Hunted

A red-haired young woman awakened slowly, the world shifting as she blinked bleary eyes into focus. She was in a dark room, tied to a chair. With an alarmed look, she craned her neck to catch sight of her brother. He was seated to her left, tied to a chair much the same way she was. Both were wearing prison smocks with sleeves that tied around the back, preventing them from forming two-handed seals. Inside the sleeves, her fingers were taped together. Her brother only noticed her after several moments of squirming about in his restraints, and they shared a silent, meaningful look, then his eyes flicked beyond her.

"Finally awake?" Inoichi stepped into view, and the two watched him darkly as he stopped in front of the woman. His face was void of any kindness.

"If you two want to keep all of your limbs, you'll cooperate." A voice called from behind the two, out of their sight. Ibiki began to sharpen tools with menacing shings and whirs and clacks and bzzs just behind where the two Uzushio-nin sat tied to chairs. Shoulders tense, the boy had immediately frozen and became so wide-eyed that Inoichi worried he would faint. He did, after another few seconds.

His sister had donned a deceptively bored expression, but her rigid posture gave away nerves. She raised an eyebrow at Inoichi.

"I still don't understand what you want. If you just ask Naruto-chan—"

"We are asking you." Ibiki said, his whispered voice suddenly right in her ear although she had not heard him move forward. "Or maybe we should ask your brother," he continued, looping around in front of her with something shiny in his hand, though she couldn't make out what it was. He didn't stop, taking a few more steps around his blonde partner until he was standing just before the second captive. "He's kinda cute, isn't he?" Ibiki asked his partner. Inoichi smirked, playing along with the psychological warfare. If her increasingly angry expression was anything to go by, they'd have her spilling everything in no time. He decided to push it just a little further.

"Girly." He said with a half smile that seemed sickeningly casual to her. She snorted in anger, pressing against the fabric of her restraints.

"If you touch my brother I will throw away all my orders and tear you to pieces myself." She snarled, but she was beginning to calm herself even as she spoke. Now she sat still, glaring coldly at the two.

"And what were those orders again?" Ibiki asked with a disconcerting smile.

"To invite an alliance with your... village." She finished after a pause, clearly swallowing some bad words.

"Alliance? Now isn't that a leap, last time you said, what was it Inoichi? Friendly relations?" Inoichi gave a single nod in response.

"I hate semantics and I hate creepy old men," she growled. "Go ahead and interrogate me, do what you want, but don't you dare touch my brother." She seethed. Ibiki glanced up, looking at something behind her.

"What do you say, Hokage-sama?" He asked, smirking at the sudden stiffness to the woman sitting before him.

"Well, if she's asking for it," Tsunade's voice grew slightly louder as her heels clacked on the floor and she stepped into view. "We want to know what you did to Naruto. Everything. Are you willing to tell us?" The captive ninja still had narrowed eyes, but there was something far closer to respect in them as she beheld Tsunade. Those hard eyes seemed to be calculating, and for a second she even looked lost before she gave a stiff nod.

"Of course. I just don't understand. He said he would tell you everything." She was much more subdued now, though her voice still held an edge of defiance.

"We're going to use an interrogation jutsu on you. If you fight back in any way, we'll be using it on your brother instead. Do you understand?" Inoichi asked, gazing down his nose at her with cold, dark eyes. She bristled again, respect gone.

"Do you understand that if you do anything to harm my brother or myself, you're going to have to answer to Arushi-sama? He wanted an alliance with you people." She snapped her words at them angrily.

Inoichi's voice was disturbingly calm as he responded. "Do you understand?" Like a broken record, not skipping a beat. She only glared, face becoming even more red with her growing anger. The three simply gazed down at her, allowing the silence to stretch. She did not cave, waiting with her own glare until finally Tsunade spoke.

"You must have something very big to hide." She said, arching an eyebrow accusingly.

