Showers, Yukiko decided nearly an hour later, were a gift of the kami. She shut off the water with a sigh, wrung out her hair, and set about peeling off her sodden bandages and inspecting the damage. The deep gash in her left thigh oozed slightly, but the medic-nin's stitches were holding nicely. The wound in her side, however, had pulled open again; blood trickled slowly down her body, carried by the water that dripped from her hair.

Right. No more hard action for her, not until that scabbed over.

Yukiko poked through her medicine cabinet for a tube of antibiotic ointment, a jar of rather expensive healing lotion, and several rolls of loose cloth bandages. If she worked fast, she might be able to finish before Naruto got bored and charged into her apartment -- she didn't know if the bloody consequences of fights would bother him, but she wasn't particularly eager to find out.

Luck was with her. By the time her front door slammed open and shut, Yukiko was wearing her one and only dress -- it was sky blue, with embroidery around the sleeves, collar, and hem, and, in concession to the shinobi paranoia she'd never quite managed to shed, high slits up the side seams to allow free movement. She felt like a fraud in it, like a little girl imitating her elegant mother, but after asking for a chance to clean up, she thought she ought to put some effort into her appearance.

She pushed her bedroom door open and found Naruto on the futon in her main room, kicking his heels against the floor. He wore his ubiquitous orange pants, but he'd left off the matching jacket in favor of a white shirt with a hand-painted red spiral. He'd also apparently taken the time to wash -- his usually gravity-defying hair was plastered down in damp yellow spikes. "You take too long, Yukiko-neechan," he said, pouting.

Yukiko wrapped her hair into a bun and stretched, feeling the tension on her wounds and making sure her new bandages wouldn't slip or unwind. "Showers are a serious business, kid. You shouldn't rush them when you don't have to." She bent down to rummage for her civilian sandals -- they imitated ninja-style, but were made of dyed, braided leather instead of solid canvas -- which she thought she'd left somewhere by her table.

"You look weird without your jacket," Naruto told her, "and you have chopsticks in your hair. That's silly!"

Yukiko spared half a second wondering how to explain fashion to a six-year-old boy, and decided not to bother. "Yeah, it's silly, but a lot of people think it looks nice. When it doesn't really matter one way or the other, it's easier to go along with what other people expect. Besides, they're special chopsticks. They have glitter and ribbons, see?"

"Really? Cool! Hey, hey, can I have chopsticks with glitter? I could take them to Ichiraku ramen stand and show Iruka-san, and they'd look so cool, and maybe I could get more ramen 'cause I wouldn't have to use the old guy's chopsticks!"

Yukiko tried to picture Iruka's expression when he saw Naruto eating ramen with hair ornaments. She snorted. "Kid, if you can save your money for a week, I'll buy you chopsticks with glitter -- they're not cheap. Besides, the chopsticks you get at yatai are so cheap that nobody figures their cost into the meal. Having your own wouldn't get you any more ramen." At Naruto's deep sigh, she added, "Besides, you could just save a pair after you're done eating."

Naruto brightened. "Yeah! Thanks, Yukiko-neechan!"

"No problem." Aha! Yukiko grabbed her sandals from underneath her radiator, slipped them on, and turned back to the kid. "Now come here and let me fix your hair."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Tonoike Taizen's teahouse and restaurant stood halfway between the center of Konoha and the massive village wall, on the far side of town from Yukiko's apartment building. The sun hung low on the western horizon as Yukiko and Naruto walked through the streets, casting long shadows from building to building. The warm, sweet scent of flowers rose from small parks and window boxes, and bees hummed quietly to themselves as they flew from blossom to blossom.

Yukiko found that very few people seemed to recognize her as one of the new chuunin -- she supposed her dress was a better disguise than she'd expected. Several times, though, passing civilians crossed to the other side of the street and stared suspiciously at Naruto. The kid smiled and babbled as if he didn't notice, but each time he clutched Yukiko's hand a little bit tighter until the hostile strangers passed by. Yukiko squeezed his fingers reassuringly.

