru watched Naruto beam at the Uchiha bastard for answering like that and wanted to thump his head into a tree. How could she still like that guy when he basically killed her? Thank Kami for Kurama healing her and bringing her back to life.

"Bastard" indeed.

...And that happened within a month of these Chunin exams. It's not something they've talked about, although they should have. Naruto always gets testy and shuts the conversation down, saying that this time it won't happen. Shikamaru will give her this: Naruto hates Sasuke using that Chidori almost as much as she hates Danzo, which is saying something. He knows that she's wily and troublesome, and smarter than people give her credit for because of her normally bubbly (and blonde) nature. He can only hope that either she'll plan with him for this after the exams, or that his brother-in-law won't teach the Uchiha that jutsu. Hoping for something is not something that Shikamaru is good at. He's praying that their plan for the Forest of Death will work, however.

He balked when he heard Naruto volunteer to make henged clones of everyone so that they can really confuse any enemies that are out there. The woman's already planning to use a ton of chakra, and may still have to fight Orochi-fucking-maru! "No, absolutely not: no more clones than are necessary." Shikamaru didn't care that Naruto began pouting and sunk down the wall: she's just too damn willing to sacrifice herself to make people happy! "With what we've discussed we can communicate throughout the second stage, letting each other know of potential hazards or dangers, and Naruto's remaining clones can make other clones to field information back to you from our confidants at any time. The only issue would be if all of Naruto's clones are taken out at the same time..." Naruto hushed him, and from the expression on her face, he could tell that she sensed someone close by that she's concerned about.

"One more thing before we go. Don't trust any other Leaf shinobi participating in the test, and pick up any and all scrolls you can. We'll do the same and can maybe trade them with each other at the Tower," Naru said in a whisper. Sasuke frowned at her but didn't say anything against the plan. A hesitant agreement went through the rest of the group as some probably wanted to question the decision. "My chakra, my rules on this one." She had to bite her lip and try not to glare as the bastard came forward. They hadn't even entered the Academy yet!

"It's good that you're together and planning ahead," Kabuto - that fucker who reanimated all those people - said in a friendly manner as he pushed his glasses up higher on his nose. "My name is Yakushi Kabuto, and you are the Rookie... Nine?"

"C'mon guys. Let's go inside."

Naruto was unimpressed as she looked around Room 301. She'd managed to bully Sasuke into leaving Rock Lee alone when he challenged him - the idiots had just been sitting together earlier: men - and whispered to Lee-kun a reminder that Sasuke had the Sharingan and could easily copy his moves if he let her teammate see him go for it. Sasuke had sassed off about not needing to watch the taijutsu specialist do anything, and Naruto found that she wanted to throttle the bastard she had to protect.

Kabuto approached them again and Naruto groaned in aggravation. He pulled out his "magic cards" and Naruto couldn't help but feel both sick and hopeful that things seemed to be on track again. Maybe the same thing would happen - or almost happen - so that their plan would be more successful? The traitor kept throwing glances toward her and Sasuke, although she could smell that the little snake was concerned with the ROOT kid that had been placed on Team 9. The pale boy was keeping his book held high so that the two didn't make eye contact, but Naruto wondered what their relationship really was. Had Kabuto been in ROOT? She really couldn't remember, but wouldn't doubt it.

She knew that Danzo and Orochimaru were allied at times, after all.

Just as Sasuke began to ask the traitor for information, Sai ran into the room, out of breath, and looking a little ruffled.

"It's about damn time," Naru whispered harshly to her teammate. "I had to use a clone henged as you to get in here, Printing Press!"

Sai dropped his head in embarrassment and said that he was held up by Tenzo-sensei after having had a long discussion with another superior. Naruto knew immediately that he meant Danzo, and tried to get the memory out of her head of Kakashi stopping Team 7 to wish them luck before they entered this room in their first life. She supposed she should hope that he was fine and had made it to his Jonin meeting, but she'd seen Asuma-oji and Kurenai-sensei on this very floor, and both only waved at her. Neither of them seemed interested in anyone but each other after their teams entered, so Naru was fairly sure that they'd seen Kakashi at their morning Jonin meeting. Otherwise, they would've probably asked about him.

