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

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

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

Mito listened to her brother tell her father how to do his job at breakfast one morning two weeks later, getting a kick out of how naive he seemed - although she could admit it was a little worrying. While she absolutely agreed with the idea that children should be children, shinobi children - particularly the offspring of other famous shinobis or ones associated with clans - needed to be smarter or more realistic than this. We have to be strong. Those in their circumstances had to be ready to kill to protect if they had to.

Maybe Naruto is just playing around? It was hard for her to tell. Mito was only beginning to get used to what she guessed was a "family dynamic:" one that for her family existed at the breakfast table and that was about it.

Naruto IS strong, and of that Mito had no doubt. He just didn't have an Uzumaki to train him from an extremely early age on chakra control so his chakra was kinda everywhere! "How'd you like to train with me after I get off today, Naru-kun?"

Naruto's first reaction was to look at his father. His dad gave him an encouraging smile before going back to his paperwork that never ended - seriously, I am going to crush that stuff when I'm Hokage - before Nauto crossed his arms over his chest and frowned/glared at both his father and sister.

Mito ducked her head and covered the smile that appeared on her face. Every time Naruto scrunched up his face in outrage or disgust like that it cracked her up. Her brother was such a brat!

Ah, it was great.

"I think that sounds nice, Naruto," Minato said pleasantly. He looked up and realized that Naruto was only scowling at him more. "Something wrong?"

"Why don't you use shadow clones to do your paperwork, old man?" He tilted his head at his big sister who let out a few snickers. "What?"

"I've told him that many times before. But, 'Old man,'" Mito parroted, absolutely loving it.

"I am not old!"

"Yeah, right," Naruto snarked as he slurped the last of what was in his juice box and got up to get his stuff. "You got like, a 40-year-old kid," he said, jutting his thumb over to his sister.

"40?!" Mito squawked while their father was muttering incomprehensible things - before slinging a slim chakra chain around her little brother's orange waist. Her pain-in-the-ass Hokage father let out an almost frightened gasp (so she shot him a dirty look) before she twirled her naughty little brother toward her with her chain. She kissed his cheek and further messed up his perpetually disheveled hair. She also gave him a quick, unreciprocated hug. Finally!

"Gah! Get off! Get off! Oh…" The chain was already gone. It disappeared! "Neat!"

"Thank you," Mito said happily. "But I will get you back for that 'old lady' comment. I'm only 22, I'll have you know."

Naruto's mouth began yacking before his brain caught up. "Ero-sennin says that 22's a woman's sexual peak… hehe…" His eyes went wide with fear and disgust over what his mouth had just revealed.

Gross. Those things had never seemed gross before, only interesting (since he figured all that "coupling" - bleh: he couldn't think of the word "sex:" Ew! - stuff out) but now that he had a grown-up big sister? Gross: definitely gross and not okay.

Mito raised an eyebrow at him while the other dipped dangerously low. Not because of Naruto: no. He could pretty much say whatever was on his mind. The problem was what she bet Jiraiya had been filling this kid's yellow head full of. "There is an unwarranted debate about sexual… peaks. I don't see why it's relevant. It was thought that a civilian man reaches his at 18 and a woman when she's 30. That, however, doesn't take into consideration psychological considerations, experience levels, individual drive, and most definitely not chakra…"

"Mito-chan," Minato scolded, interrupting her. He became even more exasperated when she rolled her eyes at him.

"30?" Naruto asked with his head tilted nearly all the way to the side. "Wait… and 18? So an 18-year-old guy should be with an old lady?"

Minato groaned. "This is why I didn't want you to start, Mito," he said in a low voice. Mito was already correcting her brother, however - and then she started in with one of her long explanations again: this time about the effects of chakra and chakra control on… Probably on or during sex: dear God! "Tut, tut, tut," he interrupted before she could really say more.

"'TUT?'" Mito echoed. "What the hell is 'tut?'"

Naruto nodded vigorously. "Right?! It's the sound Dad makes to make me shut me up."

