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

Thinking (+ flashbacks, etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

"Naruto - slow down!"

"Right... right. Sorry Sasuke, I just... I really want to get to the Tower as fast as we can." Naruto winced while panting as she looked at her two winded teammates. She'd been pushing too hard, and it's a wonder that they even bothered to try to keep up with her. She knew that she was fast especially without the weighted seals she normally wore, but she felt immense guilt as she looked at her two teammates. Sai had kept up with her throughout most of their training sessions since he'd been assigned to Team 7 after the Academy graduations, but now he looked terrible. "What do you think, guys? Should we find a place to bed down?"

Sasuke drank the rest of his water and despite knowing that "Uchihas don't moan or whine," let out a groan as he sat down on the ground, quite inelegantly. "Dobe. Iwa's already after you. Are you trying to prove that you're the second coming of the Yellow Flash?"

Naruto snorted and remained bent over, grasping her knees while getting her wits and breath under control, once again extending her senses for threats.

Nothing. Nothing serious, anyway! Kami, she had been positive that Orochimaru would appear in these exams. Oh, she was still looking out for his big gross chakra signature, but what was going on?! There were Genin here from his Sound Village: Genin that weren't really Genin, although what could she say to that? It wasn't like her team was exactly normal. Sasuke and Sai both easily had high Chunin-level reserves, while hers were probably the largest in the Elemental Nations. Another one of her clones popped and she rolled her eyes. That one had been disguised as Sasuke but had taken a kunai through the head, making it dispel. Fortunately, that clone had been close to Gaara's team... The Ame team that was hunting the Sabaku siblings would probably be paste soon.

She was sure that her other shadow clones were making replacement clones, and so far none of her henged Team 7 clone groups had been completely taken out. Things were running so smoothly that it was scary. Totally scary!

Part of the seal she had given the other rookies, Gai's team, plus Gaara's and Fu should have allowed her to communicate through her clones. Unfortunately, that part of the seal wasn't working at all. Naru had to remind herself that she still had huge knowledge gaps in her fuuinjutsu skills and that allowing her henged clones to burst forth from her friends as soon as they began running was pretty decent work. Every single team had been attacked, but all were relatively unharmed, thanks to the memories she received from her clones.

Tenten was pretty bruised up from a fight with the Iwa nins but really came out of the altercation well. Gai's team hadn't lost their scroll and that seemed like a miracle. It was almost as if the Iwa "Genin" were playing with them.

"We should find a spot close to a water source," Sai said as he downed the last of his water, too. "I know that you have additional supplies, as do I, but we should find somewhere to hide so that we can sleep after setting up traps."

Naruto agreed as she closed her eyes, once again very carefully surveilling her surroundings. "We've got another team - I think it's Ame about 10 minutes out, headed straight for us if we stay where we are."

"Do we want another scroll?" Sai asked. They already had four, altogether. They had earlier taken scrolls from a young Suna team, that nasty team with the senbon-filled umbrellas, and a team she didn't know from Konoha (thanks, Sasuke, you idiot: beating up our comrades was not the plan, ya big anti-social dork!)

Sasuke nodded his head solemnly "Less competition for us later. It's also more of an opportunity for us to prove ourselves," Sasuke said, letting his Inner Avenger out to speak for him again. Sai and Naruto looked at each other, Naruto frowning as Sasuke glared at them.

"We're tired, though, and setting up traps and such somewhere can take a lot of time before dark set... Mother fucker!" Naruto hissed. Sasuke was already up and hightailing it South. Sai made a sound that was very much like their sensei when annoyed as he got up, put his canteen away, and followed the Uchiha. Naruto would've laughed if she wasn't so aggravated with Sasuke: it was obvious that Sai had been spending a lot of time with Tenzo-sensei.

By the time they caught up - neither Sai nor Naruto moving particularly fast - Sasuke was already engaged in combat -er, thoroughly kicking some Ame guy's butt when Naruto's mind flipped an unhinged switch that had been off. There in front of her was the person that had been with Pein: the burgundy-haired summoning kunoichi; there was no doubt about it in her mind!

