A/N: Well, I've been busy. Sorry. I'm back now, though!

Chapter 2: Team Assignment

Naruto smiled at the Sandaime across the room as innocently as she could. The Hokage looked from her to the picture she had had taken for her Kunoichi profile and back again repeatedly. Then he sighed. "Naru-chan," he said. "This really doesn't work. It's a Henge—not even a picture of you."

She nodded, beaming. "I was making a fashion anti-statement!" she said happily.

The Hokage looked at her blankly, then back down at the picture. It looked… like Sakura, if Sakura had a father who was half-beaver and a mother who didn't know what to do with hair. "Anti-statement?" he murmured.

"Yep," she said, and then elaborated. "A fashion statement is something people do to their appearance to showcase how cool it can be. I did something to my appearance to show how not-cool it is!"

The Hokage barely resisted pounding his head into his desk. Instead he just put it into his hands and massaged his temples. This civil war between Konoha's up-and-coming Kunoichi has got to stop, and soon, he thought. Otherwise, we might have a mass suicide on our hands by overstressed adults. Myself included. "You need to take it again."

Naruto shrugged. "Of course!" Then she grinned. "On the condition that a copy of that picture gets put up somewhere in public, as an example of how not to do it."

The Hokage rubbed his eyes wearily. "I can't take sides in your one-sided skirmishes, Naru-chan," he grumbled. One-sided is a good word, he decided. I know it's true, even if I'm never actually sure which side has the advantage.

She laughed. "You're not taking sides, Hokage-jiji!" she said teasingly. "You're just putting up the perfect example of how not to take a photo for a Ninja profile. It's not your fault if it gets interpreted by some as an elaborate prank by yours truly."

This time his head really did come down on the desk with a thunk, if only once. There was a Great Shinobi World War on, and he was dealing with this? No wonder the other nations thought Konoha was insane.

He looked back at Naruto, frowning. "No," he said. "It's blatant favoritism. I'll give you plenty of copies of the image, if you like, but that's all."

Her shoulders sagged for a moment, but then she perked up. "Sure!" she giggled. "I can find a way to make this work… oh, yes…"

Sarutobi almost shuddered.

There was the sound of a door sliding open, and loud footsteps. "Oji-san!" shouted his grandson, Konohamaru. "Today I become Hokage!"

Hiruzen's head whirled around to look at Konohamaru instantly. He did not register the words, or the face—only the fact that someone was running at him with a shuriken.

It was wartime, and he was ever-alert.

It was fortunate for Konohamaru that he tripped at that very instant, because he would otherwise have been pierced through the brain by the invisible, silent senbon of air that his grandfather sent his way.

The boy got up, blushing, and his grandfather tried to keep from screaming. He had almost killed his own grandson. It had been too close.

Konohamaru looked around, saw Naruto, and shouted, "You! You tripped me!"

Naruto looked at him blankly. Then she looked at the Hokage. "Who is this kid?"

"My grandson," muttered the Hokage grimly.

Naruto cocked her head. "Is all of your family like that at his age, or is he just special?"

Konohamaru glared at her. "How dare you insult the Hokage's grandson?" he shouted furiously. "I can have you hunted down and beaten up, you know!"

Naruto's eyes went cold, and Hiruzen's fists clenched. Konohamaru, you fool, he thought. Now you've made her really angry.

Naruto turned to face the younger boy, who seemed, finally, to have listened to his self-preservation instincts and was backing away very slowly. "Just come by sometime on October tenth, you stuck-up little prick," she said softly. Then she was moving, and in an instant her fist was where his stomach had been, and he had fallen back. "You won't even have to encourage them."

At that moment, the Tokubetsu Jōnin Hiruzen had assigned to train—and protect—Konohamaru, Kanami Ebisu, entered the room. Unlike the two children, he immediately noticed the puncture mark in the wall and looked to the Hokage, eyebrows raised.

Sarutobi inclined his head in slight shame.

