Chapter 6: Netting a Scroll

Naruto Uzumaki was positive that her mother had been a Yamanaka. Unfortunately, the others, namely her erstwhile friends and potential cousin, did not share that confidence.

"No way that someone as unpopular and freakish as you, could be related to me," Ino snorted, flipping her long, silver-blonde hair over her back. She placed her hands on her hips, and glared at the other girl. "Don't ever mention that trash in front of me again."

Standing on her right and left side respectively, Shino bristled, and Hinata, unexpectedly, glowered at the Yamanaka's insults to their friend. In spite of her hime haircut and round, childish face, the Hyuuga's wide, pearlescent eyes added to the intimidation effect of her stares. For a moment, Ino felt taken aback by the hardened expression, before she remembered that kind-hearted Hinata was the one that was glaring at her.

"Logically, it does make sense that we're related, Ino," Naruto argued calmly. Despite her facade, she was inwardly worried about being rejected by her potential cousin. "My Dad had red hair and violet or green eyes, and he was clan born. That means I should have had the same features, but I don't. And the only explanation that makes sense is if my mother came from a clan too. I had to have inherited my blonde hair and blue eyes from somewhere!"

Ino paused, having to internally admit that this was a good point. However, she still looked at the Uzumaki doubtfully. "I'm not going to say that I believe you, but let's presume that you're correct. Even then, you couldn't be related to my clan. You blonde hair is neon yellow, and your eyes are much darker than mine. And I've never seen anyone in my clan with those whisker marks on their cheeks."

"Those could be influenced by my Uzumaki parent, especially if he had violet eyes," Naruto pointed out. She could almost see the way the words reflected off of Ino's skin. Her best chance to have an honest-to-Kami actual family was slipping from her fingers!

The platinum blonde girl regarded the bewhiskered with something akin to pity. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but I just don't believe that we're related."

"Isn't there some way that we can check?" the Uzumaki blurted out, desperation mixed into her voice. She tried to take a step forward, but Shino's hand- supportive, reassuring, cautious- held her back. That didn't matter though, because Naruto could read the thoughts flickering across Ino's face. "There is! You know something we can do!"

Ino removed her hands from her hips, and folded her arms. Her face was set into a cast of stubbornness. "So what if I do?"

"If you tell me, then I'll do something for you," the Uzumaki bartered. Upon seeing the doubtful expression on Ino's face, she added. "You know that I'm a great prankster. Isn't there someone you'd like to sabotage for… er, Sasuke's heart?"

'The dobe does have a point there,' Ino thought, severely tempted, 'She's good at pranking people, but she's also talented in sneaking around. And all of the other girls would be insanely jealous if I knew… but Daddy said to keep that technique private. Would it really matter though? Only a Yamanaka or a Jounin could use it, and it's not like Naruto has that much talent. The jutsu will fizzle out, and she can finally drop that crazy cousin idea.'

Her common sense and sense of greed warred with one another, before the former finally folded in the Yamanaka's mind. A wicked grin promptly crossed her face, and Shino gained a sense of foreboding. "Alight, Naruto. There's one beginner Yamanaka jutsu designed to help students reflect on their sense of self. It's the first one ever taught to clan members, and I'll share it with you, if you do something for me."

Naruto's deep blue eyes brightened with gratitude, and Ino felt the briefest flicker of remorse. The popular girl ruthlessly pushed that feeling away. Her request wasn't too unreasonable, and Naruto needed to drop that absurd relation idea, before any of the adults learned about it. Ino was practically doing her a favor, even, by teaching her not to be so gullible in the future.

"Anything!" the Uzumaki enthused, "Who do you want me to prank?"

"Oh, I don't want something so plebian as a simple prank for my payment," Ino replied, airily. A gleeful smirk cross her face. "I want you to do some reconnaissance for me."

"Reconnaissance?" Shino was the one to repeat the word, and his tone was as dry as the Suna desert.

"There's been an ongoing bet in our class over what type of underwear Sasuke likes to wear," Ino elaborated, "Personally, I'm confident that he's a boxers man, but I need proof. And you're going to win that argument for me."