Plus she could FEEL him! What the hell had he done to her to make her feel his emotions in her gut or something? Now that she was away from him, that thing on her back seemed to be doing more than just "protecting" her as some kind of beacon to him. What a bunch of bullshit!

"...uto? Naruto!" Ino-chan whisper-shrieked into her ear as she yanked Naruto's arm back and forth, bringing the orange-clad blonde out of the ruinous thoughts she was having about her husband.

"WHAT?! Oh, sorry, Ino-chan."

"Wh- Who's that guy you were just talking to and threatening?" Ino asked in a low whisper, as she looked at Team 7's male team members.

So deep into cursing Kakashi was Naruto, that at first, she thought that Ino had lost her mind and was asking about Sasuke. Then her eyes brightened and she pulled Ino over to introduce the girl to Sai. She saw Shikamaru roll his eyes at her and even noticed that Kabuto seemed to be getting a little irked that few were paying attention to him, but Naruto only wanted to know how Sai and Ino had missed meeting each other before now. "Sai-kun, this is Ino-chan. Ino-chan... Sai-kun," Naruto said happily as she pushed the two together. Shikamaru was watching the two closely as he whopped Kiba for talking to Kabuto.

"Hello... Beautiful," Sai said, his cheeks tinted just a little pink, and Naruto wanted to squeal. Oops, she did squeal! And that's when a BUNCH of Sand shinobi walked into the room. At the very end of their little beach brigade was an aggravated-looking Kankuro, a very beautiful Temari-hime, indeed, and then finally... Gaara. Naruto couldn't help the smile that took over her face, and when Gaara winked at her and whispered into her ear, she thought she might pass out.

Gaara looked like a freakin' rock star! He was tall, muscular, and really did have eyebrows; his windswept red hair was tousled like it had been styled that way, but the best part of all was what he'd said to her in passing. "I'll see you after this test for ramen, Uzumaki?" She bounced around like an idiot as she returned to her brother, who poked her in the side, trying to calm her down.

Did Gaara... Was it possible that he remembered their past life, too? He did call her Uzumaki and looked into her eyes with an incredibly penetrating gaze that had to mean something!

Oh, fuck! How was she even going to ask him about something like that?

"...that guy, Rock Lee," Sasuke was saying and Naruto turned toward him, her hair flying up and out everywhere. Didn't she tell that idiot not to talk to anyone outside their little group of friends?

"And Uzumaki Naruto," the ROOT guy on Team 9 asked.

Son of a bitch! She was either going to kill or prank that guy!

Kabuto tried to impress them all with his awesome information that Gaara had never been hurt on his missions - and he had a LOT more missions than they did. Lee also had a lot of missions and was the only one of the three he was freely giving out information on that had been in the Chunin Selection Exams before, although by now that wasn't news to any of the Rookies. When Orochimaru's fuck toy pulled out Naruto's card, she sunshinned behind him. Her hair was flowing in waves over Kabuto's shoulder and he looked shocked.

"Hey, Kabuto-san," she purred, "those are some pretty neat cards you've got there, ne?" Kabuto nodded up at her blankly and only gulped as Naruto examined the basic information that was recorded on it. As he started to speak, she reached up to grab the hand that was holding his card. She channeled chakra into (and hopefully through) Kabuto's thumb as she nicked it with her fingernail. Once his blood was on the card, it was all over.

Name: Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze Hatake, Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi
Rank: B with the potential to move to S-ranked quickly
Primary Element: Wind
Secondary Element: Water
Parents: Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato, deceased; Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina, deceased
Known associates of importance: Hatake Kakashi, husband. Tenzo of the Wood Release, sensei. Nara Shikaku and Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, former guardians.