Mito frowned at her father. "Well, that's not very nice." Minato let out an aggravated whimper. "And I blame this conversation on Ero-ojii or you for not sheltering Naruto from this nonsense, Tou-san," she sniffed. She slurped up the rest of her soup before getting up to clean her plate and bowl, asking Naruto to do the same.

Naruto hardly ever did his own dishes but he followed his sister's lead. "Do you have time to walk me to school?"

Mito nodded. "Absolutely!" Before leaving, she smiled at her pain-in-the-ass Hokage father before maturely sticking out her tongue at him.

Naruto loudly cleared his throat, trying to do his pretty darn nice sister a favor. He'd heard the sometimes loud arguments (but mostly the overwhelming silence) about her being tossed out of ANBU and didn't think his dad was getting something that was important to her. "Mito-ane? What's your dream?"

Mito stopped moving. She sucked in a long breath and smiled at her brother wistfully and fiddled with her hair, hoping it covered her pained expression. "My dream, for as long as I can remember, Naruto, was to be an ANBU combat medic; to save everyone that I can."

"Interesting, interesting," Naruto said before shooting his father a glare. His Hokage father looked miserable now. Mito had been kinda miserable for a long time about this, though. "When I'm Hokage, I'll put you back in ANBU, 'ttebayo."

He did feel a little bad when his big sister let out a little choked sob that turned happy somehow: she was weird - and even better when she wrapped him into a hug. This time he did hug her back. He figured she needed it.

Plus, it wound up that her hugs felt really good.

And the fox said nothing this time!

Mito felt a little lighter as she walked Naruto toward the Academy. She gazed down at her little brother fondly. "I know what you did back there, Naruto. Thank you. Maybe Tou-san will change his mind."

Naruto hummed; the sound was grumbly. "I don't know what you're talking about, ane."

Mito hummed, too: more playfully. "You're good with people. –Good at reading things."

"Thanks!" Naruto replied brightly. "I really am! I have to be, to be Hokage. You gotta be a great ninja and be as awesome as I am to be Hokage."

"Oh my gosh," Mito sighed. Her brother was a trip. "Good shinobis don't wear bright orange, my dude."

Naruto spun on his heel, throwing his fist into the air and shaking it at her. "Blasphemy!" Mito laughed and ruffled his hair. She heard a gasp come from behind her.

"Mito-chan?"

Mito turned and gulped. Oh, she was so glad to see her! "Ohayo, aunty."

"Oh, Mito! You're finally back," Mikoto cried, wrapping her arms around Kushina's baby girl. She rocked her back and forth then realized that she was crying on her AND that Mito-chan was taller than her now! She was bending down for their hug. "You're so beautiful and you've gotten so big!"

Mito laughed and sniffed away the tears that had threatened to show themselves. She'd been so worried that Aunty Mikoto wouldn't make it out of whatever had happened in what was being called The Uchiha Incident. "I don't think the 'big' part is as much of a compliment as you may think it is." She grinned more as her beloved mother's best friend ran her hands over her head and patted her cheeks - running her thumbs affectionately over her whisker marks on the top of them the way she used to whenever they saw each other back when she was little. She winced in sympathy for what Mikoto must be going through. "Mikoto-oba, I'm SO sorry for your loss. …For everything!"

For whatever in the WORLD Itachi has gotten himself into!

Mikoto shooed away her son who had been defensively (suspiciously) watching the whole scene after she walked him to school today. "You'll be late, Sasuke, and I'm fine. Promise!"

"I'll look after your Mom, Sasuke-kun," Mito assured him. The kid scowled at her, making her click her tongue. She smiled at Mikoto again once all the kids had run inside. "Sasuke-chan's a brat!"

Mikoto held back a snicker. She turned toward Kushina's daughter, reminding herself that she was not Kushina. When she'd first seen her from behind this morning, her eyes focused on Mito-chan's distinctive hair, but the person her heart recognized was her best friend. "He's… Yes. I suppose he is."

