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

Thinking (+ flashbacks, "Mito speaking to the Kyuubi in her mindscape," etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

Mangetsu didn't sense that the chick was lying but it wasn't like he was a human lie detector. And who the fuck knew what would happen when someone with his "unique physiology" - if she says that one more time, I'm going to punch her - was on death's door (or in death's front yard anyway) and then stabbed by Samehada. "So you put this seal-thing on me to save my life, and that's why my chakra's…"

"Slowly regenerating," Mito finished for him, knowing very well that he couldn't feel it. She checked her watch and figured she could begin working to better heal that nasty wound of his again. Her hands lit up in the green hue of iryo-ninjutsu which gently worked its way into the damaged and serrated flesh. She was lucky that she knew this rather tricky technique - although Tsunade-shishou/obaachan had taught it to her so that she could continue healing the then super-deep wound that had been on her back. "I know it sucks for you but it was the only way I could think to save you AND protect myself. –You know: when I realized that you were a Hozuki. No offense."

"None taken?" Mangetsu asked more than said, wincing as he bared his teeth. "I really don't get it."

"I put a quick stasis seal on you before I realized that you could - if you're like the Second Mizukage - I dunno: put a water bullet through my head with just your fingers or something. Then when you were healed enough, I changed up things with the seals."

"Good on you," Mangetsu snarked. He definitely would've shot her or done something similar upon realizing that his sword was missing. He really was going to kill Kisame and take back that sword! He groaned and ignored the kunoichi who actually seemed worried that he was in pain. What she was beginning to do felt good but what was he going to do with her?

Sealing and healing? –Those were specialties the rebellion could really use! IF she wouldn't betray them.

He unintentionally let out a relieved sigh as her chakra continued to enter his system. For the most part, he couldn't feel how badly his wound had to really hurt and for that he was grateful. His awesome abs and pecs were a mess! "You're a Jonin?"

"I am," Mito confirmed, taking a moment to wipe at the sweat forming on her forehead. Once upon a time, many years ago, healing was incredibly easy for her. She could and WOULD do it now, but had to balance her spiritual and physical energy so much more carefully - and always avoid using those storms of the fox's chakra that were angrily swimming within her system. It was especially tedious with difficult cases like Mangetsu's.

Sometimes having that Kyuubi inside of her made her angry, too, although it was her decision to take on her "burden." Then she thought of Naruto's well-being and her father simply being alive and it was worth it.

SOMETIMES being in the country that had headed up the annihilation of her clan made her angry, too.

"Revenge has no more quenching effect on emotions than saltwater has on thirst, sweety."

How the hell was Mito supposed to reconcile that with

" May Kami attempt to protect those who have harmed us, because we certainly won't."

Honestly, Kaa-chan: I could use some guidance here.

Of course, the more important thing was that since she and the fox had come to an impasse, she had to stay away from her brother. Being in Kiri was a means to two ends. And she would NOT hurt Naruto the way she hurt Sora-kun.

Sora-kun… As a Senju, Konoha HAD to provide for him and give him ninja training so that he could fully protect himself if nothing else. Thank the gods, Sora had not only lived but had been able to use chakra again after she violently stripped him of the fox's chakra. She closed her eyes, trying to shake off the vivid image of one of her thick chains plowing into his little torso.

Trying to think of something else, Mito deeply hoped that he and Naruto would become fast friends.

.

Earlier - after Sora first entered the Academy:

Naruto allowed himself to break down as he curled up at the base of a tree. He couldn't believe that he had a real, blood-related sister out there and no one had ever told him! Aside from her, maybe, his family was nothing but a bunch of liars!

"Your mother was right. She always said that family was the most important thing in the world, Naruto-chan."

His dad was a total hypocrite! Naruto scoffed at just the thought of him, thinking about how he had learned the truth.

"You're Naruto-kun?" the new boy said, smiling widely. "I'm Sora! I know Mito-nee-chan! She told me about you!"

"Mito-nee-chan?" he'd asked stupidly, Naruto now knew.