Images flashed in her mind so quickly that it was dizzying:

Jiraiya was dead. Konoha had been destroyed! Jiraiya was dead.

Shizune was gone, Kakashi - no, please... where is he... please not him, too.

"Tsunade baa-chan... Kakashi-sensei?"

Jiraiya's dead, Kakashi's dead... Shizune-nee is dead. Where's Yamato-taicho? Where's Anko nee-chan?

DEAD DEAD DEAD

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu," the burgundy-haired kunoichi called in an extremely detached manner.
"So this is the bitch that has summoned whatever's destroyed so much of the village," Naruto thought. She threw the giant rhino that came scrambling toward her.

You destroyed my home, my friends!

Jiraiya's dead! Kakashi's dead!

Multi-headed dogs hurting her friends - her partners!

Hiding in Bunta's mouth, Rasengans blazing and...

Jiraiya and Kakashi were dead: these fuckers had killed them!

Don't let the Kyuubi take over... don't let the Kyuubi and hate take over... I don't want to hurt anyone that's still alive... Please, please shut up, you mother fucker!

"Sensei? You dare call Jiraiya 'sensei?'"

I will fucking kill you.

"KIT!"

Without thinking, Naruto put up what she called her wind armor around her and screamed as she threw an absolutely vicious chakra-infused punch to that Ame woman's face before the burgundy-haired kunoichi could even pull out whatever it was that had been in her storage scroll. The woman only fell backward from where she'd been bending down, but Naruto saw her terrified green eyes in her last moments of life and suddenly felt cold.

No! What have I done?

It's just like they said: I'm a monster. One of the girl's Ame teammates dropped their scroll and took off running, terrified, but Naruto just stood there in shock, staring at what she'd done.

In one punch, one fit of anger and rage... one moment of PTSD-ridden negligence she had... Oh, gods, there's blood almost up to my elbow. Oh gods it's flesh! Oh God, it's brai-

Black eyes came into view, although she really didn't see him, and two warm, dirty hands were pressed to the sides of her face. "Naruto-chan! Look at me!" Sai's severe voice thankfully caught her attention, but she couldn't move; couldn't think! "Shit. Uchiha-san, Blondie's frozen up. We need to find safe shelter and we need to find it now." He tossed his blonde teammate over his shoulder and ran back and past the area they were in earlier, finally finding a cave that was near a stream. Sai washed off his teammate's arm, with concern written all over his face as he half-hauled Naruto back inside the cave.

Sasuke was not amused by the way Naruto was acting now. What she'd done was overkill and gross, but it had taken out the competition - and Naruto knew that lives would be at risk and up for grabs in this exam! Although they'd been fighting insipid teams every few hours since leaving their gate, that was the first kill any of them had made. Sasuke didn't kid himself, however, into thinking that these exams would get easier. He certainly did NOT appreciate it when Sai harshly slapped Naruto in the face.

"What the hell, Sai?! She'd stopped crying! What's your problem, dumbass?" Sasuke shoved his teammate into the other side of the cave, and Naruto was on her feet - it was obvious that she was really shaky - but she was being her annoying self, scolding him for fighting as she got between them. Within minutes she seemed fine and fakely happy, which was just... weird. Naruto pulled out food and her bedroll and asked if he could take the first watch. Sasuke gladly marched outside the cave and began making insidious traps.

Unknown to her teammates, Kurama was having a long talk with his partner - who had completely lost it.

"You need to eat, Naruto," Sai said worriedly but firmly. Naruto was lying on her bedroll, unresponsive again and simply staring straight ahead of her, frowning, as if she was seeing something that wasn't there. He gave her as much privacy as possible as he polished his tanto and put his gear in position so that everything he needed would be immediately available to him, but heard her whimper for the Nara heir a few times. He didn't think any one of them was going to sleep after what she'd done, and he didn't get WHY she'd gone feral, for lack of a better word like she did, but he eventually got an idea.

"Ninja Art: Super Beast Imitating Drawing," he whispered and Naruto jumped, but he was sure he saw one side of her lips twitch upward at seeing little black and white frogs bouncing around. Sai laid down, opened up his Icha-Icha Paradise, and began re-reading the chapter where the buxom Dunaste first gets nasty with the great prize-fighter, Raija. He looked over after the course of an hour or so and saw his teammate sleeping fitfully, but at least she was sleeping. He hadn't realized that he'd dozed off until Sasuke came to turn over the watch duties hours later.

