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

From last time:
"Namikaze Mito," the enormous panther growled. "It is time."

It's about time, I guess, Mito thought as she looked at the large cats surrounding her while trying to not bite her lips. She'd been sleeping with her weapons pouch on for over a year and a half!

Not that she was looking forward to this. Not at all.

...Unless this works out.

The black panther was nearly as tall as a horse and the muscles under his coat were rippling as he moved. He was beautiful. Anko had described him as the one who dragged her to their facility after Mito first came here.

Surely there's not more than one of these giant panthers.

The lion was… Well, he was a big lion, but he was on the ground licking himself and looking terribly disinterested when he did grace her with a once-over. Mito was pretty sure that he was the same one that she'd thought would eat her after that cheetah first showed up. And speaking of cheetahs…

The cheetah - "normal cheetah sized" Mito guessed: in her life, she had only seen the one that found her here and its cub. It looked like it was definitely looking forward to eating her again.

What a drag!

A lynx - yeah, she was pretty sure it was a really big lynx because of its ears - was only staring at her blankly.

Kami! These cats were so beautiful! She'd begun reading (and dreaming) about big - and not big - cats after her first "expedition" here in their forest after… that happened. She took a deep breath and bowed to each of them, introducing herself as she did so while trying to keep her hands off her weapons pouch.

"There will be twelve rounds," the snow leopard said.

Mito cracked her knuckles but wished she had her gloves on. He's so fuzzy and b-e-a-u-tiful!

Head in the game, Namikaze: you MORON, Mito reminded herself furiously. She was about to die, after all. -And not die from their incredible cuteness. She nodded her head and hoped that meant they would fight one-on-one and not as a group against her.

There were two other leopards next to him: a clouded leopard that was much smaller than the rest and a more normal-looking one with a super fuzzy tail. Well, he was normal-looking for a leopard that, when seated, was nearly as tall as her.

"I get to go first," the panther said and drew out his paw. Mito tried to remain impassive as his enormous claws came out with it. "Bow low to me, human."

Apparently, they weren't going to introduce themselves.

"Wait, wait, wait. Give me a break," the lion drawled and yawned.

Then he moved to his feet and ROARED. Mito had to duck and hold herself in place with chakra, also blocking her ears. Holding on to her knees, it felt like the world was being ripped away from her as was the ground. As she began to fall underground, she slung a hiraishin kunai out of her pouch, flashing into the air before whipping it around again and reappearing behind the lion. She pointed her kunai at one of his vital organs.

His head turned toward her as chuckled. "You can teleport."

"H-hai," she said shakily. Mito's ears were ringing and she was dizzy.

"I was supposed to go first," the panther barked.

"She's fine," a lioness commented, moving from the trees she was observing from. "Round two?"

The fuzzy-tailed leopard slashed her face so fast that Mito was stunned. The hand that wasn't holding a kunai lit up with the green glow of iryo-ninjutsu as she hesitantly began healing herself, keeping her eyes peeled for the next attack.

"You're a medic?" the lioness asked, looking back and forth from the possible summoner to her mate.

The lion rolled his eyes. "Tch. She's never going to give me a break so let's get this over with…" The summoner braced herself for an attack so he decided that her other task - his mate would probably try to kill him, too, if he didn't request it - would be more interesting than the trivia game he knew his mate was planning to challenge her with. Not to say that his mate couldn't produce a good game because she certainly could! "You will heal my injury."

Mito nodded at him slowly and stayed cautious. "What happened?"

"I did," the leopard said proudly.

"To hell with leopards," the lion muttered. "Show me what you can do, potential summoner." He glared at her as he moved to show her the wound he'd been hiding. "One wrong move and I'll rip you to shreds, Namikaze."

Mito fought an urge to run or faint but remembered her first calling. "It's my duty to heal." Running a diagnostic on the lion was challenging because she hadn't healed an animal in a long time: probably since she healed 'Ruto-chan after jutsuing the poor baby. And the lion - as big as he was - had an only slightly-altered system compared to a normal cat, considering his chakra system and all. She gasped when she realized what had happened to him. "You could've DIED!"

The leopard barked out a laugh and the lion quietly snarled at him.

It was pretty terrifying that the lion had been able to roar like that with a partially collapsed lung. Mito finished healing him and the lion was on his feet. Mito jumped back just as quickly as he moved this time, but the lion was busy getting a big rub from the lioness.

"Thank you, summoner," she said with a slight bow.

"That's not decided," the lynx scolded.

"Either way, you're very welcome," Mito said, unable to help the smile she sent to the lioness as she kept the rest of the cats within sight.

