Mito couldn't remember what she was looking for. She could hear her mother humming and as much as she tried to force herself to look up at her - to see anything but her mother's beautiful, long red hair swaying as she cooked - Mito's small hands continued searching for one of Asuma's books. He'd let her borrow an Academy textbook and didn't want his father to find out. And Jiji, Lord Third, was on his way up.

A tiny Mito glanced up at her Kaa-chan's scary black cat clock, its tail swinging with each long second passing, noting that she couldn't make out the numbers.

Kakashi's sleepy voice disturbed her dream. "Mi, wake up. C'mon, baby, it's late."

Mito pulled the covers further up and turned away, closing her eyes tighter against the light and feeling grouchy and sore. "Don't have to work today," she was fairly sure. She was supposed to be out on that stupid mission.

"Anko stopped by yesterday to remind you about the Jonin exam." Realizing that Mito wasn't going to wake, Kakashi sighed and shuffled off to grab the breakfast he'd made, deciding to put it in front of her nose the way he did with his ninkens sometimes. Bull, especially, was often difficult to wake. "Up and at 'em."

"Food?" Mito sniffed like a cute animal, interested as ever. She blearily blinked at her boyfriend. "Breakfast in bed?!" She smiled gratefully as she wiggled up more, twisting to grab a water glass on her nightstand, chugging down the cool liquid, but frowning when she realized it wasn't all that bright outside. She rubbed her eyes against the still offensive light, waking up. "Thank you for breakfast, Love. What time is it?"

"Nearly 1600." Mito's beautiful eyes went wide and he smirked at her. He'd kept her up all night; what did she expect? Mito was gorgeously cute when she was sleep and sex-mussed. Her wild, two-toned hair made her look like a lion. "Maa, the Jonin Exams?" Mito's chakra shot through the roof and he chuckled. "Anko said you volunteered her. She came by to remind you yesterday but I…"

"Oh, fuck," Mito yelped, rolling out of bed and running to the bathroom. She was back within twenty minutes, in uniform, grabbing large sealing scrolls, weapons pouches, her go bag, and keys. She remembered to thank Kakashi after scarfing down her breakfast, gave him a quick kiss, and then flashed to Anko - who sicced a monster-sized snake on her.

"YOU BITCH!"

"Sorry! SORRY," Mito cried louder, sunshinning back and knowing they were giving away their position. She ran through the signs for the summoning jutsu, pushing a ridiculous amount of chakra into it. Her cats were among many of the ferocious beasts (her included, who would be) fighting the Jonin-wannabes over the next six days.

"We're fighting snakes?" Tora asked, scratching his furry neck. Another snake sent a sleepy Kei barrelling into him. The two got into a short brawl because of it.

"No, no," Mito answered, lunging away from Anko's summon again, then burrowing underground to avoid a half dozen senbons her best friend threw at her. "BAKA," she cried, coming back out of the ground, chains twirling around her. "C'mon, Anko! Chill out! I'm SORRY!"

Anko clicked her tongue loudly but stood down. "You owe me." Breathlessly, Mito nodded in agreement. She'd better! The purple-haired Jonin let her summon off the hook, allowing him to return to his earlier position, chasing and swallowing Chunins. "We had a plan! I've been waiting all day, Mito."

"I really am sorry," Mito promised. "I had a mission…"

Anko was already shaking her head. "Nuh-uh. I know you were back and fucking that…"

"Shush," Mito cried in a silly giggle, her cheeks burning. "And um, are you ready to get started or not?"

Anko flipped her the bird in answer, grumbling as she jumped onto a nearby tree branch.

"Alright; Jungle Cats," Mito clapped her hands and turned, grinning at each of her summons but keeping an eye on Anko in case she decided to attack her again. It was fair. She deserved it. "This is the Jonin exam I told you about. Now. You are not to kill or take a bite out of the Chunins and Tokubetsus being tested, please, but you can otherwise bring them down at your discretion. Return to me if you're hurt; I'll kick the guy's ass responsible and heal you." Her summons were already sniffing the air, seeking out prey. "Have fun and… go be terrifying or something."

"OH, yeah," Lexi cried, leaping off into the trees as did all his fellows. Mito sighed, shrinking back and covering her ears when she soon heard Hinote let out an earth-shattering roar in the distance. She saw a couple of Chunins fly into the air over the trees. "Ha!"

Anko grinned. "I think that was Iruka! He just got out of one of my snakes," she snickered. "Cute little fascist." That (for a man) sexy Chunin and his demand to present perfect mission reports was the bane of all Jonins.

Mito bounced in place, excited about this whole thing again. "He's gotta be temporarily deaf after that. Let's go beat him up!"

"Yeah!"

Two nights later -

"You sure there's no leeches in here?" Mito asked about the creepy mud pit Yugao had found. Leeches were probably the least of her worries here but the little fuckers were still gross. The pit was gurgling oddly and very, very warm: steaming. Mito was testing it because the girls thought it would be a nice place to relax. So far her most difficult fight was when, slinging blades, she and Hayate ran into each other in the dark and got tangled up. A group of Jonin-hopefuls jumped them - and were promptly handed their asses.

Fairly promptly. Ahem.

She and the swordsman left the Chunins (and a Tokubetsu) hanging in the trees, so it was all good.

"I'm sure," Yugao promised. "I used lightning and water jutsus to drive the nasty boogers out." She and the other Jonins had been challenging Chunins all day since their kohais weren't coming to them for proper ass-whoopings. Later, they'd compile reports of what they'd seen to Hokage-sama.

Mito watched the last of her tests reflect "negative" in a seal. "Huh. We're good!" She grinned when Yugao quickly stepped into the thick mud bath with a delighted sigh, saying she always dreamed of going to a spa that offered this kind of treatment but gagged and coughed when Anko jumped in. "ANKO!" She splashed her!

