Obviously, I don't own Naruto or the songs I use.

Chapter 2: Space Junk

Sitting on the space junk,

what am I to do?

Riding on the space junk,

and it's bringing me to you.

My head is full space junk,

but your words are getting through.

Riding on the space junk,

and it's bringing me to you.

Sitting alone in a brightly lit booth, a single man stared down into his bowl of noodles.

The two that were working behind the counter had their faces scrunched up into different variances of confusion, their movements becoming jerky when loud footsteps reached their ears.

All three of them were waiting on someone to arrive, someone who could've been there hours ago and should've been half a hour earlier.

Scratching at his cheek with one hand as the other swirled the soggy noddles, the man had already laid out his payment and was waiting for the motivation to go home to return.

It wouldn't return until he heard several feet running in a rushed harmony a hour later, and on the way home he'd see an ANBU member on top of each house, business, and some inspecting the war path the missing someone created in their chaos earlier.

"Auck!"

Shivering as cold air hit her body once again, Naruto pouted grumpily at having to imitate having a shower in a bathtub with a bucket.

Listening to Kakashi pace outside the door, when she mentioned that she needed a bath earlier, he said that separating right now was not the best option.

Her first reaction was to call him a pervert.

His next was to sputter in surprise and try to explain that whoever fixed the shelf could still come back in and attack her while she was defenseless.

"I don't have any weapons on me, I'm already defenseless." The blonde deadpanned, feeling the dirt become itchy while his lone eye widened.

So without further ado, he stood guard outside the downstairs bathroom, the only comment offered being that she couldn't take a bath unless she wanted to just sit in her own filth through the door. The thunk of her shoe hitting the door felt satisfying, but she otherwise used the very convenient bucket meant for this situation and old man smelling soap.

Naruto didn't know what to do with the situation of being locked in an unknown house other than to freak out or take it in stride, and so far she was taking it calmly.

Kakashi didn't know her or if he did, he was one of the few people who didn't care.

Despite the asshole label she wanted to draw on his forehead in marker, she shrugged it off and decided she could try and work around it like she's been trying to with Sasuke.

The blonde just didn't know what to say if he started asking questions, as there really wasn't much about her that didn't scream "Konoha Citizen!"

Besides telling him that she was an orphan from birth in a random attack, a prankster, being lonely and wanting to be a Kunoichi someday - there really wasn't crap she could tell about herself.

He was obviously training to be one himself as well because he stood stiffly, was good with kunais, and wore weird clothes.

She knew if she was like the girls in her class, she'd be fawning all over him purely for his genuinely mysterious appearance.

Slanted silver hair that leaned to his left, he wore a dark shade of grey outfit with white stripes beginning underneath his X-shaped leather sheath holder for missing tantos. An easily attachable belt sat high on his hips, and his pant legs were held down by bandages. Around his forearms were matching arm warmers with a set of rippled arm guards firmly strapped on. Sprouting out from his shirt, was a mask that covered his neck to the bridge of his nose and he had a fresh-looking scar over his left eye.

Naruto wanted to blurt out the question on where he got it and why he wears a mask, but she wasn't that stupid.

'He's probably one of those bastards that think nobody needs to know info about them or do in exchange for something worthy enough to blackmail with later.' She thought, dumping the last bucket needed to wash the bubbly suds from her hair.

Keeping the other habit of having a comb in her jumpsuits pockets for her long hair, she froze in the middle of looking for said object. 'I didn't see any clean underwear in the closets..'

"Shit," she whispered as she began to quickly dry off her hair and body.

Hearing Kakashi pause in his pacing at her swear, he politely knocked on the door. "What's going on?" He questioned firmly, and the blonde couldn't help but turn pale and let her teeth chatter out of nerves.

"Uh, nothing! Can you get me one of the blankets from that closet real quick?" Planning to use it as a proper cover as she tried to clean the Yukata's and her clothes in the basement, she heard him gather his breath to protest. Cutting him off before he could form appropriate words, she shouted it in a rush. "It's just down the hall! The only way in this place is the front door, so you'll know if someone tries to come back anyways!"

Rolling her eyes when she finally heard his footsteps make their way down a few moments later, another knock on the door had her cautiously opening it as the towel covered her.

