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

Jiraiya studied his five-year-old godchild who despite her talent and maturity was clutching a frog plushie that he had gifted her and thought about her request. "Hmph! I suppose I COULD show you the camouflage jutsu, you little menace. As long as you promise not to use it to prank anyone."

"Oh come on, Ero-ojii-san! You're no fun!" The big man began to turn away, so Mito jumped up and grabbed his haori, wrapping her short legs around one of his big ones. "Wait, wait, wait! You ARE fun: the MOST fun! –I promise, 'ttebane! …How about you teach it to me as long as I don't prank you with it?"

Jiraiya hummed and thought about it. As hilarious as it would be to see his sensei or sensei's family running around like chickens with their heads cut off as they searched for little Mito, Lady Biwako would probably find out he was the one who taught her the jutsu - it was his own, after all - and castrate him. Mito-chan was already troublesome enough. "You cannot prank ANYONE with it. You have to promise –to swear it!"

Mito let go of his leg. "I promise! I swear it! I won't prank anyone with it," Mito said with an adorably serious expression as she bounced on her toes and crossed her fist over her chest.

"Alright, Missy. Here's what you do…"

"Thank you, Jiraiya." Mito's hands weaved through the required seals as the memorial procession came closer. She choked back tears when she finally laid eyes on her little brother for the very first time since right after he was born. He was carrying their mother's picture as he walked behind his father and the others.

It's like Tou-san cloned himself! She wasn't close enough - couldn't allow herself to get close enough - to really drink in all his features. Mito hadn't seen a picture of Naruto in a long time. Mito knew that his facial features were supposed to be much more like their mother's than her own. She looked a lot more like their father, or people had always said that she did.

Her smile trembled as she wiped the wet tears off her cheeks. She could tell even at a distance, at least, that Naruto still had her mother's big, big eyes although they were an azure blue like her father's. And they both had whisker marks on their cheeks, although hers were much lighter and higher, basically highlighting her cheekbones. I hope no one bullies him about them…

She swallowed down an irrational urge to pound someone with pink hair.

Mito recognized some of the ninjas, either from growing up around them or knowing of them through their entries in various bingo books. Her father was leading the procession with a small boy who had to be Konohamaru - he held pictures of her grandparents. Right behind him was Asuma and the ANBU, Monkey, who Mito knew as her older (Sarutobi) brother, Hideki, Konohamaru's father. A woman behind him was carrying pictures of their sisters; Mito guessed that was Hideki's girlfriend. Naruto-chan was in between members of her father's guard and his student.

The surviving good one.

- Oh, geez: those were the guys I attacked at the capital. God: there really were a lot of reasons for her to stay out of sight, weren't there?

More than half the citizens were carrying at least one picture of someone they'd loved and lost in the Kyuubi attack. "Kami-sama. I'll get you for this, Obito." It was a little odd that so many of the Uchihas in the back of the procession were not holding pictures of loved ones, but she was glad for it. For a few seconds, she wondered if Obito had purposely saved them.

Her two-toned eyes went wide when she saw Anko-chan, whom she'd thought would still be with Orochimaru. Searching for her uncle or any of his Sound band of… interesting mostly children, Mito didn't find any of the others. Her chakra must have wavered for just a second - damn that fox - because the shinobi behind Anko came flying at her.

He was very fast.

Not as fast as I am, but still…

"Unknown kunoichi-san. Identify yourself and your reason for being here."

The Kyuubi, who had been being oddly attentive, nearly came unglued from within his confines. Mito cleared her throat, trying to avoid snarling thanks to all of the extra nasty (and furious) chakra that suddenly flooded her system as she kept her eyes on her family. "I'm here for the memorial, Uchiha-san. I suggest you turn off your Sharingan before I punch you out of the village." A kunai was pressed to her throat and Mito desperately resisted the overwhelming urge to shove a chain up his ass.

"Your kimono's awfully festive for a memorial service, pretty lady."

Mito sputtered but only for a second: she was NOT used to compliments! "Fuck you. This is Uzushio tradition."

"Uzushio? Please. You're a little young to be from there. …Who are you?"

"Jonin Namikaze Mito." Now it was the Uchiha's turn to sputter. "Can I trust that your eyes are off? Or would you prefer me to surgically remove them? I don't want anyone else to know that I'm here!"

