There had to be a very good reason why he was currently plummeting towards the ground. Or at least there better be, but for the life of him, he couldn't place exactly what happened one moment he was just walking along with Sakura, and then bam, free fall. Maybe he said something stupid and Sakura hit him really far?

If so then she must have gotten a new record, as this was the most airtime he's gotten. And he was still falling.

But that couldn't be it, his face didn't hurt. And Sakura hadn't hit him in like a month. Ino said it was proof that he could learn.

A forest, cut by rivers and punctured by rocks, spread out before him, touching every horizon. If Sakura had suddenly sent him painlessly flying into the air, he would have seen Konoha somewhere nearby, even if it was called the village hidden in the leaves, this was just stupid.

Maybe this was an illusion or something?

He found the answer when he came into contact with a branch that smacked him in the face and gave him a mouthful of foliage. It hurt, that meant that he actually was falling.

"Oh shit!" He pulled his head in, bouncing off branches that snapped and crashing through the forest canopy. The world went black a few times on the way down. Water crashed around him, hurting just as much as the branches on the way down, he was submerged in a heartbeat. Probably with a broken arm. And ribs. And face.

Nothing he couldn't walk away from. Sure the landing always sucked, but it was rarely worse than the takeoff. Except maybe this time.

He bounced off the rocky bottom of whatever body of water he had been fortunate enough to land in, well there went his foot, that was probably broken too. Still, he'd live. He still had to become Hokage after all!

With his good foot on the ground he aimed upwards towards the surface where the sun shined through the clear water, he could see the slope of the rock covered shore, and feel the flow of the water, looked like a river. The water broke around him as he bobbed up and down in the water, no real need to use his chakra yet, besides he was already wet, he couldn't get wetter.

A foot, - not his, it was far too slender and girly - stepped in front of his face, it's counterpart resting just behind it. He followed them up, which was probably a mistake given how he tended to have horrendous luck. A woman, a naked one save for a single piece of cloth that covered some of her, stood in front of him. The first thing he noticed - besides; her long legs, nice hips, slender legs, modest bust, long black hair - was the viscous scowl on her otherwise beautiful face.

That and the sword she was currently pointing at him.

"Do you have a death wish?" She asked, her eyes dark like two lumps of coal boring down into his very soul to see what kind of a person he was. And she was very not impressed. "The only reason why you're not dead is that I will know who would dare attack me. Now speak worm."

The edge of the sword moved towards his neck, great he just had to appear in front of some crazy chick with a sword. Why couldn't it be some nice girl with a bowl of ramen? Or just nobody? Nobody would have been great! "Umm, would you like to get dressed or something?"

"Why?" She sneered, tilting the sword up against his neck. It was sharp, really sharp. "So that you can strike while I have my back turned? I will fight and defeat you naked if I must."

"No, it's just that I have a hard - wait that's probably not the right word - it's difficult to talk to a beautiful girl when she's naked." Mostly because he didn't want to make her even more mad by looking at places he wasn't supposed to. Which he was doing a lot of.

"Beau-beau-beautiful?" she gasped eyes wide and a frown replacing her scowl for just a moment. "Do not think flattery will get you out of this. Now speak who are you? Some Senju assassin? I did not think Hashirama would stoop so low."

His eyes drifted towards her waist, there was a lot of definition there, she was definitely more than just bark. The sword at his throat was telling him that her bite might actually kill him.

"Keep your eyes on mine."

"Yes, Ma'am!" He squeaked, trying to stay focused on her eyes. It was kind of easy because she was, how would Jiraiya put it again? Easy on the eyes? "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I wasn't trying to do anything! I don't even know where I am!"

"An Uzumaki?" She glared at him, sliding the sword upward toward his chin. "So you are aligned with the Senju then!"

"What? No, I'm not! I swear! I don't even know what a Senju is!" It did sound familiar. "Look, I'm a ninja from Konoha; See?" He tapped at his forehead protector, wincing as he heard his arm pop at the motion. That might take a bit longer to heal. "Can we please, talk about this with you being dressed, a sword not pointed at my neck, and a fish not eating my toes?"

She snorted, "I know not of this Konoha you speak of, and that the Uzumaki are the allies of my enemy."

"I'm not your enemy I swear! I'm just a ninja!" He'd deal with the whole not knowing what Konoha was later. "Look, there has to be some way for me to prove this is all just a misunderstanding!"

She lowered the sword just a hair so that the blade no longer touched his skin. "Stand, slowly."

He did so, her blade following him on the way up. Yep, his foot was probably broken, his arm definitely was, dammit, and he just had Sakura fix it recently! Hey wait, a second, his arm, it didn't feel like it normally did. His old arm was back. Okay, this was weird. Almost as weird as getting interrogated by a hot naked lady with a sword. "You sure you don't want to get dressed first?"

