Author's Corner: Hello, my lovelies, and welcome to Hakumei: Kakumei. First, the name thing was a complete coincidence. I am not twee. I promise.

This arc essentially starts my version of Shippuuden, now, remember, I started writing Hakumei and drafting things long before the revelations of the manga, and while I'm going to do my best to add what I can, I'm not able to add as much as I might like due to things I've said in the past. Therefore, the Kyuubi is going to remain evil, his backstory is the same as I said in Hakumei, and some of the issues around Tobi/Madara/Obito aren't quite the same as the manga. I'll do my best to keep them as similar as I can…but…well…I did start first.

Though I did guess right (mostly) with pairings. That was a first.

I don't have much else to say other than I hope that you enjoy, and thankfully, this chapter isn't as experimental as my last first chapter.

As a reminder, while I'm cheerfully skipping away from canon, remember this: do not expect godlike Naruto. Godlike!Super Naruto bores me to tears. While he's going to be more powerful, he's going to work for the universe. I've had a few people asking why Naruto isn't super powerful as he's been trained by the Sannin and whatnot, but in reality, from that we've seen in the manga, while it definitely gives an advantage, it does not really change the fact that they still have weaknesses. These are people after all.

Now, unfortunately, this is not my primary project. That is my book series, The Shadowwalker Saga. I'll be working on this, but unfortunately, that series gets my main attention, as I'm hoping to publish.

Disclaimer: Pryotra owns no part of Naruto or anything associated it. Her plans involve getting people to like her fanfiction enough for them to buy something that she writes, thus avoiding the big people jobs.

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self."

― Ernest Hemingway

Seducing one of the shogun really should have been one of the girls' jobs. Naruto tried to smile alluringly as the drunk leaned close to him, and twilled one of his pigtails, dearly wishing that he could just push the guy's head into his own soup. Across the room, Sasuke was smirking at him from his guard disguise, and Naruto could feel it as much as he could see it. The lord of the splendid room that they were in snuggled a little closer to him, grinning.

"You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen…" he slurred.

Naruto giggled in the most feminine way that he could manage.

"I bet you say that to every girl you ask to preform," he said, batting his eyelashes as the local shogun leached forwards almost falling into his own sake.

Where were the others?

This wasn't supposed to be a long mission. They'd been hired to get a scroll from another shogun that detailed a jutsu that had been passed down in the client's family for generations. Sasuke was sure that it was something to grow flowers or something else just as useful, while Sakura and Kimimaro were both hopeful that it would be something useful that they could peek at.

Gaara had been the one to suggest the distraction, and the girls had promptly volunteered him.

Though, he supposed that it wasn't really fair to blame them. They had had to do that thing in that restaurant last spring, so he supposed that he really did owe them.

"No," the shogun said, shaking his head in a vehement way and fallen into him.

He distinctly saw one samurai roll his eyes. Poor guys. They weren't all that different than ninja really, only they hadn't been able to form villages and were still mostly tied to their shogun or Daimyo. Other than Mifune's group in Iron, but that was something else completely. These guys certainly weren't under Mifune. They would have noticed them by this time.

There was a sound from the roof. Finally.

When the guy looked up, Naruto cozied up to him a little.

"Aw, aren't you just the sweetest thing…" he cooed.

Sasuke gagged.

Then, finally, Sasuke got a coughing fit, and Naruto grinned.

"But…you know," he said, pouting a little at the man and putting one arm around him.

"Wha…" the shogan said.

Naruto grinned, and shoved him, face first into the soup. He jumped to his feet and released the jutsu before anyone could react.

"I don't think it'll work out," he said, putting his hands together. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

There was a pop as three more of himself appeared. No need for sage mode for these guys. Sasuke had already thrown off his cloak to reveal his uniform, his sworn drawn and a smirk on his face as from above, Kimimaro and Haku dropped down, both wearing their masks.

This was just for the four of them. Sakura, Hinata, Gaara, Sai and Neji were going to be getting the scroll out while everyone focused on them. After all, when there was a distraction, it needed to be a good one.

"Alright," Naruto said, as the four of them stood back to back. "Wreck stuff and wait for Sai's signal."

Kimimaro pulled out a single bone as Haku drew his senbon. The samurai had already pulled their drunk master out of his soup and two had dragged him back. The leader was looking at them warily, sword drawn.