Ebisu nodded as if to say, no harm done and turned to the now rising Konohamaru and to the Jinchuuriki who had struck him. "You!" he said to Naruto. "How dare you strike the Sandaime Hokage's honorable grandson?"

Naruto glared at him for a moment, deep blue eyes still hard as flints. "I'd never strike Ojiji-san's honorable grandson," she said, "because he would never give me a reason to. The dishonorable-and-generally-not-nice grandson of the Hokage, however," here she rapped on Konohamaru's head with her knuckles as he rose, causing him to fall back to his knees in surprise, "is fair game."

Then she bowed to Hiruzen—a gesture that showed nothing more or less than how tightly she was keeping her emotions reined in at that moment, and the old man pitied her. "I'll go get those picture retakes now, Oji-san," she said quietly. "See you later."

And then she was out the door, Ebisu calling after her, "How dare you! The Hokage's grandson is…"

"Be quiet, Ebisu," said Hiruzen forcefully, and the Jōnin immediately shut his mouth. "That girl is lucky to be anything more than a traumatized little ball of nightmares; small wonder if she lashes out when her sore spots are prodded."

"What did I do?" Konohamaru asked, blinking at his grandfather—he had finally managed to stand up.

Sarutobi sighed. "You couldn't know," he said, shrugging. "Naru-chan has been beaten every time the tenth of October rolls around since as long as she can remember. It doesn't help that that's her birthday. Being hunted down and beaten to within an inch of her life is far from new to her. You hit on a nerve."

"Humph," said Konohamaru, pouting. "If she's so easy to beat up and wind up about it, she's probably really weak."

Hiruzen looked at him sadly. "Until you can understand why that is completely wrong in every way, Konohamaru-kun," he said quietly, "You will never be a true Ninja of Konoha, much less Hokage." He nodded to Ebisu. "Go on," he said. "Take him, and make sure he doesn't try to surprise me again." Here he looked meaningfully to the hole in the wall. "We may not get lucky next time."

Naruto pushed open the door to the classroom. She was, for once, early—the day of her assignment to her Genin team was plenty important enough for that. Only a few others were there—Sasuke and his most determined fans, namely Yamanaka Ino and Sakura, with a couple others. Hyūga Hinata was there too, thankfully separate.

Naruto grinned at her, and the dark-haired girl nodded in response. Naruto didn't know why, but Hinata had long since taken a liking to her. She'd approached her after a training session alone and asked if they could train together in that way sometimes. In exchange, she had replaced many of Naruto's worst weapons with much more effective standard-issue ones.

This had been the way of it for two years now, and though Naruto was still the worst in her class, it was by a much lesser margin than when she'd first met Hinata. Now her greatest flaw was academics, as opposed to shurikenjutsu.

And who cared about academics anyway?

She looked away from Hinata, studying the class. Sasuke was there, a couple fangirls were present… and she'd just kissed Sasuke the day before.

She grinned. This would be fun enough that she'd forget that little twit Konohamaru right away!

She sauntered over to Sasuke, swaying her hips in a way she would absolutely never do normally. Immediately she felt the eyes of all of Sasuke's fangirls save Sakura and Ino—they were standing in the aisle next to his empty table and arguing over who would sit next to him.

Naruto, amused, slid past them and sat beside him herself. "Hey, Sasuke-kun," she purred with a lazy grin.

Sasuke twitched and looked at her almost pleadingly out of the corned of his eye. She ducked her head slightly, ashamed. He gets this enough from them, she thought. It'd be evil of me to do it myself, too.

"Sorry," she mouthed to him, and then turned away toward the stony Sakura and Ino, both of whom were glaring at her.

"You," hissed Sakura in fury. "Get out of that seat, Naruto…"

Naruto stuck her tongue out. "No," she said, smirking.

Sakura pulled her fist back without another word.

This time Naruto not only ducked—she also pulled Sasuke down with her. The fist went over both of their heads.