She especially didn't want to go to T&I.

"You're feisty," the Uchiha said while retracting his kunai a bit. She was beautiful, too, but Namikaze Mito was said to have oddly streaked blonde and red hair. "I'm gonna need proof you are who you say you are."

"Check my left arm. My dog tags are around my neck." Mito held her breath and watched as the shinobi's Sharingan spun to life again as he pulled the dog tags from her and looked at the identifying (panther's leftover) marks on her arm. She didn't like the way his thumb began to run up her skin there and her irritation was only made worse by that Sharingan having appeared for a second.

Without thinking, her hand came up and she flicked him in the headband. He went sailing up and toward the Hokage Mountain. "Oops."

Mito looked up to see Tsunade smirking at her, giving her a discrete thumbs up. Shizune-nee had her face in her hands. Her father was gawking at her from the podium - that was even visible under that ridiculous Hokage hat - so she gave him an awkward wave and camouflaged herself before moving away to hide again. "How embarrassing!"

Geez: her mother had to be laughing at her from the Pure Lands right now, huh?

Somehow that thought was comforting.

Hours later -

"You know her, taicho?" Shisui asked in a whisper, still in pain from being flicked harshly into the Hokage Mountain. It kinda sucked that no one did anything about it. "She's really Hokage-sama's daughter? –'The Reaper?'"

"Maa," Kakashi drawled, "perhaps. I didn't see her face but it's definitely something she'd do," he said absently, remembering having been sent through a large tree when she/they were kids. He and the others were on Naruto duty - today was especially important for it - but he couldn't wait to leave the village again. He needed some action. "Asuma-kun and Monkey are over there, so my guess is it's her." It was odd that her father, their village leader, was only occasionally stealing glances in that direction, although he was still greeting villagers.

"Shouldn't we go over there?"

"Maa, I don't care."

"Hey, Uchiha-asshole," Anko said hotly, "I'm going over there!"

"Oi," Shisui gawked, looking to his senior for help but knowing that Kakashi already had his face behind his smut again. "Goddammit." He followed the kunoichi he'd been "accompanying" since her return to the village. He stayed far enough back not to be attacked again (but close enough to hear what was going on.)

"Purple hair, huh?" Anko asked teasingly as she flipped her little ponytail a couple of times. "Can't say I blame ya when it looks so great!"

Mito grinned and wanted to pull her best friend into a fierce hug. She did the next best thing. "I can't believe you're here! How's it hanging, Anko-chan?!"

"Today it's short and stubby!"

Mito smiled as Asuma bopped both of them on the head, irritating Anko to no end. "So it's a grower, not a show-er, eh?"

Shisui bit his laughter back as he listened to the two kunoichis becoming slightly even more perverted until they began whispering and signing to each other. The purple-haired Namikaze's hands eventually clasped the younger Sarutobi and Anko's shoulders and she peeked between them - and glared at him. She has such amazing eyes! She really did look like Minato-sama, more so from a distance. Or maybe they look more alike when they're glaring… The group of friends became much quieter and Shisui struggled to hear as the Namikaze teased his target into befriending Kurenai-chan as her supposed "soon-to-be-sister-in-law."

That was a shame. Kurenai, too, was hot!

Mito winked at the baka spying on them from nearby. "This is the speed you're aiming for, Sunshin no Shisui." She disappeared in a flash of purple teleportation.

"Fuck," Shisui gasped.

"Hold it there, Uchiha," Hideki said from behind his Monkey mask as he hopped over to grasp his shoulder. "You can't follow where they're headed." He gave Kakashi a look of deep misgiving but figured he could swap roles with him if he had to. Not that he was going to offer…

"She's my target," Shisui reminded him unnecessarily.

"I'm aware. I have it under control." He nodded at Kakashi. "See you there."

Kakashi wasn't sure what he was talking about. He approached Naruto who was about to sneak off, grabbing his shoulder and really wanting to encase the hyper kid in a mud dome. "Maa, maa! Stay here, you."

"That – that kunoichi! She - she… Was she?" Naruto couldn't even find the words to ask whether or not that was…. "Was that her?"