The teahouse was impossible to miss, not because it was obtrusive -- it was, in fact, the sort of nondescript building the eye tended to skip over unless a person already knew it was there -- but because Naga was waiting outside, scuffing her feet idly on the pavement. Taizen had apparently forced her daughter into a white kimono decorated with lavender flowers, which Naga wore with both a distinct air of righteous suffering and a subtle awkwardness, as though she wasn't quite sure how to move in a skirt.

She brightened as Yukiko and Naruto approached. "Hi! Now everybody's here except Kakashi. Come have tea while we wait for the jerk." Naruto snickered.

Naga led the way into her mother's restaurant, which seemed to be one open, spacious room. Tables lined the walls, and short, waist-high walls jutted outward toward the center of the room, covering seated shinobi's vital areas without greatly impeding their vision. The central area seemed to be a kitchen of sorts, with elaborate shelves of dry tea and delicate porcelain dishes rising to the ceiling between gleaming metal pillars. A plump woman prepared some sort of fried dessert on a sizzling grill, while a hawk-nosed man arranged fruit in elaborate patterns onto porcelain plates and carried them to a waiting party of five.

Naga threaded her way around the tables and dividers, nodded casually to several ninja -- regular customers, Yukiko assumed -- and pushed open a door in the back wall. The new room thus revealed was much smaller, with only one rectangular table. Iruka and his Aunt Sadako sat at the far end, discussing the merits of variant kunai designs with a lanky, brown-haired man in a dark green kimono; presumably he was Naga's father. An unobtrusive door in the side wall opened onto another kitchen, which looked less like a commercial room and more like part of someone's home. Just visible beyond the doorway, Taizen was busily arranging a tea set on a carved wooden tray.

"That's our kitchen," Naga said in response to Yukiko's questioning glance. "This room's for guests or groups who want privacy, so my mother cooks. Our apartment and the back alley are through there."

"Huh." The whole restaurant was interesting, from an architectural and interior design standpoint; Yukiko wondered how long it had taken to set up, and how much it had cost. "Does your family own the building, or did you get permission to remodel this floor?"

Naga twitched her shoulder. "Got permission, I think, but then we bought the building. My mother deals with that stuff," she said as Taizen pushed open the door from the kitchen. "Talk to her if you want -- just keep the brat under control. I have to wait for Kakashi."

"Hey! I'm not a brat!" Naruto grumbled, but he followed Naga and claimed a seat next to Iruka, who smiled and offered his hand for Naruto to shake. Yukiko grinned and sat next to him, while Taizen set out the teacups and claimed her own seat beside her husband, leaving one seat to Yukiko's left and the seat at the doorway end of the table for Naga and Kakashi.

Naga's father took a sip of tea and nodded across the table at Yukiko. "Hello! I don't think we've been introduced," he said. "I'm Tonoike Bashoto, Naga's father -- you've already met my lovely wife, Taizen. Welcome to our place!" His smile was slightly cockeyed, but wide and enthusiastic; Yukiko couldn't help returning it.

"Welcome," Taizen agreed. "However, I would like to lay one ground rule. Hatake Kakashi-san is reimbursing me for half the cost of this dinner, but I consider it a celebration and am happy to have you all here. Please give me no reason to regret my hospitality." A hint of steel underlay her quiet voice.

Yukiko leaned down and whispered into Naruto's ear, "That means don't do anything to Kakashi until after we leave. Sorry, kid."

Naruto pouted. "Hey, hey, when are we gonna see him again? He's not your sensei anymore, right, Yukiko-neechan? I had a really cool plan, too!"

Huh. That was actually a good question, especially if Yukiko didn't accept her promotion and went back to her semi-retired status. It would be easy to keep in touch with Iruka, and she wanted to ask Taizen's advice about remodeling buildings for business purposes -- she thought she might be able to coax her cousin Yura into opening a restaurant in the ground floor of the building next door, if she could scrape up a big enough loan to buy it -- so she'd probably see Naga around as well, but Kakashi... well, Kakashi was a different story.

"I'll think of something," she said. "Now, say hello to Iruka's aunt, Umino Sadako-san."