"We won't allow you to harm Shigure-sama," he said calmly.

Naruto grinned.

"Well, we'll give you a fighting chance, how's that?"

He grunted and charged, looking like he was going to head towards Naruto but feinting, only to be blocked by Sasuke, who's eyes were glowing red.

"Sharingan," he heard someone hiss to their friend.

"I know those colors. It's Hakumei!"

Naruto summoned two Kage Bushin and nodded to the other.

"Don't forget our objective," Naruto said, rushing forwards to block a katana with a kunai.

Sakura hated it when she didn't know things. Particularly when the answer was physically right in front of her and she couldn't look at it. What was in this scroll that made it so valuable? Hakumei might be less expensive than Konoha or Kumi, which were now the major superpowers since Suna had been invaded only a year ago (figured that Konoha would attack the attack the second that they had anything that resembled power again) and Iwa was barely able to defend itself, but still there team wasn't cheap. It would have been easier to go with the now reformed Oto (which wasn't all that different than the old Oto in appearance and behavior).

The scroll must have been something that was either extremely important or extremely embarrassing

It was like the Chuunin Exam all over again.

Being that the work was delicate, Sai was the one who was doing the job. A small ink spider was scurrying around, undoing the seals that would tell the samurai that someone else was invading. If they were lucky, things would come off as just another assassination attempt. Sasuke, Naruto, Kimimaro and Haku would 'get driven off' and they'd only notice that the scroll was gone when they checked on it.

Sai looked up, a slight smile that Sakura knew was a smirk was on his face.

"Done," he said, standing up and opening the door. "Ladies first."

Sakura moved so that Hinata could jump down.

"You heard him," she said.

"I don't think that he just meant me," Hinata said.

Hinata's hair was roughly the same length as when they were kids, and she filled out the uniform a lot better than Sakura did. Which was something that kind of annoyed her, even if she felt like a horrible, shallow person for even thinking about it.

The Tenshi Byakugen was activated, and she started, pointing down without saying a word.

Sakura nodded, and closed her eyes, sensing for something to use…

And Neji, who was getting more and more impatient with the whole thing since he'd managed to get himself cut in a small 'spar' with Tenten (who Sakura was pretty sure only join Uzu just because she wanted to show Neji up) opened the door and jumped down silently.

There were two startled gasps and then silence.

"Does that make him a lady?" Sakura asked Sai.

Sai giggled slightly, something that he'd taken up from hanging around Ino. He somehow always made it sound somewhat creepy.

"I wouldn't ask him about it," he said. "He might get a complex like Haku.

Then he could get a haircut. No one would guess by his face alone that he was female. Haku was…unlucky.

Neji jumped go again, looking down.

"Are they dead?" Sakura asked.

"No, though they're not going to be enjoy waking up." Neji said.

Sakura winced a little, looking down at the two prone bodies and jumped down herself, followed by the others. The halls were empty, and if it hadn't been for the sound of the fighting a little down the hall, made louder with the paper walls, it might have passed for being deserted.

She dashed down the hall, leaning down. These places were deadly. All it took was her shadow on the wall to alert someone and they were all caught. She hoped that the others were making enough of a show.

She supposed that Naruko (her special nickname for Naruto's 'feminine side') would do a good job at getting people to come and see before they started beating people up. That was one good thing about having a guy on the team that figured out how to henge himself into a woman that could only exist in the mind of a kid who'd just hit puberty and improved on her since then.

It did cause a distraction.

Though she dearly wished that she could punch him just for making the blasted thing.

Turning a corner, and sliding a door back, Sakura grinned and turned back to the others.

"Found it," she said in a sing song voice.

They stepped into a large room that Sakura guessed was the shogun's bedroom, there wasn't much visible at the moment, other than the large table in the center and a few mats. She couldn't see anyone or any inconsistencies that usually meant that someone was hiding. Still…there was a chance.

They filed in looking around, but stopped when Sai pointed at the scroll that was sitting on the table, out in the open for everyone to see.

This seemed strangely convenient.

That was when the explosion from the other halls racked the building. For a moment, they all looked at one another.

"Time to go!" Neji said.

"Sakura, make sure that's the real one!" Hinata called.

"I can't. There's no way to undo the seal," Sakura said, she glanced over at Sai, but he shrugged and shook his head.

Just when his ink would have come in handy too.