"Shhh," Yugao scolded both of them, wiping mud off her cheek. "We don't want anyone finding us!"

"True." Mito got partially undressed, like the others, and climbed in, sighing in bliss as extreme warmth enveloped her sore muscles. "Oh, this feels good."

"I was thinking about the Hyuuga kid," Anko remarked after a lot of their oo-ing and ah-ing over how dang good this pit felt. Gai's brat Hyuuga, Neji-kun, had the nerve to stop four of her beautiful, glorious serpents with Jyuken strikes (or something) as he moved through the forest with his assigned partner, the bug kid on Mito's team. Before the exam began, Mito agreed that Shino-kun wasn't ready to become a Jonin but believed this experience would be good for him. "What can Hyuugas NOT see through?"

Mito frowned thoughtfully. "Seals? Or the kind of seals designed to hide from the Byakugan, anyway. I… don't know if there's anything else that limits them, really." She wasn't going to mention that the Hyuugas had a blind spot: she was a medic and that was a clan secret. She had a kawaii Hyuuga on her team.

"I've had success fooling the Byakugan. Only once," Yugao admitted, sinking even further into the mud. She thanked Anko when the snake mistress had the wonderful idea of creating a low bench with an earth jutsu within the pit for them to lounge on. "Nice! –Anyway, I hid behind Tenzo and it confused Hiashi-sama. He couldn't find me." She didn't mention why she was hiding from him.

"Really?" Mito asked, sounding gossipy. "I'm no Tenzo but my chains might have a similar effect."

"I don't see why," Anko snarked. She was still pissed about Mito being hours and hours late, plus they'd all gotten snagged in one of Mito's traps earlier. And the lateness thing really bothered her. That famous boyfriend of hers was leading her to copy his shitty habits!

On top of all that, Mito's cats kept chasing her snakes rather than the Jonin wannabes.

"Ohhh?" Mito asked bitchily. "And here I was thinking I could hide you with my chains so that when we run into Neji-kun, you could grab him with your summons…"

"...Or pin him with senbons," Anko added, now cheerful again.

Yugao rolled her eyes. "You're forgetting. No one wants to fight Mito."

Mito pouted. That wasn't fair although her chains were a problem for the others. That - and she, Yugao, and Anko hadn't separated once. They'd also grab other Jonins whenever they were around to join them on their kohai hunts. "Correction: no one wants to fight US. SO, if they refuse to play our game, we'll go after them, ne?"

"Woohoo!"

Yugau grinned.

"Mehhhh - but that's after a good, filthy soak," Anko amended.

"Fair enough." Mito soon felt Buddy approaching, which was a near-miracle since this forest was so alive and screwed with her sensing so much. It was one of the reasons she liked to train here. Buddy's fur was black; she couldn't see him at all until the greenish-gold glow of his eyes appeared from behind a tree. "You okay, big guy?"

Buddy let out a low growl. "The Monkey's Nara, your bug cub, and the Turtle's young Hyuuga did a number on me," he admitted, limping toward the kunoichis. He wrinkled his nose at the weird-smelling mud they were sitting in.

"We were just talking about Neji-kun," Mito grinned, beckoning him forward. Using her iryo-ninjutsu, she saw that he didn't have any wounds. The three of them had been sitting here a while without any adverse effects, too. "Come on in! It's good for your muscles and I'll unblock your tenketsu or whatever for ya. I can rinse you off after."

"Thank you," the giant black panther muttered, sinking into the mud. It was very warm. The snake woman who was Mito's friend gave him a hand as his summoner cooed over his injuries, her hands still lit up with her iryo-ninjutsu. She was a caring idiot, but she was his caring idiot. "Heh. Hinote lost his shit and took a piece out of Hinata girl's young cousin..."

"WHAT?!" Mito squeaked. "Hinote bit Neji-kun?! He wasn't supposed to do that!" That lion was a total pain in the ass.

Buddy only smirked. "Yeah, well maybe 'Neji' shouldn't have attempted to use the 'Lion Fist.'"

Mito perked up. "Hinata-chan's been working on that technique." She grinned at her friends although she couldn't see their faces well in the dark. "Hina said it's a Hyuuga secret," she explained.

"Yeah, well Hinote said that only a summoner was allowed to use it," Buddy growled. He'd never heard of it and Hinote was a lazy, dirty liar. The giant panther figured that the noisy lion saw lit-up lions' faces on the human's fists and lost it because he wasn't the king of their pride or something.

"Huh." Mito thought more about it. "Is Neji okay?" Buddy nodded, saying that a proctor was nearby the incident and provided aid. "Maybe I should let Hina-chan sign the contract then." It's not like she would ever have a child to pass her summoning contract to.

- How sad was that?
- Really sad.
 - …Nothing for it, though.

"Hmph. We won't accept her," Buddy admitted rudely. Mito gaped, looking outraged, her long red and yellow fur coming to life even as the ends were dragged down in what felt like hot slime. "Hinata's too meek. Your Aburame's got bugs and Inuzuka's got his mutt," he shivered. "BUT you might be able to work something out between the girl and the lions. ONLY the lions. Heh. –They suck."

Mito gasped. "They do not!" They didn't! (Except for Hinote who was strong but lazy and a contrarian.) "Don't be mean!"

Meanwhile, just outside the village in the Barrier Division, a Tokubetsu Jonin jumped, having just detected multiple chara signatures entering the village. "We've got intruders! Infiltrating underground!"

Yugao pointed toward the village where she saw lightning strikes in the distance on a clear night. It was a strange visual. Through the canopies of trees on this edge of the forest, it almost looked like the strikes were coming from the ground and going up rather than the other way around. "Say, that's weird, ne?"

