DISCLAIMER & A/N: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.

Once again, I got carried away while writing so I've split this chapter in half. I've almost finished the remainder of what was once one chapter, so another update will be coming shortly! Thanks for reading!

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

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

The previous night -

"I don't like this mission," Kakashi growled to Naruto as they pretended to sleep on side-by-side bedrolls. Minato and his clones were guarding their perimeter.

"But you trust me, right?"

"I do, Naru, but… You don't have much field experience," Kakashi said because it was TRUE.

"I suppose there's only way for me to get that experience, huh?" she asked. She looked around to make sure her father wasn't around and reached over to slowly rake her nails through his hair. He rumbled in appreciation as he snuggled a little closer to her. Her father was far enough away that she supposed that he felt it was safe because earlier her father made sure their bedrolls were a good meter apart. "I'll be fine, though, and if anything does go wrong I need you to be patient: give me a chance to make things right on my own."

Kakashi's eyes snapped open. "Do you have intelligence that I don't?"

"Maa, maa, Kakashi-kun," she teased, "maybe my mission is top-secret." Kakashi narrowed his eyes at her before looking around and then sitting up, pulling his mask down, grabbing her hand, and giving her arm a nip before pulling his mask back up all in one fluid motion. "Hey! I know that I'll be okay there."

Kakashi scoffed. "Sensei doesn't seem very convinced of that. And it's KUMO, Naru-chan."

'Don't be stupid' went unsaid.

"I need you to trust me," she nearly begged. "And I suppose it's Tou-san's job to be super careful and on the lookout for threats and such."

Kakashi examined his wife critically and then sniffed her to see if he could sense any lies. He could only sense that SOMETHING was going on but would admit that her soft giggles were soothing. "I need you to do something for me." Naruto nodded so he continued. "If you get into trouble, I need you to call on me and not him," he said, glancing toward where her father was. In a much lower voice, he whispered, "I am your alpha, Naruto."

Naruto blinked at him a few times. "Does Tou-san know about… this?"

Kakashi shook his head. "You're my responsibility." He grabbed her chin and turned her face toward him when she became frustrated with that. "You're mine, and I am yours. Agreed?"

"Well, yeah."

"'Well yeah?'" he asked, heatedly repeating her words back to him. "I need you to do better than that, hime."

Naruto looked at him, thoughtfully and seriously. "I am yours. You are mine," she nearly growled at him.

"Good," Kakashi said, turning on his back to look at the stars. "You'll contact me if you're in a situation then."

Naruto bit her lip, glancing at her husband every now and then. "And how exactly would I do that? I absolutely CANNOT set even a small fox loose in Kumo - although that would be hilarious. –Not one of the people-eating ones, of course."

Toads, though? Yeah: that could be pretty fun to do again. Still, Naruto never liked pranking the exact same way twice. "Wait a sec. We… have a link, right?" she asked hesitantly. "We never actively use it to find each other from distance."

Kakashi let out a harsh sigh, worried about whether or not their bond would be enough. With the Akatsuki out there, with her in a foreign village where the chances of them being separated would be extremely high, and with Obi—Tobi out there with an ability to teleport in the blink of an eye…

Kakashi was terrified that he would suddenly feel the bond snap when Naru was gone. At that point, it would be too late.

.

"That's IMPOSSIBLE," Karin hissed.

Sasuke's only reaction was to raise his eyebrows at her. "Hn."

"Don't you 'hn' me you bastard!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Karin was somehow related to Naruto, alright. "What do you want me to say? Naruto is half Uzumaki. She supposedly has royal blood." Sasuke found it disturbing to talk about, really. Naruto and royal-anything did not go together.

"No," Karin repeated to herself and then scoffed as she turned to him again. "You should know better, Uchiha! That marriage - even if Namikaze was a Kage - between him and Uzumaki Kushina-hime would have produced someone who looked like me!" Sasuke sneered at her, which just pissed her off even more. Karin calmed herself, resorting to facts to deal with her apparently stupid boyfriend. "Clan genes are ALWAYS dominant."

"Hn," Sasuke agreed, now wishing she would leave more than ever.

"Don't just 'HN' me!"

"I won't repeat myself."

"You - you! You absolute moron!"

