Naruto lay back in the hospital bed and sighed in irritation. He was confined to the bed while Tsunade ran tests on him and on his latest spoil. In the meantime, he was stuck, waiting with nothing to do.

So, he settled for having a conversation with the newly dubbed Kurama, formerly known as the fuzzy bastard tenant that wanted to destroy Konoha.

'So, if you hadn't helped me, what would've happened?' It was a valid concern for the boy as he settled back and closed his eyes for his conversation.

'A long, boring process of slowly smothering that foreign chakra beneath your own,' Kurama had responded with the mental equivalent of a shrug and a snort. 'Or it would've tried to force itself into you and the rest of your little harem and died in a far less spectacular fashion.'

'Then why do anything at all?' Naruto demanded back.

'Because then she would've died and the Uchiha wouldn't have been put under your thumb next.'

'But… you said it would've died.'

'In you and them, yes. In the girl, since the seal connecting her to you had never been finished? She would've died screaming as the dead chakra hit her gates.'

'Oh. So, Kin and Temari were never in danger?'

'Your little pets were never in danger, the only life in the balance was the foul mouth little bitch's.'

'Which is why you asked me if I wanted her to live.' Naruto pondered the notion and slowly nodded his head.

'That and I really was horribly amused at the idea of an Uchiha being turned into the pet of my container.' It was a frank admission by Kurama but Naruto could practically feel the grin on the fox's face.

"What the hell did you do!?" Kin had arrived and she was most assuredly less than happy.

"Hello, Kin-chan. It's nice to see you too. Did you have a good time with Sunshine's brothers?" Naruto responded with an arch of his brow.

"Youuuu…!"

"I think she would like to know what happened and why we turned yellow for a time, Naruto-sama," Temari cut in as she shook her head a bit.

"Oh, that was Kurama," Naruto stated simply.

"… Kurama?" Kin repeated, staring at Naruto.

"Yup," Naruto agreed.

"You're doing this just to be an ass, aren't you." Temari stated flatly.

"Would I do that, Sunshine?" Naruto asked with an entirely too innocent smile.

"In a heartbeat," Temari agreed with a frown.

"I think we've been a bad influence on him," Kin noted.

"I know you've been a bad influence on him," Ino's voice cut in as she walked into the room, arms crossed about her chest and a frown on her face. "What did you do, Naruto?"

"I just did what they asked me to do!" Naruto responded insistently. "It's just it didn't work out how they thought it would."

"Uh huh," Ino repeated, still giving him a look.

"I'm serious!" Naruto insisted before glancing around furtively. "I just… had to get some help from Kurama."

"… Kurama?" Ino repeated, a brow arched up, arms still across her chest.

"Um… Well, you see, funny story…" Naruto shifted about slightly, "It… well, the kyuubi has a name. It's Kurama."

'My name is not a funny story,' Kurama countered back with a huff.

"That was not the kyuubi's chakra," Kin stated authoritatively. "I know what that feels like and that was definitely not it."

"Yes, it was," Naruto argued back with a huff. "I was the one that was actually involved in it, I know what it was."

"That doesn't make sense!" Kin argued back. "The kyuubi chakra has always been red! Angry, hungry! That stuff was…!"

"It was 'a taste of what it truly means to wield his power,''" Naruto quoted and shrugged. "And I have to wait here for them to finish checking me over and make sure it's all good so we can do Sasuke next."

"But, but…" Kin started to protest.

"… Why was it different this time then?" Temari asked instead.

"Because apparently if I did it the usual way, the girl would've died?" Naruto stated.

"And… Kurama-san just wanted to help out of the kindness of his heart?" Ino asked with no small amount of skeptic sarcasm in her voice.

"Actually, he did it because if she had died, then they wouldn't have done it to Sasuke," Naruto said with a slight shift in the bed. "He finds the thought of making her a slave… ironically amusing."

'Indeed.'

"Ok," Ino stated with a nod as she relaxed slightly, "That makes more sense."

"… How does that make more sense?!" Kin demanded.

"According to the history books, the kyuubi was under the control of the Uchiha. Madara, specifically," Ino answered. "And since none of the bijuu served anyone willingly, it had to have been controlled somehow. And the chance to make an Uchiha a slave has to be appealing to it."