Naruto stared at her blankly. "You think I can convince the teme to share his underwear with me?"

Ino forcefully kept herself from scowling at the insult to her beloved crush. "No! I think you can sneak into his house, and steal a pair of underwear for me!"

'Fangirls are scary,' was the mutual thought of both Shino and Naruto.

'Why doesn't she just ask a Hyuuga to use the Byakugan on him?' was Hinata's question. She was able to relate it through her stutters, and received a slightly incredulous, mildly contemplative, and mostly impressed glance from Ino in response.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Ino wondered aloud, before shaking her head. The silvery-blonde ponytail swung rapidly through the air. "No, only visible proof of his underwear is acceptable for me! If you want that Yamanaka jutsu, then you have to sneak into Sasuke's house and steal a pair."

This left Naruto in a conundrum. She had absolutely no desire to cross a noble clan, solely for the chance to rifle through the personal undergarments of a boy that she despised. But then, would she have another chance to prove her matrilineal lineage? Most adults didn't like her, and the Yamanaka ones might refuse to test the blonde on principle. Ino was the only young Yamanaka she knew, and her best means of proving her heritage, before she faced the mind-walking clan.

There was always the chance that the Yamanaka might reject her, even after she proved her heritage, but Naruto resolved to cross that bridge when she came to it. Now, her goal was to secure that basic jutsu, and prove that she did have family left in this village.

"Fine," Naruto said, a determined jut to her chin, "I'll steal Sasuke's stupid underwear for you, but you have to to give me the jutsu in exchange."

Ino chuckled. "Deal. Nice doing business with you, dobe."

As the Yamanaka turned to flounce away, Naruto took a moment to deeply hope that the other members of her mother's clan weren't so difficult to get along with. Then she sighed, and turned towards her second-oldest friend.

"Want to scold me?" Naruto asked, resigned. Shino nodded. "Might as well do it now, then."

By all accounts, Hinata would later relate to her sister, it was a very thorough rebuke.

The end of Naruto's most recent message did not inspire great confidence in her pen pal.

'...I've been considering a lot of strange incidents in my life lately, and I think I've come to a conclusion that explains all of them. One of my classmates promised to help me prove my hypothesis, if I agreed to do something for her. You would disapprove of the agreement I made, so I'll wait until I'm done to explain it to you. Then you can scold me as much as you like, though I should mention that Shino has already made it clear- in no uncertain terms- what a terrible and reckless idea it is.'

'Now, if only you listened to the Aburame,' Itachi mused, unexpectedly frustrated as he rinsed his hair. The soapy white bubbles swirled down the shower drain, as the dark-haired teen took a moment to enjoy his hot shower. 'She can't have learned about the Kyuubi- could she?'

Itachi knew that the blonde girl had inferred a few details of her parentage from her Aburame friend, and made the logical assumption that Naruto's natural inquisitiveness and thirst for knowledge about her family, would drive her to search further. However, it remained a long stretch to jump from Uzumaki to fuuinjutsu, from fuuinjutsu to jinchuuriki, and from jinchuuriki to herself. No, this conclusion of hers was not drawn from the worst-kept S-rank secret in Konoha, but from a false presumption that would only get the blonde in trouble.

'How am I supposed to look out for her, if she doesn't tell me anything?' the Uchiha griped, stepping out of the shower and beginning to dry himself, 'She didn't even mention Shisui's flippant wave, and that should certainly be the type of strange event that Naruto would previously discuss with her pen pal. Maybe she doesn't feel the need to do so anymore, when she has the Aburame and the Hyuuga for her confidantes.'

There was a sliver of dissatisfaction attached to that thought, and Itachi wondered why this would bother him. Could the Uchiha honestly begrudge the lonely blonde, friends of her own age? Sure, he had believed that a mutual trust had grown between them, but Itachi's communications were limited to notes and the occasional gift. A child needed more interaction than that, and Itachi was happy that Naruto had more people to rely on. Really, he was.

'I'm irritated that Naruto would share her reckless plans with the Aburame, when I am in a better position to help her,' Itachi decided, tying the damp towel around his waist, 'That she chose to do this, shows a lack of common sense that I disapprove of.'