Sasuke listened as the idiot spoke as if someone else was there - no, as if the Nara guy was there, brokenly telling him what she'd done. He really thought that she'd finally lost her mind and had no idea of who this summoner was or what she was saying about pain. Is she physically hurt? Eventually, she sighed to herself, then opened one of her eyes, lifting an eyebrow as he continued to stare at her. "What are you lookin' at, Bastard?"

"Tch, you are such a moron."

Naruto cleared her throat and tried to sound normal. "Did you put up decent traps? Your traps usually suck."

"Screw you, Dobe."

"No thanks. You uhhh - aren't my type," she replied without a smile, meaning every word.

Sasuke was a little offended but wouldn't admit that. He honestly thought he was everyone's type, although he didn't always like that. "My appeal is legendary." Naruto's mouth fell open, making her look more like her idiotic self.

"Your horrible attitude is legendary and will be written about for centuries, I bet," the blonde snarked before turning over, away from him. "Maybe even by poets. Now go to sleep, Avenger-san!" After closing her eyes again, she briefly tensed, even more, wondering if she shouldn't have turned her back on the raven. She only felt more "comfortable" once she heard him grumbling incomprehensibly as he snuggled down into Sai's sheet.

Plus her other side was aching from being on the cave's floor which was hard as hell even through her bedroll; she just couldn't lay flat or facing him anymore. Naruto sighed and wondered what the guys were thinking, not bringing their own bedrolls, but Sasuke couldn't have hers, that's for sure. Just as she was on the verge of sleep she heard Sai yelling at someone to avoid their traps, so she headed outside.

"What was that about?" she whispered.

"You didn't hear them? Team 9 planned to commandeer our cave before they realized that we were here."

"We could've shared!" Well, it was too late now as Lee's team was gone. Naruto gave up looking around in the dark, closed her eyes, and sensed all the chakra-infused strings and wires that the boys had set to kill everyone, (including themselves probably,) that might try to attack them. "Go to sleep, Sai. You can use my bedroll." Sai stared at her oddly for several moments before doing just that.

Oh, Kakashi... I wish you were here. Or I was with you, either way.

Memories of the night before flashed inappropriately in her mind even when Kurama called her a giant pervert, glad that she was supposedly returning to herself.

She really wasn't.

Kakashi had shown up while she was acting as a fun village guide to Temari-hime and Fu-chan. Shikamaru had been there with her husband - spying on them, the fools - so her brother took over tour duties as she grudgingly went home. It left the blonde feeling incredibly awkward being alone again with the man she loved. The man whom she'd actually, like an idiot, told him she loved.

On the way back home, she apologized to Kakashi for making him uncomfortable in the morning and was nearly shaking with anxiety when he didn't say anything back to her. No - actually I was trembling. Naru shook her head at the memory and stood up to try to get her head back in the game and stop thinking about the night before - or about that Ame gir-. No, no, no! Kakashi's a safer topic.

I'm a monster. I'm a... STOP IT!

Reaching out for the chakra around her, it seemed like the forest was pretty quiet. There were creepy big animals, but Naru knew that with the way most animals felt about her, they'd continue moving away from the giant demonic fox or whatever it was they sensed in their habitat. Her thoughts forcefully returned to the previous night.

As soon as she'd shut the front door to their home, Kakashi took her hand and led her onto the back porch. He sat down and eventually started talking about his father and his team: her father's team. She wasn't sure what to think of his change, but let him talk and talk, occasionally petting the clammy hand that she was holding as she sat close beside him.

He was definitely still haunted by all of the terrible loss he'd suffered. She could sense that Kakashi was relieved, maybe, after their long discussion. It was already nighttime, and Naru knew that she needed to get some sleep before the exam in the morning. She went to the kitchen to begin heating up a dish that she'd made the day before when suddenly Kakashi had her against the wall. He had a tight grip on her hands and his breath was hot in her ear.

"You're resisting."