Without another word, they set off to meet the others. Another explosion sounded as they dodged around a hall, and dashed into a room where a group of terrified looking servants were huddled.

"Don't mind us!" Sai said. "We're just coming through."

"We have nothing," one woman called from the crowd. "Absolutely nothing for you to steal."

Someone shushed her and the group huddled back further.

"We know all about you, Hakumei. You'll kill anyone for money. Even betray your own villages!" an older man said, stepping forwards. "We will not listen to the propaganda that our neighbors do. Our lord remains a firm with the Fire Daimyo."

Neji cursed under his breath. Their glorious reputation had proceeded them. Sakura wasn't quite sure where the rumor cropped up that they'd kill anyone. They didn't really take assassination type jobs, and when they were assigned, it was usually Kakashi, Itachi or one of the other former ANBU who took it.

Secretly, she was sure that Itachi had threatened mutiny if his precious little brother's innocence was tainted. Nothing got to that guy other than Sasuke.

The man took another step, taking out what looked like a kitchen knife.

"You know what? We don't have time for this. Bye!" Sakura said as Hinata stepped forwards, blocking the man's attack and then forcing him to the ground as Sai took out his brushes and drew a small red bird.

It fluttered towards and through the paper screen, causing hole to start burning at the edges but quickly went out.

He'd been experimenting with color lately. The effects were horrifying.

The sudden red bird that streaked through the screen made Naruto grin, and the samurai falter. For a moment, Naruto could tell just what he was thinking. This was the entire group. They were wanted missing nin who hadn't managed to have been caught in years. One of them was confirmed as an Uchiha who had defected. The others were unknowns, but rumor had it that they were the entire group of children that went missing.

Hakumei might have been outnumbered but the samurai were the ones at the disadvantage. This might be the time to press things.

"You know, if you just let us pass, your boss will be fine, he's just out," Naruto said conversationally. "We're not hired to take him out, just to return something to our employer."

The samurai leader glanced at the scroll, at his men, and at the form of his lord.

"If you want, I can scratch you up a bit," Kimimaro suggested from the background. "Then you can claim that you did your best and not get fired."

Maybe it was the fact that it was an honest offer to help (well, maybe. Kimimaro seemed to really get off on freaking people out.) or maybe just the fact that being offered a way out was a whole lot more appealing than having to fight for your life over a scroll that none of them knew much about.

Samurai had honor, but their job was to protect their lord.

Also, some of them looked more like rounin than actual samurai, which meant that they were mercenaries, which meant that they had about as much honor as Jiraiya did when he was left to his own devices at a hot springs.

He nodded.

A few of the others twitched, but didn't move as Hakumei disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Another mission was complete.

Uchiha Itachi wasn't really sure just how he'd gotten involved in the mission with Ni Yugito.

While it had been long proven that he wasn't spying on them, people were, rather justifiably jumpy around him, particularly since there was only so much information that he could give them about Akatsuki. It seemed strange that they were going to pair him up with a woman who had only joined them because of a bet. Still, three years was some time, and Yugito had never once showed signs of considering defecting, so he supposed that a reconnaissance trip wasn't all that shocking.

Still, he would have expected Kakashi to have been asked to come with them.

Kakashi was usually in a team with him or sometimes with other former ANBU friends of his. ANBU never quite managed to disband. Once you had killed that many people, you were always close to those who were just as bloodstained as you were. Not only that, but Kakashi was implicitly trusted by just about everyone.

It was nice to be trusted again, even somewhat, to protect his the people of his home.

Of course, there was a spy watching their every move, and the Sannin were surprisingly good at showing up places quickly, particularly now that they were reunited, but even the illusion of trust meant something to him. It gave him hope.

Konoha might have been lost for the moment, but the people weren't, and what was a village but its people?

Mist had gone through (yet another) revolution, and their current Godaime, a woman who Itachi had never had any experience with, was someone who Uzu wanted to know a few things about, and Itachi and Yugito had been dispatched to spy on the conditions of the city.

As the name implied, the City Hidden in Mist was almost constantly under a heavy fog that smothered everything and make it hard to see anything that wasn't five feet ahead of them. Sasuke's friends, particularly Naruto and Kimimaro probably would have found it amusing, though for different reasons. Kimimaro because he would be able to think up some appropriately creepy story to tell, and Naruto because he would have amused himself making clones and appearing everywhere.