Mito let out a happy chuckle. "Let's go eat!" Sure, Mito had just had her first breakfast but Mikoto-oba looked unhealthily thin (although still beautiful, of course,) and… Maybe it would help to have the Hokage's daughter walk the Uchiha Clan Head through the village.

Mito was sick of all the gossip about the Uchihas that she'd been hearing.

Mikoto hesitantly nodded and Mito hooked her arm through her aunt's, dragging her off while chatting her head off. Unknown to the younger woman, it was something that was exactly like her mom once did.

.

Minato tapped his desk while he watched the surveillance that had come from Kiri a couple of weeks ago again. He'd always known that his daughter would be a tsunami of a kunoichi but watching her plow through enemies - including Obito - was… impressive to put it mildly. And terrifying. – It had to be terrifying to be on the other side of such a force; more terrifying than it was to be the parent of such a powerful ninja, perhaps.

One that because of her skills and his name had an incredibly high price on her head.

Kami! The reason they specified his last name on her birth certificate was that Kushina was afraid of Kumo taking Mito the way they attempted to kidnap her, not all that long before Mito's birth. Now it was a real problem.

As he froze frame after grainy frame of the black and white videos, Minato realized another reason why his little girl was called "The Reaper." Uzumaki Blood Lust… It was something Kushina had warned him about although Mito had a much tighter rein on it than her mother did. But when Mito's giant panther had been struck in that fight: boy. All bets should've been off her keeping her wits about her then.

Mito never wanted this, though, even though it looks like she's focusing all her rage on Obito. Mito had only ever wanted to heal people!

He moved back and forth through the images - quickly past the series where his daughter began pounding his traitorous student with the gunbei she took from him. If it had been anyone else in the video - on either side - he would've laughed at the absurdity and the almost comical level of violence of it.

When did you become so skilled, Obito? Obito always had talents and tremendous potential but… Why did you attack us? Who took a piece of your mind and soul, changing you so?

One thing (as of late,) on which he and his daughter could agree was that the appearance of this video was highly suspicious. When Nara Ensui, the ANBU Vice-Commander, knocked on his door, he decided to get his opinion on it. Ensui handed over what looked to be a new Kiri Bingo Book and Minato felt a headache coming on. Then Shikaku came in with a letter from Kiri. It was addressed to Mito but had been vetted and decrypted.

"Troublesome," the cousins said at the same time when they looked at what the other brought to the table.

"Who's going first?" Minato asked. Naturally, they pointed at each other but this time, Ensui seemed to give up immediately first.

"Pages 1 and 2," he instructed.

Minato frowned and opened the latest book of those Kiri wanted - alive or dead - groaning when he saw Obito's description, his ridiculous mask, and stats. How much Kiri was willing to pay for his head wasn't mentioned, oddly enough; only that he was wanted "DEAD."

He turned the page and looked at both Naras in a degree of disbelief. "Namikaze Mito, aka Fox, aka The Vixen of the Leaf: oh that one's nice," he snarked sarcastically. "Aka The Reaper. S-rank." It wasn't long until he came to something equally disturbing. "They want her Dead or Alive?" He smacked the book down on his desk. "THIS is why she shouldn't have been sent on that mission! Mito - as sweet and naive as she is," he began, disregarding the way the cousins looked at each other in what was clearly disbelief - "thought that she may have brought Konoha a trading partner while there."

"You should probably see this before you say anything else," Shikaku said, tapping the message from Kiri. Ensui stepped behind Minato so that he could read it, too.

Surf's up, Fox-chan!
Just wanted to send a note to apologize for an error in the Bingo Book. You might want to lay low for a bit, ne? I can assure you that the revised edition will NOT be featuring your kawaii masked face. I hope there are no hard feelings and would like to send an envoy in the future. Magma for the win!

"An apology," Minato mused in irritation. "And what's the rest of this about? GENMA. Bring me Mito-chan, please? She should be at the hospital."

Minutes later, a grouchy Mito was sunshinned to his office. She just stared at him, her eyes looking as dead as Kakashi's often did although there was some degree of contempt for him there, Minato thought. Rather than argue with her again, he pushed the note across his desk for her to read and make sense of.