That introduction was a bit strained -- the Kyuubi had, after all, killed Sadako's nephew, niece, and brother -- but all in all successful. When the elderly woman began to regale Naruto with stories of Iruka's former wild escapades, making Iruka flush crimson with embarrassment and stumble over protests that really, Naruto shouldn't take him as any sort of example, Yukiko returned to her tea with the satisfaction of a job well done. She was just going to ask Taizen how well a restaurant and apartments worked together when Naga, looking thoroughly put out, hauled Kakashi in. She shoved him toward the end of the table and sank into the remaining chair, which she hitched toward Yukiko.

Kakashi still looked exactly like what he was -- a deceptively lazy ninja -- but he had at least switched to longer, more civilian-style pants and left off his bandages. "Yo. Sorry I'm late -- I was attacked by a troop of rabid squirrels and had to detour. What'd I miss?"

Naga rolled her eyes. "See?" she said to her mother. "Don't know why we had to wait for him."

"Naga-chan..."

"Right, right." Naga twitched her shoulder, and then struggled out of her chair to help her mother serve dinner. Taizen vanished into the kitchen and passed several dishes through the window, which Naga laid on clay tiles, to keep their heat from scorching the tablecloth. Taizen's taste seemed to lean heavily toward spicy meat dishes, with vegetables used more as a garnish than the mainstay of the meal.

Naruto pounced on the curry. "See?" he said triumphantly to Yukiko. "Not everybody eats yucky vegetables all the time! Hey, hey, why don't you cook like this, Yukiko-neechan?"

"Because."

"That's not a real answer!"

"Learn to deal with it, kid -- sometimes the world is just like that," Yukiko said, before taking a bite of garlic beef. It was good, but she generally preferred her meals with less kick, and with a higher ratio of pepper and onion to meat.

Naruto raised a chopstick and took a deep breath, but Taizen interrupted him. "Not until after dinner, Naruto-kun. For now, concentrate on eating." She paused. "By the way, Kakashi-san, is the food not to your taste?"

Yukiko, Iruka, and Naga exchanged amused glances and stared pointedly at Kakashi's ever-present mask. "You are paranoid about people seeing your mouth," Naga said. "Or maybe you can't eat without making a mess?"

"Ahh..." Kakashi looked slightly nervous under the sudden scrutiny, and then whipped one of his little orange books from his vest. He snapped it open in front of his face and picked up his chopsticks with his other hand. "I was just worried about the etiquette of reading at the table."

Tonoike Bashoto blinked. Iruka sighed. Naga twitched her shoulder. Umino Sadako laughed. Yukiko clamped her hand over Naruto's mouth before he could say anything unfortunate. And Taizen calmly reached over, her motion so smooth it didn't seem to set off Kakashi's danger signals, and shoved his book down into his plate of curry and rice.

"That sort of book," she said, "is never appropriate."

Yukiko caught a brief glimpse of pale skin and a jagged scar extending down from Kakashi's covered eye before the jounin grabbed his napkin and pressed it to his face. She blinked, dropped her hand, and tried very hard not burst into laughter. "Kid," she wheezed, "I think we're outclassed. Taizen-san already got Kakashi's book for you."

Naruto watched Taizen in awe. "That was so cool! Hey, hey, Taizen-san, teach me how to do that! Yukiko-neechan's teaching me to be sneaky, but she's not fast like that, and it took us forever to dye Kakashi-baka's hair, and you got him so fast, and you know origami, and you're really cool, and please? I can carry stuff for you!"

Kakashi growled from behind his napkin. Taizen smiled again. "I'll think about it, Naruto-kun. Now, since that misunderstanding has been resolved, let's return to our meal."

After a minute or so of awkwardness, the conversation drifted to the new chuunin's prospects. Iruka, of course, was headed back to the academy. Naga thought she might join the Anbu. Her father objected loudly, and both Umino Sadako and, surprisingly, Kakashi, agreed with him. "Wait until you have more experience under your vest," Sadako advised. "Anbu missions are like all your nightmares squeezed together and distilled. You'd probably survive, but you need a very good sense of who you are before you dive in, or you might not recognize yourself when you come out."