"I'm not hiding anything from you, you..." she finished the sentence with a snort. "Look at this from my perspective. I don't even get to the gates of your village and my brother is immediately attacked. I tell you that we're here on a peaceful mission and you trick me just so you can knock us out, and drag us to this... place, and interrogate us like criminals. Think about what you're doing." Her voice was still filled with disdain, but there was a clear look of plea in her eyes. When they did not speak, standing over her in silence, she finally sighed, brow still furrowed. "If I cooperate, you'll let him go?" She was chewing on the decision, so close to giving in and allowing them access to her innermost thoughts. Tsunade nodded. "Fine. Just get it over with."

"Are you ready?" Inoichi asked, stepping before her and crouching so that their eyes met at level. No longer hesitating, the redhead nodded with determination. "Jigyaku no justu." He intoned, power coming off the words in waves. She stiffened, eyes twitching from their narrowed state into something more subdued, then glazing over and training lifelessly to the floor. Her head drooped, a toy with its batteries removed. When Inoichi was satisfied she was not fighting the jutsu, he began the interrogation. His voice was soft and laden with chakra as he spoke. "Who are you, what is your mission here in Konoha right now, and who else is here from your people?" He asked. Her voice came out as a slow, even tone without a trace of emotion.

"I am Uzumaki Yuzuki. Our mission is to encourage the reinstatement of the Konoha-Uzushio alliance. My brother Mushiro and I are the delegation. No one else is here." There was visible relaxation on the part of Tsunade and Inoichi. Ibiki's eyes remained narrowed, his shoulders stiff. Inoichi continued.

"How many seals do you have on your mind to prevent invasive interrogation?" He asked. She did not pause before answering.

"Three." Inoichi threw Tsunade a look that made her bite her thumb in deliberation.

"Not until the machine is ready. Just keep going with this," she said after a moment. The slight shift in Inoichi's posture was probably invisible to the hokage herself, but Ibiki could pick out his partner's subtle frustration anywhere. Even so, Tsunade was likely right. There was no wisdom in underestimating Uzumaki seals. The unfortunate side-effect was that, however useful the time reversal technique was, it couldn't always be trusted. An advanced shinobi would be capable of lying through it, although with Inoichi at the helm, that was beyond unlikely.

"Go back to the first day you met Naruto." Inoichi had begun the interrogation once again. "Tell us where you were, what your mission was, and who you were with. I want you to describe the entire encounter to us." For a few moments, Yuzuki's drooping eyelids flicked open and shut in small, jerky movements as she viewed a film reel of memories rewinding, then she spoke.

"We were just an hours' travel from Konoha's south gate in the forest. Arushi-sama had asked us to convince Naruto-chan to join us in rebuilding Uzushiogakure. He told me that Naruto-chan would have to come alone and without informing his village. He said Naruto-chan would never even be given the choice to come see his people because of the Kyuubi. He sent my brother and I and Nidal-san." Inoichi had exchanged glances with Ibiki and Tsunade while she spoke, particularly when talking about the need to take Naruto in secret. It was interesting that her voice had taken a hard, almost disdainful edge when she said it, showing just a touch of emotion through the fog. After a short pause, she continued.

"I told my brother to stay behind. When I approached, Naruto-chan was practicing taijutsu with two shadow clones. I ensured he was otherwise alone, then observed for several minutes before approaching him.

"Why did you observe him first?" Ibiki asked, fishing for the ill motives he was sure they'd find.

"He was funny," she droned. Ibiki did not bother hiding the slight raise of his eyebrows in surprise. "After observing, I captured him and called my broth—"

"Go back" Tsunade interrupted. "Describe what you observed." Ibiki gave her a sideways glance but did not question it. Slowly, still in monotone, the woman began to recount exactly what had happened.

—

"I'm kind of bored." A Naruto kage bunshin said after taking a hit to the face he probably should have seen coming. He rubbed his cheek, surprised the blow had not dispersed him.

"Quit whining, I got a great idea!" The real Naruto said suddenly to the two clones with him. He formed a seal and three more clones popped into existence.

"This is the same idea you had yesterday..." one of the new three muttered flatly.