Mito tsk-ed. "Kakashi better not be doing some kind of weird experiment." He was always doing weird shit with his elemental jutsus but was supposed to be conserving chakra. They discussed his recovery and gossiped like the young women they were (with Buddy the panther) while the village was attacked.

The more they talked, the more excited Mito got. Anko's relationship with Hana was finally progressing. Yes!

Minutes after that revelation, Mito stood, feeling a huge seal go up over the whole village. And ill intent - everywhere. "That's not right." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the ground underneath them bottomed out, sending them all hurtling down, down, down into the earth, along with all the sticky mud. Mito grabbed Anko and Yugao with her chains, dismissing Buddy so he didn't get hurt. They all landed on their butts amidst her chains, groaning and covered in slimy mud.

"What the fuck?" Anko whispered, worried as hell. She looked over her friends, relieved that Mito and Yugao seemed alright. Fortunately, her longtime contract with the snakes ensured she could see a little better than most in the dark. When Yugao channeled chakra into her sword, it glowed and Anko realized the swordswoman was the only one of them who'd managed to grab a weapon or anything else. "Mi, lend me a kunai."

Mito nodded and unsealed another tri-point kunai from her palm. "We have to assume we're under attack." Either someone had infiltrated the exams or her father had gone ALL out to ensure the participants in the Jonin exams were ready for their new positions.

"This cannot be part of the exam," Yugao was fairly certain. "Can it?" Her own Jonin exam threw more at her than she'd ever imagined, though.

"No clue," Anko admitted. The Hokage had told them to expect surprises.

Yugao nodded, already in position. "I'll take point."

"I'll take the rear," Mito whispered. "Stay close." The three kunoichis weaved through the dark in what seemed like a cavern. The earth had hardened over them but the cavern constructs were moving. Mito wondered if this underground part of Konoha had always been here or if something stranger was going on. Obviously, something was up with that ceiling. And it wasn't like she was feeling KI but there was a sense of malfeasance all around her that she couldn't shake.

Kurama said he could sense negative emotions, and that she could sense the same through him. Is that what this was? Again?

It's not like she was going to ask him. The last time she'd talked to him, he'd gotten her all surly and depressed.

The filthy, heterochromatic-colored Jonin tried to break a genjutsu but what she was experiencing was no illusion. They rounded a corner and Mito suddenly felt Naruto's chakra, as if her brother had dropped into the cavern, too. ".5 clicks NE. My brother's down here!"

"What?" the others hissed. "I didn't know he was back," Anko added in a whisper.

Mito was shaking her head in disbelief as they quickly moved in that direction, weaving around or moving up strange, incredibly hard, underground earth constructs in the dark. "I didn't either, but I messaged Jiraiya that major players in the Akatsuki were in the country so it makes sense that he'd brought him back." They took off in a run through a long, straight corridor - before the terrain could change again - and Mito jumped ahead, feeling even more oddly familiar chakra - but it wasn't "right." Yugao's sword lit up the cavern in lightning chakra. "Naruto!"

He was just standing there in his orange and blue jumpsuit with a red-haired woman. Uzumaki! She's definitely an Uzumaki! But that familiar chakra was under layers of other weird chakra.

"Ane?" Surprised, Naruto turned to see his sister and gasped as she and two other really dirty kunoichis were blasted up through the earth and out of sight. He glared at the enemy he'd been chasing who looked gobsmacked for some reason. "What do you want?! -What are you planning?"

"Who was that?" the redhead asked curiously. One of her partners, Fudo, had opened the area with that blast and she could see better now.

"None of your business," he growled, socking his fist into his other hand. "You're going down, 'ttebayo!"

"Fine," the woman, Fuku, snarked, rolling her eyes. She'd thought she felt something familiar about the tallest kunoichi who'd momentarily appeared. "If you're gonna be that way… How about a kiss?"

"Ehhh? –Rrk!" The old hag had tilted his chin up and laid the smackdown on him, sealing her lips over his! Naruto struggled to get away, freaking out when her unwanted, pervy kiss began sucking out his chakra. "Nggghh!" The Kyuubi's chakra began leaking up through his coils into his mouth, and the woman shoved him away.

"Wind, eh? Wonderful. And… that other chakra. Ohhh," she chuckled strangely. "Mmmm! You're the other Nine-tails jinchuuriki, ne?" She knew Kazuma (who was going by "Furido" nowadays) had turned his son, Sora-kun, into a jinchuuriki. Wasn't it interesting that this other one had also fallen into her hands?

Naruto took a step back, frowning and feeling his heart speed up. Akatsuki? But she wasn't dressed like an Akatsuki…

It didn't matter. If she was an enemy and knew about the "other jinchuuriki," his big sister, she had to go.

Meanwhile -
Blasted in different directions, Mito managed to land on her feet and used her senses to the best of her abilities to attempt to find her friends and Naruto again. The subterranean ground was definitely moving through the use of what felt like an enormous jutsu, tripping her, although they were still in the Forest of Death. Anko and Yugao weren't far but Mito couldn't sense Naruto anymore at all. She sunshinned toward Anko but was sent spiraling mid-jutsu through the air through successive wind jutsus coming from two directions, pushing her deeper into the forest. "Dammit!"

Was there anyone in the exam who could pull off such strong wind jutsus?

Tou-san or Asuma can, easily.

Not understanding the situation, she couldn't attack if it was possibly an ally and the village was at risk…

Mito froze when she felt a chakra signature she never, ever wanted to encounter again. He'd grabbed her and was holding his tri-pointed claw blade to her neck. Oh, how she remembered that blade. "Kazuma."

The man who'd kidnapped her from the Fire Temple and peeled off a chunk of her fucking skin.