Mito tried not to grin in front of these men while she read the note from Mei. She had no idea of what Green Eyeliner Nara was doing here but she didn't like the way they were all looking at her. She let out a groan and stretched, scratching at her Jonin vest. "Is that all?"

Minato gaped at her. "What do you mean 'is that all?' They put you in the Bingo Book!"

"That's fine," Mito said with a covered yawn. "Excuse me. And she says it's an error."

"You can't be serious," Minato whispered as he gripped his temples on either side of his hitai-ate.

"She has a point," Ensui said as he looked over the beautiful kunoichi. "She's stationed inside the village, sir."

"Thanks for the reminder," Mito breathed. The timing of this really sucked. Naruto had just done her a solid by reminding her father of her dream that the Hokage was holding her back from and now this.

"Would you like to repeat that?" Ensui teased. "Or, as you said the last time we met, princess, perhaps you'd like to shove my head up my ass?" That's what the fiery woman had threatened him with the last time he saw her.

"Hmm. I can do that. Especially since you called me 'princess.' I don't like that and it's incorrect."

Mito did NOT like being called "princess." Ever.

Shikaku looked between the two while they were chatting and wanted to groan. It was never good when Ensui looked at a woman like that. He was interested in her. What the hell was he thinking? Mito is Minato's daughter and Ensui's 10 years older than her. "I have a question. How can you shove something that's… Hmm: already there? Ensui's had his head up his ass for years."

"I like that," Mito grinned. "But you should be careful of asking for answers about something like that, Nara-sama. I'm a medical ninja and a fairly creative one at that." Maybe she could shove her overprotective father's head somewhere too. "Human centipede for the win," she mumbled, finding that disgustingly hilarious. She let out a giggle when her father sloppily tossed his stapler at her.

"What does the message mean, Mito?"

Mito looked at all of them in a slight degree of disbelief. "It's already been decrypted - which wasn't a big job by the looks of it." They all just stared at her: very uncool. "Fine. What I see is that Mei hasn't yet been sworn in as Mizukage but she's building support. Based on the whole 'surf's up' thing, it's only a matter of time or she's at least bullish on it. And happy. There's the whole Bingo Book thing and I believe her. I'd say there might be more dissension in the ranks since someone high up put me in there against her will but I can picture her being so busy that she missed it - or Ao doing it, really. That guy did NOT like me at all but he is completely loyal to Mei. He was second-in-command of the rebellion." They know that. "Anyway, she references trade and surfing - but it looks like she has to get things in order in Kiri first. ...That's a pity."

"No honorifics?" Ensui asked in amusement.

"We got to know each other and… Sorry about that. I never addressed her so informally when we were together although she asked me to. And with Ao? There's no way I'm calling THAT GUY Ao-sama." Her father finally passed her the Bingo Book. She narrowed her heterochromatic eyes at the pictures and information on Obito's page but liked what they called him: "Obito the Teleporter." –It warned others of what he was capable of and of his fighting technique, right off the top.

At her father's urging, she turned the page and saw a pathetically crappy picture of herself without her mask. "'Vixen of the Leaf?' –I kinda like that. It's definitely better than 'The Reaper.'" A few silent seconds later she mentioned that being S-ranked was "neat."

The men went back to speaking about the Mist situation and Mito began slowly pacing. There was something bothering her about how they found out that she was a jinchuuriki. Utakata probably told them. Either that or Ao's got a hidden, probably stolen dojutsu behind his sealed eyepatch that could see Kurama's chakra. She'd already mentioned that at T&I, though. "If I'm good here, I'm off to get lunch. Ja!" She disappeared and reappeared outside of Ichiraku's.

Minato brooded at his desk, wishing that his daughter had invited him along.

At Ichiraku's, she was soon joined by Nara Ensui.

It turns out that he had been one of her ANBU superiors. Unbelievable… She thought he just went to HQ to hide and sleep! And he'd followed her around so grumpily the last time she was there!