With the minimal information he had now, the dark-haired teen wouldn't be able to provide efficient assistance to his troublemaker friend. Itachi resolved to press her for more details later, and stepped outside of the humid bathroom. His hair was still dripping, and a mere towel clinging to his lank form provided modesty, as his clothes were left in his room. Itachi had never had a problem with this previously, as the private quarters of his home did not afford visitors, and he lived with only his immediate family anyway.

It was to be expected that a panicked blonde missile chose this moment to barrel into the half-naked Uchiha heir.

Sneaking into the Uchiha Compound was far easier than Naruto had expected it to be. That was probably because Shino's kikachu had found a few trees that could be easily climbed to get over the compound's wall, and Hinata's Byakugan estimated the best routes to avoid random Uchiha. Naruto hadn't allowed either of her friends to do the actual breaking and entering with her- using the argument that three people were easier to catch than one, and neither had mastered the tree-walking skill yet- so they hugged her outside of the walls. Honestly, the blonde simply wanted to give them plausible deniability, as their actions would reflect poorly on their entire clan, whereas she was pretty much disliked by everyone anyway.

"Grab the underwear quickly, and get out," Shino instructed, crinkling his nose, "Don't waste your time by setting up a prank for Sasuke."

"G-good luck," Hinata added, poking her fingers together, "I h-hope you do w-well, Naruto-chan."

"Ha, this is nothing for Konoha's Prankster Queen!" Naruto boasted. The blonde hid her nerves under a wide grin and a flashy thumb's up. Shino smiled, and Hinata- strangely- flushed bright red.

Naruto was seriously starting to worry about the health of that poor girl.

She made a mental note to talk to Shino about it later, as she scrambled up the tree, half climbing and half clinging with chakra, and then jumped down on the other side. There was a muffled thumping sound, as her feet hit the packed ground, and Naruto internally winced as her adrenaline blew that mild sound into an attention-grabbing shriek. Trying to ignore the somersaults of her heart, the blonde made the first right at the corner, and mentally recited the instructions Hinata had given.

Left, left, two blocks forward, duck into an alley, make a right, tree-walk over that house, climb down this drainpipe, make a right, a left, and then another right, and, for the love of Kami, keep your head down. The neon yellow locks were tucked into a cap, her distinctive orange jacket had been traded for a plain grey one, and baking powder discoloured the whisker marks on her cheeks. Not that any of this was necessary, as Naruto didn't come across a single Uchiha.

Well, almost. Shisui paused, when he was body-flickering to the hot springs, to wonder why the Hyuuga Thief was sneaking around the Uchiha Compound, and heading towards the Main House.

'Should I say something?' Shisui wondered idly, 'Nah. Aunt Mikoto would never forgive me if I got in the way of her future Uzumaki-Uchiha grandkids.'

The messy-haired teen was running late for a date- hey, someone had to cheer the girls up, after news got around that Itachi was taken- so he opted not to follow her now. He still had plenty of ammo from her previous heist to tease Itachi with, after all.

When Naruto reached the massive house near the back of the Compound, she took a moment to pause and admire the grandeur of the two-story, traditional style, cream-walled and blue-tiled home.

'Okay, so Sasuke's still a teme,' Naruto decided, 'But his arrogance makes so much more sense now.'

It didn't excuse him, of course. The blonde suspected that both of her friends lived in equally ornate homes, and they didn't act like the youngest Uchiha did. Shino based his pride on his intellect and budding shinobi skill, while Hinata eschewed humbleness and skipped straight into an inferiority complex.

Sasuke's home had a private courtyard surrounding the house, with another wall that Naruto had to tree-walk over. When she landed on the other side, she saw freshly-cut grass, a pebbled walkway, and a small torii leading to the backyard. The Uzumaki was even willing to bet that the Uchiha's had a koi fish pond back there. Ignoring the possibility, Naruto slowly crept closer towards the eastern side of the house, scanned the wall for opened windows, and slowly pumped chakra towards her feet.