Kakashi sighed and looked around to ensure the area was secured. "I can't be sure, Naruto."

.

Mito changed into a surgical gown while Asuma, Hideki, and Anko waited outside the secured space she was in. She gave a lopsided smile at Shizune and Tsunade when they came in to quickly hug her. Without hesitation, Shizune began giving her all of the latest gossip, beginning with how Anko had been kicked out of the "Sound Village" while Tsunade commented on her "beautiful purple hair."

Mito was appalled, although she really appreciated how Shizune had befriended her best friend! Plus it totally sucked that not one person that she could remember - ever - had complimented her real ("weird") hair which she occasionally liked very much. "So what's going on with Anko-chan now? Is she back on duty?"

"No," Shizune breathed, a look of real intrigue and what Konoha ninjas called "Yamanaka-worthy" gossip-mongering on her face.

Tsunade told her to "shut it" and both girls pouted at her even as she was grimacing while examining the deep scar on Mito's back. "Are you ready?"

"You really think surgery can help me gain a little more flexibility? I mean, it's more uncomfortable than limiting, 'ttebane. But I'm up for it."

"There's no doubt about it, but it will be painful for a few days. We'll just do a little of it. You'll have to go through the healing exercises for a while again - everything you had to do before - but the process won't take much time. If you find it's worth it, we can do it again in a year or so."

Tsunade wasn't sure how a man would feel about that scar, in particular, and figured that it was well past time Mito got a boyfriend.

Mito would've had a cow had she known.

The now purple-haired kunoichi nodded, knowing that the thing wasn't going to get any better if she didn't at least try surgery to repair the damage and scarring that had taken place since she was kidnapped. "As long as I'm up and running within three days. I don't know how easy it will be - or if it will even be possible to knock me out. And, um… I don't know who you're planning to have assist you, but uh… An Uchiha cannot be among 'em."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. From everything she knew, Mito had never had a problem with the Uchiha clan - outside of the rogue Obito. "Shizune will be assisting me along with Hyuuga Kari. What's this about?"

Mito bit her lip and tried to keep her emotions in check. She had hoped to see her "Mikoto-oba:" her mom's best friend during this little visit and maybe even Itachi-chan. It wasn't like she really knew too many people here. But... "It's dangerous for me to be here. He's fine now, but when Kyuubi-sama realized that Uchiha…" The Kyuubi snarled in her mind just to prove her point. "That the guy Anko said is tailing her - that he's a member of that clan, the Kyuubi nearly came unglued…"

"I see."

Mito doubted it, and she wasn't sure that she liked the way that Tsunade was eyeing the seals that littered her body. She definitely didn't like the way she was looking over her arm's wide "Tracks" as the cats called them! "I don't want to go on a demonic rampage or ya know… have what happened with Sora-kun happen again. Someone could get hurt or worse. –You've met our kawaii ninja monk, right?"

Tsunade smirked and Shizune chuckled as they began further preparing her for the quick surgery. "Sora's living in the Senju compound: the little scamp."

"That's wonderful," Mito smiled genuinely. Her godmother was further manipulating the chakra in her brain after putting up a genjutsu. "Ah. That feels funny," she laughed drunkenly.

"Excellent. Sora-kun doesn't remember a thing, by the way."

"That's… nice," Mito said before falling over in Shizune's arms.

"Let's get her to the OR."

"I can't believe it."

Mito raised her eyebrows at the fox she hadn't been speaking to in a long while. He was pacing as much as he had room to and she guessed that she was unconscious to the outside world since she didn't feel any pain. "What can't you believe?" she asked crossly.

Kurama scowled at her. "Which one of those apes is your brother?"

There was no way Mito was going to let the fox control her chains again and do something to Naruto! Wasn't she doing enough for both of them, going after Obito and helping his brother, Isobu?! "That is none of your business!"

"Moron! …He is here." He'd said the last words to himself, still shocked about it although perhaps he shouldn't be. "Tch!"

Mito gave him her most unimpressed look, truly meaning everything behind it. "And who is 'he?'"

Maybe Kurama had been a little hasty because if Mito's brother was the monkey he thought he might be, then they had a problem. "Indra: that SCUM. I'd recognize that chakra anywhere! If Indra's here, Asura's here." His older half-brother Asura wasn't reincarnated (again) into the Senju brat, so he HAD to be in the other Uzumaki brat! That was always how it went.