"Your sister?" Sora asked, looking at the other kids that were eating lunch together for recognition. Naruto had thought it took a lot of courage for a new kid to just bounce up to a group like that - and that it was cool. It had taken Sai a year to come around and speak to anyone but him. (Now Naruto kinda wished Sai would be quiet again.)

"Mito-nee talks about you a lot!"

"Naruto doesn't have a sister," Kiba said while Akamaru sniffed the new kid. The pup barked at Kiba and his friend's nose scrunched up as he scratched at his hair. "He's not lying, Nar."

"Very funny," Sora said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Mito-nee likes pranks, too. Asuma-sama said it's the Uzumaki in her."

Naruto's stomach flipped again - just like it had when the new kid said it. There weren't supposed to be any Uzumakis out there aside from him; at least there were supposedly none in Fire Country. Has anyone ever said that, specifically, though? Or had he just made that up in his mind or something?

Or did his lyin' stinkin' traitor of a dad say or imply it?!

"Oh! Mito-nee-chan," Naruto pretended to acknowledge, scratching the back of his head as a coldness he'd never experienced before moved its way up his spine. "Yeah! I thought you meant one of my other nee-chans, like Yugao or Shizune-nee or um… yeah. I haven't seen her in a long time?" Naruto tried to pretend, wondering if what this boy was saying could be true.

"Baka! That's because she was a Guardian at the capital. She was there for like ten years! I wasn't there the whole time and um, sorry," Sora apologized, smiling and looking embarrassed. "I was just joking."

"About Naruto having a sister?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto thought that his smart but lazy friend, once again, looked like he was figuring something weird out - and that was never good, he'd learned.

"Perhaps Dumb-dumb doesn't know what a sister is," Sai said — UNHELPFULLY!

Sora bit back what looked like a laugh but answered Shikamaru's question. "'Course not," he said, straightening up and looking at them as if they were the ones that were being suspicious. "I just… shouldn't have called you that, Naruto-kun."

"Naruto is a baka," Choji said with a smile before introducing himself.

That was when Naruto's head began to hurt. Before then, he hadn't had one of those headache pain-things in a long, long time.

"What does she look like? Now, I mean," he asked - trying to sound easygoing but interrupting Shikamaru who was calling out for Sasuke and Shino to come over and join them.

"She's really pretty," Sora said and began to blush. "She's tall and — she's got weird red and yellow hair and these amazing eyes… What? You don't believe I know her?!"

"Weird hair," Naruto huffed to himself. When Sora said that, he finally sorta-remembered a picture that used to be on his dad's desk. His mom, dad, and a weird-haired little girl were in it - not that he could remember anything else, or even what their faces looked like in it - or anything else about the picture! "I'm gonna find her," the blonde said to himself. He had to know whether or not it was true and now felt that he couldn't trust his dad to tell him the truth. His stomach growled, and Naruto took out one of the ration bars he'd stolen from Iruka-sensei's desk.

He hid when he felt chakra signatures approaching and jumped when he saw Pakkun standing on a branch in front of his face. "Get outta here, you!" The too-smart pug just tilted his head and gave him a deadpan look that Naruto knew too well.

"You ran away from the Academy. Why?" the dog drawled as he sat down.

Naruto let out a frustrated snarl before deciding to yell. "Who's Mito-nee-chan?" he shouted, knowing that Kashi-baka had to be nearby and hiding. He pulled out a kunai and glared at Pakkun who had huffed at him. He looked up and was stunned to see that baka standing there with his stupid red eye swirling at him. "I'll get you for," he tried to threaten but was quickly going numb.

"What a brat," Kakashi muttered as he picked up the unconscious kid and tossed him over his shoulder.

"Boss! Did Minato-sama ask you to do that?"

"Maa, he probably only just learned that Naruto took off. I asked Iruka to give me a ten-minute head start before he went to him."

"I don't know what you suggested in that genjutsu, but you're going to have to do it to the other pups that Asuma's got in isolation. And don't do it with that Sharingan!"

Kakashi nodded as he began to jump through the branches at top speed. "I can do that. Hopefully, Asuma hasn't done anything stupid."

