I knew Orochimaru would stay out of the fight for the most part.

So I made the first move.

I threw my hands up to form the first handseals, feeling the built up chakra inside me grow. The moment I finished, I released it. "Raiton: False Darkness!"

Lightning, large and powerful, beamed out of my mouth towards Kabuto. The medic leapt back to move away and my attack followed him. Wherever the lightning struck, it overturned and scorched the ground. When my attack ended, I flickered towards him.

Kabuto sneered at me, dodging each of my blows with ease. I threw a punch that he evaded before attempting a jab of his own. On instinct alone, I was able to maneuver out of his way.

Just one—just one hit...

He dropped down and kicked, spinning as he did. I leapt up into the air, diving at him as quickly as I could. He dodged, leaping back and I hurried after him; however, I noticed his movements were sluggish when he did so.

I smirked. "You're still not at full capacity. Tsunade's blow still has you confused - you can't tell which command will move which part of your body."

Kabuto's sneer returned. "It's still more than enough to beat a little Genin."

"You have no right to talk about rank, asshole," I bit back, blocking his punch. When he attempted to withdraw his hand, I grabbed it.

"Raiton: Undercurrent!"

Kabuto seized up and substituted away. Electricity sparked along his body and he twitched, falling to the ground.

"That ought to keep you immobilized for the moment," I snorted softly. I glanced at Orochimaru who was watching with blatant interest.

I paused, staring back at him. "I will kill you."

Orochimaru gave a snicker. "Oh-ho?"

"You killed Grandfather. I will murder you in the worst way I can think of. However, I acknowledge that I do not have the power or skill to do so," I said. "And I would be a hypocrite if I stopped Sasuke from attacking Itachi and then went around and attacked you. Therefore, I will not even bother. But I. Will. Kill. You."

"You certainly don't have the skill to defeat me," Orochimaru observed, a gleam in his eyes. "Else you would have known better than to turn your back on your enemies. Then again, you are still a fresh rookie, and in theory Kabuto should be immobilized."

"Wha—"

Smoke exploded in the area and I had just enough time to see Jiraiya, Naruto and Shizune arrive before there was a sharp pain in my neck and oblivion took me.

('･ω･')

I stared at the cage.

"... He knocked me unconscious, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did," Kurama said, annoyance freely entering his voice. "I don't care if he was Jōnin-level, I can't believe my host was taken by surprise. I will not be healing your headache from this one."

"... Why didn't he just kill me?"

"Because it seems Orochimaru has taken a liking to you and gave the order to not kill you."

"... Bull fucking shit."

Kurama snickered. "I can't believe I was even able to say that with a straight face. Who would ever take a liking to you?"

"You're so mean to me."

"In all seriousness, though, it's more likely because you would have been able to sense his killer intent and thus dodge his attack. By aiming to incapacitate, he was able to make sure you would be out of the battle, which is really all that matters."

"That makes sense," I allowed. "... So what do we do now?"

"I don't know."

"What do you usually do?"

"Sleep. Daydream about massacring Uchiha. Talk to you on occasion. Daydream about torturing Uchiha and making That Man scream. Reminisce about the good days. Daydream about—"

"I think I get the picture. Can I pet your fur?"

"No."

('･ω･')

I blinked my eyes open, wincing at the sharp stinging sensation that greeted me.

You mean you were actually serious? You asshole.

Don't suck so much and you won't have to deal with it.

Easier said than done.

I sat up slowly, my eyes watering instinctively at the bright light. I had to blink a few times to clear away the reflexive tears. When I could see, I noticed right away that Naruto was sleeping right beside me, an arm strung around my waist and his face buried in my side. He was covered in bandages, but was otherwise unharmed. I looked up and noticed that Tsunade, Jiraiya and Shizune were in the middle of a quiet conversation.

Tsunade was the first to notice me. She glanced over at me, brown eyes flashing. A small smile played across her lips. "Looks like the first brat is up."

I shrugged, uncomfortable with her kind gaze. It made me feel guilty.

"... Did they get away?" I muttered.

Jiraiya gave a nod, his face twisted up to something of a grimace. "He always was best at running away."

I didn't respond and instead, uncurled myself from Naruto's grasp. I climbed out of the bed and rolled my shoulders, attempting to work out the stiff knots I had somehow managed to develop.

Tsunade moved towards me, her expression thoughtful. She stopped before me, and I looked up at her.

"You're an annoying brat with no self-preservation," Tsunade told me.

My nose crinkled at that and I gave her an annoyed look.

"But," Tsunade allowed, smiling slightly, "I guess you're not that bad."

She then bent down and gave me a small kiss on the forehead.

My eyes widened and I felt my cheeks redden. I spluttered and looked down at my feet, trying and failing to reign in the blush.

Jiraiya gave a booming laugh and Shizune giggled.

"Wh-Whatever," I managed, steadily looking down. "W-We should probably get going. It's a long way back to Konoha."

"Mn. We'll leave when Naruto wakes up," Jiraiya agreed.

('･ω･')

The journey back to Konoha was relatively uneventful. Naruto and I chattered amiably, while Jiraiya and Tsunade (along with Shizune) traveled at a more sedate pace behind us. The letters had made it safely to Konoha; we had informed our... friends... to write back to us and send it to our home address.

Naruto and I were both anxious to hear from them, though we knew it would be a while before Temari and Gaara wrote back, as we had yet to actually mail their letters.

Upon returning to Konoha, Naruto and I were about to head back to our home when...

I remembered something.

I closed my eyes. Gai had confirmed it. It was why Gai had come to take Sasuke back to Konoha, not... not him. Not Th... Kakashi.