Receiving a white comforter, the girl used the towel as the universal drying-turban and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and wore it as a cape. Kicking her clothes into a pile, she marched out of the bathroom awkwardly.

Seeing the raised eyebrow, she scowled before beginning the mission to the closets upstairs and cleaning the clothes of the musty smell, voicing exactly that as the silver haired pre-teen hesitated at being told to grab her clothes off the floor.

Lighting the scented candles as Naruto manually washed the yukatas and her clothes in a basin, Kakashi did everything he could to avoid looking at her.

The blanket was still wrapped around her, but it was lowered to be tucked under her armpits.

As she washed herself, he had spent his time pacing trying to decide on what to do about her.

She made a point that whoever owned the house could probably leave and enter at any time, cleaning up after whatever mess they caused. Left to guess who could own an old rotten place like this, it wasn't safe for the two to walk around freely without one another. It wasn't also safe as she could've hidden anything in the time it took for him to find her hiding in the laundry room, just like how he hid his headband and pouch.

Having planned to subtly get information out of her somehow, it was interrupted at the realization that she was walking and sitting nude around underneath a blanket.

'This is Obito's forte.' The thought felt like a smack in the face.

The apparent distraction was losing its luster.

Chasing after their medic and teammate Rin over and over again since the moment Obito met her when they were six, his pickup lines weren't smooth and he had a tendency to lag behind in the book store to check out dirty magazines, but he was still better at the idea of romance alone compared to Kakashi. If only he could've stopped choking up and tripping on nothing, and started pursuing a girl that didn't crush on their other teammate.

'Would any village be cruel enough to send a girl this young to seduce and infiltrate Konoha?' Trying to shake the thought of his dead teammate away and get another good look of the girl for more marks, he was able to confirm the whisker-like scars on her face at least. 'Who would they be trying to target, other than Minato-sensei obviously? Naruto wouldn't even be able to seduce him, he loves Kushina-neechan too much.'

Knowing that the Iwa nin who were there that day at the Kanabi bridge were all dead, Kakashi knew he was more locally famous for his genius than worldly. Considered a bit more valuable than to be thrown onto the front lines, especially since the war started when he was younger because of his own father. He was out on the list of possible targets at that logic unless she was from Suna, but his jaw silently dropped behind his mask at the thought that made him clench his kunai tightly in defense.

'Maybe she's here to fake being Minato-sensei's sister. Get under his skin in another way and then take him out.' Feeling his stare turn into a glare, the multiple candle lights danced across her exposed tan skin. 'I could kill her now, get rid of the problem all together.'

Not realizing that she felt the hair on her neck rise, Naruto turned to him with her eyes narrowed.

On the last piece of clothing that she tried to hide from him as she stood up, she was hoping to hang it deeper into the room, but her suspicious behavior had him trying to snatch it out of her hands.

"Let go, let go!" Clenching the blanket with one hand as the other held tightly onto the garment, the blonde halted when she felt the familiar cold metal across her neck. Glaring at him as her cheeks lit aflame all the way to her ears, Kakashi held the kunai to her neck as he pulled the object out of her hand and held it up. "Are you happy, you damn pervert!?"

In his hand, was her black underwear.

Watching as both his eyes widened in horror, Naruto knew her face was becoming a dark red as his blush slowly rose from behind his mask. Pushing his now frozen arm holding the blade away, she snatched the garment and hung it up on the clothes line as he stood still.

Stomping out of the room and to ground level, the blonde knew the frequent breezes would dry the clothes faster than upstairs. It wasn't until she had a fire going in the sitting rooms fireplace and figured out that the kotatsu was somehow heating up magically, that she would realize she didn't see what damage was done to the scarred eye. Shrugging it off since he was obviously a closet perv that didn't trust her, she laid half her body underneath the large table and spread her long hair out to be dried properly by the roaring fire as her upper half laid out on the stone and clay flooring. Using the comforter properly as a blanket, she tried to settle down.

It took awhile with her mind dancing with the shadows on the ceiling, but Kakashi did return upstairs.

Turning her head to him, he sat on a couch and said nothing, clearly doing anything he could to not look at her.

"Do you not trust me?" Naruto asked out of nowhere. "'Cause I don't know why else you would try and slit my throat just for hidin' my undies from a boy."

Ready to give up on him ever acknowledging her again until they can leave, he answered quietly.