Itachi rather liked Sasuke's friends. They were a good influence on him.

"So, I'd say that no one's died for a while," Yugito yawned. "At least Nibi's saying that."

And the cat, while not a particularly trustworthy source for other things, particularly as it seemed to want to possess Yugito and try to seduce anything that happened to be male and eat them, could be counted on to know the smell of blood.

Keeping the rice hat low to his face, Itachi activated the sharingan.

There were people around, moving quietly, talking, but from the way they were moving, they didn't seem cautious.

"Things seem uncharacteristically peaceful," Itachi said.

"Too right they do," a woman carrying their tea bustled past them. "I recall your face… Did you trade with us before the last Mizukage?"

Itachi nodded, and the woman smiled.

"In the last few months, things have been going up. Oh, we've still got our problems, but at least honest folk like ourselves can walk around in broad daylight without getting attacked by some side of the problem. The Godaime wants to make us a proper village with a good reputation. Like Iwa or how Konoha before the current Godaime. She's claiming that they'll outdo Konoha's reputation during their Yondaime's days."

Yugito snorted.

"Sounds a little too soft doesn't it?" she asked. "Konoha was kind of boring."

The woman chuckled. "When you get to my age, boring starts sounding rather nice. It's the exciting times that you want to be able to avoid."

Itachi had to agree. Sipping his tea and ignoring the conversation, he watched a small group of Genin pass, but then stopped, his eyes narrowing. The team was walking along, chatting quietly to themselves. While that wasn't all that interesting, he recognized one. Not personally of course, the twelve year old boy was far too young for Itachi to have actually known him. No, he looked a good deal like his uncle. Asuma. The son of the Sandaime.

"Nii-san, we'd best be heading along," Itachi said, setting down his tea, and pulling the brim of his hat over his head. While there was an illusion that kept his face marks hidden, the last thing that he needed was to be recognized here.

"Hm?" Yugito looked up, her eyes focused on the team going by and then on Itachi, raising an eyebrow. "I suppose that work never ends," she sighed.

It looked like after three years of recovery, Konoha was about to make a move.

Uzu wasn't all that different, on the outside from how it had looked when Naruto had first laid eyes on it. The buildings were wrecked and half sunk in the mud that had washed in when not only war but physical disaster had struck in the form of the Kyuubi, and for all appearances the place was abandoned.

It was a hidden village in every sense of the words.

Still, it was home. Almost as much as Jiraiya's place had been home, and in some ways, Naruto liked it better. There were more people. There was Icharaku was there as well as Shikamaru and Shino, and there was always something happening. The hermitage was great, but Naruto doubted, no matter what Sage Mode had to do with things, that he was ever going to be much of an ascetic.

Sitting on top of a mountain, channeling nature was boring.

And he certainly didn't want to turn into an old pervert like Jiraiya.

Uzu was starting to even open some covert trade with the smaller nations, who needed the goods and didn't care so much where they came from, and there were some who were even starting to show up who seemed to be from the original village and had stayed around. In three years, the site had gone from a heap of rubble and some campsites around it to a stable underground village that Konoha was still unaware even existed.

That was thanks in part to Orochimaru. The guy might not remember much about what he'd been doing, but he was more than aware of how to make a stable underground area. There were some idiots who whispered that the real reason was because he was just biding his time or something, but such was life.

"Home sweet dump," Sasuke said as he surveyed the area. "Oh look, that building fell down finally. What was that anyways?"

"They think it was something called a 'town hall' where the people met and told their elders their problems," Sakura said. "You know, since they didn't have a Kage."

"I thought that the building with the bell was supposed to be town hall," Kimimaro said. "Or was that a temple?"

Sakura shrugged.

"See anyone around?" Naruto asked, looking at Neji and Hinata.

"Not a soul," Neji said, looking around and Hinata nodded.

That was good. Last time they'd had to avoid some Kiri troops. They were pretty paranoid now that they were just recovering from yet another revolution, though this new Mizukage was looking like she might be sane. Or as sane as anyone in Kiri was.

Speaking of Kiri, Naruto dearly hoped that Zabuza was gone on some mission or other. Since they'd pretty much permanently hired him, and Isarabi had begged him to let her stay and learn from Shizune he was usually coming and going. Though when he was there, he challenged all of them to fights, stalked Haku and Isarabi, showed his faintly creepy friendship with Orochimaru and generally caused trouble.

