Disclaimer: Do I really have to say this?

Warning: Urk. Death?

Beta: Kalafina94

Beta: silverseed

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A week after returning from our vacation —I mean mission— I found myself returning home to Naruto and Sasuke after training with Papa late one evening.

I was feeling incredibly content, as the beautiful bright sun was nearly entirely gone from the sky. It left behind only a warm violet-pink that faded into a cool indigo blue. I made little to no noise as I padded softly through the dirt path, alone.

As I took another turn, the Uchiha District now in sight, two strange shinobi landed in front of me.

Again, I felt the achingly familiar wave of déjà vu come over me, but not too strongly this time. I felt two more presences appear behind me, and a frown pulled down on my lips.

In front of me were two boys. One of them had dark skin and dark hair, and was grinning. The other boy had pale skin and silvery-blue hair that was pulled back into a sort of ponytail. Turning my head slightly, I saw a girl with bright red hair and a large boy. They all wore similar outfits.

"Inonao, yes?" The silver-blue boy asked.

"Nao," I corrected automatically, my frown deepening. Unconsciously, I shifted into a defensive position. "How can I help you?"

"We're here on behalf of Orochimaru-sama," answered the same boy.

Immediately, I tensed, my eyes darting as I tried to calculate the nearest exits.

They all laughed.

"I wouldn't bother, bitch," sneered the red haired girl. "We'll kick your ass long before you get the chance to."

"Language," spat the large boy.

The girl only turned her sneer to him.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"You," the first boy said. "By accident, Orochimaru-sama marked you, but you survived. Something which is incredibly rare not to mention your kekkei genkai has a very strong appeal for our master, but really it's mostly the fact that you survived the marking that interests our master. So very few survive, so he has even fewer test subjects regarding the mark, but you... even though you couldn't even hold the complete version, thus making yours more unstable and increasing your risk of dying significantly, you lived. Something he would have thought impossible..."

"And if I don't want to come with you?"

"You die."

It took all my willpower not to outwardly react to that statement.

"Oh, we won't kill you," the boy continued, grinning. "The Curse Mark will. You see this?" he held up a small glass bottle of pills. "This will complete the transition. You must have noticed how painful it was to have such a mark, yes? It's because it's incomplete. This pill will complete it."

"And if it's not complete, it will kill me, regardless of my sealing," I finished for him.

"Correct," he chuckled. "So really, you don't have a choice."

"You're wrong," I said quietly. "I would gladly give my life if it meant not betraying my dear ones, especially if it meant saving them. I took this mark for my Sasuke-kun, I do not regret that decision."

"I see," he said, his grin dropping. "Then we'll have to use force."

I switched stances.

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Shaking, I collapsed heavily on the ground, breathing shallowly. The dark boy had some sort of venomous capabilities. I barely saw him coming —he was too fast. I was bleeding heavily from a wound running up my left arm, but I paid it no heed.

The poison was kicking in. It wasn't lethal, but it would sedate me.

Already, I had lost feeling in my legs.

But I was satisfied to find that they looked worse for the wear as well. The silver-blue boy sported a black eye and a broken nose, I broke two of spider boy's arms, the girl had two black eyes, and the larger one was shaking from my chakra attack.

I had barely pulled that one off. as he had prepared to punch me, I grabbed his arm and released my lightning chakra inside of him. No noise or visible shows of light, but it sure as hell probably hurt a lot.

"Stubborn bitch," the red haired girl hissed.

The silver-blue boy sneered, swooping down and popping open the pill bottle. "We can complete the sealing away from the village. But let's make her take the pill conscious; I don't feel like sticking my fingers anywhere near her mouth."

I shuddered inwardly at the thought.

He popped the pill in my mouth and rubbed my cheeks to force me to swallow it.

It went down painfully dry.

I lost all feeling in my lower body and consciousness was slipping quickly. My eyes closed. I had one hope left. Like with Itachi...

My jutsu bubbled up around my arm, and the boy leaped back, startled.

I flopped my arm upwards and released it. It exploded with a bright light and a loud hum.

My vision darkened and I was no longer in this world.

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(Third Person POV – Kakashi)

Kakashi moved quietly through the hallways in the Hokage's tower. Years of routine had him on auto-pilot straight to the Hokage's office. He was tired; dead tired. He couldn't remember the last time he had to work such long hours of continuous back-to-back missions as a Jounin. As an ANBU, sure. He would be repeatedly placed on high-risk missions and allowed only an hour or so of sleep before being placed on yet another one. It was a tiring task, and it was the key reason why no one stayed in ANBU for more than a handful of years at a time —never mind the actual horrors that consisted of each mission.

However, Kakashi was a retired ANBU (Who the hell was he kidding? There was no such thing as retired ANBU; what he was was simply an ANBU on a little break), and after years of a sort of relaxed-pacing of missions, it was especially tiring to be put on such a rigorous routine so quickly. It didn't help that he hardly had a chance to train his fresh little Genin —and he actually enjoyed training them, finding it therapeutic, almost. Sasuke and Naruto's friendly bickering was almost calming in a way, and Nao's soft smiles and giggles at them were uplifting.

He didn't even have time to visit the Memorial Stone, and that was unnerving.

When he opened the door to the office, his eyes flickered up to Tsunade's face, who was bent down over some papers. He slipped in quietly, not making a single noise, and stood before her.

Tsunade didn't glance up at him as she stretched out her hand towards him. Kakashi didn't hesitate in placing the papers inside her hands and she skimmed over his report.

