Naruko turned her head to look at Kakashi. He reddened, but didn't look away. She had caught him staring, there was no point in trying to hide it. What was it that made him want to keep looking at her? Yes, she was beautiful, but there was something else. He didn't understand it. This definitely required some introspection. The last time his mind had been so occupied was after Obito had given him the Sharingan. The mood in the safe house had lightened since the incident in the holding room.

At least, Kakashi believed it had lightened. The foreign kunoichi wasn't much for words. Her posture was relaxed and she seemed at ease; or maybe she was just that confident in her ability to deal with any situation. For all appearances, the kunoichi named Naruko did not hold a grudge for her treatment. She may have a temper, but she was forgiving.

Minato noticed her eyes lingering on Kakashi, "When you are done flirting with my ninja, Naruko The Clanless, we can proceed with our…. information sharing."

The woman turned her gaze on Minato, where it rested for several minutes. Obviously his attempt at humor wasn't appreciated. He was about to try a different approach, when she spoke. "No - I'm starved, and you haven't seen fit to provide me with any food." Minato tsked, retrieved a ration bar from his flak vest and tossed it at her. She tilted her head to the side letting the bar sail over her shoulder to hit the wall. "We aren't in such a hurry that I need to subject myself to one of those vile tasting sticks. A decent meal isn't a lot to ask for." Naruko nodded her head slightly towards Kakashi, "besides, based on Hatake-san's overt staring, he would be more than happy to cook for me."

Minato sighed, "alright, alright - but Ko and I will be doing the cooking. If we let Kakashi make us dinner, we would be talking through a door all evening. You would be spending your time squatting over a latrine instead of sitting on a chair."

Kakashi shook his head slightly, "Just hurry this up. I don't care what we eat and I don't care where the hell she is from." He gestured toward Naruko, "I want to save Rin."

"Easy, Hatake-san." Naruko moved her hands in a placating motion. "Your teammate is fine - for now. I can sense the Sanbi. It has calmed down and is not pushing Chakra through the seal like it was before."

"How can you know that? Are you a sensor?" Naruko saw the calculating gleam in Minato's eyes as he speculated and filed information away. "Yes, and I am especially attuned to the Chakra of what people refer to as the 'Tailed Beasts'."

"Why is that?" Minato piped up. His interrogative demeanor was starting to get on Naruko's nerves again. "Why is your hair blonde? I haven't the slightest idea." Minato looked unimpressed as he turned on heel and made his way to the kitchen. Ko followed closely behind.

"Are you sure we should be so amicable with her? She is an unknown entity and quite powerful." Ko whispered over Minato's shoulder. "We don't have a choice, Ko. We need information and I get the feeling that we have a higher chance of getting that if we treat her like a guest. She hasn't overtly challenged us beyond her muscle flexing in the holding room. Besides, I don't like the chances of us all returning to Konoha alive if we had to subdue her. I get the impression she doesn't want any trouble; there is no point in risking lives if we can get what we want peacefully. She knows who I am and knows that if anything happened it would bring the full weight of Fire Country down on her."

Ko whistled softly through his teeth, "even the Great Minato is wary."

Minato elbowed him lightly in the gut and they started to prepare some food. Minutes later the three Chunin that were patrolling the area returned in a fluster. They looked around the house quizzically before their eyes settled on Naruko. All three sets of eyes widened in alarm and whipped toward the ranking ninja, "What's happening? We felt Chakra being thrown around."

"We had a disagreement with our guest." Seeing the Konoha Jounin casually preparing food in the kitchen put the Chunin squad at ease. "Well, whatever it was, I am glad the house is still standing….."

"Everything is fine, get back to your patrol please. We'll leave some food out for the end of your shift." The three bowed in deference and left immediately.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It wasn't long before the food was brought to the table; but Naruko's previous impatient snap at Minato had left lull in conversation making the minutes stretch on. Naruko wasted no time in grabbing a pair of chopsticks and helping herself. The Konoha Jounin slowly joined in.

"Food is served, your glass is full and we are all comfortable. Let's enjoy our dinner with conversation, shall we?" Naruko looked up and nodded in assent.

"Where are you from?"