Not that Naruto didn't like him, he just wanted to have a little time to be ready for the impromptu sparing matches, and Zabuza didn't seem to comprehend things like timing. Or the fact that usually when they were in their own bed, surrounded by plants and happy thoughts that they wanted to sleep.

Jumping down from the ledge where they were, Sakura closed her eyes for one final check to see if anyone was nearby and then they headed towards one of the few buildings that was still standing.

The barracks, where the ninja had lived, was in pretty sad condition, with paint peelings from the walls, broken windows and a certain musty scent that Naruto remembered from somewhere but couldn't place. It was now mostly being maintained to look as sad as possible, since it happened to be the entrance to the Uzu's new form. Some rotted scrolls were still hanging from the walls, but Naruto couldn't read what they were saying. Maybe they'd been motos or the names of people from long ago.

Whenever he came there, he wondered how things had looked when his mother had still be alive. Maybe it had been bright, and cheerful, or maybe just as shabby as it seemed now.

Sasuke, not one to be distracted by thoughts of the past when they didn't concern him personally, had gone into the main training room and moved the tile seven squares away from the mat in the center to show the set of stairs. They were already being watched, and just in case someone was worried that there was a Genjutsu, Naruto, yawning, gave the password.

"My kitty is no longer your template."

"That is the stupidest password that we've ever done," Neji grumbled.

"It was the kids' idea," Haku shrugged.

"Well, it's not like anyone's going to go for it," Sakura said lightly. "Besides, it's a sentence, and that's harder to figure out than a phrase."

"True, but…I don't know…maybe we could…do something that makes a little more sense?" Hinata said.

It was too dark to see the shrugs by that time, but Naruto could hear the sound of someone nearby. They all tensed for a moment, but then they recognized the figure.

"Yo," Kakashi said, looking up from the book that he couldn't possibly have been reading in the dark and raising one hand.

"Kakashi, nice to see you," Sakura said, smiling. "Guard duty?"

"Not quite. Anko's on guard at the moment, but I was asked to come and get you," Kakashi said with a shrug.

Naruto instinctively looked up, seeing the familiar busty figure of a woman above them and jumped back with a yelp just in time to see a kunai drop down on them. Anko started cracking up the moment that Naruto regained his footing.

"Some fearless leader!" she crowed.

Naruto glared up at her, but she just waved and stayed where she was. She'd been mostly indifferent to him three years ago, but now, in close contact, she enjoyed harassing Hakumei, who she claimed were far too dependent on one another.

Particularly him.

What was annoying was that Iruka was dating her, so that meant that he had to put up with the woman.

"Pay attention, brats. The next time you see someone you know, it might be a genjutsu," Anko smirked from her nice safe position on the ceiling.

As long as she didn't spit on him or something as they passed.

The passed carefully, into the darkness of the tunnel until very suddenly, it was lit with wall lamps. They were cheap and didn't give much light, but they also didn't use much power, and Danzou wasn't just looking for big bursts of Chakra.

Very suddenly, the tunnel widened out into the underground city of Uzu. It was designed very much like the old Konoha, with a building for leaders and teams to meet and get their missions in the center, a small school off to the corner in a defensible position, roads lined by shops and houses sprawling everywhere in a kind of ordered chaos. The only things that weren't there were the compounds that belonged to certain families.

The Shika Ino Cho alliance had basically taken over a section of buildings, but they were open for friends from other clans to come and lacked the walls that the Hyuuga and Uchiha families had favored.

It was almost like Konoha.

Almost.

The new Icharaku Ramen's smells beckoned, but Naruto resisted and followed the others as they made their way for the center building. There were some aids running about their business, including those two guys that Naruto could never remember the names up but had pretended to be Genin at the exams, along with Shizune, who was, as always, looking harassed.

"Hey, Shizune-san," Sakura called out.

She stopped looked over at them and sighed.

"Oh good," she said. "Everyone's waiting for you. You've got a job and some kind of impatient customers."

They looked at one another. Impatience was either an indication of people who were desperate or people who were spoiled. He hoped desperate. They didn't pay as well, but they were usually better missions that Naruto could walk away from feeling like a good person.