'Today's my lucky day,' Naruto was delighted to find that the sole open window led into Sasuke's room, 'Teme's room is very ordered; his mother probably cleans it. The clothes are all folded neatly, and his underwear is… aha! Pinstriped boxers in the bottom drawer, and ooh, does that one have polka dots? What's the most embarrassing one for me to return to Ino?'

As Naruto Uzumaki began to dig through her classmate's underwear drawer, she was unaware of the dark-haired woman approaching the room. Mikoto was a Jounin-level kunoichi that had specialized in genjutsu, which led to her developing sensor nin abilities. She had been chopping vegetables in the kitchen, when a vaguely familiar chakra made itself present in her baby's room.

'Thank Kami that Sasuke is at Nori's house today,' Mikoto armed herself with a kunai, and silently headed towards her son's room. She could hear the whisper-thin shuffles of cloth being moved, and wondered at the aim of a shinobi that went through a pubescent child's drawers. 'Eliminating the Head's youngest child with a contact skin-based poison, or maybe a pedophile?'

The door's hinges were well-oiled, so the intruder didn't look over as Mikoto stepped into the room. Her head did jerk over though, when Mikoto abruptly gasped. "Naruto!"

"Er-bleh-eek!" Mikoto's extensive experience with Kushina-speak translated this to 'this isn't what it looks like', 'it's not my fault', and 'blame Minato'! Though since Naruto was crouched on the floor, with a pair of what appeared to be Sasuke's undergarments in her hands, perhaps this Uzumaki found another boy to blame everything on.

The Uchiha Matriarch inwardly squeed. 'Kushina's daughter has a crush on my son!'

Naruto didn't bother to stick around and question why Sasuke's mother was standing there, beaming scarily at her, when she could escape instead. She wasn't quite ready to throw herself out of the second floor window- her tree-walking wasn't that good- but she could slip around the woman too.

And that was what Naruto chose to do. Mikoto Uchiha made no attempt to catch her, as the blonde girl grabbed a random pair of boxers, skid around her body, and ran down the hallway. Sasuke's room was at the very back of the hallway, so the blonde passed the Master Room, Itachi's bedroom, a guest room, and two closets, in her bid for the stairs.

'Almost there,' Naruto's body flooded itself with adrenaline. She took a brief peek back to see that Mikoto wasn't chasing her. 'I only need to- aahhh!'

The body was tall. And warm. And wet.

And fell over backwards when the blonde girl's weight fully unbalanced his body.

When Naruto regained her sense of self a moment later, she peeked up and was met with an unsmiling face. Her nose detected a sharp peppermint scent that prickled something at the edge of her memory. Ink-toned eyes stared down at her, with a familiarity and warmth that the Uzumaki was entirely unaware of, as she noticed the pale, wiry arms holding her to the teen's body. Which naturally drew her attention to the droplets of water on his torso, wherein Naruto realized that she was sprawled across Sasuke's mostly-naked older brother.

"Eep!" Sasuke's mostly-naked older brother kindly did not say anything, as Naruto shoved her body back, and scrabbled to her feet, even though she was pretty sure that she had kicked his stomach. "I'm sorry!"

Then, she slid around him, and continued running out of the house. Even with her near-overwhelming agitation over being caught, and the physical stresses of running, Naruto spared a thought to how she must have looked stealing underwear from the youngest Uchiha son. Sasuke's mother and his (mostly-naked) older brother must think she was crazy.

And since the mostly-naked part of 'mostly-naked older brother' had yet to leave her head, Naruto probably was.

…

For the next few days, Naruto ducked her head down and flushed Hinata-red whenever an Uchiha passed her by. Shino and Hinata both asked her what had made her so spooked, but the blonde refused to say anything, lest they be implicated in the crime. It was only after she was confident that the KMPF wouldn't be after her, that she beckoned Ino to a secluded tree.

"Here," Naruto said shortly, almost shoving the blue-and-white checkered boxers into a stunned Ino's hands, "Sasuke's underwear. They have his name on the label. Can I have the jutsu now?"