As she rose back up, Naruto idly wondered why she'd pulled Sasuke down. It would have been more detrimental to Sakura to hit him a second time, surely?

Well, Sasuke's tried to stay out of our fights forever, she answered herself. He should at least be allowed to keep his skull.

Still, she had to salvage the situation.

She shook her head in critical amusement, looking at Sakura with scornful eyes. "I'd have thought you'd have learned after yesterday, Sakura. You've already hit Sasuke-kun once, and if it weren't for me, you'd have done it again. I guess it's clear who's further in his good books now, isn't it?"

Sakura was literally shaking with fury, but at that moment Iruka stepped into the room. "Sit down, please," he said, and Sakura, glaring hatefully at Naruto, complied, sitting right behind Sasuke.

"Now then," Iruka begin, looking around at all of them with a smile. "From this day forward, none of you are my students, but rather my fellow Ninja of Konoha. Today you pass from my tutelage to that of your Jōnin Sensei-tachi. So, first off, congratulations to every one of you! You all graduated the Shinobi academy of Konoha!"

Naruto grinned and whooped as the class applauded, clapping themselves and one another on the back and grinning. She was joined by the more exuberant of her classmates.

Iruka smiled and let the noise go on. When it eventually died down, he continued. "Genin in Konoha are always split into squads of three upon graduation. These squads are each appointed a Jōnin Sensei to teach the squad's members. These squads were selected last night by the Hokage himself and his advisors, as well as the Jōnin appointed to them. So without further ado, here they are."

Naruto listened attentively to the first squad and then sort of dozed until she suddenly started at her name.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke—under Hatake Kakashi—will form Team Seven."

She blinked. Then Sakura screeched. "What? Why would you put me and Sasuke on a team with Naruto? She's terrible!"

Naruto swiveled to look at her. "Oh, do you want to change teams?" she asked innocently. "I'm sure Sasuke would back you up—hell, I would too."

Sasuke actually grunted in assent, albeit quietly—but she noticed. For a moment she considered taking advantage of it against Sakura—it certainly was potential ammunition—but after a moment decided against it. Sasuke didn't deserve that.

Iruka cleared his throat. "It's traditional," he said to Sakura, "to place the lowest-scoring student with the highest scores from each sex. That's Naru, Sasuke, and yourself."

Sakura grumbled and glared balefully at Naruto, who giggled.

"Hyūga Hinata," Iruka continued, "Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba—under Rikudō no Nagato—will form Team Eight."

"Good luck, Hinata-chan!" Naruto called to her dark-haired friend. Hinata smiled lightly at her but did not speak.

"Wait." Inuzuka Kiba's voice was slightly choked. "Rikudō no Nagato? As in the single most badass human being in existence? That's my sensei?"

Naruto rolled her eyes. "Obviously I'm the most badass human being in existence, Kiba!" she yelled, craning hr neck to look at the boy with the dog behind her.

Kiba barked a hysterical laugh. "I might be angry with you, Naru, if I didn't just get assigned Rikudō no Nagato as my Jōnin sensei!"

"Quiet," Iruka called without much rancor. The room did settle, however. "With Team Nine still in circulation, the final team is Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Chōji—under Origami no Konan—as Team Ten."

Kiba howled in some unknowable emotion. "And they get the girl on the team! We are the luckiest graduation class ever! All that's missing is Mizuken no Yahiko!"

Naruto rolled her eyes. Kiba was a friend, if not a close one, and she was intimately familiar with his obsession over the trio of Jōnin who had come to be known as Akatsuki no Buntai—Dawn Squad—the most feared team of Shinobi since the Sannin.

"Your sensei will be arriving shortly," Iruka said, though Naruto noticed he shot her team an odd, sidelong glance as he did. "Once they arrive, they will take the responsibility of your training. With that, my duty as your teacher finishes." He sat back at his chair and looked down at his desk as though thinking.

There was an odd solemnity to Iruka's words which managed to impress itself even on the rambunctious class. They watched him, silently.