'Well, at least your mate has a brain. Hopefully she rubs off on you more.'

Naruto's eye twitched slightly at that comment and he reflexively muttered, "I am so going to get you for that."

"What was that, Naruto-kun?" Ino asked sweetly, her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.

"Not you!" Naruto said quickly. "Him!"

Ino looked at him neutrally for a moment before shaking her head, sighing and giving him a look, "You do realize, of course, you owe me a damned good date and a good make out session now."

"… I do?" Naruto asked, eyes wide and staring.

"Yes, you do," Ino agreed with a firm nod of her head before smirking. "And if you're good…"

She leaned in and whispered into his ear. In response, Naruto's entire face turned a bright tomato red. Then a trickle of blood flowed out of his nose as he just stared back at her smirk.

Naruto continued to stare back at her for a moment, before his head hung and his shoulders slumped, "I'm doomed, aren't I?"

"Yes."

"Definitely."

"Absolutely."

'Amusingly.'

-o-o-o-

Sasuke shifted about on the heels she was forced to wear now. It had been a learning experience to say the least, the need to balance and step, and the way that it added to the femininity she'd spent so long denying. It wasn't really debilitating, it wasn't a career ending condition, but it was a constant reminder of what she'd tried to do.

And she knew that it was likely done on purpose.

Sighing, she shifted a bit then again walked back and forth along the length of her cell and back. She had nothing else better to do while she waited. If her manacles hadn't blocked her chakra usage, she'd had been walking up the walls and across the ceiling. As it was, she was frustratingly aware of the mincing little steps that made her hips sway the fetter chains limited her to.

"Ah, I see you've adapted already," Shizune stated as she stepped in front of the cell. "And in such a girly manner. Why, I'm surprised. Who knew, hmm, Uchiha-chan?"

Stiffening slightly, she then bowed forward as much as she was allowed with her restraints, "Shizune-san."

"And so polite!" Shizune clapped her hands together lightly, "Why, one would think you were accepting your fate instead of just hoping to lure us into a sense of false security! Very nice, Uchiha-chan! Why, if I hadn't been there when your broken, bleeding and unconscious body was taken to me for healing, I might actually believe it! Oh, I trust your ankles aren't giving you too much problem? I am so very sorry about that, but I'm afraid with everything, it completely slipped my mind to double check to make sure you would be able to walk properly!"

Sasuke's eye twitched only slightly as she nodded her head, "Understandable."

"Mmm, of course," Shizune agreed with a nod. "Well, fortunately I'm sure you'll be getting much more in touch with your feminine side in the future. If you survive, at least."

"I see," Sasuke stated even though she really didn't.

"Why, imagine the curves you'll start to put on when you're pregnant with your first child!" Shizune continued cheerfully. "All those hormones rushing through your body!"

Sasuke twitched slightly.

"Yes, I know what you're thinking, you're an Uchiha," Shizune agreed with a nod of her head, "but, fortunately, there have been wonderful advances made by Tsunade-sama in the areas of cosmetic medicine! You'll never be mistaken for a boy again by the time we're done with you!"

It took all herself control to keep her face utterly and completely neutral as she just stared back at Shizune, who, in turn, just grinned wider, eyes sparkling as she continued, "And all those drab, boring old clothes? Don't worry, nothing like that for you anymore! No need to pretend to be a boy ever again!"

"I see," she said in quiet, controlled voice that only warbled slightly.

"Oh, I'm not sure you do just yet, Uchiha-chan," Shizune stated with a chilly smile as she leaned in close to the bars. "Every little thing that you were is going to be stripped away from you. Who you were, what you were… you will look in the mirror and not see the Sasuke Uchiha who was the Konoha nin. You will see a beautiful, feminine, made up little sex pet for your Master.

"You will recognize just enough of who that was in that image, to remember, just enough to see how far you've fallen, just enough to understand just how much betrayal has cost you. And then everyone else will see the same. You will be a walking, talking little reminder of just what treason can cost."

She smiled then, cheerfully back at Sasuke, "And you will bear it all with a smile, and do you know why, Uchiha-chan?"