- Who'd beaten the shit out of her, knocking out her teeth while that other old guy...

- Why the fuck are you alive?

"Don't move unless you want someone you deem precious to die," Kazuma hissed in her ear, giving it a quick lick. The witch shuddered in his arms and he pressed his triple-bladed claw to her carotid. "I've taken someone very valuable to you, princesssss. It would be such a shame if he were to die because of your recklessness!"

Mito tried not to react - or TO react! She needed to calm down and think!
And wasn't it something how many precious people she had in her life now?
She couldn't risk any of them. She needed to know what his plan was.

Anko and Yugao came flying toward her position, weapons at the ready but paused, wide-eyed, when in the moonlight they saw the situation she was in.

"Hey," Mito growled uneasily. "This is the dipshit who kidnapped me way back wh–NGH!" He'd cut into her neck and another strong jutsu sent them flying, tumbling into a more open area. His blade had plunged deeper.

Poison. Mito could already smell it and feel the burning, fast-acting effects in and under her skin, crawling toward her heart. Undoubtedly this situation would be a whole lot worse if she wasn't a jinchuuriki - or Anko's friend. And at one time, Orochimaru's willing guinea pig.

Kazuma didn't let go of her, jumping into a tree, dragging her along, and snarling threats against her family that had her boiling with rage.

"Ha," Kazuma smirked, landing with the poser on a tree limb. He pressed his glowing hand over where he remembered her seal to be.

Mito willed a temporary seal to life over most of her torso to stop him.

"There he is," he sneered. "'Hokage!'"

Her father was there. Fuck. He looked pissed.
Alarmed, all eyes darted to the side when Mito felt a huge surge of Kurama's chakra that had to be pouring out of her brother. Kazuma had begun laughing maniacally and twisted her arm up as she struggled to escape and not be cut deeper. Otherwise, all Mito could think about was how she had to get to Naruto! What had this asshole done to him?!

Demonic, orange chakra was blooming into the air in the distance and Mito's half of Kurama answered in kind. She felt it burning through her latest seal and coils despite what she'd tried. The mud on her skin (and her skin itself) began to lift and burn into the air.

Kurama's chakra was also pooling, focusing on her neck, where Kazua was holding his blade. Mito knew the fox was trying to help her.

And himself.

The chakra and poison hurt, moving up into her head, too. Mito closed her eyes as Kazuma demanded her father "give up the throne" (fucking idiot. And anyway, Tou-san will never give up his position.) She channeled burning chakra into her feet, slowly weaving what became clunky, malformed chains upward as she felt Kakashi quickly and silently closing in from behind them.

There was sudden movement and Mito attempted to grasp Kazuma with her chains. Her heart having been beating like a hummingbird's wings, she wheezed, letting out an animalistic, gurgling whimper when he slit her throat. He dispelled in a poof of smoke when something hit him but it was too late.

He was just a clone.

Falling in what felt like slow-motion and drowning in her own blood, unable to breathe, Mito's iryo-ninjutsu failed her. She panicked but in desperation, managed to bite herself, gagging and choking up blood as her healing ability instantly kicked in. Her father had caught her and was saying… something as he pressed his hand to her abdomen.

Mito tried to knock it away.

Kurama's chakra burned her throat. "I'm fine - I'm FINE!'" she mouthed more than said; her voice gone. She quickly followed up with medical ninjutsu to her larynx. Still holding her tightly, her father flashed to her brother. Mito stumbled into a chaotic scene.

Naruto was burning through Kurama's chakra in the middle of a circle, his friends all around him trying to either calm him down or beat the shit out of him to subdue him, she guessed. His part of Kurama's chakra knocked her father away from him, sending him sailing. Mito jumped in and instantly lit up in fiery chakra. Hissing (and choking up more blood.) Her chains grabbed him in the midst of all that awful chakra. He almost attacked her, too.

Her poor brother was trying so hard to calm down. He'd even stabbed himself and was growling at the others to leave him be! –To let him go!

Never!

Her father flashed back in, pushing a seal to Naruto's forehead. Skin burning like mad, Mito tripped on top of her passed-out brother.

Later that night -

"...and Asuma-kun took care of Kazuma," Minato told his silent daughter. Mito had three new scars (for now) and she was so angry.

He was furious. They'd defeated the infiltrators but Minato was disgusted that Konoha had suffered damage. He was even more angry that the rogue group had targeted his children. Fortunately, none of Konoha's faithful citizens had perished in the attack and his kids were… okay.

"'Took care of,'" Mito quietly parroted, her voice still raw and even raspier than normal. She'd thought her father, the Hokage, 'took care of Kazuma' years ago.

Asuma scratched the back of his neck and sighed. "I used my trench knives to cut his damn head off." He stepped toward her and in a lower voice assured her that it was over. "Kazuma-san won't be bothering you again, imouto."

Mito grimaced, still refusing to look at anyone. She felt humiliated that she'd let that asswipe get the jump on her again, even if he was working with three other A or S-class missing nins. In the early assault, Kazuma and his group had somehow raised the dead to aid them, too. Asuma reported that some of the dead were her friends from the temple, former Guardian 12 comrades like Tou and Seito. Disgusting. No. Horrific!

Mito took a deep breath, trying to will away the image of her old friend being controlled in death, pulled from the Pure Lands. "Sora-kun?" If Naruto was back, was Kazuma's son, Sora, also back in Konoha?

Asuma sighed, sounding as if he was groaning. "Yeah. He and Jiraiya have been notified. They'd just left after dropping Naruto-kun off when…"

Right. Mito knew that Jiraiya was Kazuma's biological father. She listened as Asuma and her tou-san discussed how they reacted. All in all, Kazuma and Sora were more horrified by Kazuma's actions than anything, and had fortunately been just outside of the village following up on an Akatsuki lead when they learned of the attack. They didn't have to see what Kazuma had become.

