A/N: Oh yeah, I kind of want to change the novel's name ... does anyone have any good ideas?

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She knew, soon she’d need to get up.

She had sensed that as her Mom had woken up and held her head in pain, probably having a huge hangover, her Mom had also realized just where Jiraiya was touching her.

Strangely her Mom did not hit or scream at him, she just escaped his hug and moved to the kitchen to drink a glass of water before moving to her bathroom to freshen up, which is where Uzu stopped focusing on her.

For hours now, Uzu had lied on her bed, wide awake and staring at the gradually rising sun.

Honestly, she just didn’t know what to do now.

It would become heavily awkward between them … she had seen and understood that he felt uncomfortable last night. He really did not want her to see him like that and she acknowledged that. She really did.

And she would wait for him. If he decided that he didn’t want anything to do with her anymore, then that was that. She could, probably, live with that.

She would be … lonely … and she would miss the time they spent together, but she still had her Mom. She still had her Mom that she cherished.

Reluctantly, she pulled herself into a sitting position, stretching her tense shoulders, feeling a wave of pleasure and satisfaction wash over her body.

Sluggishly she completed her daily routine, grounding her and calming her down, before finding herself seated at the table and watching as Jiraiya and Tsunade ate.

She really just wasn’t in the mood for food today, finding it more interesting to just stare at the food, eliminating all emotion from her face.

She found that it was very easy to just suppress whatever she was feeling and focus on whatever she needed to do. And what she needed to do was certainly not eating. She usually just ate to taste the food; it didn’t matter if she ate or not, her body would function either way.

Feeling the worried gaze of her mother on her face and the questioning gaze of Jiraiya looking at the empty seat next to herself, she looked up, waiting for them to just ask whatever they wanted to know.

And soon enough, Jiraiya spoke: “Something happened? Naruto doesn’t usually sleep that long.”

Uzu stared at him for a while, thinking about whether she should tell him of what happened a few hours prior.

He probably knows what bothers Naruto and Jiraiya managed to comfort Tsunade too … so I should probably tell him.

Closing her eyes and avoiding their gazes, she spoke: “I woke up in the middle of the night and sensed that Naruto was crying inside of his room. He put up silencing seals on the door, probably not wanting anyone to know.”

She decided to omit all the parts about her interaction with him. She didn’t want to talk about it …

If Naruto trusted Jiraiya, then Jiraiya would know what happened either way. She just needed him to help Naruto.

Opening her eyes again, she decided to just consume the food in front of her, hoping not to worry her Mom any further.

Sure enough, as she started eating at her usual pace, her Mom’s concern lessened, and they returned to their meal.

Though, the entirety of it was spent in silence.

Helping her mother wash the dishes, Uzu asked: “What kind of mission will you give us?”

Tsunade remained silent for a while before saying: “Probably just a C-Rank, since it’s your first mission. The difficulty of your missions will only increase after that. I know that you can handle it though.” Tsunade smiled at her.

…

After Tsunade and Jiraiya left, Uzu returned to her room, deciding to put on her traveling clothes and gathering the stuff she would need for a longer mission. Mainly, her Fuuinjutsu tools, different sets of spare clothes and a scroll filled with all kinds of seals that she probably would not use. She also took some soldier pills with her … though those too, were quite useless. Her seal was much more efficient and useful.

Scanning the house, she noticed that Naruto was already gone, his bed made and clean.

To her mind, it looked like a room that had never even been used before.

Suppressing her already rising emotions, she stepped out of her room and decided to walk through the forests for a while as there was still some time before the mission briefing would begin.

…

Feeling the soft grass underneath her feet, she couldn’t help but smile slightly.

Being in the forest helped, always.

The feeling of her body connecting with the earth and the sheer massive life force it held was incredible.

Holding her shoes in one hand, she leisurely strolled through the forest, carefully scanning her immediate surroundings.

Lately, she was always waiting for Danzo’s men to attack her. Especially since her Anbu guard had been called back to his regular duty.

Some parts of her actually wanted him to send his cannon fodder to attack her …

She watched as a brown rabbit jumped onto her path and stopped in front of her.

Locking eyes with the rabbit, she slowly bent down to touch its fur.

Scratching it behind its ears, the rabbit leaned into her hand and seemed to enjoy her touch.

Sending out her chakra to observe every angle of the rabbit, she decided to try creating a replica of this particular rabbit.

Sitting down on her calves, Uzu slowly went through a few hand signs, coaxing the chakra in her system to gather at her hands.

Slamming them onto the ground next to the rabbit, she whispered: “Wood Release: Animal Summoning.”

Soon enough, a wooden rabbit grew from the ground, gradually taking on the same shape and form as the living rabbit next to it.

Further observing the living rabbit’s movements and committing them to memory, she made her rabbit clone take on a similar behavior to make it seem like a genuine rabbit.

This has lots of potential … she thought, taking out her brush, dipping it into ink and drawing a seal on the inside of her wooden rabbit’s mouth.

Upon finishing the seal and pushing a bit of chakra into it, her chakra waves could no longer sense the wooden rabbit’s differences in presence compared to a normal rabbit.

At this point, a person that hadn’t seen the process would not be able to sense the differences between these two rabbits. Of course, one was soft and if you touched its skin a bit too hard, you would feel its flesh, whereas if you did that to the wooden one, you would feel your finger hit something hard.

This jutsu could be beneficial if I need to gather information on someone, this is good.

Though, thinking about it, the same could be achieved by creating a clone and having it transform into the animal that I need …

Uzu sighed, feeling her efforts prove themselves as foolish time waste.

Either way, the real rabbit slowly hopped away and Uzu decided to just take the wooden rabbit with her.

Cradling it in her arms after having stowed away her shoes, she continued walking through the forest, observing all kinds of animals living their life.