And Sasuke did. Her head bowed as she spoke the answer quietly, "Because it is better than I deserve."

"So glad you understand," Shizune said with a nod and a smile before she turned and walked away, leaving Sasuke with her thoughts.

-o-o-o-

"Well, they both appear to be fine," Tsunade agreed reluctantly with a tsk of displeasure as she looked down clinically at Tayuya. "Though with this one it might not last if she doesn't learn to watch her mouth."

"Well, there's always the old stand-by," Jiraiya noted, with an innocent smile.

"What, wash my fucking mouth out with soap?" Tayuya declared with a sneer.

"No. Slug slime," Jiraiya corrected cheerfully. "Probably with a healthy dose of toad oil mixed in."

Tayuya opened her mouth but couldn't quite find the words to respond as she stared at the two sannin, before repeating, "… Slug slime and Toad oil?"

"There's only a ten percent chance you'll turn into a sentient toad statue, still completely aware but unable to move, unable to react, unable to interact in the least," Jiraiya agreed. "And that's just with the toad oil. With the slug slime? Oooh, boy."

Tayuya stared at them both and then shrank back down and remained silent.

"Excellent. I told you she could be trained!" Jiraiya smiled beatifically at Tsunade.

Tayuya growled low in her throat, glaring at him, but otherwise kept her mouth shut.

"Yes, yes," Tsunade agreed with a nod of her head as she looked at Tayuya critically. "Well, at least it's something. We'll need to sit her down with Kurenai for genjutsu training once she gets her chakra control back up to par."

"… What?" Tayuya stated as she stared back at the woman, not quite sure she heard her right.

"Your chakra control is going to be non-existent until you learn how to handle your increasing potential," Tsunade answered clinically. "We saw it in both Kin and Temari."

At the mention of Kin, Tayuya growled out again as her eyes flashed dangerously.

"Now, now, Tayuya-chan, don't be like that," Jiraiya said. "She's your big sister now!"

Tayuya turned her head and stared at Jiraiya, "… The f…"

"Language," he reminded her with a waggled finger. "Kin has seniority over you with Naruto and Konoha."

"Fortunately, for you at least, Temari is the one who has disciplinary privileges over you," Tsunade cut in smoothly, "and shares seniority with Kin."

"And Naruto's girlfriend out ranks you all!" Jiraiya stated before pulling out his notebook, "OH! Sweet muse, how you love me so!"

Tsunade flicked him atop his head, sending him face first into the floor, before looking back at Tayuya, "I will warn you about this once, and only once. You will behave. You are not Kin, who chose her fate, you are not Temari, who is here for political reasons. You betray or attack us once…"

She paused a moment before Tayuya was subjected to Tsunade's full killing intent focused down upon her with laser-like intensity, "I will slowly rot your flesh while you feel every little bit. I will cut you open to the bone, then drop maggots into your flesh to keep it constantly cleaned out, where you can feel them writhing as they eat away at the dead flesh. I will make water taste like bile, and I will leave you soaking in your own waste. Then I will make you beg to be sent back to Orochimaru as a lab rat, because it will be eminently preferable to what I will put you through. Am I clear?"

Tayuya felt like an animal, trapped and pinned down on a laboratory table and then submitted to its own dissection while still alive and without any anesthesia. She could practically see her mouth already filled with the biting taste of bile and she struggled to keep her bowels in check. Still, she managed a quick, panicked nod.

"Good," Tsunade left up the intent for a moment longer before reigning it in, "because then, when I was done, I'd heal you up as good as new and let Jiraiya have his turn."

"Awww, princess, you do care!" Jiraiya stated cheerfully, smiling at Tayuya in a way that scared her as much as Tsunade's glare had. "Do you really need me to tell you what I'd do, Tayuya-chan? Because I can guarantee you'd probably faint before I got even half way through it. I'm very creative."

Tayuya just whimpered like a broken animal and slowly shook her head.

"Good," Jiraiya patted her atop her head, "because, after I was done with you, I'd give you to Anko. And she was 'Rochi's apprentice."

That was apparently as far as she could hold her bowels.

Tsunade wrinkled her nose and shook her head, "Thank you, Jiraiya. Now I have to have someone change the bed sheets."