Mito was so angry with herself. When she'd felt Kazuma's chakra, she'd… panicked. It was like her chakra, or hindbrain, or something recognized him before her good sense told her to fight back.
She'd frozen from either shock or PTSD and gotten caught.

Mito was fairly sure she hadn't panicked when she faced off against Obito but against the comparatively weaker Kazuma? She'd completely shut down. Pathetic.

And why the hell did her father let Kazuma live after what he did to her? He'd already explained that Kazuma escaped in an unreported prison break but he was Hokage: he could've sentenced Kazuma to death after what he pulled. Daimyo-sama could have, too! Completely reasonably! The man was a traitor.

He should have sentenced him to death!

Not really cognizant of their conversation, Mito interrupted the men around her. "The last time that moron kidnapped me, he tried to overthrow you, Hokage-sama. Daimyo-sama turned him down when he or one of his other rogue agents approached him about the whole 'One King' thing," she added disdainfully. "Has there been word from Daimyo-sama or the temple? –Kazuma could have had other forces there like he did last time."

"We're checking on that, Mito," Minato assured her. Naruto and Asuma had, in fact, just been at the Fire Temple, looking into graverobbing. Now that mystery was solved. "You just focus on you. You need to rest."

Mito scoffed. As soon as they left, she needed to get back to Anko. She'd made a promise to do the Jonin exam with her and needed to come through.

Anko and Yugao were probably worried sick. She licked her closed lips, thinking about that woman who'd been with Naruto in that strange earth jutsu. "The foreign kunoichi Naruto was underground with… The one I saw…"

Asuma chuckled. "Ah, I heard about her from Ino-chan. She kissed your otouto; tried to suck out his chakra!" Mito finally looked at him, her lips curling up a little in disbelief before she ducked her head again.

Kissed him? What in the world? "Um." Okay?! They'd certainly have to "discuss" that! "Where is she?" Mito asked.

"Naruto defeated her," Minato said proudly. "She had some kind of strange jutsu that involved body switching." Mito sucked in a silent, pained breath as he gave a quick recap on the redhead and her allies' abilities.

"...Is the kunoichi Naruto faced dead?"

"Yes, sweety," Minato said gladly, warmly grasping her shoulder and wanting his daughter to feel safe. "They all are."

Mito's eyes teared up. Naruto (or someone) had, unknowingly she was sure, killed a member of what was left of their clan. "I see..."

Days Later -

"Hey, Tou-san," Mito tried to casually inquire once he'd finished scolding her for going back to finish the Jonin exams. She (jokingly) wanted to blame Naruto for leaving the hospital the way she did.

"Ehhhh?! You can't stay here with me, Ane! You've gotta go back and finish what you started!" Mito growled at him grumpily and so he crossed his arms over his chest, sticking his nose in the air haughtily. "You made a promise. If you don't keep your promise, you SUCK, 'ttebayo."

What a brat. ANYWAY, "Is Kakashi out on a mission?"

Her father grimaced. "Yes. He'd fully recovered. …I …sent him out."

Mito waited to see if more information was coming but her father only looked extremely uncomfortable. "Is something wrong?" Her father swallowed hard enough for her to see his Adam's apple bob. She might have been far more worried if he hadn't also looked so DONE –and a little angry. So something is wrong.

"Wrong with his mission? No. But ah, Mito… Kakashi-kun got a front-row view of you going down when Kazuma attacked you."

Mito still felt humiliated about it. "His clone attacked me." That was worse and so lame! Plus if anyone had a front-row seat to her grand display of failure it was her father and girlfriends.

"Yes," Minato half-agreed, drawing the word out. Kazuma directed his clones to attack Mito so he didn't see what the difference was. "But ahh… Kakashi was right behind you when you fell. He… didn't react well to seeing you grievously injured."

Pursing her lips, Mito frowned and tried not to puff up in outrage over the idea that she was so desperately wounded. Although I was. "That's… I'm fine. –I'm tough!" I'm a freaking jinchuuriki! "I mean, I understand: I don't like it when he gets wounded or inflicts CE on himself, either. But…:" Her father didn't say anything. "...Okay."

Her tou-san looked up at her, his expression choked with concern.

"Never mind." What else could she say? Did Kakashi not want to see her? She gave her father a fake grin, saluted, and with a "Ja ne," flashed back to her flat.

Later -

Mito didn't know what to think. She and the others had finished compiling dossiers on the Jonin-hopefuls exam performances and once again, she was walking back to her flat alone.

Kakashi was on another mission. He hadn't come to see or speak with her at all. Not during her

* Very brief stint at the hospital.
* He hadn't sent his ninkens to find her in the Forest when she went back to join her friends.
* He'd successfully reported in after the out-of-village mission he requested, and then hid in a tree outside her bedroom window. She'd been eager to see him but by the time she ran to open the window, he sunshinned off - to take another mission.
* Plus when she'd gotten back to her place, most of his stuff was gone.

Fine.
It was fine, she told herself, feeling sick.

Or maybe it's nothing. Maybe he just needed his stuff for a mission…

Kakashi had a lot of trauma. Maybe… Well… Mito simply didn't know what was going on with him - and wouldn't know what was up until they spoke.

She sat down and began doodling seals. The doodles led to real plans, which led to design and as much trial and error of parts of the seals as she was capable of safely messing with. By the time her brother showed up to train, she had a working prototype to show him (and Kurama.)

Naruto, however, wanted no part of it.

She continued to work on seals, day and night, when she wasn't at the hospital or doing outrageous work at the museum with Kurenai.