Iruka's eyes came up and studied each of his students in turn. "So now I speak to you as a Ninja who's been in the force for a while," he said, and his voice was soft and almost pleading, not at all like his usual authoritative manner. Naruto found that it frightened her, and she didn't like that. "As all of you know, Konoha is at war."

"Yeah!" said one of the boys who Naruto didn't know but who she remembered had grades almost as bad as hers. "Civil war between our new Kunoichi!

No one laughed, and when Iruka looked at the boy it was in pity, not anger. He said nothing to him, however, but looked back at the class. "The last time a war like this was fought," he said quietly, "it lasted five years and ended thirteen years ago. I was nine when it ended." He looked around at them. "I was lucky enough not to be a Ninja during the war. No one who survived it came out the same, and many didn't survive it at all."

He paused to study them, to see if they were paying any attention. Naruto knew she was. Anything Iruka-sensei got this solemn about was worth listening to.

"You're not so lucky." The words were spoken flatly. "You're becoming Ninja just as the war's picking up—the first class in thirteen years to graduate into wartime. So understand this: you will be asked to give more of yourselves than any other Ninja in a generation. You will be asked to let go of childhood and innocence and become Shinobi or war—that is, killers and soldiers. You will be asked to give your heart and soul for this village and its people. I won't pretend; many of you will be asked to give your lives."

The room was deathly silent. Iruka sighed. "I know many of you came in here happy to have graduated; happy to be Ninja. That's good. It's a profession to be proud of. We are the best of every village. But the secret that children are never told is exactly why Ninja are the best." He smiled grimly. "It's because any Ninja who isn't the best dies young."

A shock of cold fear ran through Naruto. I was dead-last...

She shook it off. Then I'll just have to improve!

She suddenly felt eyes on her. She turned. Sasuke was watching her, his face blank as ever. She gave him a small smile.

Iruka continued. "I'm not telling you this because I want to see you scared," he told them. "I'm not saying this because I want you to quit. I'm telling you this because you need to know what it takes to survive a Shinobi war." He looked around the class, eyes falling on all but two of the Kunoichi. "You can't focus on some celebrity or crush," he told them quietly. He looked then at a few of the Boys, including Nara Shikamaru. "You can't settle for average." He looked at Kiba and Naruto and a few others. "You can't give any less than your all." He looked at Sasuke and Hinata in turn. "Above all, you cannot isolate yourselves.

"We are Shinobi of Konoha and we are a team—an army. There are hostile nations who would conquer our land and kill our people. We will not let them." He nodded at Sasuke. "We. We have a duty to ourselves, our friends, out family, and everyone in Konoha to protect them.

"So what's the point of all this?" he asked, suddenly smiling rhetorically; a slightly wry grin. "Simple. Don't ever stop getting better. Don't ever give less than your all. Above all: don't die, and don't get others killed."

The silence was palpable. Iruka sighed and stood.

"I hope that I've managed to keep someone alive," he said quietly. "If even one of you listens to me preach and survives because of it, then all this was more than worth it. So please, don't throw my advice away."

"Well spoken, Iruka-sensei," said a soft, feminine voice cordially from the doorway. Naruto blinked and looked over with her classmates.

Origami no Konan was standing in the doorway, studying their sensei.

She's... shorter than I expected, Naruto thought blankly. At a little over a meter and a half, the woman was not an imposing figure by virtue of stature.

No, the quiet strength in her flaming orange eyes and the confident way she held herself were more than enough for that.

"Team Ten." Her voice was quiet and deep—for a woman's—and rather intimidating. Naruto found herself slightly glad this woman would not be her sensei, despite knowing she couldn't wish for a more skilled teacher. "Form up and follow me."

Shikamaru, Ino, and Chōji stood at once and filed out after her, with last waves at their friends (and a glare sent Naruto's way by Ino).

As Chōji, the last in line, followed his team out, A lanky, red-haired man slipped into the room around him. "Iruka-sensei," he nodded at their teacher.