"I try," Jiraiya said cheerfully.

-o-o-o-

Anko had just entered the hospital when she was caught by a sudden and powerful sneeze. Frowning, she took a moment to sniff the air but found nothing else of irritation. Shaking her head, she then made her way to the room where the Hokage had requested she report to.

Knocking politely at the door, she then took up position at the side, leaning back against the wall and waiting for someone to exit.

It was a few minutes later that disgruntled orderly pulled a laundry cart out of the room and nodded back into it, "They're ready for you now."

Nodding neutrally back at the orderly, Anko stepped into the room, her hands in the pockets of her trench coat, "You wanted to see me, Boss lady?"

Tsunade looked up and nodded her head in Anko's direction as Jiraiya gave a halfhearted wave from where he was rubbing his face, "Anko, good, you're here."

Anko didn't miss the stiffening and paling of the red haired girl in the room, dressed in only a hospital gown, watching her as if she had suddenly turned into her former teacher at the mention of her name, nor the look of horrified apprehension.

"This is Tayuya. Tayuya, this is Anko Mitarashi. Yes. That Anko. She is going to be supervising you while getting you some clothes and equipment," Tsunade stated simply. "Tayuya is the other surviving member of Orochimaru's little sounds, like the one we gave your department."

"I suppose I don't get to play with her then?" Anko stated with a slight pout. "The fat one already broke. I barely even got started and he was already ready to spill his guts."

"She's Naruto's. Talk to him about it," Tsunade stated simply.

Tayuya swallowed heavily as she quickly realized that she was going to want to stay on her new Master's good side.

"Goody," Anko agreed with her hands rubbing together as she looked at Tayuya. "Fortunately, I have an in with the brat. You see, his girlfriend? My apprentice."

As she was lead out of the room, still clad in nothing but the horribly brief and ugly hospital gown, Tayuya wondered if should even try to behave or if she was simply damned from the start.

Sometime later, in the dressing room of a store far nicer than she was used to being able to enter, she was staring from one mirror to another, her long hair pulled to the side as she attempted to grasp the full extent of the change. The back of her neck was naked of anything but smooth, soft skin, lacking the three hooks of Orochimaru's cursed seal. Between her shoulders, however, she could see the curling spiral of what she assumed was the one that had replaced it.

It was familiar in a way that tugged at the back of her mind but didn't quite ring into her recall. Sighing, she shook her head and lightly tossed her hair back over her shoulder, covering both once more as she looked back at what she'd been given. And again, she felt a grimace of distaste.

"… Does it have to be a thong?" she asked almost petulantly.

"It could be nothing?" Anko offered helpfully back at her. "Besides, what're you complaining about? You have the ass for it."

Tayuya blushee almost the same shade as her hair before growling softly, "That's not the point! They're just… really uncomfortable."

"Be glad you're not going to be wearing what Sasuke is. We're only making you wear one piece of girly clothing. Now, try on the rest of the outfit and look it over."

Sighing, Tayuya mentally admitted that the woman was right. Not that she'd ever vocalize it. Grumbling softly, she started with the grey pants, loose everywhere but her ass, with plenty of pockets to fill with various tools and tricks. That had always been something she'd disliked about the Sound Four 'uniforms', they had practically no pockets at all.

She tapped up her ankles and calves, sliding her feet into the provided sandals before taking a look at herself in the mirror once more. So far, not bad, if nothing else she'd be keeping the pants. Next, she pulled on the top, a black, cropped, long sleeved piece that covered the entirety of her back and her neck almost up to her jaw, but left the middle of her back exposed and her seal plain to see. Again, despite the exposure, it wasn't a bad look as she took a moment, posing in front of the mirror before continuing.

A grey vest, matched to her pants, was pulled over her shoulders, filled with plenty of pockets. Over her hands, she pulled on a pair of fingerless black leather gloves. Then, to finish it, a simple black bandana covered her head.

Grudgingly, she admitted she actually found herself somewhat liking the look.

"Well? Don't keep us in suspense, Red! Come on out and show us how you look!"

For a moment Tayuya sighed and shook her head before squaring her shoulders, turning, and purposely walking out of the dressing room.

