I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

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When Naruko finally arrived at Tazuna's house, escorted by none other than the Mizukage's own bodyguard himself, it was safe to say Tazuna's family was stunned silent for at least half an hour. By then, Sakura and Naruko had finished with the dinner preparations they had gently taken off Tsunami's hands while Sasuke led the woman to the couch to sit down. Inari, Tsunami's son who was about eight at most, stared open-mouthed at the Mist shinobi who started helping Naruko.

Team 7 themselves couldn't stop themselves from looking over at the two inconspicuously at times, still curious over what bond the kunoichi and legendary shinobi shared. The way they moved so fluidly around each other, as if they had been doing this for years, struck them as odd since they had never once seen Naruko interact with a shinobi outside of the Leaf.

Once dinner was set out on the table, Naruko exchanged a few words with the man and hugged him goodbye at the door, watching him leave. When everyone was already seated, Sasuke stood up to get Naruko, but the blonde was already on her way back.

She sat down between her teammates, picking up her chopsticks and bowl full of rice as if she hadn't just did something no one in the current household had ever dreamed of. "Itadakimasu," she murmured. The rest of the table echoed her sentiment, and started eating. After a few minutes of heavy silence, Naruko sighed and set down her chopsticks. "You want to know who that guy was, don't you."

"He was the Mizukage's bodyguard, right?" Sakura blurted out. "How do you know them?"

"He... his name is Utakata, and I suppose you could call him the Mizukage's bodyguard. I refer to him as Yagura's babysitter," Naruko rolled her eyes fondly as she picked up her chopsticks again and took a piece of salmon. "They're my brothers, from the family I once had." She took a sideways glance at Sasuke as she did so.

Sasuke blinked. So those were two of her "overprotective brothers" that she had spoken of the day he told her he was out to kill his own brother.

"The... family you once had?" Inari asked quietly, the first words he had said since Team 7 had arrived in his home.

Naruko nodded. "I had eight family members, but because of a threat, they split us up in order for us to stay alive. We're now scattered over the Five Great Nations. It's the first time since I've seen my brothers in two years. In fact, they're the first family members I've seen since that day. And who knows when, or if, I'll ever see any of them again."

"So... you know pain, too," Inari murmured.

"Everyone knows pain," Naruko told him, her sensitive hearing having picked up on what he said without a problem. "Ever since birth I've had a heavy burden upon me because of what I have been forced to become, and a majority of the world doesn't take kindly to it. Sasuke also lost his entire family when he was young, and Kaka-nii lost both his father and his team. At one point or another, everyone will learn pain. It's just a matter of what we do about it."

"What did you do?" Inari was facing Sasuke.

Sasuke glanced over at Naruko. "I... am not the best person to talk to about it. I didn't go about my pain the right way, until someone decided to slap some common sense into me."

Naruko hummed proudly as she chewed her food. "It was about time someone hit it into you anyway. Guess common sense isn't all that common, huh?"

"Hey!"

Sakura giggled. "You two are unbelievable."

Naruko winked at her. "That's what makes this team an amazing one, right?"

"Never a dull moment with you," Sakura shook her head with a fond smile. "One of these days, you two will get into a sticky situation that you can't banter yourselves out of," she teased.

The blonde stuck out her tongue, then grinned and sidled up to the pinkette. "But you love us anyway, and you'll bail us out."

"I will most definitely not bail you out of prison," Sakura answered as she picked up a clump of rice, ignoring Naruko's mock-hurt expression. "I'll break you out."

Like a switch flipped, Naruko's face lit up as she pumped her fist. "Yes! Ha!" she thrust a finger in Sasuke's face while slinging her other arm around Sakura, "can you claim you have a friend who will undoubtedly break you out of prison?"

Sasuke snorted. "Dobe, why would you even be in prison in the first place?"

"Who knows? The world is a strange place," Naruko said cryptically.

Sasuke shook his head. "I genuinely worry for your future if we're not there to keep you in line."

"Aw," Naruko cooed, "Emo Duckbutt does have some emotions behind that avenger front after all! I am this close to cracking open your shell for everyone to see the "true Sasuke"!" she exclaimed with an unsettling amount of glee, her pointer finger and thumb less than an inch apart.