"Whoa," the platinum-blonde girl breathed, gently straightening the garment, "I can't believe you actually stole one of Sasuke's boxers."

"Neither can I," the Uzumaki replied, "Let's never, ever, ever mention this again."

"Alright," Ino replied, gleefully imagining Forehead's face when the Yamanaka triumphantly displayed her prize, "You held up your end of the deal, dobe. I'll bring the scroll over to school tomorrow."

'After everything I had to do, you'd better,' Naruto thought, recalling her near-disastrous foray into Uchiha grounds. Then she remembered Sasuke's (mostly naked) older brother, and blushed. Again.

The remainder of the day when Naruto Uzumaki was found rifling through Sasuke Uchiha's underwear was a strange one for the Uchiha household.

Mikoto Uchiha was in absolute raptures. From her perspective, Kushina's daughter had just blatantly proved that she had a crush on her baby.

"Sasuke and Naruto don't seem to get along at school, Okaa-san," Itachi corrected softly, "I don't think that she would be one of his fangirls."

His younger brother agreed with this. Sasuke didn't know what had made his mother so excited or his aniki so flustered, but he definitely noticed the Uzumaki mention.

"There's no way that the dobe likes me," Sasuke exclaimed, missing his elder brother's chiding glance, "I mean, she's annoying and weird, but at least she doesn't follow me around and giggle over everything like the other girls."

That hadn't done much to deter their mother's enthusiasm. Her focus now moved to Itachi, who would now doubtlessly have to marry the blonde, as Naruto had so clearly tarnished his purity, and must take responsibility for her actions.

"It sounded like an honest mistake by Naruto, and one that could hardly be punished on a child," pointed out Fugaku, to whom the entire incident had been explained. "And haven't some of the clan's girls been more aggressive for Itachi's attentions?"

"Yes, but none of those actions were taken by Kushina's daughter," Mikoto said firmly, "Don't you care about our son's reputation, Fugaku?"

Itachi's contribution was to determinedly pretend that his parents weren't arguing over his potential loss of innocence or lack thereof to a pint-sized blonde.

These discussions did have one unexpected side benefit though. Fugaku Uchiha was too busy keeping his wife from nearly skipping to the Sandaime and demanding a drawn-kunai wedding, to make much progress on the coup d'etat. Between this temporary reprieve, and the slew of notes from Naruto, Itachi was almost glad for the break-in.

'Since you are the all-seeing, all-knowing guardian of my life, I'm sure that you already have a basic idea of what happened. Turns out that my second foray into criminality didn't turn out any better than my first, and that probably has something to do with all of the shinobi clans that I pick as targets. The mother of my target- yes, I was stealing Sasuke's boxers, and no, I do not like him at all- found me a few minutes after I got into his room. I had to run out of the compound, after bumping into Sasuke's older brother, and will probably be picked up by the KMPF any minute now. You'll still write to me, if I was in prison, won't you?'

'If I said no, would you stop breaking and entering into other people's homes? I'll be your friend anyway, but there are rules limiting messages to felons- which, I remind you, applies to theft of noble clan property! First, grocery lists, and now, your classmate's underwear… do you have a strange kleptomania that you would like to admit to? Also, I believe you left something behind in your grand escape from the Uchiha Compound.'

'My hat! Well, technically Hinata's older cousin's hat, which I forgot to get permission to borrow. Thanks for returning it to me. Hinata says that her cousin is an asshole- she says that he's 'difficult', which means asshole in Hinata-speak- so I don't know what he would have done if he learned that I lost it. I only broke into those houses for important information! Besides, you should remember all that time you spent skulking inside of my apartment and following me to school. I sniff the air every day now, and I never sense an additional person in my apartment. Why is that?'

'Your ANBU guard was disbanded after you entered your third year of the Academy. At that point, the Sandaime decided that your safety could be assured within the village, without additional oversight. Shame that you began your criminal career shortly afterwards. As for my breaking and entering, it was sanctioned by the Hokage, and therefore, entirely legal. By the way, you don't need to worry about the KMPF knocking down your door and dragging you away in the dead of night. One of my associates within the clan told me that the only crime pinned to you is the vandalism of the Academy teacher's lounge.'

