"For a little while longer. I currently have four tails of power while he has five, most likely feeling the sudden drain of energy. It's a shame though...that you and I can't always be together, having to use the kit to see each other," he said, sighing lightly. He was; however, glad that she was going to talk to both boys.

"Naruto, what are you doing with such a hot babe?" Kiba asked, causing the others that knew him to sigh lightly and stepping away from him.

"This 'hot babe' has a name you know," Yugito said as she growled out.

Gemini nodded. It wasn't the ideal situation, but it was better than nothing. "At least we can see each other. Naruto-kun doesn't even have that much." She said. "Father, I've made a decision. One of the first things I ever learned was the concealing technique that hides my ears and tail. The day that man brought me home, he beat me and demanded that I hide "those hideous deformities" as he called them. Obviously, I learned quickly. Since then, I can't remember a single day of my life when I haven't hidden them. Not anymore. I am tired of hiding what I am. From now on, I will display my ears and tail proudly." She told him, with clear determination in her eyes.

Naruto blinked, then narrowed his eyes. "Hey, show some respect, dog breath! Yugito-chan is a friend, dattebayo." He said warningly.

"At least there is that," Kurama replied as he was happy for his musume, glad that she wasn't going to hide who she was anymore. "Good for you musume-chan. And if people even try harming you because of your vixen nature...self-defense can be used as a catch all for many things," he said deviously. While he didn't hate Konoha as a whole, he hated the villagers and what they had done to both his daughter and to his jailor.

"Oi, who are you calling dog breath, deadlast?!" Kiba shouted back as Neji used the distraction to get closer to the female from that village...

Gemini's eyes widened in surprise, then she smirked. "Of course. I would never hurt anyone on purpose." She said with mock innocence. She hadn't expected her father to suggest such behavior, but thinking about it she realized that it was only natural for him to do so.

"Who do you think, dog breath?! Why don't you get out of here before I pummel you?" Naruto responded heatedly. In his anger towards Kiba, he had momentarily forgotten about Neji.

"Of course not. No daughter of mine would ever think of harming anyone," Kurama said sarcastically. "I should get going, but if you ever need me, talk to Naruto. I'm sure he'll create a clone for you. Now then...before I go, can I get a hug from my musume?" he asked.

Yugito was actually surprised that Naruto was sticking up for her, especially since they only met at the start of the exams...she felt her cheeks warm up as she heard what Naruto said. However, that was all dashed when she felt Neji close by. She also had a feeling that he was going to take some sort of revenge against her just for being from Kumo...

Gemini smiled and nodded, then stepped forward to hug her father tightly. "We'll talk again soon, father. I'm glad I finally got to meet you. I love you." She said.

Naruto finally noticed the presence of Neji, much closer to Yugito that he would have liked. Ignoring Kiba, the blonde turned to face the Hyuuga male with a look of fierce protection. "Stay. Away. From. Her." He growled warningly.

"Hey, don't you turn away from me! Face me like a-" Kiba broke off when he noticed the aura of danger around Naruto. What the heck? Is that really Naruto...? the dog ninja thought.

"Of course we'll talk again Musume,"he said as he returned the hug before vanishing in a small poof of smoke, returning to Naruto.

Yugito was glad, and surprised, that Naruto was so suddenly territorially over her. If it was anyone else, she'd be annoyed, but somehow she was okay with it. It also helped stop whatever aura of darkness that was coming from the Hyuuga as he stopped in mid step, apparently scared shitless of whatever Naruto was doing.

Gemini stood for a moment after her father had left, then shook herself and headed out of the room to find the sand siblings.

Naruto felt the moment when the Kyuubi returned fully. Good thing. If this guy wanted to fight, I would have been in trouble. He thought, knowing the fox could hear him. "Yugito-chan. Did he do anything?"

Yugito shook her head in the negative. "No, he didn't. Thanks to you," she said. And before she could stop and think as to what she was doing, she kissed him on the cheek for the gesture, not caring that the others saw it. "Thanks for that by the way...sticking up for me. The only people who do that back in Kumo are Samui-chan, Bee-sensei and Rai-jiji," she said.

Temari was pacing back and forth as she waited for her brother and Gemini to return. She was worried about them, and honestly, she wanted to know why Gemini ordered them out of the room when she did so. She wouldn't force the girl to tell her anything, but she was still curious.