Sasuke's Sharingan began spinning to life. He pulled his chakra back from his eyes, irritated but unwilling to lose his precious vision any earlier thanks to dealing with this dobe.

Oh no. Karin really was like Naruto, Sasuke realized. How horrible. He felt bile rise in his throat. Getting his act together, he sighed, stood, and tied his ridiculously long lavender obi into a knot before looping the stupid thing around. He had to wear it because he had supposedly left Konoha in a hurry. "Yondaime-sama didn't know he was a Senju."

Karin stared at him in disbelief before falling back against his "bedroom" wall.

"Sasuke-kun," she eventually whimpered. "Please tell me you're joking."

Sasuke sighed and looked up at the ceiling, hoping that would provide him with patience. He remembered something his mother had told him about her Uzumaki friend. Surely, that would prove it to Karin so that she'd shut up? "I saw her make a barrier with chains."

Karin's eyes went even wider as she slid down the wall. Tears started to fall down her face, but even through them, she could see that Sasuke was sincere. Well, he was blank-faced but what reason would he have to lie to her about that? How would he even know about her clan's famed Adamantine Chains: something that had been lost to history? "Are you trying to say… that I attempted to kill my real clansmen?"

"Hn," Sasuke sighed, tired of this discussion. "I want to stab her all of the time."

Sasuke hadn't expected Karin to loudly attack him moments later but was able to restrain her easily enough. The young woman was growling at him like an animal as he held her down, and Sasuke again refused to admit that either that or she was attractive.

"Now I have another reason to kill Orochimaru and Kabuto," she hissed.

"Hn," he agreed, smirking at her.

Maybe it was time to make a move.

.

At the big shiny Kage building in Kumo, Minato and Kakashi reluctantly agreed to separate from Naruto so that they could attend a meeting. Minato was required to have a guard and he knew that Naruto was being followed by Jiraiya who was in a toad somewhere nearby.

Unfortunately, the Hokage had seen Naruto looking toward the toad a few times with a look of disbelief on her cute little face, so his daughter knew it, too. And of course, he had to tell Kakashi about it because his student was a paranoid maniac when it came to his daughter.

"C will give Naruto-san a tour of our village while we're meeting. Agreed?" A snarled.

Kakashi sent a wave of KI at C, making the man cower a bit while the Hokage pinched the bridge of his nose and then backhanded Kakashi's chest.

Minato agreed to the proposal, wondering what A had in mind. "I'm sure Naruto-chan would enjoy that."

"I was kinda hoping for Bee-sama; no offense, C-sama." Naru held out her fist again and rather pathetically whined when it was pushed down. Whaa. Once they were on their way, Naruto tried to put on her charm (or lack thereof: she was sure, but would try anyway) for C. "So where to first?!"

"Are you hungry?" C's target seemed to be very energetic.

"Dude! I am always hungry," she admitted, grasping his arm. She turned up her nose at Kumo's poor excuse for ramen, and C suggested a yakitori place that ended up being fantastic. They spent over an hour just eating there. The place was awesome; it was in a giant food mall - something Naru had never heard of but felt that Konoha needed desperately.

Naturally, she insisted on touring the whole thing.

Once they had been seated and the table was quickly filled with yakitori and more, C decided it was safe to begin his soft interrogation. He was a sensor and could tell that Naru was a very open person and would know if she lied. "May I ask you something, Naruto?"

"Sure! If it's okay that I ask you some questions, too." Fuck: this chicken is really good. The place they were at, Yaki-Nori (named after their specialty and the nearby river) had all KINDS of chicken on a stick: fried, boiled (no thank you,) crazy (prank-worthy) spicy, mild, and sweet. Baked, sauteed, grilled, pan-fried, deep-fried: the list went on and on.

Naru was determined to sample everything!

"Why did you wish for Lord Bee to accompany you?"

"That's a fair enough question, and I'll answer if the chef will agree to let me check out his or her kitchen."

C sighed and they went to the back. The owner was quite proud to show off what he did and Naruto ended up leaving with a very full tummy and a head full of new cooking ideas. C left with a near-empty wallet. Once they were far enough away from everybody, she told him the truth.