Iruka smiled at him. "I'm far from your sensei, Nagato-san," he said, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully. "You and Konan-san both."

Nagato grinned. "There aren't many duties more deserving of the title than yours, sensei," he chuckled, then looked over on the class.

Only one of his grey, ringed eyes was visible behind his curtain of red locks, but it found Naruto's blue orbs and held her gaze.

Naruto froze. Her body tensed involuntarily. In later years, she would compare this moment to the way a rabbit must feel when cornered by a predator. There was fear, but there was also a kind of awe of a power and beauty surpassing her own.

Then Nagato's mouth curved up into a hint of a smile—barely visible, even to her, for whom it was meant—and his gaze moved on. The entire nonverbal exchange had taken a fraction of a second.

"Team Eight," Nagato called. "Follow me please." His smile appeared properly when he saw the three graduates stand up. "Hello, Hinata-hime."

"Nagato-sensei," the Hyūga bowed. "It is good to see you."

Kiba choked but didn't speak as he followed Hinata out, his eyes fixed on his new sensei.

As Nagato followed his team out, Naruto suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over at Sasuke in surprise and saw that, although his face was still composed into blankness, his eyes and a single crease in his brow betrayed something like worry. "Are you all right?" he asked quietly. "He met your eyes and you went stiff."

Naruto blinked at him. Concern? Not exactly in character, are we, Sasuke? She shook off her confusion and smiled at him, relaxing. "I'm all right; why wouldn't I be?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly. "He has a dōjutsu." Then, as though that explanation was sufficient, he turned away to face the next Jōnin entering the room.

Naruto tuned the Ninja and their new students out—none of them were hers, and none of them were anything like as interesting as the first two had been. What does a dōjutsu got to do with anything? She wondered.

She shrugged, laid her head down on her arms and settled herself in to wait. She would startle up as soon as her name team was called, she knew (or hoped, at least).

Besides, Sasuke would wake her. Probably. Or maybe Sakura would, with a fist to the head. Either way worked.

The door opened. Sasuke blinked and looked up. A white-haired Jōnin had entered the room and was now looking up and the three remaining Genin.

One of his eyes was covered with his hitai-ate, while the other studied Sasuke, half-lidded. The lower half of his face was covered by a blue mask.

This, Sasuke decided, must be Hatake Kakashi.

"Sleeping?" Kakashi chuckled. "Not very professional of them."

Sasuke glared at him. This bastard just kept us waiting for—he looked at the clock—two and a half hours and he has the gall to accuse Sakura and Naru-chan of lacking professionalism?

He said nothing however, only looked over at the blonde beside him and took her shoulder. He shook her gently. "Naruto, wake up," he said quietly.

"Hunh?" Naruto's head snapped up and she looked around wildly. "Hwhazzat?"

"The Jōnin's here," Sasuke told her, standing. "Late."

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, you see, there was a black cat..."

Sasuke glared at him. "Shut up. You've wasted enough of our time." He vaulted over the desks and landed at the base of the room, a few feet from their sensei-to-be. "I don't know why you're late, and I don't care. What little time you've left us will be spent usefully. Naruto, wake Sakura up."

"What's the magic word?"

Sasuke froze, and then turned his glare on the girl. "Please," he spat, "unless you'd rather sit here a bit longer."

Naruto's blue eyes widened in surprise and hurt, and Sasuke immediately felt guilty. While the two of them had never been on the best of terms, she was one of only two girls his age whose company he could stand. They'd always been cordial, at the least.

For a moment, the apology lingered on the tip of his tongue. Then he tore his eyes off the girl and looked over at Kakashi. "What now?"

Kakashi was studying him blandly. At Sasuke's question, he shrugged. "Meet me on the roof," he said, and then he was gone.

Shunshin, Sasuke recognized grimly. So not only useless, but also a showoff. Shame for him I know how standard the technique is.

"Ow!" Sakura's voice interrupted his thoughts. He turned just in time to see Naruto leaping down after him, having woken their final teammate by pounding her face into the desk.