Minato went a little overboard and broke Kakashi's wrist while he gave him "corrective training" for genjutsu-ing not only his son but five clan heirs plus a few other boys in Naruto's class and Iruka, too. Still, he knew that it was well past time for him to tell his boy about his big sister. –His kunoichi daughter who was giving him white hair!

.

Mangetsu interrupted Medical Library-san when he couldn't take it any longer, which - fair enough - hadn't been terribly long today but he really didn't need to hear the specifics of exactly how she "rethreaded" his pancreas and liver. How was he EVER going to be able to eat or even sleep with that kind of knowledge?! "If you say 'unique physiology' one more time…"

The side of Mito's lip that was scarred twitched as it did sometimes when she was annoyed. Earlier she had been wearing her comfy shorts but no: this baka had to comment on her butt, plus he'd been whiney all day. "Alright! Let's just be real about that heritage of yours, Mangey-kun: long, long ago, a shinobi fucked a Man o' War and thus the first Hozuki was born."

I'm going to kill you, Mangetsu decided then and there. But first a little subterfuge! "Maa, kunoichi-san: you flatter me! Oftentimes we Kiri nin are said to be born of fish or sharks, ya see. But a Man o' War? That sounds both manly and conquering."

And poisonous.

Bitch.

"It's FOX: no honorifics," Mito corrected him while pulling out some nice hot soup she had sealed up so that they could share it. "I mean - I didn't want to say a man and a jellyfish founded your clan: that just wouldn't sound right. Even if a jellyfish is more on point than a Man o' War. –Or maybe a squid?"

"You are so done for."

Mito gave the kid a fake scowl from behind her mask for being threatening. "I could find someone nice to use that liver I repaired, brat."

.

Tensions were high again in the Hokage's office.

"My clan allowed him to keep our eye and this is what he does?" Fugaku lambasted as he glared at the so-called Copy Ninja. "That thief's not such a genius if he believes we wouldn't know that my son was put under a genjutsu!"

Minato squeezed his eyes shut for a second and allowed his index finger to twitch up from his desk to ensure that his shinobis remained silent. "Those involved tell me that the Sharingan was not used in the genjutsu, Fugaku. I have explained how this situation came to pass. There was a gap in the line of communications when Naruto ran away."

"So it's fully your responsibility," Fugaku sneered.

Minato was relatively unphased but wondered what this was really all about. "Everything in this village is my responsibility."

Fugaku stood up and began pacing. "If the police were fully under my command, maybe you'd have time to straighten out your subordinates and lead this village decently!"

Mikoto sucked in a huge breath. "Fugaku!"

Minato sat back in his chair and folded his hands together, giving Fugaku a curious look. "After Obito's body was found to be missing from the site in which he was buried, you agreed that your clan would be helped by publicly announcing him as a missing person that was wanted in connection to the Kyuubi Attack. My men circulated news that your clan wasn't responsible that night; that only one rogue was. We also agreed that adding ninjas from other clans to the police you are in charge of would be beneficial..."

"That rogue was YOUR student!"

"That is enough," Mikoto said, outraged. She couldn't believe her husband said that! Obito had been Minato's student but he'd also been one of their clansmen: one whom none of the Uchiha had treated all that well. -And look what happened...

Fugaku snarled at his wife. "Know your place!"

Minato had moved between them, though. "Know yours, Fugaku-sama." Fugaku turned and slammed the door behind him. "What has his boxers in a bunch?!" If not shooting fireballs at anyone he hadn't genjutsu-ed already (in wartime,) Uchiha Fugaku was normally a very cool customer when he was angry. Plus, they were friends!

Mikoto shook her head and silently pleaded with Minato to clear the room. "Thank you," she said when she felt most of the ANBU retreat. "Fu's being pressured. There are those within the clan who have been unhappy with the Hyuugas, especially, becoming police officers." She saw Minato roll his eyes and agreed that their clan rivalry was ridiculous.

We Uchihas are clearly superior.