Mito's eyes opened to the waking world and she wondered what in the world that was about. Two of her father's guards were there: the two she'd attacked years ago. How embarrassing. "Yo!" Both men held up their hands in surrender and Mito sulked. "I really am sorry about what happened back then, ya know."

The guy with the scar chuckled. "No probs, Mito-hime —I mean, Mito. San." Mito snorted. They didn't say anything else and Mito began to feel uncomfortable. She played with her hair for a bit, studying the way that the blonde underneath the dye made it look like she had violet highlights or at least caught the light more than the rest. It was kinda nice but not distracting enough. Giving them fair warning, she reached to open a seal on her arm to find something to do. It's not that she didn't trust these guys, it's just that… Hmm. Alright, I don't fully trust them not to get back at me but this is just social anxiety. Deal with it, Mito! She pulled out Jiraiya's latest and began editing it.

When Jiraiya wrote quickly he didn't worry about spelling and stuff at all. "He just never learns," she mumbled to herself, unaware that the two shinobis were gawking at the title of one of the journals Jiraiya always used to write his books in. The story, though, (once again she secretly thought,) was great! Her small room began to fill up with people and Mito lowered herself behind the manuscript, gasping when a masked man she knew as a child was suddenly in her face.

"What is THAT?!"

Mito glared at him and pulled the work to her chest. "What is what?"

"Yaoi? SERIOUSLY?! Wow… I don't know what to think!" After tittering while waving his gloved hands around, Kakashi tried to snatch the DRAFT OF THE NEW ICHA-ICHA - could it really be?! - from the kunoichi – and what is that about?! Women don't read these literary masterpieces!

(Women definitely did.)

Sadly for him, the masked shinobi's sensei unknowingly came to her rescue and Mito hid the goods.

Mito smiled at her father and coughed, glad that he hadn't seen what she had. She wanted that Water Country contact from her godfather! "Tou-san."

Minato swallowed hard, hesitating on what to do again. This is what being Hokage really came down to, though, wasn't it? "Clear the room, please. …How are you feeling, my girl?" He held a glass of water up for her, from which Mito sipped as everyone filed out. "Your hair looks nice."

Mito mostly ignored the hair comment but was glad that the purple apparently looked decent enough on her. "Nauseous and like the Kyuubi snacked on my back?" Mito looked around and felt bad at the way her father had winced. "Sorry. Actually, ya know what? It feels like when Panther-sama gave me my last mark - so not too bad." Her father pulled a face as he frowned at his daughter's arm, which looked more tattooed than scarred. "Hey! If Tsunade-baa-chan was able to make my back look a little like my awesome arm, I'll be ecstatic."

"Of all the summons to get and then they do THAT to you."

"I love my summons! They're good companions. …I haven't had to fight with them yet but I have no doubt they'll be competent." And vicious. Now that the big cats had a summoner, almost all of them were very possessive of her.

When they weren't ignoring her, bathing themselves, and laying in the sun.
- Ugh: cats!

Minato stood up and began slowly pacing around the room. It took him a while to speak. "Your seals look good," he mentioned, tapping one of the many white seals that laced Mito's body - or at least her arms and legs. His daughter grinned and pointed out what several of them held, obviously proud of her work - which she should be. "Mito. Are you positive Obito's there?"

"I am. Considering the number of chakra signatures in the area he's in, I'm assuming he's in Kiri. I haven't yet been TOO close, though."

"Jiraiya has a contact for you. You reported you were healing someone there?"

Mito was thrilled! Saying that meant that her Hokage-father wasn't going to get in her way! "Hozuki Mangetsu." She grinned at the way her father's eyes popped out. "He's a nice kid - and JUST a kid: I thought he'd be older. He's been through a lot. …Fucking Obito."

"Mito…"

"Sorry. It's just that he's caused so much death and suffering - it makes me sick." Her father bobbed his head once and Mito figured he was trying to reconcile the boy they thought they knew with the man who had turned into a monster –although he didn't seem to be able to look her in the eyes. Hmm.