"She's up," she told him flatly, flouncing past him without a glance in his direction.

He gritted his teeth, but did not call after. He glanced up at Sakura, who was rubbing her nose and glaring after Naruto.

He turned and followed.

Naruto threw herself down into the bench across from Kakashi and folded her arms. Kakashi's eyes crinkled ever so slightly at the sight.

She glared at him. "Shut up, one-eye."

"I didn't say anything," he said blandly. "And besides, I think you'll find I have both eyes."

Naruto frowned. "But..."

"One is covered, yes," Kakashi continued, interrupting her cheerfully. "That doesn't mean it's not there. This is called object permanence, my cute little graduate, and it's something most people get when they're around three. I suppose you're just slightly late."

Naruto's mouth dropped open. "You did not."

Kakashi cocked his head. "You were asking for it."

"I was not!" Naruto said hotly. "I've never even heard of 'objective permafrost' or whatever it is! And I'm not your 'cute little graduate!'"

Kakashi sighed. "What do they teach them in school these days?" he wondered aloud. Then he thought about it and shook his head. "Actually, that was bad—it makes me sound old."

"You are old," grunted Naruto as Sasuke and Sakura came up behind. At their approach she brought her knees up to her chest and hugged her legs petulantly.

"I am not," Kakashi retorted amiably. "I'm only twenty-six."

"That's over the average lifespan of a Shinobi," Sasuke put in, taking a seat beside Naruto. She didn't look at him. "You're old."

Kakashi glared at him. "No, I'm just that good," he corrected.

Naruto rolled her eyes. "Then teach us your ways, O great and powerful teacher," she intoned dully.

Sasuke snorted.

Kakashi waggled a finger at her. "Now, now, my cute little graduate..."

"Not your 'cute little graduate,' baka!"

"...Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Kakashi finished, steamrolling calmly over her protests. "I'm not your teacher yet."

A moment passed in silence. Then Sakura spoke up. "Um, we did pass the Graduation Exam..."

"And so became cute little academy graduates!" Kakashi finished cheerily. "Well done!"

"Not yours, though," Naruto grumbled.

Kakashi ignored her. "Now you have to pass the Genin Exam to see if you're worth the resources of training you. If you pass, I take you as my students. If you fail, then you go back to the Academy for further training, after which you can try again."

"...So what the hell is this hitai-ate for, then?" Sasuke's voice was quiet and seemed calm, but for the cold razor Naruto could hear under it. "Only Ninja are supposed to receive these."

"Graduates get them so they don't realize until their sensei tells them—usually the day before their Genin test—that they haven't actually become Ninja yet," Kakashi explained. "The Graduation Exam is good for one thing, and one thing only—weeding out the absolutely useless so that we don't have to waste a Jōnin's time testing them. That's especially important around now."

Sasuke nodded beside Naruto. "The war."

"The war," agreed their would-be sensei. "In times like these, every instant of an elite Ninja's time counts. As a Jōnin, I fall into that category. You should be proud to have made it even this far—my time is valuable."

"Which, I suppose, is why you were two and a half hours late?" Sasuke grunted.

"Of course," Kakashi replied easily, but Naruto had a distinct feeling that he was laughing inside at the idea. "But now you have your Genin Exam—or at least, you have it tomorrow. At 0600 hours. Training ground 24."

Naruto nodded. Finally, we're getting somewhere, she groused internally.

"...So what do we do today?" Sakura asked blankly.

Kakashi shrugged. "Train?" he suggested. "Play cute little graduate games? Do whatever it is you do with your spare time?"

He stood. "I'll see you tomorrow," he told them. "One last bit of advice, though. Don't eat breakfast before coming tomorrow—unless you want to vomit, which is fine by me."

Naruto blinked at him. "...So we're working out? That's our test?"

"See you!" Kakashi smiled and was gone.

A moment passed in silence.

"Useless bastard," muttered Sasuke.