"Don't tell me things I was already thinking!" He shouted back, fists balled. Then, crossing his arms smugly, he began to call out the instructions far too loudly for the small group encircling them. "Five against one! I'm the original, so you gotta catch me before I pop you all! No kage bunshin allowed—uh, other than you five I mean. And uuhhhh... oh yeah! A three second head start!" Immediately, he leapt into a tree and darted away through the branches. The five left behind glanced at each other.

"One..." A clone began the count—then they all took to the trees, laughing deviously.

Yuzuki leapt between branches carefully, keeping up with the boy but ensuring she would not alert him of her presence quite yet. She froze when he suddenly fell with a shout from the canopy just before her. Two clones were diving down at him immediately, and after a sudden puff of smoke cleared, the two were holding the third's arms, struggling with him.

"I'm a bunshin, idiots!" He screamed.

"Hah! Nice try, Original. I got you!" The clone on his right laughed triumphantly.

"No, I got him!" The one on his left retorted, shaking a fist at the other.

"He used a replacement! I'm not him!" Their captive howled, stomping his feet. Suspiciously, the two let go of him and he rubbed his wrists, eyes narrowed to slits.

"Prove it." One of the captors said. Both were still clearly ready to grab him again, their stances wide and eyes suspicious. With a petulant glare, he reached for a kunai. "Oy!" A captor feinted his own kunai at the captive menacingly, to which he simply stuck out his tongue. With a quick motion, he suddenly stabbed himself in the hand with a positively wicked grin of triumph at the other two. He popped out of existence. The two scratched the backs of their heads.

"So it wasn't him," one said, a poutlike frown forming on his face. Then, with a shocked start: "AH! Now there's only four of us!" He lamented. The other nodded, eyes slitted in deep thought.

"We gotta be more careful..." he said dangerously. "This guy's real smart."

"Mm," the other intoned, nodding sagely and mimicking the thoughtful expression. Before he could say anything more, he suddenly popped in a puff of smoke, his accomplice re-pocketing the kunai and laughing with malicious glee. "Gotcha! Haha—YAH!" A clone landed hard on top of him, slamming him face down into the dirt.

"Nice try, Original. We win again!" He stood atop his original and flashed a victory sign at the two jealous clones who'd been too slow, laughing mockingly.

"Yeah yeah, keep bragging. I was lettin' you get him this time." One said, hands behind his neck. The three popped out of existence, and the face-down original sat up, wiping the dirt off his frowning face.

"Eeeehhhh, it's boring if we're all the same, isn't it?" He asked no one in particular.

"Then why not come train with us?" He leapt up at her voice, skittering backwards and staring into the trees all around him.

"Who's there?" He demanded, pointing a finger at some particularly thick branches. She found it almost impressive, how off he was.

"I'm over here, idiot." She said, dropping out of the tree to stand in plain sight. "So, no one wants to play with you?" Naruto flushed bright red.

"I-I'm not playing! I'm training! And who are you, anyway?" He demanded. She opened her mouth and began to answer, but with a sudden shout he interrupted her, pointed at her hitai-ate, and exclaimed very loudly: "You're not from Konoha!" She repressed a sigh. He had to end up being like her brother, didn't he?

"No. I'm from Uzushiogakure. My name is Uzumaki Yuzuki." She gazed at him, measuring his reaction. For a moment, he seemed to have none, staring at her quite blankly.

"U..Uzumaki?" He said finally, scratching his head. "Does that mean we're, like, related?" She pressed her fingertips to her temple.

"No." She said, flatly. Naruto seemed to accept that with a simple nod.

"So what's Uzuko or whatever?" Now, she sighed. How could an Uzumaki not know of his own homeland? Konoha had a lot to answer for.

"Uzushio. It's where our Uzumaki clan originated, but it was destroyed a long time ago because of how strong it was. Right now we're rebuilding it... by we I mean my family and I. Our leader Arushi-sama has graciously invited you to help, since you're family too." For a moment, his expression showed something she didn't quite understand. Then he gave an almost comically dramatic frown.

"Hey wait a minute, I thought you said we weren't related!" He snorted with disdain, arms crossed. She answered seethingly through a clenched smile, feeling her brow dip low over her eyes.