"Somehow I doubt he'd like to be "cracked open for everyone to see" like an exposed nerve," Sakura muttered under her breath, deciding to ignore her strange teammates. Kami, was she the only normal person on this team? Even her sensei was strange, and that was putting it lightly!

"Na-ru-ko." There was an edge to Sasuke's tone.

"Yes, Sas-uke?" And a teasing one to Naruko's.

"...hn."

"I win!" Naruko declared happily, eating her dinner a lot faster than before.

'Oh for the love of—' Sakura quickly cut off her train of thought, rolling her eyes. "Hey, you two, Inari asked you a question you have yet to answer."

Naruko sweatdropped and turned to the young boy. "Sorry Inari, Sasuke was being too idiotic to ignore. What was your question again?"

"Says the one who called me idiotic," Sasuke muttered sullenly under his breath.

"Because you are," Naruko rolled her eyes before pointing her chopsticks at the Uchiha. "Now you, shut up so I can listen to Inari."

Sasuke gaped at the blonde before giving a huff and stuffing his mouth with rice. "Rude."

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It would've been nice to go home to Tazuna's and have another one of Tsunami's delightful meals, but noooooooooooo, Zabuza decided just had to decide that now would be a perfect time to try take out Tazuna once more. Kakashi had to especially draw his attention away from Naruko, the swordsman clearly having a grudge against the young girl.

But as it was, he left his apprentice Haku to Team 7. Sakura was originally meant to protect the bridge builder while Sasuke and Naruko faced off against the masked shinobi, but the pinkette had been called in to help heal Sasuke from the senbon that were still piercing his flesh. Naruko had taken one look and told him pressure points had been hit.

Now she was doing her best to think up of ways to get out of this jutsu Haku had them in. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best idea to have Sakura come in with them, too, but she had no choice. Her chakra would've harmed Sasuke instead of heal him, and she couldn't afford to leave them both vulnerable to Haku's attacks.

'Yagura, now would be a great time for you to pop up out of nowhere,' the jinchuuriki thought through gritted teeth. 'Kurama, if you have any way of contacting Isobu or Saiken...'

"Believe me, I'm working on it, Kit."

Muffled clangs through the thick mist assured her that her older-brother-figure and Zabuza were still at it. Tazuna was probably safe with her sensei, even though he was occupied. But both of their assailants were occupied, too. Naruko shrugged internally; she had no time to worry about the old drunkard. She had to do what she could to protect her teammates from Haku and his Ice-Dome-thingy jutsu. Excuse her if she couldn't be bothered listening — let alone remembering — the names of various jutsu that were used against her if she didn't have those affinities. Besides, she had a Demon that was thousands of years old inside of her, with expansive knowledge on these kinds of things. She didn't need to put effort into remembering them.

"Oh, you really got it this time."

Naruko's ears twitched, and she looked over at the two figures blanketed by the now-thinning fog. Or would "mist" be more appropriate, seeing as this was the Hidden Village of the Mist? Flecks of blood covered both Kakashi and Zabuza, however the latter's arms were hanging uselessly by his side. The two kunai sticking out from him told Naruko all she needed to know; Kakashi had disabled him temporarily.

"You disappoint me, Zabuza."

Naruko turned her sharp eyes over to where a short little man, roughly around Yagura's height, stood with a cane clasped in his hands in front of him. A smirk that could only be described as evil curled his lips, and his eyes were covered with black sunglasses. Hairs sticking out from his mouth area resembled that of a Magikarp, and Naruko could only imagine that was what Gato believed to be his "mustache".

"I both hate and love Yagura for showing me that TV show," Naruko muttered under her breath. At her Sakura's raised eyebrows, Naruko chuckled sheepishly and waved her off. She returned her attention to in front of her, scanning the large crowd of mercenaries behind the teapot-like businessman as she calculated the best strategy for taking out as many as she could. She had no idea how injured Kakashi was, or how close to recovery Sasuke was. Worst case scenario, she would have to rely on Kurama's chakra. But hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

"Kakashi..." Zabuza's low voice intoned, "I apologize. Our fight ends here. As long as my reason to take down Tazuna is gone, there is no need to fight you either."