Well, some of it. "I wanted to talk to Bee privately because, kinda like me, he's one of your jinchuurikis." C began choking, so Naruto slapped him on the back repeatedly in order to help him. He nearly coughed up his awesome chicken. Unfortunately, people thought she was attacking him. She ended up being forced to relent and hold her hands up until C assured the other Kumo shinobis that he was fine.

Their next stop was checking out the alligator park, which didn't really impress her. She did enjoy the zoo that was next door to that, saying that she wished that Konoha had one, too.

"Although that's not fair, right? I mean, fuzzy fellas with tails being imprisoned? That's kinda what I'm against, ya know."

C took a deep breath, realizing that no matter what she may or may not be, she was a threat to Lord Bee. As a good shinobi, he got back on track, revealing nothing. "You are a clan child."

"I was supposed to be," Naruto said, taking his arm again. C was nice and his chakra was really soothing to be around. "I did get taken in by a clan. I lived with them for years." Her eyes sparkled with mischief when she looked up at him and wiggled her golden eyebrows. "Did you already know that about me?!"

C narrowed his eyes at her, but Naruto just kept smiling. "Yes." The young woman began laughing which should have been irritating. "Rumors had said that you are the adopted sibling of the Copy Ninja." Rumors had obviously been at least a little off. Naruto resembled the Yondaime Hokage much too much.

Naruto snorted. "REALLY? Oh man," she drawled. "You guys' intelligence is really something else!"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Naruto said gleefully, thinking that was hilarious. She was also getting closer and closer to Matatabi and she couldn't help the excitement building within her. Once they were looking at a body of water that supposedly had giant fish in it, she pointed toward the closest mountain. She knew that Bee lived in its nearby twin: his and Gyuuki's chakra was all over it.

Naru was surprised when a whale-sized marlin jumped out of the water. She was pretty sure that it was the summoning animal Gai-sensei primarily fought at some point in her first life. She remembered pulling a Fuma shuriken out of its head at one point. Although she wanted it to live a free, happy life, she also couldn't help but think a real (normal) one would make some good eatin'. And a great trophy!

"Hey what's that building over there?"

"Ah," C said, almost regretting that that would be their last stop. "I plan to take you there tomorrow."

"Promise?"

C cleared his throat. This woman was extremely pretty. No: that wasn't a fair description. She was exceptionally beautiful. Her eyes were absolutely mesmerizing and her long blonde hair? The gentle waves that fell into loose spirals made him want to run his hand through them. Her skin was flawless and… The way she was holding his arm all of this time? And how that meant that occasionally one of her large breasts pressed against him? He had to remind himself that he was not a pervert. "Yes."

"Hooray! So where to now, C-sama?"

Naruto found the discussions regarding Kumo's unique terrain to be a little boring; in fact, C reminded her of one of the world's most boring men, Iruka-sensei, in those moments. She suffered through it, though - through that information and so much other tedious stuff - trying to stay alert to anything interesting that her father might want to know about. Honestly, after all of that food, his continued droning was making her sleepy. She did smile at him when he offered to take her back to the big building across the lake from where they were earlier.

Yugito was apparently living in something akin to a small, shiny fortress. Bee had told her once that his place was half-underground, on his own mountain of sorts, so maybe it was just her odd preference. Yugito's chakra was muffled but serene so she assumed that the place was her home. Or maybe her office.

Naru only detected one other chakra signature there: it was someone she knew from the Fourth Shinobi War but hadn't yet met in this life.

The woman's chakra seemed more familiar to her than most of the others.

She was pulled away as evening approached, forced into a museum where Kurama went on a tear about The Gold and Silver Brothers that Shika and his team had been forced to fight when they were reanimated. They had a whole wing of the museum to themselves!

Also on display at the Kumo Defense Ministry Museum? Unbelievably, it was the Sage of Six Paths Treasured Tools: including that pot that some of Kurama and Gyuuki had been thrown into before being tossed into that fucking husk that housed the bijuu. – At least she thought that's what Shika said. She couldn't believe the things were just sitting there but tried not to pay any further attention to them because she was seriously considering stealing them. –Or she would later. C was a sensor and Naru feared he might be a mind-reader.

He was blonde, after all. Like a Yamanaka!

After C walked her back to the hotel they'd be staying at - fancy, schmancy - Kakashi grabbed her and sniffed her all over before pushing her into the bathroom, barking at her to shower. Her father seemed to find Kakashi's actions more amusing than irritating and had also insisted that they all stay together in one suite.