"I'm out," the lion said simply and walked into the forest with his partner. –Or one of them, Mito guessed. He had a really lazy gait. Mito moved into the spot he'd been laying.

"Now we race," the cheetah said, clearly excited. She took off and it took Mito a second to realize that the race had already begun. She threw a hiraishin kunai, enhanced with wind chakra, to catch up and couldn't help but grin at the surprise on the cheetah's face at seeing Mito next to her.

Then the cheetah really began moving.

"Oh shit," Mito cursed, throwing another kunai. There was no way she could run that fast! Mito loved a challenge, though, and she really did want to show what she could do and become deserving of their partnership. A chakra burst to her legs shattered the earth underneath her when she landed and Mito thanked all the gods that she'd trained under Tsunade and Orochimaru.

In the meantime, the other cats were stunned.

"She's pretty good," the snow leopard said - almost reluctantly.

"We'll make her better," the lynx agreed with a feral grin.

So far, the lynx was her favorite. He liked to wrestle and knock her around with his big paws and wasn't going all out, she was sure. In the end, Mito held him down with her chains and was rewarded with a very broad lick of a rough tongue.

Mito was hating that black panther, however. Between every round with the others, he'd slash her arm - the same one each time! - then wait for her to heal herself. Mito was positive that some of her new scars weren't going to heal even if she did survive.

I'm wearing them down, though, she hoped.

"You have a lot of chakra," the cougar commented.

"Yeah," Mito panted, dragging herself off the ground. "I'm half-Uzumaki, plus I'm the jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

"THAT'S why she smells like a fox!"

"Here," the tiger said - a damn tiger who had shown up while she was wrestling the lynx, too - bringing a long piece of fabric from the tall grass he'd been hiding in. Mito swallowed thickly when she saw what it was: a scratched (but not scratched-OUT) Kumo hitai-ate that was dried out and stiff from old blood. "Put it over your eyes and we'll engage you."

"Oh my gosh." Mito began to do as she was told but grimaced. "This thing reeks. Can I use my own hitai-ate or waistcloth instead?"

The tiger yawned widely, showing off his terrifying teeth before he answered. "No: this will also interfere with your sense of smell."

Mito unintentionally grinned. "So it's another way to beat me?" That was fine. She might have trouble with smelling the cats but they didn't yet know that she could sense them.

"Of course," the tiger said. He actually seemed kind of friendly - or at least not completely hostile. For a giant tiger… He had a nice "smile," anyway?

"Ready?"

Mito stood in her opening stance, blindfolded with the nasty hitai-ate, forcing herself to be strong. "Taje Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

One of the cats - a new one - began chuckling darkly. "You think those will help you, human?"

"They can't hurt." She substituted with a log and finally avoided one of the Panther's strikes to her arm. The panther was ridiculously fast, but at least thus far, his speed and accuracy were only delivered in short bursts.

Soon the clearing they were in was filled with Mitos engaging in taijutsu or slinging jutsus with a group of excited cats.

Then… blackness.

Mito woke up to her wounded arm being licked by an enormous tongue. "Hey wai- YOW! –I - I'm... NGGGGGGGG! Oh. ...I'm alive," she finally mumbled, stunned and in terrible pain. "Did I…"

"We will allow you to sign our contract in the future, human," the panther said before giving her arm another lick. He ignored her hiss of pain and continued to hold it down. "Truthfully, we've gone easy on you."

"Thank you," Mito mumbled softly, unable to imagine them really going after her then. "How long have I been out?" Her chakra was still low. She looked at the wounds on her arm and gasped.

"Three days. These scars will serve as a reminder to you and anyone else that you will soon be our summoner, Namikaze Mito. You will not further tend to them." The human reluctantly nodded at his order and he went back to licking her still too-quickly-healing wounds. She tasted terrible but this is what needed to be done. They'd already decided to accept her, but the others still wanted to challenge her, too.

Mito lay her head back down in the grass, not knowing what to do. "Panther-sama; uh, forgive me: I don't know your name..."

"Perhaps you'll learn it in time," the panther said with a knowing look.

It seemed that he was as bad about his name as the Kyuubi, Mito thought. She looked at her arm again and groaned. Fortunately, her healing ability had kicked in because she couldn't imagine the germs being spread by giant panther saliva. – Not that she was going to say that! "Is there a way to send a message to my brother or father? I'm sure they're terribly worried."

"To- ...the tiger went to the location from where you were reverse-summoned when you lost consciousness."

Mito tried not to complain - or to cry out at those sawlike-like licks! She could only imagine the havoc that was caused by a huge tiger showing up at Ichiraku Ramen.

"I'd be honored to be your summoner."

"HA," the panther laughed, "we'll see about that!"

Three weeks later she was still in the summoning realm, hiding from the lion and lionesses that were hunting them - I still don't know their names - with the snow leopard. They were currently "working on her stealth."

Mito's arm had almost healed up about a week ago, and although her skin was tight but smoothing out, she still had purple burn-like tracks on it that she supposed would make her look like she had thick tiger stripes going across it. Unless there was something off about the cats' saliva, her scars would probably turn silver or white over the course of time.

"If they find us, I'll let them eat you."

It was FREEZING on this side of the forest. "Yeah, you mentioned that before. Thanks," she replied sarcastically.

Mito closed her eyes and concentrated on her sensing to ensure that the lions hadn't somehow snuck up on them. It had been kind of odd when the leopard had brought her a cloak of animal fur. She REALLY hoped that it was NOT from a horse… Mito had been horrified at first (and wanted to refuse it) but now appreciated his thoughtfulness since it kept her fairly warm. –Well, it helped with the wind and snow more than anything. "I don't feel them anywhere close to us."

"Lazy bastard lions! I swear this is no fun. …At this point, I might as well tell you. The name's Fuyu."

"Fuyu-sama! Thank you for allowing me to know your name!"

It's about damn time one of them gave up a name!

"Just Fuyu. Lynxie-boy is Kei, that noisy lion is Hinote and I don't know which one of his girls is his mate or if they all are. That tiger that had a blast in Konoha," Fuyu continued, breaking out in a fit of laughter, "is Tora - which is hilarious because of that demonic ninneko that haunts Hi no Kuni but don't tell Tora that. -Don't tell either one of them now that I think about it - and uh, I guess I've already said too much! –These are just the chiefs, you see."

"Ah." Mito KNEW that this cat was cool! "Thank you for telling me! Is there one cat that is over the rest of the chiefs?" Mito knew that Gamabunta was the chief toad and thought that Manda might be the chief snake but it was not like she'd ever been to Ryuichi Cave.

"Nah, we all do our own thing. TRIBES, Mito: each of us heads up a tribe or family."

Mito hummed. "Is your tribe hiding out just north of here?" There was a small group of cats that she could sense nearby that hadn't moved much since she got to this side of the "realm" for lack of a better word. So far the cats weren't telling her what or where exactly their summoning realm was. Or even what it was called, other than "the jungle."

"Yeah! You want to meet them?"

"Please!"

.

"Where do you wish to go this time, Mito?" the still-refusing-to-be-named panther asked another week later.

Mito grimaced. She'd been thinking about this for a while, and although she needed to get back to the capital, there were two other places she also needed to hit before she moved back to Konoha. If she did… "My responsibilities are at the Fire Temple but I have a friend who may need my help."

"What course do you choose? You will return to us in a month so make your choice wisely."

Fuck it. "I'll go to my friend," Mito said firmly. She'd already been away from work this long so what was a couple of days longer? "She's in the settlement you took me to before: in Rice Paddies."

The panther nodded and gave her a long look before glancing at three of the other chiefs.

Fuyu, Kei, and Tora, Mito reminded herself.

"Interesting choice. Want to ride?"

The other cats began chuckling and couldn't seem to get their laughter under control even when the panther hissed at them. "Get on my back."

Mito was so freaking excited! Not wanting to hurt him, she channeled just the tiniest bit of chakra into her feet to give her a little boost so that she bounded onto his back. "Oh my gosh!" She didn't know how to hold on! "Um, Panther-sama..?"

"DON'T FALL OFF, MITO," Fuyu yelled.

"CHALLENGE NUMBER 12, BRAT," Kei shouted at the same time.

"Oh fuck," Mito muttered under her breath, making the cats absolutely howl with laughter. She felt like she was sucked through a straw and saw Orochimaru's settlement in the distance, but the panther began trying to buck her off. "Wha… Is this really the last challenge?!" She had grabbed the panther's neck to hang on and he stopped before turning to hiss furiously at her.

"You're not my mother so don't fucking grab me there!"

"SORRY!"

For the first time ever, Mito channeled chakra to her legs, ass, and… well, her perineum to hold on to an insane black panther who was running wild in Grass Country.

It was weird!

When he managed to buck her off in front of the cave's entrance hours later, Mito was barely able to stand thanks to being (hopefully temporarily) bowlegged. She and the cat's antics had garnered a LOT of attention and more than anyone, her best friend was laughing her ass off at the way Mito was trying to walk as she stumbled and continued to fall down, cursing like a sailor.

Her legs felt like noodles!