Kakashi nodded. "She's right. Anbu's one head trip you don't need yet."

"But--"

"It isn't as if the Anbu will vanish if you wait," Yukiko said, trying to sound reasonable. "Besides, if you're always on secret missions, you won't get any chances to visit places openly. Why not sign up for courier missions instead?" She glanced across the table to make sure Taizen wasn't looking, and sketched the symbol of Hidden Grass in the air.

Comprehension dawned on Naga's face. "Oh. Yeah. Courier missions," she said, which was more or less the end of that argument.

Then, of course, everyone wanted to know Yukiko's plans. She squirmed, not wanting to admit that she intended to refuse the promotion and go back to her civilian life. "I don't know," she said. "I didn't expect to pass, so I never thought about it."

"Anbu," Naga said. "You have a good sense of who you are -- you could tell me about it, all the stuff Dad won't say."

"Um, no." If she had a good sense of who she was, Yukiko thought, it was the sort of sense that said she really didn't want to join Anbu. "But there are a lot of options, and I don't have to decide right away," she said, hoping to fend off any more suggestions.

She was immensely relieved when the conversation moved on to speculation about the state of the truce with Hidden Mist, and what the public disagreements at today's exam would mean for potential missions near Water Country. That was much safer than lying about her future plans, and, Yukiko told herself, even civilians had a right to be interested in this sort of thing. Conflict between hidden villages affected trade routes, which affected prices and the availability of goods. If things got tense, she might have to raise rents to cover the higher costs of repairs, and if the worst happened and war broke out, her taxes would undoubtedly shoot through the roof.

Konoha would need good spies up in Water Country. Yukiko suppressed the small voice that whispered that a genjutsu expert with legitimate civilian business connections would stand a better chance of investigating safely than more typical ninja, and that spying might actually be quite interesting. She was going to quit and take care of Naruto. There was no use having second thoughts now.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"So, so, what are you gonna do now that you're a chuunin, Yukiko-neechan?" Naruto asked as she unlocked the door to her apartment. He kicked off his sandals and followed her in, clearly not interested in trudging up to his seventh-floor room.

Yukiko untied her forehead protector and looked at it thoughtfully. He'd find out tomorrow anyway, and he deserved the truth. "Remember what I said this afternoon? There are things I care more about than being a shinobi, and if I went out on missions, I couldn't be here with you. I think I'm going to retire again."

Naruto gasped. "Hey, hey, you can't do that! You passed!"

Oh, shit. If she didn't handle this exactly right, she'd have a repeat of Naruto's tantrum when she'd originally refused to enter the chuunin exam. Apparently it was one thing to convince Naruto that she thought he was more important than fighting Iruka. It was a much harder thing to convince him that she still thought he was more important when she had the chance to be a chuunin without fighting any of her friends, and to explain that being a ninja meant that she'd spend most of her time on missions, which meant that she'd have to leave him alone -- the same way he'd been alone before she'd met him.

Yukiko sat down at her kitchen table and tried to explain all that to the kid. Naruto listened solemnly but with a growing expression of stubbornness. When she finished, he scowled. "That's stupid, Yukiko-neechan. Iruka-san's gonna be a chuunin but he's gonna stay here! Why can't you?"

Yukiko blinked. "Uhh..."

"And even if you go away, Iruka-san's still here, and I'm gonna be in the acad'my, and I have my own 'partment, not like when I was at Midori-san's house. So, so, it's like when I go to school, except you'd be gone longer." He looked briefly hesitant, and then added, "And you'd always come back, so that's okay. And I know you're not a chicken and you like being a ninja, Yukiko-neechan! You smile more." Naruto sat back in his wooden chair and folded his arms with the air of a person who's just delivered a winning argument and knows it.