She was going to kill this fucking douchebag! It was one thing to threaten her, but to have a card that included her associates? The people she loved? Oh, he was so dead!

Right at that moment, Naruto was nearly knocked down by an energetic Fu, who Naruto feared had hugs of doom. She had long planned to push Kabuto into those Sound nins that rushed him with a sound attack in her first exams but moved to protect Fu who was holding onto her when it all happened. She punched the surprised, bandaged Sound nin so hard that he flew back several rows and knew that she'd definitely broken his nose if not other bones in the guy's face. The splattering of blood through his bandages was telling.

"You bitch!"

"Sorry, asshole, you shouldn't have atta-"

"Quiet! You miserable... What the fuck happened here?" Ibiki sighed as he looked at Minato's girl who was waving her hands up in innocence, although she was anything but innocent, considering the blood on her hand.

"Gross," Naru said as she tried to wipe off her hand with a towel that looked too big to fit in her obi. "Can I go clean up, please?"

Ibiki groaned. "Fine, but come right back here! And you - you damn maggots: any more fighting: ANY fighting or using jutsu outside of the formal exam stages will result in your being banned from the exams and sent home!" Naru soon skipped back into the largest Academy classroom, waving at Shikamaru who would be sitting behind her (awesome, she thought,) and then at Izumo, Kotetsu, and Ibiki before more hesitantly waving at Neji. She looked around the room, wondering who the plants to cheat off of were, but disregarded the idea as Ibiki droned on with the same rules that he'd said last time. She couldn't wait to turn over her paper.

She read the entire paper as she put her hands underneath her desk and took a deep breath before using two sets of hand signs, one after the other. This was going to be awesome...

Toads and frogs exploded all over the room, all jumping on Genin's heads, out windows, and slithering under the door. Ibiki was yelling and slapping toads around, which the toad summoner didn't appreciate, but Naruto just waited and answered the questions she could before some of her clones that had been henged as amphibians dispelled and gave her the answer to the remaining two questions. She turned her paper over and began writing the Head of T&I a note about Kabuto.

In addition to the information that she'd discovered the traitor had somehow found out about her, she let him know that Kabuto smelled like a combination of snake and poison, (he also smelled like baby powder and that lube she'd found in Kakashi's drawer, but that probably wasn't important.)

Kakashi watched a smart TV in the Teacher's Lounge as it monitored pandemonium erupting in the testing room. At least Naruto was happier now.

He felt terrible for how he'd run from her earlier, he really did. And before he even got to talk to Minato-sensei about it when he sunshinned to the Memorial Stone, Naruto's father had called him an ass from beyond the grave, while Rin had laughed at him. Obito had been oddly silent, but his father had told him that he had to make this right. He didn't know if he heard his father's words from the afterlife or if it was just a memory that came to him immediately after he asked his father for help. Perhaps it had been both at the same time?

Kakashi came home from the Academy and wondered where his father was now. Ever since that terrible mission, he was lucky if he'd find his father home at all, but this time Kakashi's nose took him to the attic, where his father was drinking... again. He wasn't sure whether to approach the man, as he was looking longingly at a photo album that Kakashi had only seen once in his life. Naturally, Sakumo called his son to him before Kakashi had a chance to turn around.

Kakashi reluctantly sat beside his father. He didn't seem too inebriated, but it was frightening to see that his father, THE White Fang, had been crying - or was at least close to tears now. Sakumo wrapped his arm around his son's small shoulders.

"Isn't your mother beautiful in her wedding kimono, Kashi-chan? I tell ya what, son: she was the most beautiful vision I'd ever seen."

Kakashi nodded. His mother - a woman he would never have a chance to remember or forget - was indeed very beautiful.

"One of these days you're going to find a girl that you'll give your heart to..."

"Daaa-ad. That's gross." His father laughed way too hard at what he'd just said before sniffing and shutting the album and telling Kakashi that he'd make him dinner.