"What I meant is that as a member of the Uzumaki clan, we will always consider you family. Idiot!" Before she'd met this brat, only her brother had been able to annoy her so easily. She took a moment trying to swallow the frustration, but it wasn't necessary. The look on his face did it all for her.

It was an intense, desperate longing.

And then, as though the expression had never been there, he was grinning foolishly again.

"Hah! What makes you think I'd wanna go build some village?" He laughed more, mockingly, and she was sure that it would have annoyed her all over again if she hadn't just seen everything in him that her father had told her about. Lonely, cast out...

"He wants to talk to you about something else as well. He thinks he can help you with the Kyuubi." She added. With that comment, Naruto looked stricken. His hand found its way to his stomach in a gesture that seemed almost subconsciously numb.

"Y-you know about that?" He asked, taking a step back.

"Of course. Uzumakis have always been tasked with imprisoning the Kyuubi. Only our superior constitution can handle its malignance." She couldn't help an airy smile.

"What? Lady, stop trying to confuse me and give a straight answer, will you?" And she was annoyed again.

"Look, we can help you. Just come see our village before you say no." Naruto closed his eyes in thought, arms crossed.

"You said I can train there, right?" He asked after a moment of thought, an edge of excitement to his voice again.

"Uzumakis specialize in fuinjutsu. No one in Konohagakure could train you as well as we could in that art." She mirrored his crossed arms, her own smirk proud. He was unabashedly excited now.

"I dunno what that is, but it sounds great! Count me in! I'm gonna go tell Tsunade obaa-chan right now!" He had already turned to run off, so she had to leap into action immediately.

"Wait!" She shouted, running after him. Surprisingly, he did, stopping to regard her again, this time with confusion.

"Huh? What now, lady?" He asked. She felt awkward, wondering how she could word this. After a short moment of hesitation, she answered.

"Arushi-sama said you should come without telling anyone. He said that Konoha might try to... hold you back." He looked entirely skeptical then, but after a moment he simply grinned, flashing her a thumbs up.

"Don't worry! Tsunade obaa-chan isn't like that. You'll see!" And with that, he was off at a run again, this time a little too fast to be mere excitement. She had to leap into the trees to catch up with him after his dash. Finally, she managed to overcome his speed and dropped down before him with arms outstretched.

"Stop." She commanded. He did, this time with alarm on his features. She forced a smile, trying to be reassuring, but his expression still only reflected distrust. This was not the kind of job she was cut out for. It would be so much easier to just drag him home, but Arushi-sama hadn't really seemed like he wanted that... although... After a moment of deliberation, she steeled her features. "You're coming with us."

"Teme..." he growled, widening his stance, but she didn't give him a chance to escape, gripping a seal paper from her pouch and lunging. He leapt away, almost making it to a tree branch when he was encased in the sphere, falling to the earth with a heavy, tone-like thud. "Oy!" He shouted from within. "Let me out of here you crazy lady! I'm never going to your village, you hear me? I'll beat you to a pulp!" His muffled voice only shrieked louder as she began rolling the sphere, forcing him to take erratic steps backward just to stay upright. She focused chakra to her left shoulder blade, and in seconds Mushiro was leaping through the tree branches to the two of them.

—

In the interrogation chamber, her monotone voice continued on without pause. "When my brother approached, he said—"

"Stop. What did you mean about your shoulder blade?" Tsunade asked, one eyebrow raised.

"By focusing chakra into the seal located on my left shoulder blade, my brother can sense where I am and that I am calling to him." She responded with the same evenness to her voice.

"How many seals do you have on your body?" Ibiki asked.

"Thirty-two," she droned.

The three interrogators exchanged ominous gazes. Ibiki scribbled something down on a notepad along with several other notes. Their captive continued, completely unfazed.

—

"I was wondering when you'd call!" Mushiro's voice called out from the leaves just before he dropped to the ground next to them, some twigs still in his hair. "Woah! Why'd you trap him?" He asked, bending to look at Naruto sideways. The boy inside the sphere simply gazed back from under furrowed brows, his arms crossed in childish anger. "Woooww..." Mushiro breathed, sounding incredibly impressed. His rounded mouth broke into a grin as some curiosity snuck onto Naruto's angry expression. "He's so small."