"But perhaps, Zabuza, you will find within yourself a reason to fight for me, once more," a young, yet authoritative voice rang out. The ex-Swordsman of the Mist and his apprentice jerked around in shock and surprise, and Naruko's shoulders visibly sank in relief.

"Who's the midget?" Gato scowled, even as Yagura and Utakata came into view, courtesy of the former dissolving the unnatural mist. "A bratty wannabe and his babysitter?"

Utakata's eyes widened at the man's rude words. "Oh, you're in for it now," he muttered under his breath as Yagura started spluttering indignantly beside him. Even Zabuza was looking at the tycoon with a measured amount of sympathy, knowing exactly how this was going to go down — because no one insulted the Mizukage about his age and height. No one.

Well, except for one person.

And speaking of said person... everyone's attention turned to the side of the bridge where a certain blonde had just fallen over, clutching her stomach as muffled laughter slipped out from her hand clamped firmly over her mouth. Sasuke rolled his eyes with a somewhat fond smirk at his teammate's half-hearted effort to contain her mirth, slipping into a slightly relaxed stance. Meanwhile, Sakura crouched down to ensure the blonde wouldn't asphyxiate, though she kept an eye on the drama unfolding before them.

"Midget? Bratty wannabe?" Yagura muttered, voice rising with every syllable. Utakata suddenly tapped his shoulder, turning his attention to the slightly injured members of Team 7. There was a sudden spark of anger in Yagura's eyes as his grip on his staff tightening considerably. Muscles feathered in his jaw as Yagura fought to keep from saying anything that was undoubtedly not suitable for young ears.

Finally giving up — and feeling like he was going to explode if he didn't do something — Yagura resorted to proving the "actions speak louder than words" saying. Jaw tense and trembling with restraint, Yagura lifted his hand and slammed his staff onto the bridge. There was a moment of utter stillness before something started to grow from the bottom of the staff towards Gato, creeping towards him at a faster and faster rate. The businessman realized too late what was going on, and by the time he had, the pinkish coral had already seized him, encasing Gato's entire body.

Naruko watched with a suddenly-dry throat as Yagura almost prowled towards Gato, his face cold as stone but his eyes were an entirely different matter. Within the bright fuchsia raged a storm, ferocious and formidable. The laughter had evaporated from his eyes, his customary warmth gone faster than the mist he had dispersed. His focus was solely on the tycoon before him, as if everything else had suddenly become invisible to him. Including her.

Yagura did not glare, instead staring calmly at Gato. And for the businessman, that made it all the more terrifying. And then slowly, with controlled movements, Yagura flipped his staff up and nudged the pointed end towards the man's jugular. "First you land on my territory without permission." Yagura's voice was soft, but deadly, and it rang out like a shout in the otherwise-silent area. "Then you make this land your own by terrorizing the citizens and murdering those who dare to stand in your way. But your next mistake?" Leaning in, Yagura placed his mouth next to the trembling tycoon's ear, lowering his voice even further. "I don't know who you are, or what you want, or what you have. But I do know, that I have a particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. For people who make the mistake of going after my baby sister."

Leaning back, Yagura concluded, "But above all, your first mistake was thinking you could control the seas." Like a switch flipped, the bright pink faded into a menacing red. "I control the seas."

Gato's whimpers started growing into terrified shrieks as demonic chakra started to seep out of the Mizukage's figure. Silently, Naruko got to her feet, catching Utakata's eye. The Kiri shinobi shook his head ever-so-slightly.

"But make no mistake — and you've certainly made a lot of those in these past few months — I do not control the seas because I am the Mizukage," Yagura continued, fury finally starting to seep into his measured tone. "I control them because I am the jinchuuriki of the Three-Tailed Turtle. And this is his territory."

Naruko instantly flicked her wrist out behind her. Kakashi jerked his head at Sasuke, who quickly grabbed Tazuna, Sakura obediently following him off the bridge. The Jonin cast one last look at his student, and a brilliant blue flashed at him for a moment as the blonde girl dipped her head slightly in reassurance. Kakashi returned the gesture, pushing the doubt away as he followed his two students back to the mainland. Naruko knew what she was doing, and all they had to do — all they could do — was believe in her.