Days later, in Mito's mindscape -

"The thing with Kazuma was too close!" Honestly, Mito was surprised the fox hadn't called her out on her fucking up before this.

Kurama wanted to scold her for freezing up the way she did but Mito was human and these things happened to lesser meatsacks, from what he remembered. Since nearly the beginning of time (or of what was important of it) humans froze at the mere sight of him. "He was weak."

Mito pursed her lips. The fox was right. "Kazuma wasn't… THAT weak. And..." Oh man, this somehow just became even more embarrassing - and she'd already found the whole thing humiliating. "There were a lot of things going on that night that made it a particularly good time for him to try to grab me." Although Kazuma's whole plan was idiotic.

"Far stronger enemies might find a 'good time to grab' you, Mitwo."

Mito groaned and threw her head back. "Guh. I KNOW! –And hey! Far stronger enemies have tried to grab or kill me - and they've failed!"

Kurama knew that. "Don't. Get. Complacent. …I won't allow it!"

"Right." What a hard ass. "Maa! You know that brings me to why I'm here, 'ttebane. With my future, untimely, probably surprising but ultimate demise in mind," she drawled, meaning that seriously, "I've got a couple of seals I think you'll like."

Kurama sighed. "I doubt it."

That meant he hadn't been watching her build them; good. Depressed, (used to be) Tsundere Fox was probably wallowing in a hole or something, instead. "You know, Kurama, you need to find yourself a nice vixen to make you a happy boy."

Kurama gave her a look of disbelief and loathing. "Go. Away." What a moron. Aside from perhaps Inari-sama, vixens were nothing but trouble. Just look at Mito and Kushina, the pathetic human versions of vixens. He suppressed a shudder.

"Behold Seal 1," Mito began despite his poor attitude, holding part of the long thing up, "it will transfer you to the Jungle should I die." Kurama slowly got up, looking at her and the seal as if he'd never seen her before, although he still held back like he failed to trust her. She rolled Seal 1 up with a jutsu and worked it into the right vertical column of his translucent cage and began marking it with sealing runes on his side. "I asked the cats and they marked a spot for you to transfer to." Those rascals would probably lord the fact they had a tailed beast over all the other summoning realms. "Remember where it's at."

Kurama promised nothing, simply continuing to watch her curiously and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Seal 2," Mito continued boldly, holding the far larger seal up in its scrolled form, "will transfer you to my brother. Or rather, it will transfer you to your other half." Kurama sucked in a long, hot breath and Mito stored that scroll in the leftmost column. She smiled tightly and tried to be casual about it as she made additional large runes on his side of the pillar so that a being as large as Kurama could activate it quickly. "That way, if you're still in danger from the Akatsuki or anyone else, you'll have somewhere else to… hide." Kurama frowned at her. Mito guessed that was either because he didn't believe her or he felt that the idea of hiding was abhorrent.

Either way, she understood, although she wished things were different. "So anyway," she sighed, turning to leave, "See ya."

"Wait," Kurama rumbled. "What about the key to the seal?" He couldn't go anywhere without a key to the seal!

"Heh." Mito had already tried to show him that but by now, she'd put it away. She tapped her temple twice. "Don't you worry about a thing," she winked. "It's in my head."

All of these seals were technically in her head. The mindscape was just a representation and link to them.

Mito had sealed the replicated key to his seal in the roof of her mouth. If she channeled chakra to her tongue and flicked the seal with chakra, Kurama's cage would open. If I die, the cage will open gates to the other seals. The key was linked to the two new, divergent transport seals and was pretty damn impressive and imaginative - if she did say so herself.

Kurama watched his vessel disappear again. He grasped the left see-through bar of his cage and felt her chakra brightly burning through the new fuuinjutsu she'd carved into it. As always, her chakra was mixed with his own. "I don't trust you."

Mito's voice echoed within the seal. "And because of that, I'm not telling you anything else." She returned to her mindscape for a moment, frowning and feeling so done and freaking tired. "Kurama. Trust is a two-way street. I've given you a lot," I've ignored a lot; I listened to you disrespect my mother for YEARS; you tried to kill her! "And like it or not, you've helped me." She bowed to him. "Thank you." When she stood back up, she made sure they were looking at each other, eye-to-eye. "At some point, we have to reach a real understanding, do we not?"

Mito left again, her thoughts restless. Don't we already have one, Kurama? Stop lying to both of us!

Kurama stared at where Mito had disappeared again for a long time. He felt his lip curl up into a smirk that almost turned into a grin. Foolish cub. When he realized his own blasted feelings, he wasn't quite sure what to do or think. Once again, it seemed he'd forgotten what hope felt like - but here it was taunting him - again. "It is time. We need to train."

Mito huffed, closing her eyes. "Later."

Tenzo and Naruto looked at each other, took a good look at their ridiculous senpais, glanced at each other again, and deflated. Having reached a silent, mutual understanding that both Mito and Kakashi were stubborn (not realizing what the problem was, however,) they shrugged and went back to work. Following Kakashi's instructions, Naruto made another big bunch of clones, each of them grabbing a leaf from a nearly barren tree.

Naruto had lots of wind jutsus (plus some others) under his belt but Jiraiya never thought his chakra control was good enough to master the element. Plus they were never in a spot where they could do something like this or had the support he supposedly needed. The blonde was determined to finally master his element - even if it was disappointing that his big sis seemed almost… aggravated about being here. He guessed she was in a bad mood. Sai said she's probably on her period - and that periods make women crazy.

Naruto was fairly sure that was a myth but it was the best guess he had as to what was going on. Mito looked kinda sick but said she was fine. That made sense with periods and girls, right?

Because of the Nine-tails, he never got sick. She probably didn't either. Not sick-sick.
He shivered, glad he didn't get cramps and bleed every month. Yuck!