…

It’s time.

Slowly walking out of the forest, Uzu bent down, letting the rabbit hop onto the ground.

After hugging it for a while, she decided to just keep it as a pet. It would also make a nice gift if she ever needed to give anyone something. It didn’t need to be fed and it wouldn’t die unless someone destroyed it. It also had the nice feature of being warm and soft …

She quickly put on her sandals, this time without heels as they would only bother her on her travels, before picking up the small rabbit again and hugging it against her chest.

…

Standing in front of the Hokage tower, Uzu decided to check her supplies one last time. Though she was sure that she didn’t forget anything, it didn’t hurt to check one more time.

She had decided to wear comfortable black sandals, black thigh highs, a pouch on her right leg and a very comfortable and soft kimono top. The kimono top was partly white and partly black, being held in place by a tight cloth on her waist. The kimono’s sleeves ended halfway on her upper arms, leaving the rest of her hairless arms uncovered.

Nodding to herself after scanning the contents of her pouch one last time, she strolled into the Hokage tower, still holding onto her rabbit.

As it was an inanimate creature, she could easily store it in her storage scroll when needed, there was no reason not to take it with her.

…

Arriving at the mission briefing room, she noticed that Naruto and Sakura were already here. They seemed to be pleasantly talking with each other.

Carefully observing Naruto’s expression, she frowned, noticing the fake mask he put on again. Though, she should have expected it. Perhaps that’s just the way that he deals with things.

Sakura seemed slightly annoyed as she listened to Naruto chatter away.

Uzu decided to just sit down on a chair a distance away, focusing on the ball of fur in her hands instead.

An hour after the decided time, she finally felt Kakashi’s presence coming towards the corridor.

Pretending not to have noticed him, she waited until he passed her, sensing the questioning gaze he sent the rabbit on her lap, before sitting up and following him with a few meters of distance between them.

This will be a very fun mission …

Kakashi moved to knock on the door before leisurely opening it as if he weren’t an hour late already.

Uzu looked at Naruto who had stood up and was just about to enter the room when their eyes met.

Observing each other, Uzu felt cold when she saw the apologetic expression on his face before he returned to his fake smile.

Watching his slightly hunched back straighten as he walked into the room, Uzu just wondered whether she had been like that in her past life as well.

She had also gotten really good at pretending that she was fine in her past life, when actually she just really wanted to stop …

And exactly because she had been good at it in her past life, she recognized that same pattern in Naruto.

When he needed to be, he would be normal for the people that needed him to be normal. But when he was alone, he would nearly break down whenever he lost himself in his thoughts.

Though she really did not know how to help him, she would always be there when he wanted her around him. That’s what you do for people you like, right?

As Sakura walked past Uzu, she did not miss the mixture of anger and wariness on Sakura’s face.

We won’t get along at all …

Also walking inside, she closed the door behind her and stood next to Naruto before looking at her Mom and the other people sitting at the table with her. Shizune was sitting next to Tsunade and she recognized another person sitting at the long table, Iruka.

This scene seems familiar, Uzu thought.

Uzu sensed another presence rapidly closing in on the door behind her and as her Mom was just about to start announcing their mission, the door shot open, revealing a woman with a paper in her hand.

She shouted: “Urgent message from Sunagakure!”

Rushing towards Tsunade, the woman handed her the paper and Uzu watched as her Mom’s eyes widened in surprise and then she sighed, seemingly exhausted.

Uzu met her Mom’s eyes and finally recognized this particular scene.

To think that her first mission would be the Kazekage Rescue Mission. Wonderful.

And sure enough, Uzu found herself rushing towards Sunagakure with the rest of Team 7.

Kakashi and Sakura were at the front and Naruto and she were next to each other as they stepped on tree branch after tree branch.

Before leaving Konoha, she had decided to leave her rabbit with Tsunade, hoping to give her a bit of comfort. Animals always managed to warm even the coldest of hearts, so Uzu was sure it would help her Mom.

Though, Tsunade wouldn’t be lonely with Jiraiya seemingly having moved in?

Uzu remembered the way they had sat on the couch that night and wondered whether they’d get together at some point …

Jiraiya was known to have loved Tsunade all his life after all.

Mother is still thinking of Dan though … Jiraiya will have a hard time …

Hearing Naruto talk to her, she pushed other thoughts to the back of her mind: “Uhm … I’m sorry you had to see that last night.”

Seeing the apologetic smile on his face, she felt cold.

“No, I’m sorry for intruding. You clearly didn’t want anyone to know …” She said, flinching at the detached tone her voice had taken on.

She saw his shoulders deflate and she heard him breathe out a sad sigh.

After a few moments of silence, she heard him quietly say: “I just wanted you to know … that while it may not have showed, I really appreciated that you were there for me … thank you so much, Uzu. I didn’t know, but I really needed that yesterday … thank you …”

Eh?

His wide smile made a blush rise to her cheeks and she almost missed a tree branch in surprise.

Seeing the genuine happy smile on his face, her racing thoughts calmed, and she couldn’t do much else but smile back at him.

I never expected to …

But …

“Are you sure?” She whispered.

He nodded, holding out his hand.

I’m glad … I’m glad …

Smiling, she took his hand and let him pull her along as they ran through the trees.

Neither of them noticed or cared about the pair of eyes watching them. Kakashi looked back at them to check on them and just happened to see them hold hands as they traveled across the trees. In his mind, their image overlapped with the one of Kushina and Minato and he couldn’t help but look at them with a smile before turning away again and focusing on the mission.

At some point, the terrain around them changed and they would soon reach the village hidden in the sand.

…

A/N: Uhm … hopefully it was somewhat readable :O

This will be the last chapter of the day (for real! :3)