Naruto was inclined to agree. "I think I'll arrive late tomorrow, too," she grumbled, "just to show him."

Sakura glared at her. "Idiot. You're the only one who loses there; he'd get a better team if you didn't show up."

Naruto glared at the pink-haired banshee. "Just you wait, Sakura! I'll be a better Kunoichi than you'll ever be!"

"You'd need to actually have a brain to do that!" Sakura screeched. "Being a Kunoichi means being subtle, not to mention looking halfway decent!"

Sasuke snorted even as Naruto's brows rose. "Well, I've got you beat, then. Have you seen these?" She pushed up her jacket-covered developing breasts up with her hands.

Sakura flushed in rage, not noticing the way Sasuke's attention had momentarily diverted away from the middle distance and towards the blonde. Fortunate, Naruto decided, for his sake. She did make a quick face at him, though. "Pervert!" Sakura shouted. "You're so vulgar, Naruto."

Naruto grinned waspishly. "'Least I've got something to be vulgar about. Besides, some men like a dirty girl. Face it, Sakura, I've got you beat in everything."

Sakura wailed in fury, words failing her, and charged with an outstretched fist. Naruto cackled and leapt out of the way.

All was right in the world.

Hiruzen looked up at the knock on his door. "Enter," he called.

The door opened and Konoha's spymaster walked in. "Hey, old man," Jiraiya said with a grin. "All going well?"

The Sandaime snorted. "If only," he said. "Tell me you have good news. What is the situation in Suna?"

Jiraiya grinned slightly, but his eyes seemed to fall. "Not bad, I guess," he said, sitting down. "They've sent a force for the eastern front—it should arrive in Konoha in a couple days. Big group; a few thousand, at least."

Hiruzen watched his student. He seemed somehow deflated, as though something very displeasing had happened recently and had shaken his world. "What's wrong, Jiraiya?" he asked quietly. "What's on your mind?"

Jiraiya slumped slightly. "Nothing," he said. "Or at least it should be nothing. I was in Suna and..." he trailed off.

Hiruzen watched him for a moment. "What is it?"

Jiraiya looked up at him, eyes sad. "I saw their Jinchūriki," he said quietly. "Whoever sealed the Ichibi was an amateur. The boy hasn't slept properly once in his life. Until the war started, the Kazekage—his own father—was sending assassins after him. He's never had a friend in his life..." Jiraiya put a hand to his face and rubbed his temples. "It just... made me think."

Hiruzen nodded slowly. "I understand," he said. "I have heard of the condition of Sabaku no Gaara in my talks with the Kazekage at the start of the war. It's rather chilling, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Jiraiya sighed heavily. "Not that the boy's that screwed up; there's nothing new there. We're Shinobi. It's just..."

"Naruto almost turned out like that," Hiruzen finished for him.

"Right."

"I thought so too," Hiruzen nodded. "And it was worse knowing it would have been both my fault and my responsibility."

Jiraiya didn't even bother trying to comfort him. They both knew it was true.

"But It didn't, and I don;t think it could," Hiruzen said, leaning back in contemplation. "Naruto is the daughter of Minato and Kushina. With that blood in her veins and a heart as big as hers, I don't think she could ever turn out like that."

Jiraiya looked at him, an unreadable expression on his face. "Gaara was a good kid too, once," he said quietly.

Hiruzen nodded. "Yes," he said, "And I think, somewhere, he still is. But Naruto has a unique ability to respond to revulsion with acceptance. Attrition will never wear her down. Gaara was, I'm sure, not like that. No one else is."

Jiraiya sighed. "I hope you're right, Sensei," he told his old teacher, "Because this war is going to be one of attrition, and more than one of our Shinobi will break."

"She won't be one of them," Hiruzen said with quiet faith. "I trust her."

Jiraiya's eyes dropped to study the ground under the desk. "So do I."

A/N: The last six hundred words took more than half a year. I don't even know are going to start getting more fun soon, though!