Author's Note: Wow, two uploads in under two weeks! Chapter 6 is almost mostly done as well, so keep an eye out!

Special Note: I am in desperate need of a beta reader. Please let me know if you are interested.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Sweet! We're gonna be neighbors!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. He flashed Sarada a bright grin. She felt butterflies erupt in her stomach.

Neighbors?! She thought nervously.

"See, my place is across the hall!" Naruto continued as he pointed towards his door, obviously oblivious to her inner turmoil.

Sarada followed his finger. A white door emblazoned with the numbers '2 6' stood a little ways down the hall. There was a gap between the two numbers where a 0 used to be, but she could still make out its dirty outline against the white paint.

"And this is you." Naruto pulled out a key. ANBU had dropped it off this morning, along with an address, a note from the Hokage, and Sarada's first pay check.

Naruto turned the key and strode in. The apartment was unimpressive. There was some simple furniture, including a couch and a bed, but not much else. It was pretty utilitarian, but Sarada didn't mind.

"It looks like a cleaner version of your place."

"Erm, well, uh… yeah..." Naruto mumbled lamely, unable to think of a suitable excuse.

Sarada laughed a little at his flustered reply, her butterflies temporarily forgotten. She set down all the documents and papers the Hokage had given her – except for her paycheck. She would need that, Naruto had promised to take her clothes shopping today.

Naruto hopped on one foot as he hurriedly tried to yank his ninja sandal on. He was changing in his bathroom while Sarada waited in the living room/bedroom/kitchen area. It was a small apartment.

Twip.

Wha-?

Naruto's foot fell out from under him. He spun his arms to try and catch himself, but failed. His head smashed into the edge of toilet with a meaty thud. He went out like a light.

Naruto awoke to a throbbing headache.

"Fuck a duck!" He hissed quietly, hoping Sarada hadn't heard his fall. How long had he been out?

Ow, ow, ow! What the hell happened? His looked around, trying to discover the cause his fall, only to realize he was no longer in his bathroom.

He was in a sewer of some sort. The floor was covered in aged, yellow tiles. Random puddles littered the ground. Some were shallow while others were surprisingly deep. The walls were gray concrete, cracked and crumbling in places.

Where am I? Directly in front of him stood a great gate. It was taller than the gates of Konoha, and wider still. It consisted of great metal bars, each one thicker around than his torso. From what he could tell, a single leaf of paper was the only thing that held them shut.

"Hello?" His voice echoed throughout the cavernous sewer.

A solitary eye flickered into existence from within the darkened prison. The eye itself was larger than Naruto. A crimson iris burned at its center, split in half by a slitted pupil.

It regarded him for a moment. All of a suddenly, Naruto felt infinitesimally small, like a mouse standing before a lion.

A second eye blinked open, followed by a fang-filled smile full of impossibly white teeth. A feeling of absolute dread smacked into Naruto like a freight train, and he got the distinct feeling he was about to die. Naruto didn't realize it at the time, but that horrible feeling was killing intent.

He stumbled backs, trying to put some distance between the cage and himself.

A deep, inhuman laugh filled the air. Not a second later, the rest of the creature materialized from behind the bars. It was a blood-red fox. Nine behemoth tails coiled and uncoiled behind it, like snakes about to strike. The beast was laying down; its head rested lazily upon its front most paws.

"To think, our first meeting would be the result of you slipping in a bathroom." The surprisingly human-like voice sounded both annoyed, and... something else. Amused maybe?

"Kyu-Kyuubi." He managed to stutter.

The massive beast's face twisted under a dark smile.

"Good, you're smart enough to feel fear."

Naruto's brain was still putting two and two together. He'd fallen in his bathroom only to wake up in front of the Kyuubi. Was he inside the seal?

"Why am I here?"

"I didn't make this seal, did I?" The Kyuubi snapped.

Naruto could feel its eyes look him up and down, as if sizing up him. The fox seemed to relax, and the horrible feeling from before subsided.

"You hit your head pretty hard. This…" The fox paused, as if searching for the right words, "…visit is probably related to that."