"I'm... What?" Naruto had no idea what he was talking about. She didn't exactly feel comfortable with him right now, considering the way he'd run out on her in the morning after what she'd admitted, but the man was already turning her into a puddle of goo, so how could she be resisting?

"You can't feel it? You can't feel me?"

Yes, she felt his erection. It was definitely growing, but she wasn't sure that she could handle being this close to him after everything that had been said and discussed. And of course, there was what he had not replied to that morning hanging over them.

He bit her on the side of her neck and she almost saw stars as she let out a whimper.

"Stop resisting the bond," he ordered as he licked where he'd bit her.

"Whhh - wait. What?! I'm not - what bond?"

Kakashi clicked his teeth and stood up straighter again, but kept his knee pressed intimately between her legs. He wiped his lips, then tugged off and tossed his gloves to the island behind them. "The bond! the seal? Everything we've talked about?"

"Or not talked about," she said warily.

He stepped away from her. "I'm sorry for running. As I said, people I care about end up... that's not important." He looked up to the ceiling and seemed to be debating something. "What's important is you; you and me." He watched and looked down to hide a smirk as she blushed. "I need you to give yourself to me. Totally and completely: it's the only way."

Naruto stared at him for a long moment, not really getting what he was going on about. "Umm, haven't I already done that?" she asked in a very small voice. She yelped as he picked her up by her thighs, then tossed her up so that her legs wrapped around his waist better and grabbed her ass in both of his large hands, squeezing it and moving his fingers closer to her core.

"I need you," he said darkly. "I need you with me right now. I need you to feel everything I do. You will do that. You will do that right now."

Naruto shook off the rush of heat that coursed throughout her body. She concentrated on the cool night air and tried to stop herself from smiling. They'd initiated the fuck out of the living room: his recliner and that sectional, especially.

She cleared her throat and chastised herself for being a perv when she'd just slaughtered someone.

Miles away in Konoha, Kakashi smiled and put down his Icha-Icha. "Someone's thinking of me," he said saucily.

Pakkun raised his head before lowering it to his paws again. "I don't want to know, Boss. Go to sleep or something!"

Kakashi ignored his lead ninken, laid his precious book back over his face, nearly able to taste his wife in his mind. He turned and buried his face into the recliner, inhaling deeply. Gods. He was going to take her on every surface of the house and on top of all his clothes if he could keep that scent close to him.

Earlier he'd been worried because he'd felt that Naru had been frantic, to put it mildly. He'd jumped up to get ready and leave early for the underground ANBU entrance that was the most direct route to 44's Tower, but now? Now she was horny for him, so that had to be a good thing: she had to be alright. He couldn't imagine that she was in danger and feeling that way as strongly as she was now.

It was a real turn-on.

Team 7 had just finished packing up their supplies, having disengaged their traps an hour earlier. Naruto's head snapped up as she felt a big bright chakra signature flickering wildly. She felt compelled; she had to get to it! "C'mon," she yelled behind her, taking off at top speed.

She landed behind a bear and was just about to either kick his butt or cuddle him when he took off running. Naruto slumped and pouted. Why did most animals have to hate her so? She dropped down on the ground to see what this bright chakra was all about as her eyes went wide. Karin? Sasuke's fangirl Karin? Uzumaki Karin?

It was only after the redhead had been put in jail in her first life that she heard that Karin was an Uzumaki. Although she'd only seen the girl once, Karin looked every bit like what an Uzumaki should, from everything Naru knew now.

"Umm, hello," Naruto offered a lazy, short wave from her position on the ground. "Why are you in a hole, 'ttebayo? Where's your team?"

"Dead," the redhead replied bitterly. She allowed the blonde to help her out of the hole she'd buried herself in but seemed as scared of this blonde as the bear seemed to have been. "Thank you for getting rid of the bear," she said cautiously.

Sasuke and Sai arrived. Sasuke told the blonde off for running away the way she had. Naruto hinted at an apology and told him to shut up. "What's your name? I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

The redhead backed up two steps and pulled out a kunai. "Bullshit," she snarled. "You don't even look like an Uzumaki!"