Naruto hurled a whole bunch of angry exclamations in response to that. When he breached the topic of their village and what he thought of it in no such nice words, Yuzuki felt her anger rising.

"Quiet!" She said, shooting a harsh sideways kick against the sphere so that it crashed against the tree trunk just next to it. Taken by surprise, Naruto managed to lose his balance and smack his head against the hard, concave surface with a hard thud. He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Wh—A clone!? Oh man, that is so not like you! Ahahaha!" Mushiro called through peals of loud laughter. He clutched his side and slapped the sphere with a fist in his hysterics. She didn't have time to deal with his idiocy, leaping up into the trees as she made her own set of kage bunshin. They dashed through the forest at speeds that blurred the world, stopping only when orange would flash before them. Three, four, five Naruto clones popped in puffs of smoke immediately after they turned to fight, to stop her. The one that continued running, desperate to change directions, was a dead giveaway—except she eventually dispersed that one too. She tore on, heading in the general direction of the village. One of her kage bunshin popped away after activating a sensor seal to her forehead, and Yuzuki veered slightly west toward the last bit of chakra remaining.

Naruto—at least, she was fairly certain this was the real one—had made it far but was still a safe distance from the village. With a screech, her chakra chains clamped around him just as he was noticing her approach, and they stopped his hands from forming the cross that boded more kage bunshin.

"Let go of me you crazy hag!" He screamed, struggling admirably considering the chakra drain. She landed deftly at his side, her own glare doing nothing to deter his frustrated thrashing. Even as the seconds passed and he drooped with sluggishness, he continued to fight. Finally, when his growls became slow, labored panting and his eyes began to flutter with exhaustion, she reached into her pack for another sphere seal. It was just then that a surge of unfamiliar chakra flooded her senses, and she leapt backward with alarm. With twin flashes of red, his eyes trained onto her, pupils slitted and filled with rage. The chakra was oozing out of him like sap, surrounding his form with a sickly red glow, and she could feel the blow of hot dry air. It smelled repulsive. Even her chains struggled to absorb that much energy.

"Is that the Kyuubi's chakra?" She asked in a hushed voice. Naruto screamed an angry, wordless roar at her—were those fangs?—and began to push his arms out against the chains. To her shock, they were giving. "Impressive," she breathed. Now she understood what father meant when he talked about this power.

Eyes never leaving Naruto, she slowly dug further into her pouch and raised a small slip of paper. She stepped forward, reaching out to press the slip to his forehead. It sizzled in the Kyuubi's chakra and alit itself. After a second, the repression tag took effect, and Naruto finally collapsed forward, drained of both human and demonic chakra.

Her fingertips were burned.

After dropping out of a nearby tree, Mushiro strolled forward nonchalantly, tilting Naruto's chin with the toe of his sandal. "Kinda freaky. I can see why the village was scared of him." Yuzuki glared at her brother.

"It's not like he asked for this." She spat.

"Onee-chan, you take everything so seriously." He heaved a sigh, rolling his eyes. Then, without any of his usual playfulness, he murmured: "I thought father said he'd want to come."

"He did." She responded shortly, recalling Naruto's excitement and having a hard time relating it to the monstrosity she'd just witnessed.

"Uh, not really what it looks like to me." He quirked an eyebrow and tipped his head at the crumpled child below them.

"He wanted to ask the Hokage's permission first. I couldn't let him do that." She was regretting it already, but there was no room for regret when it came to rebuilding her village. She picked Naruto up, slinging him over her shoulder and taking to the trees. Quietly, keeping pace with her now, her brother continued the conversation she had tried to escape from.

"We would have asked dad's permission."

"I know."

Hope you guys liked this chapter! I love all the reviews I've gotten so far-they've really inspired me in my writing! Let me know what you think, and do continue telling me any ideas, guesses, comments, or critiques you have.