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

Minato left the hotel room early.

Sure, Naru and her lech-husband (that man is not my student, he thought for now) had put down silencing seals but they hadn't taken the little time that would have been required to consider the vibrations their "activities" had caused in his nearby room to be sealed away. Kami-sama: he had only gotten three hours of sleep all night, and his nightmares had been awful.

"I need to go find your father," Kakashi scowled, irritated that his father-in-law hadn't waited for him considering that he was his Hokage's guard on this Kumo trip.

Naruto reached out her senses as she continued to get ready. "He's in the downstairs lobby. Aaand, he's really agitated."

Kakashi winced, wondering if the silencing seals had worked. So worried about his little wife continuing to be in danger - not to mention the fact that there was an uninitiated and springy bed RIGHT THERE - he had nearly completely lost control with her.

"Kash, wait," Naru giggled between moans. "Gods! My father's in the next room!"

"The only person I want you calling 'Daddy' is me."

Shame on Naruto: that naughty girl. She had laughed so hard that he had to stop for a minute to allow her to get control of herself. He smacked her on the ass and headed down to deal with Minato.

Now that Naru had to wear her green (one made specialized to hold fuuinjutsu scrolls) vest, Naruto had to limit the orange. The two colors just clashed too badly. Her new uniform was similar to what she had worn in the finals of the Chunin Exams. Black multi-pocketed cargo pants with a slim orange trim that unfortunately rested near her hip bones thanks to her overly-large (in her opinion) hips and ass. Kakashi had bought her mesh unitards to wear under them that were a pain but worked well enough - and covered Kurama's seal. (He had also bought her something nearly identical that didn't cover much of anything "for bedtime.") The armor - or fishnet material for fun times - dipped to the waist in the back, supposedly to keep her cool and because the Konoha flak vests and jackets had heavier kevlar there. Naru was pretty sure he got that style because Kakashi wanted his seal on her visible whenever possible, however.

Naruto didn't feel the same way: that giant seal was embarrassing. Her father had nearly come unglued upon seeing it the night before when she took her vest off after returning to their hotel suite. He had apparently heard about it but was mad as hell at Kakashi once he caught a glimpse of the giant Hatake crest on her back.

The brand of crop tops she had did a great job at holding the girls in place, sometimes even in lieu of bandages or a bra, just as Tsunade-baa-chan said it would. Naru now had a variety of them, in burnt orange, black, azure blue, and a camo-print green for when she was feeling boring or especially badass. She still wore her headband where it was supposed to be but had found a burnt orange fabric to sew the metal on.

Today, though, she was wearing a black skirt. It was too short in her opinion, but Kakashi bought it for her and had assured her that it looked good.

C didn't arrive at the hotel, so her father and husband walked her to the Raikage Tower. They weren't speaking, but by the time they made it to the Raikage Tower, her father was acting a little less weird and hostile.

Minato thought it might be a good sign that they weren't brought over in the middle of a Kumo shinobi formation, but Kakashi - that perverted shit had only stared at him like one-eyed, dead-eyed, fish when he complained about the couple's sealing before Naru came downstairs to meet them… Kakashi reminded him that might be exactly what Kumo wanted them to think.

As they walked to the Tower, Kakashi and her father were signing each other so quickly she couldn't keep up from behind, so Naru decided to watch people instead.

The vast majority of Kumo shinobi weren't exactly happy to have those with a Konoha hitai-ate within their midst, although they were gawking at her quite alive father. At least they didn't seem completely hostile.

C came running out of the Tower, all out of breath. "Naruto-sama," he bowed, "I deeply apologize for not meeting you as was previously scheduled!"

"That's alright, C! And what did I tell you about calling me that? —Just Naru is fine, ya know." Both she and C jumped when the Hokage sunshinned himself and Kakashi away. "I sure hope that isn't against protocol."

Meanwhile:
"Calm down, Kakashi: she's just doing her job!"
"She was FLIRTING!"

"So is everything alright?" Naru asked genuinely. C seemed like a wreck today.

"Haha - Hai, hai. You uh, know how these things go."

"I guess so?"

On the boring Kumo tour went. Their first stop today was the Shinobi Academy.