Naruto watched as Karin looked over at the boys, then back at her before really giving Sasuke the once, twice, and thrice over. The blonde screwed her face up and planted her hands on her hips. "Look again, Uzumaki-san." She took a quick step sideways to avoid the swipe Karin made at her with her kunai, and the girl seemed really afraid - and pissed off. Naruto's teammates were already in a position to attack the redhead but were looking toward her for the go-ahead. "Really look. Don't I feel like an Uzumaki to you? Use your senses."

The more she spoke, the more she could see the realization hitting the other Uzumaki. Then Karin backed up several steps, nearly tripping over the hole she'd been in. "Easy there," Naruto said while slowly holding out her hand.

"You - you've got two chakras! One of them..."

"I do," Naruto agreed simply. Seeing how afraid Karin was, the blue-eyed woman tried to give her a little hint, hoping that unlike in her first lifetime, Uzumakis, (well, not Nagato,) knew about the Kyuubi in Konoha, and perhaps even how they were the only ones who could hope to contain him. "My other chakra's gigantic, foul-tempered, likes to bury mountains with his - OWW!"

"Foreign nin, Ditzy!" Sai admonished harshly. The team looked back at Karin, who looked very pale. She shook as if in shock and agreed to come with them when Naruto asked. Naruto was thrilled despite the way the redhead was looking at Sasuke like a piece of meat or something.

"I don't trust her."

"You don't trust anyone, Kurama, especially Uzumakis."

"I wonder why," he said dryly, "Tch! An Uchiha and two Uzumakis... You'd better hope that your company is why I'm feeling so..."

"Something's not right, is it?" The fox nodded back at her grimly. Naruto stopped in her tracks. "Karin, I need you to get on my back!"

"What? No! I can walk or run you know! There's nothing wrong with me," Karin replied sharply, looking at Sasuke, who only looked away from the redhead and glared at Naruto.

"We need to move," Naruto snarled, goosebumps coming up and running all over her. "Something's not... fuck!" Orochimaru's disgusting, foul chakra signature suddenly came from underground and felt like it was everywhere. Naruto turned around, ready to protect not only the bastard and Sai, but her clansmen, too. She attempted to send clones out, but the harsh wind and dirt flying around took them out as her girls barely had a chance to pop into existence and were unable to reinforce themselves. Naruto's wind buffer failed as she examined the man who was not hiding behind a Genin's face this time.

Orochimaru stood smiling in front of them - in all his pedophiliac glory. The Akatsuki cloak he was wearing made him somehow look even more dangerous.

"I can see by your waning posture that you're aware of my organization, little jinchuuriki," he said in a disgustingly silky tone. "Now," he grinned as he tilted his head. "Why don't you come with me and I'll leave your little friends alone?"

Sai was immediately in front of her, his tanto at the ready. "No. She's not going with you, Orochimaru."

"Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked - his voice just over a whisper. That's when the snake's Killing Intent hit them. Naruto tried to counter it with her own (well, Kurama's...) and felt terrible at seeing Karin retching on the ground because of it, but it was no good! Orochimaru's chakra was just so... diseased? Fucked-up? Polluted? Yes, it was all of those things and worse.

Naruto wasn't sure what to do. Before, he'd been after Sasuke. She and Shikamaru had a plan to get the bastard away from him before he was bitten, but in the end knew that if Orochimaru took Sasuke, so be it and they'd perhaps harshly deal with Sasuke and eventually Orochimaru (they'd definitely kill that bastard) afterward.

...But now he was after her and Kurama, plus she had a non-combatant type - her distant cousin and family - that she had to protect, too! Not sure of what else to do, she put out a series of gigantic chakra pulses, signaling an emergency in Morse Code to probably the entire continent.

"That wasn't nice, Namikaze-chan. You should not have done that."

Three more chakra signatures were coming in hot, and they weren't friendly. Another was in the air coming from the far North; that one was broken up and didn't make sense at all. The chakra almost felt like butterflies.

Kurama wouldn't let her rip off his seal because he believed that would be handing the Akatsuki an incredibly dangerous piece of information about her! So what else could she do? Naruto attacked the Snake Sannin with all she had. She could only hope that neither she nor the disgusting snake would hurt her teammates if she had to put up her jinchuuriki cloak for the first time in this life before help arrived.