Yukiko blinked again, feeling as though someone had just slammed the hilt of a kunai against the base of her head. Huh. The kid... actually had some good points. She could, theoretically, take a number of positions that didn't require much travel -- mission planning, mission analysis, interrogation and intelligence work -- but she hadn't even considered those. That sort of thing wasn't what interested her about shinobi work. She couldn't possibly work with Iruka; nobody who couldn't demonstrate ninjutsu could handle the full load of an academy teacher, and anyway, she wanted nothing to do with hordes of screaming brats. So she'd assumed, without really thinking, that she'd be shoved into a standard mission team and sent off to all corners of the land, with no control over her schedule and no way to continue any part of her civilian job.

She didn't want that. She liked managing her building. And she wanted some stability in her life and her interaction with Naruto.

But there were other positions that could get her out of Konoha -- get her some excitement -- while still retaining some control. She'd have to negotiate carefully to get the details arranged to her satisfaction, but, yes, there were other options.

"Huh," she said aloud. "I smile more, do I?"

"Yeah," Naruto said firmly. "Like, like when you make a good deal, or you rent a 'partment, or you sneak up on me when I'm making a trap. And," he added, "if you're gonna be a ninja, you'll see Kakashi-baka and I can get his book like Taizen-san did!"

Yukiko smiled involuntarily and reached over to muss Naruto's hair. "Kid, you are something else. Don't lose that, okay?"

Naruto looked confused but nodded his agreement and let Yukiko walk him up to his room. She walked down one flight of stairs to the sixth floor and opened the barred door to the bare roof that held the building's water tank. The night wind whipped her skirt against her legs and ran cool fingers through her hair and along the back of her neck. Yukiko sat on the edge of the roof and let her feet dangle down the wall of her building as she looked out across Konoha. Lights sparkled in the darkness as civilian families gathered in their homes, and now and then she caught glimpses of dark-clad ninja leaping from roof to roof before they vanished into the shadows.

"The difference between legendary determination and pig-headed stubbornness is whether you win," Yukiko said to herself, remembering what Sarutobi-sama had told her before the exam. But that wasn't the whole explanation. The other difference was whether you could talk other people into believing you. The Fourth Hokage could convince a person that walking off a cliff was the right thing to do. And Naruto... well, maybe Naruto just might become Hokage someday.

Stranger things had happened. She couldn't think of any offhand, but she was sure that was true.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Yukiko stood between Iruka and Naga, waiting in the Hokage's outer office, and refused to fidget. No shinobi worth her forehead-protector would let herself show nerves through involuntary motion, and besides, it was beneath her dignity. Naruto, Umino Sadako, and Naga's parents were waiting outside, probably in the corridor where they undoubtedly blocked everyone's passage. Yukiko hoped, secretly, that Naruto was annoying all the clerical workers -- she was sure it was entirely their fault that the new chuunin contracts weren't ready yet.

She adjusted her new vest and sighed.

"Hokage-sama said this would only take five minutes," Iruka said bracingly. "I'm sure we'll be done any minute now."

Sure enough, a harried-looking genin slipped through the door carrying a small stack of papers, jerked his head to indicate that they should follow him, and opened the door to the inner office. Sarutobi-sama stood from behind his desk, his wide hat shadowing his wrinkled face, and smiled around his pipe. "Congratulations," he said. "Thank you for waiting -- now you only have to wait while I read through your new responsibilities, rights, and pay schedules, before you can sign and escape." He set his pipe down on an ivory stand and held out his hand for the genin's papers.

Once the new contracts were signed, Sarutobi-sama pulled out another sheet, asked if the new chuunin had any requests for positions -- "Not you, Iruka-kun; I know where you'll be going, of course," -- and readied his brush and ink.

"Courier," Naga said, and then added, "Please."

Sarutobi-sama nodded and made a note. "Yukiko-san?"

Yukiko brushed her forehead-protector for reassurance, and said, "Intelligence. Field operations, not headquarters."

Her teammates looked surprised, but said nothing. Sarutobi-sama noted her request, and then laid his brush aside and dismissed them. Iruka and Naga filed out, but Yukiko hung back and closed the door behind them.

Sarutobi-sama made a questioning gesture with his pipe.