Now that there were more clans within the police force, they were much more effective plus most Uchihas felt more incorporated and accepted in the village, Mikoto knew. "I'm sorry for his harsh words, Kakashi-kun." She saw the Hound-masked operative nod at her, even though she was sure that he wanted to remind her not to call him by his given name while he had his guard up.

"He shouldn't have yelled like that at you," Minato quietly told his wife's best friend. He walked over to the window, not noticing the way that Mikoto flushed.

"Troublesome," the Jonin Commander muttered before clearing his throat. "Do you think he was trying to warn Hokage-sama, Mikoto-sama?"

Mikoto wasn't quite sure she understood what Shikaku meant - or if she wanted him to know more than he already did. "To warn you or your men to stay away from Sasuke-kun?"

Minato turned around and gave her the best smile he could, considering that he'd been hearing things about a supposed uprising being in the works by some of the older Uchihas. It seemed at first glance that Mikoto was truly unaware of it. "Well! Please let your husband know that his warning has been received."

"Thank you, Minato," Mikoto replied as she stood to leave. She could sense her husband pacing outside. "Perhaps it would be a good idea to keep Naruto-kun away from the Uchiha District? And make sure he's well-guarded? –I'll be doing the same for my boys."

Minato felt his gut clench at not only her words of warning but at the nearly desperate pleading he saw in her dark eyes again. "Of course."

Once she left, Minato resealed the room, signaling for his men to sweep for any hidden listening devices. "Get me Uchiha Shisui."

.

Mangetsu pretended to sleep as he listened to the med-nin whisper to the larger of the two cheetahs. Kami, he hated all her summons: they were so damn scary!

"We're all looking forward to hunting him," the cheetah purred. Mangetsu figured the crazy kunoichi was brushing it again - as if it were a housecat! "It would be easier if we had something with his scent."

"I've requested that from the Pervert but I don't know if he has anything. He has someone he wants me to meet but I'm going back for the… thingy really soon. I can check then."

"What about the brother?"

"I placed a marker far away from the memorial the last time I was home for a couple of days. I'm hoping that I'll get a chance to see him, at least…"

"We know you are awake, wretched fish child."

Mangetsu pouted comically. "That's not very nice, Lady Cheetah! And I've gotta go to the little boys' room," he sang to his captor/healer. Fox gestured to the nearby forest and rolled her beautiful eyes. "Woods - whatever. You don't need to chain me there again. If you want a show, just let me know, baby!"

"Tch! As if I haven't seen the very little you have to 'show' when I healed you. And I've been allowing you to bathe and not sit in your own waste, you gross boy. You should really thank me by taking me to your leader."

Mangetsu hummed. "Whatever you say, Alien-sama. …You're right, though," he laughed, "I uh, heard ya talking about a sibling." He tried (and failed) to keep his expression fairly blank but jovial as the big cheetah and his captor with the fox mask looked at each other and then back at him again. "I also have someone I need to get back to. Me and him ain't got nobody else."

The cheetah sniffed the air. "He's not lying."

Mito grimaced. "I understand." She blew out a big sigh that unintentionally ended in a raspberry. "I'll let you be on your way soon enough." Mangetsu was an alright guy. He'd been through some real horrors in the bloodline purge and she felt for him.

According to Mangey, the timing of the beginning of the bloodline purge began after Obito's supposed death. Oh yes, the Mist had a great deal of conflict between those from clans and civilians, etc., but the animosity hadn't created a civil war - especially not one that was declared by their Kage. It's not like she could tell him that, though.

The last thing Konoha needed was to be held at fault for a foreign rebellion by not taking care of their rogue nins.

.

Uchiha Shisui had not exactly been a wealth of information.

Minato took a deep breath, trying to clear anger from clouding his mind but failing as he needed to address the "other" intelligence he'd received - if one could call it that. –It was more than a report. "Sensei," he said to the Sannin who had snuck in during their meeting and was now hanging upside down from his office rafters. "What in the seven levels of hell have you three been teaching my daughter?"

Whenever it was "you three" Jiraiya knew exactly who he was paired with - plus it's not like Minato hadn't asked this before.