"One of these days you won't think it's gross at all, son," Sakumo said as he awkwardly chopped a few vegetables he'd managed to gather from their garden. Kakashi rolled his eyes from the counter he was sitting on. "Hatake's are one-woman men, and I hope that you don't only find a wife one day, but you find your mate: your soulmate, son."

"That's ridiculous. I hear girls talk about soulmate stuff at school..."

"Maa, don't say it's ridiculous, now. My father said he'd found his soulmate in my mother. They'll be together in the afterlife or any lives that come between Kashi. If you find yours - or even if you simply get married - I want you to take care of her, okay, son?" The way his father looked at him made him uncomfortable, so he eventually acquiesced.

"Okay. If I find someone like that... When I'm old or something."

Sakumo snorted but looked away from his son to put rice into two bowls. "Whatever you do, don't hurt your mate, Kakashi-kun. Hurting her only hurts you, and I... I never want to see you hurt, son."

It was three months later that Sakumo hurt Kakashi perhaps the most of anyone.

This morning and throughout this entire day, he finally understood what those scrolls meant about becoming overwhelmed by the bond he had with his mate. Naruto's emotions were like a typhoon, bending him over at times with her sadness and pain, her anger and frustration at him, and then more recently at her disgust over this Kabuto guy - a med-nin, he thought - and worse, glee over what a red-haired male had whispered to her. Watching her on television made him want to grab and take her home with him right now, to make her feel completely better in every way he and only he could.

Asuma said something to him, but Kakashi didn't care. His inattentiveness had been scolded by the Sandaime, Danzo-sama, and even Kurenai-san this morning. It was difficult to properly pay attention when you can feel the woman you love's emotions that are so intense it's almost frightening.

He just needed to wait until this test was over, then he could escort Naruto home.

"Congratulations. You all pass!"

Naruto looked around the room: not saying anything about becoming Hokage as a Genin - Kami, I was an idiot - had really knocked down the numbers going forward into Stage 2. There was some commotion regarding why Ibiki pulled the mind-game he had, but Naruto wasn't really listening. She'd agreed to meet Gaara for lunch and couldn't wait to see what he'd been up to - aside from all those missions he'd been on that Kabuto mentioned.

She also wanted to avoid Kurotsuchi, who just couldn't take a hint that she wasn't interested. She was sitting next to her during the exam, and Naruto was getting aggravated with the woman from Iwa who kept flirting with her, just like she did yesterday at the ramen stand. She'd told her that she was sadly almost too-straight and uninterested; what else was she supposed to say?!

Anko broke into the room, just like she had the last time. Naruto rolled her pencil back and forth across her desk until the woman said that the second stage of the exam would begin TOMORROW MORNING! Kami! She needed to avoid her jerk-husband until then! She thought the next part of the exams would start right away!

Since he probably didn't want to see her either, she figured that she'd just crash at the Naras, and turned around in her chair to mention that to Shikamaru. Staying away from Kurotsuchi's clutches, Naru then bounded out of her seat and over to Ibiki and turned in her paper upside down, giving him a meaningful look.

She then jumped over to Gaara, grabbed his hand, and was even more excited when he grabbed Fu's hand, too. They jumped out of the broken window and headed out to Ichirakus.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his sad Taicho and the way Tenzo-sensei was scolding the man for being so down in the dumps when their team had just passed the first stage. Kakashi-Taicho was looking in the room, (like a lost puppy,) so Sasuke brought him up to speed. "Naruto-chan took off with that red-haired Sand nin. Gaara... Sabaku no Gaara, I think his name is."

The look of aggravation that somehow managed to come through quite clearly through that one-quarter of his face was really something. Then his Killer Intent started suffocating them. Tenzo-sensei grabbed the Hatake, trying to calm him down. Sasuke eventually sighed and looked at his teammate, noting that Yamanaka Ino was watching them from down the hall. "Taicho's about as subtle as a falling building."

Sai only nodded his head in agreement.