Naruko looked back to her older brothers; Utakata's face was set in stone, hate burning beneath his stony exterior. But it was still nothing to match Yagura's ice. Naruko licked her lower lip; she had never been afraid of Yagura's anger when it came as fire, for that burnt hot and fast and was easily calmed. But, she realized, she was deathly afraid of his ice. It coated him like a protective permafrost, and while it had saved him from the torments of his youth, Yagura had never once used it on any of his fellow jinchuuriki. The knowledge that such anger existed within her usually-playful brother, a type of anger that had words bouncing off him like hail and thus made it impossible to reach him, came only from Utakata's stories. Never from experience. So, for once, Naruko was at loss of what to do. What would it take to thaw that anger, to return that loving spark to his eyes?

Oh-so-aware of what was undoubtedly his impending death sentence, Gato was trembling like a leaf in the unforgiving wind. Had he not been immobilized by Yagura's coral, Naruko was sure she would hear his knees were knocking together hard enough to bruise.

And then, all of a sudden, the blizzard came to a slow stop. The ice thawed. The air became breathable once more.

A sigh slipped from the Mizukage's lips as his shoulders lost their tension at the same time the demonic chakra disappeared. "But," he said slowly, in an almost weary tone, "that is also exactly why I will not kill you. Because as I remember someone once saying: as jinchuuriki, it is our duty to protect our designated villages. We are not weapons, tools to be manipulated. We are humans."

Cerulean eyes widened slightly.

"We are jinchuuriki, the power of human sacrifice. This is what we are, and what we will be until the day we die." Yagura half-turned to meet Naruko's eyes, a barely-there smile curving the corners of his mouth, apologetic and self-deprecating, yet it perfectly conveyed the regret and shame Yagura felt at having lost control in front of his little sister. "So what kind of example to the younger generation of my family would I be, if I did the exact opposite?"

Naruko smiled.

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Team 7 stood before the newly-constructed bridge, the citizens of Wave standing with the Yagura, Utakata, Zabuza and Haku. The newly-reinstated Swordsman of the Mist reached out a hand to shake Naruko's. "You did good, kid," Zabuza smiled underneath his mask of bandages, his eyes soft. He saw a lot of Haku in this child, and despite how much he had despised her in the beginning, she had grown on him.

Naruko smiled. "Thank you for the kenjutsu lessons, Zabuza-san."

Over the past week in which the rest of the bridge was in its final stages of construction, Naruko had expressed her interest in kenjutsu. Upon hearing that, and the name "Uzumaki" that Yagura had slyly dropped, Zabuza had promptly taken it upon himself to teach her in kenjutsu. That had been cause of an interesting week for both the team and the village. Haku had seemed to be a little jealous at times, but Naruko would always sense this and invite him to join, to which Haku would always politely decline. Haku wasn't really much of a weapons person, Naruko had deduced. But on another note, the young Uzumaki couldn't wait to go back to Konoha and find herself a suitable katana, which she had promised Zabuza to practice with daily and take care of carefully.

"No problem," Zabuza patted her head. "You've got quite a talent there, kid."

"Naruko," Yagura called, and the blonde turned to see her brother looking at her quite impatiently.

With a laugh, Naruko realized what Yagura was waiting for. Leaving no time for second thoughts, Naruko wrapped her arms around the swordsman's torso and squeezed gently. "Again, thank you, Zabuza-san." Then she quickly ran towards her brothers, leaving a stunned Zabuza standing there.

Kakashi chuckled, slapping Zabuza's back lightly. "And that is Naruko Uzumaki for you," he said with a fond twinkle in his eye. Zabuza shook his head wordlessly, though a fond smile curved his mouth.

Yagura's arms unfolded just as Naruko launched herself into the air, landing in his arms as she hugged him tightly. "See you soon, Yagu-nii," Naruko breathed.

"Take care of yourself, Naruko," Yagura returned. His grip on his sister tightened, not wanting to let go just yet. They had found each other, and he was sure they would again, but right now he just wanted to hold on and never let go.

However a single fact was glaring at him right in the face: Naruko was a kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf Village.

So he let go.