Now that Minato knew how often Mito had spent time over the years with Orochimaru when she was growing up, Jiraiya knew to blame certain things on his hopefully-not-traitorous teammate whether he, himself, taught her those things or not. Jiraiya was nothing if not superbly perverted and interested in self-preservation (to better serve the village, of course. Ha!) "Only how to be the greatest kunoichi in history! ...Why?"

"Oh, I don't know," the Hokage replied with sarcasm. He pulled out Mito's latest report/plea to stay in the Bloody Damn Mist. "How about putting a seal on one of her molars that will allow her to blow herself up?"

Jiraiya almost fell on his head. Standing straighter upon recovery, he scratched at his jaw. "That's actually a pretty good idea."

"That's my daughter we're talking about," Minato hissed.

"Well she IS your daughter, isn't she? –She's careful."

"Careful? That's the LAST thing Mito is!"

"Thoughtful," Jiraiya said, considering a better word to use. "A planner. She's like you." - Like you but with extra spice. That's nice!

Minato's eyes narrowed even further before he sat back in his large chair; he was pretty sure that parts of his brain had exploded and died when he first read her latest plea. "What does she mean that she has 'ensured' that no one will ever… touch her…. that way again?" His voice had become much softer at the end of his words.

"Oh! That I know about! It's unique and needs to be tested in the field, but she probably made some alterations since she showed it to me a while back. She based it on the kunoichi Contraceptive seal. Mito calls it the Consensuality seal. It's for men, too! –If the primary user doesn't enter his or her personalized chakra 'code' and blood into the seal? Boom: the other party's genitals get blown off." Groans and gasps were heard from around the room from the ANBU hidden there.

Minato gave a slightly-irritated look toward his ANBU who were supposed to be absolutely silent but realized that even he had quickly brought his legs together and winced at that little explanation. "What if the uh… couple gets… um, carried away in… passion annnnd forgets?" He tossed a shuriken at Kakashi who was hidden but could be heard snickering at his Hokage's embarrassment and undoubtedly pink cheeks.

Since failing to find Obito's remains, Kakashi had changed in more ways than one.

"That's what I said," Jiraiya agreed heartily. "Mito said that after seeing the results, NO ONE would forget a second time…"

"We're getting off track," Minato interrupted balefully. "We're going to have to drag her back!" He handed the letter to his sensei and watched him repeatedly wince as he read it before beginning to smile more and more.

Mito made some excellent points about staying, Jiraiya thought, and had a reasonably good plan for a solo agent going into hostile territory, and had obviously listened to his instructions and stories well over the years. And he could also grasp some of his Genin teammates' better beliefs and words within Mito's request whether Minato liked them or not. "I've got contacts on both sides of the war. Let me put her in touch with some of them; I've got one guy who could even… evaluate her."

Jiraiya believed she was more than up for the job, though.

"I want her back," Minato said with raised brows, tapping his desk pad and giving Jiraiya a long, exasperated look. "The council can't say anything: it's been TEN YEARS next week, sensei. It's time for her to come home."

"No matter where she is, she's an elite Jonin of Konohagakure, Minato." Jiraiya put up his hand, hoping to further appeal to his student's paternal senses and intelligence. "The whole problem with Kyuubi wanting his chakra back from Naruto… How else are you going to address that? She needs time to reason with him."

Minato clicked his tongue. "Like the Kyuubi's going to be reasonable."

"You could give her a chance?"

.

Mito shook her head and scoffed when she realized what Jiraiya had sent her. In exchange for a Kiri contact, she'd have to look over and provide notes on his first draft for his latest addition to his supposed Icha-Icha "franchise."

She couldn't believe someone had decided to make the first one into a movie! It costs a lot of money to make movies. –And they were allowing the Toad Sage to be a "creative consultant" on it?

Mito decided that she'd been very sheltered at the Fire Temple because apparently, the world had gone mad.

"Whatcha readin'?" Mangetsu asked. He'd caught the kunoichi reading Icha-Icha a few times and had even asked her to read it to him when he'd been weaker - though she skipped all of the good parts, saying he was too young for such "trash." Fox was a shitty storyteller when she wasn't reading, so it was about the best he could hope for since he'd tried to read a few of her crappy adventure novels that barely held his attention.