Tenzo, on the other hand, didn't know much about what was going on between the two other Jonins but had heard from Anko that Kakashi was avoiding Mito like the plague. Anko said it was because Kakashi was a "little bitch" (something he knew couldn't be true) but whatever was going on, Kakashi seemed miserable behind that aloof front of his. –There was so much MORE sighing going on that was normal.

It was clear as day that Mito was hurting - but she was also vibrating with rage or disappointment whenever she looked at her significant other today.

Tenzo didn't get it. Maybe longish-term relationships were beyond him. From his position holding his jutsu, he sighed but bobbed his head in greeting to the next person to approach their far-flung training ground.

Asuma strolled into a scene he hadn't seen in a while. Around a hundred or so Narutos were trying to cut a leaf(?) grunting and yelling more than anything. Tenzo and Mito were in the middle of the madness, sitting back-to-back, watching it all unfold, Tenzo with his hands out to suppress the Kyuubi's chakra while Mito read the new Icha-Icha Tactics book. "Yo," he nodded in greetings at Tenzo. His eyebrows shot up in interest when he noticed Kakashi lazily reading the same smut Mito was enjoying, kicked back on a nice long wooden bench Tenzo must've made for him. In the shade.

Must be nice to have a minion who wasn't a drag or troublesome.
Shikamaru never made anything for him, dammit.

"You look like you're working hard," he joked to Kakashi, shoving his hands in his pockets. Did the man even realize Sakura and Sai were watching from a tree? He could be training one of them!

Then again, so could he. The bearded Jonin glanced over at Mito who had looked up and began glaring holes in Kakashi's head. That's weird. He backed up to make sure it was Kakashi who was pissing her off and not him. Mito's narrowed eyes didn't leave the silver-haired Jonin. "Yo, Mito."

Mito's deep reddish-purples (interesting) darted up to him and her lip curled up. She growled something unintelligible at him. –Or quietly snarled at Kakashi? She was lowly rumbling like some kind of animal as she went back to her book! "I swear, Imouto, you're turning into more of a cat every day." Mito shut up, glared at him, hissed, and then went back to her porn - although she kept sneaking glances at Hatake as he enjoyed the sun on his face. "Huh." He watched for a while and frowned at Kakashi. "What's going on?"

Kakashi blinked up at him with one uncovered eye curving innocently. "Hmmm? You say something?"

Asuma sighed. He wasn't Gai! "Fuck you, too, then." Kakashi grunted as he got more comfortable. Asuma kicked his crossed ankles and after sighing and grumbling a lot, (and slightly more aggressive kicking) Kakashi grudgingly made room for him before he could sit on the lazy ass. "Seriously. What's happening here?"

Kakashi held his book up higher so that he couldn't see Mito. She was (fairly) angry with him but in his mind, all he could see was her plummeting from that tree, blood having burst from her neck so much that he could see it from behind her, drenching her. Horrified and having been trying to get a clean hit on their enemy, he'd unintentionally recorded it with his Sharingan. He'd been too late again, and his dreams kept conjuring Mito in Rin's place, broken with what was left of her squelched heart in his hand.

It was going to happen.
What had he been thinking?!

Over and over again, he'd dream of his lightning-covered fist running through Mito's perfect chest or slitting her lovely, biteable neck.
Kami, he missed her.
Putting all that aside - ha - he figured he'd better answer Asuma. "Maa, Naruto's wind-natured…"

"Cool." He knew that. Asuma also knew there were very few with his chakra nature around as a primary, although Minato was one. Mito had both wind and water, but her water mastery was better; unparalleled as far as he was concerned.

Kakashi didn't comment although he knew lightning was the 'coolest.' "I'm going to see if he can't complete the Rasengan. Quickly." Naruto needed something incredibly powerful and new in his arsenal; the sooner the better. "He's got enough chakra, so we're doing change in nature and shape training."

Asuma let out an "Ahh." He knew that Hokage-sama's Rasengan wasn't a complete jutsu. "Mito tried to complete it, you know. Using it with water wasn't as effective as you'd think it might be." The "Suiton: Rasengan" jutsu would hurt her long before it damaged anyone else. "She also tried it with iryo-ninjutsu, like a chakra scalpel, and nearly took her arm off." Mito looked over and scowled at him.

Oh, man! She was in a mood, wasn't she? Fortunately, she went back to her book, but then looked up and, after a few seconds, launched a kunai at one of her brother's clones. "What was that?" he asked, amused.

"Naru's clone was about to blow the fox's chakra," she griped. She'd seen its blue eyes go red and slitted; its whisker marks turning dark. All the Narutos let out a wail and small explosions of smoke covered the clearing, leaving the original, whiney Naruto remaining to bitch at his sister.

"A~Ane~ee," Naruto cried, partially torn or slightly cut leaves falling all around him. "I almost had it!"

Mito smiled at him tightly. Whether this training was Kakashi's idea or not, his presence here was unnecessary and made her miserable. Was this the only way she'd see him from now on? Even now, he wouldn't look at her. "I'm sure you did, otouto."

"Don't patronize me!" Naruto shouted. Mito smiled at him paradisiacally.

"I don't know why I'm needed here," Tenzo grumbled, rubbing his sore shoulder as Mito turned him and leaned all her weight against him, almost laying on him. Kakashi-senpai shot a one-eyed, vicious glare at him. Eek! "Get off me."

"Hush. Tou-san said you're here incase I fail to suppress the fox's chakra and go all Kyuubi or something. Or vice-versa or whatever," she reminded him, her lips quirking up when she heard Kurama snort in her head. Her father probably saw this as a test to see if what happened before would happen again - when Naruto lost control the last time. (So far it hadn't.) Kazuma had loosened Naruto's seal, the fox breaking through and chakra bubbling out to two tails, and then her half of Kurama kind of… leaked out of her.