After having a surprisingly nice lunch with the man, Mito walked down the street with little to do for the rest of her lunch hour. Things were fairly calm at the hospital - for a hospital - and Tsunade and Shizune were running things. She let out an unhappy puff of air when she thought about her big sister figure.

Shizune was being weird and Mito just didn't get it. She didn't even come over or join us on my birthday and I know she wasn't doing anything.

Speaking of birthdays, today's Kakashi's. She let out a couple of snorts. Kakashi was supposed to be dragged to a bar tonight, dead or alive, for a little celebration. As much as she knew of him, Mito thought he'd probably be pissed off about it.

Moments later her thoughts went back to Shizune, who had once had a hard crush on that silver-haired "interesting" person.

Yes, Mito could imagine someone being wary of her for being a jinchuuriki. Someone who doesn't understand fuuinjutsu, which Shizune isn't bad at. Shizune, however, had known about her being a jinchuuriki since the night "it" happened and had even visited her with Tsunade more than a few times while she was exiled. When Mito was at the temple, Shizune had always seemed to be glad to see her and to hang out. Shizune had even been her fun self when she came back to have surgery on that scar.

What changed?

Approaching the Academy's grounds on her little walk, Mito smiled affectionately when she saw her brother sitting outside and eating lunch with his little friends. He was hard to miss in all of that orange. Yikes.

…

Ohhhhhh? And what do we have here?! Mito used the camouflage jutsu to better sneak up on a girl with quite short hair. Was she spying on her brother from behind this tree? Or on one of the other boys? Kawaii!

Mito watched with more and more interest as the girl moved to hide behind the school when Naruto ran away from his friends to…

"Bastard! Stop ignoring me!"

- To apparently harass Mikoto's son. Mito couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Her brother really had a big mouth. She dropped the jutsu. "Yo."

Hinata thought she'd have a heart attack! "Oh! Um… Hello!"

"I'm Namikaze Mito. I don't think we met when I dropped by with Naruto a while back." A lopsided grin grew on Mito's face when the Hyuuga girl began flushing and poking her fingers together although she saw her wince. "Are you alright?"

"Hai!" The girl bowed and Mito could barely hear what she said while facing the ground. When she stood back up, Mito was overwhelmed with cuteness overload! What a sweet little dumpling this chibi was! She let the girl know that she wasn't able to hear her and Mito could see the little one deflate and move her weight slightly to her other leg. She quickly adjusted how she was standing again. "You're hurt, Hyuuga-san. Would it be alright if I healed you?"

"I'm fine! Ano… And you may call me Hinata, Mito-hime!" Oh my goodness; this is Naruto's big sister! Hinata had seen Naruto introduce the kunoichi to many of her classmates but she didn't have the courage to come out and join them.

Once again, she felt like such a failure.

"No 'hime,' please. Just call me Mito. Reeeegular old Mito."

The Jonin winced. Note to self: don't call yourself old. That sounds shitty and would reinforce what Naru-kun thinks - that little brat! "Let me see your wrist." When the girl apologized for being a problem or something - of all the crazy things - Mito added, "that's an order." The Hyuuga girl squeaked in a way that made Mito hurt for her. It was odd to see a Hyuuga with such crippling shyness.

And the girl's wrist was horribly bruised! Mito healed her, ensuring that nothing was torn or broken, and then asked about her hip or leg. She bent down to heal what turned out to be her equally bruised ankle. She wanted to ask her to take off her sandal or go inside for a little checkup but it looked like the girl was as mortified as was humanly possible.

And she refused more help.

"I'll tell you what I tell everyone, Hinata-chan: it's not good to leave injuries unattended. They can get worse. One way or another, neglected injuries can put you or those you care for in danger, ne?"

"Hai! Th- thank you for the le- lesson, sensei!"

Mito snorted. "I'm just called that at the hospital, Hinata-chan. As I said, you can just call me 'Mito' outside of it, okay?" The girl nodded and looked like she wanted to run or crawl into a hole. Mito found that she was really worried about this. All of these pieces were adding up in her head and she didn't like what she was concluding: abuse. "Did your injuries come from taijutsu practice?"