If he didn't maybe know better, he'd think she had it bad for pirates. "I ASKED what you were reading!"

Mito scowled at the latest story's beginning and then at her patient. "Something stupid."

Icha-Icha YAOI was a real turning point in the series, but Mito could already tell that the protagonist's love interest was "inspired" by Orochimaru-oji.

Her stomach turning a bit, Mito figured that Jiraiya would either be snake food or dismembered shortly after the snake summoner got wind of it. Supposedly Tsunade had beaten Jiraiya's ass and refused to heal him after she read that she was (clearly) his inspiration for the other books in the series - and that had inspired Icha-Icha Violence. "Excuse me," she said tersely and got up, "I've got somewhere I need to be."

"Wait!" Mangetsu could tell that something had been wrong with Fox all morning. He looked to the lioness who was watching her walk away for answers. "What's up with her, Ana?"

The lioness gave him a dead-eyed stare before looking back toward where Mito had run off to. "Don't use my name, human. Today's the day you shall be… freed."

"Oh," Mangetsu said, knowing he should be more excited. It had been kinda nice to have some time to rest and recuperate; not that he'd admit that to anyone else. He needed to report back to Ao after FIRST making sure that his little brother was okay, return to the site of his last battle and send the dead into the sea, kill Kisame and get Samehada back… There were a LOT of things he needed to do! Fox returned in a ridiculously bright and flowery kimono, he thought.

It looked pretty good with her hair and eyes, though. Too bad it covers her legs and ass.

"So," the kunoichi said with a grim smile. "This is it. You are free to return to your comrades, Mangey-kun. I think you're healed up enough."

She grabbed his hand, slowly pulling him up, and he felt a tingle in his palm before his chakra began to slowly return as it moved up his arm. He started feeling… good! Really good. And strong! –Or at least his strength was finally returning.

Mito handed him a common storage seal. "I know you guys are really fond of your swords, so here's that one you called Head Basher or whatevs."

Yeah, she knew what it was really called: her name for the insanely dangerous thing was more accurate, she thought.

In spite of the horrible nickname she used for him again, Mangetsu couldn't help but chuckle since he expected her to take off with one of the seven great swords. "Helmet Splitter," he corrected. She handed him a jar of salve and began giving him instructions on using it on his skin. "Why… did you do this?! Why are you being so nice?"

"Baaaka! I told you I need to kill that traitor and moreover, I'm a healer! You're… you're alright, Mangey. I really do hope we can do business - and by business, I mean taking down that Uchiha and your Mizukage." She smiled when the kid's mouth fell open. "Don't tell anyone I said that part, brat."

She pointed South. "Your fallen comrades are that-a-way." She turned and offered a wave behind her back as Ana stood up and stretched to follow her. "Ja!"

"WAIT! How… How will I find you again?"

Mito turned around, glad that he asked. Very glad: it meant that they might allow her to help the rebellion. Taking on fucking Obito and a perfect jinchuuriki would not be easy or perhaps even possible to do on her own. It would definitely get her killed if she didn't have assistance. "I'll be back here in a few days… maybe less."

"Thanks," he said - genuinely - into the air she'd sunshinned away from.

Mangetsu walked south for almost an hour before he came to the beach and made his final decision about the weird purple-haired, fox-masked kunoichi. Fox had taken the time and energy to bury his fallen countrymen. It wasn't the way they did things in the Mist, but he appreciated the gesture all the same. Atop every grave, there was an upright stick that held either the nin's dog tags or hitai-ate.

Let it be on my head and sword then: you'll have my endorsement, Fox-sama.

Mito flashed to the tree she'd marked in Konoha and jumped onto a higher branch so that she could better see the procession that was heading toward Training Ground 3.

It was hard to believe that as of tonight, it would be ten years since she lost her mother AND so much of her family.

Her life had changed so much in a decade.

"The sands of time will heal all wounds, my little ocean."

"They really don't, Kaa-chan. –They really don't."