Mito had tightened Naruto's seal again - a little - and the two halves of the fox had used that moment to talk. Or rather her half of Kurama tried to reason with Naruto's half again.

Her Kurama had called his other half a "total asshole" which was hilarious. And spot-on.

Speaking of assholes, Kakashi… The asshole that used to be(?!) her boyfriend, she guessed, was completely ignoring her. Mito tried to ignore him, too, but wasn't doing a good job of it. His inability to even look at her hurt and she wasn't sure what she'd done wrong.

"No one blows like you."

Is that all she was to him? She'd thought he'd meant it when he swore he loved her so many times. Foolish. She couldn't eat, she lay in bed at night missing him instead of sleeping… It hurt. She'd never felt like this before. His dismissal of her hurt everywhere; she felt sick. Miserable.

She watched as Asuma got up and talked to Naruto a bit, Kakashi soon joining them, and dropped her head back on Tenzo's shoulder, hating that she yearned for her lover's touch and attention so desperately. "What did I do?" She was pathetic but Tenzo was close to Kakashi. Mito hadn't seen Gai since shortly after all this started. She hadn't talked to Kurenai about it because she didn't want Asuma to find out. Tsunade's advice was to dump Kakashi and find someone with less baggage.

She didn't want to. Looks like you've already been dumped, her mind whispered truthfully. He didn't think it was worth his time to even tell you.

Fucker, she thought viciously in response.

"I'm not sure what you mean," Tenzo replied, not having an answer and refusing to talk about it. Mito got up and walked away and didn't return until later that evening.

It wasn't long before Naruto was ready to begin trying to cut a waterfall. Asuma cut through a small one neatly as an example before getting an urgent message from the Tower. Tenzo rearranged the landscape and sighed when Naruto begged him to make his mokuton jutsu longer so that more of his clones could work on the task at hand. An hour or so later, he choked when Mito started stripping.

"Tenzo– Yamato," she corrected herself at his urging (again,) "If it's alright, I'm going to use the water over there to work on something." She wiggled out of her pants and sandals, leaving her in a royal blue balconette swimming top and matching boy shorts. Sensitive about it, she quickly henged the big scar Kazuma had left on her back so many years ago. At this point, she was only sticking around to give Tenzo a chakra boost now and then.

Kakashi didn't manage to cover a wounded sound when Mito turned around in her bikini. He was weak. He was weak and pathetic and Mito was gorgeous and everything he never knew he needed or wanted. She's horribly wonderful and wonderfully horrible. Perfect. But he didn't deserve any of it. Mito didn't deserve to have to live with the mess he was. He'd fooled himself into thinking that he was better; that he was a good enough man and… Kami-sama… That ass. And Mito's strong, shapely legs; her wild hair loose and blowing in the wind. Her perfect, perky tits. Her tiny waist and flat, strong abs…

Violet eyes (with dark circles underneath: his fault) narrowed dangerously at him before darting away again. "Stop staring at me," she requested quietly.

Yeah, he deserved that. He quickly looked away, swallowing down his needs. "So sensitive," he joked, thinking it lightened the mood.

Mito felt like someone had just stabbed her. "Please, Yamato-san," Mito requested again, hiding her pained expression in the wind that whipped her hair around. "Just let me know if you're feeling low." On chakra.

- Or stop me if I blow Kurama's tails when I try to use his chakra with my chains, I guess. She should probably mention that but wasn't sure she could speak without sounding pathetic.

Tenzo grumbled and agreed, glad that Naruto was fairly oblivious and mostly ignoring the adults around him since Kakashi and Mito were being so difficult.

Earlier -

Summoned, Asuma moved to the Tower's Annex rooftop; it was an idyllic spot looking over the village and the perfect place to allow a village leader to speak with large groups. His team joined him although when assignments were handed out, he learned he would be setting out with Shikamaru, Izumo, and Kotetsu: all good men. Ino and Choji looked a little unhappy about being assigned to Namiashi Raido and Yamashiro Aoba, instead of him (cute,) but Asuma quietly assured them that their team captains for this mission were top-notch. His kids would be more than safe with them.

In front of dozens of ninjas, Minato strode into the area with Tsunade and a young monk from the Fire Temple, surprising him. The Hokage's expression was as serious as Asuma had ever seen it. The monk, dirty from what he assumed was rushed travel, looked exhausted, his expression grief-stricken. Something terrible has happened.

"Thank you for coming so quickly," Minato said, raising his voice as he looked at those he'd chosen for this vital mission. "I regret to inform you that the largest temple in Hi no Kuni has been attacked and left in near ruin." Minato nodded toward the monk and then caught Asuma's worried eyes, looking pained. "Well over 100 ninja monks were slaughtered in cold blood."

Asuma's breath caught in his throat. He didn't even realize he'd spoken until the name was out of his mouth. "Chiriku?"

His friend Chiriku was powerful. There was no way…

Minato looked to the young monk who had brought them news of the slaughter. He reported that he only survived because he was returning from capital patrol when the Akatsuki's attack was winding up. He'd seen the carnage and knew he had no chance against them; that someone had to run to Konoha for backup.

"The Akatsuki duo that attacked the temple killed everyone," the monk said evenly, trying to remain calm. He knew Asuma-san, and kept his eyes focused on his for a moment before lowering them. "Even Chiriku-sama."

Asuma sucked in a breath and slowly fisted his hands, his cold shock turning to a detached fury.

Minato looked over the 20 teams he'd put together, praying they would all come back alive. "You have your orders and assignments. Team leaders have my kunais. We will not allow the Akatsuki to leave Fire Country!"