And ones Sasuke's brother didn't snatch up as a means to protect precious little Sasuke's innocence the instant that they were free. Konoha seemed to be a lot more open to the idea of Itachi being fine all along rather than Orochimaru. Itachi had only killed some of the military police, and no one liked the military police anyways.

"Well, looks like we've got a job. Let's get moving," Naruto said.

Kiba had a pretty good idea that sneaking into the Hokage building in the middle of the night was as good way to die. Not only was ROOT really, really active, but anyone sneaking in there had to be a spy, even if they'd been Chuunin for a year and stayed loyal during the Exam War.

Akamaru had told him that this was stupid, and if he mom knew she'd probably thrash him herself, but he had to know.

Things had settled down in Konoha, now that Suna and Iwa were both completely put down, but Kiba had mostly been in Konoha since Hana's death, and Uchiha Yumi's betrayal. The Uchiha clan, at the moment being run by Uchiha Satoshi, a snippy short man who wasn't anywhere near as good at his job as Fugaku had been, admitted to have sending Yumi there to observe Kakashi. And obviously, all suspicions had been correct. The man had fled, along with Shino, leaving Kiba with no Genin team at all.

It wasn't a big deal. He'd been allowed by Danzou to work with other teams, but what had happened still bothered him, and there were no answers. Danzou claimed that the children who had started a war with Iwa had been clearly found and hidden by the Sannin, who had had their own designs on Konoha, due to their personal grudge against him.

The children had been raised to hate Konoha, and, should be captured if possible, but killed if necessary. While there had been some restlessness from the Uchiha and the Hyuuga, both were too weak to resist. The Hyuuga were already in disgrace from the treason of Hiashi.

But Kiba wasn't sure that he bought that. Not really. Naruto hadn't killed him when he'd had the chance.

For the last year, when the idea had come to him, he'd been figuring out the way to just take a peek and see if there was any information on where Hakumei might be. Kiba wasn't sure what he was going to do if there was, but he supposed that he'd figure that out when he came to it.

He was pretty aware of the guards too, so it was with some hope that he slipped through the vents into the hall, looking around to see if anyone was there and slowly edging along a long hall of closed doors and silent rooms.

"And just what are you doing here?" the calm voice made both him and Akamaru go still and slowly turn around to face Ibiki, who had opened his door just slightly. Ibiki the head of Interrogations, who claimed that he could make just about anyone talk if he had enough time with them. Whose record was completely spotless. He was standing in darkness with only a faint light coming from another room behind the door to allow Kiba's admittedly sharper than normal eyes to detect him.

"I suggest that you start talking."

"I…left my kunai," The excuse was out of him before he could even think. It was a stupid, old excuse from the Academy when he had broken in, and it was so obviously a lie, even then, that old Iruka had just stared at him for a while before sending him to the principal.

What.

Even Akamaru was looking at him like an idiot.

Crap.

"Hm, that's very interesting," Iruka said. "Why don't you follow me and tell me all about it."

Kiba gulped, but silently followed. There was no hope of good behavior making Ibiki merciful, just the knowledge that attempting to run would only manage to bring ROOT on his head.

He was going to die, and he knew it.

Yes, I'm ending it there. Hey, it's a first chapter, what can I say? No Omake this chapter since I want to keep the mood, but I'm planning on more, mostly involving the time between Part 2 and Part 3.

Additional Notes:

Samurai: Well, they can't all be under Mifune and from Iron. It just doesn't work. Particularly when you've had Gato's bodyguards from the first season who were clearly samurai. So I added some things.

Shameless Advertising: Alright, I've been going on for a while about writing my own book, well, here's the time to learn about it. If you're not interested, skip along to more Naruto related matters. My friend and I have a draft of a novel at the moment and I'm willing to let you guys read the first chapters. If you're interested and/or want to maybe help me out if you can, please go to shadowwalkersaga . tumblr . com. For those who are mildly interested, but want to know what the thing is about, it is something of a vaguely futuristic post-apocalyptic steampunk novel, so don't worry about my just essentially rewriting Hakumei or something stupid like that. This is not FSoG.

Sakura's POV: You know…teenage Sakura is fun to write.

The Nibi: I'm using myths of the nekomata for a guideline, and yes, like the kitsune, they liked to either turn into or possess women and seduce them. Some say that it was some kind of way to excusing promiscuity, but personally, I think that this was probably something like our current fetish with vampires: hot sexy supernatural thing that is dangerous but hot.