Naruto nodded. Since he knew absolutely nothing about seals, so he would have to default to the Kyuubi's knowledge.

It's not like he would have argued with the fox anyways.

"Erm… any idea how I can get out?" Naruto questioned. He looked around the room again, searching for an exit. There was only one; a long hall that seemed to stretch forever into darkness. It didn't look very promising.

The Kyuubi performed what Naruto could only assume was a shrug.

"You said I hit my head? Will I be ok?" Naruto absently felt the back of his head. The fox snorted in derision.

"As if a fall could seriously harm my container. Now stop asking questions, I'm trying to sleep." The Kyuubi closed both its eyes, as if to reinforce the idea.

Naruto was surprised by the fox's attitude. He expected more fire, more hate, from the legendary Kyuubi no Kitsune. What the Naruto didn't realize, was how intricately tied his physical and mental state the seal actually was. In his alternate life, the majority of his early encounters with the beast happened (or would have happened) during periods of extreme emotional or physical distress. This weakened the seal, and allowed the Kyuubi progressively more and more freedom, as it slowly eroded the power of the fuinjutsu.

But presently, Naruto was in no danger, he wasn't under duress, and the seal was functioning perfectly. By some fluke, he'd managed to stumble into the seal while it was still functioning at full strength. As a result, the Kyuubi's power was fully suppressed, and the fox was tired.

Of course, Naruto knew none of this.

"You aren't what I expected." Naruto said flatly.

One of the Kyuubi's eyes cracked open and glared at him.

"You are exactly what I expected." The beast countered. The edges of its mouth pulled up at this, as if smirking at an inside joke.

Naruto didn't get it, but he understood he was being insulted. His cheeks puffed out angrily and he scowled.

"The Uchiha brat is calling for you."

The way that Kyuubi spat out 'Uchiha' caught Naruto off guard. So far the large fox seemed more annoyed than anything else, but now there was an undeniable level of contempt in its voice.

The world began to feel fuzzy, like it was becoming less and less real. He realized he was returning to the physical world.

"She's lying to you by the way."

Huh? Sarada? Naruto was about to ask the fox what it meant when he woke up. He was back in his bathroom, lying flat on his back.

"Naruto?" Sarada called from outside the door. "Are you ok?"

"Uhh, yeah!" Naruto called out. "I just knocked something over!"

I just knocked something over? That's the best I could come up with? Naruto berated himself, thoroughly embarrassed.

"Oh–okay."

Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief when she accepted his answer. He stood up, and rubbed the back of his head to ease its throbbing.

How did I slip? Naruto wondered. He examined his floor to find the cause of his fall. He couldn't see anything trash or anything, in fact, the floor was cleaner than it had ever been.

Wait a second, cleaner than it had ever been? Shit, he had used a wax on the tiles! He must have slipped on the newly polished surface. Who would have guessing cleaning could hurt so much.

Naruto finished getting dressed and looked in the mirror. He adjusted his headband to make sure it was centered. As he did so, the Kyuubi's words flitted through his head.

Lying? How would the Kyuubi know Sarada was lying to him? More importantly, why should he trust anything the fox said? Still, he couldn't help but wonder what the fox meant. It left an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, one that he couldn't quite shake.

If Sarada was lying, then what exactly was she lying about?

"How about this?" Naruto held up a bright red monstrosity that had no business being in the girls' section of a ninja supply store. For the past thirty minutes he had been making outfit suggestions based off of two criteria; was it black and red, and was it girl clothing?

"I don't think that's my size." Sarada offered the excuse to cushion his ego. The blond boy did have much fashion sense, and while Sarada never considered herself a girly girl, she still wanted to look good.

Naruto nodded sagely, as if he'd known that all along.

"Yeh, it does look a little big. I guess I'm no good with girl clothing." He admitted.

The Ninja supply store they were in, the Gilded Kunai, had a pretty good selection of tools and clothing. She'd already found three outfits she liked. Naruto was having similarly good luck finding clothes. The blond had found a black jacket with orange trim, and some traditional back ninja-pants to match. The jacket looked very similar to his old one, just a little more fitted and a lot less orange.