Kakashi and Itachi met in battle and Kakashi was left crippled. Gai confirmed it, but it was something I felt I didn't need to pass on to Naruto. At the time, I didn't really want to care, so I ignored it. I felt guilty about doing so now.

It was that battle... where I protected Tsunade. It made me realize, however much I didn't want to, that I still... Kakashi was still a precious person. I still valued him. Which, I supposed, made sense. If I didn't, then his abandonment wouldn't have hurt me so much.

So Kakashi was in the hospital, hurt and crippled and I had brought back the only one that could help him.

It took every ounce to swallow my pride to pull Tsunade aside and ask for her help. She was, naturally, willing to give it. I told Naruto and Jiraiya I would catch up with them later before I guided Tsunade along to the hospital.

It didn't take long before we made it to Kakashi's room. And there, Kakashi laid, his eyes perfectly dead and blank as he stared up at the white ceiling. Tsunade glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. "This your... sensei or something, brat?"

I snorted quietly, looking down at the ground. "Something like that. Can you just...?"

Tsunade waved her hand in a dismissive way, moving towards Kakashi. She placed a hand over his forehead. "Hmm. Simple enough."

"Thank you," I muttered, shifting nervously on the balls of my feet. "I... Do I need to stay and help you, or...?"

"You don't need to," Tsunade said slowly, withdrawing her hand to eye me speculatively. "You don't want to be here when he wakes up?"

"No," I said. "I don't."

"Why?"

I shrugged. "I hate him."

Something akin to realization came over Tsunade's eyes. "... I see. You hate him, but you worry about him enough to drag me here?"

I shrugged again.

"He hurt me," I said quietly. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive him, but that doesn't mean... He's still..."

"I understand," Tsunade said softly. "Very well. You can head back now, Miwako-chan."

I nodded. "Thank you, Tsunade... obā-chan."

Tsunade rolled her eyes at the honorific. "I swear you and your brother... I am not that old!"

I only smiled in response.

('･ω･')

When I entered home, it surprised me to find both Sasuke and Naruto there, sitting at the table. They both looked up when I entered the room and I only raised an eyebrow in response.

"I've been training," Sasuke said. "And I know you two have as well. So now... I want us to try out a mission on our own, without Kakashi."

I blinked in surprise, my mouth hanging open. "Wh-What?"

"What he means," Naruto clarified, "is that we know that you don't really wanna work with the bastard-sensei now, and now would be a good time to try and, uh... spread our wings, yeah?"

Sasuke snorted.

"Y... You two are willing to do that... for me...?"

"No," Sasuke snapped, bristling. "This is for training only. It's just... killing two birds with one stone. Besides, we don't want to work with him, either."

"No one hurts my sister and gets away with it!" Naruto declared.

Sasuke snorted again, his nose crinkling in mild disdain at Naruto. "Moron."

Naruto stuck his tongue out in response.

My lips twitched and I moved to sit next with them. "I'm game for trying a mission out on our own, but do you think Obā-chan would let us?"

"'Course she would. She saw how totally awesome we were," Naruto chirped. "It'll be amazing. Anyway, we'll go ask for a mission tomorrow morning; that way she can get all settled down and stuff."

"Okay," I agreed, smiling. "So what are the plans for the day?"

"Training," Sasuke responded immediately. "I... I need to get stronger."

"We all do," I murmured. "Okay. Are we ready to go, then?"

Naruto and Sasuke nodded.

('･ω･')

"What do you mean, no?" Naruto asked incredulously as we stood in front of Tsunade in her office. The office was still cluttered with things and everything was still in the process of being moved about, but Tsunade herself didn't seem to mind.

"Not without a leading commander," Tsunade repeated.

"What about just a simple escort mission?" I persisted. "Nothing major. Just... something."

Tsunade sighed through her nose and Shizune gave us worried looks. "Let me see what I have."

I let out a relieved breath and Naruto beamed.

('･ω･')

The mission had gone off with only a minor hitch. It was a simple courier mission to the outskirts of Konoha (about a two-hour run), and wasn't supposed to have any issues. But since we were Team 7, we ran into a few low-key bandits. Enough to make us sweat, but not enough to seriously endanger ourselves. It was late by the time we got back and gave our report, and we were dirty, tired, and sore, but...

"Good job everyone!" Naruto exclaimed as the three of us left the tower. "Hey... I forgot to ask Obaa-chan, but when do you think the results of the exam will come in?"

"Who can say?" Sasuke muttered. "Probably a week at the most, though."

Naruto nodded mutely and I hummed in agreement. "It's imperative that new Chūnin are assigned, because we lost so many during the invasion, so they won't put it off any longer than necessary."

Naruto grunted thoughtfully, bringing up his hands and locking them behind us head. "Well, another mission tomorrow, then?"

Sasuke nodded. "We'll meet at the tower at seven."

"Right!"

"Understood."

('･ω･')

Another day passed and Naruto and I found ourselves staring at a pile of letters spread out in front of us. Naruto was positively beaming at them all and I even I had to admit that I was a little pleased. There was a single knock at our door and before we could even respond, the door opened and Sasuke stepped in. "What's taking you two...?"

Naruto pointed at all the letters. "We got replies from everyone. Well, nearly everyone."

"Did you get our letter?" I asked Sasuke curiously.

Sasuke nodded. "... I just didn't really feel the need to reply when I knew I would be seeing you in person soon enough."

I hummed, acknowledging his response, while reading over Temari's letter and smiling. "... I think I'm going to write back."

Naruto smiled and nodded. "You know what? Me, too! This is kind of fun."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at us.