"Excellent work, Kakashi," Tsunade said, a calculating glint in her eyes that didn't quite sit well with Kakashi.

"If I may, Hokage-sama," Kakashi began, and at her nod, he continued, "I would like to request some time now to train my Genin."

"I can't grant that," Tsunade said, leaning back in her chair and eyeing Kakashi.

Kakashi tried not to let his shoulders slump in disappointment. "Another mission, Hokage-sama?"

"No. They aren't in the village."

Shizune glanced over at Tsunade with a worried expression, and Kakashi frowned.

"What do you mean? Did you send the three of them out on their own...? Does that mean one of them made Chūnin?"

"Yes, and no. I sent Naruto and Sasuke out, but they're under the leadership of the newly promoted Nara Shikamaru. I've also sent out Hyūga Neji, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba. Not to mention I've called for some extra help from Sunagakure," Tsunade said, her eyes still on Kakashi.

Kakashi's lips tugged down and his mind quickly worked through what information she had provided.

"I can't send you," Tsunade continued, still eyeing him. "Not officially, of course. You're still wanted here."

"Where's Nao-chan?" Kakashi asked, praying his drawn assumption was incorrect.

"Taken."

Kakashi did not say anything else; he walked away.

He tried hard not to hear Shizune's quiet, "You did that on purpose, Tsunade-sama. You knew he would go after his students."

"I can't officially send him, Shizune. I can, however, officially note that he was unsurprisingly late for his report —and if he so happens to be late because he was rescuing his students, what does that matter to me?"

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Kakashi was an excellent tracker, years of experience making him so, but he couldn't be too sure, so he summoned his most trusted partner, Pakkun.

It did not take long to find the first unconscious boy, and Kakashi spent a brief time in summoning another one of his ninken and having them sent back to Konoha to send someone to gather the boy.

First, he found Chōji, then he found both Neji and Kiba next to each other, both passed out along with the corpse of another adolescent. After that, he didn't find anyone else —he smelled them. He could tell Shikamaru was fighting someone to the far east of him, and Shino was ahead of him. He could even smell Gai's student, Lee —who Tsunade did not officially send, either— but he didn't run into any of them. None smelled near death or were bleeding heavily, so Kakashi opted to focus on tracking down the student he knew was in danger.

Hours must have dragged on, and he could tell he was nearing the Fire Land's border. Despite being so tired, so heavily weighed down, he pressed on. Fear of losing one of his comrades spurned him to push past his limits. Fear of losing Nao doubled his efforts. He was nearing the Valley of the End when he smelled his three students, along with a fourth unidentifiable person.

"Uh-oh," Pakkun grunted, causing Kakashi's heart to clench.

Uh-oh was an understatement. Even at maximum speed, it would take Kakashi fifteen to twenty minutes to get there, but even from the distance, Kakashi could feel the chakra.

The Kyūbi's chakra.

One of the kidnappers must have pushed Naruto to the edge. He's losing control, Kakashi reasoned, his expression grim. Either that opponent will be completely annihilated, or...

Kakashi broke off that line of reasoning. No. No. Sasuke wouldn't do something as stupid as trying to restrain Naruto. Sure, Naruto would more than likely regret his actions if he wasn't restrained, and Sasuke knows that, and the two are close, but Sasuke wouldn't be so—

Kakashi shook his head, grudging his line of thought. No. He would be. The stupid idiot. He wouldn't try and restrain Naruto under normal circumstances, but with Nao in such close proximity and if Sasuke suspects for a moment that Naruto is a danger to him and Nao...

"I hope he doesn't try and play the hero card," Kakashi said softly.

Pakkun gave a grunt of agreement.

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(First Person POV - Inonao)

When I opened my eyes, I felt distinctly tired and groggy. My vision was blurred and I could feel arms wrapped around me, carrying me bridal style. I stared up, disgruntled, at the familiar face of Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei?" I asked, my voice sounding muffled.

Kakashi stopped his running from branch to branch and that's when I noticed Pakkun was beside him. His eye crinkled and relief seemed to wash over his face. "Nao. You had us worried."

"Sorry," I responded tiredly. "Wha. happened?"

Kakashi gave a humorless chuckle. "The moment Naruto and Sasuke saw your jutsu, they ran out and saw the area around it a little worse for wear. They reported it to Tsunade, who assigned Shikamaru to gather up followers to chase after you. Neji, Chōji, Kiba, Shino, as well as Naruto and Sasuke, composed the team. Lee later joined them, along with the Suna Siblings."

He shook his head. "It was quite the fiasco. I only heard about it when I came back from my mission and." Kakashi actually looked sheepish. "I summoned Pakkun without Tsunade-sama's permission and chased after everyone."

"Where. is everyone?"

"Medical Corps followed behind me," Kakashi explained. "Everyone's a little tired and is being escorted back. Sasuke and Naruto knocked themselves unconscious when Naruto lost control and Sasuke had to had to restrain him. The medical team is following behind us currently."

"But they're okay?" I asked, worried.

"They're fine," Kakashi assured me. "For now, let's get you back home."

I gave a tired smile. "Thank you, Kakashi."

His eye crinkled. "Maa. Don't mention it."

"Ah. but. the other ones. the ones who came here on behalf of Orochimaru?"

"Taken care of. Don't worry, Nao. It's not going to ever happen again."

I closed my eyes, trusting his words.

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Question: What's your top three gripes, or issues regarding school / work / friends / family or holidays?

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