"I think I'll try on what I have." Sarada moved over to the fitting room. The idea of trying on clothes for Naruto made her nervous. She reminded herself that she wasn't really trying them on for him. She was just picking out a decent ninja outfit, and he happened to be here.

For some reason, that line of logic did little to stop the butterflies from returning to her stomach.

Her first outfit was a short qipao dress. It was sleeveless and red, with slits that ran up either side to allow for more freedom. Underneath, she wore a black pair of spandex bike shorts. A kunai pouch was strapped to her upper left thigh, just within reach of her fingertips.

It looked good on her, she was confident in that. It actually looked a lot like her old outfit. But she knew her mother had worn a very similar – if somewhat looser and longer – dress as a genin, and she didn't want her clothes to remind Naruto of Sakura.

She stripped quickly, and examined her two remaining outfits. One was definitely riskier than what she normally wore, but she thought it was almost guaranteed to grab Naruto's attention. And while that wasn't her main goal in picking out gear, she'd be lying if she said it wasn't something she that wanted.

Sarada steeled her resolved and made a choice. She went with the riskier route. It took a few minutes to get the clothing on, but end the end, she thought it looked good. A black, one-piece bodysuit hugged her lithe frame, making her figure much more noticeable. It was sleeveless, and the legs stopped just after they began, covering less than the bike shorts had. The skintight article of clothing was very flexible, which allowed for a full range of movement and suited her fighting style.

She wore a matching set of formfitting arm and leg warmers, with traditional black shinobi-sandals. The arm and leg warmers acted as decent armor, as the material could become hard as steel when chakra was manipulated into the fabric. The material wasn't cheap, but it was worth it when faced with a life-or-death situation. To finish the look, she had the kunai pouch strapped to her thigh, in approximately the same position as before.

It was actually far less scandalous than what many kunoichi wore. In fact, this style of tight-fitting bodysuits was very popular, both for their comfortability and practicality — for freedom of movement, not defensive capabilities, obviously.

And for the way it makes your butt look… Sarada noted. Like all ninja, she worked hard to stay in shape, and it showed.

She walked out of the fitting room. Naruto was bouncing on the heels of his feet in a bored manner. That stopped the moment he saw her. She reddened in embarrassment when she realized he was staring.

"What do you think?"

"I think you look great!" Naruto blurted out, without a second thought. "Uh, I mean, you look good. Very ninja-like." Naruto was redder than her now. Very ninja-like? Nice save, idiot! Naruto berated himself, embarrassed.

Sarada almost beamed at the compliment, thoroughly enjoying his reaction. She wore the outfit out of the store. She also bought four extra pairs, and the first outfit she tried on, for nostalgic reasons. Naruto had his clones carry everything back to their apartments.

The rest of their shopping went by in a blur. They stopped at a few more stores, some ninja some not. She noticed Naruto got a lot of dirty looks, but since the blond didn't seem to care, she tried to ignore them.

Sarada's new look was attracting a lot of unwanted stares. She was beginning to doubt over her style change. To compensate, she bought a short, robe-style kimono that went to her mid-thigh. It was a dark red color, with three-quarter sleeves and a sash that she tied to hold it closed. She figured she could wear it when she wasn't training or fighting.

"Is that Naruto?"

"Looks like it." Shikamaru responded disinterestedly.

"Who's that with him?" Ino questioned. Naruto was down the road a ways, standing outside a dango stand with some pretty girl she didn't know.

"Looks like a girl." Chouji said between mouthfuls of chips. Ino rolled her eyes. Her teammates were useless.

"Hey Naruto!" She called out, waving. "I almost didn't recognize you in those clothes! Who's your friend?"

Naruto blinked in surprise at her sudden appearance.

"Oh, hey Ino. This is Sarada."

"What are you guys up to?" Chouji asked, only half listening. The heavy-set genin was busy eyeballing the dango stand behind them.

"Looks like they're on a date." Shikamaru offered.

Ino couldn't help herself. She laughed.

"A date? The dead-last? Yeah right!"