It was much later, at 1800, that things finally got interesting for Naruto. She was finally going to meet Nii Yugito, in the flesh!

Once in the luxurious entry of the shiny building Yugito was still in today, Naruto felt more than half of her chakra disappear all at once and started laughing. "You… motherfucker," she continued to chuckle more darkly. "I was having such a nice time with you!" It took a lot of restraint for Naruto not to punch the shit out of C, but there had to be more going on here than kidnapping a Konoha nin while her father and husband (/brother, they thought: yuck) were in the village on a diplomatic mission - a team that she was a part of.

Naru prayed Jiraiya was being cool and would wait in that toad nearby - if that idiot hasn't already left to spy on a group of unsuspecting women. She was hoping to finally find out what was going on. The blonde impatiently waited to start slinging jutsus until she had a better explanation of what Kumo's motives were.

That Kumo team that had, once upon a time, beat her up, filed in, looking as severe as she first remembered them to be. "Forgive me, Naruto-sama," C said as he brought in some chains. Naru only raised an eyebrow as he began chaining her down with almost ridiculously long, thick chains.

Omoi took out his sucker. "Man, she's pretty."

"Thank you," Naruto said. "You know this is going to cause a lot of problems, right?"

"Keh! You're awfully compliant, aren't ya?" the redhead said as she helped shackle the blonde.

Naruto wasn't really worried: she was being trained to be a seal master. She thought this nasty gal's name was Karui. Naruto, like an idiot, had once allowed this girl to beat the shit out of her over information on The Bastard. Not this time. The blonde gently smiled at her, regardless, looking at her pretty hair. "Are you part Uzumaki?"

"Tch. No fucking way," Karui said, irritated that the target brought it up. She was an orphan and remembered being tested to see if she was related to the long-dead clan. Not every redhead was an Uzumaki.

"Pity," Naru sighed. "Oh my gosh: I just realized that the last time I asked someone that and they said no? My friend and I literally destroyed that guy."

Karui slapped her in the face, infuriating her seniors and team even as Naruto began to grin maliciously.

"Thank you, mistress. May I have another?"

Karui screamed and Naru had to hold her chained hands up to her ears while the other Kumo nins held the Chunin back. She still figured what she said was pretty funny, though. Listening to them argue, Naruto sighed heavily as they got louder and louder, discussing the Konoha diplomatic team. Diplomacy, huh?

"You should tell them who you are."

"Your jinchuuriki?" Naruto asked, knowing who Kurama thought was most important: him. She wasn't going to do that again.

"Nah, not this time. These chimps are afraid." Naruto nodded her head in agreement. Tension was rolling off C, especially, in waves, and had been for most of the day. "Tell them your relation to dumbass and perv-boy, and let's just hope they don't shit themselves."

Naruto shrugged and gave the others a dry look. Why not, I guess… How to phrase it, though?

"You realize that the Hokage's my daddy?" she asked, using the crazily embarrassing thing Kakashi came up with last night. "And the Copy Ninja? – He's my sugar daddy, I guess you could say." She batted her eyes at the now silent, gaping shinobis.

Kurama pulled her into her mindscape. "What other stupid things are you planning?"

"I dunno," Naruto admitted to the fox she was still aggravated at. "I just want to find out what's going on with Bee and Yugito. I'm glad I can sense their chakra, ya know?" She jumped into one of the thick bamboo trees that was growing in her headspace so that she was level with Kurama's eyes. "It's great to know that they're alive and safe, so let's see what happens! …And can you believe how shitty these restraints are?!"

Naruto had all kinds of ideas as to why that was - and why the Kumo nins were doing this at all. She perked up but didn't change her expression when she heard her latest "captors" beginning to desperately argue in near-whispers.

"It's what he said to do!"

"I know but… Raikage-sama is going to have a fit!"

"Do you not trust Bee-sensei?"

"Of course I do, you moron!"

It was the gal Naru recognized yesterday by chakra signature with Yugito that spoke next. "Be cool."

"What if he doesn't show up? And then Raikage-sama blames us for her abduction? And then he'll punch us, shattering all of our bones!" The others tried to hush him but Omoi continued. "…Kumo and Konoha will go to war. The Yellow Flash is alive! If we manage to live through Raikage-sama's punishment and Sugar Daddy's revenge, we'll be on the front lines…"

"Ah. You'll be able to meet the pretty nurses, at least," Naruto chimed in, remembering how she'd heard that Omoi used to regularly spin himself into near anxiety attacks. "Ouch."