"I don't."

"Why?" Blinking at the direction of him, his voice met her ears.

"Because I don't know you." Screwing her face into a sour expression, Naruto rolled her eyes.

"So? I don't know you, but I'm stuck here with you. There's probably no other weapon here than the one you have, and I haven't tried stabbing you." Yawning, she felt her muscles relax with the only sound left of the crackling fire. Wiggling herself over to snag a cushion to stick under her almost dried hair as a pillow, she pulled the comforter to cover her shoulders and closed her eyes.

'She snores like an old man,' Kakashi would later think bitterly.

Knowing that everyone he ever once knew would have laughed in or smacked his face at trying to steal a girls panties right from her hands, spy or not, left a deep feeling of embarrassment in his stomach.

It was the furthest he'd ever gotten to a girl, if it counted, and yet Obito would be congratulating him after he was done laughing. With her obviously deep in sleep, obnoxiously snoring, he took a moment to reach out with his chakra to check hers.

'How is hers so large?'

It was calm and relaxed, proving his theory of her genuinely being asleep in front of a complete stranger, and when he tip toed back to the bathroom - he found her abandoned sandals. Checking the inside of the foot, the male noted how worn down they were but still could see the logo where her heel sat.

Konoha's standard: size 5 1/2 female.

Placing them back and making his way to the entrance of the sitting room, he felt his brow furrow in utter confusion at the mixed results. Nothing was hidden in the laundry room from her hiding in it, he had checked after she went upstairs and now she obviously had items from his village. 'I'm starting to wonder if she's even a ninja yet. Her chakra is unnaturally large.. almost close to Minato-sensei's right now. She'd have to be apart of Konoha somehow, or.. maybe from one of the border villages?'

Retracing the history he knew of the Third Shinobi War, the Great Five Ninja ran villages were failing from lacking missions and their pay. Attacking each other mindlessly in the smaller countries between each other to fill their free time and fulfill their jealousy based off rumors, Konoha descended into the war when Iwa attacked one of the popular and wealthy farmer villages in the Land of Fire that continuously offered C and B ranked missions to Konoha exclusively.

The blonde looked close to his age, so they must've both been around 7 when the war officially started.

'Probably shipped off to a smaller villager to be protected or used as a secret weapon if her chakra size is this large with basic opening and training.' He concluded, silently wondering on if the Third would even permit either option. 'It'd explain why she'd be running from Konoha with the standard shoes, knowing she'd be sent back if caught by certain shinobi who know of her. Probably could be returned to the village after all this time and didn't want to, failing as a weapon or as a natural born citizen.'

Sitting back down on a couch, Kakashi leaned back and stared intently at the blonde strands he could see from his point of view. Fighting off the frown at someone defying their purpose as a chosen and naturally born shinobi, his scarred eye opened in the disgust he felt toward himself at that thought.

'Obito, what should I do? She's one of the few girls our age who doesn't like me at all. I don't know what she wants, does, or anything. I don't know how to treat civilians or - or damaged goods.' Turning his eyes to his hands, he didn't realize when they fell closed over time.

Chin falling to his chest, the fire went out in what felt like hours as the missing wood from the stack beside the fireplace quietly created more.

When Naruto woke up, it was with a grumbling stomach and a loud yawn. Shivering at where cold air hit her exposed shoulders, she still gathered the comforter around her and stood up. Giving a single glance to Kakashi or more specifically his mask, she tip toed her way over to him before pausing half way there.

Squinting at him, she shook her head and made her way to the laundry room. Choosing to only wear her now dried orange pants and black shirt, she returned upstairs and explored the kitchen.

'No ramen, seriously?' Rubbing her eyes irritably, she shook her head again and went digging deep into the pantry for a combination fit for her large stomach.

Trying not to make too much of a mess of the nicely sorted space, she did find suppressed packages with the words shrimp, beef, chicken, or pork taped on them. Crumpling the package around as she wondered if it was a version of ramen, her other arm searched for a pot with a top. Unknowingly and uncaring at causing a lot of noise in the kitchen, it bounced off the walls in the silent home and woke her unfortunate roommate up.

Bouncing up from his upright position on the couch, the male's neck had a kink in it that caused him to wince quietly. Grabbing the kunai as another clang echoed, Kakashi noted that the fire went out and Naruto was missing from her spot.