"I thought this over last night," Yukiko said, "and talked with Naruto, and I realized that I want to be a ninja, so long as I have the chance. But I want to continue my civilian life as well. I thought that since I have legitimate business connections, it would be easy enough for me to pose as a merchant or a buyer for my uncle's store. That would give me an excuse to travel and ask questions, but I would still have to return to Konoha regularly so I could maintain my building. That way I'll still be able to watch over Naruto. And, of course, if there are any specific missions along whatever routes I take, I could do those."

She watched Sarutobi-sama's face for any cues, but he remained impassive. "Would that work, Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi drew thoughtfully on his pipe, and blew a series of smoke rings. "That is not the typical pattern for intelligence work, but information from the business community could be useful. I'll pass on your suggestions to the intelligence division when I tell them of your career request, and I believe that Heika-san and Ibiki-san will be quite interested. Mmm. Yes, I think it could definitely work."

Yukiko released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Then she touched her forehead-protector again, nervously. "Um. I have one other question. Why... why did I pass? I forfeited to Iruka, and I only barely beat Akaro. I quit. What about that says I'll be any good as a chuunin, Hokage-sama? Why me?" Her voice rose plaintively, and she clenched her hands to keep her fingers from twitching.

"Is that what worries you?" Sarutobi-sama gestured thoughtfully with his pipe. "First, even if you 'only barely' won against Uchiha Akaro, for a genjutsu user to defeat the Sharingan is no little thing. Second, you forfeited to Iruka." Sarutobi-sama smiled. "Ask Kakashi someday about the bell test, and you'll understand what that says about your character and judgment. Third, of course, was the compromise between the Leaf and the Mist; the Mizukage wished to promote Aishou, and supported your promotion as a sort of bribe. Konoha got much the better end of that bargain."

"Huh." Yukiko considered that. Politics, luck, desperation, and some secret she'd have to pry out of Kakashi. All in all, there were probably worse reasons to promote a genin. "Thank you, Sarutobi-sama," she said, and bowed as she opened the door.

"Hey, hey, Yukiko-neechan!" Naruto pounced on her as soon as she walked into the hallway, latching onto her jacket and dancing from toe to toe. "So, so, what're you gonna do? You didn't quit, right? You're gonna be a ninja and kick everyone's butt."

Yukiko moved his fingers from her jacket into her own hand, and started walking toward the stairs. "Yeah, kid, I'm going to keep on being a shinobi, but I don't think I'm going to kick a lot of butts. I'm going to be a spy instead." She mentally crossed her fingers; the intelligence division was unpredictable, but she thought that having Sarutobi-sama on her side would help.

"A spy?" Naruto scrunched up his face, making his whisker marks crinkle. "I guess that's cool. Sneaking around is fun, anyway."

"Yes, it is. And I'll get to find out what traps other villages are making, so we can make sure they get caught instead of us. It's like..." Yukiko groped for a simile, and then grinned. "It's like setting up giant practical jokes, and then sitting back to watch them work."

"Really?" Naruto's eyes were wide, astonished pools of blue.

Yukiko nodded.

"That's so cool! See, see, I knew you were a really good ninja! And then you can come home and teach me! I won't play jokes on people in your building, but I can play them on people outside, right? And on kids in the acad'my -- 'specially ones who think they're cool but they're not -- and on Iruka-san, and Kakashi-baka, and Naga, but not Taizen-san 'cause she's cool, and--"

Yukiko let Naruto's excited babbling wash over her as they walked into the bright morning sunlight. She had a family, she had her building, and she had her old dream back; the warmth of the sun felt like her parents smiling down on her, and Ame and Kasumi watching her back. She'd let everyone down in the past, but that was no reason to give up. All she had to do was pick herself up from the dust and try again.

Determination didn't have to be legendary to be real.

Yukiko squeezed Naruto's hand and set off into the rest of her life.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

AN: And that's more or less that, baring the epilogue. Yukiko has made her journey, courtesy of Naruto's influence, and I have thus finished the story I began telling. Going much further would require starting a new story...

Which is, in fact, what I'm doing! "The Guardian in Spite of Herself" should start coming out on my regular irregular schedule sometime in December. In the aftermath of the Uchiha massacre, Yukiko discovers that the reward for a job well done is... a bigger job. With attendant headaches.

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