The redhead had bonked both her and Omoi on their heads. Naruto decided that she was going to kick this hothead's ass.

"You guys are like a comedy troupe," the blonde Konoha Tokubetsu Jonin said instead, appreciating the entertainment but not being taken or hit again. Sadly that shut everyone up. "Who are you talking about, anyway?"

"Bee-sensei," Omoi answered and got hit again.

"That's enough," C said, his chakra sizzling. Naruto frowned as she felt how irritated he was - although it wasn't directed at her.

"Ya know, I WANTED to talk to your sensei: there was no need to restrain me," Narua let them know, shooting a glare at C.

"Everyone outside," C ordered.

The other blonde Jonin, the one that looked like she'd fit right in with her and Tsunade considering her blonde hair and bust size, was the last one out. Samui - Naru thought her name was - softly apologized to her and then gave a significant, worried look to the far wall as she shut the door. Naruto nodded back at her.

"Alright: how to do this," Naruto said to herself out loud regarding her restraints. Reaching out her senses, she could still feel that Bee was close to her father in the heart of the city even with the chakra restrictions, considering their bijuu chakra. Her father had put a seal on himself that should've hidden it, and Naru couldn't help but wonder if Bee would know that her father had part of Kurama anyway.

The other thing that was weird was that a LOT of Kumo shinobi were gathered around them: over a thousand! But her father and husband's chakra was smooth and… eager or excited?

Naruto swiped a bit of blood over the locks on her wrists and neck, (it didn't work,) and then meditated. She was unable to safely get into Sage mode, so she tried the next thing she'd learned about chakra restraints and locks, working at separating her Yin and Yang chakra. It wasn't something she messed with much, but she was able to create a shadow - thank you, Shikamaru - that unlocked the one on her neck. After that, the wrist restraints almost fell off. She walked over to the far wall, dragging the chains with her, and knocked on it. There was no response, so she knocked harder.

Feeling C approaching, she covered her unlocked restraints with her hair and went back to her seat and meditated, successfully going into Sage mode but keeping her eyes closed.

"I'm sure it won't be much longer. Please wait here," C said and shut the door behind him again.

Focusing on her mindscape, she felt the world spin and suddenly there was an incredibly beautiful, shimmering two-tailed cat in front of her.

Yugito was standing next to Matatabi, looking surprised before her expression soured. "You must be Uzumaki Naruto."

"At your service! I got locked up, Yugito-sama. Matatabi-sama: it's such a pleasure. Your siblings speak so highly of you!"

Kurama said that he did not, but none of them believed him.

"How is this," the cat began to say but shook her head. "Is this your doing, Aniki?!"

"Not really," Kurama admitted.

"Mother needs our chakra," Shukaku said.

"I really don't," Naruto whispered glumly.

Yugito's brows were furrowed. "You said you're locked up?"

"C locked me up. I'm in the room next to you," Naru admitted before her eyes widened in surprise. "Bee's on his way here!"

Yugito scoffed and disappeared before appearing in the room Naruto was (un)chained in and throwing the huge man into the wall while slamming the door shut. "The fuck is this all about, Bee?!"

"Yo yo yo!" Bee turned his gaze to Naruto and sighed heavily. "You must be… Na-ru-to."

Yugito whacked Bee in the head.

"You don't remember me?" Seeing that he didn't, Naru slumped. "I thought recognizing me is why you kinda sponsored my wrestling career!"

Bee looked confused.

"Morons: all of them," Kurama remarked, making Bee stop and look like he had seen a ghost.

Bee rubbed his nose and slumped onto another couch next to Yugito. "I guess I should explain, plantain."

Yugito smacked him again and Naruto heartily approved. That rhyme was especially stupid and unnecessary.

"I'LL explain since you've been a damn moron all this time," Yugito hissed. Her chakra was spiking, which signaled C, whom she also punched before slamming the door on him again. "A decade and a half ago or so I remembered everything," Yugito said while sitting down on the couch.