"Hai!"

She's not lying… The fox probably would've woken up if she was: Kurama was weird like that and Mito was a pretty good lie detector, herself. "Alright then. Be careful and feel free to get me anytime if you need help or healing, okay?" Another nod. "It was lovely meeting you." The girl quickly shuffled off and Mito could swear that she still looked like she was hurting. "Hmm."

Iruka's eyes widened somewhat before he winced when he realized the Hokage's daughter was here again. "Namikaze-sama," he greeted the kunoichi kindly. Her red eyebrow twitched when she turned and Iruka wasn't sure what to do or what their "issue" was. Mito sure didn't seem to like him. "I wanted to apologize again for what happened before."

He meant the time he had thought her a potential enemy when she was watching his students.

Mito didn't know that her father had genjutsu-ed the Academy teacher so that he would forget about meeting her for a drink that night. "Hn."

The sensei winced. Mito sighed and gave up. "May I ask if you've noticed anything strange or odd about Hyuuga Hinata?"

Iruka was very, very protective of his students so he wouldn't give up any of their secrets unless I've had a drink and something's really funny, he admitted to himself. He forced his attention past that embarrassing fact. "I can tell you that she trains with her family and Yuhi-san."

"Kurenai?" Mito asked with bright eyes. "Very good. Thank you so much, Iruka-sensei." She disappeared in a flash of teleportation and Iruka sagged.

"Gah. She is scary intense."

Mito would've shown Iruka just how scary and intense she could be had she heard that!

.

Later that evening when she was on her way to a bar, birthday present in hand, her father stopped her. She glared at him when he looked at what she was wearing. It was just an LBD: The Hokage didn't need to look at her as if she was repulsive or something. It hurt her feelings! "What can I do for you?"

Minato tried not to cry: Mito looked so beautiful and grown up! His instincts told him to lock her up but he pushed them down past his throat. She would just get even more aggravated with him if he said such a thing. "You're going to Kakashi's party?"

"Hai." Mito tossed the package that she'd wrapped in shiny black paper. Like Kakashi's soul. Ah, that probably wasn't fair but it sure was funny.

"Be careful, okay?" His daughter nodded absently and he wanted to say so many things he knew that he shouldn't. He needed to prove he trusted her.

Don't drink too much.
If you need me throw one of MY special kunais and I'll be right there, no matter what!
Be careful - again.
Stay away from boys -er, men. Yes, especially men!
Men are evil!
Are you sure you've brought enough weapons? –He couldn't tell whether or not she was well-armed. Surely she is…

He cleared his throat. "I've been thinking about a solution to our… disagreement." Mito's eyebrows rose so at least he'd gotten her full attention. Parenting an adult is hard - or trying not to parent is: he wasn't sure which. "I think you'd make a great Jonin-sensei."

Mito was speechless. Being a Jonin-sensei, especially in her father's eyes, was a very big deal. It was important. And she liked kids although D-ranked missions would probably be a nightmare of boringness. She'd never fully experienced them - and never with a team - but D-ranks were known to be chores: literally. "I've taught at the temple. Sora-kun was one of my favorite students. And I could be Naruto's sensei and keep him safe!"

Please let me teach Naruto and Sora! Please!

"I'm glad you find it acceptable," Minato breathed in relief.

"But I still want to go on ANBU missions."

Minato closed his eyes and tried to grin at her. "I know. …I know."

"I see." Her father didn't say anything else and Mito wanted to groan. His response hurt: he wasn't going to let her help people in the field, was he?

"Is there anything else? Otherwise, I'll see ya later, huh? I might stay over at Anko's place so… don't wait up. I mean, seriously. Never wait up, alright?" The whole idea of a parent waiting up for her to come home at this point in Mito's life was just odd.

Is he ever going to see me as the adult I am?

Minato nodded through the pain in his heart. He felt that he'd missed nearly everything important in his daughter's life. "We'll see. I love you, Mito."

Mito smiled a little more genuinely at that. "Love you, too, Tou-san. Ja."