Losing his rage quickly, Naruto turned bright red. "I...it was no problem, really. I don't like seeing people who are important to me get hurt or threatened." He said, recovering.

Gemini found her friends quickly. Smiling, she hoped they didn't see that she had been crying before. "Hey guys. Sorry that took so long." She said as she approached them.

"Still, thanks Naruto," she said with a smile on her face, "though I should probably get going Shoutaro-chan is probably waiting for me as we speak," she added. She couldn't believe that Naruto already thought of her as a precious person.

"We were worried about you Gem-chan," Temari said once she got into range. She was still wondering if it was okay to ask or not and decided to go for it. "Um Gem-chan...can Kankuro and I know what happened before you ordered us to leave?" she asked, also saying that she didn't have to answer of she didn't want to.

Naruto nodded. "Right. Sakura-chan and Sasuke-san are probably looking for me, too, dattebayo." He said. "I'll see you later, okay?" He said questioningly.

Gemini's ear twitched. "Nothing much. Just that Naruto-kun had some valuable information about my father." She said, deciding that the whole truth was just too much. She would tell Gaara the rest later. "Why don't we go get some training done?"

(and of course I don't get an e-mail about this post >_<)

"Probably," she replied as she nodded to Naruto's second question.

Temari nodded lightly since she didn't want to pry or alienate her friend. "I see...and training does sound like a good idea," she replied. She was saddened by the fact that her friend didn't trust her enough with the information, but then again, she hadn't told her about the invasion plans...

Naruto grinned, and with a final wave over his shoulder, he ran off to find his team.

Gemini managed a convincing smile. "Great, let's go then. I want to train with Gaara-san, since he'd be a good challenge." She said lightly. In truth, it killed her a little to lie to her friends, but no matter how accepting they were, she simply was not ready to tell them that her father was the Kyuubi.

"So the boy wonder returns from his date I see. How did it go?" he asked teasingly. He wouldn't admit it under penalty of death, but it was actually a little bit of fun to tease the blonde. "And when we'll be seeing her again, hm?" he added.

"Sounds like a plan. Just be careful though, alright?" she asked, knowing that Gaara could go a little overboard accidentally. Granted that meant she'd have to be facing her puppeteer brother, but that didn't bother the sand princess too much.

Yugito found Shotaro roaming the halls and grinned lightly as she walked towards him. Unfortunately, he had bad news: Rai was back up.

Naruto wanted to frown, but he was too happy. "It wasn't a date, dattebayo. Yugito-chan and I helped out a good friend, that's all. And I'll be seeing her again later." He replied. Really he was exhausted. "I'm gonna go take a nap, dattebayo."

Sakura raised an eyebrow and chuckled at the teasing. She wouldn't say it, but she could tell that Sasuke liked teasing Naruto. She could also tell that Naruto had a serious crush on this Yugito girl. "You're going to sleep instead of training? Your friend must have worn you out." She teased.

Gemini nodded. "No problem." She said. Though she had seen what Gaara could do, she wasn't really worried. Vaguely she wondered how and when she would confide her feelings for Gaara. Not during the exams, she thought. Too much stress. She would wait until they got out of the forest and back into the village.

"Where were you Yugito? You didn't leave a note or anything!" Shotaro shouted at her. Yugito winced lightly at his tone of voice, knowing that for once, she deserved the shouting. Wincing lightly when he grabbed her arm harshly, Shotaro led her back to their room. What she didn't know was that as soon as he grabbed her, he placed a tracking seal on her.

"Something feels different about you Gem-chan. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I'm here for you, if you want to talk that is," she said as she looked for her brother. If he was peeping on other women, so help him...

Gemini smiled at the wind mistress. "I'll tell you another time, Temari-san. I promise. Just right now, I have a lot to think about." She said promising silently that when she had the chance, she would tell her new friends everything. "Where is Gaara-san, anyway? Did you see him come out?" She asked.

Naruto blushed a bit at his team mates' teasing, but ignored them and went to the room they were sharing to take a nap. As he lay down, he remembered what the fox had said about the fourth Hokage. Closing his eyes, he began to meditate until he entered his mindscape. "Hey, Kyuubi, you there? You promised to explain what you said, dattebayo." He called out.