"We thought she was crazy," Bee said. "The whole thing to me was hazy."

"Hazy: yeah, right," Yugito scoffed. "And stop that damn rapping! This is serious shit and you totally buckled to A-sama!"

Naruto listened to the bickering and finally interrupted them, wondering if what had happened to her had happened to Bee. "My mind got sealed around the time I was attacked as a kid, so I have no memories of anything from when I was little this time around." The way that Yugito and Bee looked back and forth from each other to her, then back to each other again was almost comical. - Or would've been, if things didn't seem so desperate.

"When was that?" Yugito asked.

"Not sure exactly, but I think it was 8-10 years ago."

"Then you've got no fucking excuse," Yugito shouted at Bee. He barely escaped her next swing.

"It's not good for my reputation to be the voice of reason," Naruto began, "but really, I should brief you on what I know unless you've come across one of the other jinchuurikis."

"Bubble Boy was here and this Dipshit STILL didn't believe us," Yugito said furiously as she glared at Bee.

"Utakata?"

"He's a missing-nin! Taking his word would be a sin."

"He's not a missing-nin anymore," Naru remarked, wondering why he thought that. She pouted up at Bee, her lower lip beginning to tremble even as she tried to be strong. It had been difficult to get Bee's trust and real friendship, comradery, and PROTECTION in her last life, but once she had it, she cherished it and tried to give back the same. "You really don't remember me, Bee-shishou?"

"Sorry kid."

"He did before! He told Sandaime-sama all this shit: you said so," Yugito said, still furious with her senpai. "Then you said it was all a joke."

"I don't remember, Yu! YOU can't expect me to back… YOU to bro… You know."

Naruto pulled a face. "That was awful."

"Dealing with this shit day after day: you have no idea," Yugito said, rolling her eyes before they became glassy. "Because I was 'crazy' I've been locked up!"

"Are you serious?" Naruto asked, anger rising in her chest. She began rolling her chains up in a ball, looking forward to sending them straight through those responsible with additional wind chakra. "That's what my friend and I were afraid would happen to us - or that they'd find someone else to stick Kurama in."

"What are we gonna do? The fox giving his name to you? …Means he trusts you, Bakayaro."

"Fuck yes, he does." Naruto didn't have to look in her mindscape to bet that Kurama was rolling his eyes at her. Although he doesn't trust me with sealing: that furry asshole.

Unable to help herself, she couldn't help but smile when she turned inward and saw that Kurama had moved to Matatabi and the two were nearly cuddled up to each other. Smiling grimly at Bee and Yugito, Naruto stuck her fists out.

C stepped into the room, but seeing three silent (and usually loud or at least amped-up) jinchuurikis with their fists pressed against each other made him extremely anxious - so he left them to it. He was this far in, and he trusted his senpai(s) to back him when they faced the Raikage's wrath.

"Why do you have all this bijuu chakra?"

Naruto hummed. "It's really nice for the siblings because they're not so bored - inside of me, anyway. Plus! A few times a jinchuuriki has shown up to give me important messages. Gaara, Shukaku's jinchuuriki, shows up on the regular, dattebayo."

"'Dattebayo… ttebayo:' I like that! And potat-oes."

"Would you stop that awful rapping?" Gyuuki demanded.

"It's so good to see you Gyuuki-sama."

"Stop pretending to be so fucking polite," Kurama demanded. Naruto just shrugged, then her eyes opened wider when Gyuuki's and Matatabi's chakras began siphoning into her. She felt like her coils were going to explode - which may have been an exaggeration - before the feeling oddly receded.

"You share, too: goddammit, Kurama!"

Matatabi laughed: a gentle soothing sound. "As long as one of you has our chakra, kitten, we will be able to stay in touch." She looked at her siblings and tilted her head. "If only Kokuo and Isobu were here," she added sadly.

Naruto nodded, worried about them, too. "I spoke with Roshi after his battle against the Akatsuki alongside Saiken's jinchuuriki, Han. –He was worried about Han." She waited while Yugito cursed the Akatsuki, agreeing with her completely. "I PRAY they didn't get him. …Isobu's jinchuuriki killed himself." Bee and Yugito gasped. Yugito began to question her, but Bee interrupted.