Naruko smiled at him and moved over to hug her other brother, who knelt down at her height. "As the world changes, make sure that the only thing that doesn't change, is here," Utakata said softly, smiling as he tapped Naruko's heart.

The blonde threw her arms around his neck, whispering, "Thank you for coming."

"We will always come, little sister," Utakata promised. "Always."

"Naruko," Sakura said softly, "it's time to go." As much as she hated having to separate the siblings, who clearly loved each other very much, their time on this mission had come to an end and it was time for them to go back home. Naruko nodded at them, sadness apparent in her eyes. With one last hug to both her brothers, she pulled away and jogged to catch up with her team.

"Well? What shall we call the bridge?" Tazuna wondered aloud idly.

Inari grinned. "The Great Naruko Bridge!"

Yagura threw his head back with a loud groan, Haku smiled and both Utakata and Zabuza started laughing. "Don't ever tell her that, or it'll undoubtedly go to her head," the oh-so-distinguished Mizukage practically whined. "And I don't need her having another thing to hold against me."

"Look carefully, Haku," Zabuza chuckled, "this is who we'll be taking orders from."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Yagura exclaimed indignantly. The swordsman only roared louder with laughter. As the citizens of Wave joined in the laughter, with his new Swordsman and his bodyguard continuously poking fun at him, Yagura started to tune them out as his eyes lingered on the now-empty path.

'Wherever you go... whatever you do...' Yagura allowed a small, sad smile to lift his mouth. 'You and I both know our bond is too strong to be broken by mere distance. May we one day be together again, as a family. And this time, for good.'

"Ready to head back?"

Yagura glanced up at Utakata, and nodded briefly. "Yes... I believe so. After all," and here, a grin lit up his childish face, "we have letters to write."

Utakata shook his head with a breath of laughter. "We shouldn't."

Yagura's eyebrows waggled impishly. "But will that stop me?" He conjured up an Aqua Portal. With a reassuring nod from Utakata, Zabuza and Haku walked through it first.

"No," Utakata sighed, "I suppose not." He grinned cheekily at Yagura as he made to walk through the portal, "But when one of the jinchuuriki come screaming for you, I will not hide you. And when questions are raised on how the distinguished Fourth Mizukage knows lowly shinobi from the many villages, I will not cover for you either."

Yagura pouted as he followed. "You're no fun, Oo-ta-ka-tee," he enunciated boredly.

"I'm trying to keep us safe, Ya-gurl-ra," Utakata returned.

"Oi, I look nothing like a girl! And no, you're not trying to keep us safe, you're being a killjoy!"

"Yagura, why must you always do this?"

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"You okay, Naruko?" Sakura asked in concern at her teammate, who appeared to be in a daze as she walked mindlessly along the path.

Naruko hummed lightly, turning to smile at her pink-haired friend. "You know, I miss them more than ever, Sakura. But if I learned one thing from this week, it's that we're so distracted by how things end, that we forget how beautiful the beginning was."

Blue eyes turned up to the sky, watching as orange slowly overtook the deepening blue. "The time I spent with them this week reminded me of how beautiful our family was. How much we loved each other. How we would do anything for each other. And that gives me all the more reason to try hard at everything I do, because I know even with this distance between us, they'll always be there for me and they'd want me to make the most out of every opportunity I have."

Naruko flashed a bright grin. "And that's exactly what I'm going to do." Suddenly, she darted forward in a flash of yellow. "Race you to the campsite!"

"Wait!" Kakashi cried, taking off after his sister, Sakura and Sasuke right behind him. "I realize your father specialized in speed, but must you go so fast? And which campsite are we aiming for? Naruko!"

Carefree laughter and shouts of alarm and joy rang through the forest, as the sun started its descent, marking yet another increase of the past and declaring the children to be just that little bit older.

And as Naruko was slowly realizing, as we grow up and are constantly learning new things, meeting new people and having new experiences, it's all too easy to forget about our past. But with this realization, Naruko was also learning that some people come into our lives and quickly go, while others stay for a while and leave footprints on our heart. And we are never, ever the same.

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A/N: I'm so, so sorry this was so short! I couldn't really think of anything else, and I don't think you want to read a fight scene that you could just watch on the anime. Besides, I'm not exactly the greatest at writing fight scenes...