"I'll hold you to that then Gem-chan," Temari said, hoping that her friend wouldn't forget to tell her, but she could only hope. "I saw him come out, but Baki-sensei wanted to talk to him about something, though I have no idea what it was about," she admitted. "Why? Want to ask him out on a date?" she teased.

"I'm here Kit. I take it you want to know about your father, hm? he asked

Gemini's face turned an alarming shade of red. "What? N-no! I was just going to ask him to train with me! R-really!" She stammered, not sure why she was so embarrassed. "So, um...I'm gonna go find him. Bye!" With that, the young hanyou ran off, using her sense of smell to locate her redheaded friend.

Naruto nodded. "You promised to tell me later, and it's later dattebayo. I wanna know everything you know about this!" He demanded, crossing his arms stubbornly.

Temari smirked as Gemini ran out the door. "Oh this is going to be fun..." she said with a light giggle. She had a feeling that she would be teasing Gemini for quite some time now, especially since it seemed like it was going to be an easy thing to do...though...it did seem a little unfair, especially since Gemini hadn't had much human interaction before all of this.

Kurama laughed at Naruto's antics. Before he could comment on them though, he started speaking."You're right, I did say that, didn't I? First let me set you straight. Your father, and mother, were very important people. Famous even, from what I overheard and heard from your mom. Yes, that's right, your mother was a jinchuuriki, just like yourself." Kurama stopped speaking there, knowing that that was a bombshell Naruto needed to ingest before continuing. He was going to tell him everything about his parents...well, everything that he knew.

Naruto listened with astonishment. The last statement, however, that his mother had been a jinchuuriki like him, was too much. He was so shocked that he stopped meditating, and found himself sitting on the floor in his borrowed room. "Dammit!" He cursed, before resuming his meditation. As soon as he reappeared in his mindscape, he pointed at the fox. "Alright, why didn't I ever know this?! If both my parents were famous, then why didn't I know?!"

It didn't take long to find Gaara. Gemini followed his scent until she found him in yet another unused room. "Seriously, how many rooms are in this place? Ah, Gaara-san. I was looking for you. I'm going to train and I wondered if you would be my training partner." She said brightly, smiling at him.

Kurama waited until Naruto came back into the mindscape before laughing at him. "Seriously Kit, you gonna do that everytime I lay down a bombshell? Because if it is, I'm sure to be laughing my furry ass off by the time this is all over," he said before dissolving into fits of laughter. He just couldn't resist laughing at that fact. "I'd tell you to think, but I know that part of your brain doesn't activate unless you're in a battle and even then you fly by the seat of your pants. What would you have done if the old monkey told you about your parents, hm?" he asked.

Gaara chuckled lightly at what Gemini said, knowing that if his sister or younger brother would have heard that sound, they'd drop dead from the shock. "You want me to be your training partner?" he asked, a little surprised and a little curious. He would have thought she'd ask Temari to be her training partner, all things considered...

Naruto paused, scratched his head, crossed his arms. Stumped, he shrugged. "Nothing, I guess. Since they're gone, there's nothing I can do about it. Still, how is it that no one knew? Kyuubi, just who were my parents?" He asked, sitting down this time so that there was less chance of getting knocked out.

Gemini nodded. "Of course. You're my friend, and you're also the strongest. If I trained with Temari-san, I might hurt her. And Kankuro-san would probably wet himself. I need someone I can go all out against without worrying, and that's you." She said sincerely, her face open and trustful. "Besides, you're the only person I want to be around right now..."

"Kit, if you knew who your parents were back before becoming a shinobi, you would have shouted it to the world. You've gotten better though, thankfully," Kurama started as a smirk appeared on his face as he ignored Naruto's outburst at the barb. "But seriously, your parents had enemies. Enemies that would have easily come to Konoha and raze it to the ground just to get to you. Your father was a wanted man by Iwagakure, due to his actions in the Third Shinobi War. Your mother, on the other hand, was the last survivor of a village destroyed. Think you can figure it out with just those hints?" he asked.

"Kankuro probably would do that, knowing him," Gaara said. "Either that or cause you to kill him," he added, knowing what his brother was like. Honestly, why couldn't his brother be less of a pervert? Granted he had no right to talk himself since he was a psychopath...but that was besides the point. "Wait...I'm the only person you want to be around with right now? What happened?" he asked.