"We're about out of time, Miss Nine."

Yugito clicked her tongue and explained. "If the Yondaime Hokage is really alive, Raikage-sama planned to challenge him to a race in the Great Arena."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Naru breathed - but it was obvious that the other woman was serious. Bee ALMOST looked embarrassed about the whole thing. "Well, I suppose it's not surprising. A-sama challenged my grandmother to an arm-wrestling contest once upon a time, and he nearly killed me when I was trying to race around him to get to the battleground in the Fourth War."

"My siblings and I can communicate specifics while you three talk before A arrives," Gyuuki said. "Much is to be discussed."

The three jinchuurikis drew their hands back from each other and Naruto felt her mind fill with what Yugito remembered and had gone through. She swallowed hard.

She got some of Bee's memories, too, but it wasn't much: what he communicated through his jinchuuriki (apparently) was only about being stuck in Lightning Country for the last decade, which wasn't so bad. "Kami. I'm sorry Yugito-sama. If it makes you feel any better, I killed Hidan and Kakazu."

Yugito high-fived her. "It makes me feel a lot better."

Bee nodded in agreement as he scratched at his head, his nose scrunched up as information flooded his mind. Everything that his fellows had gone through pissed him off, and he was even more pissed that his mind may have been tampered with. Or that he'd been left out. "It makes sense to go on the offense."

"But we need to play defense, too," Naruto said seriously, scooting closer to them and activating a silencing seal. "Kumo has these relics that belonged to the Sage of Six Paths. They were used against us in the Fourth Shinobi War."

Yugito narrowed her eyes on the other blonde. "You want to steal them."

Naruto didn't feel that was quite accurate; she only wanted the fan for herself. "I want to protect them." She turned in the direction she felt the Kages and their entourages approaching. "We're out of time for now."

"BEE!" A shouted as he busted through the door. He was followed by her father and all of the others. "What is the meaning of this? You missed the challenge!"

"It was… a tie," Minato said begrudgingly. He would've won had A demanded him to not Hiraishin when he was kicking the Raikage's ass again in the second round.

The Raikage harrumphed, glaring at the Hokage before turning back to his brother. "What is the meaning of this, B?"

"Over time, we've gotten some major stuff wrong, bro of mine."

"Not this shit again," A groused.

"Naruto," Minato began, putting his hands on his daughter's shoulders, "why are you holding chakra restraint chains."

"I'm gonna shove them up C's ass."

"What did he do to you?" Kakashi asked darkly as he watched C subtly move behind the Raikage. Darui moved to protect the two and the others looked very nervous.

"What he did was pretty bad," Naruto said, her lips curling into something that looked a little feral, "but I believe you can compensate me for my distress and the… deception I was subjected to." Yugito gawked at her, but Bee hung his head. Naruto always felt that it was important to ask for what you wanted (when she had the nerve to.) "I won't say what he did or ask for prosecution if I get that banana fan."

"WHAT?!"

"Naruto!" Minato scolded. He knew that fan was going to be an issue but should probably be happy she didn't try or have time to steal it.

"What did he do?" Kakashi asked again, even more irritated.

"I asked C to keep her here," Bee admitted, steeling his neck for a lariato-style lesson from his older brother.

Now that the Raikage was present, C couldn't believe he'd gone along with it. "And I didn't realize that she would be willing to stay."

"You chained her up?" Kakashi asked in just over a whisper. Minato grabbed his shoulder.

"So can I get that fan?"

"Naruto!"

"We did have a good meeting," Naruto admitted.

"I think it's time to leave," Minato muttered. They were supposed to stay for two more days, but it seemed as though they'd chained up his daughter and the Raikage - who had forced him into several challenges in front of his shinobis - looked like he was going to kill his brother. Not only that, but a meeting between unallied jinchuurikis - or any jinchuurikis - could potentially be perceived as traitorous. "A, I'll be in touch," he added, flashing away.

Not before Naruto threw the chains at C.

"You are in so much trouble," A said to his cowering shinobi.

A should've listened to Yugito and Bee, though. The Akatsuki attacked Kumo the next day.

The Konoha nins landed directly in front of the red gates of Konoha; Minato allowed Naruto and Kakashi to sign in before flashing Naruto back to his office.