His hair dyed and smoothed behind his old ANBU mask, Jiraiya wasn't sure whether to be proud or completely frustrated with his goddaughter.

He knew that he was frustrated with himself. Times for the girl - bleh - the young woman and the village were precarious. He should not have let his feelings about her forced marriage get in the way of training the gal every moment that had been available after meeting her again.

...Young woman: for fuck's sake it was hard to deal with seeing Naruto all grown up!

He sighed again as he watched an Inuzuka perform a hell of a Gatsuga and kept moving, knowing that the Konoha team he'd just observed would win that little battle.

Somehow Naru must have managed to make seals that concealed her chakra and replaced it with her teammates' on her clones. There was no way those teammates of hers had enough chakra to make that many clones. Plus he'd just watched in Sage mode as one of Naruto's clones that was pure Naruto made another clone that looked and felt like that Uchiha. He shook his head in wonder. Uzumakis were truly sealing geniuses as well as being loons. From his discussion of fuuinjutsu with Naruto, though, he knew that there were so many sealing basics that she was lacking. Wasn't Hatake teaching her any of it?!

Hatake, he growled to himself. No, no... I need to get a grip.

He went off in search of the real Team 7 again. From what Naruto told him, they would be in extreme danger from his teammate, so co-proctoring this part of the exams had been something he was going to do whether or not sensei allowed it. Fortunately, the Hokage gave him the go-ahead at the last minute. The teams were already in the forest by then, separated by either chance or allotment. The sexy Anko-chan hadn't been happy about him being there when she found out, but what was she going to do? Turn down the Gallant Jiraiya, Great Toad Sage, and Wooer of All Women?

Fat chance!

From what his goddaughter had told him back in Wave, Naruto had been able to get hold of a couple of sealing books from the Nara library, and the Nara kid had brought home anything he could while in school to get her started on fuuinjutsu. The Shinobi Library, let alone the Academy Library, doesn't have shit for sealing books, though. She'd recently received her parent's possessions and had been reading Kushina's sealing notes - which he knew were batshit crazy - but HE had the couple's sealing library hidden away with the toads.

I should've handed everything over earlier. He just prayed that the shorty was smart enough not to blow herself up. Naruto's family history was all about sacrifice and dying young... He knew he couldn't live with himself if he had to bury her, too.

Just as Jiraiya's sage mode flickered out, a weak, or rather spread out chakra signature that he knew very well was entering the Forest. Jiraiya took off running toward it. "Konan-chan, what are you doing here?"

Shikamaru stretched and yawned before looking over at the clones that had been standing ready outside the trees that had hidden his team overnight. "Anything interesting happening? And aren't you tired, Naruto?"

The clone only shook her head while continuing to search for threats. It seemed that he had one of her particularly serious clones with him. What a drag all this was. Shikamaru sighed and used his shadow to poke at Ino, who really needed to wake up, again.

Sasuke and Sai - they were Naruto's clones in disguise but it was too troublesome to call them anything else in his mind - ran back from who knows where as the Sai clone set off one of his traps. The Sai-henged clone popped and the Naruto beside him snorted. Just as the clone placed her hands in position to make a replacement, Naruto's gigantic chakra pulsed heavily from the West of where they were currently. His sister was signaling that it was an emergency!

"Guys, front and center," he yelled at his teammates. Chouji had been the last one on watch and was eating, but he could say that he was proud that he and Ino - who had been fast asleep - both appeared at his side at once, looking serious.

"What's happening, Shikamaru?"

Naruto's voice came through his earring again: it was much quieter than it had been earlier, but just as desperate if not more so. "H-he's here in an Akatsuki cloak. If you can, find Fuu and Gaara and get them the hell out of here!"

"Naruto," Shikamaru began, incredibly concerned for his sister and even the clone in front of him. While they were all grabbing their things, getting ready for battle, the Sasuke-looking clone popped and Naruto's clone looked up at him; it all happened so fast!

"Hot," the clone groaned quietly, holding her abdomen. It was only a matter of seconds before that clone popped, too.