Wishing he had his tanto repaired, he warily rose from his spot and made his way to the kitchen.

Peering around the corner, his muscles relaxed as he observed the small girl finding a kettle and a cabinet full of porcelain dishes. Finally able to concentrate on her clean and properly dressed appearance, he noticed the large Uzumaki swirl on the back of her shirt.

"Naruto." Unable to force himself to roll his eye at her jumping, he watched her slowly turn with a wide eyed look.

Knowing that no Konoha citizens wore the symbol unless they were given standard issued gear, his untouched eye widened as the math was silently done. 'She's not a refugee from this war.'

He could see her lips moving while his eye raced all across her features but he could not hear her over his thoughts.

'Kushina-neechan didn't say much, but what if other people got away when the Land of Whirlpools were attacked? She might've been sent to Konoha by someone now that she's old enough since Kushina is now borderlining S-rank. She'd be safe with her after a blood test proving it to her.' Feeling an ache in one of his temples, he reached up and rubbed it lightly. 'But then why does she have Minato-sensei's colouring?' Able to see features that must belong to all Uzumaki, he only allowed his eye to wander along her body - not realizing that Naruto was staring back confused.

"Eh, Kakashi? You okay there? You can have some too, ya know?" Blinking at him as he finally unfroze, she felt her own suspicions arise as his eye took focus once more.

"Do you want to be a ninja?"

Sifting through the system for the piece that knows my name,

endlessly I listen in the master game.

Briskly walking through the Preserved Monumental Forest, several figures followed one in a single file line. While the leader was dressed in white with a triangular hat, each heavy gush of wind revealed a black battle outfit underneath. Each of his followers were dressed differently, and only squad leader Eagle remained from the day before, his and his team's individual reports having reached their superior's desk with every single detail they could recall. Supposed to direct the entire group to the large source of chakra that held, he was not needed as his superior could feel the source.

Coming into the clearing that his team had only just searched earlier once again, the oddest squad ever summoned all stared at the distorted air.

"It's like a disfigured human, that has had one too many experiments done on it," said Jun. No one knew his real name anymore, apparently being so old that he could recall seeing their current village leader running around in diapers once upon a time. Having lost his eyesight naturally, the elderly man was personally asked by Tobirama to move from his civilian remedy shop to become a doctor in Konohagakure. Doing so, he had worked alongside Tsunade Senju until she had left, and when he lost his eyesight he moved onto work with patients admitted in the mental wards. Only learning enough of the medic-nin arts to heal wounds for the patients, he created a chakra sonar to help him get around and find the difficult patients.

"It's nowhere near a genjutsu, either. I haven't the slightest the idea of what this could be," replied Kurenai Yuhi softly. Being the residential genjutsu mistress, she was a chunin looking to become a jonin soon. Only able to sense the thick chakra in the air, she was truly only there to confirm or disprove theories.

Walking closer, a man code named Tenzo, who was unfortunately experimented on and given a famous bloodline as a child, crouched and put his hand against the ground. "It's made up of so many different chakra's. I can find Naruto's and the Kyuubi's no problem. However -" Despite wearing a mask, the confusion in his voice was not hidden as he was interrupted.

"- It feels too familiar." Anzu Masao had finished for him. Current director of the hospital, she was born and raised in Konoha. Not biased nor into hero worshiping, she did not deny that she was inspired by the sannin Tsunade to become a medic-nin. No longer taking field missions, she could not remember the last time she had left the village. Superstitious and paranoid however, her hands were clasped before her face. Closing her brown eyes, her mouth moved without sound as she muttered a prayer.

The leader of the group and the village, silent and observant, did not release the look of concern on his face. Hurizen Sarutobi, the reinstated Third Hokage did not know where to start. He could feel the chakra of the small girl that he was affectionate for among what felt like hundreds of people. Frowning, he turned his eyes to the ground. "Eagle, take Kurenai back to the area Naruto's scent disappears from. Kurenai, please cast your strongest genjutsu's that would turn people around and away from the area. Though the source might be here, she did disappear over there. Tenzo, please follow them and create as much natural looking forestry around the area. Thorns, vines, bushes, anything."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Besides the civilian Jun, all shinobi had responded to their orders. Waiting until they left the clearing, Hurizen turned towards the blind man and sighed.