"This place is nice," Naru said rather obviously once out of the shower as she towel-dried her hair. Kakashi came over to help brush it out before he noticed her father watching them with a fond, sad look on his face. Winking at her husband who waltzed off to the other side of the room as to keep his cool image, she guessed, she quickly began telling them about the food mall and how Konoha HAD to get one. She knew just where the perfect spot would be even though there were already merchants there now. (Since they weren't telling her what they'd been doing, she gave them a list of Konoha vendors that if she was a "revenge-obsessed bastard like The Bastard," she'd like to see tossed out on their asses because of how they'd always treated her.)

"By the way, do we have effective seals in place now?" she eventually asked her father, signaling that she primarily meant silencing seals. Minato nodded in the affirmative while Kakashi closed the extremely long royal blue curtains and then put an additional privacy seal in place.

"Tell us about your day!"

Naruto sighed, then went through everything C had shown her - even all of the boring stuff. "That sounds lovely," Minato said, then chuckled at the deadpan expression she gave him. When Kakashi went in to get cleaned up for the evening, Naruto moved to sit beside him.

"In the museum I mentioned," she whispered, "the tools or relics of the Sage of Six Paths are on display: just sitting out there! They got used against us in the Fourth War by Not-Madara!"

Minato nodded: Nara Shikamaru had mentioned it, and now he'd have a reason to bring it up with A. "I'm sure there are security measures in place to keep them safe, Naruto." Or there will be.

"I'm sure they're not effective enough," Naru replied knowingly, crossing her arms under her chest. She inhaled deeply, wondering if she should bring up something that had been keeping her awake at night. She didn't want to worry her father needlessly, but if Kakashi found out, it could be even worse. "Tou-san," she whispered in an even lower voice, "Tobi… When he had me on the ground? His Mangekyo Sharingan was just like Kakashi's."

She narrowed her eyes at her father who didn't seem surprised.

"Thank you for telling me," Minato said simply. Naruto clicked her tongue so he changed tactics. "Being that close to a Sharingan didn't bother Kurama?"

"Please," Naruto said sarcastically. "Foxy-chan was having a fit." Kakashi came out of the shower, looking delicious, so she bounced away from her father and changed topics. "I saw where Bee and Yugito live, and tomorrow I'm going to visit the building Yugito was in!"

Minato frowned at her. "That… sounds suspicious."

"Maybe," Naruto said, not really caring. "I'm glad that she and her uh, cat are okay, anyway. Maybe it's where she works: I mean, why else would C agree to take me there?"

"Perhaps he wasn't being entirely honest?" Perhaps they intend to interrogate you or worse? Minato wouldn't put anything past Kumo. Judging from his student's grim expression, Kakashi was thinking along the same lines.

"Well, C was definitely holding back: I could feel that, but I mean: come on! He's hosting an unallied foreign shinobi, so of course, he wasn't being fully honest the whole time we were together! He's real proud of Kumo, though."

"As any loyal shinobi should be to their home," Minato said, giving her a pained look when Naru didn't look so convinced. He wondered if she'd be equally as proud to show someone around their home, then decided he would not ever have her do that. Just in case. Kakashi went back into the bathroom and slammed the door, most likely frustrated with his wife or their situation.

Naruto grinned at her father. "So. I'm gonna steal the Sage of Six Paths stuff."

"Absolutely not!"

"You're no fun. Hey! How 'bout I trade Kisame's sword to Bee and he gives me that fan-thing."

"The Banana Palm Fan?" Minato asked, having read about it. He thought it actually might be a very good weapon for his daughter now that he was considering it. "Aren't you forgetting something? Kisame-san still has his sword."

"You're right," Naru eventually agreed. "It's shark-huntin' season, then! And we really need that urn-thing," she said, tapping her chin thoughtfully as she worked her lip.

"No, Naruto - and Kumo will never willingly part with those relics." Naruto just shrugged. "Kakashi-kun! Come out here and tell your wife to behave herself!"

"You're not going to want to be in the room or anywhere nearby if he disciplines me," Naru crooned sassily, making her father gape.

"You're as bold and bad as your mother!"

Naru laughed. That was quite the compliment.