Having been asked to explain what happened, Naruto simply held out her fist.

Minato pinched the bridge of his nose as he nodded afterward. "That's… an interesting way of obtaining information quickly."

He leaned back in his office chair and realized he still needed to get back to (and find) Tsunade. She's probably at a bar. "I'm tired, Naruto - and your chakra coils are incredibly full. I'm still going to need a written report, but… leave out the part where you were abducted. Again."

"I wasn't abducted," Naru insisted. "I only put up with it because I wanted so badly to check on Yugito and Bee - and I wanted that fan."

Minato sighed heavily. Maybe he would ask for the banana palm fan in compensation for what SHOULD BE his daughter's psychological duress through the new trade talks so she'd at least forget about it for a while. And who knows? Maybe they'd get it. – Through Kurama, he saw what happened to his daughter, after all, and it wasn't okay.

"We left Jiraiya," she reminded him.

"He's fine. The toads will bring him back."

"I hope so."

"What happened?" Kakashi asked her once she came home. "Why didn't you call me?"

"I was fine. Really."

He turned away from her; he was very upset. "Go take a shower." He couldn't stand it when she had other males' scents on her and fortunately, she accepted that.

Naru reheated the bath after she was nice and clean. She climbed in after turning off the light and lighting some candles, thinking about how Yugito was humiliated… No, it was worse than that for her - at least for her pride in this life. The memories she - or Kurama first, she guessed - received from Bee were very little. Yugito, though, remembered being killed in the most drawn-out, horrible of ways.

Thank Kami Hidan was dead - or as dead as he could be. She shivered as she thought about Hidan's body parts possibly still being alive. Shikamaru had promised that he'd blown up and buried the fucker's head.

She didn't even notice when Kakashi came into the ensuite and got into the shower. But he noticed that she didn't seem to see him.

Yugito had tried to tell her kage and senpai, Bee, what she remembered of her first life - especially how it ended and the threats they were facing. And what happened? She was threatened with having her precious Matatabi removed from her, and so she accepted being confined to Kumo and eventually kept silent.

Matatabi had somehow remembered Naruto, but even she didn't know how. Through their link, Naruto let them all know that she remembered their chakra imprints and - unfortunately, (she really didn't mean to) - everything else: even how the other jinchuurikis looked once reanimated with their eyes replaced with the Sharingan and Rinnegan…

She started to feel sick again just thinking about it.

"Naru-chan?"

"Kakashi?" she tried to smile, sniffling pathetically. "Sorry, uh…"

"What did they do to you?"

"It's not that," she promised, trying to shake the images off. Not for the first time by a long shot, she felt sick, thinking about what happened to those just like her. Not only were they killed, but then they were brought back with their bodies manipulated like puppets; part of the bijuu chakra they once possessed somehow got put back inside of them, their eyes replaced… "Oh gods: I'm really scared," she whimpered, tears beginning to fall down her face. "I've got too much to lose this time!"

Kakashi climbed into the tub with her, holding her close to him, determined to inhale her normal, intoxicating scent underneath her fear as he pressed his face into her neck. "It's alright. I've got you."

Disgusted with herself for being a chicken, she clutched Kakashi's shoulders tightly and tried to laugh her overwhelming emotions off. "I've got too many responsibilities to be afraid."

"Fear can be good, koi. It can keep you alive as long as it doesn't overwhelm you."

Naru rubbed the side of her head against his like a cat. "You say the nicest things."

Kakashi chuckled quietly, rubbing circles into her back as his hands moved down to her small waist. "Maa - you're the only one who says I'm nice."

"Not true," she said, pulling her head back and tucking his hair behind his ear. Kakashi always looked so damn handsome and adorable with his silver hair out of his headband and dripping wet. "People love you." He scoffed but seconds later let out a happy little sound as she began moving her lips against his.

"I'm the one who loves you the most of course." She moved her hand down his slick back and groaned as she felt his ass. It was big and fine: very hard for her to keep her hands off of.

Kakashi felt dizzy as he, at first, allowed her to dominate his mouth as she moved on top of him. He groaned when her fingers drifted down his chest toward his hardening cock.

"Make love to me, Kash."

"Gladly."