"So Jun-kun, what all can you tell me about this?"

"Do I want to be a ninja? Well, yeah. Who wouldn't want to be?" Giving him a long sideways look, Naruto slowed her actions down.

Actually being curious on why, Kakashi furrowed his brows as he thought of the long missions, the amount of bodies he's sliced through, people he had already lost, and he couldn't stop himself from giving her one hard look. "Why?"

Repeatedly opening her mouth and closing it, teachers would be amazed that the blonde finally thought before speaking. "Couple different reasons. Mostly 'cause then I could be strong enough to protect my loved ones."

"Ah." Watching her look away and focus on preparing some kind of breakfast, the jonin crossed his arms. Losing himself in his thoughts and unable to tell how much time passed, it was when she was sitting at the table and shoveling food into her mouth that he even made a noise again. "Why did you say I'd know if you were from Konoha?" Feeling amused at her jumping in surprise, she glared at him before swallowing.

Unable to resist a prideful grin, the blonde's chest swelled as she answered. "'Cause my pranks are so good that I have a code-name from local authorities. I'm considered a B-rank mission."

'So she's the human equivalent of Tora the Cat. Great.' Rolling his eyes at the lack of information, other than her at least knowing enough about rankings to show that she was being trained, or looking to be trained.

"So Kakashi," raising an eyebrow as she placed her bowl next to the sink, the Uzumaki wiped her hands on her pants and tilted her head. "What all is there to do here?"

"What makes you think I know?" Unable to stop the retort, Kakashi was surprised to watch her grin.

"Well, we can always create some games. Maybe they'll get us movin' around to find some more stuff around here, or get us to break stuff to find a way out." Shrugging, her blue eyes shined competitively. "I don't know, unless you just wanna sit on the couches and wait for somethin' to happen."

Shrugging with her in agreement and not being one to be hungry in the mornings anyways, he felt uncertain on what a game was to her as Naruto's grin gave wattage.

Through the tenth dimension, to the certainties beyond.

Dreamily in attention, and the sub-atomic bomb.

"Hokage-sama?" Turning around, Hurizen gave a sad smile to the concerned man that had been waiting all day.

"Yes, Iruka-kun?" Standing there with his caramel coloured hands fumbling with the lint and loose strings in his pants pockets, his high ponytail bounced with his heavy sigh and hunching shoulders.

"She's still missing, isn't she?" The hope in his eyes died quickly at the elderly man's own drooping shoulders, the stressful frown that adorned his face all day returning once more. "Then is there anyway that I can help?" Clenching his fists, Iruka Umino felt his motivation return. Though it had been only a day after she disappeared and he was left unknowing of how or why, his well-disliked little sister figure had gone missing. It gave him chills on what could have happened to her, the main theory so far of her being kidnapped.

"I still have another 2 months before I have to return to teaching at the academy, so I have the time. I also have money saved up so if anyone says that the village can't fund this, no matter if she's found in a week or two years, I can fund myself to leave the village and track her down. I just can't sit here and do nothing, what if she was kidnapped? What if the traveling vendors spread about her condition and her reputation? We both know she loves the village, but an enemy wouldn't care after coming all this way! That's my little sister -"

Holding a hand up to stop him, Hurizen gave a tired sigh. "Iruka, my boy, I wish you had offered your help earlier -"

Not even trying to catch his breath, Iruka could not help interrupting his village leader. "Is it too late?" Feeling a cold set deep in his stomach to the point that Iruka almost clenched at it, the Hokage shook his head slowly.

"Not at all. The situation is much more difficult than just a kidnapping, though I'm not sure if she's actually safe either. However, it's already 11pm and I can't do anymore paperwork without the words swimming all over the paper. Unless you're wide awake and ready to go through possibly hundreds of files right now, I suggest you get some rest tonight as well."

Watching the man's face become confused and yet relieved that he was now going to be involved, he nodded numbly at the comfort that she wasn't at least kidnapped. "Stop by my office at 9am first though, I need to fill out some paperwork to give you the clearance to enter without me needed, if this happens to take a few days."

My head is full of space junk, but your words are getting through.

I'm riding on the space junk, and it's bringing me to you.

It's bringing me to you.

Space Junk by Wang Chung.