Anko was grinning happily, next to her she could see the shorter blonde girl she remembered showing up with the group who looked at her with a sharp scrutiny in her unreadable blue eyes. Next to her she saw the familiar form of Kin, who was glaring at her with dark, angry eyes and the taller blonde with cold, dark green eyes. Finally, there was her new Master, looking more than slightly bored with everything.

Which, she had to admit, stung a bit. She wasn't a classic beauty or a model or anything like that but, dammit, she was good looking! She knew that much!

"Not bad," Anko agreed with a pleased, preening smile. "I do good work. Excellent."

"Can't we just kill her and be done with it?" Kin asked plaintively.

"No," Naruto, Ino and Anko stated in unison.

"Cripple?" she asked hopefully.

"No."

"Hurt some?" she asked again, only to receive a group of looks. "… Annoy?"

"You do that to everyone anyway," Temari noted with a snort.

Tayuya just glared back at Kin the whole time.

"Do you have any idea what that bitch did to me?!" Kin stated with a snarl.

"And you smashed her face in already," Ino cut in, "and beat her down in a fight." When Kin started to protest again, Ino cut her off once more, "You want more? Save it for the sparring."

Tayuya had a feeling that she was not looking forward to what was going to happen when the spar happened.

-o-o-o-

That evening found the three spoils stripped down to hospital gowns and forced to sit on monitoring seals in a mostly empty hospital room.

"Dammit, why can't you just use her for this and let us relax?" Kin demanded as she shifted uncomfortably on the cold floor, glaring at Tayuya.

"Because three sets of data are better than just one," Shizune responded without even looking at Kin as she inspected each of the seal arrays with a critical eye.

"But…!" Kin protested again before turning her head and glaring at Tayuya, "This is all your fault!"

"Yes, because I fucking asked to be turned into a gods' damned slave and be stuck with your constant whining for the rest of my shitty life," Tayuya snapped back with a glare and a growl.

"And now is when she finally starts to open up her mouth again," Temari stated with a sigh of irritation. "Couldn't you have waited until after all this was done before you started to run your mouth like another bitch?"

"What would be the point? You really like listening to her stupid fucking bitching like she has any more of a choice in what happens in this than we do?" Tayuya responded as she glared back at Temari.

"No, but now I have two whiny voices I'm forced to listen to," Temari responded back with a glare.

"Girls," Shizune stated sweetly as she looked at all three of them, "if you don't kindly behave and only speak to have a nice, polite conversation, I'll have to conclude that you have entirely too much energy. Fortunately, I have a wonderful little training regime that was developed to push ANBU into wartime shape."

The girls all wisely shut up.

-o-o-o-

Sasuke shivered as she lay on the floor completely naked. She'd already had the various symbols drawn on her skin, she'd already been prepared. Now, they were just waiting for Naruto.

She heard a shuffle of movement behind her. Then she could feel a warm, calloused hand pressed onto the small space of untouched flesh between the blades of her shoulders. Immediately, she went still, afraid to even breath as she could feel the brush returned to her skin, and the pattern completed from one to the other.

A part of her wanted to speak, to turn around, to throw herself in to his chest and break down, crying, begging for forgiveness. A different, darker part of her wished she had a kunai she could use to cut open his throat. Both were forced down beneath a melancholy resignation.

"I take it you remember what to do, brat?" the voice she wasn't familiar enough with to place, but it was male, and older, but not elderly.

"How could I forget?" Naruto shot back with a light growl as his hand almost clenched into her back. "I just want to get this over with."

The tone was angry, indignant and maybe even a little cold. So like and different from what she remembered of her teammate. It was obvious he didn't want to be there, that he didn't want to be doing this.

She didn't know whether to laugh out loud or just break down and start crying. Most men would've killed to be in his position. One more pretty girl to add to his little harem, the only man to own an Uchiha so completely.

But he wanted absolutely nothing to do with it, nor with her.

"All right, Kurama, you wanted this, let's do it already," she heard and, briefly, she wondered who Kurama was before her world exploded into a world of rush of something she couldn't describe.