It was an established certainty of Itachi Uchiha's life that as soon as he avoided one set of embarrassing circumstances, he would be introduced to another. Specifically by his cousin, Shisui, who didn't even wait until they were outside of the village gates before beginning his interrogation.

"So I caught your little girlfriend sneaking into the Compound yesterday," Shisui began, pitching his voice far enough to catch the attention of the gate guards. Predictably, Izumo and Kotetsu swung their heads in his direction. "And since you're very predictable, and in love with your own schedule, I'm guessing that you were showering at the time?"

'Of all the days for Kakashi to be assigned to a solo mission,' Itachi mourned, as Miroku's brown eyes widened and Yugao's steps momentarily faltered. 'He wouldn't have let this unprofessionalism stand.'

"She's not my girlfriend," was Itachi's dry response, because the older teen had a tendency to break apart anything that wasn't a direct denial.

"I know Cousin Kumiro was shocked when Aunt Mikoto mentioned seeing her draped over your wet and shirtless body," the messy-haired teen merrily added, "The old Aunties were scandalized, of course, even though Aunt Mikoto swore that you only took those liberties since you two were getting married. Or maybe she was the one taking liberties? I forget which one of you was blamed."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Miroku shouted, half-turning around to stare at Itachi, while walking backwards down the path, "What are you talking about?!"

"Itachi's new girlfriend," Shisui responded, his mischievous smile overlooked in favor of the other two shinobi staring at Itachi. The younger Uchiha purposefully kept his eyes to the road. He refused to show his discomfort, and resolved to withdraw himself from this conversation.

"When did Itachi get a girlfriend?" Miroku demanded, "How did I not know about this?"

"Well, Itachi's been courting his girl in secret," Shisui explained, "Love letters, midnight rendezvous in forbidden clan compounds, secret gifts, the works."

"But- but- Itachi?! Having a girlfriend?" the brunette waved his hands in the teen's direction, as though to emphasize his point, "What type of a girl catches the perfect Uchiha prodigy's attention?"

Shisui's smile was cold. "The blonde-haired, blue-eyed, clan-born ninjutsu prodigies, naturally."

"I'm not trying to be rude about it," Miroku quickly back-pedalled, "But you have to admit that our youngest teammate is… er, socially selective?"

"Fair enough," the messy-haired Uchiha allowed, his posture relaxing. "In this case, Itachi essentially tailed her for days before he made the first move. He wanted to be confident of her personality, you see, and Aunt Mikoto and I both think that his decision was perfect. She's clever, ambitious, friendly, and strong, and she's totally indifferent to the fact that he's the Uchiha Heir. I can't imagine a better girlfriend for Itachi."

'Other than the fact that she's not my girlfriend,' Itachi thought, exasperated but also touched, 'Shisui's description for Naruto was spot-on. The true worth of my friendship with her was beyond anything that I could have imagined when I wrote that first note.'

"You've praised her a lot, but I don't think any woman can match all of those criteria and not be widely known throughout the village," Miroku said, doubtfully, "Not that any woman that catches Itachi's attention wouldn't be amazing, but I would have heard of her before now, wouldn't I?"

"Her family decided to keep her fairly low-key," Shisui rebuffed, "Aunt Mikoto had a personal connection with the girl's mother, actually, and that's one of the reasons that she's so excited for them. And when Itachi met her, he naturally decided to keep his courting secret. Otherwise, he would have a lot more competition for her heart, wouldn't he?"

"Now I'm starting to think that no one would be capable of winning her over, even our resident child genius!" Miroku claimed, laughing.

"Well, if anyone is capable of it, then I'm sure that it would be Itachi," Yugao finally interjected, amused. The kenjutsu specialist had kept quiet, in order to gather more clues from her companion's body language. Now, she felt that she had gathered enough information to formulate a conclusion.

Yugao had a pretty good idea of who Shisui was referring to. The kunoichi had heard from her friend, Hana Inuzuka- who had heard from her mother, who had heard from Shibi Aburame, who had heard from Hiashi Hyuuga, who had seen for himself- that the Uchiha heir was courting the jinchuuriki. The female ANBU had originally doubted the claim, but Shisui's voice was filled with genuine conviction and Itachi's body language suggested that his feelings were, at minimum, affectionate.