"Mito…"

"I can't stay here," she said firmly. "Kyuubi-sama is being a pain about the Uchihas and Naruto. –He's snarling -er, hissing right now, just from me saying their last name!"

"You'll have to come back eventually, Mito: this is your home!"

"I need to start talking to him again," she sighed to both her father and the fox in her mindscape as she wiped her drowsy eyes. "After the Sora thing, I flipped out on the fox and wasn't exactly respectful. Then I just went silent; in fact, I hadn't heard from or spoken to him until today. –Tou-san, do you know anything about an Indra or Asura?"

Minato blinked at her, wondering where that came from for several seconds then chuckled. "That's quite the question. Your mother once told me that there were two brothers in Uzumaki lore by those names. Indra was supposedly the first Uchiha; I don't know anything about the other. …There is an 'Otsutsuki Asura' that was the first shinobi to sign the toads' summoning contract."

Mito listened to her father, a little annoyed that the Kyuubi was also listening. She knew because he was cursing Indra and "humanity's stupidity of not honoring Asura." He also seemed to have a problem with the toads which was just par for the course.

Then again, ten years ago today, their chief had flattened him…

"Can we please talk about this later?"

"We WILL talk about this later."

Mito bit her tongue. She would not lash out at that baka fox again.

Minato took a deep breath and sat down beside her. "There's something I've been researching regarding Obito-kun. I'm not going into this in detail but there's a jutsu that might be responsible for his actions. So to speak." Mito looked at him with that dead-eyed stare that told him she thought he was being "silly" at best but he couldn't help but think it was possible. "Lord Second developed a jutsu called the Edo Tensei. It's a summoning that binds the soul of a deceased person to a living vessel, restoring them as they were in the last moments of their lives in order to do their summoner's bidding."

"That's horrible - but I think it's wishful thinking on your part, Tou-san."

"I'm just saying it's possible."

Mito wrinkled her nose. "But in Obito's supposed last moments, wasn't his body wrecked? And why would Obito be chosen for something like that? I mean, I don't know if every Uchiha could summon the Kyuubi - oh: shut up, fox - but… I know it's him."

"He could be being controlled, Mito."

Mito found that she didn't particularly care. So far, she was aware that the boy she completed the second stage of the Chunin Exams with had been destroying countless lives in two nations since he went off the grid. She smiled fakely at her father. "So. Tell me about how you and Naruto-chan are doing!" She opened a seal in her arm and a scroll popped out of it that had a huge orange bow around it, making her father snort. "This is a present for him. It's his birthday and um - well! You can say it's from you if you want and I know you need to go. Are you having a party for him?"

"That's not necessary, and we celebrated yesterday."

"..."

Mito closed her eyes. "Right."

Minato noted that his daughter's hands had balled into fists. He knew what he'd had to say would anger her but he needed her to consider it more. Mito was a thoughtful girl. "Why don't I let Tsunade know you're awake, hm?"

"Yeah."

.

Asuma and Hideki scowled as Mito finished the ramen that she had not even ordered in record time with that damn parrot on her head. She also hadn't checked the ramen for poisons! It had only been a few hours and Asuma already desperately craved a cigarette. Why did his little sister have to be so troublesome?!

"Who do you think those flowers really came from?" she asked, changing the topic again and looking at floral arrangements as if they were potential threats. Which they might be. She'd already picked them clean for any poison or medicinal values each piece allowed, however. One arrangement was now almost gone aside from artificial stems and foam.

"They're probably some Reaper Fanboys," Hideki half-lied. Both Sarutobi brothers were glad for the way their (20-year-old) little sister moved even further away from the flowers and glared at them. A minute later, Hideki did stop her from throwing them in the trash, though. His girlfriend was pregnant again and he was frugal. Not cheap… Unwanted flowers were definitely re-giftable.

He planned to threaten the idiots who had the nerve to send Mito flowers. He'd already pocketed the tiny cards that came with most of them. Hideki might not be as close to her as Asuma was, but he still had older brother duties to fulfill, especially as they'd all had rather absent fathers and the rest of their makeshift band of siblings were gone.

His younger brother had the assignment to speak to Ichiraku Teuchi to find out who had purchased and sent ramen over for her. That was definitely going too far: it was manipulative on some guy's part!

Asuma began ranting again, back to discussing her plans for the Mist rebellion. "There's no way Hokage-sama will let you do it: it's too dangerous, Mito!"

Hideki didn't like what she was doing, either, but he knew Mito was a beast of a ninja. "He will, at least for further intelligence gathering. She's already in." He moved the flowers to the corner of the room.

"That I am!" Mito carefully crossed her arms behind her head, looking smug and feeling a little better now that she was shielded from the things. She knew that flowers had certain meanings, but for the life of her couldn't imagine why someone would send her something that she'd guess had to mean something "romantic?" Or partially romantic?! Or maybe they're supposed to mean "admiration?"

She had to be interpreting them wrongly. Or Anko's pranking me…

No, no, no: the delivery of those gross edible panties wrapped around a senbon was definitely all her doing. And Shizune says she's too broke to be giving people gifts.

Mito would get Anko for that. Thank her, I mean, she thought, evil laughter cackling in her head. Mito was just lucky that she was alone when she opened them.

Her incision stung as she moved. It pulled but less so than her scar used to - so at least that was good news.

"You won't stop at intelligence gathering in the Mist and we all know it," Asuma whispered in aggravation. Mito just shrugged and he had to walk away from her. "If you're going to be your dumbass self… I'm going with you."

"You're recognizable - and I'm sure Tou-san needs you here."

Asuma turned and stormed out of her hospital room. HE was recognizable? She had crazy hair that might be hidden at the moment but her little whisker marks and unique eyes certainly weren't - not to mention her abilities. "We'll see about that." The Academy brats he was supposed to test in a few weeks weren't going to pass his test anyway.

Mito narrowed her eyes at the door he'd just left through before she looked back at Hideki. "Even if he wants to, there's no way Tou-san will let the children of two Hokages go gallivanting into the Bloody Mist!"

"You'd better not be gallivanting, brat. And you also better be back for my wedding." Hideki covered his ears as Mito squealed like a schoolgirl. "Never mind. Cut that out or I'm leaving the flowers here!"

.

"Naruto," Minato called out to his son who, once again, looked miserable on his birthday. Kushina's been gone ten years: Kami-sama! That thought had been drumming through his head like a slow metronome all day long. October the tenth was always so painful. "I've got something for you."

"I don't want another present. I want to know who that lady was!"

"Lady:" Good Gods, that's what Mito-chan is now, isn't it? Minato sank down beside him on the couch, letting out a tired sigh as he did so. "There are things that I haven't told you about your big sister - about exactly why she's away and… why it's dangerous for her to be here." It's especially dangerous for both of you right now, considering Uchiha Mikoto's cryptic warning. If not for his need to keep his son close to him, he might have sent Naruto to the Fire Temple to keep him safe from potential Uchiha rebels.

Naruto began opening his present despite what he'd said, and boy was Minato glad that he'd finally told his boy that he had a big sister out there. Sitting on top of his son's gift was a note.

It looked like Mito had had enough of being ignored by her brother.

Dear Naruto-chan,

I hope that one day you will be able to forgive me for leaving you and Tou-san when you needed me the most. From the day I learned that I would be blessed with a little brother, I wanted nothing more than to take care of you and shout to the world that I had the best little brother in the whole, wide world. I had never been more excited about anything in my life than to be your big sister and to love and support you!

I know things turned out "differently" that day than what we'd hoped, but know that no matter what, Kaa-chan would only want you to be happy and to grow strong. She loved you so, so much, Naruto, and I know that she still does. She's watching over our family even now.

I'm proud of you, otouto. If you ever write back to me, I'll be sure to write to you, too! With all of my heart, I hope that one day soon I'll be able to safely return to you and Tou-san. Happy birthday.

Love,

Your big sister, Mito

P.S. I got this from Uzushio. I hope you like it!

Naruto pulled out a silver charm that was his - THEIR - clan's insignia on a shiny black chain. Underneath it was what looked like an Uzushio hitai-ate plate, an obi and kimono that were both super orange and colorful, and underneath those were a bunch of scrolls that looked like they were from or about the Uzumaki Temple.

Naruto bit his lips, trying desperately not to cry. "Why?" he asked brokenly.

Minato pulled his son close to him. "It's a long story, Naruto…"