Naruto's face fell at her words.

In Ino's defense, she felt guilt almost immediately. She was so use to picking on the blond that the comment just slipped out.

Sarada felt heat rise to her face. This time it wasn't a blush, but her temper, rising to the surface.

"What's your problem!?" Sarada snapped angrily. She wanted to do a whole lot more than yell at the blond girl, but she reigned in her temper. Actions spoke louder than words, and right now she wanted to disprove Ino's bitchy comment.

Without a second thought, she stepped closer to Naruto and looped her arm through his. Naruto's face when from sad, to confused, to grinning.

Ino's mouth fell open. Was this some weird, alternate universe?

"Well that's interesting." Shikamaru noted.

Ino apologized vehemently, and her team joined them for lunch at the dango stand.

Naruto gave them an abridged version of yesterday's events, minus certain details. He didn't want to betray Sarada's trust, and figured she could always share more if she wanted.

Ino felt her opinion of the blond go up a few notches. Maybe he wasn't such an idiot after all.

"So, were you really a date?" Chouji asked.

"Not really." Naruto admitted, "We were just out shopping." As much as he wished the alternative was true, Naruto knew that wasn't the case. He was still confused by what Sarada putting her arm through his meant, but resolved to think about it later.

Ino noticed Sarada looked a little disappointed at Naruto's words. Jeesh, maybe she'd given him too much credit. This girl obviously had a crush on him. Who could blame her? The way he told it, Naruto basically saved her life.

"Aren't you supposed to be working on you chakra control?" Ino asked. Sakura shared the information, of course. Ino couldn't say she was surprised. Naruto had the worst chakra control of any genin she knew, he was just lucky enough to have tons of chakra to compensate.

"I'm am." Naruto said with a grin. "I made a couple hundred shadow clones this morning! They've been training with chakra exercises all day."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at that. He was familiar with the technique, and the idea of creating a couple hundred clones for training was insane. The mental fatigue alone could leave someone comatose, and the amount chakra required to make that many could literally kill someone. Both were reasons for its S-rank status as a forbidden technique.

"I should probably dispel them to see how much progress they've made." Naruto added. He cancelled his jutsu, and felt a rush of new memories flood in.

"It's probably not a good idea to disperse them all at – ." Shikamaru's sentence was cut short when Naruto's head fell forward and smacked into the table.

"— once." The lazy Nara finished.

"My village is poor! We couldn't afford a higher rank mission!" Tazuna voice shook with fear as he tried to explain himself. His nerves were shot, the assassination attempt saw to that. He couldn't believe Gatou hired a pair of missing-nin to hunt him down. He was expecting regular gangsters and mercenaries, not full-fledged mist-ninja, at least not way out here. They weren't even to wave yet!

"Lying about the mission can lead to the wrong team being assigned. It's a good way to get yourself, and the ninja guarding you, killed." There was a hardness to Gai's voice that sounded almost alien coming from the man's mouth. The jonin rarely got serious, but he didn't respond well when someone put his students at risk.

"I'm sorry. My daughter, my grandson, my whole village is depending on this bridge. Please help us." Tazuna begged. He was on his knees, hands clasped before him in a pleading manner.

Gai was unhappy with the situation, but he'd known something was up from the get go. That's why he had been so careful to plan for the possibility of things going south. Sometimes clients lied. The ninja who live to talk about it were the ones who planned for the unexpected.

The Land of Waves was an island nation located just outside the Land of Fire. It was about a full day's run for a genin team. Gai had carried Tazuna this far to avoid lose time. As it stood, they were over halfway there.

"If we hurry, we can reach wave well before nightfall." Gai said. He pulled a scroll from his belt, and in the same motion, he activated the seal matrix it contained. A falcon appeared in a poof of smoke.

Author's Note: Let me know what you think of Sarada's outfit. If enough people hate it, I would consider changing it back. EDIT: since FFNet does not allow links, I posted the title, artist, and where to find the picture that Sarada's outfit is based on in my profile. It's very easy to find, for those interested.

Please review! A lot of work goes into writing, so I appreciate all the feedback I get.