The world became narrowed down to the experience of that warm, rising wave of power beginning to steadily pulse through her body. She could feel the way her whole body seemed to pulse to the rhythm of what she thought was Naruto's heart. And then the pulsing flow of yellow flowed over her.

To those watching, they were both two bodies of glowing yellow chakra, Naruto's eyes a burning, calm crimson as Sasuke opened her mouth as if to speak, only for no words to come out.

Before them, her eyes flashed wide open and they could see as her sharingan activated. Then, before their eyes, it matured and then mutated into a pattern none of them recognized. There was a pulse, a beat of the heart and then the color bled away into a pale white sheen and a spiral coiling all the way to the center of her eyes.

She opened her mouth, her eyes twisting and rotating in an almost mesmerizing display, before suddenly her scream filled the air as the mark on her shoulder erupted, trying to spread a poisonous darkness down into her glowing body.

In response, the glow only seemed to intensify as Naruto bared sharp, curved fangs and let out a dangerous, angry growl. Bit by bit the darkness was forced back, pushed to recede into the small mark it had previously been contained in. Then, like a squeezed zit, it pushed up building beneath the pressure of the golden chakra eating, burning away at it from beneath.

It was stronger than Tayuya's. It fought back. And then a great maw rose out of her flesh, the kyuubi's mouth, teeth, jaws on either side of the rising pustule of darkness. And then a great swirling sphere, so very much like a rasengan swelled in the back of its 'throat' and then began to eat into the darkness, grinding it away.

Suddenly it shot out of the formed mouth launching into the air and taking the remains of the seal with it before detonating in first an implosion, then a resulting explosion that bathed the room in glittering sparkles of chakra trace, before the kyuubi's face smirked and was draw back into the golden glow, receding back into Naruto's body.

Sasuke's eyes spun a moment longer before falling back into the familiar black as she collapsed back onto the floor, the familiar spiral seal formed on her back.

Above her, Naruto tiredly turned and glared at Tsunade and Jiraiya, "I am not doing that again!"

The pair could only nod mutely in agreement.

-o-o-o-

Perched atop the Hokage's head, Naruto stared out across the expanse of Konoha bathed in amber hue of the setting sun, feeling Ino's arm threaded through his as her head rested against his shoulder. Behind him, Temari stood, staring off into the horizon. Kin sat down on his other side, leg dangling over the ledge as she looked boredly, almost contemptuously, down on the village.

Behind them, under the watchful eye of Anko, Yuugao and Hayate, Tayuya was playing a light, experimental tune on her new flute, testing out its range.

The final girl could hardly be recognized as Sasuke Uchiha. Her face was expertly done up in subtle shadings with thick, smoky lashes and soft, glistening lips painted a glistening crimson and framed by silken black tresses. Slender fingers, capped in a polish the same color as her lips, lead to smooth, graceful arms all the way up to where naked shoulders met the practically molded black, cropped halter-top.

Mesh armor covered from her middle finger back up to her upper arms. A matching set lead from her heeled sandals up to her mid thighs like fish net stockings, leaving a smooth, inviting expanse all the way to the tight little black mini skirt. Sasuke could no longer be confused with a boy by any measure of the word.

Kakashi and Jiriaya were watching her like hawks, never letting her out of their sights as she stood the furthest back, as if trying to hide herself from Naruto's sight, her face covered in more than a touch of blush.

Sipping a warm saucer of sake, Tsunade looked down at Naruto and couldn't help but feel a slowly growing swell of expectation.

Seated atop the head carved in the likeness of his Minato Namikaze, Naruto couldn't help but feel that now, more than ever before things had changed in an irrevocable manner.

As he stared out across the village that had been his home his whole life, he remembered the flashing grins of Kisame and Orochimaru smirking at him with a smug, confidant superiority. He remembered the look on the face of Kabuto. He remembered the subtle, unspoken words describing the situation with Sasuke.

The world was changing. Now it was time for him to change with it. Team 7 was gone, broken in a way that couldn't be repaired.

From the ashes of burning away the final link when he and Kurama had placed the seal upon Sasuke, here he knew that he would have to start making real choices about his future. The challenges that were coming would only get harder and harder to defeat. He was about to become a hunted man.

So, tonight he would mourn the past.

Tomorrow he started to fight for his future.