"Do not speak unless to answer my questions."

She walked around him, the water didn't even respond to her steps, while he made ripples just by standing there. It was one thing to see her standing still, but in motion, her beauty was all the more stunning, every movement was measured, careful, focused, like a predator stalking its prey.

"You favor your left leg. Why?"

Holy crap, she was one of those people that could tell his whole life story just by the way he blew his nose. He hated those people, mostly because it always felt like they knew what he was going to say next, which was so unfair because he didn't even know what he was going to say next. Hopefully, she didn't notice that he thought she had a nice ass.

When she passed in front of him, their eyes met. She knew.

"Well, I kind of fell from really high up, I think my foot or my leg is broken." He shrugged, there was really no point in lying, and if he could talk his way out of a fight, that was good. Just meant that he was going to be an awesome Hokage.

She looked him up and down. "Any other injuries?"

"Broken rib probably? And probably a broken arm. I hit my head too, so I might be stupider than usual." He smiled at that joke.

She did not. "I see, your entrance and injuries do line up with your story. You appear to be resilient, and you're not young, either you're lucky or a capable ninja, which is it?"

"Both I guess." Seriously there was a ninja that didn't know who he was? Wait, was she even a ninja? Where was he even? Maybe Sakura hit him hard enough to send him flying long enough to recover and then end up far enough that people didn't know who he was? That seemed likely. "Are you a ninja?"

"Yes," A smile curved onto her face as that word slipped out. She continued to walk around him, her eyes not once leaving his person. "Very well, Naruto, I will take you back to my village, there you will pledge your allegiance to the Uchiha clan and fight for us."

"Wait!" He turned to look at her and got a sword pointed right at his neck, this time he was a lot less careful about it. Other Uchiha? That weren't part of Konoha? He couldn't believe it! Sasuke was going to lose his mind! "Uchiha? There are other Uchiha? Do you know Sasuke? Or Konoha?"

"You know of the Uchiha but you do not know of the Senju or Uzumaki? How and why?" Her face remained cool, and that smile vanished. Replaced by that tireless scowl that he had seen Sasuke wear before, her blackened eyes now the familiar red of the sharingan.

Well she wasn't lying about being an Uchiha. "I'm from Konoha, my friend Sasuke is an Uchiha there, but his whole clan got killed by his brother years ago. Same with the Uzumaki, they got wiped out during the second ninja war."

Or maybe the third? Iruka's history lessons were still kind of out there.

"You are either a very good liar, or you are telling the truth," She didn't back down. "There has been no, second ninja war, let along a first one, the Uzumaki hide on their island, and I am reluctant to say a strong clan. I get the feeling it'd be simpler just to kill you."

"Then why don't you?" Not that she could, well probably, but he wouldn't make things easy for her. He could already feel Kurama working at his important bits.

She smiled again, her Sharingan deactivating dropping the sword and walking towards the shore. "I find you attractive enough not to kill, nothing more nothing less. But you will still come back to my village. There you will tell me more about this Konoha and I will debate what exactly to do with you."

"Wait you think I'm cute?" That was new. Well kind of. Sure there were a lot of girls back in Konoha. But there was something about this woman. Maybe he just had a thing for women that terrified him?

Once she reached the shore she began to dress, giving him more than a little peek of her. But he kept getting drawn to that know it all smile she kept flashing at him. "If that's how you wish to put it. But be careful, if you annoy me too much it won't matter how" She pursed her lips as though to taste the word. "Cute, you are."

Her clothing was dark and simply save for the Uchiha symbol painted onto the back of her shirt. Somehow the few pieces of clothing managed to hide all but the most telling traces that she was a woman. And she almost looked familiar. But that might just be that whole Uchiha thing she had.

"Can I get your name?" He half limped to the shore, testing his foot with every other step. Yep, that was going to suck for a while. Broken bones sucked more than getting stabbed.

"It has been a while since one has asked for my name." She fanned her long waist length hair free from her top, allowing it to spread out like a raven's tail feathers. "Very well Naruto Uzumaki, my name is Madara Uchiha, head of the Uchiha Clan."

"Wait? You're a girl?" Yes, that was what his brain decided was the most important thing to say at that point.

She looked at him, this woman claiming to be Madara Uchiha that thought he was cute, looked at him with an amused look and a wry smile on her face. "I certainly hope so, you've been staring at my ass for the past five minutes."

AN: The result of me staying up until four AM again. Apparently I turn Uchiha into girls. Anyways! I hope you all look forward to this one! It's fun to write so far.