She thought for a second, "If you are asking where I was born, it was in Konoha; and I grew up in Uzushio." Naruko could hear some of the ninja around the table suck in their breath at that information. "If you are asking me where I am from in relation to this point in time, or dimension - I'm sorry I don't know. The Jutsu used to bring me here was not of my creation or understanding."

Minato frowned, "That's impossible - what is your family name?"

"I was born into a clan called the Uzumaki."

"Who were your parents?"

"This is a two way exchange of information, it's my turn. You told me earlier that Konoha is operating under the principles of war. Whom is Konoha at war with?"

"Kusa, Iwa and Kiri. It has been dubbed the Third Shinobi War."

A look of confusion flittered across Naruko's face, but it was gone a second later. Minato, however, was relentless and didn't miss a thing. "What is it?"

Naruko shook her head and continued, "That's not what I was taught about the third war. Who is the Hokage of Konoha?"

Minato kneeled forward to plate some more food while Kakashi answered "Sarutobi-sama".

Her head whipped around to face Kakashi. "That….what….Who was his predecessor?" Minato interrupted this time, "Share and share alike, Naruko. Who were your parents?"

"They were Uzumaki, that is all I can say. I don't understand what is going on here. I cannot risk creating some sort of paradox by providing information that could change the course of events."

"So" Minato continued, "you believe you are from the future then...", Naruko only shrugged, "And someone in this room is tied to your family in some way." The kunoichi shrugged again, her expression not giving anything away. "This whole thing seems a little far fetched. I'm not sure what to believe. Why don't you come back to Konoha with us? We were allies with Uzu - "

"Were allies?" Naruko blurted "What do you mean 'were'?"

It was Minato's turn to look puzzled, "Uzushio's destruction was part of what started the war. We were close allies with Uzushio for years. Kiri, for reasons we can only speculate at, targeted Uzushio for destruction. When Konoha attempted to provide aid we were stalled by a contingent of Kusa and Iwa ninja stationed in Nami. By time Konoha arrived, Uzushio was destroyed."

Minato looked hard at Naruko before continuing, "that doesn't sound like what you believe has happened. Clearly your world or time, or whatever you believe you are from is vastly different than ours. What do you think happened to Uzushio?"

"It came under attack by a group of murderous ninja months before I arrived here. They called themselves the Akatsuki. They moved onto Uzushio after destroying Konoha and killing their Sandaime Hokage, Jiraya-sama."

The silence was pregnant as the Konoha shinobi absorbed the gravity of the information. Asuma was the first to speak, "A single group of ninja destroyed Konoha? That's outrageous! Jiraya was the Sandaime? Are you delusional, or were you living in the worst dimension imaginable?"

Naruko glanced at Asuma out of the corner of her eyes, "I feel like I've ended up in the past of an alternate dimension." She closed her eyes and massaged her temples. "I spent most of my life in Uzushio. Jiraya-sama was nominated as the Sandaime Hokage after Tobirama Senju retired."

"Your story isn't making sense, Tobirama Senju died at the end of the first war leaving Konoha to my father, Hiruzen! Jiraya would have been.." Asuma looked pensive as he calculated the years in his head, "eight years old at the time."

"It's clear our two histories share as much similarity as they do differences. I know that the second war ended with an armistice. Victory wasn't in sight for any one Country. Hiruzen Sarutobi was never the Hokage of Konoha. He was an ANBU Captain and a personal advisor to Jiraya-sama. He trained the Sanin and his skills were more beneficial to Konoha in the field."

"I think someone has really messed with your head. You seem to be covered in Fuinjutsu. Do those have an effect on your mind?" Anko scoffed.

Naruko stood up and stared off to the East. The quick movements put everyone on high alert, ready to defend themselves. Her gaze was piercing as it ignored the Konoha ninja - it looked as if she was seeing through the walls of the building. "Your Chunin squad is in trouble. Kiri has found your safehouse and is approaching from the South East."

A/N:

I had to make a quick correction for things to make sense. My plan is Naruko & Kakashi, yes. I don't know if Naruko still has Karuma, we will have to see :) I am sorry for the length of time on the update. I have two kids under 3 and things got very busy for me.