"Been wonderin' why I haven't heard from ya," the purple-haired Jonin cheered as she slung her friend onto her back. She bent over laughing again when she realized that Mito wasn't joking around; her legs were really stuck in that funny position.

"Idiot," Guren fumed, "let me help her!" The two fought over their friend and argued as they dragged Mito to the medical bay. "What are you doing here?!"

Guren had only met the Namikaze princess once when she and Anko had to take a message from their Daimyo (who, unbeknownst to anyone else, was now Orochimaru) to the Fire Daimyo, but Guren liked the strikingly-haired Fire Guardian.

"You've uh… got new headbands on," Mito observed hesitantly between groans as Guren tried to move her legs. "Ooooooooh! God! It hurts so bad! And don't touch my arm! Seriously - it's part of the uh, summoning test!"

A boy with glasses quickly shot her full of something with a syringe that Orochimaru-sama had ordered and all three teenage girls screamed at him.

He ran away.

"What was… oh, maaaaaaaaaaaaan," Mito drawled, suddenly feeling good. Really good! "Who's Four Eyes?"

Anko fell over giggling on Guren before getting herself more under control. It wouldn't last long. Mito wasn't usually so rude in front of people she didn't know well. "A kid named Kabuto. He's got a sob story."

"'Course," Mito said, nodding her head and feeling really fuzzy - but GOOD! Her painful legs were all tingly now! So was her... "Hmmm." She knew that all of the kids here had a rough background. "I was ridin' that panther, right?"

Both of the other girls her age nodded their heads as they checked her vitals. Mito withdrew her scarred arm from Guren who was still eyeing it.

"I was goin' up and down and… up and down… And some swishies this way and thataway, 'ttebane. The ride was so hard, ya know. I think I may have been cheated out of… Really enjoyin' my first... orrrgasmmmmmmmm," Mito slurred before zonking out.

Orochimaru stopped, cursing his luck with hearing things he NEVER wanted to hear, and turned back around, leaving the purple and blue-haired teenage girls to roar with laughter at their drugged friend's expense.

"Alright Orgasmo-Tron: She Who Gets Off to Large Cats…"

Mito seriously didn't know what Anko and Guren had been going on about. And as far as cats went, Mito'd had quite enough of them for a while, thank you very much. Also weary of talking about "sexy" stuff none of them actually had experience with, Mito asked the question that had really been bothering her, not realizing that she had asked about it before. "So what's with the headband, Anko?"

Anko scrunched up her face in what Mito knew was distaste.

"It's Orochimaru-sensei's idea. Don't look at me like that! He's shown it to your father and when the snakelets get bigger they'll head to Konoha. It's all good!" Anko saw that Mito looked very suspicious, something that was normal for the Namikaze so it didn't bother her too much. She still didn't like it, though! "We're going to do a village exchange program."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously!"

"And how's the mark on your neck?"

Anko had involuntarily grabbed it and tried to smile.

"Let me see it! I want to draw a picture of it."

"Mi-chan! You're a weirdo!"

"So? Let me see it!"

"Stop perving on my mark, bitch!"

"I understand you're leaving soon?" Orochimaru asked, one eyebrow raised high as he studied the girl. He found it hard to believe that she was a grown woman now just as Anko and Guren were. Fortunately, Mito's heterochromia still wasn't affecting anything but the colors of her hair and eyes but he'd continue monitoring her.

And experimenting with her blood and tissue samples, of course.

"I am. Hopefully, I won't be in trouble for being away so long."

Orochimaru nodded and went back to his microscope. "Ask me your questions, kit. I will answer what I can."

Mito swallowed thickly, feeling not only her anger but the Kyuubi's chakra course through her veins at what might be going on here. "You put a control seal on my best friend," Mito spat, unable to keep the venom out of her voice. "You put it on some of the others, too."

"It's a tracking seal - so that what happened to you will not happen to them."

"L i E S !"

Orochimaru's Killing Intent hit Mito like a cold kunai ripping right through flesh.

Mito thought she was back with Kazuma, having her back peeled and…

"Control yourself," he barked. The KI then ended as quickly as it had come. "You never know, kit: the next time someone sees you lose control of the Kyuubi's chakra as you just did, they may Slit Your Throat Where. You. Stand."

Mito got her breathing under control and stormed out, furious with herself and with her uncle. She flashed back to the capital and hid out in her room - unsure of whether or not to be happy that Spiderman, 'Ruto-chan, and Gamatama were all waiting for her there.

Orochimaru, in the meantime, had put his head in his hands, snarling and furious with himself again. "ANKO! GET IN HERE!"