'The clan-born aspect and claim of being a ninjutsu prodigy are new,' the woman considered, 'And I didn't know that Mikoto Uchiha was close to one of the jinchuuriki's parents, but the rest of the information fits.'

The Uchiha Clan had been ascending recently, with Shisui and Itachi's early and public successes, and a possible alliance with a jinchuuriki would only add to this power. They were also mired in controversy, since some idiots were convinced that the Uchiha were behind the Kyuubi attack, but those rumors were obviously false. The Sandaime wouldn't have allowed a courtship to progress otherwise.

After this mission was over, Yugao would have to make a visit to her mother. She loved the woman, but her mother was a civilian gossip of the worst sort. And the purple-haired woman would have to strongly emphasize why it would be in the family's best interest not to malign the ascendant founding clan.

'Then I can tell Hana that the rumors were right!' Yugao mentally giggled, 'Tall, dark, and reserved Itachi with the petite, bright, and bubbly Naruto? And exchanging secret love letters? That's so cute!'

'I have the best damn friends in the world,' Naruto reflected, sitting cross-legged on her bed. On her right was Shino, who had placed a few of his kikachu on her arm, to monitor her chakra levels. On her left was Hinata, whose pulsating veins and dilated pupils, signified an active Byakugan focused on her chakra network.

"Are y-you sure about th-this?" Hinata asked, concern drawing away from the ferocity of her dojutsu, "You d-don't have to p-prove a-anything, Naruto-chan."

"I need to do this, Hinata-chan," the blonde replied, reaching out and taking one of the Hyuuga's hands in her own. She predictably blushed a fierce red, which Naruto politely ignored. After her own experience with Sasuke's (mostly naked) older brother, she had a better idea of why Hinata acted that way. The Uzumaki would have to talk to her best female friend about this, but not until she saw this Yamanaka hypothesis through.

"Then we'll support you through it," Shino promised, though his tone was resigned at best. Not only did he doubt her relation to Ino, but the boy was convinced that if they were related, then the Yamanaka clan had done her a disservice by not acknowledging her in all of these years.

"If one of their members had a child, then they would know," the Aburame insisted stubbornly, "And if you were that child, and they chose to ignore you, then their actions were ill-mannered and abhorrent. They would not deserve you."

Naruto tried not to think about that either. She had gotten very good at ignoring things that she didn't want to face these days.

"Thanks, guys," the blonde squeezed Hinata's hand once, and then did the same for Shino. Then her hands slowly formed the seals of the Mind Body Inner Mirrors of Reflection technique. Mi, Tatsu, Saru, Ne, Ushi- her chakra built up, anticipatorily swirling for a release- Tori.

"Mind Body Jutsu: Inner Mirrors of Reflection," Naruto murmured, before her world went dark.

She was floating, cold and warm, strong and weak, scared and calm, into an inky pool of shadows. Her entire mind seemed encased in a box of cotton fluff, the lazy drawl of her thoughts became mere wisps outside of her grasp. Naruto's body felt like it was dozing, but she was awake and aware, and her body was submerged in thick, cloying molasses. The blonde was falling into a stupor, when her body was suddenly tugged forcefully down to the ground. There was the recoil of her feet hitting solid ground, her body held still by forces beyond her control, when Naruto's eyes caught a mirror.

She stepped closer, as her limbs regained control of themselves, and looked into its surface.

A petite girl with tanned skin, whiskered cheeks, and neon yellow hair stared back. It was a perfect copy, but for the pupiless crimson irises held in eye sockets of pure black. Naruto raised one trembling hand to the mirror, and her mirror-image copied the action. Then the mirror-imaged put down her arm, and a petite girl stepped out of the glass.

Naruto stumbled back. "Who are you?"

The mirror image's face broke into a sharp-toothed smile.

"Isn't that obvious?" Even her voice was a perfect mimicry of her own, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki."