Naruto 1. Chapter 1

**This story starts right after the Sasuke Retrieval mission.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 1: a new start!**

Naruto looked around the small village he and Ero-Sennin had just entered, like most of the villages he had been to in Hi No Kuni (Fire Country) the buildings were all made out of a mixture of wood and bricks, and were modeled in a western style with flat rooftops and square architecture. Most of the buildings were shops that sold various wares and goods, which was obvious when Naruto observed the numerous people that were milling around looking in the windows. It had only been about a week since Naruto had left with Ero-Sennin on this training trip and the two had already been in two other cities in Hi No Kuni.

"So what are we going to be doing here Ero-Sennin?" Naruto asked as he looked up at the larger male.

Jiraiya was a fairly tall man, standing at about 6'5" making him taller than most of the people in Konoha with the exception of Kakashi. He had white hair that spiked up before going down to about mid back, it was held in place by a Hitea-ate with two horns and the kanji for oil on it. He was wearing a green gi under a red vest and had wooden geta sandals rather than the standard shinobi sandals.

Jiraiya looked down at his student and scowled, "what have I told you about respecting your elder's gaki?"

Naruto shrugged, "you'll get my respect when I feel you've earned it. So far all you've done is go to whore houses or peek on women and I have yet to actually learn anything from you."

Jiraiya sighed at his students rather apathetic attitude, ever since they had left Konoha Naruto had… changed. He had become a lot more quiet then the loud mouth the Sennin had met during the Chunin exams; in fact he hadn't spoken more than a few words since they left Konoha, it was like the loudmouth had suddenly vacated the boys head and this new person took his place. Most of the time Naruto stared at nothing and seemed to be in deep thought, Jiraiya was not sure what was bothering his apprentice but figured that he would find out what was wrong in time.

"Alright, alright," the Toad Sennin sighed, "I have to meet a contact here who has some valuable information for me. After this is done I'll begin training you, how does that sound?"

Naruto nodded, "that's fine."

Jiraiya frowned at his godson's lack of enthusiasm but left it alone for now as he headed off.

Naruto walked around the town, not really bothering to pay attention to where he was going at the moment. Truth was he had been thinking a lot, mostly about himself and how he had not really taken his training seriously. When he was in the academy he had been more concerned with playing pranks to get attention, which had seriously hampered his ability to learn. Of course half of the problem was that by the time he had found a teacher willing to actually teach him rather than try to sabotage his training, Naruto was so far ingrained in his pranking and loudmouth tendencies that it had simply become a habit. He shook his head and sighed, despite that it still wasn't an excuse for not bothering to learn when he was able to. Had he actually applied himself to learn what he could he may have been able to keep Sasuke from leaving the village.

There was another of his problems, Sasuke Uchiha had been someone he had considered a brother. He had always thought that even with the small rivalry they had going that they were still friends and always would be; that feeling had been dashed when Sasuke plunged to Chidori's into his chest not once but twice. Naruto was no longer sure if he could keep his promise to Sakura by returning the boy, not that it would matter anyways. Naruto was beginning to doubt that Sasuke would ever willingly return, even if Naruto forced him to come back; he doubted team 7 would ever be the same.

Naruto shook his head of the morbid thoughts, now wasn't the time to be dwelling on such things. Sasuke's defection had opened Naruto's eyes to the reality of his situation. He needed to get stronger, he had to train and try his hardest to become a real shinobi, not the loud brat who could not even bring back someone he considered a brother. As he was now Naruto was lacking in every aspect of being a shinobi, sure he had the **Rasengan (Spiralling sphere) **and **Kage Bushin's (Shadow Clones) **but that was really it. In every battle he had fought so far if it were not for the Kyuubi, Naruto knew he would have died. During the battle on the bridge, in the Nami No Kuni (Land of Waves) he had used it to fight Haku. During his fight with Orochimaru in the forest of death he had been forced to use it. His fight with Gaara, his fight with Sasuke, every major battle he had been in he had used it. Add on that he could not even use the **Rasengan **without the aid of a clone, he did not have proper control of his chakra and no set taijutsu style, or rather he just swung until he hit something, Naruto knew he had a lot of problems to fix.

Looking up he found himself standing in front of a store that appeared to sell shinobi clothing, Naruto looked at his own attire. His bright orange track suit had been with him for as long as he could remember, not because he wanted to wear it. No despite the fact that orange was his favorite color and was good for getting attention, the only reason he wore it was because it was the only thing he could afford. All the stores in Konoha had black listed him, making it nearly impossible to get a decent set of clothing; hell the only food he could even afford was ramen which was why he ate it all the time. Even these clothes he had were costly, the man who sold them to him making him pay three times the price most people would spend for normal clothes. Deciding that if he wanted to become a real shinobi he should look like a real shinobi, Naruto walked into the store.

The shop itself was fairly standard; there were many racks in the store with different styles of shinobi clothes in various colors. There was also a few area's that sold weapon's, most of which were the standard Kunai, shuriken, ninja wire and basic sealing scroll. Unlike Konoha this was not a ninja village so they did not have any specialty clothing and weapons.

Naruto began to walk around the store to see what he might like; he looked at various forms of pants first. He wanted them to be in a dark color, looking at a few of the different styles and colors he decided to buy several sets of dark blue cargo styled pants. They had several pockets that looked like they were designed to hold various scrolls and were of a sturdy material that would not wear down. The next thing he went to were the shirts, looking through them he went with a dark blue and black colors. Buying several sets of both sleeveless and long sleeved shirts so that he would have some variety before he moved on, looking to see if there was anything else he might want. He eventually bought several other things, a pair of black fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back, a pair of black combat boots with steel toed tips and a sealing scroll so he could carry it all.

Walking up to the cash register which had an old man sitting at it, Naruto set the clothes down. The old man looked at him and began to tally up the price, "that's quite a lot of stuff you bought young man, the total will come up to 4,000 yen."

Naruto reached into his pants pocket and pulled out Gama-chan, his frog wallet. Opening it up he looked to see how much he had, it was not well known but Naruto was despite not looking like it was very stingy when it came to money. Living on the streets and having to be careful where he bought stuff and how much he bought, Naruto had been taught the value of cash. Right now he had 6,500 yen, he would be using about 2/3 of his savings, but in Naruto's eyes it was worth it. Taking out the necessary amount Naruto gave it to the old man.

"Excuse me but do you have a place I could change?" Naruto asked, using a more respectful voice then he ever had before.

"Yes right over there," the old man pointed to a small changing stall that was somewhat hidden in the corner.

"Thanks," Naruto replied moving over to the stall.

"No problem young man."

Naruto went into the stall and changed, opting to go for the sleeveless shirt instead of a long sleeve one right now. He looked himself over in the mirror and nodded in satisfaction, sealing the rest of his clothes inside of the scroll he bought.

Walking out of the store Naruto created a **kage bushin **and told it to go find Jiraiya and tell him he was going to get some food. Walking around Naruto eventually found a small stand that seemed to offer a variety of different foods, Naruto eventually settled on Domburi with Gyudon (beef) and began to eat. A few minutes later Naruto blinked as the memories of his clone finding Jiraiya drunk off his ass with several girls hanging off the man hit him. _What was that? _Naruto wondered as he tried to figure out what had just happened. He had never had that happen when he made a clone before, of course normally when he made clones he would spam them out as if they were going out of style, so maybe he just never noticed. As he ate he absently wondered if this could be used for training or if he only retained the memories of the clones when they dispelled. He would ask Ero-Sennin when the man found him.

A little while later said man walked into the stand and sat down next to him, he ordered a small bowl of ramen and waited for it to come. When it did he began eating for a bit before deciding to speak, "we'll be staying the night here, tomorrow we're going to leave early and start your training."

Naruto nodded, "speaking of training, I noticed that I gained the memory of my clone when it dispelled."

"Hoho," Jiraiya said with a small hint of surprise and pride, "so you found out the secrets of the **kage bushin** eh?"

Naruto turned to face Jiraiya with an incredulous look, "so you knew about this?"

"Of course I knew kid," Jiraiya snorted, "I've been waiting to see when you would figure it out yourself."

Naruto nodded again, deciding not to bother getting bent out of shape about over not being told, "Do you think I would be able to use it for training?"

Jiraiya looked thoughtful for a moment, "that could work… with your reserves you could easily learn things in months that many others would take years to get down. Though I imagine there would be some draw backs to this method of training."

"Like what?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya spent the next hour explaining the draw backs of using **Kage Bushin **to train.

XXXXXXXXXXX

_1 month later..._

Naruto grunted as he came up and did another set of pushups, he had been going at them for about an hour now and was just about finished. It had been a month since he had learned the **kage bushin **method and Naruto's training had been progressing far faster than most people could ever hope to. Every day Naruto would create about 200 clones, half of them would go through the taijutsu kata that Jiraiya was trying to teach him. The style was called **Hamingu Tori No Ken (humming bird style) **and relied on high speed attacks that were designed to inflict significant damage on the weak spots of the body, such as joints. The other half would work on chakra control, which was easily Naruto's worst subject with Genjutsu being a close second.

Naruto had been told by Jiraiya that because of his massive reserves, doing things like Genjutsu and medical jutsu would be impossible. However if he got his control up, Naruto should at the very least be able to dispel high level Genjutsu even if he could not cast them. So his clones would do a mixture of exercises, most of them would run around on a body of water with several large rocks sticking to different areas of the body while balancing senbon or kunai on his fingers. He hoped that he could at least get Anbu level chakra control by the end of the training trip.

While his clones were doing that Naruto would work on the physical aspect, training his body to withstand high speed combat. Every morning Naruto would wake up and do his work out, currently he would do a 15 mile run, 400 pushups, 400 sit ups, 200 pull ups, 1000 squats, 500 kicks and 500 punches; each week he would add 5 miles and 100 more of each exercise. He had gotten inspiration for the training regimen from his friend Rock Lee, a boy who could only use taijutsu. While Naruto was considered a ninjutsu specialist he had strong hopes that he could also match Lee and Gai in taijutsu. Finishing his pushups Naruto started on his sit ups.

A little ways away Jiraiya watched his apprentice work with a frown, while he was proud of the boy for pushing himself so hard he was also worried. Naruto had been doing nothing but training for the entire month they had started, the boy would only stop to eat and sleep; though Jiraiya was positive the boy was only getting half as much sleep as he should. Jiraiya's original decision to take Naruto on this training trip was too focus on helping him use Kyuubi's chakra, but with the boy had been adamant on learning to fight without it that Jiraiya had decided to focus on actual shinobi training before going to that. While the blond had improved a good deal, going from mid gennin to about high chunin level, he would eventually crash if he kept at it.

"Naruto!" Jiraiya called out, "I want you to stop for a second and come here!"

Naruto looked up and nodded; finishing his set he stood and made his way towards Jiraiya. "What do you need Jiraiya-sensei."

That was another thing that was different about their relationship; whenever they were training Naruto would always refer to him as sensei. Of course once they were finished it was right back to Ero-Sennin, but at least it was progress.

"I want to know what's eating you," Jiraiya said narrowing his eyes as Naruto looked away.

"I don't know what you're talking about sensei," Naruto said, though he still wouldn't make eye contact.

"Don't give me that crap," Jiraiya scowled, "you've been quiet ever since we left Konoha. In fact you haven't been your typical loud mouth self since you got out of the hospital now that I think about it, I've rarely ever heard you speak more than two words unless it was about training. Now spill it or I won't train you anymore."

Naruto winced at the obvious threat, for a moment he was silent before he sat down with a sigh. "It's just… I realized just how badly I've handicapped myself all this time. When I was younger no one would ever teach me anything, I had to learn to read and write on my own because the lady who owned the orphanage said 'demon's don't deserve to learn how to do human things' and when I went to the academy it was the same way. I thought that since the old man was letting me go there I would finally be able to learn and show everyone what an awesome ninja I could be if given the chance." Naruto closed his eyes, "that never happened. I was always sent out during important lessons or assignments, when they taught us taijutsu I was taught incorrect stances, the list for the things they did go on… I eventually decided to stop paying attention; I played pranks so people would notice me. And by the time I found someone who was willing to teach me it was too late, I didn't care anymore. Sure I always said I would be Hokage but I never really worked at it, I want to change that."

Jiraiya sighed as he realized what the problem was; he should have known that Sarutobi-sensei would not have been able to protect the boy like he should have. Jiraiya should have been far more adamant more about taking Naruto with him after the Kyuubi's attack, he was sure that a life on the move would have been better then a life of hatred. "I suppose I can understand that," Jiraiya said, "but you're still going to burn out if you keep this up."

"I know…" Naruto sighed, "But I can't help it. I want to become better; I don't want to be considered the dobe, the loser anymore."

The toad Sennin looked at his godson for a long while before smile broke out on his face, "alright then, get back to your training and I'll make sure you become the best shinobi in Konoha if not the entire elemental nations."

Naruto grinned before running back to his spot where he began exercising again.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

As soon as Naruto and Jiraiya entered the next town, the Toad Sennin immediately turned to Naruto. "Listen I'm going to go and find one of my contacts here so I can look for some information. You can wander around just stay out of trouble, got it?" he asked.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the man, "I'm not you Ero-sensei."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes at the new nickname; apparently Naruto had decided that because Jiraiya had earned his respect he would give him the sensei title. Of course he later told the man that because he was still a pervert he would not be removing the 'Ero' part any time soon.

"I'll be fine, I'll just go and see if this place has any ramen, maybe do some training afterwards."

"Whatever brat," Jiraiya stated as he ran off, Naruto having been with the pervert for the last month recognized that the man was heading towards the red lights district.

"Informant my ass," Naruto mumbled as he began walking around town. He didn't really bother taking in the sights, having seen one city in fire country, he noticed that they all kind of looked the same.

Instead he looked around at all the people, even though he had been out of Konoha for over month, actually having people smile at him rather than glare was a novel experience. He still was not really sure how to react, but he would occasionally return someone's smile with a tentative one of his own. As he was wandering he noticed something else that made him curious; he had passed several groups of girls his own age, and not one to be rude to well, anyone really, he had offered them a smile. This had the unexpected side effect of the girls doing two things, the first was for the girls to blush at him, the second was to huddle in whatever group they were in and start giggling while looking at him. He really was not sure how to react to this, having never had experience with girls aside from getting his face to cave in whenever Sakura hit him, he had not even touched a member of the opposite sex before (he did not count Tsunade-baa-chan, Shizune-nee-chan or Ayame-nee-chan) at least not without bodily harm done to him.

And so he was left confused as he made his way around town, looking for a stand that would sell him some good ramen. After several minutes of searching, he finally found a stand that looked promising, he walked in and sat down at one of the stools.

At the sound of his entrance the chef turned around and spotted him, "what'll you have kid?"

Naruto frowned as he looked over the menu, "hmm… I'll have five orders of your Miso Ramen, four orders of your chicken ramen and two orders of your beef ramen to start!"

The man behind the counter just looked at him for a second, wondering if this kid had some kind of mental deficiency. "Um… are you sure you can eat that much kid?" he asked.

Naruto looked at him with his newly created 'do you know who the fuck your talking to' look, "of course I'm sure, if I wasn't I wouldn't have ordered it."

The man just looked at him before shrugging, "well if you say so…"

One hour and twenty three bowls of ramen later, Naruto left the stand leaving a very happy ramen chef and the feeling of his wallet several pounds lighter. He decided to continue his walk through the city before finding a nice quiet place to train, he wasn't too worried about getting lost, Jiraiya somehow always knew how to find him even when the man was drunk as a skunk. As he continued Naruto noticed he was getting more and more of those look's from the female population. He was not sure what they meant but the looks had the odd effect of making him swell with pride, and at the same time want to run away screaming. Though, he could have sworn he had seen those looks before…

He shrugged the thought off as he looked at some of the stores, wanting to see if they may have anything interesting. He didn't go into any of the stores right now, since he could not see anything interesting, instead he satisfied himself with window shopping to see if there as something he might want. As he was looking into one of the stores he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder. Turning around he found himself staring at a girl around his age, she had long light brown hair, green eyes and a decent figure for someone who he recognized as a civilian. She was giving him the same smile with that light redness across the cheeks that he had noticed other girls giving him as he had walked around the city.

"Um…" Naruto was really not sure what to say, he had next to no experience with woman so he was completely unsure what to do. He decided to be… quieter then he usually was, after all Sakura would hit him when he was loud, so there was no reason to assume other females would not do that either. "Can I help you?" he asked.

He picked up several giggles coming from behind the girl, turning his head slightly he saw a group of them just a little ways away looking at the two of them. He did not know why but this instantly had his danger senses going haywire, telling him to run and never look back.

The girl continued to give him a small smile, "actually me and my friends were just wondering… if you wanted to go shopping with us?"

Naruto blinked, opened his mouth, closed his mouth and blinked again. No one had ever asked him to do something like this with them before; it went without saying that he was stumped on what to do. "What?" he asked in a voice that sounded like he had not heard what the girl had asked.

The girl talking to him could not help but think he looked extremely cute with his confused look, she starting giggling again, "I asked if you wanted to go shopping with us?"

Naruto for reasons he did not know, felt his cheeks become inflamed and he was positive he looked like a tomato; this was confirmed when the girl and her friends in the distance started giggling again. Naruto thought the giggling was kind of cute, yet at the same time felt it was the single most terrifying thing in existence. He was tempted to just run and hope these girls could not find him again to ask him, yet at the same time he had never actually spent time with anyone his own age outside of the academy and missions.

"Sure, I'd love to with you!" Naruto said as he gave the girl his mega watt smile. After all it would be nice to hang out with people his own age just to be with them instead of on a mission or training.

That was the wrong thing to say.

Naruto was unsure what had happened, but he soon found himself being dragged by the arm to nearly every store in the city. The girls did not do any shopping, however they had decided to see what kind of clothes he liked to see them in. Apparently they wanted a guy's opinion or something, he wasn't quite sure since they were talking so fast it was next to impossible to understand them. In any case, every store they went to, the girls would grab a bunch of clothes, change into them and model for him while asking for his opinion. Naruto having never done anything even remotely like this before was completely unsure what to say to them, instead he found himself spending that time blushing and trying to speak, only for no words to actually come out, or for his words to sound more like he was choking on a piece of food. Unfortunately for him, rather than irritate them, this seemed to endear the group of females he was hanging out with even further. They began calling him cute and asking him things like if he had a girlfriend, one was even bold enough to ask if she could touch his whiskers.

Luckily helped arrived, as he was walking down the street, two of the girls having somehow latched onto each of his arms, Naruto noticed a large dust cloud being kicked up and coming his way. He and the girls stopped and watched as Jiraiya passed with a horde of barely clothed women coming at him with bats, pitchforks and many other devices used to maim and cripple, all the while yelling about 'perverts' and 'getting what he deserved'. As soon as they passed Naruto got out of the girls grip and turned to them, "er… sorry for cutting this short but it looks like I have to save my perverted sensei from his rightful execution." With nary another word Naruto was gone, leaving the girls to watch the second, smaller cloud of dust he made.

Naruto found Jiraiya just as he assumed he would have, lying unconscious and twitching as the women walked away after beating him. Walking up the blond toed the spastically twitching Toad Sennin, a second later said Sennin jumped up and dusted himself off as if nothing had even happened.

"I knew you weren't going to be meeting any contact Ero-sensei," Naruto said once the man was up, "stupid pervert why can't you ever just act normal?"

"Normal is over rated gaki," Jiraiya exclaimed as a smirk formed on his face, "besides, you have no right to talk, I saw all those females you were with. I have to say I'm quite impressed," his smirk turned into a lecherous grin as he saw Naruto's face turn beat red.

"I-it's not like that you god damn pervert!" Naruto shouted, pointing a finger at his sensei. "They asked me to go shopping with them, and I was just trying to be nice!"

"Oh ho, so they came on to you eh?" Jiraiya wiped away a fake tear, "my student is growing up so fast, to have women asking him to spend with them…"

"Shut up, shut up shut up shut up!" Naruto shouted, covering his ears.

"Now don't be like that gaki," Jiraiya said with a grin, "it's quite impressive what you did. In fact I'm so impressed that I'm going to give you some tips on how to please women…"

As the two went to the hotel Jiraiya had rented before deciding to do his research, Naruto was forced to listen to his sensei giving him tips on how to please a women. He tried not to listen to the man, knowing that all he was talking about was some perverted crap that he did not want to know, however he somehow found himself listening anyways. Half of it he didn't even understand, having been sent out of class during the sexual education course he did not actually know about sex, even his infamous **Orokie No Jutsu (Sexy Jutsu) **was merely the bi product of having seen the front cover of Icha Icha when he caught Ojisan reading it several times.

Jiraiya had finished talking by the time they reached their room, and Naruto being Naruto used his way with words to form a comprehensible and well thought out sentence after listening. "What the hell are you talking about Ero-sensei! What in the hell is a pussy? Is that like a cat? Cuz I seriously hate cats!" Naruto shivered as he remembered his horrendous times with Tora.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto as if he had sprouted wings and grown several tails, "are you telling me you've never heard that word? Shouldn't you know this stuff? Kami I thought they would have taught at least a little sexual education in the academy!"

Naruto blinked, "I think they did mention something about it once…" he frowned as he tried to remember if they had a class on that.

"And you didn't listen?" Jiraiya asked, sounding for all the world frustrated. The kid had been getting a lot better at being a ninja, he acted smarter too, Jiraiya was sure the boy was not as dumb as he acted, or used to act to a certain extent. But about other things he seemed he was still an idiot about.

Naruto looked down at his feet, "well I would have, but I didn't have Iruka as a teacher back then… they sent me out, telling me that because of my pranks the other day I didn't deserve to know about this."

Jiraiya found himself frowning, he had learned a while ago that because many of the teachers had been biased against Naruto due to the fox, that they would often send him out during important lessons in class. It was part of the reason Naruto had next to no knowledge about being a shinobi. "What about your **Orokie No Jutsu**?" Jiraiya asked, "how did you come up with that if you had no knowledge of sexual education."

"Oh that," Naruto said in a dismissive tone, "I saw Ojisan reading that perverted book of yours and saw the cover, I got the idea from that."

"But the girl in the front cover isn't naked," Jiraiya said.

Naruto tilted his head to the side, "neither is mine, what do you think that smoke covering is for?"

Jiraiya found himself feeling stupid as he heard that, he had assumed that the smoke covering had been used to tantalize the person Naruto used it on into wanting more. Apparently from what Naruto was saying that was not the case, and the only reason the smoke was there was because Naruto did not know enough about female anatomy to actually create those parts. This meant that his apprentice knew next to nothing about sex, or the opposite sex. It was both fortunate and unfortunate that Naruto happened to be with a man who made his living off of books that were little better then porn.

"Alright Naruto," Jiraiya said as he pulled out his first addition of Icha Icha volume one, "I'm going to be teaching you all you need to know about women."

As soon as Naruto saw the little orange book he knew he had to escape, he shot towards the window, hoping to make a quick exit. However Jiraiya was far faster than he was, before the blond even knew what was happening he found himself being tied to a chair and trying not to stare or listen to his sensei as he talked about sex and used his perverted book as a reference.

His screams and pleas could be heard all throughout the night.

The next day found Naruto at the library, looking up knowledge on females and sex. He had been forced to listen to his damn sensei for more than half of the night, now he felt like he had been scarred for life. However the toad Sennin's talk had also made him curious, Jiraiya had told him a lot, but he also felt that the man had left a lot out; after all he had only focused on the perverted parts about sex. So here Naruto was, along with several clones, reading books on human anatomy, the reproductive system and intimate relationships in general; he had even gotten a few romance novels, hoping it would help him understand more about women and relationships with the opposite sex in general.

After all there was no way he was going to let his sensei corrupt him with his perverted ways.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_6 months later..._

Naruto grunted as he was kicked in the face and sent flying backwards, flipping himself in mid air Naruto landed on his feet and skidded across the water. In burst of speed Naruto shot off towards Jiraiya, one hand going to his kunai pouch and the other began a series of one handed seals. He threw several shuriken at Jiraiya before thrusting out his palm.

"**Fuuton: Repuusho! (Wind Release: Wind gale Palm)"**

The shuriken which had already been going forward at high speeds soon became a nothing more than a streak of silver as they head for Jiraiya. The toad Sennin jumped out of the way, knowing how dangerous Naruto was when he used his wind element for anything. However Naruto knew his sensei would dodge; after all Jiraiya was not a kage level shinobi for nothing and had in fact counted on him dodging. Naruto put in a small but intense burst of highly concentrated chakra into his legs, literally disappearing and reappearing right in front of Jiraiya. The blond shinobi aimed a punch at his sensei's solar plexus; Jiraiya swatted it to the side and downward in the hopes of knocking Naruto off balance. No such luck as Naruto went down and pushed himself into a handstand, launching a kick that managed to hit Jiraiya in the face and make the man stumble back. Pushing himself into a flip Naruto went for an axe kick to Jiraiya's collar bone; Jiraiya put up both arms to guard and immediately regretted it as he was forced to a knee.

_God damn Gaki and his stupid strength training, _Jiraiya grabbed onto Naruto legs with both hands and was about to flip the boy over. However Naruto used his other leg to jump up and over Jiraiya, using the man's grip to keep himself balanced and launched a kick to the white haired man's face. Jiraiya was forced to let go of Naruto's leg as he tilted his head to the side and dodged the kick. He turned around and managed to kick Naruto in the chest on the blonds way down, said boy moving with the blow and going into a series of flips as he jumped away to gain some distance. Jiraiya took out a kunai and threw it at the blond, going through a few hand seals as he shouted.

"**Ninpou: Kunai Kage Bushin No Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu)"**

One kunai multiplied into two dozen kunai as they all headed straight for Naruto, said blond just looked at them with a smirk. Going through a few of his own hand seals before Naruto called out his jutsu.

"**Suiton: Suejinheki! (Water Release: Water Encampment wall)"**

A large wall of water formed around Naruto blocking the kunai, once Naruto heard the popping of kunai being dispelled end he went through several more hand seals.

"**Suiton: Saryuudan No Jutsu! (Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu)"**

The wall of water soon began to swirl around Naruto, before taking the shape of a 60 foot water dragon with glowing yellow eyes. As soon as it did Naruto created a **kage bushin **sealessly and had it go through a few hand seals as the water dragon launched itself towards Jiraiya.

"**Fuuton: Renkudan! (Wind Release: Wind Bullet)"**

The clone smashed a fist into its stomach and shot a large ball of compressed wind out of its mouth; it went straight for the water dragon. The water dragon's power and speed were soon increased as the **Renkudan **merged with it as it headed towards Jiraiya, said Sennin swearing enough to make a sailor blush as he jumped out of the way. The water dragon made slammed into the water with a loud crash, water erupted everywhere looking something akin to a large explosion.

Using the distraction caused by his jutsu Naruto threw several kunai and went through the hand signs Jiraiya had used earlier.

"**Ninpou: Kunai Kage Bushin No Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu)"**

One kunai became forty one kunai as they headed for the still air born Jiraiya, noticing the kunai the Toad Sennin went through his own hand seals to counter.

"**Ninpou: Hari Jizou! (Ninja Art: Underworld Guardian Spikes)"**

Jiraiya's hair wrapped around his body and became hard as steel as it deflected the kunai, when all the kunai were gone Jiraiya whipped his still long hair around and called out another Jutsu.

"**Ninpou: Ke Senbon! (Ninja Art: Hair Senbon)"**

Several hardened needles of hair were launched at Naruto who took out two kunai, spinning them by the rings he went into his taijutsu stance with both kunai held in a cross guard. Naruto's hands soon became a blur of motion as he deflected the hair senbon away, whatever he couldn't deflect was dodged as Naruto flipped and twirled in an amazing acrobatic display.

When the senbon hail storm died down Naruto looked around not seeing Jiraiya anywhere, he frowned before closing his eyes trying to sense out the man's chakra. Having felt Jiraiya's chakra signature for six months now Naruto could pick it up fairly easily, he finally found him however his eyes widened when he realized the man was right under him. His realization came too late as Jiraiya came out of the water and smashed a fist right into Naruto's chin, before Naruto could fly too far he felt hair wrap around his body and harden immobilizing him.

Jiraiya grinned at his student who was currently hanging upside down; the boy had come quite far in just six months. His physical abilities and taijutsu were now extremely impressive, definitely high jonin level with all the work they had been doing to bring it up to snuff. His chakra control was also coming along nicely, being at around mid Jonin level; which was good, especially considering the fact that it grew at a near constant rate. However it was Naruto's ninjutsu that took the biggest leap, particularly in the field of elemental manipulation. Jiraiya had decided that since the boy was doing so well they would get started on learning elemental nature manipulation, something that Jiraiya had planned on having Kakashi teach the kid when they returned. Now he was glad that he didn't go through with that plan; since Naruto appeared to have three elements, **Fuuton (Wind), Suiton (Water) **and** Raiton (Lightning)**. It had been a shocking discovery and Jiraiya had to wonder if it was some kind of bloodline or if it just came from his parent's. Minato had been a **Fuuton** user starting out, but had later learned to use **Raiton** during the third Great Ninja War. And Kushina had an affinity for **Suiton** Jutsu, so he supposed it was possible but it still didn't make much sense. He actually planned on having Naruto tested when they returned to Konoha in three years, if he did have a Kekkei Genkai of some kind it could cause problems.

Jiraiya shook his head he would worry about that later, "nice job Gaki, but your still too early to beat me!"

Naruto gave Jiraiya a pout before it turned into a grin that instantly put the Sennin on guard, "Oh really?" Naruto asked right as Jiraiya's eyes widened.

"Shit!" Jiraiya jumped out of the way just in time to dodge a large explosion as the now identified **Kage Bushin **he was holding blew itself up. As Jiraiya landed he felt cold steel against his neck; he couldn't help but chuckle, "you've been waiting to use that tactic haven't you?"

Naruto grinned as he put his Kunai away, "Well… yeah, you tend to immobilize me a lot with those hair techniques of yours so I figured it would be a good way to beat you."

Jiraiya nodded as they had sparred quite often, by now it was obvious that Naruto would know Jiraiya's tactics. That was going to be an issue since others would not fight like he did, nor would they pull their punches. He would need to have Naruto gain some experience, maybe he could see if Tsunade would give them some missions to accomplish? "You're getting better," Jiraiya complimented as he thought about how to give Naruto some real life experience. "Anways let's set up camp for the night, tomorrow we'll head into a town a little ways off."

"Alright Ero-sensei," Naruto said as he grabbed several scrolls from his kunai pouches.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey Ero-sensei," Naruto said as the two sat around a camp fire.

"What is gaki?" he asked as he took some meat off the spit over the fire and began to eat.

"I was wondering," Naruto started as he ate some of his own food, "do you think that it's possible for me to bring Sasuke back?"

Jiraiya sighed, he had expected this to come up soon, Naruto had recently been getting quiet and contemplative again; which had not happened since the first month of their training. He also knew about the kids promise that pink haired girl who the kid had a crush on, though judging by the amount of times he had caught Naruto talking and even flirting with other girls now, he was sure that crush would be gone soon. He resisted the urge to give a perverted giggle at that thought before speaking, "I'll be honest with you Naruto; even if you brought Sasuke back it would only cause more problems. Sasuke is like Orochimaru in many ways; he desires power and will do anything he can to get it. I don't need to remind you of how he had nearly killed you trying to leave for that traitor. If you brought Sasuke back it would just cause him to resent you and Konoha more, he left because he felt that the village and his friendship with you was holding him back; if you did succeed in forcing him back he would only hate you more for trying to block him from gaining power."

Naruto's shoulders slumped, "so you're saying I should forget about him?"

Jiraiya patted the boy on the shoulder, "I know it's hard, hell when I tried to bring Orochimaru back and failed I was just as hurt as you were. But being a shinobi and especially if you want to be Hokage means that you sometimes have to make hard decisions."

Naruto nodded to himself it had been on his mind a lot recently, he had a feeling that this would be the case but had wanted a second opinion. He didn't like it, he had wanted to bring his best friend back; but if that was not possible it would be better to forget about him. "I understand," Naruto said with some conviction, "I was wondering, do you think we could extend the training trip?"

Jiraiya blinked in surprise as he answered, "well… I don't see why not." Jiraiya smiled at the thought of all the things he could teach Naruto if they stayed longer, "I had originally planned for a 4 year trip anyway, this will allow me to teach you much more and with your Kage Bushin you could easily be kage level by the time we return to Konoha."

Naruto grinned as he finished eating and threw the stick his food was on away, he felt as if a small weight had been lifted off of him. Before Naruto went to sleep he made a vow that he would train to become the greatest shinobi ever.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sighed as he looked at the blank piece of paper in front of him and wondered how he got roped into doing this. _I can't believe I let Ero-Sennin somehow convinced me to write a book, _he thought with a sigh as he remembered the bet he had made with his perverted sensei.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Flashback…_

_Naruto and Jiraiya were currently arguing again, many people would probably wonder what the two could be arguing about. The answer was quite simple, Jiraiya had just been caught peeping again and because Naruto needed his sensei to teach him he had ended up bailing the fool out… again. This was the 1,700,560th time that Naruto had been forced to do this and he was getting sick of it._

"_Sweet Kami Ero-Sensei can you for just once in your life not go peeping in the hot spring and act like a pervert!" Naruto yelled in the middle of the heavily populated city in Tsuki No Kuni (Land of Fangs)._

"_Shhh," Jiraiya whispered as he looked around seeing many of the women currently glaring at him. "Keep it down brat, you're gonna make it harder for me to pe- I mean do my research if you yell like that and alert all the ladies."_

"_Good maybe if they don't go to the hot springs you won't go peeping," Naruto stated. "Then perhaps you can actually write a good book that's not perverted."_

"_Hey are you saying my books are bad!"_

"_Did I stutter?"_

"_You damn brat, my books are the best and every one with half a brain knows it!"_

"_Then how come all the woman absolutely hate your books?" asked Naruto who grinned when he got a glare from his sensei. "Besides I could write a book that would sell 1,000 times more copies than your perverted crap."_

"_Ho ho! That's a good one gaki; would you care to bet on that?"_

"_What are the wages?"_

_Jiraiya went into a thinking pose, "Hmmm… if I win you will not only have to keep helping me out when I get caught doing research, but also use your __**Orokie No Jutsu (Sexy Jutsu)**__ to help give me some material as well."_

"_Fine and if I win you have to not only stop being perverted as long as you're still training me but also…" Naruto thought about what else he wanted for a moment before giving a smile that sent shivers down Jiraiya's spine. "Tell me about my father."_

_Jiraiya nearly choked on his own spit when he heard that, he had in all honesty been planning on telling him after his training was complete. Telling him at this stage could be detrimental since his father had many enemies, right now Naruto was only at low to mid Jonin since shadow clones could not be used for physical training and he lacked experience. Not only that but Naruto might get angry at his father and end up hating the man for sealing Kyuubi inside of him._

_On the other hand it could prove to be beneficial and give Naruto something of a measuring stick, making him push himself harder in order to surpass his father. Though he was already pushing himself far more than others could. Jiraiya sighed as he figured it couldn't hurt._

"_Alright brat you've got yourself a bet," Jiraiya said holding out his hand. "If your book ends up selling more than mine I'll stop peeping until your training is over and tell you about your father."_

_Naruto grinned as he took Jiraiya's hand, this would be no problem._

_Flashback end…_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Damn this is harder than I thought," Naruto mumbled to himself.

"Having fun brat!"

Naruto turned to see Jiraiya grinning at him. Naruto favored him with a glare but said nothing which only caused Jiraiya to grin more. Moving to look over his students shoulder he decided to push the blond shinobi's buttons.

"My, my Naruto look at all that writing you have done," Jiraiya said with evident sarcasm. "I'm sure you'll have a book that beats mine in no time with such A grade material."

"Shut up," Naruto growled.

"Not as easy as it looks is it?" asked Jiraiya in a taunting tone.

Naruto abruptly stood up and left, not looking back as he heard his sensei laughing.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sighed as he slammed the now empty bottle of sake on the table before ordering another. Sake had become something he found he enjoyed drinking especially since he couldn't get drunk and just enjoy its taste thanks to the Kyuubi.

"Hey there handsome, do you mind if I join you?"

Naruto looked up to see a woman standing in front of him. She was about 5'6" and wearing a red and black Kimono. She had a fairly nice hour glass figure with nice curves and firm round breasts; she had black hair and emerald green eyes as well as pale milky skin. All in all Naruto found the woman to be very beautiful.

Naruto grinned at her pleased with the small compliment she had given him, he had of course been called handsome before by other woman he had interacted with, but it was still good to hear. Naruto had changed a lot since leaving a year ago; at 13 years old he now stood at a height of 5'7" having hit a rather spontaneous growth spurt about six months ago, about a month after he and Jiraiya left on this training trip. His body was also more defined; even with the civilian clothing he was currently wearing it was rather easy to see the strain denoting to his well defined pectoral muscles, abdominal muscles and arms. His face had chiseled out as well, having lost most of his baby fat with his harsh training, giving it a masculine look; add on the whiskers and he had what many girls had described as roguish good looks mixed in with feral sex appeal. "How could I possibly refuse such a beautiful woman's company?" Naruto asked rhetorically with a charming smile.

The woman smiled at him as he ordered a drink for her while she sat down, "Thank you it's hard to find good company these days." She said looking around at the various tables.

Naruto looked around to and realized what she met, every where he looked men were eyeing her with lust.

"I see what you mean," he started before giving her a sly look. "Though I do hope that you're not just using me as a shield," Naruto affect a mock hurt expression.

The woman giggled slightly, "Of course not," she started before pausing in thought. "Well not completely, you seem like decent company. I'm quite good at detecting gentlemen who would actually be able to hold a conversation without looking below my face."

"That seems like quite a talent to have," Naruto said as he favored her with his patented 'foxy' grin. "A beautiful woman such as yourself must be used to sensing perverts rather easily."

Naruto and the young woman talked for about an hour; mostly he would ask her questions about herself while regaling her with the things he had seen on his travels being careful to leave out his status as a ninja. He learned her name was Aiko Miaki and much to his surprise she lived in Yuki No Kuni (Snow Country) one of the countries he had saved which was now called Haru No Kuni (Spring Country). She was apparently here on business working as a trader for some of Haru's technology, which Naruto knew was more advanced than anything else in the elemental countries. Naruto would also throw in the occasional subtle compliment that made the young woman blush; he was quite pleased with himself for that accomplishment. Since his first encounter with that group of girls a little over six months ago, Naruto had made an effort to get better at speaking with women. He would never go to Jiraiya for advice of course, after that night where the Sennin had tried to teach him, Naruto had been scarred for life. However he had read up on intimate and sexual relations, as well as books that alked about girls in general and several romance novels; he never really like them but felt they helped. As he continued meeting different women in the elemental nations, Naruto found himself actually enjoying spending time and flirting with various women, he could at least partially understand Ero-Sensei's obsession with them; even if he felt the man took it too far with his peeping.

Aiko herself was pleased that Naruto was actually listened to her, she found herself blushing many times as Naruto used his charm and gave her subtle compliments and not just about her figure. It was definitely a pleasant change to people either putting her down for doing what some considered a man's job or only trying to get in her pants. It also helped that she was downing more sake than usual since she felt so comfortable in his presence.

When it was time to go Naruto noticed that she was having a little trouble standing up, she had obviously drunken too much. Deciding to do the gentlemanly thing he offered her support as he took her back to her hotel. Of course nothing ever goes right when you're with a young beautiful woman at night and the two soon found themselves surrounded by several thugs.

"Look what we have here boys," one of the thugs exclaimed.

"That's quite the woman you have their boy, too much woman for a scrawny thing like you," another commented.

"Just hand over the woman and all your valuables and we _may _let you leave," the one on his right stated as he pulled out a knife.

Aiko while drunk was sober enough to realize the danger she was in and pressed herself against Naruto. Naruto just sighed, what was it with all thugs being arrogant fools? Deciding to be quick he created a shadow clone to keep Aiko standing while he launched himself at the thugs.

He appeared right in front of the first thug and hit him square in the solar plexus with enough force to send him flying down the road, breaking a few ribs in the process. The other thugs looked in surprise before it turned to anger and they charged him. The one with the knife tried to stab him but Naruto deftly moved out the way and grabbed the man's arm hitting it right where the elbow joint was, breaking it. Ignoring the man's scream of pain he spun 180 degrees and launched snap kick at the other mans left knee cap, breaking that before hitting the man in the neck knocking him unconscious.

When that was done he moved over to the young woman who was looking at him with something akin to awe, respect and… lust?

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked as he walked up to the woman.

"Of course I am thanks to you," she purred out as she grabbed his arm and pressed it into the valley of her breast.

Naruto tried hard to ignore that has he walked to the hotel she gave him directions to and walked her to her room.

"Thank you for escorting me Naruto-kun," Aiko said.

Naruto grinned as he scratched the back of his head, "hehe it was nothing really I was just doing the right thing."

Aiko gave him a coy and seductive smile as she leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close. "Mmmm, I think such behavior deserves a reward," she said.

Naruto shivered as her breath hit his lips and found himself getting rather stiff in his lower region. "What kind of re"

His question was cut of Aiko pressed her lips against his, for several second Naruto found himself frozen stiff; while he had kissed women before it was always him to initiate it. Thankfully instincts began to take over as he started kissing back; as Aiko moaned into the kiss Naruto licked her lips asking permission to enter. When she opened her mouth to grant him entrance and he tentatively probed her mouth. Wrapping his arms around Aiko he became more emboldened as she moaned into his kiss.

Naruto soon found himself in Aiko's room, pressing the beautiful young woman against the wall as there kissing became more impassioned. Aiko moaned as Naruto brought his mouth away from hers and began to lick, nip and bite her neck. The young woman began to pant as she grabbed fistfuls of his hair and started to grind herself against Naruto's increasing bulge.

It wasn't long after that, that they found themselves on her bed; where both of them eventually lost their clothes. Not that either cared at this point as passion and lust had taken an inexplicable hold over the pair; Naruto had one last thought before he completely succumbed to his growing lust. _Thank Kami I learned an anti pregnancy jutsu from that medical book…_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto held in a groan as the light from the window hit his eyes, opening them slowly he realized that he was in an unfamiliar room. He nearly panicked before he started to think rationally, last night was fairly hazy and the last thing he remembered was escorting Aiko to her apartment. It was then he heard a content sigh and felt something trying to burrow it's way deeper into his well muscled chest. Looking down he saw a mop of messy black hair, that's when he remembered last night.

He couldn't help but blush at remember what had happened, after Aiko had kissed him they had found themselves giving into the feelings of passion. He remembered having sex with the young woman for 4 hours straight before they had pretty much passed out in her bed, as well as all the positions they had done it in. Naruto was actually surprised with himself, not just the fact that he had been 'deflowered' but also that he had lasted so long, though he was also quite proud of himself. The blond had been curious about sex for awhile; ever since he created his **Orokie No Jutsu** actually and when he left to go on the training trip he had decided that this was his chance to learn. Of course he didn't want to go to Jiraiya knowing the pervert would completely corrupt him, so he did the only thing he could. He picked up multiple books and read; one of the things he read was that most men do not last long, especially there first time. Though Naruto always did have high stamina; so maybe it was just brought over to his sex drive?

He heard a groan as Aiko stirred in his arms before lifting her head up and rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning Aiko-chan," Naruto said hoping that he would not get beaten for what happened, sometimes woman could become violent and she had been drunk so she might not even remember last night.

Aiko looked at him and for a moment Naruto was afraid he was going to be on the receiving end of 'the female fist of fury'. However she just gave him a saucy smile, "Good morning to you too Naruto-kun, I hope you enjoyed last night."

Naruto gave an internal sigh of relief as he grinned at her, "I had a very good time last night. I hope that you enjoyed it as well."

Naruto's answer was a steaming kiss on the lips, which soon turned into a small make out session. It lasted for a while before Naruto realized he had to go or Jiraiya might start searching for him, and the last thing he needed was that pervert to see this. Deciding to thank her for the amazing night he had several clones clean her sheets while he cooked her breakfast.

The breakfast itself was fairly simple, eggs, bacon and French toast with a side of orange juice. Aiko however loved it stating that it was the most delicious breakfast she ever had. One of the things Naruto had learned recently was how to cook, he found it was something he loved doing and was really good at blending spices and food. What he would consider a normal meal for him was apparently something that tasted like Kami had blessed it for others.

When Breakfast was over Naruto thanked her again and gave her another intimate kiss before making his way to his own hotel.

When Naruto got in he noticed that Jiraiya was passed out on his futon, and several sake bottles littered the floor. Naruto however ignored this as he went to his blank sheets of paper and began writing; last night had strangely enough done wonders to clear his head. He found that he had several ideas for a story and so he began writing. He idly wondered if having sex was the cause of his clear mind or if it was something else, humming a little tune he began to write.

"_When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end_

_the goddess descends from the sky_

_Wings of light and dark spread afar_

_she guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting"_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_2 months later..._

"I can't believe," Jiraiya mumbled as he cried anime tears.

"Believe it Ero-Sensei, you lost," Naruto stated with a shit eating grin.

"But, but-"

"Ah, ah, ah no buts," Naruto wagged his finger at the depressed toad sage.

Naruto's book had just been published a little over a week ago; Naruto had titled it Loveless and brought it to Jiraiya's publisher. After looking at what Naruto had written the publisher had decided to put the book on the market, the results had shocked both Jiraiya and Naruto. Within the first few days the book had swept across the elemental nations by storm, beating out all three Icha Icha books in sales and was still getting more popular.

Jiraiya looked at the sales his student's book got and couldn't help but feel depressed. Naruto's book had earned a higher sales rate than his own books, not only that but there was not one mention of smutty goodness in it! It was inconceivable! Impossible! And yet here it was right in front of him.

"Come on you pervy old man a deals a deal."

Jiraiya looked at him before he grumbled about never betting against blonde gaki's who are too talented for their own good again as he handed him a scroll.

Naruto looked at the scroll before looking back at Jiraiya with an eyebrow raised in question.

"It's from your father, in case something ever happened to him I was told to give this to you when I felt you were ready," Jiraiya explained.

That was all Naruto needed as he opened the scroll and began to read its contents, after the first few sentences Naruto's emotions started to slip. His lips quivered and tears ran down his eyes as what he had suspected for awhile now was confirmed, he didn't know whether to be happy, sad, angry or elated.

Jiraiya watched his student's face flash through various emotions and became worried when the blonds face became blank; it was the look Naruto would get when they were sparring and showed none of what he was feeling. "Uhh… Naruto?" Jiraiya asked in an unsure voice, he was not used to these kinds of things. Despite having been through two Great Wars Jiraiya had always had a problem at helping others with their emotional problems, he himself always preferred to get smashed and find a woman to have sex with; suffice to say he didn't think that would work for Naruto.

"I…" a small crack appeared in Naruto's façade, "I'm going to the hotel; I need to be alone for awhile…" Naruto left rather quickly.

Jiraiya looked up at the sky and sighed, he was not sure if this was the best idea but only time would tell.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sat in his room as he re read the message his father had left him.

_Dear Naruto,_

_I bet your wondering who this is, ne? My name is Minato Namikaze and I went by many names, the __**Konoha No Kiroii Senkou (Yellow Flash of Konoha), **__and Yondaime Hokage were a few, but the one I am most proud of is father. Specifically your father, your old man's pretty cool right? Now onto why I am writing this, it's really a just in case kind of thing. Despite winning the War there are many people out there who want me dead and I'm not arrogant enough to assume that one might not get lucky. I am leaving this letter with Jiraiya, my sensei and your god father, should anything happen to me or your mom Kushina he is the one who will take care of you. I told him to give this to you when he feels you're ready._

_Now that the boring stuff is over with I have some things to give you that I felt were too important to keep at home. On the bottom of this letter is a seal that is specifically designed to open with Namikaze blood, meaning only myself or you can open it seeing as how we are the only Namikaze's. Inside this seal you will several important things the first being one of my __**Hiraishin **__Kunai, note that these will not work for you because of a specific blood seal that is tied to me and only me. The __**Hiraishin**__ is simply too powerful a tool to use without taking great precaution to ensure it does not get replicated, but this should be a good basis for you to make your own __**Shiki (Formula) **__for your own __**Hiraishin **__is the key to the formula created, without it you won't be able to see all the seals on the Kunai. The last and just as important are my notes on the __**Hiraishin**__, they are not complete since I figured that if you're anything like me you will want a challenge but they should give you a basis to start with._

_If I die I hope that this letter let's you know that I love you and hope that this can in some way bring us closer as father and son._

_Love your father,_

_Minato Namikaze_

Naruto gritted his teeth as he tried to stop the tears from coming but it was no use, and he soon found himself crying; it was both in joy and in anger. Joy at knowing he had a father who cared about enough to come up with a precaution in case something happened to him, to ensure that he would be able to protect himself and let him know that his father did in fact love him. And anger at the fact that it was his father, the man he had considered a hero since he was little and listened to Ojisan tell stories of him was the same man who condemned him to a life of hell and loneliness for 12 years of his life.

"He was always pretty cautious when it came to you."

Naruto turned around to see Jiraiya leaning in the doorway, his arms crossed and a rare serious expression on his face. "What?" Naruto asked as if he had not heard what the man had said.

"He made that for you the moment he found out Kushina was pregnant," Jiraiya continued sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I don't think I've ever seen him or Kushina as happy as they had been when they heard she was going to have a baby."

"So I should just forgive and forget?" Naruto asked in a low voice, "Just move on like that because he was happy I was being born! I've lived in loneliness and pain for 12 years of my life because my own father sealed a giant nine tailed demon fox in my gut! Maybe you can forgive something like that so easily but I can't _godfather!_"

Jiraiya winced at the way Naruto said the man's title, Jiraiya knew he had not been much of a godfather to the blond; he could have disobeyed his sensei and the council. Taking Naruto with him and nurturing the boy into the man he should have been, but he had not done that. "Naruto, I wanted to t-"

"And where were you!" Naruto accused having cut off Jiraiya's speech, "you were supposed to take care of me should anything happen to my parent's! Where were you when the orphanage kicked me out and I was forced to live on the streets for a year! Where were you when I received my first beating by the villagers on my own birthday!"

"Naruto look I-"

"What were you doing huh! Peeking on woman so you could write those perverted book of yours and not accept the responsibility for your godson!"

"Look here!" Jiraiya yelled as he stood up and narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "I wanted to take you with me! In fact I begged Sarutobi-sensei to let me take you away from the village! I pleaded with him, but he wouldn't budge! He said he wanted you to gain bonds with the people of the village, I told him that it would never happen but he wouldn't listen!" Jiraiya took a deep breath and calmed down, sitting back down he placed a hand on the young boy's shoulder. "If it had been my choice I would have taken you with me, but it wasn't. And it's not like I didn't come to see how you were doing…"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked having calmed down a bit, though tears were still falling freely down his face.

"Who do you think gave you that wallet?" Jiraiya asked gesturing towards the seal on Naruto's leg that held Gama-chan.

Naruto blinked, "you gave it to me? But I thought that-"

"That it was Sarutobi-sensei," Jiraiya shook his head, "had it been him he would have given it in person."

"Why didn't you give it to me in person?"

"The council," Jiraiya sighed, "by the time I came back to visit you and saw how shitty your life was I begged Sensei to again let me take you out of the village. However the council had taken much of the Hokage's power after Minato's death, by that time Sensei was unable to do anything. I was ordered not to make contact with you unless it had something to do with the seal."

Naruto rubbed his eyes with his arms getting the tears out before he looked at Jiraiya with a smiled, "I guess I'll have to fix that when I become Hokage, ne?"

Jiraiya chuckled as he ruffled Naruto's hair, "I guess so, but you won't become Hokage by moping about like this…"

Naruto chuckled as he dried the last of his tears, he honestly felt better after crying a bit. But crying never got people anywhere, plus crying over spilt milk wasn't his style. He was just about to comment when he remembered something, "what about my mother?"

"From what I understand she wrote a letter for you as well, but it's at their house in Konoha," Jiraiya answered.

Naruto nodded, "then I won't worry about that for now, I'll be able to read it when I get home."

Jiraiya nodded and smiled; "good now if you're done moping we have some training to do!"

Naruto grinned, "Right!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

_3 months later..._

Naruto looked out at all the clones he had created after finishing his physical training regime; he had gone from 200 to 300 and had them working on various things. Most of which were elemental manipulation, more specifically trying to find a way to combine them. He had just mastered his lightning Element just a month ago with it being the last natural affinity he had, so he had gone on to try something harder. Currently he had 100 clones working on sub elemental creation.

Contrary to popular belief sub elements were not the result of a bloodline, while there were of course elemental bloodlines they usually centered around specific techniques such as Haku's **Hijutsu Makyou Houshou (Demonic ice Mirror's)**. There were also bloodlines that had specific powers that were used through sub elements, such as Hasharima Senju's ability to tame the Bijuu. Otherwise the shinobi he ran into in Yuki would never have had the **Hyoton Jutsu (ice techniques)** that they had been known for before it became Haru No Kuni(Spring Country) after team 7 saved it. Even though they only manipulated pre existing ice it still took the ability to combine water and wind elements to form the shapes they wanted. Anyone with enough control over their two elements and sufficient chakra control could create sub elements; of course some were harder than others. Naruto had even heard rumors that there was a person who could use** Yoton (Lava Release)** which was a combination of Fireand Earthelements. And **Futton (Boil Release)** which was combining two contradictory elements; fire and water to create an acidic base that could melt a person's opponents. He was unsure how the Kekkei Genkai worked for that person but he assumed it allowed for a subconscious act of coating the walls of the throat with a layer of protective chakra. So far Naruto had only been able to create **Hyoton, **but he was hoping to see if he could combined more than just Wnd and Water**.**

Another 100 were working on a mix of tai and Kenjutsu kata's, after Naruto had decided it would be good to learn how to use a weapon other then kunai and shuriken. Despite not having any style to go off of right now Jiraiya had told him he was pretty good with a sword. It was Naruto's hope that he would be able to create his own style, like his taijutsu style which he had learned was his father's style the Kenjutsu relied on high speed combat. Though rather than aim for joints, nerves and delivering bone crushing blows this style was designed to kill, going for the eight vital points in the human body. Its movement was also based off of his affinity with Wind and Water, the style was meant to 'flow' so to speak. The user would move like the water, flowing in and out of attacks like water flows around a rock. However it was also fast and unpredictable like the wind, it could be calm and centered one moment then have all the power and furry of a raging hurricane the next.

Right now the sword he was using was one he had custom made when he and Jiraiya had gone to Tetsu No Kuni (Iron Country), a country which had been considered autonomous for many years and was well known for their powerful samurai force. The blade was a total of 2"6' in length making it a Kodachi class weapon, with a pitch black finish while the edge was a vibrant silver color. The guard was that of the Uzumaki swirl made to look like it was made of nine fox tails in a dark orange color. The handle was also wrapped up in a dark orange cloth, with a gold pommel at the end and 3 tassels on the bottom. The sword was made out of a powerful Chakra conducting metal that was found only in Tetsu No Kuni, it was the same metal that allowed that nation's samurai to launch chakra based attacks from the blade; it was also very expensive to have made.

Along the edge of the blade were several powerful and hidden seal arrays of Naruto's own design, their purpose was to store elemental chakra so he could launch elemental attacks rather than the standard chakra attacks to give him an edge in battle. He also gave the sword what he called a chakra circulatory seal, what this did was give the sword it's very own chakra system complete with artificial tenketsu points that were bonded to Naruto's own chakra coils. This allowed Naruto to utilize more power if the seals ran out of chakra in battle, it was based off of the few things he had heard about on the Samehada; a semi sentient blade that could absorb foreign chakra. Though Naruto's was not Semi Sentient it was connected to Naruto in a way that most swordsmen would never be with their swords, he had given it the name **Susanoo (God of Storms).**

The last 100 clones were doing a variety of different things, most of which were reading. Naruto had found an immense desire to learn after wanting to change himself. He would read anything from tactics and shinobi history to politics and gardening, not limiting himself to just shinobi related subjects. However other clones were doing things like playing Shogi to help work on strategy, jotting down notes on ideas for a new jutsu or seal, or even trying to create a new seal. Though those ones had to be replenished often as they usually had rather explosive results.

Naruto turned his attention back to the notes in his hand; it was the one thing he had continued to have troubles with and the one thing he refused to use **kage bushin **to help recreate at all. Of course it was also a very linear technique so creating a bunch of clones would be next to useless for this jutsu. It was the one thing that he was striving to recreate, the prized jutsu that had made his father feared throughout the elemental nations and earned him his title.

The **Flying thunder god **or **Hiraishin**.

Unfortunately for Naruto his father had left very few notes on just what exactly the **Hiraishin** was, the notes were vague adhering to describing what the jutsu did but not tell him much on how it was created. What he did know was that through the means of a **Shiki (formula)** and the use of his father's infamous tri-pronged kunai, Minato was able to utilize a space time Ninjutsu that allowed instantaneous teleportation. Naruto assumed the principle behind the technique was similar to the **Kuchiyose No Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)**, in that it revolved around space time manipulation. So far Naruto had only made a miniscule amount of progress in the jutsu, since he had nothing to go off of except a description on what it did and the Kunai with the Shiki; though he was using a summoning array to start as a basis.

"Hey Naruto it's time to pack up!" Naruto looked up to see Jiraiya waving at him, standing up he made his way over to his sensei.

"We're leaving?" Naruto asked as he created a **kage bushin **and dispelled it, letting his other clones know to dispel themselves in groups of 10 every five minutes.

"Yep!" Jiraiya said with a smirk, "it's been about a year and I think the only thing you're really missing is experience."

Naruto blinked, "So we're going somewhere I can gain experience?"

Jiraiya looked at him and grinned, "Not us, you."

Jiraiya had sent a message awhile ago about giving Naruto a long term mission to help him gain experience and he had just received a reply. Kiri (Mist) was apparently still locked in a civil war with Kekkei Genkai on one side and the Mizukage on the other. Mei Terumi the apparent leader of the bloodline side had petitioned Konoha for help, hoping that their love of bloodlines would give her some support. Normally Konoha had a policy of non aggression and keeping out of international affairs that did not involve them, however with Jiraiya's recommendation that Naruto needed to experience some things Tsunade had hesitantly given this mission.

"Me?" Naruto asked in confusion, he was unsure what Jiraiya meant by that. "Where will you be?"

"I have some business to take care, Tsunade assigned me a covert operation to gather info on the different hidden village's to see which ones are a threat to Konoha and find out more on Akatsuki. It will be easier for me to sneak around without you, no offense but while you're a damn good fighter you can't speak for shit."

"Hey!" Naruto pouted puffing up his cheek's comically, "I was able to paint the Hokage Monument in

broad day light and not get caught until I was done. I think that shows how skilled I am!"

Jiraiya chuckled, "True but this is not Konoha I'll be going to, many of these places are most likely not friendly and a few may kill you for who you look like.

Naruto was silent as he thought about that, it was true that he was starting to look more like his father. Each day that passed he grew more and more like the man, no doubt if Iwa or some other country that harbored a grudge against his father were to see him they would send assassins out. Naruto was not stupid anymore; he knew that while he was strong, at least mid to high Jonin by now he was far from invincible. He could hold his own well enough against Jiraiya, but even when the man went all out he held back some so as not to kill Naruto. Others would have no such compunction and would no doubt not hesitate to kill him. It was also as the man said, he lacked the experience to make full use of his abilities and that could cost him.

"So where will I be heading?" Naruto asked having decided this would be a good opportunity to see how well he could do against someone other than Jiraiya.

The Toad Sennin gave Naruto a mission scroll, "you'll be heading to Kiri which is currently locked in a Civil War." Naruto unrolled the scroll and began to read it while Jiraiya spoke, "you will assist the bloodline side until the war is over. The rendezvous point is in the scroll as well as a code word and information about who you will be working with."

Naruto nodded as he finished memorizing the information and handed the scroll to Jiraiya who burnt it with a **Kaiton** Jutsu. "I'll contact you via summoning from time to time to see how you are doing and give you any info that I feel you can use. Make sure you stay safe, ok gaki?" Jiraiya finished.

Naruto nodded, "don't you worry Ero-Sensei, I'll do my best."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

This is the first chapter to my redone Namikaze Return story. I know it seems odd since I did not have many chapters before I decided to start over but I ran into a dead end with my timeline and realized that the way I was doing things would not work. So instead Naruto is going to stay on the training trip for 4 years instead of three, this is so I can tie my story together more nicely. Note this will follow the Canon on several things, Moon eye plan and Kushina being a Jinchurikki for Kyuubi will be tied into the story. Also the first part of the story will be when Naruto is on his training trip, this is going to be used as a replacement for the many of the arch's that Naruto would have gone on had he arrived in Konoha with just three years of training. Arch's like the Orochimaru and Sasuke searching arch, the Sora arch (this is the one that introduces Naruto to elemental manipulation) and the **Rasenshuriken** arch. Others will be in there I will actually have the Gaara retrieval it will just be done differently since Naruto is out of Konoha. I'm not sure how many chapters it will be before Naruto returns to Konoha but it will be a few since I will have a lot of character development for Naruto and others he will interact with outside of Konoha. Also this will still be a harem but I am cutting out one of the people in it, Temari I have decided will not be a part of the harem since I don't really see a point in having her. This means the Harem will be Naruto/Yugito/Mei/Konan/Koyuki/Yugao.

Now some of you may have questions on how Naruto seemed to get out of his funk about Sasuke, his lack of shinobi abilities and his father so easily. I know it seems odd but we all know that Naruto has never believed crying over what can't be changed will help, if all of you remember the Wave Arch you will be able to recall when Naruto called Inari a coward for whining about his father. Also Kakashi had told Inari about how he had never seen Naruto skulk or cry about things, so I feel that this shows Naruto's ability to deal with pain.

Also I have a poll on my website for voting on which story you readers would like to see most, I have four others that I am currently working on. But I want to focus on just one maybe two for now, I will eventually complete all of them, but I feel that if you focus on too many it will lead to future problems with the stories being written and it will cause them to not be updated for months on end while working on one of the other stories. So make sure you send me a poll on which story you would like to see the most.


	2. Chapter 2

**Greed: I know it seems like a relationship between them won't work but your forgetting that Naruto will eventually be able to use the Hiraishin. With it he will be able to flash to them whenever he wants, also Koyuki and Mei are not going to remain leaders forever. I have no doubt that Mei will most likely want to retire eventually and Koyuki will once she gets an heir and he/she is old enough to rule in her stead.**

**VanillaIce1: the chapter ended on the first year, I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear. It shows him during the first month, I accidentally made one of the time skips a year but changed it too six months to better even out the story so that's seven months. Then there is a two month time skip so that's nine months, and lastly a three month time skip so Naruto has been training for a year now. Sorry about the confusion there I fixed it up and added a little note at the top of each of the page breaks that have a time skip in them. **

**GenoBeast: I'm sorry but while I know that a lot of people love Hinata I just can't add her, not just because she is overused either. If you think about it there relationship would never work out anyway, Hinata is the heiress of the Hyuuga, which while you never really hear about it, is known for inbreeding (if you look from one Hyuuga to the next you'll notice they all look very similar). Because of this and her status as Heiress I have no doubt she will be wed to someone inside her clan, the Hyuuga elders would have a problem with her marrying outside of the Hyuuga clan since it would mean that they would have someone outside the clan with the ability to breed people with the Byakugan; something they fear greatly especially after the Kumo incident. The only way she could get out of that was if Hiashi disowned her and put the bird cage seal on her fore head something he is not willing to do despite fan fictions that say otherwise. **

**sha-long: I know Jiraiya does not have the water element but that does not mean he cannot use them, having the affinity for one element over another means that one takes less chakra then the other, besides he did not use any water jutsu (There are several instances where this is known, Sarutobi was known to have mastered all the jutsu in Konoha minus clan jutsu and ones that were original like Chidori; This means he could use all five elements to some degree). Next while Naruto is partly to blame for not learning what he could I don't believe it was all his fault. Remember that the way people grow up is from reacting to outside stimuli, if someone is not going to teach you you're most likely going to say screw it I'll just fool around then right? That's how it is with Naruto, he did not start out a goof off right from the get go. He became that way due to the teachers failing him two times, had they been serious in helping him they would have told him that he had too much chakra and helped him with his control and giving him a jutsu that required more chakra to use Aka another Bushin Jutsu. Since they did not who's to say they didn't hinder his progress in other ways, in the canon Naruto has the mentality of a four year. He is loud, obnoxious, stupid and has absolutely no common sense what so ever, concepts that would normally be easy to understand are incredibly hard for him. What does this tell you? It tells you that no one taught him anything. Now I am not saying it's entirely their fault, when Iruka came he refused to learn and still goofed off; so he is at least partly to blame. I'm just saying that by the point someone willing to teach him came along he gave up, remember when Jiraiya was teaching him the Resengan he learned it in three weeks; with that kind of learning curve I doubt he would have been dead last in the academy had he been taught right. Also this is fan fiction so it really shouldn't matter.**

**landoffire: he may write another. It depends on whether or not inspiration hits me.**

**Disclaimer: i do not own Naruto, i wish i did but the only thing i own are the voices in my head asking for your blood.**

**Chapter 2: Bloodline Wars**

Naruto readjusted the hood to his cloak as he got off the ship he had gotten passage on, bringing a hand up to his face he also made sure his face mask was in place to hide his whisker marks before looking around. The port town he was in had definitely seen better days, the ships that would normally be bustling in and out of the port were almost nonexistent with their only being one or two ships in the dock. Most of the buildings were run down and had rust staining many different areas, making it obvious they either did not have the resources or the people to maintain appearances.

The people were even worse off, as Naruto began to walk to the meeting point he saw more homeless people in this port then he did when Gato had been terrorizing **Nami No Kuni (wave country). **Many of them were sitting off to the sides of the street, begging for money or food while others were hidden in back alleys and side streets. What was worse was that Naruto could see whole families who were homeless, little children who were even more malnourished then he had been when trying to scrounge a living in the streets of Konoha. Just the sight of seeing how terrible these people had it and knowing there was nothing he could do to help alleviate their pain right now was heart rending for the young man.

Out of the corner of his eyes Naruto saw several figures hopping from the roofs, ninja with the Kirigakure (Hidden Mist) Hitea-ate. He took a moment to watch as several patrols passed by, most likely looking for bloodline rebels and or dissidents. Naruto watched the ninja as they passed, trying to get a feel for their emotional position. Living in the streets Naruto had picked up the unique ability to detect what others were thinking and feeling to a certain extent, an ability that had saved him from a number of beatings by drunken villagers in the past by allowing him to avoid the more unsavory people who would wish him harm. Many of the faces on the ninja's here were an open book; the blond was pleased to see that most of them seemed to feel just as bad as he did about the situation. While their faces showed no emotion their eyes showed too much, it had always been said that the eyes are the gate way to the soul; for people like Naruto that had never been more true. Their eyes showed guilt and sadness over what was happening here, small flickers of eye movement as they flicked their eyes over to some of the homeless people showed that they too wanted to help. Naruto knew they most likely couldn't because the Mizukage had more than likely threatened to kill their families. It was strange, Naruto had heard that during the beginning of his reign the Yondaime Mizukage was one of the most compassionate Kage's. Naruto did not know what would cause him to change so profoundly, however the evidence of the man becoming corrupted was right here for him to see. Naruto did notice a few ninja who seemed to derive some sort of pleasure from watching those around them suffer and assumed they were the more hardliners of the bloodline haters.

Naruto stopped walking as his enhanced hearing picked up a stifled sob, looking around he noticed a few of the other ninja seemed to notice as well and looked even more guilty. Channeling chakra into his ears Naruto was able to make out the sound better, _let's see judging from the pitch of the voice it's a female around her mid to late teens._ The sobs sounded pained and Naruto could also hear fear in it, having never been one to stand by when someone was in that much pain Naruto put more chakra into his ears to locate the source of the sound. Walking into a small alley Naruto looked around; when he was sure no one was following him Naruto disappeared in a gentle breeze.

Reappearing on the roof the blond crouched down and activated one of the few Genjutsu he could do. It was more of a Genjutsu/ninjutsu hybrid much like the standard **Henge** that is taught in the academy, rather than affect the mind of an opponent it affects the surroundings of the area. Channeling chakra into the oxygen particles in the air, masking and camouflaging the area around Naruto to make it seem as if there is nothing there, making him invisible to all but the most powerful of Kage level ninja's or those with Doujutsu and enhanced senses like those of the Inuzuka Clan. It was a technique Naruto had been taught by Ero-Sennin who used whenever he tried to peek on woman, though Naruto understood it had many applications in stealth and espionage as well.

Making sure he would not be spotted by any of the ninja that were passing on the roofs Naruto continued on his way towards the sobs which were now becoming much louder and clearer. Naruto eventually found the source coming from an abandoned warehouse of some kind, there were no ninja that he could see in this area but he knew that did not mean anything. He looked towards the second story window which is where the voice was coming from; dropping off the building he was on Naruto quickly moved towards the warehouse. Channeling chakra to his feet the blond shinobi walked up the walls to take a peek inside the window, what he saw was something that would haunt and disgust him for a long time to come.

Inside was a young woman who couldn't be more then 16 or 17 years of age, she had long dark brown hair which seemed to be the standard hair color in Kiri and vibrant green eyes. Her skin was a pale milky smooth color and she had a figure that Naruto had seen on some of the civilian super models that Ero-Sensei was with on occasion. At least the woman's eyes would have been vibrant if it were not for the fear in them and the tears that were flowing out of them freely; her skin which would probably have looked perfect and beautiful was instead black from multiple large bruises that covered most of it from her neck to her legs. Her face had several welts and bruises, no doubt from being hit and smacked multiple times.

The obvious source of this woman's fear and pain was right in front of her, a man who looked to be in his mid thirties. He had a medium height and medium build, with black hair and brown eyes. The man was obviously a Kiri Shinobi since the man was still wearing his Hitea-ate on his head, however everything else was gone. The man was completely nude and currently in the process of raping the young woman, judging from the bruising on her some of which looked several days old this was not the first time he had done so.

Naruto's blood began to boil as he gnashed his teeth together hard enough that the coppery and tangy taste of blood came to the blond as his gums began to bleed. Naruto had always held a deep seated respect for woman that sometimes bordered on worship, he was not sure what it was about them that made him feel this way but it was part of the reason he had never raised his hand to Sakura when she would hit him. Sure Naruto was not a virgin anymore and had in fact slept with several girls in the past year, but he would never do anything unless the woman he was with wanted to. To see some man… no a monster doing something like this to an innocent young woman was nearly enough to send him on a killing spree of every shinobi in this village. Closing his eyes Naruto quickly reigned in the impulse and took several deep breaths; even if he tried to he would not be strong enough to defeat an entire town of ninja. He could not do anything about them right now, he looked into the window; while he may not be able to do anything about this town, but he could at least help this woman.

"Hahaha, come on you know you love it!" Kerai Mushashi laughed as he listened to woman sob and cry. A Jonin of Kiri for nearly 10 years Kerai was considered a sick bastard even by his peers; he had become a genin at an early age and had risen through the ranks fairly quickly. It had at one point in time it had been the man's hopes to become a member of the **Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū (Seven Swordsman of the Mist)** before they had fallen from grace. When they had been disbanded due to the betrayals of nearly all the shinobi in that group except one he had just opted to find some other way to gain glory. While he had yet to find glory, he had found several ways to entertain himself. He looked down at the young teenage girl he was pounding himself into; her pleas were like music to his ears. "Ah! Did I ever tell you how- urk!"

He was cut off from speaking as a pair of hands wrapped around his head, one covering his mouth and the other on the back. With a quick twist the hands snapped Kerai's neck and let him fall out of the girl and drop to the floor, revealing Naruto who was glaring at the corpse as if hoping it would spontaneously combust. Taking his attention off the now dead shinobi Naruto looked over at the girl and winced, she looked like she was going into shock; no doubt from seeing someone die. Her eyes were wide and she was starting to hyperventilated, he made to move over to the girl and help treat her wounds but stopped when she turned her attention to him and began backing away.

"P-Please… don't hurt me," the girls voice chocked as she continued to back away, despite the fact that she was already pressed against the head of the bed, "I… please I… don't… I don't."

Naruto pulled down his hood and face mask to give the girl the most compassionate smile he could muster despite the sick feeling he had in the pit of his stomach, "don't worry I'm not gonna hurt you." the girl looked at him and seemed to calm down a bit, "I just want to help you," Naruto continued as he made slow movements towards her.

"You… you do?" she asked as a small flicker of hope appeared in her eyes for a brief moment before vanishing. "How do I know I can trust you?" she asked in a low voice.

"You don't," Naruto said keeping his tone warm and kind, "I have no way of proving to you that I don't mean you any harm. All you can do is choose to trust or not trust that what I say is true, however I promise you right now that I will help you and take you somewhere safe where you won't ever have to deal with things like what that _man _did to you again."

The girl looked at him for a second before slowly relaxing, she scooted herself away from the head of the bed and moved to the center of the mattress. Naruto made slow movements towards her to make sure she did not freak out before sitting at the edge of the bed next to her, "I'm going to take out a scroll containing medical supplies to heal you, is that ok?" Naruto asked. He received a cautious nod and slowly reached into his pouch which had several containment seals that were used to hold his various ninja tools.

Pulling out a scroll Naruto unrolled it on the bed and unsealed the materials, a number of medicinal creams, disinfectant and medical bandages came out of the seal. Naruto had long since realized that he would never be able to use medical jutsu, not just because he was always constantly battling to keep his control at the level it was at due to the constant increase in his reserves. But also because his chakra had traces of the Kyuubi's in it, while the miniscule amounts did nothing to him since he has had the fox since birth; they were incredibly toxic to others. Still that did not mean that he would not do the best he could to make up for his deficiency in this area by becoming adept at the creation of healing ointments and herbology, Naruto picked up one of the tubes containing one of his own personal creations.

To make up for his lack of being unable to use healing jutsu, Naruto had long since decided to make try and make a healing cream based off of his own abilities of regeneration. Naruto had always known that he healed quickly; wounds that would take weeks for others to heal were gone in hours and ones that took months to heal disappeared within a day. Naruto knew this was due to Kyuubi and the seal on his stomach, which channeled the fox's chakra into his body at a constant rate. A little over a month ago Naruto had been able to replicate that ability to an extent and make a powerful healing cream.

Utilizing the art of **Fuiinjutsu (sealing art)** Naruto had come up with a modified containment seal that was designed to be able to store Kyuubi's chakra. With the use of several powerful purification seals that were designed based off the ones on the Shikki Fuuin Naruto was able to purify Kyuubi's chakra to the point that it was no longer poisonous to humans, of course because of the potency of the chakra it still had to be given in low doses. Lethal wounds like being impaled or broken bones could not be healed with the maximum amount that could be used on a person, which was about the amount of chakra used to make a standard **Bushin** **Jutsu**. But wounds like bruises and small scrapes and cuts were an easy fix for the ointment which had the chakra that was stored in the seal mixed into it.

"I need you lie down while I apply some healing cream to your bruises, can you do that?" Naruto asked in a calming voice.

The woman nodded and laid herself down on her back as Naruto uncorked the lid to his ointment, dabbing a little on his fingers he lightly rubbed them together so the chakra in the cream would activate. He began to gently rub the medical cream on the girl's stomach, which was the area with the most bruising. The young woman hissed in a bit of pain before the healing affects kicked in causing her to relax, in a few minutes the large black bruise that had been on her abdomen was gone. Naruto continued applying the cream to the various bruises before moving on to the cuts, using a disinfectant before using the cream. When it was done the blond wrapped the larger cuts in bandages, making sure all the wrappings were secured and covered as he allowed himself to feel a small amount of pride. If he were honest with himself he had far more respect for healers like Tsunade-baa-chan, rather than warriors like himself; after all it was easy to take a life and far harder to save a life.

"Can you stand?" Naruto asked as he held out his hand to the young girl, she hesitated for a moment before taking it and standing. The young woman let out a yelp of pain as she began to fall; Naruto wrapped an arm around her waist and gently lifted her up while being careful not to touch her bandaged areas. Naruto sighed, her legs were probably broken, "Would you like me to carry you?"

The woman looked at him and bit her lip, it was obvious she still had a distrust of him because of what that Kiri shinobi did; not that Naruto could blame her. He waited patiently for her to answer, "I- you promise you won't do anything…?"

Naruto smiled, "I promise," the woman closed her eyes as she seemed to come to a decision. When she gave a nod of assent Naruto reached into his pouch, channeling chakra into one of the seals he pulled out a large cloak, wrapping it around her to cover her modesty. He gently lifted her up in a bridal carry, making sure her head was resting comfortably on his shoulder. Without hand seals Naruto created a **Kage Bushin **with mental orders to destroy any and all evidence of the three of them ever being here, with a nod to its creator the clone went to work.

The woman in his arms began to nod off as Naruto left through the window, feeling lulled by the comforting and warm aura that the blond possessed. Before she fell asleep a stray thought crossed her mind, "I don't even know your name…"

She looked up at Naruto to see what she now realized were some of the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen as he gave her a soft smile. The last thing she heard before falling asleep was, "its Naruto."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Ao sighed for what felt like the hundredth time today as he waited for the person who was supposed to lend them aid to arrive, whoever it was was extremely late. In the ninja world this usually meant one of three things, they had gotten caught up in something; this could be caused by anything from simple forgetfulness to getting into a fight with other shinobi, with neither of those being very good. They hadn't even gotten here yet, given the trouble it took to get into Kiri their support had been given some leeway in this, Ao had been given a week to stake the place out, with today being the last day. Or the final thing that could have happened, this person had been killed on his way here; either before or after they got here.

Crossing his arms Ao began to tap his fingers a dull rhythm against his arms, this was unbelievable that someone would take this long to get here and not even have the courtesy to send a message! Back in his day people were prompt about being on time to any important engagements like this!

A nudge on his shoulder brought Ao out of his mental ramblings, looking towards one of the men in his squad who was with him for this assignment Ao saw him nudge his head. Looking over in the direction indicated he spotted a man wearing a black cloak that reached down the ground, the hood was up covering the man's face with the only thing Ao was able to see being a blue face mask covering the bottom half of the man's face. The odd thing about the man was that he was carrying something in his arms, judging from the shape and size it was most likely a person.

Ao activated the Byakugan in his left eye, spotting the three whisker marks on each cheek as he used the Doujutsu's X-ray vision; Ao relaxed ever so slightly. While this man could be their contact which had been described by a message Terumi-Sama had gotten awhile ago, it could also be an imposter. As the cloaked man came closer Ao stopped him, "you look like your pretty far from home son."

The figure chuckled, "I was told there are many opportunities in Mizu No Kuni and came to try my luck."

The voice sounded younger than he expected but Ao visibly relaxed as he heard the password, he would still need to be weary but at least now they could move on. "You're later then I thought you would be," Ao said watching as the man shifted his attention to the form he was carrying. Now that he was not paying as much attention to their support he took the time to notice that the figure the man was carrying was a person, a woman to be exact.

"Sorry," the man said, "I was… held up."

Ao sensed the underlying meaning to his words and couldn't help but wince, while most of the people on the Mizukage's side were forced to fight there were others who were not above committing such atrocious acts. "Well… I suppose its fine since you're hear," Ao began, "still back in my day…"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sighed as he set the young woman down on the bed in the medical room of the main base to the rebel faction; he looked over towards Ao and nodded. The two of them soon walked out of the room and made their way down a long hallway with various doors leading to places like storage and living spaces. Now that he was not worried about his charge Naruto turned his attention to the man who he had met at the port.

Ao was a middle aged man with a patch over his right eye and talismans in his ear with the kanji for Sho Uketamwa (To Hear) on both sides. Naruto was able to spot the rather intricate looking seal that was hidden within the kanji, given the chakra Naruto could feel emanating from under the man's eye patch, the blond assumed he had a transplanted Doujutsu like kakashi. His hair was a light blue in color and looked similar to Kisame's hair, he was wearing the Kiri Hitea-ate around his head. He was wearing a pair of striped shirt and pants with a green robe over them in the standard hunter Nin attire of Kiri. Suddenly they stopped at a door that was at the end of the hallway and Ao knocked.

"Come in."

Naruto blinked at the very feminine tone as Ao opened the door and entered with Naruto following right behind, when Naruto entered he saw a woman sitting at a large desk and felt a slight hitch in his breath. During his travels he had seen and been with many beautiful women, out of all those he had seen so far this woman took the cake. The woman was very slender and looked to be in her late twenties to early thirties. With ankle length auburn hair done up in a herringbone pattern at the back with a top not tied with a dark blue band and four bangs in front of her face one of which covered her right eye. Her face was perfectly heart shaped and feminine, yet had the look of a leader who had earned the respect of her people. Her skin was a light milky color that looked soft, smooth and delicate despite the fact that they were in a war. She wore a long sleeve dark blue dress that fell just below the knees; it was closed at the front with a zipper and was kept open at the front right side from the waist down. The dress only covered up to the upper part of her arms leaving slender yet strong looking shoulders and the lower part of her breasts, showing off her beautiful D sized chest. Under that was a mesh shirt that covered a little more of her arms and chest, but still left a good amount of cleavage showing. She also wore shorts in the same color as her dress and mesh leggings that went to her knees under that, she was wearing high heels with shin guards instead of sandals.

"Terumi-Sama," Ao voice interrupted Naruto's thoughts, "this is the support that Konoha was able to send us." the man sounded somewhat disgruntled at only receiving one person for help, but Mei didn't seem to be bothered as she smiled at Naruto.

She slowly stood from her desk and walked towards Naruto as she held out her hand, "I would like to thank you for coming to our aid. In all honesty I had not expected to receive much help if any at all Mr.…" she trailed off obviously fishing for a name.

"Naruto," the blond said with a smile towards the busty red headed woman as he shook her hand, "it's a pleasure to meet you Mei-san." Naruto paused when he noticed Mei looking up and down his form and couldn't help but grin, "I take it you approve of what you see?"

Naruto felt Ao as well as the two Anbu who were in the room stiffen and glare at him, but Mei seemed to ignore it as she favored him with another smile. "I'll tell you… if you let me know what you think of me," that seemed to throw the others in the room through a loop.

Naruto chuckled, "let's put it this way, if ever there was a goddess walking this earth I have no doubt that I've just found her."

Mei to her credit only took a light tint of pink to her cheeks as she gave him a favoring grin, "then you can assume I… approve of what I see," she took one last eye full of him before putting on her business face. "As much as I would love to continue this banter with you, I need to tell you what our situation is and see if I can't give you your first mission."

Naruto nodded as his face instantly became blank, "I am at your disposal Mei-san."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Takane Nobata was a middle aged man with long black hair and coal black eyes, wearing the standard garb of a Kiri chunin. At the age of 11 he had graduated the academy, killing off the person he had spent his entire time with there, as was the standard graduation exam before the graduation was changed thanks to Zabuza. Over the years he kept average stats, with an average number of missions. He became a chunin after his sixth try in Iwa and continued on to become an average ninja, when the bloodline wars started he had stayed with the Mizukage. While he did not really care about the sides or killing bloodline bearers, he was loyal and would not betray the Mizukage. All together there was nothing special about him; he was a fairly average person.

It was that average status that had gotten him and his team killed, his team which had been comprised of two genin, one Jonin and himself had been tasked with raiding various towns along side a group of bandits. While he had not liked what they were doing he had no choice and it was an easy task, they would let the bandits do all the work and then take their share for allowing it. If the bandits tried to resist it was their job to kill them and find another group to steal money for them.

The group he was with had gone to one of the rendezvous points to collect their pay, only to find out too late that it was an ambush and the bloodline users had disguised themselves and set several traps. Takane had been killed after an hour of torture giving any and all information he had on himself and whatever he knew about the Mizukage's forces. After they had gotten the information they needed out of him and the Kiri Jonin, he had been killed.

Naruto using **Shinsei Henge (True Transformation) **a jutsu he had created using his SS class Kinjutsu (forbidden Jutsu) the **Orokie No Jutsu (Sexy Jutsu)** he had created a true transformation. Unlike the standard **Henge** of the academy which is considered by some to be a ninjutsu/Genjutsu hybrid that creates an illusion over ones form and could easily be dispelled. The **Shinsei Henge** was a true physical transformation, rather than applying a layer of chakra over the body to create an illusion; this creates a real physical body.

Naruto staggered as he made his way up to the main gates of the large base for one of the Mizukage's forces, holding his side which was 'bleeding' as his breath came out in haggard gasps. As he got to the gate the shinobi in the watch tower spotted him and called down to two Shinobi who were standing guard inside the gate, which began to open with a creek as one of the guards went to get the commander while the other came out of the gate and walked in front of him just as he began to stumble.

"What happened to you?" the man asked as he slung 'Takane's' arm over his shoulder and helped him up.

"B-Bloodline rebels," 'Takane' gasped out using a bit of wind chakra to cut up his gums making it look like he had blood coming up from his throat. The Commander of the base came just as 'Takane' started explaining, "We were… attacked by the bloodline users…" 'Takane' bent his head down as he coughed up some blood, mentally applauding himself for his good performance.

"How did you escape?" asked the Commander who was looking at him in suspicion.

"… I… managed to… fall into a… r-river…" Naruto head began to bob, "guess… they thought I… was… dead." Letting his eyes close, 'Takane' feigned unconscious as the commander looked him over for a moment.

"Get this man to medical! I want him up and about to give a report by tomorrow!" the commander ordered as the one who was carrying him and someone else came up on his other side and grabbed his other arm. As they dragged him through the base they did not notice the small smile on 'Tekane's' face.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright he's in," Ao said as he observed the front gates come to a close, "now we just need to wait for him to open the gates and we'll begin our mission."

This would be one of the first times they actually destroyed an enemy base, they had done many raids on ninja teams and caravan's before. But because they lacked the numbers they had never been able to storm one of the strongholds the Mizukage Yagura created, mainly because no one could sneak in to disrupt it from the inside. **Henge** did not work on the more talented of Jonin, and Yagura had created these bases to be impenetrable from the outside. There were a total of fifteen guard towers that were designed to spot enemy ambushes long before they ever got within 100 meters of the place. The walls were sturdy enough that only Terumi-Sama could break them with her **Yoton** Jutsu, meaning someone had to open it from the inside.

So upon learning that Naruto could create a solid physical transformation their leader had immediately made plans to begin infiltrating and destroying enemy bases. They had gotten what intelligence they could, finding out where one of the bases was through capturing a few ninja who were working with bandits and interrogating them. Naruto would **Shinsei Henge** into one of the men and come to the base 'injured' and claim they were attacked. Once he was inside the boy would need to kill and replace the men on the guard towers near the entrance and open the gate to allow their team through. They would then proceed to capture the commander and take him back to base where he could be thoroughly interrogated.

However this was also a two point mission for Ao, who was mainly here for the purpose of finding out how skilled the young man who had come here was. Depending on how talented he was they would be able to make even bolder plans and hopefully end this war faster. Ao sighed; while he trusted Terumi-Sama with his life he was not sure what she was thinking, making plans that hung on the abilities of a kid! Back in his day people relied on the abilities of senior ninja and entire ninja squads! Not young upstarts!

"What should we do if the boy fails?" asked one of his men.

"Then we leave, no point in attacking if it will lead to failure," replied Ao.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto opened his eyes the moment the door closed, sitting up in his bed he looked around. He was obviously in a medical room, if the wounded people in beds were any indication. They had gotten rid of his 'clothes' and given him a standard patients garb, basically just a white smock. Naruto looked around to make sure none of the other patients were awake before getting up, dispelling his **Henge** Naruto's true form came up. Putting the cloak over his head he was just about to make his way to the door, only for it to open. Acting on pure instinct Naruto drew a Kunai and the minute the person walked through the door he appeared right in front of them, thrusting the kunai into the person's neck and inflicting a fatal wound. Before they could hit the ground Naruto caught the person so they would not make any noise, only now did he take a look at who it was.

The person, a woman was still alive as she looked at him with wide pained eyes while her hands went up to her throat. Naruto watched in horror as within seconds the woman shuttered and died, her eyes still open. Naruto's face paled as he recognized the person as a doctor, he picked her up and closed the door behind him as quietly as possible so as not to wake the patients. He walked over to his bed and gently set her down, arranging her form so she looked to be sleeping. This was his first kill, or at least the first one in cold blood; he didn't count the man who was raping the woman as he refused to see such monsters as people. While he had killed before during his trip with Ero-Sennin it had been in self defense, this time he had killed someone simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Worse still he killed a doctor, someone who has devoted their life to healing others.

He felt sick to his stomach as he clenched his eyes shut, taking several calming breaths as a few small tears fell out of the corners of his eyes. Reopening them he shut the woman's eyes and lightly touched her forehead with his own, saying a quick prayer and apology before he left. He still had a mission to do and couldn't afford to be distracted, he could break down later.

Placing his sensei's invisibility jutsu over himself, Naruto left the room after making sure the door was locked from the inside and then closing it. He made his way down the hallway of the base, which he knew from the general observations they had taken before hand that the base had two stories. He was on the first and would need to reach the second to get to the guard towers which were connected to the main building. Naruto jumped onto the ceiling, channeling a small amount of chakra to his feet as several people walked passed. Deciding the ceiling was safer anyway he continued moving on, crawling along the roof as he made his way up the stairs.

Once he was on the second floor he dropped back down and continued on the floor, dodging area's that were heavily populated with Shinobi. Finding a secluded spot the blond opened a window and climbed out, before closing it so nothing would seem amiss should someone come by. Looking over Naruto found he was right next to one of the towers, though he didn't know which one. Moving along the side of the wall he made his way towards this tower, as he got closer he looked at the ground floor and realized with relief that he was next to the gate entrance. Moving into the small tower Naruto walked behind the two people who were looking out at the grounds around the outside of the base, pulling out two kunai Naruto steeled himself for what he was about to do.

A flash of steel later and Naruto was gently setting down two dead ninja after he had pierced them through the temple, he rolled them over and memorized their features before creating two **Kage Bushin **who **Henged** into the ninja he had killed. Looking at the other two towers next to him he noticed they were still looking out at the grounds meaning he hadn't been seen, he sighed in relief before moving over to the second guard tower and repeating the process. With that over Naruto climbed over the wall and walked down onto the ground, sneaking over to the gate Naruto spotted the two who were standing guard on each side. Using the two kunai he had been working with to make his kills Naruto took aim and threw them, both Kunai pierced the back of the two ninja's heads. Before they could hit the ground Naruto created a **Kage Bushin**, both the Naruto's appeared next to the dead shinobi and caught them while they were falling. Hiding them off to the side Naruto looked at the wench designed to close and open the gate, pushing it up the wheels began to turn as the gate opened.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Outside of the base Ao and the others had been waiting for something to happen, when doing a stake out of any kind it is usually boring and only penetrated with excitement when and if something actually happened. Ninja who specialize in reconnaissance learn this early on, only those who are patient and collected can truly do stake outs. Especially of this nature, where you are going to be infiltrating and destroying an enemy base should the one you sent to open the way come through.

"Taicho, the gate is opening," one of his men informed Ao.

"I can see that," Ao said, while he did not show it he was impressed with the short amount of time it took for this boy too accomplish his mission. "It looks like he came through after all, alright men we're moving out."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto took a long chug out of his sake bottle, letting the liquid burn down his throat. Setting the bottle down he closed his eyes as he took in several deep breaths, trying to settle his after mission nerves. This had been one of his first missions above C rank, he didn't really count the Wave mission since it had originally been C rank and Kakashi and Sasuke had done most of the fighting; the only other mission that had been above C was his mission to Yuki and he had not killed anyone then. Despite that the mission had gone off without a hitch, he had given a nearly impeccable performance after the mission. Ao's team which was the one he would be assigned to unless needed elsewhere had even given a toast to him when they got back. Yet even with all the praise he was getting, his thoughts kept going back to the woman he had killed at the 'start' of the mission. Try as he might he could not keep his mind off of the final look of pain and fear that had seen in her eyes as she died, which of course was why he was here. He had been unable to sleep and so had come to the small bar the base had to hopefully drink himself stupid, unfortunately he was having no such luck as Kyuubi just burned the alcohol out of his system.

As he was cursing the fox for all he was worth a voice spoke up behind him, "yen for your thoughts?"

Naruto turned around and came face to face with Mei; he gave her a somewhat pained smile and gestured for her to take a seat. Moving up to the stool she sat down next to him and shared a companionable silence, Naruto collected his thoughts before he began to speak. "I killed today," he looked over at Mei to find her looking at him with a raised eyebrow, finding it odd that a shinobi would be bothered by this; still he was young so maybe it was his first. "Normally this wouldn't be a problem, I've killed before; usually in self defense or the few times me and Ero-Sensei ran into bandit camps."

Well there went that idea… wait, "Ero-Sensei?" Mei asked with an amused smile.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head as a sheepish expression passed over his face, "sorry… I meant my sensei, Jiraiya."

Mei's eyes actually widened in shock, "You mean the Jiraiya? Of the legendary three?" at Naruto's nod Mei turned to her own thoughts. When she had first heard that Konoha was only going to be sending one person to help them, Mei had been while not displeased as she had not expected much, had at the very least found herself feeling disappointed. However the handsome young man before her seemed to have quite a bit of skill as he demonstrated with pulling off a successful infiltration mission, allowing them to destroy one of their enemies strongholds for the first time. They had even managed to capture the commander of the base; he had provided her with the location of even more bases which she was planning on having the young blond infiltrate. She could now see why he was so skilled, if he was trained by Jiraiya… she looked over at the blond to see him looking at her quizzically and became somewhat embarrassed at spacing out, "I'm sorry please continue."

Naruto smiled appreciatively, he did not know why but he felt comfortable in her presence as if he could trust her. Naruto went back to his story, "it had been at the start of the mission and I had just been about to sneak out of the medical room when the door opened. I… can't really remember much except for instincts kicking in, one moment I'm just getting off the bed and the next there's a young woman in my arms clawing at her throat…"

"You looked in her eyes didn't you?" Mei asked as an understanding light came to her. In the academy they had been taught that the worst possible thing you could do was stare into the eyes of someone you had killed. It had caused many problems for young genin who became plagued with nightmares about their first kills, many of which had to quit being a shinobi because they had become mentally unstable. It had been why the original graduation exam in Kiri had been to kill the person closest to you, they felt that if you could do that then killing some random person would be nothing.

Naruto nodded, "yes, I had looked into her eyes and watched her die, saw the helpless and pained expression on her face, I..." Naruto quickly wiped away a stray tear hoping Mei wouldn't notice, she had but decided to just file it away for later. "But that's not even the worst of it; I killed a doctor, someone who's purpose in life was to heal others. While they do have some minor combat training, they never take a life unless they have to. People like us," he gesture to himself and Mei, "we're killers. Our whole purpose revolves around causing more death then our enemy," Naruto paused. "I've never really liked killing, in truth when I first thought about what I wanted to be my first choice was a doctor."

"Why didn't you become one?" Mei asked in curiosity, a doctor was on the complete opposite end of the career spectrum.

"Honestly," Naruto sighed, "I have no idea why or even when I had changed my mind. Wouldn't have mattered anyway, from the moment I was born I was chosen to be a ninja by factors outside of my life. Both of my parents were ninja, extremely powerful in their own right," that was part of the truth. But the biggest reason was because of Kyuubi, even if he had been given a choice there was no other profession he could have chosen because of that rather 'small' detail.

"So… you became a ninja because of your parents?" Mei asked.

"Partially…" Naruto looked at her, "I actually didn't even know who my parents were until a few months ago. But the Sandaime knew them; he would always tell me great stories about how my parents were such noble people who fought to protect their home. Of course I had no clue he was talking about them at the time…"

"Sounds like he manipulated you," Mei scowled; she had never liked people who would manipulate an innocent child. It sounded like something Yagura would do so he could get a powerful pawn under his sway.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that whether he knew it or not he was indeed manipulating me to become a shinobi. Though I would never blame him for that, he was the Hokage after all so I assume he was mainly telling me of his own feelings." Naruto took another swig of sake, "I'm not well liked in my village so this was really the only option I had available anyway." Naruto blinked in surprise, why did he just tell her that? This was only the second time he had even talked with her, it's not like they were close or anything. He couldn't blame it on the sake since he was unable to get inebriated; perhaps it was the aura she gave off? Maybe her comforting presence? Or perhaps it was some other factor he had yet to deduce? He looked over at Mei who seemed to be interested in that comment, deciding there was no harm in letting her know a little more he started again. "Because of events that happened at my birth, events that I had no control over I have been hated all my life."

Mei frowned at that, "were your parent's traitors?" that was the only thing she could think of that would make the people of his village hate him. Though she did not think that was the case, especially if the Sandaime had hailed them as much as Naruto said he had. Of course he could have told Naruto that so he could manipulate him into becoming a shinobi.

Naruto shook his head, "no in fact my parents or at least one of my parents is considered the greatest hero the hidden leaf village has ever seen."

Mei looked at the young man in thought, there were very few heroes within Konoha during the time Naruto could have been born; at least ones who were not too old or too young to be his parent's. She looked at him closely, studying his profile as if she was trying to put together the pieces to a puzzle. Now that she thought about it he did remind her of someone she had seen in a textbook on the third great ninja war. The man who had been hailed as the one to end that war with a single Jutsu that had become so feared she doubted even Yagura would have fought him; an image came to her mind and a name clicked, she felt her eyes widened as she finally realized who his parents were, or rather who his father was.

"I see you figured it out," Naruto said as he saw the recognition in her eyes, "I would appreciate it if you didn't tell any one of my parentage… at least not yet."

"I can do that," Mei said after a bit of thought, he was after all he was trusting her with what had to be a fairly large secret. She knew it would cause a lot of problems not just for him but for her as well if word about Naruto's heritage got out. No doubt Iwa would be more than willing to join in the bloodline wars if they thought they could kill the son of the **Kiroii Senkou**.

"Thanks," Naruto said with a small smile.

Mei returned it as she looked at him, "so why don't you continue your story."

"There's really nothing more to tell," Naruto said with a sigh, "I killed someone who I feel didn't deserve to die. Sure she may have been the enemy, but people who can heal are some of the only people I really respect. It takes little effort to kill, however to heal takes a lot of work time, effort and sweat."

"I think I understand," Mei said and in truth she did. While Mei did not quite have Naruto's perspective she could understand his thoughts and feelings on this kind of subject. "Still don't you feel better knowing that the people you care about are safe because your fighting?"

Naruto chuckled, "that's the only reason I'm still a shinobi, if I didn't have my precious people to protect their would be no way I would still be in this business."

Mei smiled at the man who was quickly becoming something of an enigma to her, from just the little conversations she had had with him since he came here she found herself intrigued. His apparent desire to protect the he cared for just made her want to figure him out all the more, "so you fight to protect your precious people than?" Naruto nodded absently as he took a drink of sake, only to be disappointed when he realized it was all gone. "Then I suppose since you're here does that make me precious to you?" Naruto looked over at Mei in surprise before he saw her slightly pouty expression.

Naruto grinned as he tapped a finger to his chin, "Well…" he looked at her with a critical eye before leaning over and wrapping an arm around her waist. "I suppose so… that is if you make me one of your precious people," he finished in a husky whisper.

Mei shivered from his tone as a small blush spread across her delicate features, but she managed to keep her grin in place as she looked at him for a second before standing up. "I guess I could make you one of my precious people," Mei said using Naruto's term as she winked at him. "Provided you escort me to my room…"

Naruto laughed as he stood up and stuck his arm out for Mei to take, "I can do that… though some of your men might get jealous to see you cuddling up to the new guy."

"Well then I suppose they will stay jealous won't they?" Mei asked rhetorically as they left the bar, "I hope you're not intimidated by any of my admirers…"

"Me intimidated," Naruto scoffed, "don't make me laugh, I was just worried that they may end up in the hospital for trying to put me in my place."

Mei giggled before they continued to walk down the hall, a companionable silence coming between the two. True to Naruto's prediction he did draw several angry glares from almost all of the men who were also in the hall, no doubt wondering how the new guy was so close to their leader when he had only been here for a few days. What Naruto had not expected was some of the woman who actually glared at Mei, Naruto had not been here long enough to be really known and he had not met any of these woman even in passing. He wondered if they simply thought she was degrading herself by getting so close to someone after only a few days of their first meeting.

"It's because their jealous."

"Huh?" Naruto asked in a somewhat dumb tone as he turned to look at Mei.

Mei covered her mouth with her free hand as she giggled, "word of how you rescued a woman from being raped apparently spread through the base soon after you arrived. It seems that your good dead made you quite popular…"

"But, they don't even know me?" Naruto said blinking before realizing what was going on, "I can't believe… I didn't think I would see fan girls in the middle of a war…"

This comment cause Mei to laugh outright causing the people around the two to become startled. Mei's laugh calmed down and became an occasional small giggle, "well to be honest I didn't expect it either, but there you have it," she said as she made a casual gesture to a few of the girls around her.

"I suppose so," Naruto said as they once again continued in silence, a few moments later they were at Mei's door.

Mei turned around and gave him an alluring smile, "Thank you for escorting me kind sir."

Naruto grinned at her as he gave an exaggerated bow, "not at all my lady, it has been a pleasure to merely find myself so graced as to be in the presence of a goddess such as you."

"Charmer," Mei murmured unable to contain a blush from the comment.

"I am so such thing," Naruto affected mock surprised look, "I am merely someone who speaks what I think." Naruto took her hand and gave it a small kiss, looking up he was pleased to see Mei's face was now red. He gave her one last smile, "I'll see you later Mei-chan."

Mei's blush increased in hue at the addition of the affectionate suffix Naruto added to her name, _Mei-chan… I could get used to being called that. _She looked at where Naruto was going down the corridor, _Naruto Namikaze you truly are an enigma I will enjoy figuring out._

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto looked around at the other people who had also been called to Mei's office, two of them he didn't know. They were not front line soldiers, so he had never fought by their side. All he knew was that one of them was the head of the medical staff and the other managed the supplies they acquired through various means. He also knew that the one who managed the supplies did not like him for some reason; the man was fairly young so Naruto assumed it was because of how close he was to Mei. The man had complained once about Mei insisting on having Naruto with them as a part of their meetings, he never did it again after Mei threatened to melt his balls of; which Naruto had later found out she could quite literally do.

Ao was also with them, he and the hunter Nin had gotten closer in the past five months Naruto had been here. During that time Naruto had usually been with Ao's team and had gone on several more infiltrate and destroy missions.

There was also Chojuro, a shy young man with blue hair, black eyes and sharp shark like teeth; a trait he shared with Zabuza and Kisame. He wore black rimmed glasses that were connected to a set of headphones. He was wearing a blue striped shirt with camouflage pants, while his Hitea-ate was worn across his chest. He carried a large sword on his back called Hiramekarei, which was wrapped in bandages much like Kisame did with his sword. Naruto had met and teamed up with him during one of his missions, they got along well enough. Naruto had found out that despite being a member of the **Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū** Chojuro was extremely shy and under confident. Though he had noticed the man seemed to find the courage to glare at him whenever Mei was on Naruto's arm and flirting with him.

Naruto looked back at Mei who had an apprehensive look on her face, Naruto was not sure why this meeting had been called since they met every week on Wednesdays to hear reports and plan. All Naruto knew was that it was apparently important, most likely new Intel that could spell trouble for the rebels.

"As you all know we have recently dealt several harsh blows to the Mizukage's forces," Mei started catching the attention of the people in the room. That was true enough, in the past five months they had managed to destroy ten enemy strongholds, cutting off valuable trade routes and isolating enemy forces allowing the bloodline side too pick them off. After that first mission Naruto had been on they had continued to use the infiltration tactic with great success, while Naruto would not claim credit for being the reason their missions were so successful he was glad to know that he was helping bring this violent war to a close. "However, it seems that with our success Yagura has decided that we have become a serious threat. I have received Intel that he has amassed his forces and they will be heading towards our base at one month's time to destroy us." the two who had no part in the fighting paled at her words and began to mumble to themselves, a glare from Mei quickly shut them up. "Because of this I am planning an evacuation of the base, we are lucky that we were able to get this information fast enough so that we can evacuate the base without costing lives."

"So we're going to have to run eh?" asked Ao with a small grumble, "back in my day when we had to face such engagements we…"

"Ao…" Mei interrupted with a sickly sweet voice as one of her perfectly shaped eye brows twitched. "Shut up… or I'll kill you…"

Ao paled, "I… I didn't mean to imply that…"

Naruto gave a silent laugh as he listened to the small banter, Naruto had realized awhile ago that this was a common occurrence between the two. Mei tended to get a particularly bad attitude when Ao would start talking, mainly because he would somehow end up making a comment that could easily be taken as a talk about marriage. Mei had confided in Naruto privately that she was somewhat depressed that she was going to reach her thirties in a few years and had yet to find a husband. Naruto had merely laughed and told her that a woman as beautiful as her shouldn't worry about such things since she would no doubt have men flocking to her as soon as the war was over. This had led to a little word play between the two that had begun to happen more often these days, especially when it was just the two of them.

Naruto had grown much closer to the busty red head, he would not deny that he was quite possibly starting to fall for her. She was smart, strong, intelligent, beautiful and seemed to have the same love of flirty wordplay that he had. While Naruto would deny it vehemently to anyone who commented on it, traveling with Jiraiya had slightly tainted him. While Naruto would never peep on a woman like Ero-Sensei did; he always took great joy in making a woman blush either with a subtle or not so subtle compliment on her looks or making a comment laced with innuendo. Seeing a beautiful woman who seemed to enjoy the same thing he did was not only welcome since it kept things fun, but also because their 'talks' kept Naruto from having nightmares about the things he had done and seen in this war.

"Mei-chan," Naruto said getting her attention as well as several glares from the others at calling Mei by such a in there eyes, disrespectful suffix.

"Yes Naruto-kun?" Mei asked not caring to look at the shocked and jealous looks the two received, honestly she had figured these people would have been used to it by now.

"I don't think there is any need to evacuate, in fact this could be where we end the war." Naruto statement caused several shocked looks all around; it was extremely bold to claim that they could end the war right now. Despite numerous recent victories and cutting down about 1/3 of Yagura's forces, they were still outnumbered 3 to 1.

"That's a bold claim to make Naruto," Mei said dropping the suffix as she adopted a completely serious tone, "I assume you have a plan?"

Naruto simply reached into his cloak's inner pocket and set down a large tri-pronged kunai on the table, while the people around him were wondering what the odd kunai was, Mei's eyes widened. "You mean…"

"Yes," Naruto said in a firm voice, "it's time the world was reintroduced to the flash."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto stared out across the plain trying to see if the enemy had arrived, like always in Mizu No Kuni the area was extremely Misty giving everyone very low visibility. Looking to his right and left Naruto saw several people who were lining up Kunai launchers, if he were to look behind him he knew that he would see people doing the same thing. He noticed that most of the people who were preparing them were looking at the odd tri pronged kunai in curiosity, most likely wondering what it was and how it could be used to end the war. Naruto and Mei had refused to say anything and the only person who the blond was sure knew what was going to happen was Ao, who was more knowledgeable then most people from Mizu due to his travels. Because of how isolated Mizu No Kuni was most people who lived there did not have much information about the world outside their country. All these people knew was that their job was too launch the kunai.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

Naruto smiled as he closed his eyes, he had known she was there for awhile now having gotten used to her presence. He let himself find comfort in her presence a little longer before answering, "Yes, this war has gone on long enough." Naruto turned around to face the busty red head and gave her a smile, "it would be selfish of me to not use one of my abilities just so my secret can remain secret."

Mei gave Naruto a smile, despite the war he had been through Naruto still maintained a strong sense of right and wrong. She did not know when it happened but sometime along the line Naruto had made it his personal goal to end the bloodshed in Kiri. Perhaps it had always been there and that was why she had not seen it, maybe when he first came here and saw how bad it life was here that he decided to help. She couldn't be sure and if she were honest with herself she didn't care, just knowing that this young man who had quite literally turned the tide in the war was with her was enough.

"Thank you," she said in a voice so low that even Naruto's enhanced hearing almost caused him to miss it.

Naruto tilted her head up to his, in the last few months Naruto had hit a growth spurt and was now at a height of 5'9" about a head taller than Mei. "You don't need to thank me; even if Konoha told me to return right now I would stay and help you finish this."

Mei small smile turned into a sultry grin as she closed the distance between them, "mmm… such heroic nature deserves a suitable reward, don't you think?" she began to draw circles on his clothing, which was missing the typical hooded cloak he usually wore while on missions allowing Mei to feel the rock hard muscles the young man was packing.

Naruto smirked opting to be more bold than usual as he put an arm around her waist and pulled her into a one armed embrace, making the two of them meld together. "If you insist," Naruto said turning his voice into a husky growl, "I remember reading that Mizu had some nice hot springs, perhaps the two of us can see if that's still true…"

"My aren't you bold Naruto-kun," Mei said holding a hand to her face to hide the blush that had spread to her cheeks.

"I can't believe this, we're going into battle and you are making sexual banter with each other," both Naruto and Mei turned to Ao with deadpanned expression. "Why back in my day when we were going to fight we would…"

"Ao…" the two said in eerie unison. There was an odd shadow covering their face's making it so that Ao could not see their eyes, "shut up… or we'll kill you."

Ao instantly paled and despite considering himself brave took a step back, having Terumi-Sama threaten him was bad enough but adding Naruto as well… the old hunter ninja felt a shiver of fear run down his spine. "Well… I uh… I just wanted to tell you that the ETA for the enemy is 30 minutes and uh… I'll just leave you two now..."

"Thank you, you may go back to your post," Mei said, adopting her leader voice. Ao quickly bowed and walked away, hoping he could make it as far away from those two as possible and hopefully not see them until the end of this battle. Mei turned back to Naruto, "are you ready?"

Naruto nodded, "yes."

Mei nodded before looking at the ground for a second; nodding her head as if she were coming to an important decision Mei looked back at Naruto. Leaning on her toes she gave him a small kiss on the cheek, leaving a light blue imprint of her lip stick on him. Naruto eyes widened for a second as he brought up a hand to his cheek, this time he was the one who found himself becoming red, which only made the blue lip imprint Mei left stand out more. "That was for luck," Mei told him with a heartfelt smile, "and to make sure you come back."

Naruto's face slowly turned back to its natural tanned color as he grinned, "Do I get another if I make it back alive."

Mei struck up a thinking pose, "if you make it back alive I'll give you something even better… perhaps that trip to the hot spring you wanted…" deciding to leave their conversation on a light note Mei gave him a wink and walked off.

Naruto turned back to look at the preparations with a large grin on his face, despite knowing he was going to be forced to kill today that kiss had made his day. He channeled some chakra to his eyes to give himself some slightly enhanced vision in the hopes of clearing the thick mist, he sighed when he couldn't pierce through the mist meaning it would be a waiting game until they came within range of his vision. He took slow breaths as he remained calm, in all honesty had no clue if he could pull this off. This would be the first time he used the **Hiraishin **in battle, but he had spent several days getting use to the feel of using the space time jutsu. So with some luck or perhaps Kami on their side he would hopefully be able to pull it off and defeat the enemies that were now coming for the bloodline rebels.

It was about ten minutes later that he saw the first troops tying to race across the field as quickly as possible, for a shinobi open war combat was the most dangerous kind. Unlike Samurai who rely on their swards and charging the enemies head first into battle, ninja used large scale ninjutsu and other powerful techniques and weapons like explosive notes that were designed to take out a large amount of enemies at once. This meant that combat in any kind of open space was extremely dangerous. On the few occasions that moving in an open field couldn't be helped, it was always the best option to try to cross it as fast as possible.

It would do little good here.

"Enemy forces are approaching, ready the kunai!" Naruto yelled out his order. The people around Naruto instantly obeyed without question or hesitation, while he was not their leader and technically not even a member of their forces they felt inclined to listen to him. During the six months of constant war, Naruto had gained a charismatic presence that added to his ability to make people listen to and believe in him. Once the kunai were ready Naruto gave the signal.

"FIRE!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

To many of the shinobi it had happened too fast for them to follow, one minute they were running across the flat clearing to move closer to the enemy base so they could start launching their attack before the bloodline rebels had a chance to respond. The next minute they were forced to dodge and block a literal hail of kunai that began raining down on them. While this was not hard since the kunai were only in the hundreds and were spaced apart by about 15 meters, it had forced them to halt in their advance. When the kunai stopped coming many of the ninja paused to pick one up to see what it was, none of them had ever seen a kunai of this kind before.

That was when it happened; a bright yellow flash began appearing in several places so quick that it seemed as if the flashes were happening at the same time. Each time the flash disappeared anywhere from 10 to 20 ninja would drop, before it disappeared again and began attacking another area. The enemy had no idea what was happening, nor anytime to comprehend their untimely defeat as their forces were picked apart piecemeal.

Naruto flashed in front of a man who had grabbed one of the kunai, launching a Resengan into the man's stomach Naruto grabbed the kunai and put it in his pouch before he flashed again. Flashing behind a woman he gave her a chop to the back of the neck, before moving on to another man and smashing a fist in his face hard enough to send the man flying; said man was unconscious before he hit the ground. Each time Naruto flashed he made sure to grab the kunai while simultaneously knocking out or killing the enemy, no sense in letting others grab them since they would not be able to use it anyway.

Naruto found the experience of flashing from place to place using the **Hiraishin **to be somewhat disorienting. No one but Minato and now Naruto truly knew how the jutsu worked or what it did, when in what Naruto was beginning to call the flash it slowed down ones perception of time; allowing them to make decisions in mere milliseconds, making it an extremely powerful technique. Not only that but he was able to keep track of everything that was happening within a fifteen meter radius from the kunai due to the sensor arrays in the Shikki, allowing him to flash anywhere within that range and take out his opponents. However it also had its draw backs, the jutsu took a toll on the body as it was not meant to do this as well as the information from the kunai that could overload his mind if he was not careful. The strain especially for first time users were incredible, Ero-sensei had told Naruto that the first time his father had used the **Hiraishin **the man had passed out mere minutes afterwards.

Up in the area where Mei and the other shinobi who were waiting could not help but watch in a mixture of fear and awe as one man destroyed an entire army. To them it seemed as if the entire field was covered in giant yellow flashes of light as Naruto teleported from point to point taking people out left and right. In truth the entire thing lasted only a few minutes at the most, nearly the entire Mizukage force was either dead or merely unconscious.

However there was still one man who was not out of the fight yet, it was the man Naruto had been hoping to get first if he were honest. He had of course tried but the man had formed his Bijuu shroud making kunai, swords and even the standard Resengan useless. As the rest of the enemies were felled the flash disappeared and in its place was a somewhat heavily breathing Naruto, who was currently standing across the chakra covered Yagura.

"Who would have thought that I would have been able to witness 'that' jutsu first hand," Yagura mused absently as he looked at Naruto who merely glared at the man. "I presume you are the thorn in my side that appeared a few months back yes?" again Naruto said nothing causing Yagura to sigh, "a pity that you won't talk."

"I don't talk to people who take joy in killing others," Naruto stated with a fierce glare.

"Take joy," Yagura said actually sounding surprised, "I take no joy in causing death boy. But to preserve the pure blood of human's I must extinguish those whose blood has become tainted."

Naruto scowled as he got into his fight stance, "considering that bloodlines were said to come from the Bijuu I find it funny that 'you' of all people are talking about purity."

"Enough talk," Yagura glared as the comment Naruto made apparently got to him, "I am going to enjoy shutting that mouth of yours up permanently."

"You're welcome to try."

The two disappeared in a blur and a resounding crash rang throughout the clearing.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Mei felt her eyes widen as she watched the new battle that was starting to take place, just as it seemed like Naruto had literally won the war for them a new threat popped up and in the worst possible form. The intelligence had received had not mentioned anything about Yagura actually coming to the battle field himself, though in hind sight she supposed it made sense if most of his forces were going into battle. Now Naruto was fighting a Kage level ninja who was also a jinchurikki said to have full control over his Bijuu, things were not looking good right now.

"Ao!" Mei called out getting the man to her side immediately, "I want you to gather your forces and have them see who among the battle field are alive. Knowing Naruto most of them are probably just unconscious, take them prisoner so we can sort out who the criminals are later."

Ao bowed, "of course Terumi-Sama, if I may ask where will you be?"

"I'm going to help Naruto," Mei replied as she began running towards the battle that was now taking place.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto grunted as he took a hit that felt like it shattered his entire rib cage, he had in all honesty never felt someone hit that hard; of course he had only ever fought one other jinchurikki before but all Gaara had been able to do was turn into a giant Tanuki. Naruto flipped on his feet and began going through several hand signs.

"**Raiton: Gian! (Lightning Release: False Darkness!)"**

A large blast of lightning shot out of Naruto mouth and tore through the landscape as it headed for Yagura, the attack hit dead on and Naruto waited for the dust to clear before making his next move. When it did Naruto cursed at not even seeing a scratch on the man, apparently when one had full control over their Bijuu as displayed here it came with some serious advantages.

Yagura came at Naruto again, getting in front of him faster than most people could blink and aiming a punch with enough power that it would take off the blonds head. Fortunately Naruto had trained extensively to fight at high speeds and dodged the blow, tilting his head to the side as he crouched down. A Rasengan appeared in both his hands before he shoved them into the Mizukage's stomach and chest, it seemed to have an effect as Naruto was able to put more chakra into it then when he used the **Hiraishin**. A scream tore itself through the cloaked Sanbi Jinchurikki's throat as his stomach and chest muscles were partly torn away before he was sent flying. The man managed to flip onto his feet and looked up at Naruto with a snarl, Naruto grimaced at seeing the man's muscles and flesh almost finished healing. He wondered if this was what it felt like for others when he just healed any injury he received. _Oh I can just tell, this is going to be fun…_

The three tails that waved themselves behind Yagura suddenly came up to the front as the man opened his mouth, large amounts of concentrated chakra forming between the tails. Naruto was curious for a moment wondering what Yagura was doing, that amount of demonic chakra would kill anyone; even him. The Mizukage swallowed the condensed matter of chakra, becoming extremely heavy and causing the earth he was standing on to shatter.

"**Sanbiko Imari! (Three tails Menacing ball!)"**

"Fuck!" Naruto swore as a large blast of pure energy was launched at him, Naruto threw one of the **Hiraishin** kunai he had been sure to gather as he fought. Just as the attack was about to hit Naruto flashed out of the way, catching the kunai before he landed on the ground. Naruto looked to where he had been, the attack had been and saw that it had torn a 50 foot diameter trench through the spot and it looked like it continued on for miles. Naruto was glad that he had been on the opposite side of the rebels or they would have been annihilated.

"**I'm beginning to hate that jutsu!"**

Naruto turned to see Yagura glaring at him; not deigning to speak Naruto got into his fighting stance again. Yagura chuckled before coming at him full force, channeling Kyuubi's chakra into his fist Naruto began to meet the man blow for blow as the fight continued. Unfortunately Yagura could use more tails than Naruto who could only use one and the punches were beginning to hurt, however there was really not that much that Naruto could do. Jutsu were for the most part useless, the only thing that worked was the Resengan and Naruto while not having used a lot of chakra would not be able to make many more; the strain of using the **Hiraishin** so much today without being well trained in it had taken a large toll on his body.

Naruto ducked under a swipe sent his way, before being forced to twist himself out of the path of one of the man's tails. As Yagura sent another punch at the blond, Naruto sidestepped the attack while grabbing the arm and pulling him into a knee. It didn't seem to do anything as the man just got back up and began attacking him even more furiously, Naruto dodged another punch, only to have his feet swept out from under him. The blond managed to roll to the left just in time to dodge another blow from Yagura that shattered the earth, pushing himself onto his feet Naruto shot off towards his opponent, appearing in front of Yagura before sending another, larger Rasengan at the man.

"**Oodoma Rasengan! (Big Ball Resengan!)"**

There was a large explosion and Yagura was sent flying back, rolling to the ground a few times before coming to a stop. Naruto was hunched over panting as the man got up again; he noticed that the wounds while still healing were more extensive. Naruto cursed, he needed to use a stronger jutsu; if only he had some way to distract his Jinchurikki opponent he may be able to use 'that' jutsu.

"**Yoton: Lava Bullet!"**

Several bullets of molting magma shot at Yagura, impacting and making him stumble forward as he screamed out in pain from the lava melting the skin off his back.

Naruto looked over to see Mei Terumi running towards him with a worried yet determined expression, unfortunately the blond also noticed Yagura's eyes catch onto Mei's form. Both Naruto and Yagura disappeared, Mei suddenly found herself being thrown to the side as Naruto pushed her away from Yagura. Ducking under a punch Naruto shoved another Rasengan at his opponent, wincing as his arms felt the strain of the attack as it drilled into his opponent's ribs. As Yagura was thrown away Naruto ran towards Mei, "are… you alright?" he asked as he offered her a hand.

"I think I should be the one asking that," Mei said as she accepted the help up, "I hope you have a plan for beating him because I'm drawing a blank."

"… Maybe," Naruto breathed, "how long… can you hold him off for?"

"Ten minutes at the most," Mei said looking to where Yagura was getting back up.

"That should… be more than enough… time," Naruto said, "be careful when you fight him."

"I will," Mei said as she charged towards Yagura and began doing hand seals.

"**Futton: Skilled Mist! (Boil Release Skilled Mist!)"**

As Mei began to launch **Yoton** and **Futton **jutsu at Yagura, making sure to keep her distance Naruto created a clone; holding out his hand Naruto formed a Resengan. The clone began to channel wind chakra into the spinning maelstrom of destruction, _I'm only going to have one shot at this, I need to make it count_! The Resengan began to turn pure white as four points appeared swirling around its outer edge, making the jutsu look like a four point shuriken. A loud screeching sound began to fill the air as the jutsu became complete, he looked over at Mei who had several bruises but for the most part looked ok.

"MEI! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Mei jumped away from Yagura as Naruto channeled a concentrated dose of chakra to his feet, shooting off with such force that the landscape literally buckled and cracked when Naruto kicked off. Speeding towards Yagura Naruto thrust out his hand.

"**Fuuton: Rasenshuriken! (Wind Release: Spiral Ball Shuriken!)"**

Yagura had no time to react as the jutsu hit him head on, tearing through the Bijuu cloak like it was mere paper as he was lifted into the air. A large dome 80 feet in diameter appeared around him as millions upon millions of wind blades sliced into the Jinchurikki at the cellular level, had the dome not blocked out sound, Naruto and Mei were sure they would have heard screaming seeing as Yagura's mouth was open in a silent yell. Finally the dome vanished and Yagura's body fell to the ground, a second later there was a large burst of light as the chakra from the Bijuu escaped. At first Naruto was worried, he did not have the energy to fight any more and he doubted that Mei could stand up to a Bijuu. Luck seemed to be with them as the Bijuu did not have the energy to reform and dispersed, most likely heading to another location where it could regain its strength.

Naruto closed his eyes as he fell to the ground, breathing heavily as sweat began to pour down his features. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off he could really feel the strain that using the **Hiraishin** had taken on his body, as well as an intense pain in his arm. He looked at his arm and grimaced, it had thousands of tiny cuts on it much like what Yagura had albeit on a smaller scale. They were already beginning to heal as Kyuubi' chakra went to work, still the jutsu hurt like a bitch to use and he had hoped that he would not need it again until he found a way to throw it. He opened his eyes when he felt his headed being lifted up and put on something soft, what he saw was Mei smiling at him as she began to stroke his hair.

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked.

"Shouldn't I be asking that?" she questioned as she looked him up and down. His clothes were completely ripped leaving him with his pants which were now shorts and his combat boots, "you look like shit."

Naruto chuckled, "oh good then it's not just my imagination because I feel like shit. Is everyone safe?"

"Yes," she said, many of the people were actually walking over to them after having witnessed the battle. "Looks like you're a hero huh?"

Naruto tried to laugh only to wince as he felt his chest strain under the pressure, "I suppose…well… I think I'm… gonna… have to… take a … reign… check on… that reward… good… night." with that the blond shinobi closed his eyes as the last bit of adrenaline left his body and he fell asleep.

Mei looked at him for a good while as she continued to absently run a hand through his hair, she looked over at the battle sight and shook her head. The battle field was a sight of absolute destruction, the techniques used having literally reformed the landscape. She looked over at the large crater Naruto's jutsu created, she had never seen such a destructive technique; even her **Yoton **attacks didn't do that much damage. Looking back at Naruto she smiled, _enigma indeed…_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been six months after the battle and things had been running smoothly in mist, Mei had been selected as the new Mizukage and immediately began putting plans up to rebuild Kiri and the neighboring cities. With the help of many of the ninja, both those who had been on the bloodline side and the ones who had been against Yagura but could not leave for fear of their families had begun to help with the repairs. With the two factions now working under one banner and with the support of the Mizu Daimyo, Kiri was beginning to get under way to returning to its former glory.

Of course it also helped that a certain blond shinobi had decided to stay and help Kiri get back on its feet, creating a literal army of **Kage Bushin **which he used to help Mei and the others in their repairs. Word had begun to reach many of the outlying cities in Mizu No Kuni about Naruto's amazing feet in defeating an entire army with a single jutsu and battling the former Mizukage right afterwards, many people had begun to hail his name here as the hero of Kiri. Naruto while appreciative of the people's good thoughts of him, could not help but a bit feel apprehensive. News of what he did here would not doubt reach the other nations despite the isolation this one had from the rest of the elemental countries. When it did he had no doubt that he would face several issues, namely Iwa and Akatsuki.

He decided not to worry about that now as he sat in the new Mizukage office as Mei read over the last few reports for the day. Now that they were experiencing a new time of peace Naruto had made sure to get to know the busty Kage under circumstances where they did not have to fear for their life. He had to say that it was fun taking Mei out to eat, out for a walk or when they watched a movie after the new cinema had been built. That had been an experience since they had watched the Princess Gale Movie with Yuki Fujikaze AKA Koyuki Kazahana, which many of the people including Mei had been shocked to see showing their hero when he was younger. All in all it was a good experience and allowed Mei to get out of the office every now and then, a place that seemed to be taking up more of her time then she would have liked.

Unfortunately he now had to leave, a few days ago he received a message that Jiraiya was on his way here and it would in fact not surprise the young blond if the man already was here. He looked over as he felt some added weight on the couch and saw Mei looking at him with a curious expression.

He gave her a smile, "it looks like this is good bye for now."

"You're leaving?" she asked with a frown, she had grown close to the young man and did not want him to go. During the war it had been her talks with him that brought her comfort and allowed her to forget all of the bloodshed, even if only for a little while.

"Jiraiya is probably already in town," Naruto ran a hand through his hair, "now that my mission is complete I'm no doubt going to begin my training again."

"I don't really think you need any more training?" Mei mused with a grin.

"I wish that were true," Naruto said with a sad smile, "but once word gets out my enemies which are already quite numerous will multiply. I have to be ready so I can protect not only myself but the people they will no doubt use to get to me."

Mei sighed, someone as young as him should not have so many enemies, she shook off the morbid thoughts. "So when will I see you again?" she asked.

Naruto smirked at her causing the woman to become curious, reaching into his cloak the blond pulled out a tri pronged kunai that he handed to her. "We can see each other whenever," Naruto started his smirk turning into a grin, "just make sure that you limit it to once every two weeks if it's not an emergency. That way I'll make sure to come whenever you call."

Mei smiled as she closed her hand on the kunai, "thank you."

"Ma, ma you don't have to thank me," he began with a grin before affecting a mock sad expression. "I would miss you far too much if we didn't get to see each other," he sniffed as he wiped away a false tear.

Mei's smile turned into a sultry grin, "oh, perhaps I can interest you in staying so we would never be apart? You know we never tried out those hot springs together…"

Naruto chuckled, "a part of me is definitely tempted to stay, but we both know I can't. Still, I have two more things I want to give you…"

"Oh and whats tha- Mph!"

Mei was silenced as Naruto brought them into a passionate lip lock, Mei slowly closed her eyes as she wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck. Naruto in turn brought his around her waist, pulling her up so she was sitting on his lap. When Mei opened her mouth to moan Naruto instinctively brought his tongue into her mouth, increasing the volume and frequency of Mei's moaning. One of Mei's hands went into Naruto's hair as Naruto hands began to rub up and down Mei's thighs. When they finally parted both were breathing heavily with flushed faces.

"W-wow," was all Mei could think to say after the kiss.

"Wow indeed," Naruto said with a laugh before kissing her again.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ready brat!"

Naruto looked up to see Jiraiya standing at the entrance to Kiri, his arms were crossed and he had a smirk on his face.

"You bet Ero-Sensei!" Naruto said as he walked past the man.

Jiraiya soon caught up to Naruto and looked at him, "you know you're the talk of the entire country…"

"Yeah I know," Naruto said having a feeling he knew where this was going.

"Talks about you defeating an entire army with a single jutsu," Jiraiya continued.

"Yes Ero-Sensei, I used the **Hiraishin** to defeat the Mizukage's forces," Naruto looked at his sensei irritably.

"You know this may come back to bight you in the ass right?"

Naruto sighed, "I know, but I couldn't just sit by and do nothing. Those people needed my help."

Jiraiya was torn between being worried and being impressed, after all his apprentice had just won a war and became a hero. "Your just like your father you know that gaki?" he asked with a smile as he decided to go with pride. "Always thinking about others before yourself, with that selfless attitude of yours."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Naruto said with a smirk.

They continued walking in comfortable silence for awhile before Jiraiya spoke again, "by the way nice job on bagging the hot Mizukage, I am impressed!"

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks for a second forcing Jiraiya to stop and turn to him, "that was supposed to be a private moment between me and Mei-chan, Ero-Sensei." Jiraiya shivered at the tone of voice having heard it before on another blond when he tried to sneak a peek on Kushina. The beating he had received from that was almost worse than the time he was nearly killed for peeking on Tsunade. He quickly began to stumble back from the angry blond as he raised his hands in front of his face defensively.

"N-Now listen Naruto, I-"

"**Oodoma Resengan! (Big Ball Resengan)"**

BOOM!

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile in the Mizukage's office Mei was sitting in her chair looking out at the village with a large smile on her face, thinking back to her small make out session with Naruto; she hoped when he visited they could do it again, _maybe when he comes back we can go to those hot springs and have other kinds of fun… _she thought with a blush. As she shifted in her seat she noticed something fall out of her dress, picking it up she recognized it as a letter. Opening it up she put the letter on her desk she began to read:

_Dear Mei-chan,_

_During our time together I feel we have grown closer than most people do and would like to start a relationship with you. Before we can however there are several things you need to know; at the bottom of this letter is a containment seal containing information I feel will be important to __our__ future. Inside this seal is the information I want to give you. Look it up under article D, Claus 36._

_Love, _

_Naruto_

Mei smiled at warm feelings Naruto's letter evoked and could not help but feel curious about what he wanted her to know. Unsealing the content of the containment seal she picked up a book and read the title, Konoha Clan Charter and Laws. Blinking in surprise at the title she shrugged before looking for the section Naruto wanted her to read.

BOOM!

Mei looked up startled when a loud explosion rocked the building, she saw a large ball of energy that she recognized from Naruto's fight with Yagura. Figuring that Naruto's sensei had just done something perverted she shrugged as if nothing had happened she turned back to the law book she was reading.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Their it's done! In this chapter Naruto see's the true horrors of war, meets the hot red head Mei Terumi and becomes a hero… again. I tried to portray the horrors of war as best as I could while adding a few romantic moments between Naruto and Mei and a few moments of comedy for relief so let me know how you think I did. Yes Naruto has used the **Hiraishin**, I figured it would be interesting to take things this way and it may cause some problems for the blond in the future. Also I tried to let Naruto find some way of letting Mei know about the CRA with that last bit though I don't know if I did a good job, so let me know if you liked it or how I can improve it.

Also I was wondering if any of you know the Japanese name of the jutsu's Mei used, all I got was the release name so if anyone knows please send me a message or something so I can change them.

About the **Shinsei Henge**- some of you may be curious about how the doctors were able t take off Naruto's clothes when he was in **Henge **so I figured I would let you know before you actually write a review and possibly ask questions about it.. Because Naruto's **Henge** is a physical transformation (meaning it creates a solid body out of chakra and changes Naruto's form to better fit the person or thing he turns into) the clothes that he has on are also real since they are simply chakra constructs similar to that of a Bijuu (except without a mind).

The results for the poll are in and Naruto Shipuuden: Namikaze's Return Redux as won with Negima: Kage Mage coming in second place! That means that this will be the story I will be working on the most, though I will also try to get the Negima story updated as much as possible as well. The other two will come out slower, but for those who voted for the other stories fear not for they will come out, just not as fast!

Next chapter: **Kitsune, Neko and Rapper!**


	3. Chapter 3

**landoffire: Naruto will eventually be able to use the Hiraishin more easily, it just takes some getting used to I mean it must be an extremely disorienting jutsu to use with not only having to keep track of all the info the kunai give you but also the way it works with your mind plus I would imagine jumping from place to place would get disorienting. Also I do plan on having him become so proficient in Hiraishin that he will be able to simply place a shikki on his enemies and or inanimate objects with a simple touch and flash there. Yes Tsunade and everyone in Konoha will hear of this, but you will have to wait to see their reaction for when he returns.**

**Tutenstein**: **he might be able to do that but has not gone along that line of thinking, plus he would have to get the correct amounts of chakra to do something like that. There are a lot of factors, however I think since Naruto always has a small trickle of Kyuubi's chakra in his system his clones would too. So I think medical jutsu is out, I'm actually thinking of Naruto using fuiinjutsu that will allow him to create specific genjutsu's like channel chakra into a seal on his finger and watched the magic work kind of thing. As far as Naruto going back on his word, in the manga sakura and the other members of the Konoha 11 already plan on killing him so Naruto is pretty much alone on this one. Some promises just aren't possible to keep; I feel that Sasuke is one of them.**

**Greed: I don't know since while I can't see hinata going bat shit crazy I can't see her just getting with someone else instantly. I'm actually thinking of having Hiashi set her up in an arranged marriage, cause a whole bunch of issues and have someone like Kiba save the day. In any case Naruto won't return for four years so a lot can happen between now and then.**

**ChaosLord SilverLink310: actually you'll notice that in the beginning I did allude to Madara by stating that Yagura had been said to be a kind and compassionate Kage when the chapter first started, but since Madara has excellent control of his sharingan no one would notice that the man was under control.**

**MartinDeShade: I find myself agreeing with you about the sword thing so I did end up changing it, Naruto now has a Kodachi (short sword) instead, if you don't reread the first chapter it's a 2'6" blade (I think that's around Kodachi length though if I'm wrong give me a msg or something) I may give him another but it has not been decided yet.**

**AZant: I am going to try and have Naruto create his own seal techniques, I know I will at least have the Hirashin V2 where he can use space time barriers and I will have him improve that ability as well. As for Naruto finding a way to throw the Rasenshuriken he will, right now he can't because he does not have sage mode which is what allows him that ability (he won't be doing that training for awhile as he does not need it yet)**

**dbtiger63: Thank you, it's nice to know you liked my first version. It's not that I didn't like how I did it just that I ran into a wall with my plot. I usually have the basic story plot written in a timeline when I write so I know where I want to go, I didn't finish the timeline so I had been unable to find a way around a certain part of my story. I also felt that with the way Naruto is training more than half of the archs in canon (AKA Elemental Training arch((the arch with Sora the kid who had Kyuubi's exess chakra stored inside of him)), Collaboration jutsu arch ((the three tails arch)) and the Rasenshuriken arch) are all gone from this story since they are not needed. I felt it would be a good idea to add my own archs to make up for that which is what the beginning chapters are about, this way you get to see him become powerful and it doesn't seem so instantaneous like my first story.**

**Tutenstein****: first off is Yakumo that chick from Konoha who was Kurenai's first student that got sealed? Second off while I agree with his father being famous and all that he's not gonna have much of a choice, the council will want him to take up his father's name since it will bring an even greater reputation to Konoha and earn them more missions (greedy old bastards) however he will not get rid of his mother's name, he's just adding his fathers. As for his medical jutsu stuff and what not it's not just because of his control but also because he has a constant flow of Kyuubi's chakra running through him so his chakra is poisonous to anyone but another Jinchurikki and even then it will cause them issues, also all of his clones will have Kyuubi's chakra in them because he always does so they won't be able to do medical jutsu even if they had the ability. As for genjutsu he's never really been the genjutsu type but I am actually thinking of having seals designed along his fingers that he can channel chakra into to cast a specific genjutsu though I have not gone that far with his sealing yet. Last I actually have some plans with the kage bushins but you'll have to wait to see it.**

**Disclaimer: *Sniff* I can't believe I *Sniff* don't own Naruto, I should go Kyuubi on Kishimoto's ass until he gives me the rights to Naruto.**

**Chapter 3: Kitsune, Neko and Rapper!**

It was a quiet day in the village of Konoha as the sun they began to set; Tsunade looked out over the buildings from her office in the Hokage Tower as she quietly sipped some sake. It was one of the rare moments where she had actually finished her paper work, rather than just shove of it off to the side so she could drink herself into a stupor. As she looked out of the window she couldn't help but wonder how Naruto was doing, last she had heard from Jiraiya via toad summoning was about a month ago and simply stated he was doing well and still alive. It had been about a year since she had been convinced by Jiraiya that her son/brother/grandson figure needed to learn about the harsh realities of war and gain real life experience, it made her reluctantly give Naruto a mission that she had originally been going to throw away. She hoped he was ok, if he had been hurt or killed in Kiri she would never forgive herself for allowing Jiraiya to convince her to send the blond there. Of course if she found out that happened she would give Jiraiya a reason to regret convincing her to send Naruto as well.

A knock at her door interrupted her thoughts, "Come in!" she called.

The door opened to reveal Shizune walking in with a scroll; she walked over and put it on the desk for Tsunade. "It's a message from Kirigakure," Shizune said without preamble. The young woman did not know why they had sent a message out to Konoha since they were embroiled in a Civil War right now, but she assumed it was a call for help. Tsunade had not told anyone that she had actually sent help to them earlier when they had sent their first request; everyone had assumed that she had simply tossed the mission because of their policy involving foreign affairs.

Tsunade snatched the scroll from the desk as soon as those words left her assistants mouth and unrolled it, "Thank you Shizune," Tsunade said as she began to read. Shizune while curious decided not to ask as she bowed and left, closing the door behind her with a resounding click. Tsunade continued to read as the sun went down, by the time she was finished she leaned back against her chair with a shocked expression. She had just received a message from the new Mizukage Mei Terumi, apparently the war was over and Mei claimed that it was over because of Naruto. Of course given what she was reading…

"That little brat," Tsunade said with a smile as she turned back to look out at the village, "It looks like I'm going to have to call a council meeting soon…"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Is this information accurate?"

"Yes Danzo-Sama," said a kneeling figure, "both reports from our spies in Kiri and word going through the ranks of its shinobi have confirmed this."

Danzo Shimura frowned as he tried to think about what to do with this information. Danzo had always been a very shrewd and intelligent man, having once even been a candidate for Hokage because of his talents. Though he had been beaten by Hiruzen Sarutobi for the position Danzo had always been a player in the back ground, helping manipulate things along so that the village of Konoha remained safe from its enemies. His ROOT program was one such thing, having been originally created by the Nidaime Hokage to undertake missions from the shadows and train shinobi at a young age to be tools. Danzo was a man who would use any tactic no matter how underhanded if it meant he would be able to protect his home, taking missions that Tsunade and the other Hoakge's would have thrown away. Of course he refused to remain in the shadows forever; he had already hatched a plan to become the next Hokage. There were just a few problems that he needed to take care of first. One of them was Tsunade; the woman while powerful did not understand that to keep Konoha strong they needed to be more aggressive in their approach to foreign affairs.

Another problem was the information he just received, apparently Tsunade had done something he would not have expected her capable of and sent one of their shinobi to aid in the Bloodline Civil War in Kiri. That Shinobi was none other than Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, the Kyuubi Jinchurikki and son of the Yondaime. Danzo of course knew of the boy's heritage; it had been a simple matter to find the information by having one of his ROOT steal the blood test on the boy, which had merely helped confirm his suspicions. It made sense in a way; Minato had always been one of the more noble people he had known, even when at war. It would make sense that he would not use anyone other than his own son for the sealing; he was definitely a man that Danzo had respect for; even if he did not agree with his soft policies. The problem that Danzo now had was information that Naruto had been the one responsible for granting the Kiri bloodline Clans victory, while that in itself was not quite a problem the fact that the boy had apparently been able to recreate the **Hiraishin** was. Danzo had spent a long time plotting and planning for the day when the ROOT's of Konoha could rule, this boy could be a great hindrance to his plans with the power he was gaining.

_Of course he could be a great asset as well… _Danzo thought to himself as he tried to come up with a way to get the blond under his thumb. If he could somehow get the boy under his control it would make Danzo's plans that much easier to accomplish. He would bide his time, the boy was to come back in two years and in that time Danzo would start to make his move. The one eyed man looked over at his subordinate still in a kneeling position, "I want the boy's progress monitored and I want to be sent weekly reports, get it done!"

"Hai Danzo-Sama!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Halt!" Naruto and Jiraiya stopped as one of the Volt shinobi stepped in front of them, "Foreign ninja are not allowed in without a passport!"

Jiraiya stuck a hand in his vest and pulled out two small red books, "we've got our passports right here."

As the man looked over the passports Naruto studied the Volt officer's outfit. Volt was Kumo's version of the Anbu that Konoha was so famous for, they were typically assigned into three branches of the military. Assassination, Combat and Warfare (C&W) and the last one torture and interrogation (I&T), much like the Anbu of Konoha. Their attire was also very similar to the Anbu with the difference being in the colors of their vest which was white rather than black.

The Volt officer nodded, "Very well these look to be in order. Try not to cause any trouble and enjoy your stay here in Kumo."

Jiraiya nodded and the two of them passed through the gates and made their way into the village, Naruto used the time they were walking to look around and study Kumo's layout. Like all of the hidden village's Kumo had not strayed far from the original design that all of the great shinobi nations possess, which were created during the founding of the hidden villages during the First Great War. However unlike Konoha, Kumo had not demilitarized themselves like many of the others had after the Third War. This was evidenced as Naruto looked around at most of the people who were milling about; it was easy to tell that aside from the children nearly 75% of Kumo's population were ninja from the way they walked; their walks being far more graceful then civilians. It was also the only place where Naruto had seen people with such dark skin.

Kumo had a large history of attempting to seek an edge over other hidden villages, during the Second and First Shinobi Wars Kumo had attempted kidnapping several people who possessed special abilities. Naruto knew that after the third War Hinata had an attempted kidnapping on her, which resulted in the death of Hizashi Hyuuga the clan heads brother. Fortunately after that debacle the third Raikage had lost much of his power as people became dissatisfied with his rule, this led to the fourth Raikage, A taking the man's place. He did not know much about the Raikage, except that he apparently had no interest in bloodlines and respected strength; at least that was what he heard from Jiraiya's spy network.

They made their way into a large stone tower, which was situated in the middle of the village. Naruto could easily recognize it as the Raikage tower from its similar appearance to the Hokage tower in Konoha, except it was made of stone and concrete. Walking inside Naruto followed Jiraiya to the top floor where the man stopped in front of a desk, the woman who was sitting at the desk looked up at the white haired Sennin.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

Jiraiya grinned, "Yes I believe we have an appointment with the Raikage."

"Name?"

"Jiraiya."

The woman looked through her note book as she searched for the name, eventually finding it. Nodding to him she went over to the door and knocked on it, "Raikage-Sama, Jiraiya is here!"

"Send him in!"

The woman opened the door as Jiraiya and Naruto walked in, though not before the Toad Sennin tossed the young woman a wink which said woman ignored as she went back to her desk. Naruto took a look around the room and noticed it was pretty bland, there was not much around that really caught his interest aside from the few posters with weights on them.

"Ah! Jiraiya-Sama I have been expecting you!"

Naruto turned his attention to see a rather large man getting up from behind the desk with what looked like a dumb bell in his hand, which was promptly dropped causing several cracks to appear in the stone floor. A was a very large, muscular man with slicked back white hair and a small mustache. He was wearing his Kage hat and robe without a shirt underneath allowing others to see his hulk like physic, each wrist had a gold bracelet with protrusions sticking out of them. It was easy for Naruto to tell that the man was a taijutsu specialist, one who most likely used his large frame to smash up and overpower his enemies.

… and this is Naruto."

Naruto blinked as he turned his attention to the conversation that had apparently been taking place, he looked at the Raikage with unflinching blue eyes as the man studied him. For just a moment the Raikage could have sworn it was another spiky haired blond who was looking at him with those same eyes, there had only ever been one man who had the look Naruto had. _The resemblance is uncanny as well, I wonder if…_ he shook the thoughts away.

After a few moments A grinned, "it's nice to meet you kid!"

The Raikage stuck out his hand which Naruto took without hesitation, Naruto soon found out that the man had a very firm grip. Deciding he was not one to be out done Naruto used his own strength which he had taken to enhancing along with his speed, he squeezed the Raikage's hand hard enough to let the man know he also had a great deal of physical prowess even if it did not show. "A pleasure to meet you as well Raikage-Dono," Naruto said with a feral grin.

"Haha," the Raikage laughed as he felt the kids grip, which was far stronger then he had expected it to be. "I like you kid, you've got a firm grip! That shows your strong!"

Naruto grinned, "I've always been told I have more brawns then brains, besides who needs to think when you can just smash enemy shinobi right through a wall. Action and power are what Shinobi respect the most."

The Raikage chuckled as he went behind his desk and pulled out a small box, "you know what, your exactly right! I like you and because of that I'm going to give you these…" he held out a box of… protein bars?

Naruto blinked as he looked at the box of protein bars unsure of what to do, he looked up at the Raikage to see the man looking expectantly and realized this was most likely the man's way of showing respect. "Thank you Raikage-Dono," Naruto replied as he took the box, "these will help increase my physical performance and training greatly."

"Hah! It's no problem kid," the Raikage said before turning to Jiraiya. "I have a hotel for the two of you already prepared," he handed Jiraiya a letter with directions to the hotel.

Jiraiya nodded in thanks before turning to Naruto and handing him the directions, "I have some business to discuss with Raikage-Dono, I want you to go to the hotel. You can explore for awhile if you want, but don't cause any trouble ok?"

Naruto sighed, "Who do you take me for Ero-Sensei, if anyone's going to get in trouble it will be you when you decide to go peeping into the hot springs."

"Stupid Gaki…" Jiraiya mumbled.

Naruto looked over at the Raikage, "I don't want to be too much trouble, but I was wondering if there were any training grounds you would be willing to let me use?"

The Raikage thought it over, "yes I know of a few you could use. You can use the ones on the east side of the village, not many people go to those ones so they should be open."

Naruto nodded his head and left.

As soon as the blond was gone the atmosphere shifted as the two left in the room took on a more serious expression, "so what do you know about Akatsuki?" asked Jiraiya.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugito swore to herself as she made her way to the training ground where she had been told the person she had been assigned to watch most likely was. She could not understand why she was the one doing this, there were other people who could do just as well with such an assignment. She should be undertaking more dangerous tasks then this, things like assassinations and defeating powerful ninja; she was the Nibi Jinchurikki for Kami's sake! Yet the Raikage had been rather adamant that she be the one to watch over this boy, who was apparently very important; though the Raikage refused to mention why.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Flashback…_

"_You can't be serious Raikage-Sama!" Yugito said in disbelief, "You want me to baby sit some brat from another village! Anyone could easily do such a task; why not assign it to team Samui? Hell even just one of them should be more than adequate for this mission!"_

_The Raikage frowned, he knew the reason Yugito did not want to be stuck on such a mission. Unlike his brother Killer Bee, the young blond woman was not nearly as respected. While a few of the civilians of Kumo hailed her as a hero, they still tended to remain weary of her; often keeping away for the most part. Add on that many of the shinobi resented her for her ability and Jinchurikki status, as well as the fact that some of the members on the council disliked her and A could see why she wanted to prove herself. Everyday Yugito tried as hard as she could to move out of Bee's shadow and become respected by her ninja peers and the people of this village._

"_Yugito this is quite possibly one of the most important missions I will ever assign you or anyone else," the Raikage said in a serious voice._

_This seemed to catch the young woman by surprise for a moment, before her face went back to a small scowl. "What's so special about this kid anyway?" she asked._

_The Raikage laughed, "There is quite a bit that is special about him, if you complete this mission I will share it with you…"_

_Flashback end…._

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Not only had the Raikage been extremely vague on what made this boy so important, he also would not let anyone else but her take it.

Finally she reached the training ground and found herself with a front row seat to an impressive sight. The person she had been assigned to watch was indeed there, however he was doing an exercise that the young woman was sure would even make the Raikage and his brother think twice about trying. The man, a young blond was currently balancing on a kunai with one finger as he did several one armed pushups. Sticking to his body were several decently sized rocks that blond was no doubt using chakra to keep in place, balanced on his feet were two large 4 foot boulders; one for each foot. He was currently blindfolded with Hitea-ate over his eyes, while several **bushin's** of some kind were standing around him in a circle.

The boy was only wearing a pair of pants as he worked, allowing Yugito to see a physic that while not large like A's or Kirabi's was extremely well defined. It was lithe, firm and reminded her of a panther or some kind of powerful predator; no doubt his body designed for a combination of intense speed and strength. She could see the ripple of his muscle's every time the young man would move, watching him caused an unusual heat to rise to her cheeks.

'_**He's quite an impressive specimen isn't he kitten.'**_

'_Nibi?'_

'_**The one and only kitten,' **_was the answer she received through her mind. _**'Back to the topic… that young tom is quite an impressive and handsome young man, don't you think?'**_

'_Well…'_

'_**You should go talk to him, then once you two are acquainted take him to your room and-'**_

'_Nibi!' _Yugito said as a blush began to spread across her cheeks.

'_**Oh come on kitten, don't be such a sex Nazi.' **_Nibi said, _**'go out talk to the man and then ride him until you dr-'**_

'_I can't believe you!" _Yugito commented incredulously, though there was a large blush staining her cheeks and a small amount of blood trickling down her nose before she wiped it away. _'All you think about is sex, why can't you ever just give it a rest?'_

'_**Because you need a man in your life kitten, you turn down men left and right. It's getting rather difficult to watch, besides just look at those muscles…'**_

Yugito immediately tuned the Nibi's perverted ranting out, though she could not keep the blush from her face. She looked back over to the young man who had switched arms, she couldn't deny that he was handsome; ridiculously so in fact. But she couldn't get herself involved with anyone, aside from the fact that she needed to work twice as hard as other ninja to get any respect she was also a Jinchurikki. The few men who had taken an interest in her were not into her because they liked her, but because they wanted her body and to claim they had sex with Kumo's famed Jinchurikki. Bragging rights was all she was.

'_**You know that's not true kitten, you just haven't found anyone yet.'**_

Yugito sighed but gave a mental nod not wanting to argue with her tenant at this point, instead she turned her attention back to the young man. He was still going at his workout routine, as she watched she saw the clones that were surrounding him take out several kunai and without warning started launching them at him. She was just about to yell out in warning when her fellow blond took out his own kunai and began deflecting the attacks, even as he continued to do pushups. The few he couldn't block like the ones behind him were dodged, using the boulders on his feet as a counter balance to each other as he leaned his body from one side to the other as he dodged the kunai. In all her years Yugito had never seen anyone who had such a ridiculously dangerous training regime.

She watched him for what seemed like hours but in truth was only about 30 minutes as the man continued training. When it was done the clones dispelled and the man kicked the boulders off him and the rocks on his body dropped. Yugito watched as the man flipped himself off of the kunai, landing on his feet as he took off his Hitea-ate from around his eyes. Yugito assuming that he was going to go home, and turned around to leave. Only for a hand landed on her shoulder and a voice to whisper in her ear.

"And just where do you think you're going, hmm?"

Yugito yelped as she spun around and saw the blond looking at her with an amused expression, her eyes widened in surprise at how fast he had gotten to her. It hadn't even been a second since she had turned, that kind of speed was something she had never seen in anyone before.

Seeing as how she wasn't going to answer Naruto took a moment to look at the young woman, he had to hold in a whistle at how beautiful she was; she might even rival Mei! At a guess he would have to say the woman was in her mid to late twenties and carried an aura that all serious ninja posses. Her hair was blond much like himself, however rather than his golden sun kissed blond hers was a pale shade closer to that of the Yamanaka clan. It was tied in a long pony tail that reached her lower back, her Hitea-ate was wrapped around her head keeping her bangs from falling into her eyes and face. She was wearing a black short sleeve shirt with a purple piece of what looked like body armor that covered from her stomach to the middle of her breasts. She was wearing standard black shinobi pants, a violet bandana that crossed her hips and standard black shinobi sandals. Her body was the kind he was beginning to suspect were a standard when it came to strong Kunoichi, it was very lithe and agile looking; with a grace that reminded him strangely enough of a cat. Yet it still held a generous amount of curves, her legs were strong and slender looking rather well defined muscles yet still retaining their feminity. Her hips were not wide but neither were they narrow and also had nice definition, attached to the back of her hips was a perfectly round and firm bottom. She had a slender and toned stomach that moved up into a set of perky and perfectly sized breasts that were around a mid D cup. Naruto looked up at her face which was a mixture of slightly oval and heart shaped, with two emerald green eyes which were very feline in the way they were slightly slanted.

Naruto favored her with a sly grin, "so what's a beautiful woman such as yourself doing spying on little old me?"

'_**Ooh I think I'm going to like him kitten.'**_

Yugito felt her face heat up at that comment as she tried to think of something to say, "I… I wasn't spying I was just… I was passing through and well… you see I…"

Naruto laughed as the woman literally tripped over herself to explain what she was doing here, Naruto already guessed the Raikage had sent her to watch over him while Ero-Sensei spoke with the man. No doubt to make sure he not only stayed out of trouble but also to see his skills, something that most hidden villages usually do when a foreign shinobi is present.

Yugito's blush instantly became a scowl, "what's so funny!"

Naruto chuckled as he waved a hand in front of his face as if toward the woman off, "sorry it's just that I've never seen a Kunoichi get so flustered. Or at least not a serious Kunoichi like you obviously are."

Yugito blinked unsure whether she had just been given a compliment or an insult, "are you insulting me?"

"Not at all," Naruto replied, "I was just teasing you a little, that's all. Though I would still like to know why you were spying on me."

Yugito was instantly cowed, "sorry, I was just passing through to the training field I usually use when I heard you practicing. I guess I just got caught up in watching you," Yugito's eyes widened as she realized how her words could be taken. "I mean I was watching you train! no I mean watching your training regime… I mean…"

Naruto grinned at the whole she had just dug herself in, not being able to pass up such a glorious opportunity he walked up until he was right next to her. "So you got caught up watching me hmm… I take it you like what you see then?"

'_**Kitten this one is perfect! Take him now and ride him till you howl at the mo-'**_

"_GOD DAMMIT NIBI SHUT UP!'_

Yugito blushed as she tried to speak but could not come up with anything, that blushing soon increased as Nibi began sending images of a nude Naruto and her in various sexual positions. She looked over at the blond only to blush more as she realized not only how close he was but that his body looked even better up close, unable to stop herself Yugito's eyes wandered up and down the blond mans well toned physic. She stopped when she got to his face and noticed the knowing grin he was giving her; she looked away as another blush stained her cheeks.

"My you're a lot bolder then most," Naruto said with a foxy grin, "we don't even know each other's names yet and your already stripping me with your eyes."

"I… I wasn't…" Yugito tried to deny it, yet the fact that her face was beat red took any credence she may have had away. Not knowing what else to do she let her anger get the better of her and with a small huff began walking away.

Seeing her leave Naruto ran to catch up with her, placing a hand on her shoulder to get her to stop. "Hey look I'm sorry," Naruto apologized, "I didn't mean to tease you so much…" Naruto blinked as he paused in thought, "well I did… but I didn't mean to make you mad."

Yugito looked at him as she used the enhanced senses Nibi gave her to try and detect a lie, to her surprise she found none and that his apology was completely genuine. She decided to offer him a small smile, "it's ok I guess, I supposed I deserved it for intruding on your training…"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "not at all, I'm a foreign ninja so it's only natural you would be curious about how I train."

"That reminds me," Yugito said, "what was that training regime you just did? I don't think I've ever seen some one do something so… insane before."

Naruto gave a sheepish grin as he rubbed the back of his neck, "actually it's a training exercise I set up for myself." Yugito raised an eyebrow as he continued, "it's designed to make me split my attention on numerous exercises. The rocks sticking to my body are a more difficult version of the leaf sticking exercise that the academy in Konoha has, balancing myself on a kunai increases the difficulty in chakra control as well. The boulders are used as weights and balancers to keep me in balance especially when my clones begin to toss kunai into the mix. I use pushups to increase the physical difficulty of the exercise and the blindfold is to increase my senses other then sight, this also helps with my spatial awareness."

Yugito listened to Naruto explanation and found herself greatly impressed with what was obviously a well thought out workout. It was kind of like an all in one extreme training routine; it would allow someone to get the maximum affect out of their exercise while also being something one could do on the road if so desired.

"So anyways," Naruto said snapping Yugito out of her thoughts. "I would like to make up for my teasing you…"

"You really don't have to…" Yugito started only to be interrupted by the young blond.

"I know but I want to," Naruto said as he gave her a charming smile, "so I would like to make it up to you ms…"

"Erm… It's Yugito," she told him with a light blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Yugito huh? That's a beautiful name," Naruto said with a smile, causing the young woman to blush again. "Are you doing anything tomorrow?"

Yugito tilted her head as she looked thoughtful before shaking her head, "no I don't have anything particular that I'm doing tomorrow." her job was to watch him so she would technically not be doing anything, "why do you ask?"

"Well I was wondering if you would allow me to take you out to dinner tomorrow, say around 7:00?"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

For eighteenth time in the last hour Yugito began to smooth out her dress as she continued to pace the room to her apartment. She could not deny that she was nervous, despite being extremely confident in her abilities as a Kunoichi she had a hard time being confident in her abilities as a woman. Not because of any problems she had with her looks, Yugito was well aware that many people in Kumo thought she was beautiful. Her problem stemmed from the fact that she had never really focused on being a woman, her duties as a ninja had always kept her occupied enough that even if people asked her she would never be able to go out on a dates and the like. The few times she had been out it was always with the small circle of friends she had, namely Killer Bee's students.

'_**You worry too much kitten.'**_

Yugito stopped smoothing out her dress as she addressed her tenant, _'I've never done this before Nibi. What happens if I do something wrong and screw this up?'_

Yugito heard Nibi giggle in her mind, _**'what's this? Is Yugito-chan worried about making a good impression on her date?'**_

Yugito face flushed red, _'th-that's not it at all! I… I just wanted to make sure that I leave a good impression on him so that it doesn't reflect badly on Kumo!'_

'_**You know I'm not buying that ridiculous excuse.'**_

Yugito was about to reply when she was snapped out of her conversation by the door bell ringing, she walked over to the door knowing that it was most likely Naruto. Taking a deep breath she smoothed out her dress one more time, opening the door she came out to greet Naruto - only to find all of her breath leaving her.

Naruto was not in the shinobi clothing she had seen him in today or yesterday, instead he was dressed in a set of well maintained civilian clothes. He was wearing a pair of dark brown dress shoes which were polished to a shine; for pants he had on a pair of black slacks with creases on the sides, his shirt was a black short sleeve collared shirt with dark orange stripes running down the side of the sleeves. Yugito could see that the shirt seemed strained in certain places mainly his pectorals and biceps showing that while he was not overly large he still had strong muscles.

Seeing the young woman's stare Naruto grinned, "So you like what you see Yugito-chan?"

For several moments Yugito blinked as she tried to reboot her mental functions and decipher what Naruto said, when she did her face began turning bright red. As she began to sputter and make excuses about why she was staring, Naruto took the time to look her over.

when she was wearing her shinobi clothing Naruto could easily tell Yugito was a beautiful woman, but with a dress on she looked absolutely stunning. Yugito was wearing a dark purple strapless dress that seemed to hug the contours of her body, showing off the luscious curves in ways her ninja clothing couldn't. The dress ended just above the knees and started just a little below the upper part of her chest, allowing Naruto a nice view of her cleavage which seemed to be pushed up by the dress making them even perkier then they already were. She had let her hair out of the pony tail allowing Naruto to see it in all its glory as it hung down her back freely; it also looked like she had used some kind of special shampoo or something because it had a brilliant shine to it and looked extremely soft. Naruto also noticed that she had just a small touch of make up on, her lips were a light red from lipstick and she had a small amount of purple eye line which brought out the beautiful and exotic look of her eyes; all in all she was…

"Beautiful…" Naruto breathed unaware that he had spoken out loud.

Yugito felt heat rise to her face at the awed tone in Naruto's voice, she put her head down so he would not see how red her cheeks were getting. "Do you really think so?" she asked in a low voice.

Naruto blinked as he realized that he must have spoken his thoughts; he reached out with his left hand and put his thumb and forefinger under her chin. Raising it up so she could see his smile, "I have rarely met anyone who could match how beautiful you look right now…"

Yugito felt herself actually becoming somewhat faint from the compliment; no one had ever said something like that to her and actually meant it, the few who had she was easily able to smell the lust coming off them. She willed herself not to pass out and took several deep breaths as she steadied her heart rate, which had been beating far faster then she had ever felt it even after her toughest training routine. Once she steadied herself Yugito offered him a dazzling smile, which literally seemed to light up her face, "thank you."

Naruto grinned as he stuck out his arm, "shall we?"

Smiling just a little wider Yugito wrapped her own arms around his after she closed and locked the door to her apartment. The two walked along the streets making small conversation as Yugito told Naruto the directions to her favorite sushi bar, which was where he had decided to take her to. As they walked Naruto noticed the odd looks Yugito was getting from some of the populace, no doubt they were surprised to see her not only with a man but in a dress of all things. It was easy for Naruto to see that the young woman was not one for dressing up; in fact it amused him that he could still see the shopping tag on her dress; meaning either she never wore it and so forgot to take it off, or she had just bought it recently and didn't even see it. He figured it was the latter.

Naruto also noticed that he seemed to be getting many glares from the males of the village; it was rather easy to see they were jealous. In the one day he had known her it was plain to Naruto that Yugito was not really the kind of person who would go out on dates and what not, in fact given how nervous she seemed chances were good that this was her first date ever. Given how attractive the blond woman was he knew that at least some of the men here had probably asked her out, most likely to be turned down the moment the request for a date left their mouths. Then along comes this new guy, a foreigner no less and in less than a day gets a date with one of the most desirable women in Kumo. It was rather easy to see why they were jealous of him.

Not that he cared.

They arrived at the sushi bar and made their way inside, seating themselves at two seats at the bar. The way Yugito moved to the seat gave Naruto a hunch that it was reserved for her, much like his own seat at the Ichiraku Ramen. The thought of the Ramen stand and the two people who were like family to him brought a smile to his face.

"Oi, Kenshi-san can I have the usual please?"

Naruto watched as an old man came out of the back, wiping his hands off with a rag. The man had the same air about him that old man Teuchi had, Naruto figured it must be a chef thing.

"Wow Yugito-chan, look at you all dressed up," Kenshi said with a smile as he looked between her and Naruto. "I take it your actually on a date ne? About time if you ask me."

"K-Kenshi!" Yugito said with a small whine as her face began to heat up.

Kenshi just laughed, "so one of the usual eh? And what can I get for your date?" he asked turning to Naruto.

Naruto smiled, "I'll have the same thing she's having."

Kenshi actually looked surprised before shrugging, "you must have quite the appetite if you're gonna eat that, they'll be right up." with that said Kenshi went into the back room to get supplies to make the food.

While the food was being prepared Naruto and Yugito engaged in some conversation, telling each other about their experience as ninja. For the most part they left out anything that could be considered delicate information such as some of the classified missions they had gone on, Yugito normally just told her fellow blond shinobi about the different places she visited and her time as a genin under Killer Bee's tutelage; making sure to leave out her Jinchurikki status as Naruto was a foreigner. As for Naruto himself he regaled her in tails of his accomplishments when his team had just started, telling her about his first C turned A rank mission where they had taken on Zabuza Momoichi and his mission to protect Koyuki Kazahana. Yugito had to admit she was impressed that a mere team of genin had accomplished missions of that caliber, though he did have Kakashi Hatake as his sensei so it was not too much to think such feats were possible.

A few minutes after the conversation began to die down the food arrived, Naruto was shocked to see that it was 10 servings of each dish of sushi they served here. Naruto had never seen so much sushi in his entire life, "wow when you said I better have an appetite you really meant it…"

Kenshi laughed as he went into the back of the store again.

Yugito looked at Naruto with a smirk as he stared at the incredible amounts of sushi, "if you can't eat it all I'd be more than happy to take it off your hands."

Naruto looked over at Yugito and saw the challenging look in her eyes; he gave her his patented foxy grin. "Not a chance! This will all be gone long before you can even think of sinking your paws into it!" Naruto stated in a confident tone.

Yugito gave him a challenging grin, "Ooh wanna make a bet?"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Jiraiya sighed as he entered the hotel room he was sharing with Naruto, it had taken a lot of effort and negotiation on his part but he had finally convinced the Raikage to allow Killer Bee to help Naruto train in using his Bijuu's chakra. He had been forced to not only give up all the information he had on Akatsuki, but he was also forced to send Tsunade a message asking for 4 jutsu from each element to give to Kumo as payment. It had been a hassle to get Tsunade to give them up and had taken longer than he had expected because of that. Still the Toad Sennin felt it was worth the effort, he had received information that Akatsuki would begin to make their move sometime within the next year. His apprentice while strong would not last in a fight with two S class ninja without some kind of trump card, in other words his student needed to learn to harness the Kyuubi's chakra as best he could within the next year.

Moving into the bed room Jiraiya frowned when he noticed his apprentice was not there; figuring that he was just out practicing since the white haired man had not received a message via toad summons nor felt any spike in Naruto's chakra the man decided to get some rest.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugito patted Naruto on the cheek as she gave him a condescending smile, "there, there you should have known I would win… really now Naruto that look doesn't suit you."

Naruto just continued to pout; he couldn't believe he had lost in an eating contest. The only person who had ever been able to out eat him in anything was Chouji and even then the Akamichi heir couldn't do it with some things like Ramen. He couldn't believe that this woman had not only scarfed down her entire sushi platter but managed to steal at least half of his as well, it was not fair!

"You cheated…" Naruto sniffed with his pout still in place.

Yugito guffawed, "your just upset because you lost and now owe me."

At that comment Naruto's pout disappeared and was replaced with a smile that Yugito was coming to recognize, "speaking of owing you never told me what it is you want from me…"

Yugito hummed in thought as the two got up and left the restaurant, beginning to make their way to her apartment. "I haven't decided yet…" she said as she began to tap her chin.

Naruto grinned as he closed the distance between them, "I've been told I give a pretty good message, if you wanted I could do that." Naruto started as his grin became larger, "who knows we may even be able to make it a full body message…"

Yugito stumbled as a large blush spread across her face; she looked over at Naruto and opened her mouth only to close it as she could not find anything to say. After opening and closing her mouth a few more times she just huffed and began walking again, making Naruto chuckle as he caught up. They stayed like that for a while, just walking in comfortable silence as the two went into their own thoughts.

Yugito was replaying the date over in her head as they walked, the blond woman could not help but smile as she thought of how fun it was to actually go out with someone and be seen as a woman for once rather than a Kunoichi. Throughout the entire date Naruto had given her small subtle compliments, whether it was on her beauty or her skills didn't matter as each were enough to make her face heat up and her heart flutter. He was the first person to see her as a woman first and a Kunoichi second, while she knew the Raikage appreciated her she also realized that he still saw her as a Kunoichi and weapon. Her few friends like wise saw her as the strong Kunoichi she constantly made herself out to be, while that was in part her own fault for not really trying to be seen as anything other than a powerful ninja; it was still nice for someone to notice another side of her that did not deal with death.

She was shaken from her thought when she felt something move into her hand and give it a gentle squeeze; looking down Yugito saw Naruto had grabbed her hand with his own. He laced their fingers together entwining their hands; she looked up at Naruto to see a smile on his face causing her to blush and she looked away. She was not sure what it was about this young man, but something about him brought her a sense of comfort she had never felt before, not even when she was with her adoptive sister Samui did she feel this comfortable. Maybe it had something to do with his eyes she mused to herself; she had to admit that Naruto had some of the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. A deep and startling blue that seemed to pierce into her soul, she could probably get completely lost in those eyes for hours on end. Or perhaps it was his smile? Whenever he smiled at her she could feel her heart rate increase and blood rush to her face, it felt as if she had just run a 200 mile marathon. Yet at the same time that smile brought her s sense of security and made her feel safe and at peace, it was a perplexing conundrum that she just couldn't get a grasp on.

"Thinking deep thought's Yugi-chan?" Naruto asked.

Yugito turned to face him with a small blush on her cheeks at his new nickname for her, "just thinking about… things," she finished lamely.

"Oh?" Naruto quirked an eyebrow at her, "what kind of things?"

"Er… well…" she wasn't sure what to say, she had always been a somewhat reserved person. Even with Bee and her other friends, she would never admit to being embarrassed or unsure and she would certainly never admit to being so taken in with someone after only knowing them for two days.

Naruto looked at her with a gleam in his eyes, "I hope your thinking about me and our amazing date." Yugito blushed and Naruto smiled as he continued, "perhaps thinking about how you would like to go on another one?"

Yugito felt her face heat up more as she looked down at the ground, "you would go on another date with me?"

Naruto smiled as the two stopped outside her apartment, turning her around to face him as he took both her hands in his. "If you would let me, I would love to take you out again," Naruto moved her hands to his lips, gently kissing each one.

Yugito could not help but feel like she was on fire when she felt Naruto's lips against her skin, all of the emotions and experiences she had with Naruto were so new to her. She was unsure of how to react to him, he was so different from any of the other men who had asked her out; which was part of the reason she had agreed to his request for a date. "I… would like that," she said as she looked at him with a small smile and a tint of pink on her cheeks. She was so glad Nibi was keeping silent for the moment; though she had a feeling she would be paying for that later on.

Naruto grinned, "then how about tomorrow we go out for some breakfast?"

"Ok," Yugito said in a low voice as she fidgeted with her keys.

"Maybe afterwards we could even have a spar," Naruto said as challenging gleam came to his eyes.

Yugito looked up at him and grinned, "I suppose we could, though I should warn you I'm not considered the second strongest ninja in Kumo for nothing." in truth she had wanted to test herself against him since she had seen his training, if he was even half as strong as she thought he was it would be a good match.

"I'm sure I'll be fine, I may even surprise you," Naruto said with a smile as he leaned in and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.

As he walked off to his hotel Yugito stood at the entrance to her apartment for a good while as she held a hand to the cheek Naruto had kissed. After awhile of standing there she smiled as a small blush came to her features before she went inside. Moving into her room, she removed her clothing and threw them in the dirty hamper before going to the bath room. After brushing her teeth and washing her face of the small amount of makeup she had on Yugito moved to her bed, lying down on it with a content sigh. When she fell asleep it was with a content smile on her face.

Deep within the recesses of the young woman's mind a giant two tailed cat was grinning, she was happy for Yugito finding someone nice to be with. It was well known that the Nibi was much more in touch with the emotions and feelings of her tenant then other Bijuu were with their Jinchurikki, since unlike most she was not really into violence. Nibi had grown very protective of the young woman she was sealed inside of, so knowing that Yugito was happy was definitely a good thing for the giant cat. She was also happy that she now had some serious blackmail material on the young woman; while she could not use it she could still tease the girl mercilessly.

'_**At least she picked a good man,' **_Nibi mused, _**'and to think he holds the Kyuubi. I wonder what Yugito will think when she finds out; it should be amusing to see.'**_

With nothing left to watch Nibi settled down and went to sleep, tomorrow was going to be fun… for her at least.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto ducked under a swipe from Yugito as he tried to sweep the woman's legs out from under her, Yugito jumped over him twisting her body as she dodged the snap kick Naruto sent her way. She landed on the ground and immediately went in with multitude of kicks, switching from high to middle to low as she tried to catch Naruto with one of them. It didn't work as the young blond dodged or blocked all of them, catching the last one in his hands before he spun her around and threw her, thrusting out his hands and grabbing her legs with chakra strings Naruto pulled her to the ground. Yugito landed on her back with a grunt, looking up she was forced to roll out of the way as Naruto sent a punch for her head. As she rolled she pushed up with one hand, flipping herself back onto her feet. As soon as she got back to her feet Naruto was right in front of her, Yugito dodged the punch sent to her face. Sidestepping the next punch she grabbed his arm and pulled him into a kick, only for Naruto to bring up a knee as he blocked. Yugito jumped away to gain some distance and reassess her opponent.

They had been going at it for about an hour now and Yugito was constantly finding herself impressed with the young man's ability. She realized that like her own style his relied on speed and capitulating on weak points in ones guard, however unlike her style his also used his great strength to maximum efficiency. Where she would usually go with grapples and claw swipes which were meant to be combined with Nibi's chakra, Naruto used joints, pressure points, nerves and any weak point on a person to deal as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. His defense was absolutely impeccable and Yugito had been unable to find a way around his guard, not only that but whenever she tried get him into a grapple hold he would break free with an amazing degree of flexibility. His stamina was also something to be desired, even with Nibi sealed in her she was starting to have problems keeping up.

Deciding to try a different approach Yugito began to run around Naruto, launching Kunai at the blond as she circled him. Naruto took out two of his own Kunai and began to block and dodge the weapons, weaving through them with a minimal amount of movement. Yugito shot at him with a burst of speed, aiming a punch at Naruto's head. Tilting his head to the side Naruto thrust an open palm at Yugito's solar plexus, he connected but rather then flying away from the hit Yugito grabbed his arm keeping them together. She gave Naruto a grin, **"Katsu."**

Naruto eyes widened just as Yugito exploded in a shower of electricity, appearing a little ways from the explosion Yugito waited for it to end. When it did she walked up to him to make sure he was alright, she found Naruto completely unconscious with several burns where the electricity hit him hardest. Yugito instantly felt bad about hurting him this much during a spar, she crouched down too check on him only for Naruto to disappear in a puff of smoke. Before she could even widen her eyes Yugito felt a kunai at her neck, "that was a good tactic," Naruto said from behind her, "it would have worked on most other people."

"It didn't seem to work on you," Yugito said as she turned her head to look at him, "when did you switch with a **bushin**?"

Naruto grinned at her, "the moment you created and switched with your own **bushin**." Seeing Yugito's eyes widen in slight shock Naruto explained further, "**Raiton** is one of my most powerful elements, I sensed the **Raiton **chakra as soon as you began to channel it. It didn't take a genius to guess what you were making; I created my own **bushin** as soon as I realized what you were doing, then when yours came at me I **Kariwimi'd **with it."

Yugito nodded in understanding at what was one of the more subtle tactics a shinobi could use; she herself had used **Kariwimi **with a **bushin **to deceive her enemies on many occasions. Still to be able to sense when she created her clone and plan accordingly was nothing short of impressive, she doubted even Raikage-Sama had mastered his **Raiton **element to the point where he could sense the use of it in others. "You really are good, I'm impressed," Yugito said with a smile as she took the hand Naruto had just offered her and pulled herself up.

Naruto pulled her up and grinned, "why thank you, your pretty good yourself."

Before anything more could be said Naruto felt something land on his head, looking up he saw that it was one of the messenger toads he and Jiraiya used. "Yo, Jiraiya wants you to head back to the hotel," it said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Naruto closed his eyes and sighed, he didn't really want to leave right now. He was having far too much fun, but he supposed the old pervert had some kind of reason for wanting him there. He turned to Yugito, "it looks like a I have to head over to see what Ero-sensei wants from me."

Yugito giggled at Naruto's nickname for his sensei, "that's fine I should probably report to the Raikage anyway. I had fun sparring with you; we should do it again sometime."

"Of course," Naruto said with a smile, "but only if you let me take you out to dinner again."

Yugito blushed, "that's fine," she said having enjoyed going out with him last time she certainly would not mind having him take her out again. "I had fun going out with you last night so…"

Naruto gave her a grin, "I'm glad if possible perhaps we could go out again tonight, say same time?"

Yugito nodded, "tonight sounds good."

"Alright then, I guess I'll see you later," Naruto said as he began to walk tossing a small wave over his shoulder.

'_**Soooo, are you regretting this assignment now kitten?'**_

Yugito flushed red, _'well I…'_

'_**You seem to be getting quite close to that young man,' **_Nibi's voice leaked amusement, _**'not that I could blame you. If I had the choice I would have been riding him hard the moment I-'**_

'_NIBI!' _Yugito yelled in her mind trying to get her perverted tenant to shut up, it didn't work and the rest of the way to the Raikage tower was spent trying not to blush or pass out from a nose bleed as Nibi began sending images of her and Naruto nude together.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto entered his apartment to find Jiraiya looking at him with a grin, "you know when I saw that you hadn't come to hotel last night I was worried." the man's grin turned lecherous causing Naruto to groan as he knew what was coming, "to think that my apprentice has not only stolen the heart of that hot read headed Mizukage but also a hot blond Kunoichi of Kumo." he began to sniff as he wiped fake tears from his eyes, "I'm... so proud."

Naruto glared at the man as he sat across from him, "you better pray to Kami that I don't find you spying on me when I'm with a woman Ero-sensei, or I'll give you a **Rasengan** Enema."

Jiraiya just laughed him off, if he was willing to risk life and limb to peek on Tsunade there was no way his apprentice could stop him no matter how strong he got. "That's a good one gaki, so anyway I need you to get ready."

Naruto stopped glaring at his sensei and tilted his head to the side as he looked at the man; he was tempted to ask what the man wanted him to get ready for. But he knew Jiraiya well enough to know he would just give a half assed explanation or not tell him at all, sighing Naruto went to the bathroom where took a quick shower to clean the grime and dirt he had gotten from his spar with Yugito off. Finishing up Naruto changed into his standard shinobi clothes with his cloak thrown over them. Finishing up he walked back into the living room, "alright I'm ready, so where do we need to be Ero-sensei?"

Jiraiya grunted as he got to his feet, "we have a meeting with the Raikage, come on we don't want to be late."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugito stood at attention as she finished giving her report on what she had discovered about one Naruto Uzumaki so far, to say the Raikage was impressed was akin to saying that Tsunade liked to drink or Orochimaru had a small thing for boys. Meaning big understatement, he wasn't just impressed about the boy's skills in combat either. Yugito had much to her embarrassment been forced to tell A about her date with Naruto since he had heard about it from some of the people in the village on his way here. That the young man could actually get Yugito to do something so out of character for her was impressive, he absently wondered if he could use this to form some kind of alliance between Konoha and Kumo. It would be hard given the tensions between the two nations that had risen since the Hyuuga incident years ago when the third Raikage tried to kidnap the heiress of the Hyuuga clan. Still it could work…

"Excellent job Yugito," A said after a moment, "tell me what would you rate his level of skills at?"

Yugito thought about it for a moment as she went through the skill Naruto had shown her, "I can't say for certain since I doubt I saw all of his abilities but if I had to guess I would say about Elite Jonin to low Kage level."

A scratched his chin as he thought about that, in truth he was not surprised that Naruto was around that level. His spies from Kiri had just gotten back and given him some interesting information, "I see… I'm going to be giving you a new assignment just as soon as…" he was interrupted by a knock on the door, "Come in!"

The door opened and in walked Jiraiya and Naruto, as the two entered Naruto spotted Yugito and waved to her. Yugito blushed a bit as she waved back, of course this interaction did not go unnoticed by Jiraiya. "Hoho so this is the woman I was told you were spending time with, I must say you have fine taste Naruto she is quite the looker…"

Yugito felt a mixture of embarrassment and anger at Jiraiya's blatant stare, which she knew from previous experiencing with perverts like him that he was stripping her clothing with his eyes. She was just about to act when Naruto beat her to it smashing his fist into Jiraiya's face and sending him into a wall. "Ero-sensei I swear to Kami if you keep this up I'm going to shove a **Rasengan** so far up your ass you won't be sitting straight for a month!"

As Jiraiya pried himself from the wall grumbling about disrespectful brats not letting a man get his looks in, A decided to move on. "Despite how amusing this is I believe we should move on, now as I was telling Yugito here…"

He was interrupted again, this time by a crash as someone bust through his door, "have no fear, Killer Bee is here! Yo!"

"Bee…" the Raikage said in a dangerous voice as his eyebrow twitched, "what have I told you about breaking in without knocking first?"

Killer Bee shrugged, "don't remember yo! I think it was something about making a mess in your nest."

Before anything else could be said Yugito kicked Killer Bee in the back of the head, "damnit Bee! How many times have I told you to stop with that stupid rapping!"

As Naruto watched the man known as Killer Bee shrug off Yugito's kick like it was nothing, he used the time the two spent arguing to analyze the man. Bee looked very similar in appearance to the Raikage making Naruto assume that they were related, most likely brothers given their close age. On his right shoulder was a tattoo that said Tetsu (Iron) and on his left cheek was a tattoo of a bulls horn, he had oval shaped glasses and a white Hitea-ate on his head. He had a white one strap over one shoulder flak jacket, a red rope tied around his waist, white hand bands, and a white scarf around his neck. Naruto also noticed that he had seven swords on his back, making Naruto wonder what he did with them all.

"Bee, Yugito," A said as they got over the argument they were having, "I am assigning you two a new mission. You are to help Naruto Uzumaki with his training."

Yugito felt her eyes widen is surprise; this was not what she had expected to hear. Naruto from what she had seen was already fairly skilled; in fact she was almost positive that in terms of raw ability he had more talent than her. "Umm… excuse me Raikage-Sama, but why do we need to train Naruto-kun he already seems to be very strong…"

It was only after she saw the looks she was receiving that she realized what she had said, currently both A and Bee were looking at her with a mixture of surprise and amusement. Jiraiya was giving perverted giggles and he had taken out a note book that he began writing in; occasionally muttering about blond gaki's being a gold mind.

However it was Naruto reaction that was causing her to blush, in a burst of speed he appeared behind her with a large grin planted on his face and wrapped an arm around her waist as he pulled her back into his chest. "So it's Naruto-kun now, eh?" Naruto mused with a growing grin, "I didn't realize you felt so close to me already Yugi-chan."

As Yugito felt her embarrassment reach a peak as Nibi decided to add her own comment, _**'Kitten I'm so proud of you! Remember to give me lots and lots of little ones with this young man!"**_

"I didn't… what I meant was…"

Naruto made a mock hurt face, "so you don't like me Yugi-chan?" he made some sniffling noises and used the **Inu Koinu Metsuki No Jutsu (Puppy dog eyes jutsu) **on her.

Yugito's eyes widened, "NO! of course I do I just…" She paused once again realizing what she was saying and felt herself becoming even more embarrassed. She literally felt her face burning which got worse when Killer Bee walked up and gave Naruto a grin.

"So your Yugito's boyfriend eh? You must be something to get this kitty to play!"

Hearing Bee's rap Yugito became irate again; as soon as Naruto let her go she lunged at the large man. Naruto and the others watched with some amusement as Yugito proceeded to kick Killer Bee in the face, only for him to get back up a moment later as if nothing had ever happened.

"Now then if you two are done," the Raikage said, "I did not mean help teach Naruto-san here techniques, I want you to help him with his Bijuu."

"What?" Yugito asked with wide eyes as she looked at Naruto, did the Raikage pretty much just say that Naruto was a Jinchurikki? She looked at the others around the room; none of them seemed surprised by that statement. Not even Killer Bee and she was sure he had not been told previously, he hadn't even met Naruto. "You're a Jinchurikki?" she asked as she looked at Naruto.

"You didn't know that Yugito?" questioned Bee, "he's the 9, yo! Why didn't your Bijuu let you in, that Nibi wouldn't tell you is such a sin!"

'_Nibi, why didn't you tell me Naruto-kun was a Jinchurikki?'_

'_**Uhh… well you see kitten…' **_Nibi said in a nervous voice, _**'I uh…'**_

'_NIBI!'_

'_**Wah! I'm sorry kitten it just slipped my mind honest!'**_

"um, are you alright Yugi-chan?" asked Naruto watching the various emotions play across her face. There were several ranging from surprise, confusion and anger, "… are you mad that I didn't tell you?"

Yugito snapped out of her thoughts when she heard what Naruto said, "no of course I'm not mad at you. You're not a shinobi of this village so I can understand why you wouldn't tell me, we've only known each other for 2 days so it's not like I expected to know all of your secrets."

Naruto smiled at her, pleased to know that she wasn't upset at him, "Thank you Yugi-chan."

Yugito blushed, "your welcome."

'_We will be talking about you not telling me something as important as this later!'_

Yugito smiled when she heard a gulp in her mind, "so if we're going to be teaching Naruto-kun to control his Bijuu why am I here? Killer Bee is a much better person to teach than me," she admitted, while she could control her Bijuu's power completely hers was only the two tails. Kirabi not only had the eight tails but was also called the perfect vessel for a reason.

"Because while we live with our Bijuu in harmony, the Kyuubi prefers to harm many!"

Yugito sweat dropped, "Ok that was bad even for you Kirabi."

Killer Bee looked somewhat depressed, "I can't believe your dissen on my rhymes Yugito, after all I've done for you yo!"

Naruto found himself sweat dropping as Yugito kicked him in the head again.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself back inside his mindscape, under Kirabi's instruction he was coming here to try and get the Kyuubi to cooperate. It had been a long time since he had last entered his mind; in fact he had not been here since he had learned the **Kuchiyose No Jutsu** during the Chunin Selection Exams. He was pleasantly surprised to see the place looked a little better then the last time he was here, while it was still a sewer the walls that were once chipped and cracked were now more pristine. The water that had once been knee deep on the floor was gone, the place looked much better; though it was still a sewer. Following the red pipe Naruto once again came upon the sight of a large cage, in the middle of the cage was a single piece of paper with the kanji for seal.

As Naruto walked up to the bars two large blood red eyes with black slits running down the middle opened up, **"It's been a long time since you've come here boy."** The creature revealed itself as it walked up to the cage; it was a giant fox, with nine red tails swishing around behind it.

"Kyuubi," Naruto said as he starred at the fox with an impassive face.

The fox gave him a massive grin filled with malice, **"What's this? No hello how are you? I must admit to feeling a little hurt."**

"Cut the crap," Naruto said with a scowl, "you know why I'm here."

"**You wish to use my chakra," **the fox said as it looked at him, **"However, I don't really feel like giving it to you." **Kyuubi gave Naruto another grin,**"Tell me little Ningen, why should I the greatest of the Bijuu give you my chakra?"**

Naruto forced himself to remain calm; he knew Kyuubi's game and getting angry at the fox would only be playing into its hands. "You know why you should lend me your chakra, we both know that if I die you die," Naruto gave the fox a small grin. "Whether we like it or not we need each other to survive, right now there are nine S class criminals after your power. If they capture me they will suck you out and seal you into a statue for whatever their purpose is, is that something you want?"

Kyuubi gave a hum of thought, **"well I don't quite like the idea of being sealed into a statue…"** it looked at Naruto, **"and I must admit you have gotten… stronger."**

"What's this?" Naruto asked with mock sarcasm, "did I just here respect in the great Kyuubi No Kitsune's voice?"

"**Don't patronize me Human!" **Kyuubi roared at Naruto causing the blonds' hair to fly out of his face. **"I am the Kyuubi No Kitsune, the most powerful of the Bijuu; a mere mortal like you is nothing more than an ant to me!"**

Naruto held up his hands in a pacifying gesture, "Easy there fuzzy I was just surprised that's all." Kyuubi glared at him for the fuzzy comment but seemed to let it slide for now, "so how about it? You gonna work with me?"

"**Very well," **Kyuubi grumbled, **"But do not think that this means I in any way like you. The only reason I am doing this is because I would rather not be sealed in a statue."**

"The feelings mutual Kyuubi," Naruto said as he disappeared.

Kyuubi stared at the spot where Naruto had been for awhile before grumbling as it laid down deciding to get more shut eye.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Outside the seal Yugito and Killer Bee were watching Naruto carefully to make sure that Kyuubi didn't take over. They were currently at Bee's home in the valley of clouds and lightning, a place that was isolated enough that if Naruto went berserk they could subdue him without causing any casualties. As they watched Naruto red chakra began to pour out of his tenketsu points, while neither would admit it they had never felt such a vile chakra before even from their own Bijuu. The chakra began to take shape, giving Naruto a pair of fox ears as what Killer Bee called the Bijuu shroud appeared. A tail soon began to form behind Naruto, as it did his features became more demonic; with his nails lengthening into claws, his whiskers marks got thicker and his eyelids became black making it look like he was wearing eyeliner. A few minutes after that a second tail began to form as Naruto grit his teeth, after awhile when it seemed no more tails would form Naruto opened his eyes revealing blood red pupils with black slits running down the middle.

Killer Bee nodded, "so two tails is your max little man, let's have you fight Yugito and see where you stand."

Yugito's eye twitched at the bad rap but she ignored it as she walked over to the opposite side of Naruto, stopping a few feet away she looked at the blond shinobi. "Are you ready?" she asked as she got into her own stance. She began channeling Nibi's chakra forming a shroud much more quickly than Naruto did and moving to up to two tails.

Naruto nodded, **"as ready as I'll ever be," **he said in a guttural and more demonic sounding voice.

"Remember you have to maintain your tails, otherwise this exercise fails, yo!"

"Shut up Kirabi!"

Killer Bee sighed at the fact that Yugito never seemed to appreciate his rapping, getting over it he held his hand out and made a cutting motion. "Start the fight Yo, let's see a show!"

Naruto and Yugito ran at each other and clashed with a resounding boom.

XXXXXXXXXXX

_6 months later…_

Naruto ducked under a claw swipe as he slid into Yugito's guard hitting her multiple times on the lower ribs and stomach before kicking her away.

Yugito managed to flip herself through the air before skidding to a halt on the ground and falling to her knees. She winced as she tried to get up, that last attack had completely knocked the air from her and cracked several ribs; though she could feel Nibi healing her. She lifted her head as Naruto sat down next to her.

"You're getting better," Naruto stated.

Yugito grunted, "I still can't hit you."

Naruto laughed, the warmth in his tone relaxing her, "true, but that's because I'm not letting you use Nibi's chakra today like you normally do when we spar."

Yugito said nothing as she got into a more comfortable position, only to moan when Naruto began to massager her back and shoulders, channeling chakra to his hands increasing the sensation.

Naruto had been here for about six months, working on being able to better utilize Kyuubi's chakra with the help of Yugito and Killer Bee. During this time he had met the members of team Samui which Naruto learned were students of Bee's. Karui a young dark skinned woman with red hair and yellow eyes, she wore a long black battle Kimono with a modified armored sword holster. Omoi a man with dark skin, light yellow hair and red eyes, he wore black Anbu clothing with white bandages around the ankles and sword holster like Karui's. You could usually find him with a loly pop in his mouth. The last member of team Samui who was also their leader was Samui Nii, Yugito's older sister; she had short blond hair that went down to her shoulders, and she wore a revealing skirt with a shirt, and had a body comparable to that of Tsunade, since she had fair skin, blond hair, and very large breasts. She also wore what appeared to be a sheath strapped horizontally across her lower back.

They were an odd group to say the least; Omoi and Karui were always arguing with each other about one thing or another. Omoi would usually over think things, which seemed to piss off Karui who would hit him. Samui was fairly quiet and would often talk about how much her back hurt, apparently her breasts were so large that her frame could not support them. Naruto had decided to help her out by giving her a back message, which had seemed to endear the woman to him as she would often come by his hotel after a mission to get one. Though after Jiraiya had caught them and began crying about how his precious student had gotten two hot blond Kumo girl's Naruto had gone to her place instead.

Of course this did not sit well with Yugito and she had gotten very pissed when she saw Naruto giving the large chested woman a back rub. Of course Yugito refused to say why it bothered her so much, but Naruto knew the reason and had easily made it up to the young blonde woman… by making her sushi.

When not training with Killer Bee most of his time he had spent with Yugito, who had shown Naruto many of her favorite spots when she wanted to be alone or at least away from some of the more ignorant shinobi who were jealous of her status or when they or the villagers stared at her with lust. Naruto had also much to the secret delight of the beautiful blonde taken her on several more dates.

Naruto had become very protective of Yugito over the last six months as well; something Jiraiya had made a point to tease him about constantly; though he stopped when Naruto actually went through on his promise and gave him a **Rasengan **Enema that sent him flying out of Kumo. During one of the dates he took her on Naruto had overheard two low ranking ninja talking about how they were jealous and wished they could get in the pants of the 'demon'. Naruto had taken them outside and made an example out of them, showing what happens when someone disrespects his friends; by literally removing the appendage that made them male. After that no one had dared talk bad about Yugito in his presence, though Naruto found it odd that no one seemed to have a problem with Bee yet several ninja and civilians seemed to have an issue with Yugito. Naruto had been reprimanded by A after that incident, though he got the feeling that the man was actually great full. Also it seemed that Jiraiya had also become weary of him afterwards, since Naruto had threatened the man with castration should he catch Jiraiya spying on him and Yugito.

Speaking of A Naruto had sparred with the man a few times and had to admit he was extremely impressed. While not as fast as him or as varied in the ninja arts he was definitely powerful and completely outclassed him in taijutsu. Especially when A used the **Raiton No Yoroi (Lightning Armor)** which allowed the bulky Raikage speed and strength far superior to Naruto. The blond had learned that the jutsu sped up a person's neural synapses increasing their speed, strength and reflexes by a factor of 4. The only way the blond could keep up with him was when Naruto used Kyuubi's chakra; even then it was hard since A had sparred with Killer Bee many times. He could have used the **Hiraishin **of course but he did not want to draw attention to himself. Naruto himself had earned the man's respect after their first spar and had been asked to have one again with him as well as an arm wrestling match.

He felt Yugito start to sway and realized that if he did not stop she would fall asleep. Taking his hands off her back Naruto used his water affinity to draw in the moisture from the air before freezing it into a wall, which he leaned against pulling Yugito with him and wrapping his arms around her waist. Even if she had wanted to Yugito doubted she could have resisted, her body felt like it had been turned into a pile of warm goop by Naruto's magic hands. With a slight blush she wondered what else he could do with his hands.

They stayed like that for about 15 minutes before Naruto broke the silence, "Ero-sensei and I are going to be leaving tomorrow."

Yugito who had wiggled onto her side looked up at him in surprise and sadness, "So soon?" she asked. "I mean you've only been here for six months and I thought that well…" she trailed off. How could she tell him how she felt, she could not even admit it to herself.

She was broken from her thoughts when Naruto lifted her face to meet his, "unfortunately Ero-sensei's saying it's time to move on. I've learned a lot while I was here and even though I can't fully control the Kyuubi's chakra the old pervert feels it's enough for now, we've spent all the time we can here."

"I understand," Yugito said her voice was far softer than normal.

Naruto tightened his hold on her waist bringing her closer to him as he put his fore head against hers. "Don't think that this is the last time we will see each other Yugito-chan," Naruto said in a warm and compassionate voice. Naruto sat up straight as he reached into his cloak and pulled out one of the oddest kunai that Yugito had ever seen. It was several inches bigger than standard kunai and had strange symbols that Yugito recognized as seals along the handle; it had a tri pronged blade rather than one blade.

"What's this?" she asked as Naruto handed her the kunai.

"That is how you will be able to see me again, whenever you are in need of help or want someone to talk to, just throw that kunai into a wall and I will come." Seeing Yugito's confused look he decided to elaborate, "That Kunai is the secret to one of the most powerful jutsu in the world and was what gave my father his nickname."

It took a second to realize what he was talking about; Naruto had confidentially told her who his parents were so she knew he was the son of the**Kiroii Senkou**; though Naruto had a sneaking suspicion that A also knew this. When she figured out what this Kunai was for her eyes widened, "**Hiraishin**…" she breathed out. She looked at the Kunai in awe; this was for the technique that had won the Third Great Ninja War. The Jutsu that created fear amongst Iwa and gave a man the first and only ever SS rank in the bingo books. And Naruto was giving it to her, essentially telling her that he would always be there for her.

"Now there are some rules that you need to follow when using this," Naruto said getting her attention. "The most important rule is that you cannot use this around others, I don't want to end up starting a war with Iwa because of this; so the less people who know the better. Also when using it just to limit it to when you really need me, like you are in danger; you can also use it once every two weeks just so we can see each other. Because of my duties I may not always be able to come if you just use it whenever you feel like it, this will ensure that I come every time you use it."

Yugito nodded as she looked at him, "thank you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto ears perked as a sly grin crossed his face, "there's no need to thank me Yugi-chan, after all being able to spend time with a woman as beautiful as you is always a pleasure."

Yugito blushed, "thank you I've always found it pleasurable to be with you as well…" her eyes widened and her face heated up as she realized how her words could be taken, "I mean I always found your company to be-"

Her rambling was stopped as Naruto put a finger to her lips, "no need to get so flustered I was only teasing."

Yugito puffed out her cheeks as she pouted, before they both burst out laughing. When the laughter died down Yugito did something that she probably would have never done had she thought about it, leaning into him she claimed his mouth with her own.

Naruto while surprised that she had actually taken the imitative recovered admirably and kissed back, deciding not to be outdone he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. Gently snaking his tongue into her mouth causing the young woman to let out a moan he began to explore. He was actually surprised that she did not taste like sushi considering how much of the stuff she ate; her mouth tasted sweet reminding him of vanilla ice cream. He decided not to think about it and just enjoy the feeling as Yugito began to use her own tongue in their little duel. Taking her by surprise Naruto wrapped his own tongue around hers and pulled it into his mouth, allowing her to explore. At first she only probed him tentatively; she had never actually kissed anyone before so she was not sure what to do, with a little prodding from Naruto however she soon began to feel her way around with vigor. She found out that Naruto tasted a lot like ramen, much to her amusement.

As she continued 'tasting' her fellow blond Yugito felt as light as a feather, her stomach was doing flip flops and there was an intense heat that she had never felt before as she was swept away by the sensations and taste of Naruto. It was everything she had ever imagined a kiss would be. Despite being a strong and powerful Kunoichi who hated being dependant on others she still had the same desire to eventually find love, no matter how much she would try to deny it.

Deciding to take this elsewhere Naruto picked Yugito up bridal style and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto and Jiraiya were at the gate about to leave; Naruto smiled as all the friends he had made while here stood in front of him, Omoi, Karui and Samui standing next to their sensei the Hachibi Jinchurikki Killer Bee. A the Raikage was standing a little off to the side with a smirk o his face as he looked over at Yugito who was right in front of Naruto; a slight limp in her walk that the others noticed, especially Jiraiya who was going to tease the gaki for this later. Yugito herself had that afterglow that woman seemed to get after sex as she stood there, though there was also a slight melancholic look on her face. It was rather easy for everyone to see how much the young woman would miss Naruto; he had done more for her and spent more time with her than anyone besides A and Bee.

"…So I guess this is it?" Yugito asked trying to be stoic.

Naruto smiled as he cupped her left cheek rubbing his thumb along the smooth skin, "yeah… but it won't be the last time you see me so I wouldn't worry too much."

"You gonna have to come back soon, to help me make some tunes, yo!"

Naruto blinked as Killer Bee came up to him and started rapping again; he shook his head as he chuckled. "Sorry but I don't think I can help you rap, or improve your rap. But if you need a good fight look me up."

Bee grinned, "that's all I need Yo! Just give me a fight and I'll do things right fool!"

"Shut up Bee!" Yugito jumped up and kicked him in the head, causing everyone to chuckle.

"I do hope you'll come back soon…" Samui said as she Omoi and Karui came up to him, "I'm going to miss your message's…" she rubbed her neck in emphasis.

Yugito growled at her but Naruto just laughed, "Then I'll be sure to visit when I can, wouldn't want you to get all cramped up and unable to even perform your duty as a Kunoichi would we?"

Omoi came up to him and did something no one would have expected; reaching into his bag he pulled out a sucker and handed it to Naruto. "I figured you could use one for the road," he said as Naruto took it.

"Thanks," Naruto said as he unwrapped the sucker, putting it in his mouth.

"How come you give him a sucker but not me?" Karui asked with her hands on her hips. She had asked Omoi for suckers on numerous occasion but he would never give her one.

"Because," Omoi rubbed the back of his head, "you're always so violent and loud, why can't you be quieter like our big breasted team mate? Perhaps if you-"

He was cut off as Karui smashed her fist into his face, sending the man flying, "Ass hole!"

A shook his head as he moved over and shook Naruto's hand, "make sure you come back to visit, I could use another spar soon, perhaps you'd even be able to compete with me in an arm wrestling match again."

Naruto chuckled, "of course." As soon as he let go of the Raikage's hand Yugito came up and glomped him, nearly knocking the boy off balance as he was forced to readjust his footing. Naruto smiled as he wrapped his arms around the blond woman, rubbing her back in a soothing manner, "Hey come on now, I told you this won't be the last time you see me. Whenever you need me just throw my kunai…"

"I know," Yugito said as she held him tighter, "make sure you're careful… the last thing I need is for my fiancé to go and get himself killed," she said in a small whisper.

Naruto laughed as he kissed Yugito on the head "you should know I'm always careful."

"Uh huh," Yugito said looking up with a deadpanned expression, not believing that for a second, "that's why you tried fighting both Bee and Raikage-Sama at the same time, right?"

Naruto looked sheepish, "err… well I just wanted to make sure I could fight two powerful ninja at the same time is all, you know to get ready for when I face Akatsuki." Naruto turned his head away from her, getting nervous from the way she was staring straight through him.

"Come on Gaki you can make kissy face with your girlfriend when you come back!" Jiraiya yelled already walking away.

"I'm coming Ero-sensei! Kami can't I even say good bye!" he looked back at every one and gave them a two fingered salute, "I'll see you guys around!" he took off at a quick jog to catch up to Jiraiya.

"I wouldn't worry too much about that young man," Killer Bee said as he put a hand on Yugito's shoulder, "he's not the type to go and kick the can. Yo!"

"Bee Shut up!" Yugito said as she sent another kick at his head.

The Hachibi Jinchurikki chuckled as he stood up and walked off; Yugito looked back out where Naruto had been for a second before leaving as well.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Omake:

Yugito frowned as she walked around Kumo; she had been looking for Naruto for nearly three hours now. She was just about to give up when she heard something that made her freeze.

"People keep comin' to hear our rhymes; we're the Jinchurikki 8 and 9!"

Yugito began to rush to the source of the noise as quick as she could praying to Kami and whatever other deities' she could think of that this was not what she feared it was.

"When they see us rappin the peeps gather round, everyone wants to hear our sound!"

Yugito turned around a corner and froze as her worst fears were confirmed; Killer Bee had somehow roped Naruto into rapping with him. The two were currently standing on the roof of a building; both of them were taking turns rapping to the masses that were walking by and giving Naruto strange looks.

Anger began to take over Yugito as she channeled Nibi's chakra.

"BBBBBEEEEE**EEEEEE!"**

Naruto and Killer Bee stopped rapping as they heard the scream and saw a giant 2-tailed demon cat that was growing larger by the minute.

"I think the kitty has really gotten mad, this seems to be bad."

Naruto looked over at Bee, "dude you might want to stop rapping and start running."

"Man have no fear, I'm the 8-tails Jinchurikki here! Yo!"

"**RRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"**

BOOM!

Inside his office A watched as the giant 2-tailed cat rampaged the city and shook his head, "great now I'm gonna have to pay for damages again." _at least my assistant can't complain about it being me this time…_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

So here is the third chapter of Namikaze's Return! In this chapter we get to meet the Raikage who in exchange for information on Akatsuki and several Jutsu from Konoha agrees to have his brother Killer Bee and Yugito train Naruto in the use of his Bijuu. We also get to see some nice fluffy and comedic moments between Naruto and Yugito, I also put in my first ever lemon. I tried to make it more than just smutty goodness (not that there is anything wrong with that *insert perverted giggle here*) and actually have some heartfelt moments in it. You will also notice this chapter is long, I had a lot I wanted to put in here but ended up cutting out. Those parts I'll show in flashbacks since I thought the chapter was getting too big compared to others, most of my chapter will be around 10,000 to 15,000 words so I didn't want it to be un-proportionate to the rest of the chaps. Please let me know what you thought of the chapter.

Next chapter: **Icha Icha the Movie… you want me to do what!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Fritter: I do know that it seems that way, but you have to remember that right now Naruto is training to get stronger so I'm going to be showing you how he grows and develops as a person and ninja. I don't really think I'm showing just how strong he is (if it seems that way I'm sorry) I'm trying to show how he grows stronger. As for all the beautiful woman he gets, I can see why it feels that way. I am trying to have Naruto meet the woman he will fall in love with during his training since that is when he spends most of his time in the elemental nations and since he will only be getting one woman from Konoha. Also I do know that no woman would really want to share a guy with another woman, in fact I only know two who would and they also happen to be into each other… ahem anyways it's not like they just end up sleeping with him. Mei has not slept with him yet since they did not have any time for it because of the war and rebuilding, Yugito did but she also spent six months training and going on dates with him; add on that she can understand him better then most and you have a recipe for a good love. As far as them sharing I really just could not decide on who I wanted to have Naruto with, really there are just so many woman that I think go good with Naruto so I decided to make a harem because of that, it might not be the best reason but… in any event I am still trying to make it as realistic as possible and you know that the Konoha Council will want to arrange marriages for Naruto to get a hand on his clans power seeing as how he is the last of both the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans (One of which is a royal clan with close ties to the Shodaime AKA Shodaime's wife who was the first Jinchurikki for the Kyuubi). Next the beginning of this story spans over four years, that's along time, longer in fact then both the first Naruto and Shippuden combined so it's not as if they just meet and have sex (I could write more chapters with them then the seven I have planned but then I would never get to the main event).**

**roshane: the reason I did not give Naruto full control over the Kyuubi is because while Bee is training Naruto to use its chakra their village are not allies enough for him to take Naruto to the island where the falls of truth is right now, which is necessary for Naruto to confront Kyuubi and subdue the Bijuu. As for sage mode that's easy, you'll notice in canon that as soon as Naruto get's sage mode it becomes something of a crutch for him. I want Naruto to be powerful without it, then learn something when he truly needs it AKA his fight with Pain. Also news of Naruto's feet has yet to truly reach the world and only a few people know of it, in this chapter you will see some of the backlash he gets from the Kiri War.**

**Disclaimer: if I owned Naruto I would not be writing this on fan fiction, so for those who don't know, I don't own Naruto. Cuz I'm the eight tails YO!**

**Chapter 4: Icha Icha the Movie… You Want Me To Do What!**

* * *

"Please Tsuchikage-Sama!" Onato Kazuchi pleaded with the old Kage, "the son of _that _man is alive! This is our chance for revenge, at least let me take a small task force to kill him!"

Onato Kazuchi was a tall man standing at a height of 6'4" with scraggly black hair and green eyes; he was wearing the standard Jonin garb of Iwa. After Onato had graduated the academy he had pushed himself harder than all of his peers, rising to the rank of Jonin with in just a few years. Onato had been nothing more than a child during the Third Great Shinobi War when one Minato Namikaze had decimated their ninja forces. However both his parents and older brother had been in the war and were in that battle where Minato used the **Hiraishin **and killed them. Because of that Onato had grown bitter and vengeful; often complaining about how it was too bad the flash was dead so he couldn't kill the man himself. Upon learning that the**Kiroii Senkou **had a son who was still alive he had immediately went to the Tsuchikage.

However the Sandaime Tsuchikage had not only refused his request to have the son that man killed, but had also told him not to go looking for trouble.

The Tsuchikage a man who went by the name Lnoki was an old man with a triangular shaped beard and a mustache, he had a large red nose and thick eyebrows, and the top of his head was bald, although he had a small patch of hair on the sides of his head which were pulled back into a knot. Lnoki was an extremely old man with a great deal of pride and a stubborn streak to boot, many people in Iwa described him as the stubborn old man. However while he was proud and hated the Yondaime Hokage as much as the next person in Iwa he was also smart, he had been one of the few people to ever fight Madara and live and had not been the Tsuchikage through several Wars for being stupid.

"We've already been over this," Lnoki grumbled irritably as he looked at Onato, "we do not have the strength to deal with this man. If we send our men out to kill this 'Naruto Namikaze' we will be sending them to their deaths, or have you already forgotten the rumors that came from Kiri. Not only that, but he is with Jiraiya of the Sennin, who will no doubt be protecting the boy making it even harder to kill him."

What he did not tell Onato was that even if they killed the son of Minato it would most likely end up being the catalyst that started the Fourth Great War and destroyed their village. Lnoki had been hearing rumors about a 'Naruto Uzumaki' long before the incident in Kiri that made his heritage known; the boy was considered a hero to several countries in the elemental nations. Not only that but the old Tsuchikage had received information that A, the Yondaime Raikage had come to respect the boy. If Iwagakure were to even make an attempt on the boy's life they would have to deal not only with Konoha and Suna, but also Kiri, Kumo, Takigakure, Yukigakure and several other nations.

"But Tsuchikage-Sama!"

"I said enough," Lnoki said not even deigning to look up from his paperwork, "to even make an attempt would not only end in failure but also end in Iwagakure's destruction. Seriously, young ones these days…"

Onato stared at the Tsuchikage for a moment, squeezing his hands so hard they began to bleed as his nails dug into his palm. He made a quick bow before leaving, stomping down the hallway of the Tsuchikage's tower. He narrowed his eyes in anger at the old man's cowardice, they had to strike now, not only for revenge but to kill the boy before he got too powerful. If the Tsuchikage would not do it, then he would have to take matters into his own hands and kill this Naruto Namikaze himself…

* * *

In a large cavernous room there was a large grotesque statue, with nine eyes that were currently closed as it held out its hands. On the fingers of those hands were nine holographic figures who were currently having a meeting, not much could be seen about these figures accept for their general outline and eyes.

"You say you have gotten information about the nine tails?" asked one figure that had spiky hair and odd gray eyes with a purple ripple pattern in them.

"Yes it seems he was in Kiri, **the people there have started calling him a hero," **said a person who looked like a man that was eaten by a giant venous fly trap and managed to get his head part way out.

"A hero huh?" smirked one of the other figures, this one with a shark like eyes and a large sword strapped to his back.

"Yes apparently he saved **the country and stopped the bloodline civil war,**" the plant man said, "information has come out that he destroyed an entire army with a single Jutsu **and fought and killed the Jinchurikki Kage Yagura afterwards."**

For a long moment silence reigned as the implications sunk in, when it did the people in the room had several different reactions. The one with the ripple eyes got a somewhat troubled look while the one next to him, a female with amber colored eyes remained impassive. The one who looked like a shark had his eyes widen before a smirk adorned his face. One who had a pair of blood red eyes with three tomoe in them had widened in shock before going back to their passive look. A figure that had a hunchback remained impassive, while a figure with blond hair that covered one eye looked surprised and a partially scared. Another figure with slick backed white hair didn't seem to care, while a figure with black eyes had no visible reaction.

"This is troubling," said the figure with the ripple eyes.

"That's not all," the one who looked like he had been eaten by a Venus flytrap said, **"apparently the claim is that the Kyuubi Jinchurikki is the son of the Kiroii Senkou **and used the infamous **Hiraishin** to destroy the army."

That caused an even larger ripple of worry to move through the entire room, everyone knew about the man who was considered to be one of the most powerful shinobi to grace the elemental nations. If the Kyuubi Jinchurikki was the son of that man and able to use such a powerful technique it could be trouble.

"While this information is unwelcome our plans remain unchanged," the one with the ripple eyes said at last. "We will continue gathering information on the other Jinchurikki and Bijuu; we will save the Kyuubi for last."

The other image's nodded at their apparent leader's words and phased out of existence, as they did a lone shadow appeared on one of the fingers. _So the Kyuubi Jinchurikki is the son of that man, and to think he was able to beat my puppet… I should have realized this. He may become a problem in the future…_ the shadow soon disappeared as well, leaving the area to appear as if it was untouched.

* * *

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he stood on the bow of the ship he and Ero-sensei were on known as the lady luck, enjoying the feel of the ocean breeze against his skin. He and Ero-sensei were on their way to Haru No Kuni, the place he had saved with team 7 before he had left on his training trip. He was intrigued and curious about the reason they could be heading their but like always his sensei would just smirk and say he had some business to take care of there. Still he couldn't complain and was looking forward to seeing his friend Koyuki Kazahana again; he absently wondered how she was doing with her double career as both a Daimyo and actress. It would be good to see how she was doing.

"Do you need something sensei?" asked Naruto not even bothering to turn around.

Jiraiya shook his head and grinned at his student, the boy had come a long way in the last two and a half years; going from a loud mouth braggart to a man with the calm of a seasoned shinobi. The Toad Sennin was proud to see how strong and mature his godson was becoming, though he still seemed to keep a playful attitude and penchant for pranks; as evidenced by the time Jiraiya had found himself hanging over the woman's side of a hot spring naked with the words Super Pervert written in big bold letters on his ass. Of course he had made a comment asking Naruto how it was to sleep with that hot blond woman Yugito, so he supposed it was sort of his fault. Walking up beside his prized pupil and godson Jiraiya looked out over the water, sharing a comfortable silence between the two.

"We'll be entering port sometime tomorrow," Jiraiya finally said as he turned to look at Naruto.

Naruto nodded having already known this, "so what will I be learning during our time here?"

"Now that we have worked on gaining experience, your physical capabilities, elemental manipulation and trump card I'm going to be teaching you how to better work with the toads." Naruto looked at Jiraiya as he began to explain what he meant, "I am sure you've seen some of the jutsu I can create when in conjunction with the toads as well as specific summoning techniques that do more than just summon a toad to battle."

Naruto nodded, "you mean like that **Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari (Summoning Jutsu: Toad Mouth Bind) **jutsu you used when we had our run in with Itachi and Kisame?"

Jiraiya grinned, "yep! These techniques are very powerful and something that only we can do because of our contract with the toads, as we travel to the Haru capital I'm going to have you summon the different toads and get to know them and their abilities better. After that we'll do some sparring with toad partners so you can get a feel for what's its like working with toads other then Gamabunta, Gamachichi and Gamatatsu. Then we'll begin working on the specialized Toad ninjutsu."

Naruto grinned as he felt somewhat giddy at the prospect of learning the toad techniques, the toads who reside on Mount Myoboku were well known to possess a wide range of abilities; anything from spitting water and oil out of their mouths to utilizing weapons in combat. The toads were also one of the few species that had the ability to do ninjutsu, and the only animal Naruto knew that was capable of using hand signs. Naruto knew that Jiraiya was well known for his jutsu that mainly consisted of toad based abilities, it was the main reason the man had earned his nickname as the Toad Sennin.

The knowledge that Naruto was going to be one of only two other people to learn the toad based jutsu was enough to almost make him shout out his joy from the top of ship… almost.

* * *

Naruto looked around the large capital city of Haru No Kuni with a large smile; it had been a long time since he had been here and could not help but enjoy seeing how the city had prospered. Originally known as Yuki No Kuni due to the fact that the country had always been in a never ending winter, it had been renamed after Doto had unwittingly activated a heating generator designed to melt the snow. Naruto chuckled to himself at how furious the man had been when that happened, as well as how the man got a **Rasengan **to the gut for his troubles. After that Koyuki and the members of the original court that had been under Koyuki's father had renamed the land Haru because it was now always spring.

The country had become very popular since then it seemed, everywhere Naruto looked he saw hundreds of people going about their business. Stores and restaurants of all kinds lined the streets; many people were looking around and taking pictures or shopping for the latest wares or technology that the place was known for. As they continued walking Naruto noticed they were coming up on the palace that housed Koyuki, the blond frowned as he began to wonder what Jiraiya's business was and if it had something to do with the woman he had saved. He ignored the small shiver that ran down his spine as they were granted entrance.

Walking down the hall they came to a large set of double doors which a pair of butlers opened for them, walking in Naruto found himself staring at the beautiful form of Koyuki Kazahana who was currently sitting behind a desk, reading from a scroll. Naruto looked at the young woman as they made their way to her, in all honesty she had not changed much from the beautiful woman he had fist met back then. Her hair was still its long dark blue color which brought out a contrast with her light blue eyes. She was currently wearing the royal kimono of a daimyo which was thick and managed to hide the luscious curves of her body, which Naruto knew from the one time during the filming of the movie when he had been a guard and had been ordered to retireve her and she answered in her underwear was amazing.

"Koyuki-Dono, it' a pleasure to see you again," Jiraiya said with what he hoped was a charming voice.

Koyuki looked up from whatever she was reading, "ah, Jiraiya-san," Koyuki greeted as she stood up. "I had not expected you to come here so soon, the Director won't even be here for another… month…" Koyuki trailed off as her eyes latched onto the form of Naruto, soon a small blush spread across the young Daimyo's face as she looked at in her opinion was easily one of the most handsome men she had ever seen in her life. With a body that looked like it had been chiseled from stone, the young woman could see his muscles twitch with each small movement he made in the nearly skin tight black shinobi clothing. His eyes were the most startling and beautiful blue she had ever seen while his face was had roguish good looks that combined with his wild golden blond hair and whisker marks added a feral sex appeal… _wait… whisker marks? _Koyuki nearly did a double take as she looked at the whisker marks and finally realized she knew this man.

She moved around Jiraiya, completely ignoring his presence and stopped once she stood in front of the young blond, "…Naruto?" she asked in a tentative voice.

Naruto gave her his foxy grin, "it's been a long time Koyuki-Dono and it seems you've only gotten more beautiful in that time, I didn't think that was possible."

Koyuki felt her face heating up at Naruto's words but being an actress she was able to keep most of it under control, "and you have grown into a handsome young man." Koyuki said before surprising the blond shinobi and engulfing him in a hug, though it was not long before Naruto returned it. "…I missed you," Koyuki admitted while buried in his well muscled chest.

Naruto blinked in surprise before he smiled and returned her hug, "I missed you too Koyuki-hime."

Koyuki pulled back from the hug but instead of letting go grabbed his arm and began dragging him out of the room, "Walk with me," she said in what Naruto easily recognized as her Daimyo voice and decided to comply with her command.

Jiraiya looked after the two of them in surprise before a perverted grin spread across his features. "I knew this gaki would be a gold mine for my research!"

Naruto found himself and Koyuki walking through one of the many gardens her palace had as the two of them talked, making light conversation which mainly consisted of Koyuki asking Naruto all kinds of questions about where he had been and what he had been doing. The two eventually stop to sit on one of the benches located throughout the garden.

"Wow, I suppose I should have expected you to do something like that with your luck," Koyuki said as she listened to some of Naruto's stories.

Naruto smiled, "so what about you?" he asked tilting his head to the side in what Koyuki thought was an adorable fashion. "How have you been?"

"Oh I've been alright," Koyuki replied, "Not much has been going on here that I would consider exciting… except maybe the new movie I'm going to be starring in," she added as an afterthought.

"You're not seriously considering maybe that movie are you?" asked Naruto, "I mean it's pretty well…"

"Perverted?" Koyuki asked with a grin, "Yeah I know, the council has been harping about me making this movie too. But I still have a contract with my director that lasts for another two years and with his Princess Gale movies all finished…"

"I see," Naruto nodded in understanding, "so because of the contract you kind of have to make the movie. But couldn't you just, I don't know null and void it?"

Koyuki shook her head, "no, at least not anymore… if a Daimyo makes any kind of contract with anyone it always needs to be upheld, otherwise people would think I would not hold up any agreement I made. Also this director is the biggest one in the industry, if I were to deny him he would be able to black list me and keep me from making movies."

Naruto nodded as that made sense since he had a nindo that was very similar to what she just said, contracts be they verbal or written out should always be upheld no matter what. He could also understand the blacklisting part, having been blacklisted by many of the stores in Konoha. "I can understand and even respect that you're still going through with this decision," Naruto said.

"Thank you, it's nice to know someone understands," Koyuki replied.

The rest of their time there was spent talking about how they had been doing the past two and a half years.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he looked over at the Director and Jiraiya making enthusiastic motions as the set was being made, most likely speaking about the movie. Seriously who would have guessed that the director was a pervert? He turned back to look at Koyuki who at the moment was talking to one of the maids about something, a small smile found its way to his lips. During the month he had been here he and Koyuki had been spending most of their free time together, the young blond really enjoyed being in the presence and speaking with the beautiful Daimyo.

"What do you mean your actor is sick!"

Naruto turned to look at Jiraiya who was the one shouting.

"Just what I said," the Director replied, "he came down with the flu about a week before we left."

"And your just telling me this now?" asked an annoyed Toad Sennin, knowing this would seriously put his beloved movie back.

"It hadn't come up until now," the man replied.

"This is just great," Jiraiya groaned as he palmed his face, "now who are we gonna…" he paused for a moment as he remembered something. Turning his head he looked over at Naruto with a large grin etched on his face.

"Oh no," Naruto said as he growled at Jiraiya, "No way in hell am I gonna let you film me having sex," Naruto growled as he began leaking killing intent at Jiraiya, making the man pale.

"B-but I need you to do this for me please?"

Naruto growled at the man, he should have known his sensei would have some perverted alternative motive for coming here. But even he did not expect the man to do something like this, "I'm not gonna do it! Get someone else to help you with your perverted scheme!"

Jiraiya gulped at his apprentice's glare, if looks could kill right now the white haired man was sure he would have just been filleted like a fish with that glare. He knew his apprentice would not agree to this willingly which was why he had not said anything before now, "come on! I need you to do me this one little favor!"

Naruto glared at his sensei, "now listen here you perverted old coot, I told you no! There's no way I can do this, besides Koyuki-chan would not want to have sex with-"

"I don't mind…"

Naruto and the others turned to look at Koyuki who had started listening in on the conversation and now looked like she was about to pass out due to all the blood rushing to her head. She had never told anyone but after Naruto had saved her and her country she had developed something of a small crush on him, sure he had been a little kid back then but he had also been the one who understood her and came to her rescue when she needed him; and it's not like he was a little kid now. Koyuki fidgeted a little as she looked at the ground, "I really wouldn't mind if it was with you Naruto-kun. In fact I would…" Koyuki paused and took a deep breath and plunged on, "in fact, I would feel much more comfortable if I was… doing those scenes with you…"

Naruto faltered as he felt a small crack in his will power, he had always had a weakness when it came to woman and this time was no different. "I… I'm not sure…"

"Please?" Koyuki asked looking at him with a look that was somehow both extremely sexy and innocent at the same time. "I wouldn't feel comfortable with anyone else…"

Naruto bit his lip, "well…" he paused before sighing, "why don't we talk it over dinner and I'll come to a decision then."

Koyuki looked at him with a small tint of pink staining her cheeks, "you mean dinner like… a date?" she asked. As the young female Daimyo looked at Naruto she could not help but feel as if her heart was about to burst out of her chest, despite the time they had spent in the past month the two of them had not actually gone on a date; something Koyuki secretly wished she could do with the blond shinobi.

Another chip appeared in Naruto's reserve at seeing the young woman's hopeful face, he gave her a smile. "If you would like it to be a date, I would be more than happy to take you out on one."

Koyuki gave him a large smile that threatened to split her face as she grabbed his hand and dragged him out, telling him about where they were going and that they needed to get ready.

Jiraiya gave a sigh of relief, "I'm glad Koyuki-Dono was here or there's no way Naruto would have agreed with this." He looked to where Naruto and Koyuki left and anime tears fell from his eyes, "I'm so proud of him!"

The Director looked at the white haired Sennin before shaking his head and focusing his attention to getting the set built.

* * *

Many people stopped to watch as Naruto walked down the street with Koyuki on his arm, most of the females watching were wondering how Koyuki knew the hot young blond while the men were jealous of Naruto for having the alluring and sexy Daimyo and actress hanging off of his arm. Instead of asking Koyuki about how she had been like they had been doing for the past month, Naruto questioned the beautiful Daimyo about some of the things she had been doing since with her job, Naruto was pleased to hear she had taken it upon herself to continue her father's legacy and was in the process of creating new and useful technology. She had also told him about how she had had the railroad rebuilt, they had fixed up and upgraded the trains to now use steam rather than coal allowing her to cease worrying about trying to procure the expensive import from Iwa. This allowed for faster travel throughout the country, making trading and moving goods and supplies much easier. Naruto had to admit to being impressed with the young woman's handling of things since she became Daimyo.

The two eventually arrived at a expensive looking restaurant where the waiter nearly stumbled over himself as he escorted Naruto and their very own Daimyo Koyuki, blabbering away about how honored he was to serve them. As the two sat across from each other in a small booth Koyuki decided to ask Naruto about himself, "so what exactly has your sensei trained you in?"

"Eh, Ero-sensei has been training me in all aspects of being a shinobi?" Naruto started making Koyuki laugh at the perverted nickname he gave Jiraiya. "He's been training in ninjutsu, taijutsu, fuiinjutsu and I've also been learning strategy. Recently he's been teaching me the toad ninjutsu he's known for..." Naruto told her, telling her of some of the jutsu he had been learning as well as some of his own techniques.

"Sounds like you've gotten really strong," Koyuki said with a tone that spoke of how impressed she was. The young Daimyo then got a sly grin on her face, "I also here you've become the Hero in Mizu No Kuni, which you neglected to tell me," she finished.

"Yeah sorry I just… don't feel comfortable talking about the war I took part in," Naruto sighed ran a hand through his hair as he sighed, "but yes I did help them end the Bloodline Wars. Though I really didn't do that much…"

"You're far too modest," Koyuki laughed at seeing Naruto uncomfortable for being considered a hero. "I heard you were able to defeat the entire army with a single jutsu, Yukigakure even has you in our bingo books."

Yukigakure had been the hidden village that was created by Doto, who used its ninja to kill his brother Setsu Kazahana and take over as Daimyo; afterwards he had chosen the three best in the village to become his personal body guards. After Doto's defeat Koyuki had allowed the village to remain and helped fund the village so it could begin training younger generations, Naruto had heard that Koyuki had let the village remain as long as they pledged their loyalty to her. He had also found out that they were using Konoha's academy as the basis for their own.

"Really?" Naruto asked in surprise, he had not even realized that he was in the Bingo books; though he supposed it was only a matter of time before it happened.

"Yep!" Koyuki grinned as she took a bingo book out of her dress.

"Do you always carry a Bingo book with you?" asked Naruto with an amused smile.

"Usually yes," Koyuki replied as she flipped through the pages. "I thought it would be a good idea to have one on hand, just in case you know?"

Naruto nodded in understanding as Koyuki handed him the book, taking a look Naruto saw that the stats were his own.

_Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze_

_Recent title: __**Nidaime Kiroii Senkou (Second Yellow Flash)**_

_Rank: S_

_Physical Description: wears black Shinobi clothing with a black hooded cloak, Spiky blond hair, Blue eyes with three whisker marks on each cheek._

_Statistics:_

_Ninjutsu: 10- is well known for having mastered many powerful jutsu such the __**Rasengan, Hiraishin **__as well as several upgraded versions of the Rasengan and many elemental techniques. (Rumor has it he has created several powerful jutsu that are S class and above)._

_Taijutsu: 9- taijutsu said to be nearly on par with the Yondaime Raikage who is well known for his impressive hand to hand combat._

_Genjutsu: N/A (not known to use Genjutsu)_

_Kenjutsu: 9- not much is known but he is said to use a sword that was especially made for him a Tetsu No Kuni._

_Kinjutsu: 10- (aside from Kage Bushin it was rumored that he created a Kinjutsu with a classification of SS class)_

_Fuiinjutsu- Rumor claims that he is a seal master that surpasses Jiraiya of the Sennin and is on par with the Yondaime Hokage._

_Elemental affinities: __**Fuuton, Raiton and Suiton**_

_Warning: If you end up in a fight with this man it is suggested that you run._

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the information; it was a fairly accurate account of his abilities though there were a lot of gaps in it. He was actually grateful for that since it would mean he was still something of an unknown, this would give him a large advantage should people try to come and kill him.

"I had no idea I was that famous," Naruto said as he handed the book back to Koyuki, "I mean I knew this would get out eventually but…"

"You've been famous for awhile now," she told him, with a smile "after all you were in the princess gale movie."

Naruto laughed, "That's true I remember I went to go see it, I was surprised when I saw myself launching a **Rasengan** into your uncle in your movie."

The waiter came up to take their orders with Naruto ordering Kaiseki Ryori (an expensive dish with a number of small dishes: steamed, simmered and grilled, often includes raw fish, grilled fish, tempura, soup, rice and other foods). While Koyuki ordered Tora-Fugu (blowfish) with a side order of rice and steamed vegetables.

The pair sat in companionable silence as they waited for their meal to arrive, each of them having their own thoughts. Naruto looked over at Koyuki as he thought about the situation he now found himself in; it's not that he had a serious issue in sleeping with Koyuki. They had been friends after his mission to protect her and the two had been able to send a few messages every now and then, he did like her and knew they were fairly close in spite of not seeing each other for a few years. However Naruto did not want to have sex with her just for some porn movie and would want to be more than just a the guy she had sex with for a movie, but he knew that a relationship with her would be hard. She was a Daimyo and ruled an entire country, that not only took a lot of her time but it also presented a problem if he ever wanted to marry her. A Daimyo could never marry unless it was with nobility, either another Daimyo or a prince or princess was usually a requirement; and Naruto didn't think that the prince of the now defunct Uzu No Kuni (Whirlpool Country) counted. Naruto stuck a small seal under the table activating a silencing barrier so any conversation between them stayed private.

"Hey Koyuki-chan," Naruto started getting the young woman's attention, "so… why exactly did you want me to be your um…" the blond cursed as he felt his face heat up. He hadn't been this embarrassed since the first time he started talking to girls outside of Konoha!

"Why do I want you to do the sex scene in the movie with me?" Koyuki finished his question for him, the only sign Naruto could see of her being embarrassed was the small tint of pink on her cheeks. Naruto nodded and she smiled as she closed her eyes, "well, there are many reasons I suppose. When I first agreed to star in this movie I was afraid it would be someone random actor I would feel uncomfortable with and who would no doubt use this scene as bragging rights about how he had sex with a Daimyo."

"So you felt that since we were friends it would be better to have me do it?" Naruto asked with a small frown.

Koyuki squirmed a bit as she lowered her head, "does that bother you?"

Naruto sighed as he stood up and sat down next to her, gently raising her head so that her eyes were looking at his. "No I understand why you feel that way, I know that I wouldn't want to do something like this with someone I was not familiar with… of course I doubt I would want to do it at all," Naruto said with a small chuckle. "I'm not upset or bothered by it; I just have several reasons why I would be really uncomfortable with doing this."

"Why?" asked Koyuki, "I mean if it was any other male being asked to do this I'm sure they would be bragging from here to Konoha."

Naruto smiled, "that may be true, but you see I already have someone I plan on marrying and the possibility of getting another once I ask her, "Koyuki looked at him in shock.

"Two Fiancé's?" she asked with an owlish expression.

Naruto nodded and began to explain to her about the Clan Restoration Act that had been set down when Konoha was founded. Koyuki listened to Naruto with a sort of odd detachment as she thought about what he was telling her, in all honesty it did not sound as odd to her as it may have sounded to a civilian. She had studied up on ninja villages and most of their laws so she knew that they had things like this, especially if one of the Clans that held a bloodline was about to go extinct; it was also well known that several of the male Daimyo's in the elemental nations had either multiple wives or concubines. She knew that Naruto had a clan because of his father as well, when word spread that Naruto was the son of the Hokage a lot of the different Royal families in various countries had actually talked about forming an with Konoha alliance through marriage; her own council had been one of those that approved of him when he was brought up as a potential candidate for marriage. However she did not know about the CRA and she was sure that the others on her council did not know or they would have brought it up. She focused all of her attention back to Naruto who seemed to be finishing his small speech.

"… and that's why I don't feel comfortable doing this. I don't want to have sex with you just for some movie."

Koyuki twirled her hair between her fingers, "so if it was for more than just the movie you would?"

"If we were getting married I would," Naruto corrected, "had it been two years ago I probably would too, but now that I actually have one woman who I already know I'm marrying and another I plan on asking when I see her next, I don't want to betray their trust by having sex and then having it shown in front of every pervert in the elemental nations in a movie."

Koyuki smiled as she listened to him, it seemed that Naruto was a romantic at heart even when he had to marry multiple women. "So say we could get married…" Koyuki stated, "If we did you wouldn't mind?"

Naruto looked at her as he thought about it, "I suppose it wouldn't be as bad then, but…"

"Then there's no problem," she interrupted him, "I'll just go to the council and tell them we're going to get married!"

Naruto blinked before staring at her like she had grown a second head with four eyes and a sharp row of fangs, "it couldn't be that easy could it? Also aren't you making this decision a little too quickly?"

"Well there may be a few problems since you have to be with at least three other women besides me," Koyuki said. "But since I am the Daimyo I ultimately have the decision of who I get to wed, and since your name came up a number of times when the council spoke to me about getting married they won't make the CRA as big of a deal as they would with someone else." She looked down at the table, "as for moving too fast, the council has actually been asking me to take a husband soon… I don't want to end up in some loveless marriage."

"And you're ok with me getting married with other woman?" Naruto asked incredulously.

Koyuki shrugged, "I understand why you may have to go through with it, I have read up on clan laws for various villages to better understand there workings so I know that the circumstances you find yourself in are not as unusual as they would normally seem. I may not quite approve but…" she paused for a second to lean on his shoulder. "I'm willing to work with it… I'll be honest, when you saved me both from Doto and my own darkness I had wondered many times if we could somehow be together after you grew up."

"I hope that's not some dig on how childish I was," Naruto said with a mock pout, instinctively wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer.

Koyuki giggled, "Maybe…"

Naruto made a few sniffling sounds, "That's cold Koyu-Hime, very cold."

Naruto pulled off the silencing seal and a few minutes later dinner came, the waiter blinking in surprise as he noticed the new position the two were in before setting the food down. The two became quiet as they opted to enjoy the food in silence, when they were done Naruto and Koyuki made a little more conversation on some of the lighter subjects while waiting for the bill to come.

"If we're going to go through with the marriage, do you think it would be alright if we at least went on several dates first?" asked Naruto. "I would at least like to get to know you a bit better in a more intimate setting before we take such a large step."

"Of course," Koyuki said with a smile as the bill came, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

She was just about to grab the bill when Naruto got to it first, "I've got it," he said.

"But shouldn't I get that, I mean…"

"If its money your worried about, don't," Naruto said with a smile, "because of my books I've currently got about 36 figures in my account."

Koyuki tilted her head to the side as he stared at him quizzically, "what book is that?"

"This one," Naruto said as he channeled chakra into a seal on his wrist, Koyuki gasped found herself staring at a book with a dark blue cover.

However that was not what had gotten her attention, what had was the title of the book. "You wrote this…" she breathed.

Naruto ignored the tone as he nodded, "yep I did, why do you…" Naruto stopped talking as he turned around to face Koyuki and saw that she was staring at him, with stars in her eyes. Looking at her hands he saw she was holding the book out to him, Naruto blinked as he wondered how the book had just appeared in her hand.

"This book is my absolute favorite!" Koyuki squealed sounding almost like a fan girl, "Do you think you could sign it for me?"

"Umm… sure," Naruto said as he grabbed the book and unsealed the brush he used to make seals, channeling some chakra into the seal on the brush he activated the ink creation seals. "To Koyuki Kazahan one of the most beautiful and stunning woman I know, Love Naruto. How does that sound to you?" Naruto asked as he looked over at Koyuki only to sweat drop as hearts appeared in her eyes.

"That sounds perfect," she said as she grabbed the book.

Naruto blinked as the book disappeared again and Koyuki leaned into his side with a dreamy sigh, _I wonder if she is using seals to keep that book with her_.

After the meal was paid for Naruto and Koyuki went back to the palace, entering the room with all of the people running around still trying to get the set built. Naruto spotted Jiraiya and the Director over near a table discussing something, with Koyuki on his arm he walked over to the two. Coughing to get their attention Naruto started to speak, "I've spoken with Koyu-Hime here and have agreed to do this…" before the two could even so much as grin Naruto sent them a glare. "But I want one thing made clear, you two officially owe both me and Koyuki-Hime for doing this, I expect that payment to be returned in full as well as have several requests to make." the two reluctantly nodded their heads and Naruto gave them a grin that sent several shivers of fear down their spines.

"First," Naruto held up a hand with a finger pointed out, "no one will get to watch while the two of us do the sex scene." Jiraiya opened his mouth to complain but Naruto beat him to it, "if you don't like it you can find someone else." Jiraiya begrudgingly shut his mouth as Naruto continued, "you can set up several camera's in a room but no one will get to see the results until we're done. Second I expect you Ero-sensei to write a letter to both Mei Terumi and Yugito Nii about how you forced me to do this by black mailing Koyuki and I."

"Hey now wait just a minute!" Jiraiya interrupted, "You can't expect me to do that, they'll kill me!"

"First off Mei is more likely to melt your balls off before killing you while Yugito would probably go Nibi on your ass. But it shouldn't matter to you, after all you should be used to woman trying to kill you Ero-Sensei," Naruto said with a smirk, "after all the times you've peeped on woman and gotten the shit beat out of you, you should be practically immune to this stuff. I'm also going to proof read the letter and make sure I know what you are writing as well as watch you send it, just in case you try to do something I might not like." Jiraiya gulped knowing this was not going to end well for him, but for the sake of his movie he nodded.

"And the last request?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto grinned as the shadows from his hair covered his eyes giving him an eerie look, making Jiraiya pale. "The last request is when we get to Konoha I'm going to have you tell Tsunade why I was in your porn movie when she finds out."

Jiraiya's eyes widened to epic proportions as he became as white as a sheet, the thought of going to tell Tsunade that he had convinced her grandson/son figure to star in his Icha Icha movie was quite possibly the worst out of all three requests. Telling the other girl's would not be nearly as bad since they could never hope to match what his Buxom teammate could do, Tsunade would no doubt string him up by his balls, beat the shit out of him, then use his man hood as a punching back before she killed him. Images of all the pain Tsunade would no doubt inflict upon their return ran through his head and Jiraiya did the only thing he could do in this situation.

He fainted.

* * *

Onato grinned as he looked at the man who was helping him and the few people he brought along; people who Onato had managed to join him in this quest after hearing they were going after the son of the **Kiroii Senkou**. "you better hold up your end of the deal," Onato told the man who scowled at him.

"Of course I will," the man said, "so long as you hold up yours and kill Koyuki Kazahana. I can't stand having that woman doing what should be a man's job, and to make matters worse she's filming that movie!"

"Yeah yeah whatever," Onato replied, "I already told you I'd get it done after I kill the Namikaze brat." _Though I hear she is quite beautiful so I think have a little fun with her first…_

Finally his chance for revenge had come.

* * *

_Four months later…_

Naruto and Koyuki were resting against a tree in the back yard of the palace after finishing up one of the scenes for the movie, and were now taking a break. Naruto closed his eyes and leaned back as he pulled Koyuki in between his legs, said woman letting out a content sigh with a small smile on her face as she too closed her eyes to get some rest. It had been four months since he had come here and agreed to be in his sensei's perverted movie, he had a new found respect for Koyuki's ability as an actress. He had never realized not only how hard it was to memorize lines but also how embarrassing it was, Naruto could not even count the number of times he had felt his face turn so red it looked like it was about to burst; of course it could have something to do with the fact that the movie he was doing was porn and almost all of the lines were of a perverted and sleazy nature. It had taken Naruto about two months just to get over his embarrassment at some of the lines he had to say.

He had also made sure to go out on a few more dates with Koyuki, often taking her for dinner and walks around some of the parks she had made around the palace. Doing so had allowed them to get to know things about each other that they had not known before, like Koyuki had a fear of snow rabbits after one had bitten her when she was a child. Of course Naruto had laughed at that, before Koyuki gave him that glare that all women seemed to possess making the young man pale; he never knew an actress could be so petrifying. To compensate he had told her of something he was afraid of, it was not known to anyone except Iruka but Naruto had a deathly fear of men with ridiculously long tongues. Of course only one man he knew of had a long tongue like that, ever since his encounter with Orochimaru in the forest of death where the snake man had wrapped his tongue around Naruto's neck he had gotten nightmares about it, especially after hearing of the man's fetish for little boys. Koyuki had not only found that funny but had made it a point to lick him as a greeting every morning afterwards, though it had the exact opposite affect that Orochimaru's tongue had given. Of course this had caused problems of another sort; Jiraiya had caught her straddling Naruto trying to lick the boys face and began making several comments on how proud he was of Naruto. He not only got a **Resengan** for his troubles but Koyuki had several of her samurai take him outside and hang him on a flag pole by his underwear.

Of course Naruto had not slacked off in his training either; the blond had met with each of the summons and gotten to know their abilities and weaknesses. He found out that some of them would not work as well with his fighting style but had gotten to know them anyway in the interest of keeping a good relation with the toads. Jiraiya had also taken to teaching him the toad techniques Jiraiya had learned those being the **Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari, **which summoned the nearly indestructible esophagus of a great fire breathing toad and allowed it to cover an entire area. The**Gamadaira Kage Ayasuri No Jutsu (Toad Flat- Shadow Manipulation Technique) **allowing Naruto to become one with an enemies shadow while at the same time paralyzing them, allowing the blond to use them as a human shield. The last one he had learned so far was the **Gamagakure No Jutsu (Hiding in a Toad Technique)** where Naruto would hide in the stomach of a special diving toad from Mount Myoboku. While Naruto had yet to learn all the other ones yet, but the ones he did know he had become proficient enough in them that Jiraiya and the toads were impressed.

"Naruto…"

"Hmm?" Naruto looked down at Koyuki who still had her eyes closed.

"What will you do once you become Hokage?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Naruto tilted his head to the side as if trying to understand the question.

Koyuki giggled at the cute and confused look Naruto had on his face, "I mean what will you do after becoming Hokage. I've always wondered what you planned to do after you've accomplished that goal."

Naruto looked at her for a moment as his eyes glazed over.

* * *

_Flashback…._

_Naruto rubbed his eyes with his arms getting the tears out before he looked at Jiraiya with a smiled, "I guess I'll have to fix that when I become Hokage, ne?"_

_Jiraiya chuckled as he ruffled Naruto's hair, "I guess so, but you won't become Hokage by moping about like this…"_

* * *

"_True Peace?" Naruto asked in curiosity as he looked at his teacher._

_Jiraiya nodded, "I believe the time will come when we eventually understand each other," the white haired man laughed, "though I don't know how to do that yet." he looked over at Naruto, "if I can't find a way then you'll do it for me!"_

_Naruto grinned, "You bet Ero-sensei!"_

_Flashback end…_

* * *

"Naruto… Naruto…"

Naruto blinked as he looked down at Koyuki, "I'm sorry Koyu-Hime what were you saying?"

Koyuki gave him worried glance for a second before giving him an exasperated look, though she still head a smile on her face. "I was asking what you wanted to do after becoming Hokage."

"Ah! Right," Naruto chuckled as a sheepish grin spread across his face, "well there are a lot of things I want to do…"

Koyuki waited for a moment to see if Naruto would tell her, after a few moments of waiting with no answer forth coming she got exasperated. "Well?" she asked.

"Hmm… well I could tell you, but where would the fun in that be if you didn't figure it out on your own," Naruto said with a small twinkle in his eyes.

Koyuki gave him a scowl for a second before the two began to laugh, laying her head back down she closed her eyes and snuggled into Naruto's chest. Letting his warm presence engulf her as she listened to his heart beat, "Hey Naruto?" she asked getting his attention. "Do you have any names for when we have children?"

Naruto made several choking noises as he felt his face burn up, "What!"

* * *

"Come here Akiko-chan," Takane said in a lustful voice as he moved towards Akiko making grabbing motions with his hands.

Akiko backed up against the wall as she tried to resist, "No I… we can't… Ah!"

She was cut off as Takane grabbed her luscious breasts with his hands and began to kneed them; leaning down Takane began nibble, kiss, lick and bite Akiko along her neck. Leaving several love bites as Akiko's struggling began to weaken, eventually the busty young woman felt her resistance to Takane's advances disappear as she wrapped her arms around his neck and began grinding her sex along the ever enlarging tent in his pants. Takane slipped one of his hands inside her shirt and bra as he caressed and groped the woman's enticing and pert tits, loving the feel of her soft and supple skin in his hands as he played with the hardened nipple.

"Ah! Takane!" Akiko gasped as she tried to form coherent thoughts and sentences, "mmm… take me… ah! take me now!… Please!"

"I thought you'd never ask Akiko-chan," Takane whispered in a husky voice as he began to nibble on her ear lobe.

"AND CUT!"

The lights turned on revealing the people who were here, camera men who began to take stop filming, the Director who began to go on about how well the two acted and Jiraiya who was giggling perversely. Takane and Akiko both took off the wigs they had been wearing, revealing them to be Naruto and Koyuki as the two walked off the set, "So how did we do?" Naruto asked having finally become desensitized to the acting he was required to do.

"You two did excellent!" the Director said with tears in his eyes, "just what I would expect from two amazing actors as yourself! This movie will no doubt be a hit that rivals even my Princess Gale Movies!"

Naruto sweat dropped as he watched the Director burst into tears over a movie, shaking his head he looked at Koyuki with a smile. "I guess that's a wrap then," the two chuckled at his corny joke before he continued. "So I'll see you tonight?"

"Of course," Koyuki said with a sultry smile, "Don't be late Naruto-kun."

Naruto grinned as he kissed Koyuki on the cheek and grabbed Jiraiya by the hair, pulling him along as said man went from complimenting his student to complaining about rude apprentices picking on their sensei's. Koyuki smiled as she watched them go, before moving into her dressing room so she could get the movie make up off. She looked herself over in the mirror as she finished scrubbing the last vestige of makeup off herself, smiling she was just about to change into some normal clothes when a knock came at her door. "Come in!" she called out absently as she turned around to see Naruto coming in her room. "Oh Naruto-kun did you forget something, or was it that you couldn't stand to be away from me?" Koyuki asked with a grin.

Naruto grinned as he walked up causing Koyuki to frown at how wrong it looked, "actually it was neither."

The young Daimyo had no time to react as a cloth was smothered over her nose, Koyuki's eyes widened as she tried to struggle. Unfortunately who ever this imposter was far stronger than her and she felt her eyes flutter closed and eventually everything went black.

* * *

Naruto grunted as he skidded back from the powerful slash, as soon as his backwards momentum cease Naruto launched himself at his opponent again. A toad with two curved swords Known as Gamataken, because Naruto had no set sword style he was having the toads who could use bladed weapons help him. They had agreed to teach them their style of fighting letting Naruto get accustomed to various Toad Sword Kata's, Naruto found that this was something he enjoyed the most when working with the toads and had created several Kenjutsu moves that he and the toads he worked with used in conjunction. After blocking several more slashes and stabs Naruto and Gamataken jumped apart, bowing to each other.

"Excellent job young one," Gamataken said in a voice that was very similar to a samurai speaking to his apprentice, "you are learning well."

"Thank you Gamataken-sensei," Naruto said as he unsealed a bottle from his wrist and took a long drink. He looked over at the sky and realized that it was getting late, looking over at the sword fighting toad he bowed again, "I must be getting back soon. It was nice studying with you as always."

Gamataken nodded before bowing and returning to the summon world.

"OI! Ero-sensei," Naruto called out to Jiraiya who was over at the small river, no doubt looking at the women who were playing there. Grinning Naruto used the **Orokie No Jutsu **to transform into Naruko, a female version of Naruto with long blond hair done up in twin pony tails and a figure that could rival Tsunade. Walking behind Jiraiya 'Naruko' put her hands over the white haired perverts eyes and pressed her ample bosom into his back, "Jiraiya-_Sama, _why watch those girls when you can _study me_," 'Naruko' said in a sultry and seductive voice that sent chills down Jiraiya's spine.

"I knew you would you come out to play sooner or later you little minx," Jiraiya said with a perverted grin and a large nose bleed as he turned around. Only to be disappointed as Naruto dispelled the transformation.

"Come on perv," Naruto said as he hooked a thumb over his shoulders pointing towards the palace. "Time to go back," turning around Naruto started walking. Jiraiya caught up a moment later grumbling about disrespectful Gaki's not letting an old man get his looks in.

* * *

Naruto frowned as another of the maids told Naruto that she had not seen Koyuki anywhere; it was not like her to be late for one of their dates. Deciding to question the person who was the most likely to see Koyuki last the blond made his way towards the director's office, when he got their Naruto knocked on the door. He waited for several minutes and after Receiving no answer he frowned before opening it. The entire office was empty with no trace of the man having even been in it yet, frowning Naruto made his way to the set.

When he got their Naruto eyes widened, everyone was currently lying on the ground unconscious. Moving over to the Director who was slumped in his chair, Naruto unrolled a scroll and unsealed several medical contents and a chemistry set. He took a small blood sample from the man and put it in a dropper, dropping it in a beaker with several chemicals in it. He stirred the contents until it was a light purple and then took out a special piece of paper containing a seal on the inside and unrolled it. The seal was another one of Naruto's inventions and was made to give him a diagnostic of any foreign substances in a person's body, using a sample of some one's blood and mixing it with chakra conductive ink that was normally used for sealing Naruto had been able to use this as a replacement for the diagnostics jutsu that Tsunade and other medics were capable of performing. Placing the blood on it he watched as the symbols for the seal began to move towards the blood sample, the ink coalesced into the center and started forming words listing off the different compounds that were found in the man. One of which Naruto recognized as chloroform and another as a form of nerve gas, narrowing his eyes Naruto made his way to Koyuki's room.

Smashing through the door the Naruto looked around the room and saw the small area near the Mirror/desk combo where Koyuki did her makeup was a bit of a mess with the chair knocked over and several make up kits scattered around it. Walking over to it he channeled a small amount of Kyuubi's chakra into his nose, there were minute traces of chloroform in the air here as well. Naruto mind began to deduce what happened as he realized someone must have infiltrated the palace, snuck in chloroforming Koyuki either sometime before or after letting a bomb of knock out gas in the set room. The blond frowned knowing that sneaking into the palace would be a nearly impossible task, even for some one of Jiraiya or his caliber, _meaning there's a traitor either living in the palace or Koyuki's court._

Making several hand seals Naruto slammed his hands into the ground and summoned a small messenger toad, "I want you to go to Jiraiya and tell him that someone has kidnapped Koyuki. Let him know that there is a traitor either within the palace or on the Haru No Kuni council and ask him to find out who it is," Naruto ordered without preamble. The toad realizing this was important nodded and went to find the Toad Sennin.

Naruto used his enhanced senses again to see if there was anything that would help determine who the attacker was, _hmm… there is a faint trace of earth…_ this left several possibilities but one of them stood out to Naruto the most. Crouching down similar to a blood hound Naruto began to sniff out the source of the smell.

* * *

Koyuki woke up with a groan; she opened her eyes blearily trying to get the faint blurriness out of her vision. Blinking a few times as she looked around, finding herself in what looked like one of the abandoned factories where Doto had built his war machines. She tried to move a hand to her face but soon found them to be bound, her eyes widened as she tried to get out only to find that she was having no such luck. Looking at herself she found that she was tied to a chair that was bolted to the floor, her ankles were bound to it and her hands were tied around the back. She tried to wiggle her arms and loosen her bindings so she could get free.

"That won't work," Koyuki eyes widened as she looked up to see a man with scraggly black hair and green eyes grinning at her. "That ninja wire is strong enough to hold even the most powerful shinobi; a little spoiled princess like you will have no luck escaping those."

Koyuki glared at the man, knowing that he was the one who most likely kidnapped her, "Who are you? What do you want with me?"

Onato paused as he seemed to think about answering before he shrugged, "I suppose it doesn't matter if I tell you. It's not like your gonna live long anyway, your just a means to an end for me; I'm simply using you to get to the person I want to kill."

"The person you want to kill?" Koyuki questioned as she studied the man, he was definitely a shinobi that much was clear. Except he didn't show any Hitea-ate, meaning he was either a missing ninja or was trying not to implicate his country. "And who is it you want to kill?" she asked, determined to get a much information as possible.

Onato gave her a grin that sent chills down her spine, "why I'm gonna kill your boyfriend of course!"

"Naruto…" Koyuki breathed as her eyes widened.

"That's right," Onato laughed, "I'm finally gonna get my revenge by killing the son of 'that' man! Then I'm gonna kill you…" he walked up to her and Koyuki began to fight with her bindings even more. "It's a shame I gotta kill you though, you're quite the specimen." he trailed a finger along her jaw but was forced to pull it back when Koyuki tried to bite it, "Haha! And feisty too it seems. Hmm… perhaps after this is over I'll have some fun before I kill you."

Koyuki shuddered at the tone in the man's voice; it was a tone that had insanity mixed in with lust; obviously this man had lost his mind a long time ago.

"Onato!" Koyuki turned her head to see a man running towards them, "he's here!"

"Good, very good," Onato said with a smile, "Why don't you and the others go and welcome our guest?"

The man left and Onato turned to Koyuki with a rag, realizing what it was the female Daimyo began to struggle. The black haired man merely laughed as he put the rag over her face, watching as Koyuki's eyes rolled into the back of her head.

* * *

Naruto looked at the large building that the scent had led him to; the place was up in one of the more mountainous regions of Haru No Kuni. The building itself was a very industrialized factory with several smoke stacks and what looked like a large furnace or smelting factory. The blond Namikaze heir knew what it was, back when Doto had been the Daimyo he had several of these places made. They were large factories that turned out numerous types of weapons and vehicles; it was here that the chakra armor, kunai launchers and blimps were built. Naruto knew that Koyuki still had a few of them going to help built up Haru's defenses, but this one was obviously abandoned for some reason or another. Likely Koyuki had not even known about it meaning this one had made something that Doto wanted kept secret.

Pausing at the entrance Naruto looked up, chances were high they were expecting him to either use the main or back entrances or one of the windows on the upper levels. It was likely they would have several traps waiting for him at those locations, that meant that the most efficient way to get inside would be do enter some where they would not expect him to. Moving around the side Naruto stopped when he estimated that he was halfway between the front and back entrances, getting out a brush Naruto began to write on the wall.

The seal he was using was called an intangibility seal and like the name suggests it allowed a solid object to become intangible allowing people and other objects to pass through it unhindered. This was done by having the seal affect the atomic particles that all matter was created from and making them become 'loose' from each other, when that happened one could pass through a solid object as if it was water. Jiraiya had told him it was one of his more ingenious seals and would be a boon for infiltration and espionage missions.

Once he finished writing Naruto channeled some chakra into the seal to activate them, placing his hands on the wall the blond watched as a ripple went through the wall, stopping where Naruto had placed absorption and dispersion seal to make sure that the intangibility effect was confined to a certain area. Once Naruto's hands sunk into the wall he began to walk through, feeling the particles move out of the way of his mass. When he was all the way through Naruto activated his invisibility jutsu and started to search the area, making sure that he created a map within his mind.

The place he was in was definitely a factory of some kind; several assembly lines were set up in a linear path inside the room. Looking at it Naruto saw what looked like molds for the chakra armor Naruto saw Doto wearing, making Naruto suspicious that this had been the place Doto's completed version of chakra armor came from. Refocusing his thoughts Naruto crept through the room and made it into a hallway, deciding to head left Naruto walked silently along the wall. He channeled chakra into his ears hoping that he could make out some kind of sound, while he could not hear anything he eventually found himself reaching the end of the hall. At the end there was a large set of steel doors that were partially opened, if Naruto's internal map was correct this was somewhere near where the back entrance was located. Making a **Kage Bushin** Naruto had it open the door in case of traps, when none were forth coming the clone dispelled and Naruto walked in.

The first thing he noticed was that the room was large; it looked like some kind of practice range for jutsu or weapons. There was an area with targets made to look like people, most of them were destroyed or had rusted and broken from disuse. On the opposite side were several lockers that Naruto was now positive stored weapons and that chakra armor, this place was most likely where they did testing on the products they built here.

The second thing that Naruto noticed was that Koyuki was here, she was bound together on the wall opposite from him. Her legs were wrapped together and the sleeves of her arms were pinned to the wall with kunai making her look like she was on a crucifix, Naruto narrowed his eyes when he recognized the ninja wire as .8 grade composite silk steal; a type that Iwagakure had been known to use during the Third Great Ninja War. He started running towards her only for his ninja instincts to kick in at the last second, rolling to the left as several Kunai and shuriken came at him. Finishing his roll he moved onto his feet and realized he was surrounded.

Taking a millisecond he analyzed his opponents; there were six of them, most looked rather plane, wearing standard ninja clothing with no identification marks nor did they have on Hitea-ate's. However Naruto knew this could mean anything; he immediately disclosed the idea that this was a ninja mercenary unit. Aside from the fact that there were very few ninja mercenaries the only units he knew actually existed were Akatsuki, who was considered a mercenary group right now. The fact that this was also an apparent trap for him rather than Koyuki added to that fact, since while it could be a unit sent by one of his enemies it was also not likely. His only enemies were Akatsuki and Iwa, Akatsuki would never hand off the capturing of Jinchurikki to others and Iwa would rather kill him themselves.

Naruto looked at the smirking man in front of him as he began running a mental checklist of all the people he knew or recognized from somewhere, eventually Naruto hit pay dirt. "Onato Kazuchi, A rank ninja of Iwagakure also known as Iron Fist Onato. Specializes in using the stone and iron particles in the earth and combining them with your arms to give your arms a powerful super strength, similar to that of Tsunade of the Sennin."

Onato's smirk widened, "just what I would expect from the son of 'that' man. But your knowledge won't Save you here, if you give up I may let your girlfriend spend some _quality_ time with me before I kill her."

Naruto snarled as he charged at the man completely forgetting everything around him, the only thought running through his mind was that he was going to enjoy hanging this man up by his intestines. Instincts kicked in again and it was only his hard earned reflexes that saved him from being impaled by several earth spikes that shot up in front of Onato, jumping into the air the blond shinobi flipped over the Iwa Jonin and threw several shuriken at him.

'_**Ninpou: Shuriken Kage Bushin No Jutsu. (Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu)'**_

Without words or hand seals the five shuriken became fifty as they head for the black haired man, Onato's eyes widened for a moment before he jumped out of the way and pulled out a kunai to deflect what he was incapable of dodging. Naruto charged at him with two kunai in hand as he tried to impale the man through the skull, before he could get to close two of the ninja came in one going with a high kick and the other hoping to take Naruto out at the knees. Ducking under the kick from the first ninja Naruto placed his left hand on the ground as he pushed himself in the air just a centimeter above the foot swipe, grabbing the foot from the man who did the high kick as he spun. Using his impressive physical strength and momentum lifted the man up by his ankle as he flipped, spinning the man around as he landed on the ground and slammed enemy ninja into the concrete surface with a loud crack, as small spider webs appeared underneath the man where the cement gave under the power of Naruto's assault.

Rolling to the left Naruto dodged an incoming kick, twisting his body 180 degrees the blond came up on his feet and blocked a kunai strike to the neck. Channeling wind chakra into his kunai Naruto sliced through the enemies kunai allowing Naruto to close the distance on the now wide eyed ninja, smashing both palms into the man's solar plexus and sent him flying back; who crashed into and through the wall. Spinning on his heels Naruto grabbed a kunai that was sent to impale him and threw it back towards his thrower with wind chakra added to it, the kunai went straight through the Iwa ninja's left lung as if it was mere air causing the man to scream violently. Flipping himself backwards Naruto was able to dodge an Iwa ninja who had attempted to impale him, going through a few hand signs Naruto's cheeks bulged as he smashed a hand on his stomach.

'_**Fuuton: Renkudan. (Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet)'**_

A large ball of compressed air shot from Naruto mouth and smashed into the man's head, not bothering to even look at the gore he created Naruto landed on the ground.

"**Doton: Doryu Taiga! (Earth Release: Earth Flow River)"**

Naruto cursed as he found himself slipping along the ground as a large river of mud smashed into him.

"**Doton: Doryuusou! (Earth Release: Earthen Rising Spears)"**

Several spears shot out of the mud river and impaled Naruto in various vital areas, only for Naruto to disappear in a burst of smoke. The real Naruto appeared right behind the man who had done the jutsu with a spinning ball of chakra in his hand, smashing the **Rasengan** into the man's back causing the man to scream as his flak jacket was ripped to shreds along with the flesh and muscles located in his back. Taking several deep breaths Naruto stood up and looked around, five of the six ninja who had attacked him were either dead or unconscious. However Onato was missing, looking over to where Koyuki was Naruto narrowed his eyes at seeing her gone too. Seeing the door on the other side partially opened Naruto charged through it and outside as he followed the scent that he recognized as Koyuki.

* * *

_Damn that boy! _Onato cursed as he carried a still unconscious Koyuki over his shoulder, he had been so sure that they would be able to kill that blasted Namikaze if they caught him off guard. Perhaps he should have tried to take Jonin with him instead of Chunin, maybe then he would have had a better shot but he had been impatient. _Well doesn't matter I'll get him next time, _he looked at the young woman over his shoulder and smirked, _and I still got her. I think I will have a little fun with her before I kill her, then I'll tell that blasted…_

"ONATO!"

Turning his head Onato cursed as he saw Naruto running straight for him and gaining fast, channeling as much chakra as he was able to he increased his speed. Seeing this Naruto threw off his cloak and increased his own speed, leaving the cloak behind to smash into the ground and create a large crater. Naruto found himself swiftly closing in on the man he was going to beat into a coma, but Onato still seemed to have a few tricks up his sleeve as he threw several Makibishi (Nails used to distract an opponent) on the ground behind him, this forced Naruto to jump in the air slowing his forward momentum and allowing Onato to gain some distance.

When Naruto finally caught up to the Iwa Jonin to see the man standing at the edge of a cliff face, Onato spun around and smirked as he looked at Naruto. "I may not be able to kill you right now," Onato said as his smirked turned into a large grin that seemed to scream insanity. "But I'm at least gonna make sure that I hurt in some way!" Naruto's eyes widened as Onato through Koyuki off the cliff, "now it's your turn to feel the pain of losing someone you love! HAHA OOF!"

The man's laughing rant was cut off as Naruto smashed his fist in the man's gut with enough force to send him flying off the cliff as well. Not wasting a moment Naruto threw himself headfirst over the ledge, channeling wind chakra in front of him to cut through the air to decrease the wind resistance around him and allow him to speed up. Naruto caught up with Koyuki and wrapped an arm around her waist before flashing to Onato who he had placed a **Hiraishin **seal on when he hit him. Creating a **Kage Bushin** to grab Onato Naruto threw a kunai high into the air, both Naruto's flashed to it and Naruto re threw the kunai so it was back to where he had jumped. Flashing one more time the clone Naruto dropped Onato and dispelled, before the man could even think to get away Naruto stomped his face into the ground with a foot, lifting it up several more times and brought it down; not stopping until there was a sizable indent in the shape of Onato's face as the now unconscious man bleed from his mouth, nose and ears.

Sighing Naruto looked at Koyuki who was still completely out of it, readjusting her so that her head was resting on his shoulder Naruto created another clone to tie Onato up and bring him with them. With luck Jiraiya would be able to interrogate the man and find out if this was Iwa trying to kill him, or if the man had acted on his own.

* * *

A fat and fairly short man with cropped brown hair and dark black eyes was running through the hall of his mansion as if the hounds of hell were after him, this could be likened to the truth only instead of hounds it was a group of samurai. The man eventually made it to his office and bared the doors shut, pushing his desk and several other large objects in the way in an attempt to hold them so he could use his secret escape route.

Moving over to his fire place he twisted one of the statues on it and watched with an impatient air as the fire place began to rotate. Only to see a tall man with spiky white hair, the fat man turned around to try and get away, only to feel a sharp pain in the back of his neck just as the samurai burst through the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Jiraiya walked down the hall towards the room he knew his apprentice most likely was, as he did he gave a few whistles and cat calls to some of the maids he passed; much to their disdain. Reaching the room the white haired Sennin knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

Opening the door Jiraiya found his prized pupil sitting on the bed, with Koyuki's head in his lap as he gently ran his hands through the young woman's hair. It had been a few days since the Fiasco where Koyuki had been kidnapped and used as bait to get to Naruto, since then his blond apprentice had refused to let the Daimyo out of his sight and had even gone so far as to threaten anyone except for a few people that Koyuki seemed to trust when they came near her. Resisting the urge to tease his apprentice Jiraiya got the young man's attention, "I got the information you wanted."

"Which bit?" asked Naruto as Koyuki turned on her side to look at the white haired man.

"Both," Jiraiya said with a smirk as he tossed the blond a scroll while Koyuki sat up and put her head on his shoulder. Jiraiya bit his lip so as not to let out a perverted giggle, knowing what kind of pain it would bring as he continued. "It seems that the one who allowed them to infiltrate the palace was a council member by the name of Kawasaii Fuheki, he had apparently made a deal with Onato to allow him entrance so long as he killed you, Koyuki-Dono."

Koyuki frowned, "I am not surprised by that, when Doto had his coup-d'état Kawasaii had literally vanished. At the time many of us thought he had been killed off, but when he returned some time after the war claiming to have been imprisoned and escaped many became suspicious of him. Though no one could ever prove anything and he had at least outwardly shown support for myself and my father."

Jiraiya nodded, "it seems that he had been hiding out in an isolated region of Haru No Kuni to the northeast and returned when he had heard of Doto's defeat. My guess is he was waiting for an opportunity to kill you and take over himself. The movie combined with the Iwa ninja who had come to kill Naruto presented him the perfect opportunity. Thankfully he won't be a bother since the man was arrested by your forces just a few hours ago."

Koyuki nodded as Naruto asked his next question, "what about Onato, was this a planned assassination or the result of a man driven by revenge?"

"Apparently it was revenge," Jiraiya said as he crossed his arms, "I was able to find out that he had been told specifically not to go after you by the Tsuchikage. It seemed that with the old man ordering him not to kill you he became… unhinged I guess would be the best way to put it. He managed to forge mission documents and handed them to several Chunin, they were so eager to kill the son of the Yondaime I doubt they even noticed they were fake."

Naruto nodded, "very well, I will send a message to Iwa letting them know to keep a better leash on their ninja and to make sure they give some form of reparations to me and Koyu-hime for not making a war over this little incident."

Jiraiya smiled at his apprentices decision, it was both wise and a good tactical move as far as politics went and would put the Sandaime Tsuchikage in his pocket since the old man would be smart enough to realize that it was only because of Naruto that his village would not be destroyed. This assassination fiasco should also keep their ninja in check, since they just officially not only failed but would have to be weary of Konoha finding out.

Clapping his hands together Jiraiya smirked at the two of them, "now that all of this boring stuff is out of the way I've come to tell you that we will be filming again."

Naruto sighed, "Somehow I knew you would bring that up," he looked over at Koyuki who shrugged, "I suppose it can't be helped."

"Of course we've got to finish this movie!" Jiraiya shouted as he pumped his fist in the air causing Naruto to groan.

* * *

Lnoki looked out of the window in his office as he stared at the buildings below, his current mind going through the conversation he had with Onato a few months ago. He had not seen the man again afterwards and was beginning to get worried; it was well known that his hatred for the **Kiroii Senkou**ran far deeper than anyone else's. That he had not shown up for a mission or anything like he usually did in the past few months was worrying. A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Enter!" he ordered.

The door opened and in walked one of his messenger ninja who had a scroll in his hands, "sir this scroll came from Haru No Kuni."

Lnoki frowned as he took the scroll; Iwa had not had any form of relation since they stopped exporting coal from them decades ago. What could possibly be there reason for sending them a message? "You may go," Lnoki ordered the messenger who bowed and left. The old Tsuchikage unrolled the scroll and began to read the contents, his eyes widening with each sentence.

_Dear Sandaime Tsuchikage-Dono,_

_I regret to inform you that as of several days ago your ninja Onato along with five chunin level shinobi were killed after an attempted assassination on my persons. Because of this I will be requesting 1,000,000 yen both to my account as well as another 1,000,000 to the account of Koyuki Kazahana for Onato's kidnapping and attempted murder of the Haru No Kuni Daimyo. If you do not comply with this demand I will be forced to let out the information that you attempted to murder not just a shinobi of Konoha but also a Daimyo, however should you do this I am willing to overlook what has happened here so long as you never attempt something similar and learn to keep your shinobi on a better leash._

_From,_

_Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze_

Lnoki sat back in his chair as he felt his shoulders slump, this was a complete disaster. Not only would he have to pay all of that money in order to keep this from getting out and destroying his village by starting a war, but he also had to let the families of those men know that because of a man's lust for revenge these people died. The only saving grace which really was not a saving grace was that the person who was attacked would forget and drop all charges so long as he was able to hold up his end of the bargain. He closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his large nose, getting out several sheets of paper he began to write letters for the families of the deceased.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Omake:

Jiraiya and the director continued to stare at the room where Naruto and Koyuki were supposed to be filming in, they had yet to hear even a peep from the room and both were wondering what was going on.

"It's been nearly eight hours," the Director said, "what do you think their doing in there?"

"Hell if I know," Jiraiya said with a frown as he walked up to the door and knocked, "Oi! Gaki, are you and Koyuki-Dono going to get started or what!" when he received no response Jiraiya tried to open the door only to find it locked, unsure what to do Jiraiya decided that it would be best if he did not try to break the door down and incur the wrath of his apprentice. He walked over back to the director, "let's just leave them in there for now, we'll come back later and see if anything's happened yet."

Four days later Naruto and Koyuki had still not come out of the room and the two were getting worried, Jiraiya was just about to go up and break down the door. Just then the door opened and out walked Naruto and Koyuki; Naruto was sporting a rather large smile while Koyuki had frazzled hair, a noticeable limp and that odd after sex glow that all woman seemed to get after hot passionate sex.

Jiraiya paused in his walk as he gave Naruto a lecherous grin, "I was beginning to wonder when you would get out. I guess you two were just having too much fun, so did you do the scenes correctly?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side and frowned, "scenes?"

"You know the scenes for the movie?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto looked over at Koyuki who gave him a shrug, "er… sorry I guess we forgot that we were even making a movie."

Jiraiya looked at the two before he fell over anime style.

Naruto grinned as he picked up Koyuki bridal style, "so what say we go take a shower and order some room service?"

When the two left Jiraiya got up and groaned as he rubbed his face, "Stupid gaki can't even remember he's making a movie, he had better done some amazing stuff in there or I'm never gonna have him film in one of my movies again."

Later that day both Jiraiya and the Director were found dead, the doctors who did the autopsy deduced that it was cause by massive bleeding of the sinuses. When they tried to figure out why they were given a tape which had been found in the VCR the two were next to, when the doctors played it they too were killed by massive nosebleeds. The video was of Koyuki and Naruto having sex for four straight days, several days later the movie was found by someone else who decided to put it on the market.

Many males ended up buying the movie only for all of them too die as well, thus became what was known as the great Icha Icha massacre.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

It looks like Naruto starred in another movie and got another beautiful woman for himself. We now got to see Iwa's reaction to learning that the son of the Yondaime is alive. Some of you may have wondered how Koyuki was able to accept this so easily, that is because A) she does know that things like the CRA happen in ninja society. I also believe that having multiple spouses may also be a common thing for some of the more powerful Daimyo's, or at least that some of them may have a house of concubines which was often the case with powerful men in ancient Japan so I believe with the slight mix of technology and ancient Japanese lifestyle something like this would be a little more acceptable in the naruverse and B) Naruto is just that fucking smooth. I hope all of you like this chapter, please give me some reviews to let me know how I did, like it, don't like and what I should keep and what should I improve upon; remember reviews are the life blood of online writers and I can't make my story any better without them.

Next chapter: **An Angel's Dilemma**


	5. Chapter 5

**I have been getting a lot of suggestions on what people seem to think I should do with Hinata, which I am extremely thankful for. A few of them I feel were fairly good and may use one of them or possibly a mix of several solutions. One thing I have noticed though are a few people who really want Hinata to be in the harem, I apologize but even if I were inclined to put her in I have a biased opinion against that pairing. Now this is not to say I dislike Hinata but I feel the pairing is overused as well as that I have a few other issues that if you want to find out you can look on my profile. In any case because of this biased even if I did put in the harem she would be so far in the background that you would never actually see her with Naruto, so again I apologize but if you like Naru/Hina you will have to look somewhere else because you will never find that pairing in any of my stories.**

**On a brighter note I would like to thank everyone for the awesome reviews I have been getting, I greatly appreciate the support and opinions all of you have, even negative ones since without those I would never get better as a writer. **

**Disclaimer: I truly wished I owned Naruto (or any other successful anime for that matter) unfortunately I don't.**

**Chapter 5: An Angels Dilemma**

Konan walked along the cold and dark halls of the tower she and Nagato had taken as their base of operations, like all places in Amegakure (village hidden in the Rain) the building was the epitome of industrial style architecture. Pipes ran along the walls and ceiling, the entire building was made of metal rather than wood or brick and gave the entire infrastructure a cold unfeeling air; it was the same everywhere in Ame too. Yet Konan noticed none of this as she walked through the hall, having long since grown used to the cold and unfeeling structures. She came to a stop at a door at the end of the hall, opening it she walked in and moved to the back where there was an opening leading to the outside.

Like always Nagato's god realm path or Pain as he had taken to calling himself was there, he was sitting on the ledge as he looked out over Ame. The man did not even seem to notice the rain that was hitting him, though it probably had to do with the fact that the rain was nothing more than a byproduct of his sensory jutsu he used. A small twinge of pain caused a slight falter in Konan's steps as she walked up to what had once been the body of their friend, it was one of the few things that made her weary of the man she called a brother.

"You have need of my services Pain-Sama?" she asked as she walked up behind Pain.

For a while Pain didn't speak as he continued staring out over the city, his city; finally, "an intruder was able to get into Amegakure undetected." Konan felt a small slip in her emotional mask as her eyes widened ever so slightly, Pain was able to sense everything that happened in Ame with his jutsu so for someone to be able to slip past his guard meant whoever it was was an expert in stealth and knew not only knew that the jutsu was there but also its weakness. "I was only able to sense him as he was leaving my range, I want you to find this person and deal with them; we can't have someone finding out where Akatsuki is located yet. If they have left Ame I will need you to get in touch with Zetsu and track them down."

"Of course Pain-Sama," Konan said in an emotionless voice as she put her mask back in place.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

A small green toad with orange spots hopped into a rather spacious cave, it was highly unusual for an amphibian to seek shelter in a cave during the rain. Most would assume that a toad would find it enjoyable to be in the rain, probably by some kind of lake or pond to allow the cool water to hit their skin as they swam or lazed about. However while the toad looked completely normal to most people, the two people who were familiar with toads knew better. The fact that this toad was anything but normal became apparent when it opened its mouth and a young man crawled out, his form looking as if it was stretching while in the mouth. The person soon revealed himself to a man with spiky blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a long black hooded cloak that reached to the ground and covered his entire frame. He was wearing a black face mask that covered the bottom half of his face and had a Konoha Hitea-ate on his forehead.

Grabbing a scroll from his pouch the blond unrolled it and channeled some chakra into the scroll causing a puff of smoke to signal the contents being unsealed as a small pile of fire wood appeared. The blond set up a small fire pit and pulled out another scroll, unsealing it revealed the contents to be fresh meat. starting a fire the blond stuck the meat on a spit and began to cook it over the open fire adding spices as he rotated the spit, when it was done he brought a hand to his mask and pulled it off revealing six whisker marks on his face. Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze leaned back against the wall of the cave as he ate his food, his mind thinking about all that had happened in recent years.

It had been about two years and nine months since he had left on his trip with Ero-sensei; Naruto had learned many things in that time. He now had a powerful reputation and skills that Jiraiya said may be on par or better then or possibly even his father, though Naruto felt he still had a long ways to go before he compared himself to his old man. Naruto had also started learning the ins and outs of Jiraiya's spy network; a year ago the blond had been officially introduced as the second in command and the one to take over in case something happened to Jiraiya. After learning about the spy and information gathering business the young Uzumaki Namikaze heir had set himself to building one of his own in secret, while it still was not as vast as his sensei's the blond had been able to get information faster than Jiraiya could with his network.

This was due to the fact that Naruto had not used other people for his network but rather an extensive array of seals partially based off of the crystal spy orb that the Sandaime Hokage used to keep an eye on the village. The seal was called an information sealing array, what it did was pick up the vibrations and wavelengths that people spoke in. Those wavelengths and vibrations were sent through several seals that translated them into words, the words would travel through another set of seals and into one of several specially designed **Kage Bushin's **variants that Naruto had sealed into a containment seal. Every month several clones would disperse and send information to Naruto who would have to take a day to sort through it all, this was easily Naruto's greatest and most extensive accomplishment with seals. Of course like with all great idea's and abilities this one had several drawbacks that made it problematic, the first was that when the clones dispelled themselves and sent information to Naruto it would take a full day of meditation to sort through them. This required him to find a safe place to be as he sorted through the information, if he was in battle it could easily leave him vulnerable to attack. The problem itself was mostly solved as Naruto had set up a two safe houses where he could **Hiraishin **to should he require it, one was in Kiri and the other was in Kumo. His second problem was that eventually his seals would run out of clones to send him information, each one had a total of five hundred so it would be a while before it ran out but it would eventually become a problem. The third problem was the information itself, when Naruto started putting the seal arrays around the cities he visited he did not limit himself to one place per city. Naruto had placed several seals in each city; places like bars, taverns, whore houses, theaters Naruto even had several in the council rooms and Kage towers of both Kiri and Kumo. A lot of information came in from those places and most of it was useless to Naruto, this meant he had to separate the trash from any useful information he got; and while it was nice to hear how Mei, Yugito and Koyuki were doing he could see them whenever he wanted so it did not matter. No Naruto was after specific information, namely he wanted to know everything he could about Akatsuki.

Unfortunately his network had drawn up mostly blanks, the only information that was available on the group was already known to him. They had started off as a mercenary unit, taking jobs for a small fee and because they gained a reputation of never failing a mission they began to get more and more jobs. After awhile they began to express an interest in Jinchurikki and Bijuu in general, though so far they seemed to have only gone after Naruto himself. Other than that nothing had come up, the only thing he had been able to learn about the group was that there was not much to learn. Naruto only had one piece of information that he had decided to follow up and it was more a matter of having a gap in his info rather than actual information itself.

Amegakure.

The hidden village had been in a lock down for several years now, no one really knew the true reason but rumor had it that the village had been experiencing a civil war. Seeing as how he had no other leads to follow Naruto had decided to go to Amegakure, not bothering to tell even his sensei of his journey to the hidden village. When he got their he had still not been able to find out much in the way of knowledge on Akatsuki themselves, he had been there for about two weeks but all he had found out was info about the two figures that were said to rule the village. A man known as Pain, who was said to have killed Hanzo the Salamander in single combat; an incredible feat considering the man had been rumored to be even stronger then Hiruzen Sarutobi the professor in his prime. This Pain also seemed to have a deep grudge against Hanzo, having killed not only anyone associated with the man but his family as well. The other figure was known simply as the Angel of Ame; apparently it was a woman who was seen as Pain's messenger to the people. He had not been able to find out much more other than that Pain was hailed as a god and had a powerful sensor jutsu where he infused his chakra into the rain.

Naruto snapped out of his musings when he felt a presence just outside the cave trip a few sensor seals he had placed here before he went into Ame, he created a quick **Kage Bushin **to clean up the mess he made while he went outside to investigate. Creeping outside the cave Naruto looked around the forested area, finding nothing he frowned. He was just about to go back inside when instincts had him rolling to the left, just in time as several shuriken came and impaled the spot he had been previously standing. He took a moment to observe the spot where he was standing and saw that the shuriken were white, _is that paper? _Naruto questioned before he dodged another set of shuriken.

Naruto quickly created a **Kage Bushin** before replacing himself with it, and then hiding himself in the forest as he gained a quick breath and came up with a strategy. Creating several clones Naruto had each of them put the invisibility jutsu over themselves and move out to find the person who had attacked him. Hiding as well Naruto crouched down on a tree as he waited for the information to come to him, when it did Naruto found himself getting the image of a woman with blue hair and an origami flower in it and an Akatsuki cloak._ She matches the description of the so called 'Angel of Ame' but there is also something familiar about her… _

Deciding not to waist another minute Naruto shot towards where the woman was found, shooting out of the trees he headed straight for the blue haired woman. Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out several kunai, throwing them he raised an open palm towards the sailing weapons.

"_**Fuuton: Reppusho! (Wind Release: Wind Gale Palm)"**_

A gale of wind shot from Naruto's palm and increased the speed of the kunai, the woman with blue hair was not expecting the attack and therefore found herself unable to dodge them all and ended up getting a few small cuts. In retaliation she made several paper shuriken out of her cloak which seemed to be able to turn to paper at will, she launched them at Naruto who made a slashing motion and sent a **Kaze No Yaiba (Wind Blade) **towards them. The paper shuriken were shredded as the **Kaze No Yaiba **continued on, the 'Angel of Ame' created paper wings out of her cloak which merged with her back and used them to soar into the air and evade Naruto's attack. With a great flap of her wings several thousand paper senbon were shot towards Naruto in a literal hailstorm, unsealing **Suzano** Naruto began a deadly dance as he dodged and weaved between the senbon. Unleashing blasts of wind with his blade, hundreds of the chakra coated paper senbon were either blown away or cut to ribbons.

Naruto took a deep breath as the small cuts from the senbon he could not dodge healed, looking up he saw that the blue haired woman was still in the air. Deciding to bring her down Naruto launched several powerful blasts of lightning from his sword, as the woman began to focus on dodging he created a **Kage Bushin** who disappeared in a burst of speed.

Konan continued to dodge the blasts of lightning and while she kept a calm outward appearance she was mentally cursing, who ever this cloaked figure was was good. So far none of her attacks had any real effect and while she knew her power was not the strongest in Akatsuki she was still around the middle ranking in terms of strength and most people were unable to counter them so affectively, usually they were too busy being surprised by the fact that paper could actually be used as a weapon to do anything. Deciding that she had too caught this shinobi by surprise she began to disperse into paper, however her concentration was broken when both of her wings were sliced to pieces. Turning around she felt her eyes widen as she saw the blond ninja that had been attacking her right behind her, she was not given the chance to do anything as the blond sent a kick into her sternum. She soon fell through the tree branches, breaking a few on the way down and it was only thanks her perfect chakra control that allowed her to form her wings to stop her descent while creating a small chakra shield to block out the wind resistance.

Landing on the ground she was soon forced to ducked under a punch from her blond attacker, she jumped back to gain some distance but it was no use as the shinobi before her kept on the pressure. Realizing that she would need to fight back Konan channeled chakra through her hands, turning them into paper blades and using her chakra to make them hard. She began to attack the blond using swift strikes with the intent to kill, aiming for vital points like the trachea and lungs.

Naruto soon found himself on the defensive as he was forced to dodge and weave through her paper blades, the woman had an excellent style that was able to fully utilize her agile body. Unsealing **Suzano **again Naruto began to meet her strike for strike, several tears appeared on their clothes as the two continued to battle but neither was able to get a good hit on the other. Naruto while physically far more powerful and faster than Konan he was hard matched to fight someone with two blades, having not done it before and was having a hard time keeping track of both blades.

Ducking a horizontal slash he was soon forced to dodge a thrust sent to impale his eye, turning around in a 360 degrees counter clockwise motion Naruto blocked another strike from her left hand. He tilted his head back to dodge a slice meant to open his neck, then brought his sword up in front of him to block her other hand. Deciding he needed to be on the defensive if he was going to beat this woman Naruto began channeling wind chakra through **Suzano, **making a slashing motion with his blade Naruto cut clean through the woman's paper blades, said woman leapt back as Naruto's sword passed through where she had been previously. The woman was just about to charge in again when she felt a prick on the back of her neck, then everything went black.

The Naruto in front of her dispelled in a puff of smoke as the real Naruto wrapped his arms around Konan's waist, picking her up in a bridal carry he made his way back to the cave.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Konan groaned as she woke up and for a moment wondered where she was, her eyes opened to try and discern her location but all she could see at the moment were blurs. As she shook her head to clear her vision she tried to remember what happened, Nagato… _Pain _she reminded herself had sent her on a mission to deal with someone who had managed to evade his sensor jutsu until he was nearly out of the village. That was when she remembered she found him and they had fought, however after that everything went blank and she couldn't remember anything else afterwards but assumed she had been defeated. Though that begged the question of why was she still alive.

"I'm glad to see you're finally awake."

Her head snapped to the source of the voice and saw that it was that blond shinobi sitting near a fire as he cooked some kind of stew over it. Her eyes widened and she tried to get up only to realize that she was tied and bound, she looked down at herself to see .8 grade ninja wire binding her arms and legs together. She immediately began to try and channel chakra to cut the ropes but soon found out that she could not even feel her chakra.

"That won't work," the blond said from where he was, making it obvious he knew what she was trying to do.

Konan snarled at the man as real emotion showed up on her face for the first time in years, "What did you do to me!"

"I sealed off your chakra," the blond said with a shrug as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Konan's eyes widened, "What!"

"Would you stop shouting," Naruto said in an annoyed tone, "since you attacked me I decided to seal off your chakra." he looked at Konan and she could almost see the smirk through the blonds mask, "if you're a good girl I may give it back to you eventually."

Konan glared at Naruto as she began to struggle even harder, knowing it was futile Naruto turned his attention back to his stew. Konan's struggle continued for half an hour before she realized that she would not be able to escape, without her chakra she was as helpless as a civilian and the wire was bound too tightly for her to wiggle free. With nothing left to do Konan merely stared up at the ceiling of the cave, about an hour later a delicious smell filled her nose. Turning her eyes she saw her blond captor kneeling down next to her with a bowl of stew.

"Are you hungry?" he asked and when he received no answer he sighed, "You know not answering me only hurts yourself."

"I'm not hungry," Konan finally said only for her stomach to betray her a second later, despite the situation Konan blushed in embarrassment.

Naruto chuckled, "so… hungry?" he asked again with amusement evident in his voice.

"Not like I can eat anyway in case you haven't noticed," Konan said sarcastically as she wiggled her arms which were currently tied to her body.

"That could be a problem," Naruto said nodding in agreement and causing Konan to scowl at the amusement in his tone. "And unfortunately I can't just untie you as that would ruin the whole point of tying you up in the first place, aside from the fact that I don't trust you not to kill me the first chance you get. Thankfully I have a way around that!"

Konan eyed him wearily for a moment as she tried to find out what he meant; when she did sent him a glare that would have melted lesser men, "I won't be fed, least of all by you!"

Her stomach gurgled again and Naruto shrugged, "If your pride means more to you then living than be my guest and starve to death."

Konan bit her lip as she felt her stomach going off again while Naruto moved to get up, "Wait!" she said.

Naruto paused as he turned around, "yes?"

"I…" Konan paused as she swallowed the bit of pride she had as a Kunoichi, slumping her shoulders she spoke again, "I would like that food… please."

Naruto nodded as he went back to her, kneeling down he tenderly picked her up and set her so she was leaning against the wall. Going back he grabbed the bowl of stew before sitting next to her, scooping up a spoonful of the food he lifted it to Konan's mouth. Konan opened her mouth without protest as Naruto brought the spoon inside her mouth before she closed it, the woman's eyes widened as the flavor of the food exploded on her tongue. While she did not want to admit it, the food was some of the best she had had in a long time; strangely enough she was reminded of Jiraiya and the times he would cook for her, Yahiko and Nagato when the man had lived with them. As she ate the food she could not help but spare several glances at her captor. She could not tell his age but from the sound of the voice he was fairly young, at least in his mid to late teens and yet he the way he walked and the confidence he exuded was the exact same aura she saw in most veteran shinobi that Akatsuki had.

"Would you like seconds?" her captor asked and Konan found herself taken aback by the kindness and warmth in his voice.

"Er… no thank you," she said blinking as she wondered why she was being so polite to the person who had essentially taken her prisoner. She looked at him again as he went to clean out the bowl and sealed it and the food in a scroll, finally she asked the question that had been burning in the back of her mind since she realized her situation.

"Why did you spare me?"

Naruto turned to look at her and tilted his head as he found himself slightly surprised by the question, why did he spare her? She not only attacked him, but was also a part of Akatsuki so by all rights he should just kill her and be done with it. And yet…

Shrugging Naruto evaded the question, "I'm not sure to be honest." he looked up at the ceiling before looking back at her, "considering the group your with I probably should kill you." Konan instantly tensed even though she knew if he wanted to kill her there was nothing she could do to stop him. "Yet at the same time something tells me not to," walking up to her he sat down and leaned against the wall.

Konan watched the man as he closed his eyes, she was not sure what to make of that last comment; most shinobi would have either killed her by now or at the very least raped her or something, yet he had done none of this and even treated her well. Deciding to get more information until she could make her escape she asked him more questions, "what do you plan to do with me?"

Naruto sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, "you know I haven't thought about it; though I do know I'm not gonna let you go back to that crack pot you call a leader…"

Konan's eyes narrowed dangerously, "don't you dare talk about Pain-Sama like that!"

"Pain," Naruto said as if testing it, "is that what he calls himself these days…" Konan's eyes instantly widened wondering what this man knew about Pain. Naruto looked over at her, "I wonder… are you talking about Yahiko…" he watched as her expression fell and realized with small pang of guilt that her friend was dead. However that also left only one other option about Pain's identity, "so… Nagato is Pain eh?"

"How do you know these things?" Konan asked in a low and somewhat strained voice, she would not admit it but being reminded of her dead friend hurt. "Only a few people ever knew who we were, so how do you know this?"

Naruto hmm'd a second before speaking, "I'm not sure I trust you enough to tell you, maybe I will later though… if you earn my trust."

Realizing she was not going to get anything out of the blond she stayed quiet, eventually Konan began to feel tired and despite being in the presence of an enemy ended up falling asleep. Naruto looked over at Konan and gently lifted her up, moving over to a sleeping back he unzipped it and tenderly set her in. now that she was asleep he took a small moment to study her; Konan had short light blue hair done up in a short shoulder length cut with a small origami flower in it. Her face was perfectly heart shaped and held a definitive feminine beauty that most woman Kunoichi or otherwise would be extremely hard pressed to match; she also a labret piercing under her bottom lip. Her skin was a milky white and despite wearing the Akatsuki cloak Naruto could easily see the feminine figure that rivaled Mei and Yugito's under it. He studied her face for a moment, now that she was sleeping her face looked innocent, peaceful and even slightly vulnerable especially compared to the neutral or angry and annoyed looks she had given him when she had been awake. Resisting his natural urge to brush away a few strands of her hair Naruto instead tucked her in and got out another sleeping back from a scroll, laying in it where he went into a very light sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Konan woke up the next morning the same way she had last time, the only difference was the absolutely heavenly aroma that seemed to penetrate her nose. She moved around a bit and frowned when she realized she was much warmer than she had been last night, lifting her head she saw that she had been moved into a sleeping bag.

"Good morning!"

Hearing the voice Konan took her attention off of her situation she turned to look at Naruto who was currently over an open fire and had a pan in his hand. "Breakfast will be in just a minute," Konan blinked as she saw the blond flip something into the air and catch it back in the pan. A little while later he came up to her and sat down a plate piled with what looked like bread of some kind. Naruto unzipped the sleeping back before picking Konan up, much to her protest and propping her up against the wall, "Do you want any butter on these?"

Konan blinked again as she fought to maintain a neutral expression, "what are they?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side in a quizzical fashion before shrugging and decided to explain, "It's called French toast. Apparently their a foreign food of some kind, though I have no idea where they come from. So butter?" he asked again, Konan merely shrugged causing Naruto to sigh, "I suppose we'll just try both ways then."

Cutting piece of French toast off and sticking it with a fork Naruto brought it to Konan's mouth, said woman only hesitated for a second before taking it. Like last time the food was easily the best she had ever tried, and did not hesitate the next time he brought the fork to her mouth. As Naruto continued feeding her Konan tried to figure the blond out, she had no clue why he was being so nice to her, even going so far as to give her food and placing her in a spare sleeping bag so she would not get cold during the night. Nor had he touched her inappropriately in anyway, if he had she would have noticed since there were always ways to tell when someone had done something to her such as her clothing being ruffled or even removed entirely. Unfortunately she could not come up with any explanation that may shed some light the blond man's strange behavior, it was most vexing to say the least.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Konan asked after she finished swallowing a bite of food since while she did not care about the man, she had yet to see him have any food and she had to wonder if he had possibly poisoned the food though she could not think of a reason why he would.

Naruto let out a small chuckle, "I already ate this morning before you woke up, but thank you for the concern."

Konan let out a 'humph' but continued to eat. When she finished Naruto went about cleaning the dishes and getting rid of any evidence of him being there, looking back over at Konan he sighed. Moving back to her he sat down as Konan watched him, for awhile neither spoke as the two tried to come up with an answer to their thoughts, though both were thinking completely different things.

"Why do you do it?" Naruto finally asked as he figured beating around the bush would not help anything, nor get him the answers he sought.

"Why do I do what" Konan replied as she answered his question with another question.

"Why do you follow Nagato?" Naruto asked, "I mean I know he's your friend and all but really the guys obviously gone mad."

Konan snarled as she tried to lunge at him only to fall on her face, "Don't you dare speak of him that way! You know nothing about him, or the pain he's been through! Someone like you could never understand!"

"Someone like me huh?" Naruto asked with sarcasm, "well that's good because frankly I wouldn't want to understand some megalomaniac with the desire and ability to kill people without remorse all for the sake of power!"

Konan began struggling more as this man insulted her one reason left for living, "shut up! You know nothing! He's doing this to create peace!"

"Peace!" Naruto questioned as his incredulous tone turned into anger as her comment got the better of him, "How can trying to capture the Bijuu ever create peace! How could gaining that kind of power bring us peace! You think that by killing off the few people who truly understand what it means to suffer that Pain will bring peace! You are either a fool or very naive if you could even think holding such power would bring any kind of peace except the peace of the grave!"

"You're wrong!" Konan huffed as she stopped struggling having exhausted herself, "he is going to bring true peace!"

"Oh?" Naruto questioned his tone changing from angry to curious, "and what has your leader done to help bring about this 'peace'?" Naruto asked.

For a moment Konan was stumped, what had Pain done to help bring peace? For a moment her mind shut down as she tried and failed to find something, however she quickly shook it off as the blond trying to get her to question her beliefs and faith in her friend. "He defeated Hanzo and freed Amegakure," she stated with conviction.

"I see," Naruto said as he nodded his head, "and what else as he done? Surely a man who would be so honorable as to free a village would have done something else," he looked over at Konan who had gone silent. "What has he done to help your people?" Naruto asked, "what about all the war orphan's who became homeless due to your friends rebellion? Did he try to help them? Or perhaps he helped to rebuild Ame and the homes that were destroyed?" when Konan didn't answer Naruto nodded, "I'll tell you what he did, it was nothing! Your leader did nothing to help Ame's people! Instead he spends his days trying to gain power! He tries to find ways to capture the Jinchurikki and kill them for his own misguided goals, while his own people suffer!"

"Your wrong!" Konan stated in a strained voice and shook her head as she refused to believe what Naruto was telling her, there was no way what he said was true. Pain was trying to bring peace to the world, right?

Naruto seeing the young woman in obvious denial walked over to her and hauled her to her feet, lifting her up he carried her over his shoulder.

"What are you doing! Put me down now!" Konan yelled as she was unable to do anything else.

"No can do," Naruto said as the woman started to struggle. He created a **Kage Bushin** that stuck a silencing seal over her mouth, "there is something you need to see. Now then please do me a favor and shut up."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto found himself walking through the streets of Ame far sooner than he had expected to again, he had his cloaking jutsu on as he carried the young woman through a mostly deserted street. Thankfully the rain jutsu was not on or Naruto would have been forced to use more caution, it was a good thing Naruto had been able to find out that the jutsu had a weakness; the blond had learned that Nagato could only keep the jutsu going for twelve hours before he had to stop for another six. Naruto did not know why it was this way, but figured that the jutsu had some kind of cost chakra or otherwise that stopped Pain from constantly using it.

He looked over his shoulder at Konan to see her glaring at him, before shrugging said glare off; at least she was no longer trying to break out of his grip anymore. Finally finding where he was looking for he set Konan down against a wall. Leaning down he grabbed the seal and pulled it off her mouth.

"You're lucky I can't do anything to you right now!" Konan growled out as she glared at him with a look that Naruto was sure would have could have killed other men.

_Hell I'm sure Jiraiya would have died under such a glare_ he thought with some amusement..

Naruto gave her an uncaring shrug as he stood up and pointed just a little ways away, "tell me what you see?"

Konan frowned as she looked towards where he was pointing, it was a city block of Amegakure that she did not recognize, or at least it had been. The entire area was completely destroyed, with a large crater in the middle that held the metal buildings of Ame in them, sticking out making it look like a graveyard city. However she could not be 100% sure in her guess, the only reason she was even able to tell it was a part of Ame was because of the fact that she knew they were still in the village and the few pieces of debris and buildings sticking out of the ground in the area were Ame style buildings. "I don't know what am I looking at?" she finally asked as she decided to humor him.

"This place used to be a living district," Naruto said, "along with thirteen other sectors nearly 75% of Amegakure used to live there. This place along with seven others are nothing more than ruins now…"

Konan's eyes widened as she looked out over the devastation, when had this happened? She looked out at the destruction as she tried to remember what had happened to cause such devastation, her mind however drew blanks as she could not for the life of her remember what happened.

"Do you know how this place was destroyed?" Naruto asked as he looked at Konan with his piercing blue eyes. Konan shook her head and Naruto decided to tell her, "this was where your friend Nagato took out his revenge on Hanzo the Salamander after he killed him." he looked over at Konan to see her gaining a confused look, "this residence was where Hazno's family lived, do you know what happened to them?" the question was rhetorical, he knew Konan knew what had happened to the man's family. "They were killed and Pain decided to leave this place as a testament to those that would oppose him," Naruto said, "I hear that Hanzo had a wife and a four year old granddaughter. Nagato killed them without remorse and without regret, but you already knew that didn't you?"

Konan grit her teeth as she tried to justify Nagato's actions, she went through several counter arguments in her mind to help her deny what the blond haired man was saying. Yet everything she tried to think of, everything she wanted to say sounded hollow to her ears as she looked at the devastation.

"Did you know that this was not the only place where your friend exacted his revenge?" Naruto asked in a quiet voice. "Of the thirteen other living sectors six of them were destroyed the same as this one, anybody who Nagato even suspected of being even remotely loyal to Hanzo was killed along with their families. He didn't care whether they were truly loyal, just afraid to stand up to Hanzo or even were unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire; all of them were killed in Pain's quest for revenge." Naruto looked over at Konan when he heard a small sob, he turned to see the beautiful blue haired woman choking back tears as she tried to struggle against the idea that her friend could do such a thing. Naruto held in a wince, he never liked to hurt a woman be it physically or mentally; the blond shinobi was not sure if it was some kind of chivalrous nature or just that he could never stand to see others hurting, but it was always hurt to see a woman cry.

He walked up to her and kneeled in front of her, Konan slowly reeled in her tears as she looked at him. "I have one more place I want to show you," Naruto said and Konan was once again taken aback by the compassionate nature of his voice. "If I release your bindings will you promise to do as I say?" he asked as he looked at her with those eyes that seemed to look straight through her and into her very soul.

Konan was truly compelled to say no, not just because he was supposed to be her enemy but also because she was afraid. Her faith in Nagato had taken a large hit today and Konan was afraid that what this man had to show her would irrevocably shatter any confidence she had in the man she considered family. Yet for some reason she felt compelled to place her trust in this boy, _no man_ she corrected herself. She felt a desire to place her faith in this man who even though she had only known him for a little while, was starting to remind her so much of her departed friend Yahiko. "I promise," she said at last as she decided to place her trust in the person who had captured her yesterday.

Naruto nodded as he undid her bindings and made her put her Akatsuki cloak in a seal, leaving Konan in a set of clothes that did nothing to hide her amazing figure. She was wearing a pair of black skin tight leather pants that showed off curvaceous and amazingly toned and beautiful legs. As well as a sleeveless skin tight shirt that covered just her neck and a little under 2/3rds of her C borderline D cup chest, leaving the outer edge of her chest, torso and shoulders bare. The shirt also had a diamond cut in the center just below her collar bone and a V cut on the bottom where the shirt split down the center and moved off to fall down to the sides, allowing Naruto a glimpse of her toned stomach which had four piercings around her belly button. Naruto mentally swore as he looked away with a blush and tried to get the image out of his head.

Placing the invisibility jutsu over himself Naruto grabbed Konan's hand to activate the invisibility jutsu over her too. Konan was startled as she felt Naruto's hand grabbed hers, not just at the contact but also at the odd feeling of familiarity it gave, or was it comfort she felt? As she walked with the blond shinobi Konan noticed that he was leading her farther and farther away from the center of town, looking over she saw that he was heading towards the outskirts of the area that Nagato had attacked when he gained entrance into Ame to fight Hanzo.

When they got their she noticed with some surprise that there was a cottage at their destination, it was made out of steel and looked fairly new; mainly from the fact that it was not only different from any of the buildings found in Ame but also because this area had been nearly destroyed by Nagato's assault and none of the buildings aside from that small cottage stood. However what really surprised her were the small group of kids who were currently playing with a ball, there were three of them, two boys and one girl. The three stopped playing as they looked over at Naruto as he dropped the invisibility jutsu, if Konan had been surprised before she became absolutely shocked when the three gave a shout of 'Oni-chan!' and rushed over to Naruto. The three soon surrounded the two of them and began firing off questions at Naruto, said blond just laughed as he lifted the three of them up; placing the girl on his shoulders while the two boys were in each of his arms. Now that she got a closer look Konan noticed that they could not be much older than seven or eight years old.

"I thought you were leaving Oni-chan?" said the boy on the left, a kid with messy black hair and green eyes.

"Hey Oni-chan, who's the pretty Onee-chan you brought with you?" asked the boy on Naruto's right arm, he had dark blue hair and brown eyes.

"Is she your girlfriend?" the girl with dark green hair and blue eyes as she leaned on his head asked with a giggle as she held up her pinky.

Konan was hit with a wave of nostalgia as she watched the blond interacting with the young kids, though she blushed at the compliment and question that were thrown at Naruto concerning her. It was in a way so much like how she, Nagato and Yahiko had been found by Jiraiya-sensei all those years ago. For a few minutes she zoned out before being brought back when she heard a squeal of delight, looking towards the source it was to see all of the kids on a clone of Naruto as they headed into the house.

"I found those three kids scrounging around a garbage can when I was trying to find information on Akatsuki here," Naruto said as he saw Konan look over towards him with a questioning gaze. "Do you know what they told me there dream is?" he asked Konan as he looked towards the cottage.

Konan shook her head, "no."

"They said they wanted to lead a rebellion to free Ame," Naruto said as Konan gasped in shocked. "Those three kids were the only ones to escape from Nagato's revenge. Apparently their parents had them hide in a secret cellar before they were killed, is this familiar to you?"

"It's almost just like Nagato, Yahiko and I when we were younger," Konan said as she saw the similarities between her old group and the three she had just met. They even had plans to free Ame like Yahiko had come up with after Jiraiya-sensei had left only this time it was against Pain rather than when she and her friends had been facing Hanzo, these kids were living like they had and she knew that it was because of her and Pain that they were. She felt tears begin to fall down her eyes as she realized she was no longer able to hide the truth she had denied to herself, with the startling knowledge that Nagato had lost his way when he took up the name Pain and became blind by a lust for power and the belief that he was god, her faith in him shattered. Falling to her knees Konan began to cry in earnest, without her faith in Pain who had become her reason to live she felt even more empty then after Yahiko had died.

Naruto watched as the woman wept and could not help the feeling of regret that encompassed him, despite knowing that she had to cast off the illusions she put up for herself Naruto still found it hurt him to see a woman cry. _Curse my conscience,_ Naruto said to himself as he closed the distance between them and knelt down.

Konan was startled when she felt a pair of arms engulf her torso, feeling herself being pulled into an embrace as a warm feeling encompassed her; she instantly moved towards the small source of comfort she found. Pressing her head into a shirt she let out all of the pain and loneliness she had been feeling since Yahiko's death, after the death of cheerful boy who tried to act tough and be their leader had died Nagato had never been the same. He had started to become colder and colder with each passing day, so much so that Konan had to put up a wall around her emotions; a wall that had just broke. Konan gripped the cloth of the shirt she had buried her head into as she continued to let her tears fall unabashed down her face, she felt a hand start to make soothing motions as it rubbed her back and a voice whispered in her ear.

"It's alright."

Looking up she saw none other than the blond who had captured her and destroyed her faith in the one person she had left in the world. The same blond who had also in the short time she had known him reminded her of Yahiko and shown her a compassion she would have never expected from someone who was supposed to be an enemy. She look into his eyes trying to understand why he was doing these things, why he would strip away her beliefs yet at the same time why he was so nice to her despite them being enemies. It took awhile eventually she saw something she had not expected to see; pain, the young man's eyes were pools of pain and loneliness that she had not even seen in Nagato's or her own eyes. This boy she realized understood pain even better than she did, yet even then Konan could see that he still held onto his compassionate and caring nature.

"Who are you?" she asked even as tears continued to fall down her face.

Naruto brought a hand to Konan's face and gently brushed away a few tears, "I'm someone who understands pain." bringing his face up to his mask he slowly pulled it down revealing six whisker marks on his face, Konan's eyes widened in recognition. While she had never met the Kyuubi's Jinchurikki she had been given a general description, to think that this entire time she was with one of the people they had been trying to kill. "I am also a student of Jiraiya's, like you."

"That was how you knew who I was," Konan breathed as she finally figured out how he knew of her and Nagato.

Naruto nodded, "Jiraiya-sensei told me the story of how he met you three," Naruto said figuring it would be best to use his sensei's real name instead of his nickname for the man. "He had told me that he was going to get you three after the war and take you to Konaha with him, but received information you had been killed." Naruto shrugged, "to be honest I wasn't even sure it was you until I mentioned Nagato and Yahiko, all I had was your general description that gave me a hunch."

Konan felt light headed as she tried to wrap her mind around all the startling revelations today, it was all too much to handle in too short a time; it almost seemed like some kind of divine intervention from a real god. To think that the man before her was not only the Kyuubi Jinchurikki but also that he was a student of Jiraiya's as well, then he comes here and meets her showing her that Pain was not what she had thought he was. It was almost enough to make one believe in fate. She was brought back to the real world when she felt a hand cup her cheek, looking up she followed the arm to see Naruto with a concerned expression on his face.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I…" Konan paused as she realized she was not alright, "not really, this is all too much to take in."

Naruto nodded in understanding, "well then how about you don't think about it for now." Naruto stood up, lifting Konan who was still in his arms into a bridal carry. "How about we go inside and you can help me entertain the kids while I make some food," Naruto suggested with a smile.

Konan while surprised did not decline the idea as Naruto set her down and followed the blond shinobi inside, the two of them spent the rest of the day with the kids. As a clone of Naruto made food Konan and the real Naruto would spend their time entertaining the children, Naruto by telling them grand stories of all the places he had been to and Konan by teaching the little girl origami. Naruto had also tried his hand at the art but after several dozen paper cuts had given up, much to Konan's secret amusement. As the day wore on Konan was once again struck by the similarities of her own life, but this time they did not seem to hurt as much and Naruto had even gotten the woman to smile with a terrible joke he told. Eventually the three children passed out and Naruto and Konan put them to bed before the two found themselves sitting on a couch and looking outside at the rain, which had started up again.

"I guess I'm going to be here for twelve hours again," Naruto said to himself; well he could just flash away but he would want to say good bye to the kids. He looked over at his… what was she now? He wondered, since she was not really his prisoner anymore. Acquaintance? Companion? Friend? He was unsure but supposed it didn't really matter anymore. "What will you do now Konan?" asked Naruto.

Konan looked at him and sighed as she closed her eyes, "I don't know anymore," she said in a soft voice. "Nagato had been everything to me and now that I don't feel I can follow him…"

"You could come with me if you want," she looked up at Naruto in shock as he continued to speak, "I'll take you to Konoha and you can stay with me. I'll do what I can to give you a happy life, if you want one with me that is," he finished with a sheepish expression.

Konan actually smiled at the look she had often seen on Yahiko's face, "thank you… but I don't think that's a good idea, at least not right now. If I went with you Pain would get suspicious and if he found out I have left Akatsuki, I have no doubt he would try to kill me."

"Well yeah, but he would have to get passed me," Naruto said as he puffed out his chest confidently.

"You would protect me?" Konan asked somewhat amused and somewhat shocked.

"Of course I would," Naruto said, "if you came with me that would make you one of my precious people and I always protect my precious people."

Konan smiled as she wiped an errant tear from her eye, thinking for a moment she looked back at Naruto. "I still think it's too dangerous, right now even as strong as you are it will not be enough to defeat Pain." Naruto winced knowing that at the moment it was probably true, "But if you wanted me to… I could spy on Akatsuki for you."

That got Naruto's attention; having a spy within Akatsuki would be the biggest boon ever, but… "That's pretty dangerous Konan-chan," Naruto said not even realizing the affectionate suffix he added, though Konan did as she gave a small blush. "Not only is it dangerous, but you would have to hide your intentions from someone you admitted to me meant the world to you. I myself would not want to do that, and I certainly wouldn't wish it on you."

"Thank you for your concern," she said as she unknowingly used the same words he had said to her this morning. "But I want to do this, you were right about him. Nagato has been dead for a long time, he is now Pain and I… I don't think he can be saved."

Naruto leaned over and wiped an errant tear that threatened to fall from Konan's eye, "if this is what you want I won't stop you. Just promise me you will be careful."

"I will," Konan promised a little surprised at the concern in his voice.

"Also… do you think you could occasionally visit these kids? They don't have anyone else and while I'll try to visit as much as I can…"

"Don't worry," Konan interrupted with a smile, "I'll look after them for you."

"Thank you," Naruto said.

For the rest of the night the two sat on the couch, eventually they both fell asleep with Konan using Naruto's chest as a pillow.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning the two woke up to find themselves in a very compromising position, Konan was situated between Naruto's legs with her head on his chest while one hand had somehow managed to slip under his shirt and was resting on his muscular pectorals. Meanwhile Naruto had one hand wrapped around her waist which wasn't bad, however his other hand was currently inside Konan's pants and was resting on what Naruto recognized as a very fine ass. To make matters worse for both of them, Naruto currently had a morning stiffy. As the two sported similar blushes on their face Konan shifted a bit, causing her to rub against Naruto's increasingly enlarged member. The blue haired woman became positively mortified when she felt a low moan escape her throat as his length rub against her inner thigh, with a speed that would have made the former **Senkou **proud and definitely impressed the current one Konan shot off of him and sat at the edge of the couch.

For a long while neither of the two said anything nor could they even look at each other. Eventually Naruto coughed, "uh… listen I'm gonna go take a shower _*A very cold shower* _do you think you could start breakfast for the kids?"

Konan looked at him for a second before blushing and averting her eyes, unable to actually speak the blue haired woman merely settled for nodding. Naruto got up and went to the small bathroom in the cottage, meanwhile Konan went to the kitchen and began to prepare breakfast. After a cold shower to get himself under control Naruto came into the kitchen and helped prepare breakfast, thankfully most of the lingering embarrassment that hung in the air was for the most part gone as the two worked in silence. A little while later the three kids woke up and stormed into the kitchen chattering to Naruto and Konan in an excited fashion, it took awhile but they were eventually able to get the kids to settle down enough to eat their food.

After that they spent their time telling the kids stories, several hours later the rain eventually cleared making it safe for Naruto to leave, much to the children's disappointment.

"Do you have to go?" the three kids asked at the same time.

Naruto smiled as he kneeled down so he was eye level with them, "yes unfortunately, there are a lot of things I need to do and I can't do them here." he looked at each of them and noticed that the girl looked like she was about to cry, he moved his hand up and gently brushed away the small moisture in her eyes. "Hey now there's no need for tears," Naruto said with a smile, "this won't be the last time you see me. Remember with that seal in your house I can come and visit you guys anytime, so no crying ok?"

The little girl gave a small nod before throwing herself at Naruto, said blond wrapped the girl up in a hug as he rubbed her hair and whispered soothing words to the little girl. They broke away a little later and Naruto stood up and looked at the three of them, "now do you three remember what I told you?"

"True strength only comes from protecting someone precious to you," the three said in unison causing Naruto to smile.

"Good," Naruto said, "I want you to remember that and make sure to protect and look after each other, can you do that?" He received three nods and smiled, "alright then we'll see you later." He and Konan made their way outside and left the small cottage.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Your later than I expected you to be," Pain said as Konan walked onto the ledge, not even bothering to turn and face her.

"He was a stronger opponent then I expected," Konan stated in her emotionless voice.

Pain turned around to look at her and saw that she did indeed look a little roughed up, her Akatsuki cloak was ripped in several places and he could see a few scars here and their denoting to where she had been cut. Turning around he put it out of his mind, so long as whoever had come into Ame was dead it did not matter. "Very well," Pain said giving Konan a clear dismissal.

Bowing slightly Konan left, walking through the office and into the hall. Eventually she reached a door and went inside, looking around at her sparsely furnished room she sighed and walked into her bed room. Throwing her cloak on the floor she fell onto her bed as she decided to get some sleep, as she closed her eyes her hand went up to clutch a necklace, more specifically the tri-pronged kunai attached to it as she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sighed in relief as he flopped onto the bed in his hotel, it had been about two weeks since he had gotten out of Ame and this was the first time he had been able to rest in a bed since then. Opening his eyes Naruto stared at the ceiling in thought, he was going to meet up with Jiraiya again next month having received a message that they were going to go on a mission together. What it was he didn't know but was looking forward to doing an actual mission with his sensei, even though he had trained with the man for nearly three years now they had never done a mission together. He absently wondered if he should tell his sensei about what he had found, shaking his head Naruto decided against it for now. If Jiraiya knew that his two students were alive he would not doubt go to Ame and Nagato would kill him, for now he would keep this a secret between him and Konan.

Naruto was knocked from his thoughts when he felt the new chakra recognition seal he had added to the **Hiraishin **kunai pulse, sitting up Naruto began to concentrate as he felt out the sister seal to the one on his kunai. The seal was an alert for him to use the **Hiraishin's **ability to teleport other objects and people through the use of his chakra. His father Minato had also had the ability to teleport and warp other people and objects, to use this ability one had to have two kunai that would connect through the use of a specific set of hand seals and depending on the size and distance determined how much chakra one had to use to warp the person or thing that was touching the other Kunai. Taking his tri pronged kunai in between his fingers Naruto went through a series of hand seals and began to pull on the kunai who's pulse he felt.

Suddenly Konan appeared right in front of him, looking confused and slightly disoriented as she held the kunai loosely in her hands. Her eyes then focused on Naruto and a small almost imperceptible smile came to her face, if someone had told her that she would miss a man she had met only two weeks ago and originally been her enemy she would have told them they were mad before slicing their throat with her paper blades. But she could not deny that she had missed the blond ninja, she found it odd that she could miss someone after only knowing them for a short time. But after he had broken through her emotional barrier she had felt lighter as if a burden had been lifted from her shoulders and the time she had spent with him and the kids had been some of the best she had in years, reminding her of the times Jiraiya had lived with her, Nagato and Yahiko. "Naruto…" Konan said in her soft and feminine voice as she gave him a small nod.

Naruto grinned at the woman, "Konan-chan was there something you needed, or did you need to tell me something?"

"I felt that it would be prudent to inform you of Pain's abilities," Konan said, "we did not get the chance to do that when I met you and it would be a good idea if you knew what you were up against."

Naruto nodded and patted the spot next to him, nodding Konan moved over to him and sat down on the bed as she began to explain Pain's power. The more Konan spoke of Pain the more Naruto felt that he was being drawn into the realm of myth, he had of course knew that the man possessed the Rennigan which was the first and most powerful of the three great Doujutsu's and the only transcended bloodline in known existence. But he had not known what all of that entailed exactly; apparently someone with the Rennigan had the ability to use all five of the main elements and the sixth element of gravity. But what was truly astounding was how Pain was able to manipulate dead bodies that he possess' through the use of chakra transmitters. Pain had six bodies under his control; the god realm which Konan told Naruto was originally her friend Yahiko's body which had the ability to use the Rennigan's gravity techniques. With it he could push and pull objects away from him, he was also the one who could use ninjutsu. The human realm was able to pull a person's soul from his or her body and read minds; this one was also fast and primarily used taijutsu. His Ghost realm path had the ability to absorb any type of ninjutsu attack. The demon realm was able to use a tail and held a number of powerful explosives and missiles it could launch. Animal realm path could summon large creatures to fight for him as well as the other paths through the use of a space time ninjutsu. The hell realm path had the ability to summon a demon to do his bidding, this one also had the ability to bring the other paths back to life.

Naruto sighed as he leaned back on his hands and tried to wrap his mind around the powers that Pain possessed, the blond could now see why the man called himself a god. With powers like his it was easy to see that the man could very well be one, fighting him would be extremely hard and Naruto knew he might not be able to defeat the man as he was now. "That's a lot to take in," Naruto said slowly.

Konan actually felt a smirk come to her face, "now you know I felt two weeks ago."

Naruto laughed, "I suppose I do though mine is more of a feeling of being overwhelmed," they quieted down for a moment and sat together in comfortable silence. "Hey Konan-chan," Naruto said as he looked at her, "would you like to go get lunch with me?"

Konan blinked, "er… lunch?"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Konan finished ordering her food at the small restaurant they had entered, she had never been to a restaurant before. When she had been an orphan she had not even lived in a city so she never got the chance to eat out, and after the war she had not had the time as she ran around doing Nagato's bidding. The restaurant was pretty nice by her standards, the building had several booths and tables situated inside, the booths had soft red cushions on them and the tables had a small candle on it. There was soft music floating through the air, coming from a person who was sitting in a corner of the restaurant playing with a Junanagen (a 17 string instrument called a zither).

Konan looked over at Naruto to see him with his eyes closed humming a small tune in time with the music, "Naruto?" she spoke up getting his attention. "Why… why did you take me here?" she asked in an unsure tone. It had been on her mind since he had asked her to have lunch with him, she had never had someone take her anywhere even remotely nice and was not sure why he was doing this for her.

"Do I need a reason to want to take you somewhere nice?" Naruto asked as he tilted his head to the side opened his eyes to look at her with an expression of slight confusion adorning his face.

"Well… I guess not," Konan looked down at the table, "I was just curious."

"You've never done anything like this huh?" Naruto asked in a quiet tone getting a nod to his question, "then that gives me all the more reason to do this for you!" Konan snapped her head snapped towards the blond shinobi as he grinned, "Since you have not been able to enjoy the pleasures life has to offer it gives me all the more reason to make sure that you learn to have fun."

"Fun…" Konan stated in a soft tone, she had not been able to have fun for a long time. Spending time with Naruto and the orphans in Ame had been the most fun she had had for a while, the most fun in quite a few years in fact. Between the trying to survive as an orphan, fighting in a war and running around doing Pain's bidding she had not been able to have fun of any kind for nearly a dozen years. She looked around at the nice restaurant again before shifting her gaze over to Naruto, as she looked at the blond she felt a small amount of heat rise to her cheeks. _I wonder if this is a date? _Konan asked herself as she looked around at the other tables, she had never been on a date before. Though she had read a little about them in the few romance novels she kept, this certainly felt like a date with the casual yet somewhat romantic atmosphere. _Does that mean he likes me? Or maybe he just finds me physically attractive… _while Konan was not vain she knew she considered beautiful by most standards. Some of the missions she had done both during the war and for Pain afterwards had her using seduction techniques to assassinate her enemies.

The food soon arrived and she tried not to think about the questions she felt as she began to eat. The meal itself was a quiet affair, Konan would occasionally throw glances at Naruto who was eating peacefully and seemingly unaware of her looks. In truth he knew Konan as throwing him unsure glances, but did not feel that teasing her like he would normally do was a good idea right now. After dinner Naruto took Konan out to walk around the town, hoping to get her to experience a life without fighting for a little while.

Konan looked around at all the people walking and talking in surprise, the place was so peaceful compared to what she knew. She looked as couples walked hand in hand as they looked in the windows of various shops; parents were walking with their children and occasionally buying them treats. She felt a small pang of sadness at having never had the chance to experience any of these things after her parents died when she was young, the part of her that had started to come out since meeting Naruto would have jumped at the chance to experience a normal life. She was shaking out of her thoughts when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder, stopping she turned her head she saw Naruto looking at her with a concerned expression.

"Hey are you alright?" Naruto asked with a little concern in his voice.

Konan nodded, "yes, I'm just not used to this…" she gestured towards all the people around her.

Naruto smiled, "we'll just have to make sure you become acclimated to it." Naruto said as he grabbed her hand and began to pull her around the village, Naruto took her to all of the different kinds of shops, places such as sweet shops, souvenir stores and clothing stores. Konan found that she was actually enjoying herself as they went around to all the different places Naruto took her too. By the end of the day Konan had a genuine smile on her face as they went back to Naruto's room.

"Thank you for taking me out to dinner," Konan said with a small bow as she tried to hide the pink on her cheeks.

Naruto gave a sheepish grin as he rubbed the back of his head, "you don't have to thank me you know. I wanted to take you out, in fact I was wondering if you would like to do it again the next time we meet…"

Konan looked up at Naruto to see he had a light blush on his face as he averted his eyes, "I would like that," she said with a soft smile.

Naruto gave her his foxy grin, "Then it's a date!"

Before Konan could reply Naruto focused his chakra into her kunai, in less than a second the young woman found herself in her room right next to the paper seal Naruto had told her to put in her room. _A date…_ Konan felt her cheeks heat up at the thought of going on a date with the young man. She found herself looking forward to meeting Naruto again and going on that date with him.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Three months later…_

For the next three months Naruto would use the **Hiraishin **to summon Konan when he was not with Jiraiya, she would give a report on what was going on with Akatsuki and then Naruto would take her out to do something fun. Letting Konan try out all of the activities and other such things she had missed in her life, whether it was going to a movie, having a picnic or taking her shopping for clothes; not that he didn't love the skin tight body suit she always had on, but he would always end up needing a cold shower after she left when she wore that. The fact that she continued to wear it even after they bought her clothes made him think she knew what it was doing to him and wanted to tease him, though it was hard to tell since she for the most part still kept a neutral expression except for the few occasions he caught her smiling. After the first three weeks Konan and Naruto began to see each other more frequently, having started to grow closer together. Whenever Naruto was with Jiraiya he would often ditch the white haired Sennin at some pub or whore house and summon the blue haired woman, the two would usually go out to dinner or take long walks around or outside of whatever town Naruto was staying in.

As she continued to get to know him Konan began to open up to the blond a bit more, she began to tell him stories of when she was a little girl. Most of her stories involved Yahiko and the things he had done for her, she told the blond of how they had met and later found Nagato and had him join their group. She spoke of how Yahiko had declared that he would become a god and end the fighting in Amegakure, as well as stop the rain which Yahiko had likened to the peoples tears. She talked about how they had met Jiraiya and he later taught them how to be ninja, staying with them for several months. After Jiraiya left them the three Ame orphans had began to gain a reputation and other comrades who held the same belief as them, using their growing power they had spread their beliefs that war should be stopped without violence. However that was when they had they had become a threat to Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure who much to Naruto's extreme displeasure had struck a deal with Danzo Shimura to help deal with the three. Konan had confided to Naruto about how she had been captured and Nagato was forced to choose between having Hanzo kill Konan, or killing Yahiko himself. The blue haired woman told Naruto how Yahiko had thrown himself on Nagato's kunai and told Nagato to continue their mission to find peace.

When Naruto had asked her why she trusted to tell him this, her actions and answer afterwards had shocked him. Konan had quite literally thrown herself on top of him and began to cry, the beautiful blue haired woman told the blond how he reminded her so much of Yahiko; both in personality and personal philosophy. Yahiko like Naruto had desired to become the leader of his village, he had that never give up attitude that Naruto despite maturing greatly had never lost. Also like Naruto, Yahiko had the desire to become strong enough to protect Konan and Nagato much like how the blond shinobi was with his own friends. Naruto realized that he reminded her so much of her old friend that it was almost like she was with Yahiko whenever she spent time with him. When Naruto commented on this Konan said that she felt as if Naruto was carrying on the dreams of Yahiko instead of Pain. She had also confessed that when they were younger Konan had something of a crush on Yahiko who had become their leader when they were orphans and even afterwards when they began their journey to bring peace to Ame.

Deciding that because Konan had trusted him with what he knew was her most painful memory he should trust her as well, Naruto began to tell her about his pain. How he had been hated for his whole life because his own father sealed the Kyuubi inside of him, the abuse and malnourishment he had suffered in the orphanage. Being kicked out of said orphanage at the age of four where he was forced to live on the street for a year before the Hokage had found him and given him an apartment. He told her how the people of his village always looked at him with hate filled eyes, telling their kids to stay away from him because he was a monster and how the parents hate was eventually passed onto their children. Konan was horrified to know just how painful his life was, sure she had been an orphan but she always had Yahiko or Nagato when she was growing up and she had never been hated. Naruto had no one, even worse was that while it only happened a few times Naruto would occasionally get severe beatings by several mobs on his birthday, which was the same day the Kyuubi had attacked Konoha and been sealed into Naruto. The blonds only saving grace in the whole village had been the Sandaime Hokage, a few of his Anbu and a small Ramen stand who did not hold any prejudice against Naruto and treated him like a human being. It was then that Konan felt her respect and feelings for Naruto grow even stronger.

The two were currently sitting under a tree near a small beautiful lake with crystal clear water, as she watched the waves roll up and caress the shore Konan gave a smile as she thought about how her life had become a lot less bleak. She looked over at Naruto who was leaning his back against the tree with his hands behind his head, his eyes were closed and he had a small smile on his face. The peaceful look and feeling he gave off caused her smile to widen, she had spent quite a bit of time with Naruto in the last three months. Konan had thought about the blond often now a days, even when he was not with her Naruto would often worm his way into her thoughts. Whenever her thoughts wondered over to the blond it made her think of the feelings she had for Yahiko, the desire she had to be with Yahiko had slowly been transferring over to Naruto. Konan didn't even bother to think about how or when this had started happening and instead decided to just accept it. If there was one thing in her life she had learned when living as an orphan, it was not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Being a bit bolder than usual, Konan scooted herself closer to the young blond and closing her eyes leaned against him whilst laying her head on his shoulder. Naruto opened his eyes and looked down at her in surprise, "uh… Kona-chan what are you doing?" he asked in a confused voice.

"I want to be near you," Konan opened her eyes to look at him, "do you not like me being this close to you?"

Naruto relaxed as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, "not at all, I was just startled. But are you sure your ok with this? Us I mean. You do know that I will have to rebuild my clan?" Naruto had told Konan about this little bit of information a while ago, along with the fact that he had three woman he was currently secretly engaged to since he did not want anyone coming after them until he felt he was strong enough to protect them.

"I know," Konan said in a voice that was just above a whisper, "I don't care about that so long as I can be with you." Naruto looked startled as Konan lifted her head off his shoulders and looked at him, "there was only one person I ever thought I would love. After Yahiko died I didn't think I would ever get to find someone like that again," she gave him a large smile. "But you showed me something when I had nothing but the desire to follow the dreams of a man who lost sight of his goals and became corrupted by power and a madman."

Naruto knew who she was talking about, aside from telling him about Pain and the others she also told Naruto about the true leader of Akatsuki, Madara Uchiha. Apparently the old Uchiha leader was not as dead as everyone had been lead to believe; the man had not only survived his fight with Hasharima Senju but also had found immortality. Madara had been living all these years and when he saw the chance created Akatsuki, he used Nagato's desire for peace, warping and twisting it until there was nothing left but a man with delusions of grandeur. And even though Kyuubi refused to talk to him about it, Naruto was positive that Madara was the one responsible for its attack on Konoha at the day of his birth.

"After I met you I found something I had lost," Konan continued in her soft voice, "something I had not felt since Yahiko. The desire to be with someone and feel loved and hope, hope that maybe you can find a way to do what others couldn't."

Naruto frowned, "are you replacing me with Yahiko?"

"No, of course not!" Konan said in a shocked voice as her eyes widened, "while I admit the similarities between you two are close enough that you could almost be his brother, I know you are your own person. But you bring out the sides of me that only Yahiko could, that's why I want to be with you."

Naruto stared at the woman who basically just confessed her love for him, Konan may not have said it but Naruto had figured out woman enough to read between the lines of what they were saying to know what they meant. Nor had he detected a lie from her, so he knew everything she said was in fact true. Smiling Naruto gently cupped her cheek with one of his hands, caressing it in a tender fashion. Konan closed her eyes as she leaned into his touch and Naruto imagined that she would start purring any second now. "Thank you for being honest with me," Naruto said and gave the woman a smile as she opened her beautiful amber colored eyes to look at him. "I won't deny that after our first uh… encounter I began to gain feelings for you too," Naruto said as Konan giggled remembering their disastrous first encounter. "So if you're ok with knowing I will have to marry multiple women I would like to give us a chance."

Konan's breath hitched as Naruto began to lean down, his hand going from her cheek to below her chin as he gently lifted her head to meet his. She slowly closed her eyes as Naruto's face came closer so she didn't see when their lips met, but she did feel it and when it happened Konan felt a small jolt run through her body. Konan wrapped her arms around Naruto as she leaned into the kiss, Naruto did likewise as he wrapped his arms around her waist shifting Konan's position so she was on lap. At the first the kiss was chaste and light, merely applying a bit of pressure against each other before Naruto gently took her bottom lip and suckled on it. Konan let out a soft moan as the pressure from Naruto's lips increased, when it did she was surprised as Naruto slipped his tongue through the opening she gave him and began to explore. She was unsure what do to at first but within a few moments and with some prodding from Naruto gained confidence and began to duel with Naruto's tongue, moaning out as the she felt Naruto's appendage caress and entwine with her own. After a moment it was clear she had lost and let Naruto explore the inside of her mouth. When Naruto's tongue left her she pushed her own into his mouth and began to explore, a smile came to her lips as they kissed; Naruto tasted just like Ramen. Not surprising since despite not eating anywhere near as much anymore, that was what Naruto often took her to get unless she wanted something else. Eventually and much to their mutual disappointment the kiss ended, Konan sighed as she closed her eyes and snuggled into Naruto's chest.

"How much longer can you stay?" Naruto asked after a few moments of companionable silence.

"I can stay until tomorrow without Pain getting suspicious," Konan said after a moment of thought. "I usually leave the vicinity of his tower for several days to walk around Ame unless he calls, so we should be safe." Naruto nodded as he relaxed again, his hands began to lightly trail up and down Konan's side making the young woman feel a slight shiver. "Naruto?" Konan suddenly spoke up.

"Hmm?" Naruto mumbled letting her know he was listening.

"I was wondering if… I could spend the night with you?" Konan asked with a blush coming across her features. While she had stayed the night with him often, they had not slept together since that incident in the cottage with the kids.

Naruto felt his eyes widen slightly before he smirked, "Kona-chan are you making the moves on me so soon? I mean we just got together," Naruto spoke in a teasing tone.

Konan scowled at the blond as a large blush spread across her face before saw his teasing grin and it turned into a smile, she slapped his shoulder in a playful gesture. "No I meant…" she paused a bit to take a deep breath, "I meant that I want to stay with you… just for tonight at least I would like to feel your presence with me while I sleep."

"You know once all of this is over it won't just be for tonight," Naruto said in an amused voice as Konan looked up at him. "But since Ero-sensei is out on business today and won't be around for another few days you can stay with me tonight."

Konan giggled at Naruto's apt nickname for their sensei as she snuggled back into the blond.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Later that night they had gotten to the hotel that Naruto was staying at and got ready for bed, Naruto was the first to get his nightly hygiene activities out of the way. As the blond got into bed Konan went into the restroom to do her own routine, a little while later she walked out of the bath room in just a small light red nighty that brought out her hair and blue lacy panties, Naruto noticed rather easily that she was not wearing a bra due to the fact that he could see her nipples slightly poking into the nighty and had to struggle to keep his natural reaction from coming to the forefront. The blue haired woman moved over to the bed and got under the covers, as soon as she did Naruto's arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her to him, turning her on her side as the blond pressed his front against her back. "Good night Kona-chan," Naruto said in a soft whisper as he kissed the nape of her neck.

Konan smiled as she closed her eyes and moved herself closer to Naruto until they were practically melded together, "Night Naruto-kun."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"It's time for us to capture the Jinchurikki," Pain stated as once again all of those in Akatsuki met.

Konan watched from Pain's side as all of the others nodded at his words, the blue haired woman knew this going to happen soon. Pain had been talking about going after the Jinchurikki once they found them all for awhile now, it had taken three years but Pain had finally managed to find out where all of the Jinchurikki were located. She would need to find out where the members were being sent so she could tell Naruto.

Pain turned to look at two of the nine members that were here, "Sasori, Deidra how far are you to the target?"

The one with the hunchback look shifted, "we'll be nearing Suna and the one tails soon…"

"Good," Pain said as his eyes pierced the others in the room, "I want constant updates on your targets status, that goes for all of you!"

The figures all disappeared again, leaving the room empty save for the ugly statue.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto hesitated in his step when he felt his Kunai begin to pulse as he walked alongside Ero-sensei, looking over he made sure to see whether or not the man noticed. Once he was satisfied Naruto turned his attention to the kunai. After his success with the chakra recognition seal on Konan's Kunai, Naruto had put it on each of the girl's kunai that way he could summon them if they wanted to get out of their village. He had used it several times with Mei, Koyuki and Yugito and despite the people they lived with freaking out when they were unable to find them Naruto and the girls continued to do it. Recognizing the signature as Konan's Naruto looked over at Jiraiya, "hey Ero-sensei one of the girls are calling me…"

Jiraiya gave his student a lecherous grin, "my boy I am so proud of you, getting three powerful and hot woman like that!"

Naruto eyebrow twitched, "can it ya damn pervert! Gah if it's going to be like this every time maybe I shouldn't tell you and just flash away rather than listen to your pervy speech! And you wonder why the only woman you get are the ones you have to pay for!"

"Hey show some respect gaki!" Jiraiya yelled at his blond pupil.

"I'll show you respect the moment you earn it and stop peeping in the hot spring you perverted old coot!"

"Who are you calling an old coot!"

Naruto grinned, "The only one I see standing right next to me."

"You damn brat I otta-" he didn't get the chance to say anything else as Naruto disappeared in a bright yellow flash. He paused for a few seconds as he blinked at the spot Naruto had been standing, "damn gaki not giving respect to his elders. At least he's good with woman," Jiraiya said to himself with a small giggle as he pulled out a note book, "it's too bad I'm not there to see anything happen but the idea's this kid gives me from what I do see and hear alone is a gold mine!" Jiraiya let out a perverted giggle as he began walking down the road, giving off perverted giggles as he wrote down the ideas for his next hit book, Icha Icha: Lone Warrior, a tale about a powerful shinobi with a tragic past who ends up saving the world and in thanks receives his very own harem. The white haired man giggled as he began writing out more scenes for his book, he was sure this would be a great hit, especially when he released them in the limited editions he was creating; blond, blue and red.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto flashed to the cave where he had first met Konan, finding nothing larger then a mouse within the sensor seals he had set up Naruto summoned said woman. The first thing the woman did when she got there was to wrap Naruto in a hug and plant a kiss on his lips, pleasantly surprised Naruto returned the gesture before they broke away. "Something wrong Kona-chan?" Naruto asked as he could sense a small amount of tension though it seemed to be leaving her.

Konan shook her head, "no just important information you might want to know." Naruto raised his eye brow but didn't speak, "Akatsuki is going to begin hunting for the Bijuu now. Their first target will be the one tails, Sasori **No Akasuna **and Deidra **the mad bomber **are the ones assigned to this task."

"Suna eh?" Naruto mumbled more to himself then Konan, he looked up from his musings and gave said woman a smile. "Thank you for telling me this, Gaara is not only a Jinchurikki but a good friend of mine," leaning down Naruto gave her a tender kiss on the lips.

"Mmm… I'm… sure… you'll… come… up… with… ways… to… thank… me…" Konan spoke up between kisses.

Naruto gave her his foxy grin as he pulled a little bit away, "you know after I save Gaara I think I've got just the thing to _express _my gratitude."

Konan blushed at the implication and tone of Naruto's voice, though she was quite eager to see what Naruto would do for her.

Naruto looked out of the cave mouth as he thought about the information he had just received, a smile found its way to his lips. It would be good to see Gaara again, his smile grew into a grin; it would be even better after having Gaara owe him for saving his ass.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Omake: what Pain does when not stewing in his god complex.

Konan sighed as she walked down the hall towards Pain's office, she had just received some information on one of the Jinchurikki and in keeping with her cover was going to inform Pain about it. As she walked her mind strayed and she began to think of Naruto, she hoped to see the blond again soon. Finally she reached the door leading to Pain's office, like usual she did not bother to knock on the door since Pain was usually outside anyways. As soon as she opened the door however she froze, her eyes began to widen to the size of dinner plates.

Pain was in fact in the office, his back to her as he sat in a chair and while this was unusual it was not unheard of. However what was unusual and most disturbing was a combination of the things he was doing and what was going on in the room. In front of Pain was a television, on said TV was the new Icha Icha Movie playing; which was rather easy for her to recognize, after all while she would never admit it she had the same movie stashed away under her bed. Pain himself was making unusual panting and grunting noises as well as mumbling what sounded like 'yes Akiko-chan' and 'damn that Jinchurikki' which was highly disturbing to her, especially considering that Pain's god realm was nothing more than a possessed corpse; and of a man she had once loved no less! The orange haired man seemed to be so preoccupied with his… activities he had not even noticed her presence.

For what felt like hours but in truth was only a minute or two, Konan just stood there with her mouth hanging open and her eyes nearly popping out of her sockets. Finally she turned on her heel and left, closing the door behind her so Pain would not know she had been there. She began walking down the hall and mentally swore to herself she would never ever mention what she saw this day, lest she get nightmares from this.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Well the this chapter is finished! Now I tried to make Konan's whole rip away the illusions and emotional walls she put up as real as possible by showing her the devastation her friend Nagato wrought. I'll be honest I do not know if all of what I said is true to canon (AKA Hanzo having a wife and four year old granddaughter) but I do know that Nagato killed any relatives of Hanzo's as well as any supporters. I tried to give Pain a darker look then most see since you never really find out about that part of his past. Also for Nagato's Rain sensing jutsu, I made up the time frame between how long he can use his jutsu for the sake of the story, I do not know how it works but I figured he does not just let it run indefinitely. You will also notice the interaction between Naruto and the kids he found to be similar to that of Jiraiya with Konan, Nagato and Yahiko. While I do not know if I did this part very well I wanted to draw similarities to Naruto and Jiraiya (this being their hatred of war and inability to stand by and watch others suffer if they can help) I also wanted to basically drown Konan in nostalgia thus making her feel closer to Naruto and use it to solidify her decision to help him. Please be sure to let me know how I did, any and all comments and suggestions are welcome!

**Next up! Chapter 6: Human Puppets, bombing transvestites and rescuing a kage!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Fritter: While I can see why you feel this way, the only reason I'm even having Naruto meet these woman now is because this is when he is out of the village for the longest time. He is gone for FOUR YEARS, which is a far longer time then the entire canon story all together and I am trying to compress it so that we can get him to Konoha as soon as possible without making pointless chapter's where all it focuses on is his training and the things he does outside of Konoha. Once he returns it will focus more on missions and the main story with small segments of romance thrown in between, it's just that at the moment this is the best time for Naruto to meet the four women who live outside of Konoha. Plus I did not want to write 12 to 14 chapters (which would be about 150,000-180,000 words in my story) when all you would see was Naruto traveling and training, I could do that of course but I think it would just get boring. Though if you have any suggestions on how you think something like this could be fixed, I would be more than willing to listen.**

**J0hni: first thanks for correcting me on Sasori's title I tried to get the Japanese titles and jutsu in there to make the story feel more authentic. I do understand about having a title in English and one in Japanese and how it throws off the story, I'll be honest the only reason I did that was because I could not find Deidra's title in Japanese, if you know it though please tell me and I will make sure to fix it.**

**As for Naruto summoning Konan, he only summons her when she calls by channeling chakra through the Kunai he gave her. I stated often that she usually would walk around Ame and act as Pain's messenger to the people and uses this time to visit Naruto, I guess I should have been more clear on how this works. Konan creates a paper clone which will act as her and walk around Ame (Which I believe it says in the manga that she does walk around Ame as Nagato's messenger), the sensory jutsu Pain uses cannot distinguish the difference between a clone and the real person because A) despite the chakra signature being smaller it could just mean someone is suppressing it and B) it is still that person's chakra which is what he feels and C) he has no reason not to trust Konan, he does not feel he will betray her partially because he has been slightly blinded by the belief he is an omnipotent god and partially because he is simply too arrogant in his own beliefs. In either case when Konan is not with Pain she was usually in the most heavily populated areas of Ame (Whether this is true or not in canon is irrelevant since this is fan fiction), and uses this time to visit Naruto which is not scheduled it is completely random so he has no way to track that she is gone.**

**As for Naruto being able to find all of that stuff out at one time, you do remember Jiraiya found out much the same stuff and he had only been there for a few hours, maybe a day right?**

**Finally I appreciate you correcting me about what his paths do, I was actually reading it somewhere but I guess it was wrong and I have not read the manga in a while at least not that chapter.**

**Jozern: the reason that I am right now focusing on one girl at a time is because I want it known that Naruto is the type of person who will pay special individual attention to the girls he falls in love with, you will in fact likely see small segments of Naruto interacting with the girls in his life in almost every chapter (nothing like an entire chapter but enough for you to know that he cares about them for more than just reviving his clan). I will be adding more scenes where Naruto will be spending time with more than one female at a time but those won't be for a while since I have to create a realistic scene that I feel will give people insight into the relations the girls have with Naruto and each other. The most interaction the girls have really had with each other was Naruto introducing them and making sure that there would not be any friction between them.**

**Bakapervert: you know I could say the same thing about Kishi turning Kushina into the Kyuubi Jinchurikki being too convenient. Also about making Konan stronger she already is strong, Naruto just held an advantage over her since her paper jutsu don't really work on him since he has Kyuubi. About her giving in to quickly with the food thing and worrying about being poisoned, first off you have to remember he already had her at his mercy. She had no chakra and was bound by ninja wire, if he wanted to kill her she would have been dead so why waste time trying to poison her. Next she was living on the street as an orphan at least a decade ago (I don't think they ever give an exact timeline) so things can change plus she just got finished with a tough battle which drains your energy which is recovered with food Aka carbs. Besides there would have been no point in delaying that she would have to eat eventually they both knew that so why waste time being defiant. As for Nagato being too crazy he already struck me as pretty fucking insane I mean he is following a madman (Madara) he thinks he's god and he stormed Konoha by himself, granted he kicked everyone else's ass until Naruto showed up but still… as far as Konan being clingy she admits in canon he was her only reason for being in Akatsuki, think about it like this Konan, Nagato and Yahiko only had each other to rely on. Suddenly Konan is captured and as a result Yahiko dies, all she has left is Nagato so naturally she will cling to him that much more even if he becomes delusional. The only reason Konan decided to spy on him was because Naruto was so much like Yahiko (and Jiraiya to an extent) that she could not help but see a man she had felt she loved (at least in my fanfic). I hope that makes sense.**

**Now this is my last note before the good part, I still have people who have been asking me to add people the harem, while some of these girls I do like with Naruto they will not be added to the harem for this story. Period. I am a firm believer that too many girls degrades the story plot and even feel that five is pushing it, not only because it simply becomes let's see how many woman Naruto can fuck in a single story but also that the woman fade into the background with the small exception of one or two favorites. There are so many perfect examples of this where it feels like Naruto really only loves one or two of the girls and leaves the rest in the dust. To me that makes him feel like an ass, I don't want that for my story since I am going to be having Naruto spend as much time with the women in his life as possible while also focusing on the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not and will not ever own Naruto. (Unless I kill Kishomoto and henge into him, which I have not found a way to do… yet)**

**Next up! Chapter 6: Human Puppets, bombing transvestites and rescuing a kage!**

* * *

Jiraiya looked at his student and shook his head, "so… another bounty eh?"

Naruto nodded as he sealed up all of his equipment in several scrolls containing weapons, seals, medical supplies and anything else he could think of, and placed them in the containment seals on his pouches, "I don't really need the money or experience but I hear this guys been terrorizing a small mining town."

Jiraiya smirked at his student, "well just make sure your careful and don't get cocky. You may be powerful, but even the strongest of people can be taken down."

"You know you tell me that every time I leave," Naruto said with an amused smirk, "you worried about your precious student?"

"Worried that I might not have any new material for my books if you go and get yourself killed," Jiraiya shot back as they went through their usual banter.

"You do know if I see any material that I even suspect has me or the girls in I will castrate you right?" questioned the blond with a sadistic grin on his face.

Jiraiya snorted, "kind of hard to find out when you refuse to read my work."

Naruto shrugged, "I'll just have your publisher tell me, after all ever since my novel came out he's liked me more then you." Jiraiya gave him a mock glare as Naruto returned it with a cheeky grin, "I'll probably be gone a few weeks so don't wait up."

"Yeah whatever," Jiraiya waved him off, "just get going…"

Naruto grinned as he left their small hotel room.

* * *

Two people were walking through the desert towards Suna, and while they were both wearing the same uniforms they couldn't be more different. One of them had blond hair that was tied in a pony tail and had large piece of hair hanging over one side of his face to cover his eye with a large straw hat that was covering his head and had stringers falling around it. The other person was short and had a hunched over back and was wearing a bandana over his mouth, covering the lower half of his face so that all you could see were his black eyes. On top of his head was a straw hat with a single tassel, which he used to cover and hide the rest of his face. Both of them were wearing black cloaks with red clouds, the clothing of Akatsuki and were S class missing ninja; however both of them were so different from each other it was hard to imagine they were partners.

"I'm telling you Sasori Sempai, art last for a single brilliant moment before it withers away into nothingness, yeah," the blond one said.

Sasori sighed as he listened to his partner, they had been having this argument since they became partners. Sasori always wondered what leader-Sama had been thinking when he put the two of them together, "and I'm telling you Deidra art is eternal. True beauty lasts forever and never dies over time, that way people can enjoy it longer."

"Sasori-sempai as much as I respect you, I have to tell you you're wrong. True art is…"

* * *

Gaara looked out over Sunagakure from the top of the Kazekage tower, a lot had changed in the past three years since he had been beaten by Naruto during the Chunin Exams. Gaara was wearing the robes of the Kazekage over his Suna jonin attire, absent was the gourd that he usually wore on his back. It had been over three years since that battle where his whole life had been changed for the better, after Naruto had beaten him Gaara had realized that the path he had been taking did not grant one true strength or happiness; and neither did it vilify his existence. Wanting the strength that boy had Gaara had begun to make amends, starting with his family Temari and Kankuro. Making amends with them had actually been easy, since despite being afraid of him they both still loved him. However getting the villagers to see him as his siblings did was a whole different kettle of fish, well if they had fish in Suna. It had taken a lot more work to get them to stop fearing him and a constant effort on his part. However through hard work and with the support of his siblings he had been able overcome the hate the villagers had on him and gain acceptance, and just last year Gaara had been accepted as the Godaime Kazekage.

As he stared at the village he had sworn to protect he wondered where the person who had made this all possible was and how he was doing, Naruto had been his first friend, the first person to accept him and the only person he knew who could understand him. It was only because of the blond shinobi that Gaara was able to change and gain the acceptance he had always craved. He knew that Naruto was currently on a training trip with Jiraiya of the Sennin, the rumors and stories that had spread about Naruto had reached everywhere in the elemental nations. It made Gaara curious to see how powerful Naruto had become.

"Kazekage-Sama," Gaara turned his head to see one of the council members behind him, "The meeting is beginning soon."

Gaara nodded, "very well," he looked out over the village one last time before following the council member to the council chamber. The council chamber itself was merely a large cylindrical room with a circular table, around the table were 12 seats for those who were a part of Suna's council. Gaara entered the chamber and took his seat between Baki and Yuura.

Baki had been Gaara's Jonin sensei during the invasion of the Chunin Exams, after the invasion had failed Baki had been the one who had pushed for them not to do anything rash and try to get the peace treaty between Konoha and Suna Reneged. Later he had been appointed to the advisory council for his loyalty to Suna, and had been the one who promoted and supported Gaara's rise to the position of Kazekage. Baki had always been of the belief that loyalty to your village was one of the most important things to a shinobi, no matter what the situation was he would always strive towards doing what he felt was best for the village. Baki now wore the robes of a councilor over his Jonin attire, he still had a bandana on his head with a cloth covering half of his face.

Yuura was the Jonin who had original been in charge of the guards who watched the gate into Sunagakure, four years ago he had managed to work his way up towards the position on the advisory council. Yuura wore councilor robes and wrap around bandana, he had spiky bangs that covered half of his face and a small beard.

"The Chunin exams are coming soon," one of the councilors stated as this was Suna's year to host the exams, "I am looking forward to the results."

Yuura stood from his seat to garner everyone's attention, "as am I however… I have received some rather disturbing information on a rumor that has come up recently…"

"What kind of rumors?" asked Baki as he looked at the man.

"This information is from Jiraiya of the legendary three," Yuura stated getting everyone's attention. "Have you all heard of a group called Akatsuki?" mumbling surrounded the announcement of that name, while many people knew of them most thought they were a simple mercenary group. Gaara looked at Yuura as he continued, "they seem to be a powerful group made of nine S class ninja who are after a specific group of people, they are after Jinchurikki…"

The noise in the room increased as everyone began to talk about the information, many of the advisors were looking at Gaara who remained impassive at the information.

"Furthermore I believe that because of the threat these people pose I think it would behoove us to tighten security during the Chunin Exams, just to be on the safe side," Yuura continued.

"Do you believe these people pose a serious threat to Kazekage-Sama?" asked one of the other council members.

"The information itself comes from Jiraiya-Sama," Yuura said in answer, "if he feels that they are a threat I believe it would be best to ere on the side of caution."

"You make many good points councilor Yuura," stated Gaara who had up until this point been silent. When the young Kazekage spoke everyone quieted down, it was a rare event for Gaara to speak at the meetings but when he did they were often said with a wisdom not usually found in one so young. "We will do as you suggest and up the security measures during the Chunin Exams, it would also be a good show of strength while the other nations shinobi are here. I would like you to handle the security detail, can you do it Yuura?"

"Of course Kazekage-Sama," Yuura said with a bow.

The rest of the meeting was mainly listening to the various pieces of information about the chunin exams, as well as the security measures Yuura was going to take.

"Then this meeting is adjourned," Baki said as the members of the council stood up to leave.

Gaara stood up as well and began to make his way to the Kazekage tower, since he could not sleep he might as well finish the paperwork.

Yuura began to walk through the halls of the council buildings with one of the other members, "well done Yuura," the man said. "It is a fine idea to tighten the security on the village, even Kazekage-Sama seemed to think so."

"I'm just glad I could help my superiors that I've been working for for the past four years," Yuura said in a humble tone. "Besides this information came from Jiraiya-Sama himself, so I had to make a decision quickly." Stopping Yuura's eyes widened as he felt an intense head ache, grabbing his head the man bent down as he tried to get the pain to leave.

"Hey are you alright?" the other council member asked.

"I… yes I just haven't been getting enough sleep," Yuura said straitening up the Jonin councilor shook his head and began to walk again. _what was that? _Wondered Yuura as he continued walking.

* * *

Deidra and Sasori continued their trek across the hot desert of Suna, Deidra looked over at Sasori and had to wonder how the man could not be bothered by this stifling heat. Looking out over the desert Deidra decided to make conversation, "so those people Orochimaru tricked are up ahead yeah?" Deidra asked. When Sasori didn't answer Deidra looked out across the dunes, "it seems that for some reason he leaked our information and turned into a traitor yeah."

"We don't have a choice it seems," Sasori said after a long moment of silence, "I don't know what he's like after using that jutsu either." Sasori spoke, referring to the body possession jutsu the snake Sennin had made. The puppet user looked at Deidra who had grabbed a bag from his pouch, "will you be alright with just that bag, our opponent is a Jinchurikki after all?"

"I wouldn't worry about me," Deidra said as he unzipped a pouch on his waist and stuck his hand in. "My jutsu are all artistic, so I came up with my favorite, number 18 yeah. Because our opponent is the one tails yeah," Deidra brought his hand out of the pouch to show that the bottom of his hand had a mouth on it.

As they continued walking they eventually came upon the gates of Suna, along the walls were several dozen guards who were currently staring at the two figures that were coming their way in surprise. Before any of the shinobi had a chance to react Yuura who had come up just moments ago killed them by activating several traps. Walking to the front of the gate Yuura got down on one knee as he bowed to the two of them as they walked up.

Sasori and Deidra walked up to the bowed down figure, "Well done," Sasori said in his gruff voice, "do you remember me?"

"Yes sir! Of course Sasori-Sama!" Yuura said still in a kneeling position.

"Good, since your memories have returned you are my faithful servant," Sasori stated pleased to see that his slave seal had done it's work properly.

"Alright." Deidra said, "If you'd forgotten I might have had to use my jutsu… yeah." Deidra looked at the mouth on his left hand as it finished chewing the clay he had it eat, "alright then here we go." the mouth coughed up some clay and Deidra began to mold it into a bird, "Sasori your husband should watch to yeah," Deidra said in a teasing voice. He threw the bird into the hair and held his hands in a hand sign, there was a puff of smoke and when it cleared the little bird that Deidra had molded was now twice as large as Deidra himself. Jumping on the bird Deidra threw off his hat and grinned as he looked back at Sasori, "What do you think of my artistic modeling yeah?" Deidra asked Sasori as he flew into the air not giving the man a chance to speak.

The Ichibi Jinchurikki had a date with his art.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he looked out over the desert, everything looked the same for miles and miles. All that he could see were sand dunes and more sand dunes, now he knew why Jiraiya had never taken him to Suna. _I wonder how Gaara could stand this desert, and this heat…_ putting his hood up Naruto started walking out into the desert. As he walked he found himself glad that he had started taking some bounty hunter work, otherwise it would have been much harder to escape from Ero-sensei. After his meeting with Konan, Jiraiya had asked where Naruto had gone off to. In order to make an excuse Naruto had claimed he had done some bounty hunter work, this seemed to convince Jiraiya and he had actually started to give the blond bounties as a form of training. Whenever Naruto was out catching a bounty he would usually be able to visit or teleport one of the four girls who had come into his life, that way he could for the most part avoid Jiraiya's constant lecherous comments. It was also a good alibi for what he was about to do, since when accepting a bounty Naruto would often disappear for about a week or two. Naruto sighed again as he looked out over the desert and thanked Kami that his cloak hid him from the sun.

_Still this heat is stifling…_

* * *

Gaara sat in his office after having just finished the last bit of paperwork, a part of him wondered why other Kage's like Tsunade always complained about having too much paperwork to do. Of course because Gaara could not sleep he was able to get all of his paper work finished faster, still he mused that it would be easier for them to just do the work rather than complain and throw it off. As he continued on with his musings Gaara looked out of the window behind his desk and frowned when he spotted a giant white bird flying outside.

* * *

Deidra grinned as he looked down at the village where the one tails was supposed to be, moving the hair out of his eye he revealed that he was wearing a viewing lens and camera. He pressed a button on the side and began to count the number of ninja on the roofs, once he got a good lock on all three sky guards he made three small clay spiders. "This villages artistic design isn't too shabby," he said with a large grin, "it will definitely be worth ruining, yeah." Deidra threw the spiders and made a hand seal, there was a small puff of smoke and the three spiders landed near the three guards. The spiders jumped onto the guards and Deidra made another hand sign as he channeled some chakra into his creations, "Art is a bang!" the three clay spiders exploded on guards, they were small explosions but each one was enough to kill the guards they were attached to.

Deidra made his clay bird dive down as he jumped off and landed on the roof of the Kazekage tower, "infiltration successful." Deidra smirked only for his eyes to widen as he looked up, standing in front of him was Gaara garbed in his maroon robe and one strap over the shoulder flak jacket. Before Deidra could even speak a wave of sand came at him from the left. Deidra jumped into the air just as the sand crashed into where he had been standing, landing on his bird he looked at Gaara who began to wave his arms as if guiding an orchestra.

The sand began to move towards Deidra as Gaara jumped on it, the mad bomber looked at Gaara and smirked. "Ho if it isn't the Ichibi Jinchurikki yeah, how did you know I was attacking?" he asked.

"In this desert," Gaara said in his monotone voice, "no bird like that exists."

"Heh, seems like all my sneaking was in failure yeah," Deidra said with a grin, "but whatever, at least now I don't need to look for you yeah."

Gaara said nothing as he raised his hands, Deidra began to prepare some clay bomb birds for his attack. Just a little ways outside the gates of Suna a large wave of sand shot into the air, there was hundreds of tons of sand from the desert that Gaara could control and all of it headed for Deidra. The sand turned into huge claws that soon made a grab at Deidra in an attempt to crush him, Deidra's bird weaved in between the attacks as he rummaged through his bag. Pulling out his hands he made several more clay birds, these ones of a more sleek design then some of his other work as he threw them at Gaara. A hand seal later and there was a burst of smoke the birds grew a little bit and came to life as they flew around the sand and headed straight towards the young Kazekage, seeing them coming Gaara manipulated the sand around him into a shield to protect himself from the explosion.

A small eye appeared just outside of the dome of sand that Gaara was in and locked onto Deidra who was looking at the sand with a smirk, "it's like the eggshell protects the inner contents." Deidra didn't get the chance to say anything else as sand began to encircle him, compressing itself in the hopes of crushing him. Just as the sand fully compressed into a sphere Deidra shot out, however the sand latched onto his arm as he was falling down.

"Sabakyu Kyu!" Gaara said as he made his hand into a fist, Deidra's eyes widened in pain as he felt his arm being crushed. As Deidra fell he made an owl with his uncrushed hand, making a hand sign the owl grew and Deidra landed on it as he got away from the sand, though it was not enough to save the rest of his arm.

The blond bomber grimaced as he looked at the stump where his arm had been, "Your good yeah," Deidra said as his remaining arm went into his pouch and began to gather clay. The bomber realized that he only had a little bit of clay left, he looked over at Gaara and tried to analyze his opponent and find a weakness. Looking at the sand Gaara was on he realized that it was most likely specially made sand that he carried in his gourd, realizing that that was where he got his ultimate defense sand Deidra devised a plan. Molding his clay he made one of his most powerful explosives, Deidra smirked as he readied his strategy.

* * *

On the ground Kankuro, Baki and several other ninja were looking up at the large sphere of sand next to the smaller one, it was clear the Kazekage was fighting.

"From looking at the shape we can assume that Kazekage-Sama's opponent is Akatsuki," Baki said as the ninja gathered around him and Kankuro. All of the ninja were currently staring at the battle taking place, looking unsure of what to do when faced with an opponent who could remain airborne.

"It's just as I thought," Kankuro said as his hands turned into fists. The minute he had seen the giant wave of sand coming from the desert Kankuro figured that the Akatsuki had somehow snuck into their village and that Gaara was battling them.

"Hurry and prepare for battle! We're going to assist the Kazekage!," Baki said as he began to order their forces, "Medical teams set up a barrier!" as the ninja began to follow Baki's orders, said ninja turned to look at Kankuro, "Kankuro…"

Kankuro turned to look at Baki, "what is it?"

"We need to consider what will happen if Gaara loses control and Shukaku comes out again," Baki said in a solemn voice. While the Jonin had faith in Gaara's abilities and did not want to consider that this could happen, he felt it would be best for the village if they took all variables into account.

"That won't happen," Kankuro shook his head, "Gaara won't harm the people of this village."

* * *

_Flashback…_

"_You know I didn't want to say this but I think this is one of your craziest ideas," Kankuro said to Gaara who was staring out at the desert. "I mean our superiors don't really like you, and the village is deathly afraid of you. By separating from us and trying to involve yourself with the regular shinobi out of the blue like this… it's going to be hard." He looked at his brother who just continued to stare at the desert, he was unsure what to think when Gaara had told him that he wanted to integrate himself into the standard shinobi forces. Though he knew Gaara had changed since the failed invasion of Konoha, hell the first conscious words that came out of his brothers mouth was an apology for all the things he had done to him and Temari. He knew his brother wanted to change the way he was looked at, but he still didn't think this was a good idea._

_Gaara was silent for a moment as he listened to Kankuro, "I know but by just waiting, I get attacked by an even greater anguish. All one can do is create his own path through hard work, without being a loner and taking the easy path." Gaara fell silent for a moment as he tried to put what he wanted to say into words, "someday I hope to be like him…" Kankuro stayed silent as he listened to Gaara, knowing who he was speaking of. "So that's why I as one of the sands shinobi aim to be Kazekage, to bond with and live for this village."_

"_Gaara," Kankuro said, awed by how much his brother had truly changed after his battle with that orange clad shinobi. It was one of the things Kankuro would have never thought possible, that some boy who no one had really thought much about and seemed to be the dead last of his graduating class could not only beat Gaara but also said something that fundamentally changed the young red head._

"_Through hard work I want to be respected by everybody, I got that from Naruto Uzumaki. But up until now, bonds have been nothing more than an annoyance to the point I would want to kill everything. But when I fought Naruto he told me, he gains his strength by 'protecting his precious people' because they give him a reason to exist. I saw that strength for myself and I feel like I can understand just what he meant a little better. Hate, sadness and even happiness, to be able to share these things with another person," Gaara looked out at the desert with a contemplative look on his face. "I learned that with my fight from Naruto Uzumaki. He knew pain like I did, and he taught me that you can change that path." Gaara nodded to himself as if to confirm his beliefs, "one day I wish to be needed by somebody, not as a frightening weapon…" Gaara turned his head and Kankuro saw a small smile on it, "but as the sands Kazekage."_

_Flashback end…_

* * *

Naruto looked up into the sky as he finally saw Suna in sight, channeling chakra into his eyes Naruto zoomed in on the battle going on over head. _Looks like Gaara's already been started his battle, _Naruto sighed, _well then I'd better-_

Naruto was cut off as his instincts forced him to jump from his spot just as a giant tale crashed down where he had been, looking at the tail Naruto followed it to a hunchbacked figure. Naruto recognized it as **Akasuna No Sasori**** (Sasori of the Red Sand) **from the description Kona-chan gave him, the blond looked at Sasori with a smirk, "you know it's rude to try and kill someone without even introducing yourself."

He was answered with the tail trying to impale him, moving into a series of back flips Naruto got some distance between him and Sasori. Said man looking at him with narrowed eyes, "who are you?" Sasori asked.

"Oh no one important," Naruto said with a smirk even though Sasori could not see it through his face mask, "I'm just trying to get through to help the Kazekage."

"Then I am afraid I cannot let you pass, and if you try I am going to have to kill you," Sasori said as he took off his cloak and got down all fours to reveal that he was inside a puppet. It had a large tail that was coming out of an orange mask, the legs and arms had joints that made odd clicking noises as they moved. "I do not know who you are but if you really are here to help the Kazekage then I am afraid I must kill you."

Naruto's smirk widened, "well you know that's fine by me since I was already planning on killing you anyways Sasori." Sasori was surprised that this person knew who he was but did not show, he focused his eyes on the hooded shinobi. There was nothing about the man that would reveal the type or style of fighting he used, the large black cloak covered his entire frame all the way to the feet. The hood covered up his hair and because of the face mask the puppet user could not even see who it was.

Naruto raised a hand towards Sasori and pointed to fingers at him.

'_**Raiton: Byakuri. (Lightning Release: Pale White Lightning)'**_

A large bolt of lightning so bright it looked white was shot from Naruto's fingers straight at Sasori, despite being in a puppet Sasori moved out of the way quickly. Naruto appeared right in front of the puppet user and was about to attack only to be forced to dodge Sasori's tail, jumping back Naruto was forced to dodge a hail of senbon. _according to Kona-chan those senbon are poisonous, I don't think poison will work on me but it will still take time to flush it from my system so I better not get hit by any f those._ Thinking on his feet Naruto thrust a closed fist forward as another burst of senbon came his way.

'_**Fuuton: Genkotsu No Kaze! (Wind Release: Fist of Wind)'**_

A giant blast of wind in the shape of a large fist blasted the senbon away and headed for Sasori, the puppet user managed to move out of the way in time to dodge. But Naruto had already calculated where he would be and was waiting for him with a spinning ball of chakra in his hand; Naruto thrust the **Rasengan** right into the puppet user. A body was launched out of the one Naruto had just destroyed, landing several feet away before standing up.

"It's been a long time since anyone could defeat Haruko," Sasori said with a voice that sounded really young. As Sasori looked up Naruto saw that the person still looked like a teenage boy, according to Konan Sasori had turned himself into a puppet when he was younger. This not only gave him eternal life, but also made him stop aging at the time he had been turned into a puppet. "I will enjoy adding you to my collection," Sasori said as he pulled out a scroll and unrolled it. There was a puff of smoke and Naruto found himself staring at the figure that came out. It was a puppet, with an olive complexion spiky black hair and a long brown cloak. "This puppet was the hardest one to get in my collection," Sasori spoke, "you should feel honored to see it."

"I see, so you turned the Sandaime Kazekage into a puppet," Naruto said as he narrowed his eyes. While the Kazekage were not a kage of Konoha they were still Kage's, a position that Naruto respected no matter what village it came from. So to see one of the village's Kage's having their corpse desecrated and used by someone pissed the blond shinobi off, however he knew that he needed to keep his wits about him and so did not let any of his emotions come through to cloud his judgment.

"Correct," Sasori said as he began to manipulate his fingers, in response the Sandaime Kazekage came forward. One of the Kazekage's hands came up and several large wires came out shooting towards Naruto, said blond unsealed **Suzano **as he dodged out of the way of the wires. He rolled to the left just as the Kazekage shot several poisoned blades at him, coming up on his feet Naruto spun around and slashed several wires apart with a **Kaze No Yaibe **before they could come at him. Naruto was forced to continue dodging wires and knives as Sasori tried to catch him off guard, rolling under a set of wires Naruto found himself suddenly immobilized as several latched onto him from behind. The Kazekage lifted up his other hand and poison gas shot out of it towards Naruto, covering the entire area around the blond in noxious fumes.

Sasori waited for a minute and when nothing happened assumed the hooded man had died, just as he was about to bring the Sandaime Kazekage back the area that was covered with poison exploded revealing the Naruto that Sasori had captured to be a **Bushin Daibakuha (Great Exploding Clone)**. Naruto burst from the ground right next to the Kazekage with a **Rasengan **pointed at the human puppet. Sasori managed to move the Kazekage puppet out of the way to avoid being destroyed, but he was not fast enough to keep his prized puppet from losing its arm. As the Kazekage moved back a large pillar of sand began to coalesce in front of it, the top of the pillar gained a sharp point.

The blond shinobi knew what this was, like Gaara the Sandaime Kazekage had the ability to manipulate and control sand. Naruto was unsure how it was done, but given the name Iron Sand Naruto assumed the man's bloodline allowed him to manipulate the iron particles found in the sand, possibly through magnetism or some other form of control. It was said that the Sandaime Kazekage had created the ability based off of Shukaku itself, hoping to find a way to utilize the power of the desert without the Bijuu.

The pillar soon came barreling down point first towards Naruto, the Uzumaki Namikaze heir resealed **Suzano **as he dodged the giant pillar. Naruto came at the Kazekage with another **Rasengan **and tried to smash into the puppet, a sphere of sand covered the Kazekage's frame to block the ball of destructive chakra. Sand shot everywhere as the **Rasengan **drilled into it, but despite the power behind the jutsu Naruto was unable to penetrate the protective sand sphere.

He was forced to jump back and dodge several spikes that shot out of the protective sand, moving into an impressive series of twirls and flips as the sand spikes shot out at and then flew past him. As soon as Naruto's feet touched the ground he rolled to the left, dodging another large pillar that crashed into the sand. Getting onto his feet Naruto took out a scroll from his pouch, unsealing a large torrent of water came out. Naruto went through a few hand seals before calling out his jutsu.

"**Hyoton: Toketsu Ryu No Jutsu! (Ice Release: Ice Dragon Jutsu)"**

A giant dragon form out of the water before freezing over and turning into ice, the great 60 foot beast turned its yellow eyes towards the Kazekage and flew forward. The iron sand of the Kazekage came to the puppet's protection, when the ice dragon hit the sand began to actually freeze over. This technique had taken Naruto a year to create and master, Naruto combined wind and water and then condensed it to the point that the water became a more malleable version of ice. Naruto was able to not only shape it into the form of a dragon but upon impact would reduce the amount of wind chakra in the technique melting the ice before compressing the water with his wind chakra again to make anything that was wet freeze over. It took more chakra then most of his ice techniques especially since he was out in the desert, but the surprise and disbelief he saw which caused Sasori to hesitate from and ice jutsu being used in the desert were well worth it.

Unsealing **Suzano **again Naruto shot towards the Kazekage puppet, using wind chakra to increase the length of the blade and sharpen it to the point where only a efw metals in the entire world would be able to withstand it. Naruto's blade moved in several flashes of light as the blond appeared behind the Sandaime Kazekage, Naruto resealed the blade as the Kazekage fell apart into six different segments.

Sasori looked at Naruto who was breathing a little heavier than before, "you are definitely impressive, I will enjoy turning you into a puppet."

Naruto smirked, "I'll be taking you out long before you can turn me into a anything."

"We'll see," Sasori said as he removed his shirt to reveal that he was in fact a puppet himself, with two five point propeller blades came out of his elbows and several scrolls on his back. Naruto also noticed that where the man's heart would be was a container with the kanji for here, he assumed that that was where Sasori's weak point was. "It's been awhile since I've used myself," Sasori stated as he raised a hand before a large scroll detached from his back and connected to the hand. Aiming at the blond Sasori shot out a powerful jet of water towards Naruto, said blonde merely smirked as he brought his hand forward and infused his own chakra into the jet of water. He wrested control of the water from Sasori and sent it right back at him, Sasori jumped to the left as he was forced to dodge his own attack.

"Using one of my most powerful elements against me was a foolish move," Naruto stated and Sasori could almost see the smirk on his face.

"I apologize," Sasori said as he held up his other hand, "why don't we try this one." A powerful blast of fire shot out coming at Naruto who began to run away from the fire, which started following him as Sasori kept the blond in his sights. Naruto was able to just barely stay ahead of the flame and realized he needed more speed, making a single hand sign Naruto charged chakra into several seals located throughout his body.

'**Kai (release)'**

Were it not for his cloak Sasori would have been able to see several lines begin to run along Naruto's arm, legs, chest and back. As Naruto did have the cloak on he did not see those so when the blond shinobi suddenly disappeared in a burst of pure speed Sasori was shocked, it was only a case of hard earned shinobi instincts that allowed him to dodge as Naruto appeared on his left with a massive **Rasengan** in hand. There was a large explosion as the **Oodoma Rasenga** blew up and sent sand and dusts everywhere; Naruto came flying out of the blast like a bat out of hell as he launched himself towards Sasori. Said opponent tried to launch a jet of flame at him but the blond merely kicked up his speed again and disappeared, Sasori looked around for his opponent only to find him coming down from above. Sasori brought his five bladed propeller blades in an attempt to slice his opponent to ribbons, Naruto unsealed **Suzano **for another round. Sasori jumped away when Naruto's blade became nothing more than several flashes of silver, the puppet user looked at his opponent before looking at where his blades used to be. He looked back at his opponent who was staring at him, the man's eyes completely dead reminding the puppet master of a certain red eyed shinobi in Akatsuki. Never in his life had Sasori faced such a strong opponent, so far he had been unable to actually do anything to the young man and was starting to find himself backed into a corner. Sasori realized would need to fight using something more powerful to beat this enemy, or perhaps more numerous?

Sasori removed one of the scrolls from his back as a compartment in his chest opened up, there was a large puff of smoke as several hundred chakra strings were lunched from the puppet's chest. When the smoke was blown away by a light wind it revealed a hundred puppets surrounding Naruto, "I would like to introduce you to my most powerful jutsu," Sasori said. Naruto was sure that if the man's puppet body could smirk it would be, "This jutsu has taken down entire fortresses before."

Naruto looked around at all the puppets and sighed, "That's a lot of puppets," said Naruto in a voice that was as lazy and uncaring as a certain pineapple headed Naara heir. _Looks like I'm gonna have to use that jutsu, _the blond thought as he reached his hands into the two pouches at his hips. When he pulled them out there were five **Hiraishin **kunai in between each finger, "While this is an impressive jutsu I feel I should tell you…" Naruto disappeared, Sasori looked around his opponent only to find him in the air, "my jutsu has destroyed whole armies!"

Naruto released the kunai into the puppets at an even fifteen meters so that he could get the maximum affect for the sensor seal arrays. Before his opponent's even had the chance to do anything Naruto disappeared in a bright yellow flash of light, all around Sasori his puppets were destroyed as they were smashed to pieces with powerful kicks and punches, sliced into even segments with wind or blown to bits with a **Rasengan. **Sasori looked down when he felt an odd prick on his wooden body to see a sword sticking right through his 'heart container', he turned his head to see the person who had just defeated him. His hood had fallen off revealing a mop of spiky blond hair and cerulean blue eyes, "it seems you've beaten me," Sasori stated. "To think I had been fighting one of the people we've been trying to capture this whole time… looks… like I… under…estima…"

Naruto sighed as he pulled out his sword and watched the body slump to the ground, pulling up his hood Naruto looked over towards the village and felt his eyes widen. He had been paying so much attention to his own fight that he had completely forgotten about Gaara's battle, right now there a giant… thing falling towards the village. Remembering Konan's information that Sasori's partner had a fetish for explosions Naruto set off at his maximum speed.

* * *

While showing no outward emotion Gaara mentally cursed as the giant explosive began to fall on the village, redirecting his sand Gaara created a large protective barrier over the village in the shape of a bowl. The giant and odd shaped explosive hit the barrier and exploded, however something happened that surprised and shocked both Gaara and Deidra. The explosion was beginning to warp towards one point as if it was caught in some kind of slipstream, everything from the explosion to Gaara's sand was pulled into that one spot before it disappeared.

"What happened to my art?" Deidra asked in frustration as he looked over to see an equally stunned Gaara. Just then something stuck into the head of his clay owl, he didn't even get the chance to see what it was before a large explosion took over the owl he was on.

Gaara watched as Deidra's bird exploded in confusion, he was not sure what had just happened. When the explosion lived out its life Gaara saw that Deidra was gone. The young Kazekage looked around to see if there was any trace of the Akatsuki member left, which was when he noticed a cloaked figure on the roof looking at him. He didn't know why but Gaara felt a sense of familiarity when he saw the blue eyes of the stranger, when the Kazekage blinked the figure was gone causing him to wonder if he had seen it at all. Shaking his head Gaara floated his sand down until he was on the ground, where he became surrounded by his ninja who were congratulating him on beating such a strong opponent. Soon after the villagers who had seen Gaara's act of defending the village came out and began to cheer for him too, despite not being hated anymore Gaara was finding it awkward to receive such high praise and affection; especially when several woman exclaimed how hot he was.

"Gaara!" turning his head Gaara spotted Kankuro and Baki coming towards him.

"Kankuro, Baki," Gaara greeted.

"What happened?" Kankuro asked, "what was that when the explosion and your sand…"

"I have no clue," Gaara said shaking his head, "I have never seen anything like it."

"So then if you didn't do that then who did?" asked Baki.

The three of them were silent amongst the cheering, none of them had an answer to that. Deciding not to worry about that for now Gaara looked out at the people who were cheering his name, a small smile graced his lips. It was this kind of recognition and desire he had longed for, to be needed and wanted by people because of his willingness to protect his precious people. That brought an even bigger smile to Gaara's face as he thought about the person who told him that expression, he would have to thank Naruto the next time they saw each other.

* * *

Several miles away from Suna Deidra cursed as he sat down on the ground in exhaustion, not only had he lost an arm but he multiple second and even a third degree burn from that explosion. What the hell was that anyway? One minute he had been about to enact his plan to use the village as a means to force Gaara to use his special sand so he could set his trap, then his jutsu gets swallowed up and somehow ends up exploding on him. The very thought that his art could do that sounded ridiculous, and yet it had somehow happened.

"DEIDRA-SEMPAI!"

Deidra cursed as he turned to Akatsuki's newest member, Tobi was an oddball who wore an orange spiral mask centered around his right eye whole. He didn't know anything about the man other then he was childish and annoying, "What do you want!" Deidra asked with a glare on his face.

"Ohoh Sempai is mad!" Tobi yelled as he threw his hands in the air and began to run around in circles.

"Tobi I swear if you-"

"Leader-Sama **wants a report **on the one tails**."**

Deidra turned to the man who interrupted him, Zetsu was man who looked like he had been swallowed by a plant and had just his head sticking out. One half of him was white while the other was black, it had been a common joke among Akatsuki that this showed that Zetsu was half good and half evil. Of course there was some truth to that, the white side was fairly polite and not as interested in fighting while the black side was a lot more violent and liked to feast on human flesh.

"I wasn't able to get the Ichibi," Deidra said, "But it wasn't my fault yeah." he added hastily as he held his one good arm out in defense. "I was just about to capture him with my high yield C3 when it got sucked into some kind of worm whole, it was weird yeah. And then my own bird exploded and if it wasn't for a quick **Kariwimi **I would be dead yeah…"

As Deidra explained what happened 'Tobi' had gone silent, _his explosion was sucked up? Why does that sound so familiar…_

"What about Sasori **where is he?" **asked Zetsu.

"Don't know," Deidra shrugged, "I didn't see him yeah."

"This is not good, **we will need to report this to Pain-Sama.**" Zetsu spoke

"Don't worry Tobi will tell him!" Tobi shouted out as he waved an arm around, "after all Tobi is a good boy!"

* * *

It was night and Gaara was currently walking down the hall of the Kazekage tower to finish the paper work that this incident was going to cause, he would also have to send a letter to Konoha letting them know Akatsuki was on the move. Gaara stayed up like this most nights anyway, since he had the Ichibi inside of him Gaara could not sleep lest the giant Tanuki take over and go on a rampage. Though he had gotten used to not sleeping, walking up to his door Gaara tensed at feeling a presence already inside. Being cautious Gaara opened the door and stepped inside as he summoned his sand in case he had to fight, the sand returned to his gourd as soon as he saw who it was. It was the shinobi who he was positive had helped him sitting at his desk with his feet propped onto it, the one Gaara was sure had used that odd jutsu.

"Who are you?" Gaara asked wearily, just because this guy had helped him did not automatically make him a friend.

"I'm rather hurt that you would talk to a friend in such a way Gaara," the cloaked figure said as he stood up. Gaara tensed as the man walked away from the desk, only for his hands to fall slack at his side as the man removed his hood and face mask.

"Naruto?" Gaara questioned and though it was still emotionless, those who knew Gaara could tell he was surprised.

Naruto grinned, "It's been a long time Gaara, a little over three years if I'm not mistaken."

Gaara blinked once, twice, thrice, "that was you who helped me wasn't it?"

"Of course," Naruto said with a smirk, "I was on my way to visit since I had just captured a bounty near here when I saw your battle." Naruto shrugged as he walked up to Gaara, "I decided to step in when I saw that large explosion, which reminds me," Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll. He put it out to Gaara who was looking at it, "inside is the person who was that man's partner I believe. He had been standing just outside the gates as I was making my way in, I believe he is a shinobi that was once a part of Suna and figured you may want his body back."

Gaara took the scroll and noticed that it had the kanji for 'puppet' on it, "I will give this to my morticians later." Gaara walked over to his desk and set the scroll down before turning back to Naruto, "it is good see you again 'Namikaze'."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "so you know about that eh?"

Gaara actually smirked, "I doubt there is a single person within the elemental nations who has not heard of the rebirth of the **Kiroii Senkou**. Word traveled to Suna after Tsunade made a public announcement of your heritage to the people of Konoha."

"I bet that went over well," Naruto said with a grimace, "I wonder how they reacted?"

"I'm afraid I couldn't tell you since I was not there," Gaara said as he sat down at his desk. The young Kazekage looked over at Naruto again, it was obvious the blond had not been here just for a visit. The timing between the attack and Naruto's rescue were far too convenient for the blond to have just arrived for a visit. But Gaara saw that it was equally obvious his first and possibly best friend did not want to talk about how he knew Akatsuki would attack, and while a part of Gaara wanted to ask about his knowledge on Akatsuki, another part decided to trust in his friend. "I hear you have been training with Jiraiya of the Sennin," Gaara said as he gestured to a seat in front of his desk.

Naruto grinned as he sat down, "yeah I am, it's pretty awesome actually…"

* * *

It was a beautiful and peaceful day in Konoha as the sun began to rise, however one Tsunade Senju was not awake to see it. Said blond Hokage was currently sleeping with her head on her desk, sake bottles littered both her table and the floor. Her head was lying on the paperwork that she did not do last night, it had a decent amount of drool on it ruining the ink and ensuring Tsunade would have to rewrite it. However Tsunade noticed none of this as she was blissfully unaware, until the door to her office slammed open.

"TSUNADE-SAMA!"

"WHA! I WASN'T DRINKING I SWEAR!" Tsunade's head shot off of the desk as she shouted.

Shizune who had barged in was silent as she looked at the Hokage, then looked at all the sake bottles littering the floor. "Honestly Tsunade-Sama can you please not drink yourself into a stupor for once? Especially since you're on the job," Shizune said as she stared at the busty blond Hokage.

Tsunade flushed with embarrassment but recovered quickly as she coughed into her hand, "so was there a reason you came barging in here."

Shizune blinked before her eyes widened, "yes we just received word from Suna that they were attacked by Akatsuki!"

"WHAT!" Tsunade yelled in a voice so loud that everyone who was within two miles of the Hokage tower could hear it.

Shizune nodded as she handed Tsunade a scroll, "thankfully the attack failed and Kazekage-Dono is safe."

Tsunade read the scroll and frowned, "a friend of Suna…" she looked up at Shizune, "do you know who this friend of Suna that the Kazekage is speaking of is?"

Shizune shook her head, "no Tsunade-Sama I only know that he helped Kazekage-Dono sometime during the battle."

Tsunade looked back at the scroll in thought, "well at least the Kazekage and Ichibi are safe from Akatsuki for now. Though I want you to inform Jiraiya of this friend of Suna and see if he can find any information on who this friend that the Kazekage mentioned is."

Shizune bowed, "hai Tsunade-Sama!"

* * *

Naruto frowned as he looked down at the small clearing, it was near the mining town where his mark was but that was not what was causing him to frown. All around the small clearing were markers that no doubt marked graves, there were several people who were currently digging a hole for a new grave. That in itself was not weird, what was however that was there were more people who were putting someone into a coffin with that person still being alive and crying out in terror. Right next to those people was another man who like the others putting the petrified man into the coffin was wearing a set of robes, said man had a hanker chief to his face as he wiped what were obviously false tears from his eyes.

"Rekuske why are you crying?" the man asked through his false tears, "do you not like the beautiful funeral I'm giving you?" the man now known as Rekuske continued to scream in terror and plead with the other man, "don't worry despite your obvious lack of respect I will always remember you fondly." the other people were finally able to put the man in the coffin and shut the lid before bolting it down with nails. As they brought the coffin over to the now finished grave the man which Naruto finally recognized as Raiga Kurosuki began to make a speech about the person they were giving the funeral to. Naruto listened in disgust as the 'funeral' came to an end, when he was sure the group was gone Naruto walked over to the grave.

Creating several **Kage Bushin **Naruto had them dig the man out, they pulled up the coffin and smashed through the top. Pulling out the man who was half delirious, Naruto ordered his clones to take him to the Curi of Life shop that he had seen on his way here. He looked over at where Raiga and the others left, now all he had to do was take care of them

* * *

Naruto looked out over the small mining town as he crouched down from atop of a cliff. The town was fairly small, with only a few buildings that Naruto recognized as Taverns and shops. The blond did not see any houses which led him to assume that the people had houses just outside the town itself. As he studied the lay out Naruto also looked at its people, they were doing severe manual labor as groups of people moved in and out of the mines. The people were surrounded by members of Raiga's gang, which was obvious by the cloaks they were wearing; the blond counted eight in all.

One of the people, an old man seemed to be wobbling under the strain of his load and fell down panting. Two of the cloaked men came up to the old man and began taunting and kicking him, telling him to get back up and work unless he wanted to have Raiga give him a funeral.

Deciding enough was enough Naruto disappeared in a burst of speed, shooting down the cliff and heading for the mining town. Naruto soon came up on the two people beating the old man, without giving them time to react in any way, shape or form Naruto smashed his fists into the men's heads. As they went flying Naruto disappeared in another burst of speed, knocking out every cloaked figure that was here. When it was all done Naruto looked around at the stunned figures of the people in the town.

"I suggest all of you head home for now," Naruto spoke up in a clear voice that rang across the town. "This place is no doubt going o become a battle field and I do not wish for any of you to be caught in the crossfire, please make your way to your homes."

The people looked at him like he had grown a second head, before they looked at each other. Not knowing what else to do they fallowed Naruto's advice and starting leaving, as they were another group of thugs appeared running down a hill of to Naruto's left hand side.

With a small grunt Naruto kicked himself off the ground and flew towards the thugs, smashing into them with all the fury of a hurricane. Naruto began to twist and turn as he dodged the pathetic weapons of his enemies, lashing out with his own kicks and punches. The people he was fighting were extremely week by shinobi standards and Naruto made quick work of them, looking around Naruto frowned when he did not spot Raiga anywhere. He had been hoping that he could lure the man out by taking care of the members of his gang, yet he could not find Raiga anywhere.

Little did he know that Raiga was standing on the same cliff he had been before beginning his assault. "Well I did not expect to find such an adversary in this small town," Raiga said in his insane voice. He turned his head to look at the bag on his back, "are you ready?"

"Hai Raiga-Sama I am ready," surprisingly the answer came from the large sack on the man's back.

"Good then let's get started."

Naruto frowned as a thick mist came in and his senses began to go haywire, telling him that he was surrounded by enemy shinobi. Closing his eyes Naruto began to block out all forms of distraction, reaching out Naruto tried to gain a sense of the chakra being used for what was obviously some form of illusion. Finally he found what he was looking for up on the cliff that he had been on before he started his assault, looking towards and focusing chakra to his eyes he found a cloaked figure with a large bag on his back.

Naruto channeled chakra into his legs and took off running towards the cliff, once he got there he jumped onto the cliff face and began running up the wall. There was a puff of smoke in his hand as Naruto unsealed **Suzano, **he got to the top of the cliff and in a burst of speed jumped at the smirking form of Raiga.

CLANG!

Naruto's blade clashed with Raiga's two in a battle for dominance, the two soon jumped away as they eyed each other.

"Well well look what we have here," Raiga said with an insane grin, "I have heard many things about you Namikaze-san."

Naruto stayed weary of the man in front who was acting to confident for his liking, "then you should know that you stand no chance against me."

"Heh," Raiga smirked as he got into a low stance with his two swords, "your more than welcome to think that. You should be prepared to fall by my blade, maybe afterwards I'll even give you a funeral."

Naruto said nothing as he held **Suzano **in a reverse grip and got into his stance, with his blade held in front and his knees slightly bent.

The two stayed that way for a while before a slight breeze rustled through the area, which was when both fighters kicked off and began their kenjutsu match. Their forms were mere blurs as the two clashed blades, disappearing only to reappear again when their swords locked. The battle soon picked up in intensity as the landscape began to change, large cracks appearing where the two met due to the power behind their strikes.

When the met again Raiga tried to disarm Naruto, using the hooks at the end of one of his blades to grab at **Suzano**. When the blond shinobi found out what Raiga was trying to do he jumped away and made a slashing motion with his sword, a **Kaze No Yaibe **was launched from the tip and shot towards Raiga who was forced to dodge. Putting his swords above his head in a cross guard Raiga began to channel lightning into his blade, which soon took the shape of a ball.

"**Raiton: Raikyu! (Lightning Release: Lightning ball)"**

Naruto deftly dodged the attack before making a slicing motion with his sword and sending a **Kaze No Yaiba **to Raiga, said man merely jumped out of the way. Naruto appeared right in front of him and began Kenjutsu match with the swordsman, going in with an alternative mix of low and high strikes aimed at vitals and tendons in the hopes of either killing the man out right or crippling him. None of it seemed to work as Naruto continued his assault, not only did the man seem to know what he was going to do before he did it but his two swords also gave him the advantage of more weaponry; nullifying Naruto's advantage in speed.

Naruto ducked under a horizontal slash from the man, before bringing up his sword in an attempt to impale Raiga through the stomach. Said swordsman side stepped the attack and used his left blade to push it out of the way, coming in with his right with a slash to take off Naruto's head. Naruto leaned his head back letting the attack narrowly miss him, bringing up his blade in a reverse grip he blocked Raiga's next slash. Pushing against the blade Naruto managed to open a whole in his opponents guard, switching to a standard grip Naruto slashed in an upwards diagonal cross that would vivisect Raiga. Said swordsman blocked the attack with one of his blades, before he could counter however Naruto pushed **Suzano **off the swordsman's blade and made a downwards diagonal slash. Raiga blocked that with his other blade and made an attempt to slice Naruto in half, said blond jumped back before the blade passed through to where he had been.

As he charged again Naruto felt the man channel **Raiton **chakra into his blades, channeling his own **Fuuton **chakra as the two locked blades the blond shinobi was able to negate the affects of the man's **Raiton **chakra. The two began to push against each other in a contest of strength, each vying to push the other off balance. Raiga was the one to eventually slip as Naruto's immense physical prowess proved to be too much, jumping back the mad swordsman gained some distance.

"My, my, your quite good, you truly live up to the rumors I've been hearing about you. When I kill you I will make your funeral my most amazing piece of work," Raiga said with a twisted smile into his face.

Naruto paid attention to none of the man's speech of funerals as he studied his opponent, as he tried to analyze his enemy. Raiga was only an A rank ninja so he should not be this good, that meant he had some kind of gimmick or something that was giving him an edge in this battle. He eyed the sack that was on the man's back, Raiga had been awfully protective of it; he would bet his fortune from his book Loveless that whatever it was that was helping him was in there.

Naruto immediately put a plan into action to separate Raiga from whatever was in the bag, throwing several kunai at the man who deftly dodged or blocked them, but that was okay. These Kunai were not meant to hit, but rather to hide one of Naruto's **Hiraishin** kunai. Naruto took one of the frog Kenjutsu kata stances as he disappeared in a bright yellow flash and reappeared right next to Raiga. He slashed the bag off the man's back and kicked the man in the stomach sending him flying to the ground and then knocking him out with a kick to the head.

He caught the bag and set it on the ground frowning at how it felt. The bag had something roughly shaped like a human and was breathing. He undid the bag and opened it opened it up, only to find himself staring into a pair of red eyes. "A child?" Naruto questioned. "You were the one giving Raiga that edge in the battle weren't you?"

The little boy said nothing, Naruto sighed knowing he wasn't going to get any answers out of the boy and refused to torture a mere child. He created a**Kage Bushin** and began to give it orders, "seal Raiga's head in a scroll, burn the body."

The clone saluted and was about to go off when a voice stopped him, "NO!"

Naruto looked at the kid again, "excuse me?"

"Don't don't kill him, Raiga is all I have in this world. He's the only person to ever want me for something," the boy said, tears running down his eyes.

Naruto looked at the kid as he remembered another person who had the same fanatical and loyal devotion to another. It was the person who had told him what it meant to be strong and set him on his path, Haku. He saw the same eyes in this boy that he saw in Haku's almost four years ago when he had met him in the clearing during the wave mission. Naruto closed his eyes and sighed, "Very well." He turned to his clone, "Seal him in a prisoner transportation scroll, we'll take him to Kiri and ask if he can't be given a pardon."

He turned back to the now stunned kid, "Hey kid what's your name?"

"Uh… Ranmaru," he said.

"Well Ranmaru it's your lucky day as I happen to be friends with the new Mizukage so he may just get off being killed. However both of you will have to come with me so I can give my account to the Mizukage myself." Naruto stood up and lifted the boy on his shoulders; deciding he didn't want to walk Naruto sent a pulse of chakra through his seal towards Mei's **Hiraishin **kunai letting her know he was on his way. "Hey kid you might want to hang on tight this is going to get a little disorienting.

"Wha"

Ranmaru didn't even get to finish as Naruto and he disappeared in a bright yellow flash, they reappeared nearly a second later. Ranmaru looked around extremely disoriented until he heard a cry of 'NARU-KUN!' and turned his attention to the source. A beautiful red haired woman wearing the Mizukage robes, said woman who looked like she was about to tackle the blond shinobi but stopped when she noticed Ranmaru's presence.

"Naru-kun who is this?" Mei asked as she looked at Ranmaru with her head slightly tilted to the side.

Naruto gave her a smile, "Mei-hime this is Ranmaru, Ranmaru this is Mei-hime," Naruto said introducing the two. "Ranmaru is the companion of Raiga Kurosuki," Naruto stated as he watched Mei look at him with interest.

"This I need to hear," Mei said with a smirk as she sat down on the couch and gestured for Naruto to take a seat.

Setting Ranmaru down on the couch Naruto took a seat next to Mei, right before he pulled Mei onto his lap and began to explain how he had gotten into a battle with Raiga. Mei wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder as she listened with a large smile and rapt attention as Naruto told his tale, she had always found it amusing that the blond was such a good story teller. Even more amusing was that unlike others she knew the blond shinobi was actually telling the truth without any serious embellishing, since he was far too modest and found it embarrassing to be considered a hero. As she listened to Naruto finish his story as well as his request she closed her eyes as she thought about what he was asking, in truth she was actually pleased to know that it might be possible to get another of the **Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū** in her ranks. While the war was over and she had more shinobi then she expected to have, any help she could get to bolster her ranks was appreciated.

"I will ask him if he would like to rejoin our forces," Mei said after a moment much to Ranmaru's joy. "Having another member the **Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū** will greatly help to bolster our ranks and since Raiga left during Yagura's reign the man's bounty holds no real value."

Naruto turned to the little red eyed child with a grin, "see kiddo nothing to worry about."

"Anbu!" Mei called out.

The door opened and in stepped two Anbu officer who ignored the presence of the blond and red eyed child as they looked at Mei awaiting her orders, Naruto grinned that the two were not surprised to see him. Naruto had often been seen coming out of the office with Mei without entering, for nearly two years and he had given more than half of the Anbu heart attacks every time he would **Hiraishin **here. It was good to see they were learning.

"I would like you to find someone to give Ranmaru here a tour of Kiri," Mei said gesturing to Ranmaru. "When you're finished make sure he is taken to my house, I'll have him stay there while we wait for Raiga's decision on whether or not he will join us. Also someone will need to carry him since he cannot walk on his own," the Anbu nodded though Naruto could sense they were surprised about Raiga, one of them picked up the child while the other was handed the scroll that had Raiga in it. "also," Mei continued, "I want you to check in with some of the doctors to see if any of them are capable of healing Ranmaru's legs." the Anbu nodded and left, closing the door after them.

As soon as the two of them were alone Mei pulled Naruto into a heated kiss, having expected this Naruto returned the kiss and began to gently nibble on Mei's bottom lip. When the busty red haired kage opened her mouth to let out a low moan, Naruto slipped his tongue into her mouth. The two soon began a small duel with their tongues entwining each other trying to get the upper hand, Naruto decided to submit to Mei and retracted his tongue to grant her access. Mei eagerly began to explore every crevice of his mouth, enjoying the sweet taste Naruto had.

Mei pushed Naruto down onto the couch so he was laying down as she straddled his waist, still kissing him as her hands began to run through Naruto's sun kissed hair. Naruto likewise had wrapped one arm around her waist as the other began to gently message and fondle Mei's firm butt, it was about half an hour later that they stopped their small make out session. Mei smiled as she closed her eyes, giving a content sigh as her head rested on Naruto's chest. Even though it had only been around two weeks since she had last seen him she still missed him, the blond always managed to keep things from being boring and was able to light up her day just by being with her.

"Koishii (beloved)?" Naruto asked causing Mei to smile at one of his frequently used suffixes.

"Yes Koibito?" Mei responded.

"Are you done with your paper work for the day?" Mei raised her head to look at Naruto and saw the small glint in his eyes causing her to smirk.

* * *

Naruto and Mei smiled and waved to another group of villagers they passed as they walked arm in arm around the village, they had no clear destination in mind and just kept on the move while enjoying each other's company. It was something they had done often when Naruto was around, simply walking around Kiri or whatever town Naruto summoned Mei to and walked around until something caught their fancy. Eventually the couple settled down at a small stand with Naruto deciding to go with some Beef ramen and Mei ordering a Miso ramen, as the two waited for their meal they discussed some of the new things going on in their life. Mei told him about the new batch of shinobi that just got out of the academy sometime last week, she hoped to have them ready for the chunin exam next year and was having them trained by some of her more talented Jonin. Naruto told her about some of his travel's, leaving out his stint at saving Gaara; not that he didn't want to tell her, but with so many people around he did not feel comfortable talking about it here.

"You know I almost wish I could just go where ever I want now that I'm stuck to my desk," Mei said in a teasing voice as she gave him a pout.

Naruto affected a mock hurt expression as he made a few sniffling noises, "aww I thought you got to do that already, or is spending time with your fiancé outside of Kiri not good enough for you." that was another thing that had happened, after Naruto had made that… movie with Koyuki he had officially proposed to both Mei and Yugito. Well he had after he made it up to them, when the two had heard that Naruto _their Naruto_ had been in a porno they had been downright furious. Thankfully Naruto had made sure Jiraiya sent that letter, which Naruto had changed the contents of making it sound like the perverted sage had black mailed him; which had not only gotten Jiraiya beaten but also had his testies melted by Mei's **Yoton** when Naruto had summoned them via **Hiraishin.** Naruto shook his head, Jiraiya had to be used to taking a shit load of punishment to still be able use his package after something like that.

That was not to say Naruto had been let off the hook, it had taken Naruto spending an entire week with Mei as something of a personal slave to get her to forgive him. Though Naruto would not call what she did punishment, he would often take her out to eat or make her food or just treat her like a goddess anyways so it was no different then what they usually did. Mei had also made him give her a full body message, of course that was anything but punishment for the blond. Though there was also that time when she had taken Naruto shopping, which he really did not mind doing things like this for her unlike others of the male gender; he would often do the same thing for Koyuki, Yugito and Konan. He remembered that this time Mei had gotten a devious streak and had come out of the changing room one time in nothing but lacy blue lingerie. Naruto remembered the way the light blue cloth had not only hugged her curves but had been slightly see through making it give you enough of a view to tantalize you and make you want more, but not enough to see everything. Naruto had been blown out of the store by a nose bleed so large he had gone through the store wall and blacked out,_*Sigh* good times…_

Mei smacked his shoulder in a playful gesture snapping him out of his thoughts, "you know what I mean…"

Naruto nodded sagely, "all that paperwork," he looked at her with a mischievous grin, "you could do what Baa-chan does and just drink yourself stupid until you forget about it..."

Mei laughed as Naruto started telling her stories of when he would find the Hokage whom he called Tsunade-baa-chan getting so drunk that she would often times fall asleep at her desk, only to get scolded by her assistant the next morning. Add onto that fact that Naruto would call one of the legendary three Sennin and the one most known for her super strength and violent temper baa-chan merely added onto the humor. When their food came the two quieted down to eat, keeping a comfortable silence until they finished.

Afterwards the two walked out as Mei held one of Naruto's arm's in both of hers, pressing it into the valley of her breast much to the jealousy of both males who wanted Mei and females who desired to have Naruto. As they walked around Mei looked over at a store where she apparently saw something that caught her attention and began to drag Naruto into it, said blonde just grinning at Mei's enthusiasm.

* * *

It was four orgasms and an several hours later that the two dropped onto the bed, Naruto flopping onto his back as Mei laid in between his legs while still connected to the blond Uzumaki Namikaze heir. Wrapping her arms around Naruto's broad chest Mei let out an utterly exhausted yet content sigh, the afterglow from the sex still having not faded and probably would not for some time. Naruto wrapped one arm around Mei's waist as the other began to caress and message Mei's firm butt, "Mmm… that feels good.."

"Just what you need after several hours session of hot passionate sex ne?" asked Naruto with a quiet chuckle.

"Mmmhmm," Mei murmured as she kissed his chest, "do you think you could continue doing this until I fall asleep?"

"Of course," Naruto said as he added a small amount of chakra.

Mei smiled as she let out a soft sigh, eventually succumbing to exhaustion.

Naruto stayed awake a little longer as he brought the blanket over their nude forms, kissing her on the head the blond shinobi let out a deep breath as he smiled. Closing his eyes he let himself fall into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

The next day Naruto and Mei were walking around town later in the afternoon, with the Mizukage having a rather noticeable limp. It seemed they had gone at it so hard last night that Mei had actually been unable to get out of bed this morning, for awhile it had been rather funny to watch her try and get up only to fall face down again. Of course then she started cursing him out for laughing at her and promised to melt him if he did this again, which they both knew this would happen again just like it did the first time when she said the same thing.

They ignored the stares as they made their way to the Mizukage tower, giving a greeting to her assistant and the Anbu at the door to her office. Making their way inside Mei went over to her desk and sat down, sighing as she noticed the pile of paper work that had seemingly grown anew over night. Naruto walked behind her and began to give her shoulder's a gentle message, Mei looked up at him and smiled before grabbing the first sheet of her paperwork and began to read.

* * *

Jiraiya didn't even bat an eyelash as Naruto appeared right next to him in a yellow flash, having grown used to it over the past few years the Sennin merely looked at his student. "You took a little longer than expected for a simple a rank ninja," Jiraiya stated as he looked at his student with a small hint of suspicion in his eyes. Jiraiya had just received a letter from Tsunade, telling him about someone who came to help Gaara when he was attacked by the Akatsuki.

Naruto merely shrugged, "he had this one kid who seemed to have a bloodline that allowed him to see everything like the Byakugan. It made him a lot harder to hit, besides I decided to spend some time with Mei-chan." While it was not a lie it wasn't the whole truth either, he did not want it getting out that he helped kill two members of the Akatsuki yet. While the blond had no doubt that it would happen eventually Naruto had no desire to have Akatsuki begin to feel he was a threat, this would also hopefully keep them guessing about who this new enemy was.

Jiraiya's narrowed eyes soon gave way Naruto a lecherous grin as he completely forgot about Tsunade's letter, "hoho so you were hanging out with the hot red head this time! I can't say I blame you, she's…"

"Ero-sensei if I hear you make a perverted comment about her or the other girls I am going to **Rasenshuriken **your ass back to the time of the Rikudo Sennin."

Jiraiya closed his mouth, though his grin remained in place as the two continued to walk down the dirt road. "We have about five months left until you return to Konoha," Jiraiya said after a few moments, "I don't believe there is anything more I can teach you within that time frame." Jiraiya looked at Naruto with a proud smile, "I want you to know I'm proud of you, you've really come along way."

Naruto looked at his sensei and smiled, despite the arguments they would get into most of which were when he made a perverted comment about Naruto and one of his girls; the man was still the closest thing to a father he had. "Thanks… Jiraiya-sensei," Naruto replied.

"This is the only time that you're going to call me that isn't it," Jiraiya deadpanned.

Naruto's smile turned into a grin, "of course is it."

The rest of the way to their destination Jiraiya cried anime tears as he complained about not getting enough respect.

* * *

Omake: Jiraiya's punishment pt. 1

It was late at night and Jiraiya had passed out on the Futon on the hotel he and Naruto were staying at, it had been about a month since the Icha Icha movie had hit the market and everything had been going great for the Toad Sennin as his fan base went crazy over the movie. Unfortunately for the white haired pervert some people were not happy about this movie, more specifically they were not happy that Naruto had been in it.

It was because of this that one Mei Terumi had been summoned here via **Hiraishin **by Naruto, the busty red headed Mizukage had been planning this ever since the movie had come out and she saw that HER Naruto had been in it.

She and Naruto entered the room where Jiraiya was currently sleeping, he was lightly snoring while mumbling about beautiful woman not being able to get enough of him. There were numerous sake bottles littering floor showing that he had gotten extremely drunk this night and would no doubt be out of it until morning. The two of them threw the blanket off of the man and stripped him down until he was in his underwear before tying his hands to the head of the bed, while his feet were bound to the end. The two then waited for till morning for the man to wake up.

It was sometime around 11:00 when Jiraiya stirred, opening his eyes he looked around blearily before trying to rub his face with a hand. When he could not move either of his hands he opened his eyes and turned his head to find that his hands were bound to the bed, he tugged on them but found they were tied so tightly he could not even move them a centimeter. Looking down he noticed that his feet were bound in the same way.

"Good morning Jiraiya!"

Jiraiya froze as he heard the overly happy feminine voice, it was one he easily recognized, the tone was one woman use when they are about to cause a pervert extreme pain. Looking over near the door Naruto found Mei standing there with her arms crossed and the most sadistic smile he had seen to date. The Toad Sennin paled but tried to hide his fear with a smile.

"Heh ah Mizukage-Dono, how are you today?" he winced as the smile widened.

"Oh I'm just great thanks for asking," she chirped as she walked up to him, the shadows from her bangs hiding her eyes and added with her smile was making her look like something that came from hell itself. "I mean I just found out a little while ago that _MY Naruto _was in a porno which you had made!"

Jiraiya's face became as white as the sheets he was sleeping on, "N-now Mi-Mizukage-Dono-"

"For blackmailing my Naru-kun into making your perverted movie, you must be punished," Mei said with her last words being merely a whisper.

Jiraiya felt his eyes widen as he realized what was happening and how he had been dooped, _DAMN YOU NARUTO!_

Mei went through several hand seals before she called out her jutsu.

"**Yoton: Ryuusui No Yougan! (Lava Release: Stream of Lava)"**

A stream of lava was shot from Mei's mouth and hit Jiraiya's goodies before melting them.

"AAAAAAYYYYYEEEEE!"

* * *

Naruto and everyone else looked up when they heard the screams of what could only be described as utter agony. Shaking his head Naruto went back to writing his story, Loveless Duex (Two).

* * *

It's done. This chapter was a little more difficult to do since I was trying to find a way to have Naruto save Gaara without people getting any real knowledge that he was the one who did it. This was why I had Naruto go after Raiga and why you saw him spending time with Mei, plausible deniability and all that. Anyway that lemon was for all you pervs out there since I was feeling the desire to write something perverted anyways, I hope you all liked it. Any who let me know your thoughts on the chapter.

Next chapter: **chapter 7: the zombie brothers!**


	7. Chapter 7

**MartinDeShade: And yet we have Naruto in the canon who begged the Raikage to spare Sasuke despite the fact that he is a traitor, has almost killed Naruto multiple times, wants to destroy Konoha and has pretty much lost his mind to madness. All of this and Naruto still considers the traitor to be his best friend… in any case Naruto's sparing of Raiga was only because of Ranmaru, in case you haven't noticed Naruto has a soft spot for kids, and Naruto believed that if he was willing to take a child in maybe there is some hope for him.**

**Shihouin Shunshin: While it may for some, the way I wrote this chapter shows that Naruto and Mei have done this multiple times. It's not like Yugito where it was their first and they were just learning what the other likes; Naruto and Mei had sex before this lemon so Naruto knows what Mei likes. In my fanfiction this is what she likes.**

**UMMX: first I'm not sure what you mean when you mentioned water, I was not talking about her having a weakness to that. The only reason Konan did not do well against Naruto was because her paper attacks were practically useless against Naruto's wind attacks and his healing ability, remember wind is the most destructive element.**

**I know to some that Sasori seemed to die too easily in the fight; you need to remember Sasori is one of the weakest in Akatsuki. If you recall in the canon Sakura was able to beat him, yes it may have been with Chio's help but the fact that a CHUNIN (I don't care if she has super strength, Sakura is still a chunin level shinobi and should in all reality lack the experience needed to actually defeat an S class criminal) could defeat Sasori means that if the Naruto in my story fought him, there would not be much of a contest.**

**Midnari: we are talking about the same Jiraiya right? We all know that he is one of the most powerful Shinobi in the Elemental nations. When they spar, Naruto gets his ass kicked half the time, you don't see it but you should know that he does (especially the few times Jiraiya used Sage Mode). As far as the abuse he takes, yeah I may be taking it over board, but it's really just supposed to be something funny.**

**Disclaimer: someone just had to go and ruin my lifelong dream and told me I don't own Naruto… I feel depressed now.**

**Chapter 7: The Zombie Brothers!**

Naruto opened his eyes when he felt something stir in his arms, blinking a few times to adjust to the light the blond looked down and found a smile work its way on his face. Konan was lying on his chest sleeping peacefully, a content smile showing on her face as she tried to burrow her way deeper into his muscles. He gently rolled the blue haired woman off of him and leaned on his side as he looked down at her face, reaching out with a hand Naruto brushed away a few strands of Konan's hair as his knuckles caressed her cheeks. Leaning down Naruto pressed his lips to hers in a light kiss, which seemed to wake up Konan as she began to stir. Opening her eyes Konan smiled as she saw a pair of familiar blue eyes looking at her. The blue haired woman wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck, bringing his head in down for another lip lock. "I hope you plan on waking me up this way every time we sleep together," Konan mumbled with half lidded eyes and a coy smile.

Naruto grinned at her as he went in for another kiss, "when you're ready I'll wake you up in far better ways then this…" In emphasis Naruto let his hands ghost across her chest, lightly touching her nipples which could be felt through the fabric of her shirt since she never wore a bra to bed. Konan gave a soft moan at his touch before Naruto brought his hand back up to her face, cupping and caressing her cheek with his thumb. Even though she had slept with Naruto many times since they became an official couple, Konan had asked Naruto that they wait to go any further and so they had not done anything other than some heavy petting. Naruto knew this was Konan's first relationship; because of that she wanted to take things slow, to find out more about him and more about herself after having finally been given the chance to do so.

It was something Naruto could understand and in truth had no problem doing.

"Mm… I'll be looking forward to that time," Konan told him with a small smile on her face, "what time is Jiraiya-sensei going to be here?"

"Not for another few hours," Naruto replied as he lay down on his side and pulled Konan to him. Jiraiya had gone out to do have a last second meeting with someone in his spy network, before he and Naruto left for Konoha. Since Naruto was not sure how long it would be before he could spend any real time with Konan or the others, he had taken to spending a full day with each of them. Yesterday had been Konan's day and the two had spent most of their time at an area that had four waterfalls which combined into one large waterfall with dozens of little pools at the bottom, the place was called Taki No Kesshou (crystal falls) and they had gone there for a picnic before just cuddling together under the stars.

After hearing that she still had a few hours with Naruto, Konan gave a grin that was almost similar to the blonds as she rolled them over so she was straddling his waist. "Since Jiraiya-sensei is not going to be here for a while what do you want to do?" she asked with small almost imperceptible smirk.

Naruto smiled as brought his lips to meet hers.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugito let out a tired huff as she continued to run; she was not sure how long she had been running. It could have been hours or even days, the only that she knew was that she needed to keep moving.

Her clothing was currently ruined, the purple armor piece she wore was gone having been destroyed during her recent battle. Her shirt was ripped in several places, revealing her stomach and parts of her bra. Her pants were destroyed having been turned into shorts, with several large gashes running along the sides. Some of her wounds were still bleeding, having not had the chance to heal with the amount of chakra she had used in her battle. The blond Kumo Jonin had just been returning from a mission when she had been attacked, by two men wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them.

Akatsuki.

She was not quite sure just how they had managed to locate her, but she supposed it didn't matter. They had found her and demanded that she come with them, knowing who they were and what they wanted she had refused and the two had proceeded to try and capture her. After her first battle with them she had realized that she was at a serious disadvantage when fighting them out in the open, knowing this she had created a distraction and ran. Currently she was in a sewer system deep below a village several miles off the border to Kaminari No Kuni, it was her hope that she could get them in an enclosed space and trap them there. If she could do that she was sure that she could take them out by playing to her strengths, but she knew not to underestimate the two. She had done that before when they first caught her even knowing what group they belonged to, that had nearly cost her her life.

The two were not only strange looking, but were also vastly more powerful than the average shinobi with an odd mix of techniques she had never seen and powers she did not know existed.

One of them was a tan skinned man with a bandana like Hitea-ate; it had a waterfall symbol with a slash mark through it showing he was a missing ninja from Takigakure (Village Hidden in the Water Falls). His irises were a greenish color and pupil less while the rest of the eyes were red. He wore a black mask leaving everything covered except his cheeks and eyes visible. The thing that got to her however were the four masks the man had on his back, if that was not odd enough then the fact that those masks could detach themselves and fight independently certainly was. Not only that but it appeared that each mask was linked to a specific element and the man would often combine two elements into a collaboration jutsu of some kind, making the fight not only six on one but also twelve times harder.

The other person she was faced with was even weirder, despite being the more normal looking of the two. He had slicked back white hair with purple eyes, while he held a three bladed scythe in one of his hands. Despite this seemingly normal look, she had found out the man was anything but. When she had first attacked him he had been severely injured, with Yugito managing to puncture one of his lungs with her Signature **Kaizuki** assassination attack. Despite that injury nothing had happened except for him to start cursing her out about how he was going to sacrifice her to Jashin, apparently he had gained some form of immortality by becoming a zealot for a religion known as Jashinism. While Yugito had not quite believed what he had said, his religion was later proven to be much more then she had first thought. After making some kind of weird occult symbol on the ground, the man had proceeded to ingest her blood which he had gotten with a lucky hit. As soon as he did the man's entire appearance had changed, his skin turned black with a white exoskeleton over it. He had then used the scythe he had been carrying to impale himself through the leg, and somehow much to the blond woman's shock that same injury appeared on her own leg. It wasn't hard for her to figure out that anyone who's blood eat ingested became injured when he injured himself, so long as he was in the middle of that symbol. Knowing this Yugito had used Nibi's chakra to and blasted the man out of the symbol, before ruining it and running.

It was then she had headed into a village she recognized from the few times she had been there, and then headed straight for the sewers. _Just a little bit further…_ she thought as she ran into an open room. Just as Yugito reached her destination instincts kicked in, causing her to duck just as a large scythe passed through where she had been standing. Spinning around she looked over to see the two that had been chasing her walking in, the scythe being yanked back into the white haired man's hands.

"That was pretty good of you to dodge Neko-chan," he said with a grin, "though I am the slowest member of Akatsuki."

"Careful Hidan," said the one with the mask in a gravelly voice, "she might kill you, if you're not careful."

Hidan merely smirked, "pft you know that's not possible, if she could kill me I'd let her."

Yugito took several deep breaths as she slowed her heart rate, "I'm going to make you regret underestimating me." she reached into her pouch and pulled out on of her kunai which had a explosive note attached to it. At the same time she felt a ring on her finger shift as it pressed against the fabric of her pouch, she recognized it as the proposal ring that Naruto had given to her about a month after the blond had spent a week with her, to make up for being in the Icha Icha Movie. Like Mei's it also had the seals on the underside, so that she could use it to call him when she needed him and never lose it.

She personally did not want to get Naruto involved in this and possibly get hurt, but she knew he would not only be pissed if she did not call him, but that he was also more powerful than her. Besides that she had promised Naruto that she would call him if she ever ran into Akatsuki, "Now I'm gonna show you why I'm the second strongest ninja in Kumo!" Yugito threw a kunai at the gate behind them; the sharp sizzling sound was the only warning as the kunai exploded causing the gate to collapse and the way out to be sealed shut. When the two were distracted by the explosion she channeled some chakra into her ring, sending a single pulse to let Naruto know she needed him.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto stopped as he and Jiraiya were walking to their next destination, Jiraiya walked along for a little ways before noticing his student had stopped and was staring into space. Stopping as well Jiraiya turned to look at him, "Naruto is there a problem?"

Naruto looked at his sensei, "one of my **Hiraishin **seals went off, the one with Yugito. I'll see you later sensei," Naruto disappeared in a yellow flash before Jiraiya could even speak.

"Just like his father," Jiraiya mused as he continued on his journey

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"**Kaiton: Zukoku! (Fire Release: Infinite hard work)"**

Several compressed fire balls shot out of the mouth of the mask Yugito had come to recognize as the fire one. The fire balls soon turned into a large fire storm that enveloped the area in front of her.

"**Fuuton: Atsugi! (Wind Release: Severing Wind Pressure)"**

A large maelstrom of pressurized wind was launched out of another mask, catching up to the flame and increasing its size and power. Yugito was just about to jump out of the way when a figure appeared right in front of her, the blond woman smiled as she recognized the familiar mop of spiky blond hair.

'_**Suiton: Suejinheki. (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall)'**_

As Naruto spread his arms out in front of him a giant wall of water began forming from the moisture in the air, in less than a second he and Yugito were surrounded by water as the collaboration jutsu smashed into the protective shield. There was a hiss of steam as the two jutsu clashed, the fire jutsu trying and failing to overpower Naruto's water wall. When the fire was completely put out Naruto pointed a finger at the two cloaked Akatsuki members.

'_**Suiton: Dabakufu No Jutsu. (Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu)'**_

The wall of water soon swirled around in a vortex before it launched itself at Kakazu and Hidan, the two jumped out of the way as the water drilled straight through the cement they were standing on.

"And you told me to be careful," Naruto said with a smirk as he turned his head to look at Yugito. "Yet here you are picking a fight with Akatsuki, really now Yugi-chan how hypocritical of you…"

"It's not like I went out of my way to find them," Yugito mumbled in embarrassment about her own words being turned on her. "Besides I called you didn't I?"

"True, and I'm gonna have to find some way to _Thank_ _you, _as I was just getting bored from not having a challenge," Naruto grinned at her. "So how would you like to go on a date later tonight and then maybe afterwards we can take a nice trip to a communal hot springs…"

"That sounds nice…" Yugito said with a small blush.

"OI!"

The two turned to Hidan who had just interrupted their banter, "Who the fuck do you think you are you prick!" Hidan yelled as he pointed at Naruto with his scythe. Said blond blinked as an owlish expression came to his face and he pointed at himself, "Yes you! I'm gonna sacrifice you to Jashin for interrupting me you stupid fuck!"

"My, this guy's got a mouth on him," Naruto mumbled, "which one do you want Yugi-chan?" the blond male asked as he turned to his fellow blond.

"I'll take the loud one," Yugito said with a smirk as she began channeling Nibi's chakra. Soon a dark purple cloak covered her frame, shaped like a cat with two swishing tails behind her. "You can have the other one…be careful; those masks of his can detach and launched jutsu at you."

Naruto nodded in acknowledgment as he put on his shinobi face; raising a hand he pointed it at Kakazu.

'_**Raiton: Byakurai. (Lightning Release: Pale White Lightning)'**_

A giant bolt of lightning shot out of Naruto's finger and charged towards Kakazu, one of Kakazu's masks came out of his back and to his aid as it opened his mouth.

"**Raiton: Gian! (Lightning Release: False Darkness)"**

A large bolt of lightning shot at Naruto's jutsu crashing into it as the two began to vie for power, Naruto pushed more chakra into his jutsu and overpowered Kakazu's. There was a large explosion of electricity as the blonds jutsu plowed through the **Raiton: Gian** and charged on to Kakazu, said man was forced to jump out of the way only to find Naruto right in his face. The greedy member of Akatsuki tilted his head to the side to dodge the fist, at the same time his skin began to darken and harden as he grabbed onto the blonds arm pulling Naruto into a punch. Only for said blond to disappear in a puff of smoke as another Naruto came at him from the ground with a **rasengan **in hand, Kakazu jumped back as he dodged the **rasengan **and sent out several tendrils to impale the blond. Once again there was a puff of smoke signifying a **Kage Bushin** being used.

"I see," Kakazu said as he turned around to see Naruto standing a little ways behind him, "your description matches that of the Kyuubi Jinchurikki. I see the rumors about your battle prowess are true," as Naruto smirked, Kakazu pulled out what Naruto recognized as a bingo book and began to flip through it. "You have a 500,000 Yen bounty on your head, quite impressive for someone who only gained fame recently. After Akatsuki extracts your Bijuu I will be able to make a nice bounty off your corpse…"

"You're more than welcome to try," Naruto said as he got into his fighting stance, "but neither you nor Akatsuki will get what you want from me…"

"We will see," Kakazu said as all four masks emerged from his back, two of them came at Naruto. Said blond jumped out of the way just as one shot a blast of fire at him, when Naruto jumped out of the way another mask shot a ball of wind at the fire blowing into Naruto's path and strengthening the flames. The blond shinobi's mouth bulged with water, as he thought his jutsu.

'_**Suiton: Kaihodan! (Water Release: Pressure Canon)'**_

A strong jet stream of water was shot out of Naruto's mouth and headed for the flames, dousing them with a hiss of steam as Naruto landed on the ground. As soon as he did the blond was forced to dodge a blast of lightning that came at him from behind, flipping himself around Naruto made a slicing motion and launched a **Kaze No Yaiba **at the lightning mask. Before the wind blade could cut through the mask, the fire mask appeared in front of Naruto's jutsu and launched a stream of fire at it. The wind was soon reduced to nothing as the fire overtook it and headed for Naruto, who jumped out of the way and held out his hand.

'_**Suiton: Saryuudan No Jutsu. (Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu)'**_

A large dragon made of water coalesced into existence besides Naruto and crashed against the powerful flame overpowering it and heading for the fire mask, which jumped out of the way. Naruto turned around just as the lightning mask shot a blast of lightning at him.

'_**Raiton: Byakurai. (Lightning Release: Pale White Lightning)'**_

Naruto launched another lightning bolt from his fingers, slicing through his opponents lightning bolt. Landing on the ground Naruto was forced to continue dodging Jutsu and launching counter Jutsu, finding that he was not gaining any ground against his opponent. The blond cursed as he continued to find himself being forced to react defensively and never get in a solid advantage, whenever he managed to get the upper hand on one of the masks one of the others would come to back it up. As another **Fuuton, Kaiton **collaboration Jutsu headed for him Naruto decided it was time to change the playing field.

'_**Suiton: Bakusui Shoha. (Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave)'**_

A large amount of water burst out of nowhere and covered the entire area, dousing the flames and forcing Kakazu to jump on the water. As soon as he did Naruto was there aiming a punch at the man's face, Kakazu hardened his skin again as he grabbed the fist and pulled the blond into a knee. Naruto jumped up and over the knee as well as the rest of the bounty hunter, forcing Kakazu to let go. Naruto came back down with an axe kick, only for Kakazu to sidestep the attack and smash a foot into Naruto's face. Naruto puffed out of existence and Kakazu only had enough time to turn around as Naruto smashed a palm strike into his solar plexus and sending the man flying, the blond had no time to celebrate his hit as one of the masks launched a blast of lightning at Naruto. Said blond began to spin as he covered himself in a protective layer of chakra as he called upon his elements; soon a mixture of wind and water swirled around him in a tornado like fashion. When the lightning hit it was merely absorbed and combined with the other two elements. The swirling wind, water and lightning started to change into a black mass with electricity as several thousand wind blades occasionally flying out while water swirled around him in a whirlpool like fashion. The entire spectacle looked like something akin to a miniature hurricane contained in a ball.

Naruto grit his teeth as he continued his spin, combining and controlling the three elements within his vortex. This was the culmination of all of Naruto's years of trying to combine his elements, for a long time the blond had imagined combining all three elements into a single attack. It had only been about a week since he had been able to create his first ever combination of his three main elements, managing to create a storm cloud by gathering his elements into the palm of his hand and compressing it into a super dense matter. The ability to do this was ridiculously difficult to control, requiring him to split his attention between the three different elements until they merged but the power behind any of the jutsu Naruto planned on making would be unlike anything ever imagined.

Suddenly Naruto shot up into the air as the speed of the storm swirling around him began to increase, suddenly it stopped and for a moment it seemed as if everything around Naruto had become frozen in time. Right until several thousand dark storm clouds filled with lightning, cutting winds and large cannon ball sized water drills and hail stones were launched everywhere around him with all the fury of a raging tempest. Two of Kakazu's masks were completely annihilated; the Lightning mask and fire mask were unable to get out of the way in time and suffered what almost seemed to be the wrath of an angry god, as the maelstrom of power tore into them. In the center of this power blast was Naruto who had his arms and legs splayed out, using his chakra to fuel the raging storm.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugito dodged another reckless swing from her opponent as she tried to find a way around Hidan's guard, however despite the man's style being completely reckless and having no formed what so ever; it was also too unpredictable and therefore impossible for the blond woman to find a way around. Yugito was forced to jump over a horizontal slash from her opponent, landing on the ground she went through several hand seals and slammed her hands on the ground.

"**Raiton: Ikazuchi Hakai! (Lightning Release: Thunder Destruction!)"**

Yugito sent an enormous bolt of lightning which tore through the ground towards Hidan, said immortal jumped out of the way. As soon as he did Yugito jumped into the air and tried to claw swipe him, Hidan swung his scythe and impaled her. Only for Yugito to explode in a shower of electricity, "Fuck!" Hidan cursed as he landed on the ground shaking as sparks of lightning ran through his system.

"**Kaizuki!"**

Hidan managed to recover and jumped back as Yugito slammed into the ground where he had been, creating a large explosion from the fire jutsu she had created. Yugito jumped away as Hidan tried to close in on her once again swinging his scythe, ducking under a slash before she was kicked in the face. Yugito flipped through the air as she went with the blow, landing on her feet a few meters away as she began going through more hand signs.

"**Raiton: Raiyuudan! (Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon!)"**

A large mid night blue dragon made of lightning coiled around Yugito's form, lightning sparking off of it as it's purple eyes glared balefully at Hidan. With a loud roar it launched itself at the Jashinist who jumped back, Yugito did a few hand signs and the dragon changed directions and charged at him again. Hidan was forced to run and dodge as the dragon continued following him, he looked over at Yugito to see her holding a hand sign and realized what was happening. As he ran he closed in on Yugito's still form and threw his scythe at her, forcing the woman to lose her concentration as she jumped out of the way. The giant dragon lost control and smashed into the ground, exploding in a powerful display of electric sparks while creating a large crater.

"That's some technique you got their Neko-chan," Hidan said with a whistle as he looked at the large crater. "Who knows that might have actually hurt me."

Yugito growled as another of her attempts to kill the man failed, she couldn't understand why she was not able to kill this man. Her thoughts were cut off as Hidan threw his scythe again, forcing her to dodge as she rolled to the left. As she came up she jumped into the air just as the scythe came back in an attempt to slice her in two, Hidan grinned at her while she was air born and threw it again. Yugito eyes widened as the scythe sliced right through her, only for her to disperse into lightning. Hidan was forced to let go of his scythe as the lightning channeled through it and shocked him.

"**Kaizuki!"**

Yugito flame covered hand tore right through Hidan's chest right where his heart would be, sending blood and fire everywhere as the man gave a grunt. "You fucking bitch!" Hidan yelled as he turned his head to glare at her. "I'm gonna fucking sacrifice your ass to Jashin now, fucking cunt!" The Jashin Zealot spun around with enough force that Yugito was picked up off her feet and thrown through the air, flipping around she channeled chakra to her feet as she landed on the wall. Looking up she had just enough time to dodge Hidan's slash as his scythe came down, ripping through the spot she had been standing on.

Yugito found herself completely on the defensive as she continued to dodge the white haired mans mad attacks, ducking, sidestepping and twisting her body every which way in a desperate attempt to not get cut. Reaching into her pocket as she continued to weave through Hidan's attacks Yugito pulled out an explosive note, putting it on the scythe as it made another pass that managed to cut off some of her hair. Creating a single hand sign the young woman charged some chakra into the tag, jumping back just as it exploded and allowed her some breathing room.

'_Nibi I'm going to need your help with this.'_

'_**How are we going to do this then kitten?'**_

'_I'm thinking full transformation.'_

'_**Ok then, kick his ass!'**_

As Hidan got up and tried to find his scythe which had gotten thrown into a wall, Yugito once again became surrounded by dark purple chakra. Going down on all fours making the blond Kunoichi look like a human cat, before she began to change. The chakra began to coalesce around Yugito forming into the shape of a cat as it started to grow, getting larger and larger until Yugito was the size of a four story house. Ghost like flames moved and shifted on the giant cat's skin making it look similar to a ghost as yellow eyes glared down had Hidan.

Said man whistled as it looked at Yugito, "that's one big kitty!"

Yugito reared up her paw and smashed it down onto where the man was standing, Hidan jumped back just in time to dodge and threw his scythe at the now Nibified Yugito. Said woman opened up her mouth and launched a black ball of chakra at the scythe sending it off course; pulling back on the wire Hidan recalled his scythe to him again. Jumping back as another ball of chakra destroyed the area he was on, Hidan hid behind a large boulder that had fallen from the ceiling some time during the fight. Hidan tried to come up with a way to fight a giant two tailed cat but only came up with a blank, Kakazu was usually the strategist of the two; it was unfortunate he was fighting that blond prick.

Just as Hidan was about to run out with his scythe swinging like he usually did there was a large explosion where Kakazu was having his battle, blasts of lightning, wind blades, water drills and hail stones charged over the land and destroyed much of the area. Looking out from behind the rock Hidan saw the cat had looked in the direction of the blast, being smart enough to realize he might not get another chance the Jashinist charged out from the behind the rock and threw his scythe.

Yugito roared as she felt a sharp pain in her front leg, looking down she saw that it had a large cut in it though it was almost healed. She looked over to find the source and felt her eyes widen, Hidan had obviously cut her and was almost done with the ritual. She ran towards Hidan in the hopes of messing up his ritual but it was too late, Hidan managed to ingest the blood. He soon changed into his ritual form, his skin turned purple and he had a white exoskeleton showing on the outside, as his rises turned black while the sclera turned purple. Just as Yugito was about to shove him out of the pentagon seal Hidan stabbed himself right in the stomach, causing Yugito to roar out in pain as she fell to the ground and began to skid across it.

Yugito's form began to shift back to her original state as she curled around her stomach, which despite Nibi trying to heal was bleeding profusely. She saw Hidan coming over to her as the blood loss started to get to her, as the man's feet came to a stop in front of her the woman's eyes fluttered closed.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was breathing heavily as he landed on one knee, that technique took far too much chakra then it should have. Of course it was the first time he had used it in battle so that was too be expected, he would have to work on it when he got home. Getting up he noticed Kakazu pushing some debris off of himself and cursed, Naruto had hoped that attack would have taken the man out. Checking his reserves Naruto realized he was nearing empty, which left only one option.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Flashback…_

_Naruto struggled to hold his form as he fought against Kirabi who had his eight tailed cloak on, the two continued to trade blows with neither really getting the upper hand. Despite it being fairly hard to keep control Naruto felt he was doing pretty good, right up until the point where he was sent flying from a powerful kick as Bee screamed out __**'Lariat!'**_ _landing on the ground several feet away Naruto's form was canceled as he ran out of juice. Yugito came to his side and helped him sit up as Killer Bee walked over to him, "it looks like four tails are as far as you go, your gonna have to work on that yo!"_

_Naruto saw Yugito eye brow twitch but was thankful that she did not get violent right now, "I understand, so I'll just have to use this pretty much as a make it or break it jutsu then."_

"_Still you did pretty well," Yugito complimented with a smile, "it took me years to get up to two tails with Nibi and you're up to four in less than six months so I'm sure you'll get it sooner or later."_

_Naruto grinned, "Thanks Yugi-chan!"_

_Flashback end…._

XXXXXXXXXXXX

'_Hey Kyuubi, I need some of your chakra to deal with these guys.'_

He heard a humph in his mind, _**'I can see that Ningen… very well so long as you do not make me look like a fool I will lend you my power.'**_

Naruto sighed as he felt Kyuubi's chakra start to course through him and was about to start bringing out more when a voice called out.

"OI! Kakazu I got that bitch we're after!"

Naruto looked over and saw Hidan carrying an unconscious and bleeding Yugito slung over his shoulder, the blond shinobi felt his eyes widen right before they narrowed in anger. Red chakra began to bubble up from Naruto's skin as he started to let his anger get to him, bringing out more of the Kyuubi's chakra then he had intended. Pretty soon it began to blast out of him in an uncontrolled manner, lashing out at the ground and tearing huge gouges on the surface. Naruto's breathing got heavier as his whiskers began to thicken, while his nails turned into claws and his eye went from blue to red with black slits running down the middle. Just as Naruto was about to lose complete control when his enhanced senses picked up a faint pulse from Yugito, pausing he channeled more of Kyuubi's chakra to his ears and confirmed the pulse. Realizing that the woman was not dead the blond was able to calm down, remembering what happened last time he lost control and knowing if he did he could very well kill Yugito as well as the other two.

Once he felt less anger he began to channel and control Kyuubi's chakra like he was taught to do. Naruto created a small layer of his own chakra as Kyuubi's began to lay over him like a second skin and covered his entire form from view, unfortunately he had used most of his chakra in the battle already so he would not be able to maintain the form for long; but hopefully it would be enough. The vile chakra soon began to take the shape of a fox, looking more like skin then the standard Bijuu cloak. Behind him were six fox like tails flailing about in an agitated manner, almost as if they had a mind of their own. Naruto's eyes were now completely white and he had a row of sharp looking fangs and a large fox like exoskeleton covering his frame. All in all he now looked like a fox with its muscles and bones showing.

Before either of the two could even so much as move Naruto appeared in front of Hidan and sent him flying back with a crushing punch to the solar plexus, causing the man to fly back as he let go of Yugito. Naruto appeared right under her as she came down, the red chakra pulled back from his hands and arms as he caught the unconscious Yugito. Disappearing again he repapered and set her down on the far side of the room, creating **kage bushin **to watch over her before he disappeared again.

Hidan felt his eyes widen as Naruto appeared right in front of him and speared him with his claws and the six tails behind him, channeling as much of Kyuubi's chakra as he could Naruto watched in satisfaction as the man's skin, blood, bones and muscle began to literally dissolve with a hiss of steam. It was well known that a Bijuu's chakra was like a deadly poison to human's who have not been acclimated to it, however what was not as well known was that Kyuubi's chakra being the strongest was almost like an acid to humans and if a concentrated enough dose was injected into them would literally destroy a person's body. The blond paid no attention as Hidan screamed and cursed him, when the man was nothing more the a head with a few bones Naruto took two tails and impaled it through Hidan's eyes and out of the back of his head. With a strong tug the tails split the head in two before the rest of the tails speared them again, making sure Hidan would never be able to return.

Naruto jumped as a blast of water was shot at him, looking over at the water mask Naruto thrust his hand forward as a large red chakra claw shot out. The mask could not be recalled in time as Naruto's chakra claw grabbed it, the mask was dragged towards Naruto. As soon as it got in range Naruto impaled the thing through the mask with his tails, cracking the mask as he lifted it up before tossing it away like a rag doll. He looked over at Kakazu before the six tails came in front of him and began to gather chakra, Kakazu not realizing what it was but knowing it couldn't be good sent out the last mask he had to try and stop the Kyuubified Naruto. It was too late as Naruto swallowed the compressed ball of chakra; as soon as he did the ground began to crack from the sheer density of the chakra that now weighed Naruto down.

"**Rokubiko Imari (Six Tails Menacing ball)"**

The wind mask that Kakazu had sent was utterly obliterated as a large cylinder of destructive chakra shot from Naruto's mouth, Kakazu just barely managed to jump out of the way. The moment he jumped into the air however Naruto had appeared behind him, Kakazu felt a sharp pain all over his body as Naruto's tails and claws pierced him from behind. With a roar Naruto ripped Kakazu's body into chunks, tossing the pieces off of his tails before the red chakra around the blond began to recede. Naruto dropped to his knees as he started to breath heavily, using that much of Kyuubi's chakra still took a toll on him and left the blond exhausted afterwards. He looked up over at Yugito's prone form on the other side of the room, with a groan Naruto stood up and began to walk over to her.

Once he got to her he dropped into a sitting position, pulling a sealing scroll filled with medical supplies out of his kunai pouch. Unrolling it Naruto unsealed his medical equipment; wrapping his arms just under Yugito's chest he gently pulled the upper half of her body onto his lap. Channeling a little bit of **Fuuton **chakra to his fingers Naruto created a wind blade that he used to cut Yugito blood covered shirt which was still intact since the damage had been a reflection that had been caused by Hidan's Juinjutsu, he took it off so he could get to her wound. When he did Naruto winced, the wound was three holes each one was about three inches in diameter and had pierced all the way through Yugito's stomach. Naruto could see his own legs as it came out of the other side through her back. Had Yugito not been a Jinchurikki this injury would have no doubt killed her, as he looked Naruto could see Nibi trying to heal the wounds but feared that the giant cat would not be able to heal a wound this massive before the woman died of blood loss.

Naruto quickly grabbed his disinfectant and put it on one of the medical cloths, he began to dab the cloth against the torn skin watching as the alcohol bubbled and burned away anything harmful that may have been in the wound such as poison or dirt to help Nibi hasten the healing process. After Naruto watched in satisfaction as the wound began to heal a little faster, a sign that there were several forms of bacteria that had forced Nibi to divert some chakra to destroying whatever was in the dirt. Grabbing the tube for his medical cream and a large amount of bandages Naruto began to apply them to the young woman's torso, since Yugito was a Jinchurikki Naruto dumped an entire bottle of his healing ointment on the bandages rather than a small dose to hopefully help Nibi hasten the healing.

The blond shinobi put a hand to the neck and checked for a pulse, noticing it was dangerously slow he began to double the pace of his work. "Come on Yugito you have to pull through this for me…" Naruto mumbled unaware that several tears had leaked out of the corner of his eyes as he worked, if she did not make it through this he would never be able to forgive himself. Once he finished patching the blond woman up Naruto grabbed some blood pills, he put them into his mouth and ignored the vile taste as he began to chew on them. When the pills were more liquid then anything, Naruto placed his mouth over Yugito's and began to use his tongue to push the mush into her mouth. He gently messaged her neck when Yugito made several gurgling noises, in order to help her swallow the medical supplement.

Naruto checked her pulse again and sighed in slight relief as he found that despite the young woman's injury, she seemed to be out of danger. He tried to stand, only to find he was too tired to actually get up back up. Wrapping an arm under Yugito's bosom Naruto dragged them both over to the wall with his other hand, leaning back Naruto sighed as he pulled Yugito the rest of the way onto his lap. "You know you worried me? " Naruto said to her despite knowing she could not hear him. He put a hand to her cheek and began to caress her face, smiling as Yugito seemed to subconsciously know it was him and snuggled into it while purring lightly. Leaning down Naruto kissed her fore head before putting his head to hers, "looks like I've got to wait a few hours before I can get us out of here."

He closed his eyes as he thought about the battle, had it not been a last resort he would have never used Kyuubi's chakra. Despite the great power he got from it, the chakra did not come without great cost as well. Often it would leave him exhausted, because Kyuubi's chakra was extremely corrosive Naruto had to apply a continuous stream of his own chakra in a protective layer under Kyuubi's. Even with his own ridiculously vast reserves Naruto could only hold this form for several hours max, after that he would usually pass out from chakra exhaustion and unfortunately had yet to work a way around that problem. He also had to add onto the fact that while Kyuubi was not actively hindering his use of its chakra anymore, the intense feelings of rage and hatred that came with it could sometimes be overwhelming, which was the reason he could not go above six tails yet; even after extensive training.

After an hour Naruto felt he had enough chakra to start moving, putting an arm under Yugito's legs and back Naruto lifted himself and her off the ground. Looking around Naruto found an opening in the ceiling where one of the misfired jutsu's had hit, moving up to it Naruto channeled some chakra to his legs and jumped from the debris as he made his way out of the sewer.

When Naruto left a large plant like man emerged from the ground, "this is not good **leader-Sama will not be pleased when we inform him of another failure."** Zetsu looked over at the chunky remains of Kakazu's body, moving over to Kakazu's hand Zetsu grabbed the ring off the man's finger before eating the chunky remains of the corpse. Looking around and noticing there was nothing else Zetsu left.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sat in a chair right next to the bed that Yugito was laying in; he had managed to get to Kumo just under an hour after the battle and informed the Raikage of what happened. It had been about a day since then and the blond woman had yet to awaken, a testament to just how badly she had been injured. Both of his hands were holding one of hers, gently caressing the back with his thumbs.

Naruto frowned as he tried to think of a way he could have prevented this from happening, yet no matter how many angles he looked at it he did not know what he could have done differently. Even though he knew of his opponents abilities from Konan had it not been for Kyuubi's chakra he would have most likely been defeated, while most people would consider it amazing that he was able to come out of a fight against S class criminals alive Naruto was not most people. Not being able to defend one of the people he cherished more than anything in this life or the next and nearly passing out from chakra exhaustion afterwards was not a solid victory, especially when the two people he fought were not at the top of the food chain in Akatsuki.

_It just means I need more training_, Naruto said to himself as he banished any defeatist thinking from his mind. He better than anyone knew that asking pointless what ifs would not get him anywhere, his failure simply meant that he just had to try harder. _Next time I won't let one of my precious people get hurt, _Naruto vowed to himself as he looked at Yugito's unconscious form.

Naruto heard the door open but did not bother to look behind him; he already knew who it was. "What do you have for me?" the blond asked as the man came to stand behind him.

The person behind him sighed, "Unfortunately I don't have any useful information on who could have given out the information about Yugito's mission."

Naruto frowned and closed his eyes in thought; ever since Jiraiya had given Kumo information on Akatsuki, the missions that the two Jinchurikki had taken were kept a secret from everyone except those with high levels of clearance. Very few people could have known not only that Yugito was on a mission but also where the mission took her, the only ones Naruto knew who had any clue about the missions undertaken were the Raikage and members of the shinobi council. This meant that there was a spy for Akatsuki in the council, since the Raikage was extremely loyal to his shinobi and would never sell one of them out, especially Yugito and his brother. This treachery did not surprise Naruto as much as it might have at one point in time, after all Suna had had a spy in the council through the use of a slave seal. It could be something like that or one or more of the councilors could have been bribed, there were a number of possibilities about why someone may be willing to sell out their Jinchurikki.

"Would you mind if I look through the information you have found?" Naruto asked as he finally turned to the person he was talking to.

A looked distinctly uncomfortable to acquiesce to Naruto's request, in truth the Raikage actually would not mind if the blond shinobi looked through the reports he had gotten; he both respected and trusted the young man, especially when it came to Yugito. However handing out classified information to a shinobi who belonged to a foreign village was extremely frowned upon, not just because of the political fallout he could get, but also because of how that information could be used against Kumo if the information got out to another village.

Naruto sensed A's hesitation, "look we both know that you have a traitor somewhere in your council. The only other people who knew where Yugito had gone were you and Bee, you would never betray one of your ninja and Bee is almost like a brother to Yugito so that leaves just one option…"

"Yes I do know that but we both know it's not that simple," A said in a gruff voice. In the end it came down to whether or not he felt that the safety of Yugito was more important than the political fallout he would receive if anyone found out about this. In the end the choice was no contest, "very well I will give you the information you need," A sighed as he came to a decision, his shinobi's lives were more important than what some scheming politician could do.

"Thank you," Naruto said as he turned back to Yugito.

A looked at the young man for a little while longer, before leaving to get go get the files for him.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Jiraiya set down his empty dish of sake as he sat at a bar in a village just inside Ki No Kuni, grabbing the bottle next to him he filled another glass and drank. The Sennin had decided to stop here while he waited for his apprentice to finish spending time with one of the three beautiful women that came into his life, Jiraiya let out a small perverted giggle as he thought of all the women his prized pupil had. The kid was an absolute gold mine when it came to material for his books; he was almost finished with his next one thanks to Naruto. He was even thinking of making another one called Icha Icha Cat Tales, after the success of his other book that the white haired Sennin made based off of Naruto. He had a plan to write a book for each of the woman Naruto was with, the toad Sennin giggled perversely at the thought of his new books as well as the money they would make.

Jiraiya set his saucer down and was about to grab more sake when a toad hopped onto the bar top with a scroll in its hand, "it's from Naruto." the toad held out a scroll.

Jiraiya took the scroll from the toad that waited patiently for the Sennin to read it; unrolling it the Sennin began reading the contents. Jiraiya kept a mostly neutral expression when he read but if one looked closely enough they could see a small trace of worry in the Sennin's countenance. When he finished reading the scroll Jiraiya sighed, it seemed his apprentice always got into some kind of trouble no matter where he went. Jiraiya took out a blank scroll and started writing a letter to Tsunade, with the information Naruto gave it was clear that his prized pupil was going to be in Kumo for a few days. Finishing it he handed his scroll to the messenger toad, "give this to Tsunade and let her know Naruto and I will be a few days late."

The toad nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke, when it left Jiraiya sighed as he ordered another bottle. Once it came he got up and left, determined to find some good female company while he waited for his student. A perverse giggle came to his lips, _pretty ladies here I come._

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugito groaned as she felt her eyes flutter open, she frowned in thought as she found herself staring at a white ceiling; wondering where she was and how she got here. Her mind began to take in the information her senses were giving her, the smell of disinfectant that penetrated the area and the feel of the slightly lumpy bed she was under. As Yugito tried to figure out where she was through the thick haze of her mind, a voice spoke up.

'_**I'm glad to see your awake kitten.'**_

'_Nibi? What's going on? All I remember was-' _her eyes widened as she remembered her battle with Akatsuki. She tried to sit up only to fall back with a hiss as she felt a dull pain in her stomach.

'_**Easy Kitten,' **_Nibi said, _**'you took a pretty rough beating, even I had a tough time healing you.'**_

'_What happened? Where are we? And where is Naruto?' _asked Yugito in a worried voice.

'_**Your handsome mate is fine. We were lucky kitten, it was because of him that you're still alive and I'm still with you. We're currently in the hospital where I've been trying to heal you for three days, we ended up using a lot of my chakra during that battle so it took a lot longer than expected to heal you. That handsome young man of yours managed to carry you here after he finished those two Akatsuki members off, it was a good thing he gave you that beautiful ring of yours ne? I have to admit I'm pretty jealous you have found quite the devoted man, he hasn't left your side since you two got here.'**_

'_What do you mean?'_ as Yugito asked that she felt something squeeze the fingers of her left hand. Looking down she saw Naruto was sitting in a chair, his head was on the bed and his eyes were closed with his mouth slightly ajar showing he was fast asleep. Yugito could not hold in the smile that came to her face as she looked at the young man, lifting her unused hand Yugito ran it through Naruto's hair. The young blond man stirred a little but otherwise gave no other indication that he was waking up, eventually finding that she was still exhausted Yugito closed her eyes and went to sleep as well.

A few hours later Yugito woke up feeling a lot better, closing her eyes for a moment she let out a satisfied groan as she stretched herself out in very cat like fashion.

"I'm glad to see your awake."

Yugito smiled as she turned her head to the source of the voice to see Naruto on the chair right next to hers, "Naruto-kun…"

Naruto got up from his chair and moved over to her bed where he sat next to her and leaned against the head of the bed, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling the blond woman close. Yugito leaned into the blond as the two shared a companionable silence, just soaking up each other's presence. One of Naruto's hands reached out and gripped hers; while he let his fingers play with the ring he had gotten her.

The band itself was made of white gold, which was a very rare and valuable metal in the elemental nations. Along the band were several motifs of the Nibi in various poses, as well as several Kyuubi's doing the same thing. The jewel in the middle was a Tsavorite Garnet, which was a shade of green that complimented her eyes and had a depiction of the Kumo symbol on it. The jewels on either side of it were red rubies that were cut into the shape of tails, with one side being two and the other being nine. Yugito looked at his hands and the ring with a smile, remembering how he had given it to her during a festival in a small town outside of Tsuki No Kuni called Gotaku Suriampu.

The comfortable silence was soon broken by Naruto, "How are you feeling?"

Yugito sighed, "I don't know… I mean I'm thankful that I'm alive and I don't feel any pain anymore, but the fact that I got beaten in a one on one fight even when I was using Nibi's full transformation is just…"

"Frustrating?" Naruto finished for her, he received a small nod. "I can understand that, it's never fun having your weaknesses and faults shown, but that just means you know what you need to work on now." Naruto said as he tried to give Yugito something positive to take out of this, he fell silent for a moment to let her reflect on that before continuing, "still at least two members of Akatsuki are dead, which means we have two less people to worry about coming after us."

"I suppose that's something," Yugito said with a smile at Naruto's optimistic attitude.

"On to more important things," Naruto began as he handed Yugito the file he had been looking over. "I was looking through some files on the members of Kumo's council," he actually had several clones read it but it amounted to the same thing. He had gone over every little tidbit of information he had been given on the councilors, most of it were things that seemed to be the obvious activities to look for when dealing with a spy. Mainly the financial situation of the council members, how much money their accounts had received in the last few years. As well as any trips one of the council members went on, including trips for both business and pleasure. Most of that had led to a dead end, in Kumo people rarely ever got out of Kaminari No Kuni except for the council member who was in charge of the merchants guild and he went on so many trips that Naruto was unable to keep track of them. Naruto had also checked his own spy network and found that whoever it was had no other allies within Kumo, the spy had not gone to any of the other members of the council as none of his seals had picked up conversation about Akatsuki or Yugito within or around the council chamber. Naruto had then been forced to check more personal information about individual members, finding any Intel he could ranging from personal beliefs to even personal hygiene, wanting to ensure that he left nothing out.

It was there he had found a single lead.

Kotake Mushibata had been a standing member of the council for sixteen years, and had at one point been an extremely loyal ninja. Before joining the council he had been one of Kumo's top Jonin and even been a candidate for the position of Raikage, however A had been chosen for the position both because of his prowess on the battlefield where he had been able to match Minato Namikaze for a short time with his **Raiton: No Yoroi (Lightning Release: Lightning armor)** and also because his little brother Kirabi had been chosen for the sealing of the eight tails. After the third Raikage's public fall out and A's succession Kotake had become disgruntled, opposing many of A's idea's specifically the Raikage's decision not to go after the Byakugan after the Hyuuga incident. It had become even worse after Killer Bee's sudden rise in fame and popularity, going from Kumo's hated demon to the 'Guardian of Kumo' a title that had been bestowed upon him by the people of Kumogakure due to his constant desire to protect them. As time went by the man's beliefs had begun to get so bad that most people on the council ignored him, something that had seemed to irk the man to no end. However the most interesting piece of information Naruto had found was that Kotake had a single case of attempted rape on him that had been filed about eight years ago, fortunately it was stopped before he could actually do anything. That in itself would not have gotten his attention, after all rape was one of the most common crimes amongst ninja. What made this suspicious was because of just who Kotake had attempted to rape.

Naruto reached over onto the table near the bed, grabbing a folder he handed it to Yugito. "Yugi-chan I want you to flip to page fifty six and tell me what you know about the man in there," Naruto said.

Yugito looked up from the folder to look at him for a second before doing as asked; flipping through the pages Yugito got to where Naruto told her and could not hold in her gasp. The file had the picture of a man with dark red hair, dark skin and black eyes, "I… This man is…" Yugito dropped the folder and closed her eyes as she remembered the night that man had almost raped her. The way the man had used some kind of seal to cut her off from Nibi's chakra, before she had the chance to retaliate and knocked her out. Waking up tied to a bed and having the man rip her clothes off, claiming she should be honored to serve him since that was all demons were good for. While Raikage-Sama's Volt had managed to rescue her before anything could happen, it had still taken a year's worth of counseling sessions before she would let a man other than A and Bee near her. It did not help that the council had been comprised of several supporters of the Third Raikage at the time, and had enough pull during that period that they had been able to get Kotake off with a year in prison and a warning. Afterwards he had merely reclaimed his position on the council, through some kind of political loop hole in Kumo's charter.

She was jerked out of her thoughts as she felt an arm tighten around her waist, turning her head and looking up she saw Naruto staring at her with a concerned expression. "Are you alright?" he asked as he grabbed the folder and closed it, perhaps it had not been a good idea to show her that. Yugito bit her lower lip as she blinked back the few tears that fell from her eyes; leaning into Naruto she buried her face in his shirt. Knowing she needed to be comforted Naruto pulled her closer to him, and shifted her position so she was lying in between his legs. He gave her a chaste kiss on the head, "I'm sorry," Naruto apologized in a small whisper, "I probably shouldn't have showed you that…"

"It's ok," Yugito shook her head with her face still in Naruto's shirt, "it's just… I tried to forget that time when…"

"When he tried to rape you," Naruto finished for her and received a small nod in the affirmative.

"I was thirteen when it happened," Yugito said as she brought her face out of his shirt to lean it on his shoulder as she told her story. "I won't claim that I had it as bad as other Jinchurikki, while most people have always been weary of me and kept their distance, I was never out right hated. However there were a few people who completely despised me for what I hold…"

"People like Kotake?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Yugito nodded, "I had just been promoted to Jonin that day and was still fairly naïve about the world. I had been on my way home when he stopped me to supposedly congratulate me; he was a council member so I had no reason not to trust. Before I knew what was happening he slapped something on my forehead and felt Nibi's chakra draining from me. The next thing I knew was waking up tied down to a bed and…" a small sob shook Yugito's body as she was unable to finish the sentence.

Naruto arms tightened around her form, "Shhh… you don't have to say any more." Naruto put a hand under Yugito's chin and tilted her head up, leaning down he gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek just off side of her lips. "I doubt that man will be living much longer anyway."

"What do you mean?" asked Yugito as blinked away her tears.

"I mean I was looking for any information that might give me a lead as to who let slip where your mission had taken you," Naruto replied as he picked up the folder. "Most of what I ran into were dead ends, but there were several discrepancies that I was able to find on Kotake; including his known hatred of Jinchurikki and his attempted rape on you. My guess is that Akatsuki somehow knew this and approached him awhile ago," Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Anyways I'm going to suggest A to have the man interrogated; if he does prove to be guilty he'll be put to death for treason."

"What if he's not?" questioned Yugito, worried that this may make him do something drastic to her in retaliation.

Naruto shrugged, "if he's not… then he's going to regret not being killed after I get through with him so it won't matter either way."

"Don't do something you may end up regretting Naruto-kun," Yugito said to him even though she had to smile at his protectiveness over her.

Naruto sighed, "No promises," he said as the two fell into a comfortable silence.

It was half an hour later that Yugito spoke up, "you know you still owe me that date you promised."

Naruto blinked as he looked at Yugito who despite having a bit of blush also had a small smirk, Naruto grinned at the woman. "I did promise you one after we finished fighting those guys didn't I?" Naruto asked rhetorically, "does this also mean you're also up for that trip to the communal hot springs?"

Yugito blushed in embarrassment but held her smile, "we'll see."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Pain listened to Zetsu's report and watched the battle between the Kyuubi Jinchurikki, Kakazu and Hidan with a frown, while he had known that the boy was going to be a problem after they received that report on his time in Kiri; he had not counted on him being able to gain enough strength to defeat two members of Akatsuki. To make matters worse they were now down another two members and only had the Rokubi to show for it so far, adding onto the fact that the Kyuubi's Jinchurikki would most likely grow even stronger…

"This news is troubling," the man said at last as his Rennigan eyes scanned the others in the room.

Kisame smirked, "the gaki's certainly gotten stronger from the little twerp Itachi and me ran into four years ago. I look forward to the day Sameheda and I can have a real fight with him, it should be interesting."

"Do you think we **should go after him Leader-Sama?" **asked Zetsu.

Pain stayed silent for a moment as he tried to decide on a course of action, "No, at the moment it would cause more trouble than it was worth. The nine tails must be sealed last, that means we would need to keep him alive until we get the other Bijuu sealed." Pain looked around at the others for a moment, "we will continue gathering the other Jinchurikki and for the moment leave both the Ichibi and Nibi alone, they are not as important anyway. Itachi! Kisame!" Pain called getting Kisame to look at him and Itachi to open his eyes, "how far are you from your target?"

"I think we're pretty close," Kisame said with a shark like grin, "Sameheda is starting to get excited."

"I want you to capture the Gobi Jinchurikki as soon as possible," Pain said, "the rest of you should also get your Bijuu as soon as you can!"

"Don't worry yeah," Deidra said as he flexed his new arm, "I'm almost near the Sanbi; we'll get that one soon yeah."

"Yeah Deidra Sempai is gonna lay it on that thing!" Tobi yelled out as he pumped a fist into the air.

"Tobi how many times have I told you to shut up yeah!" Deidra yelled.

"Oops sorry sempai," Tobi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "don't worry, Tobi will be a good boy!"

Standing next to Pain, Konan looked over the others with her usual blank mask. However inwardly she was thankful that Pain was not sending any one after Naruto yet, she was not looking forward to the time when Naruto would be in danger. Even as strong as he was the blue haired woman still feared for him, _I hope all of this ends soon, _she thought to herself.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

All of the members of the Kumo council were currently sitting around the large stone table, wondering why it was they had been called so suddenly. While something like this was not unheard of it was very rare for the Raikage to ever call a meeting, normally only the most extreme emergencies could ever get him to even come to one, that or his attendant had to drag him. It was well known that the man disliked council meetings almost as much as he disliked paperwork, or anything that could take him away from his training.

As the council continued talking the door opened and in walked three figures, the first was easily recognized as the Yondaime Raikage who was in front of the group. The second one the council recognized as Yugito who was back in her standard shinobi garb, many wondered what she was doing here but were not overly concerned since she was a shinobi of the village. However it was the last figure that got most of the attention, said figure was completely covered from head to toe in a black hooded cloak. The hood was up covering the man's head in shadow and he was wearing a black face mask, the only thing the group could make out were a pair of piercing blue eyes. Many of the people within the room were intimated by the cloaked figure, none more so then Kotake who as soon as the figure turned his eyes towards him felt an immense and concentrated dose of killing intent that made the traitorous council member nearly release his bowels before it withdrew.

The Raikage went over to his seat with Yugito and the unknown figure following him, both of them standing on either side of the Raikage as he sat down. "I would like to get back to work soon so I am not going to beat around the bush," the Raikage started in a gruff voice. "Four days ago one of our shinobi was attacked by a group known as Akatsuki," there was a slight rumbling among the councilors as they began to talk; while occasionally throwing Yugito discreet glances. "I am sure all of you know that after receiving information about this group from one Jiraiya of the Sennin it was determined that we would be much more cautious about where we send our two greatest guardians." The Raikage was quiet for awhile as he looked around at those in the room, many seemed merely curious about what had happened, while a few seemed disgruntled. However A had noticed that Kotake was looking nervous, his eyes were darting from himself, Yugito and the cloaked figure and the Raikage could see a sheen of sweat on the man's features. _It seems Naruto is right, Kotake is a traitor… _"To be more careful we deemed that only those with a high level of clearance would be able to have access to any information on where Yugito and Bee were sent, so imagine my surprise when an ally of ours came into Kumo four days ago with a bloody and beaten Yugito."

At this information many of the councilors looked over to Naruto, having managed to realize that he was the ally their Raikage was talking about. "Now the reason I have called you all here is because it seems someone has betrayed this village, giving information on the location of one of my most valuable ninja to a group of S class criminal's."

A raised a hand and before any of the people knew what was happening several of Volt officers appeared and surrounded one Kotake Mushibata, said man who had previously been sweating stood on his feet. "Raikage-Sama what is the meaning of this!" he shouted as he tried to bluff his way out of the situation he now found himself in.

"I thought it would be obvious Kotake," A said in a dark tone as he glared at the man, "you have been found guilty of treason and will be interrogated and then tried. Volt take him away, and put him in one of the holding cells until he can be interrogated."

The man began to struggle as the Volt officers began to drag him out, as he flailed he looked around wildly and soon his eyes found who he felt was the reason behind his problems. The person who had caused him so many issues, "You BITCH!" Kotake shrieked out as he glared at Yugito with an expression that spoke of madness. "I should have killed you when I had the chance, you fucking dirty DEMON WH- *gurgle*!"

Every one stared wide eyed as the cloaked man stood right in front of Kotake having seemingly just appeared there, they looked over to where he had been only to see the fading of an afterimage. Looking back to Kotake they saw the man was now clutching at his throat, which had several senbon pierced into it. "You're going to want to take him to your best medical ninja," the cloaked man said in a whispery voice that sent chills down the spines of everyone in the room. "I just destroyed his voice box so if you want a confession it will need to be fixed," spinning on his heel the man walked back to the Raikage's side.

"Did you really have to do that?" the Raikage asked the man in a whisper once he got back as he shot the cloaked figure a glare.

Said man just looked at him, "he insulted Yugi-chan, in my books that's ground rules for death so you're lucky he is still whole and will be able to talk after he gets healed."

The Raikage just sighed realizing that with all the things he had seen this man do for Yugito, it should have been obvious he would not put up with someone insulting her. He gave the man a nod before turning back to the rest of the council. "That was all I wished to discuss with you today, tomorrow we will hopefully have a confession from Kotake and if he is found guilty schedule his execution."

The council stood up with many of them on slightly shaky legs, most of the members were feeling very disturbed by what they had just witnessed. When all of them had left the cloaked figure pulled down his hood and mask, letting his spiky golden blond hair and six whisker marks show. The moment he did pull down his mask Yugito pulled him into a hungry kiss, while he had not expected it that did absolutely nothing to stop him from returning it. "Thank you," Yugito mumbled against his lips with her voice as nothing more than a whisper.

Naruto pulled back from the kiss and gave the young blond woman a happy smile, "you know there's no need to thank me. I did this because I wanted to, because I care for you and because I love you." Yugito smiled at his words before Naruto turned to the Raikage, "when do you guys plan on interrogating Kotake?"

A blinked as he registered the question, "we will be doing it sometime tomorrow, which reminds me…" the Raikage turned his eyes on Yugito, "do you want to be there for the interrogation?"

Yugito gained a surprised look, "I…" she paused as she looked down at her feet. She really did not want to be in that mans presence again, even today just being in the same chamber as him made her feel vulnerable and frightened. She knew it was an irrational fear and the best way to get rid of it was to confront the thing she feared, yet at the same time the thought of being anywhere near that man was absolutely terrifying.

She was jerked from her thoughts as an wrapped around her shoulder, turning her head she saw that it was Naruto looking at her with a concerned expression. She gave him a small smile to let him know she appreciated his support, leaning her head on his shoulder she closed her eyes as she tried to make a decision.

'_**I suggest you go kitten.'**_

'_I don't know Nibi that man he…'_

'_**Frightens you I know,' **_Nibi cut the woman off, _**'but that's all the more reason to go. You need to confront this or finding any kind of peace will be impossible.'**_

Yugito sighed as she opened her eyes and looked at A, "if I do go… would it be alright if- if Naruto was there as well?"

The Raikage frowned in thought for a moment before deciding, "I suppose he can," A replied. The blond shinobi was already knee deep in this situation any way so it was not like having him there would make a difference, the blond may even be able to offer some useful insight. "Provided I get a signed contract stating you will not reveal our interrogation techniques," A said.

Naruto grinned, "I have a better idea," reaching into his pouch where there was a puff of smoke, he pulled out a scroll and tossed it to the Raikage. A looked at the scroll which had the kanji for torture on it before looking at Naruto with a raised eyebrow, "that contains torture and interrogation methods I came up with myself during my travels and the Bloodline Civil War. If you wish to keep your own methods a secret you can use those," Naruto said in answer to the large mans silent question.

Despite being surprised that the man would give something like this A merely nodded, "very well we will use these so that you can come as well. The interrogation will start early tomorrow morning at 8:00 am so, don't be late."

Naruto nodded, "we won't," he replied before turning his attention back to Yugito. Sticking his arm out to her he gave the woman a smile, "now that this is over with for now how would like to go out and get some sushi?"

The Raikage let out a chuckle as Yugito grabbed Naruto by the arm and ran so fast the young man was pulled off his feet, as she dragged him to her favorite sushi bar.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto absently ate the sushi on his plate, as he watched the blond woman next to him scarf down her food like it was going out of style. Long time association with Yugito had made him used to her eating habits, which never really bothered him to begin with since he ate ramen the same way she ate sushi.

"So we really had a traitor in the council," Naruto turned his attention to Omoi, who managed to keep the sucker in his mouth despite eating his food. "It makes you wonder if we might have more traitors somewhere, if we had one traitor already there's no reason to assume we might not have another. Or perhaps he was working for someone outside of Kumo; maybe we even have a traitor within the Daimyo's court. Or it could…"

SMACK!

"Damn it Omoi, shut your paranoid mouth!" Karui scowled at the blond haired Kumo Shinobi, as she smacked him in the back of the head. "If you keep this up, then even I'm gonna be paranoid!"

Omoi picked his head out of his plate, wiping off the noodles he had managed to get on it.

"You two should keep it down," Samui said in her cool and professional voice. "We could get kicked out if you cause a ruckus…"

Naruto shook his head at the two chunin, who had picked up their argument again while Samui tried to be a mediator. He and Yugito had run into the three on their way to Yugito's favorite sushi bar, the three had already heard rumor about what had happened and decided to follow the two. Omoi and Karui had tried to force an explanation out of Yugito; however she had not been comfortable talking about what happened. Naruto had been the one to discuss the events that had occurred within the council chamber, though he made sure to leave out some of the details as he did not know how much A wanted others to know.

Naruto sensed movement coming towards his plate, and used his reflexes to grab the hand that had been just about to steal some of his sushi. He looked over to the owner of said hand and grinned; "now Yugi-chan it's not nice to steal my food."

Yugito flushed with a bit of embarrassment at being caught, she tried to move her hand away but Naruto was holding fast. "Let go of my hand," Yugito said as she continued her effort to pull it out of his.

"Now why would I do that?" Naruto asked rhetorically as he gave the blond woman his foxy smile. "You would just try to steal my food again."

"Because you love me," Yugito answered with a smile as she tried to appeal to him.

"Hmmm, well that is true…" Naruto trailed off as if in thought. However rather than let go, Naruto brought Yugito's hand to his lips and began to plant kisses on it. He scooted his seat up a bit as he trailed kisses from her hand and moved up her arm, causing the woman to blush as she felt her body begin to heat up. Finally Naruto was right next to her, Yugito found herself leaning into him as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. As she looked up Yugito noticed that his face was much closer than before and was getting closer, she slowly followed his actions as she closed her eyes. Just as their lips were about to touch, a cough interrupted them. Yugito blushed in embarrassment while Naruto was grinning like a fox, as the other three they were with stared at them.

"Not that I don't mind you guys doing that," Karui said with a large blush, it was the first time Naruto had heard her speak without yelling. "But you if you're going to, you should really get a room…"

While Yugito blushed Naruto just smirked, "you know you guys didn't have to come with us. Or if we're making you uncomfortable you could just leave…" Naruto suggested.

Karui sputtered for a bit before she glared at him, "this is a public restaurant, you can't go sucking face here!"

Naruto merely grinned, "I think your just jealous that Yugi-chan got a totally awesome and sexy man like me and you don't…"

"That's it!" Karui yelled with an embarrassed blush as she tried to lunge across the table; however she was quickly restrained by both Samui and Omoi.

"You need to calm down Karui, be more like our large breasted leader," Omoi grunted as he was elbowed in the face.

"Shut up! I'm gonna kill him!" Karui yelled as she tried to kick the two off of her.

Yugito shook her head and sighed, wondering how she ended up with such an unusual group of friends and an even weirder fiancé.

'_**You know you love it,' **_Nibi spoke up in her mind, _**'at least nothings ever boring.'**_

'_Not now Nibi…'_

'_**Spoilsport.'**_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

A, Yugito and Naruto stood behind a large one way glass window, on the other side was Kotake and one of the Volt members who specialize in interrogation. Kotake looked like he had been roughed up the night before; the man's arms and legs were currently bound to a metal chair that was bolted to floor. He had several cuts, bruises and contusions on his face, his left eye was swollen shut and black and his lips were split. Naruto knew it was standard procedure to beat a prisoner before the interrogation started in order to weaken their resistance, while he himself had never done that since he was on the road and never actually took prisoners he had seen it during the war when he was forced to participate in a few interrogations.

"Kotake we can do this the easy way or the hard way," the Volt officer a man with spiky black hair and several scars going from the top of his brow to his lower cheeks said.

"I'm not gonna tell you shit!" Kotake screamed as blood and spittle came out of mouth, "you stupid demon lovers can all go to hell!"

The scarred man shrugged before taking out the scroll the Raikage had given him, "Very well the hard way it is," he said. Going over to a table the man unrolled the scroll and unsealed its contents, revealing several dozen odd looking pins. The odd pins were sharp at the bottom point and around the middle split off into two fairly decent sized chunks of metal with red tips, all together the device was about 5" long. Another thing the Volt officer noted were all of the seals which were on the pins, running along their entire length.

Kotake's eyes widened as the scarred man grabbed several of the pins and a small metal pole with a .2" radius and a length of 5" and began to walk up to him. Trying to feign courage Kotake laughed, "What are those things? Some kind of new acupuncture treatment?"

The scarred man grinned, "Something like that," he had read what these were designed to do last night and could not help but admit that he was impressed; who ever had come up with this way of torture was a genius. As soon as the scarred man got close enough to Kotake he jabbed one of them in the man's shoulder, right between the joint where the Humerus bone connected to the ball socket. Kotake gave a wince as a sharp jolt of pain stabbed through him, but still decided to use whatever bravado he had left. "Hmph that's it? I guess I shouldn't expect much from an incompetent fool like you."

The scarred man said nothing, merely took the small metal pole and as gently as he could tapped both of the protruding pieces of metal on the pin while channeling chakra through them. There was a small ding before Kotake let loose a large scream of anguish.

"GGGRAAAHHH!"

"These pins are designed to unleash 65 volts of lightning when I channel chakra through them," the Volt officer told the man. "It tends to screw up the nervous system and cause a lot of pain, add onto the fact that the vibrations from the pin is grinding against your joints and you can see why it would not be very comfortable."

"Ha!" Kotake laughed, though it sounded more like a pained wheeze, "you think this is painful! This is nothing!"

The volt officer merely added another pin, this one set in the socket joint between the Humerus bone, the radius and ulna. Taking the metal pole he tapped both of them, getting an even louder and more pained scream from the man.

"Did you know that water is a natural conductor for lightning?" the scarred man asked in a conversational tone as if discussing what to have for dinner tonight. "The human body is made up of 90% water, which naturally makes it easier for lightning to travel through you body, but you should already know this right?" As if to emphasis his point the scarred Volt tapped both pins again, eliciting another yell from the man as electric currents flooded his nerves and the vibrations of the pins and movements Kotake made caused his socket joints to vibrate and grate against each other. "Quite painful isn't it? All of this can be over soon if you just tell me what I want to know." the Volt officer said in the same calm tone he had used since the interrogation began.

"Fuck… You…"

"Hmm… seems I need to add another one."

Yugito watched with an odd sort of fascination as the man used those odd pins which had to cause excruciating pain, if the Kotake's screams were any indication. While she knew about torture and interrogation Yugito had never done it herself, her main job had always been either assassination or search and destroy missions. As she looked at the man who's screaming seemed to have increased in both frequency and volume the blond woman could not hold in a small wince, while a part of her could not deny that she felt good seeing someone who had tried to rape her in excruciating agony, another felt sickened at seeing the man in pain; as well as the fact that she enjoyed seeing him in such agony. She was knocked out of her thoughts when she felt a hand move into hers and give it a gentle squeeze before lacing it's fingers with her own, turning her head she saw Naruto giving her a supportive smile even though he himself did not like watching others tortured, no matter who they were. Yugito gave him a small smile of gratitude for his support as she turned her attention back to the I&T session.

"…Bastard…" Kotake breathed out as he the intense pain he was in finally stopped for a moment. The man currently had six pins stuck in him and while nothing else had changed on the outside, on the inside his body felt like it had been dipped in molten lava.

"Still not ready to talk eh?" asked the Volt officer as he grabbed another pin.

Kotake's eyes widened as the man grabbed another pin, each time one was stuck in him it seemed to increase the pain by several fold. The man was just about to stick another one in him when," Alright! I'll tell you!"

The scarred man pulled the needle back, "Well?"

"I did sell out both Demons to Akatsuki, they offered to pay me a lot of money and I was more than happy to do it," Kotake started. "but that's not all I was also asked to- GGGRRAAAHHHH!" they had stopped mid speech and let loose a torrential scream, none of the people watching knew what was going on until they saw a seal begin to light up on the man's forehead.

Naruto instantly recognized it as some kind of dead man switch, most were usually placed around the heart and were designed to kill someone instantly with a hand sign; it was actually this seal which had created the bird cage seal. This one was obviously a modified version of that, "Shit!" Naruto cursed as he and the other two people rushed out of the room and into the interrogation chamber. "Hold him still!" Naruto shouted as Kotake began to bleed through his eyes, ears, nose and pores as he started to spasm. The scarred interrogations expert grabbed the convulsing man as Naruto ran up to him, after inspecting the man he forced Kotake's mouth open and for just a moment saw a seal on the man's tongue before it disappeared. As it did Kotake's convulsing stopped, checking the man's pulse he confirmed that Kotake had died. "He's dead," Naruto announced, "it looks like a modified version of a dead man's switch, I'll have to take a look at it later to figure out what it was exactly. Damn!" Naruto cursed a he punched his open palm, "he barely gave out any information!"

"That's true;" the Raikage said, "but what we do have is quite valuable and if I heard right he was going to sell out Bee too!"

"Yeah but since he's dead that does not really help the situation," Naruto gave a sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm going to study the seal designs I saw and see what I can make of them, I'll return with the info sometime today or tomorrow."

"Ok, I appreciated you doing this," The Raikage said.

Naruto waved it off, "not at all, Yugi-chan is important to me so anyone or anything that threatens her is my enemy."

Yugito blushed at the comment, while the Raikage laugh and the scarred interrogator merely looked amused.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

A day later Naruto found himself knocking on the door to the Raikage's office.

"Come in!"

Opening the door Naruto entered to find A lifting weights like he always does when at work, "I have the information on the seals."

The Raikage dropped his weight as he sat up and put his hands on the desk, "excellent, what have you found out?"

Naruto unrolled a scroll and put it on the Raikage's desk, on it showed two seals. The Raikage was able to recognize the seal on the left as the one that appeared on Kotake's head when he died, the second one however he did not recognize. "The first seal I'm sure you recognize," Naruto began without preamble as he pulled up a seat. "It's the dead man's switch and is normally specifically designed to stop the heart through the use of a hand sign, this one however has been heavily modified. Where the other was designed to stop the heart in one go, this seal's function was to not only stop the brain from functioning but also destroy the entire brain starting at the frontal lobe."

"That would confirm what the autopsy on Kotake showed," A said as he confirmed Naruto's theory. When the morticians had gone over Kotake's body they had claimed that the entire brain had been liquidated.

Naruto gave a nod of acknowledgement before continuing, "however the seal was also linked." here Naruto pointed over to the other seal, "to this one, whose main purpose was to activate the dead man's switch, whenever Kotake began to talk about a specific subject. We can assume that since he had been about to give us information on Akatsuki, that they were the ones who put the seals on him; though he did not seem to know that."

What Naruto didn't mention about all this was that the kind of work required to modify and link the two seals together was impossible for many people to do. When the blond had first heard about Kotake taking away Nibi's power from Yugito, he had immediately recognized that the disgusting excuse for a man must have used some kind of seal similar to the **Gogyo Fuiin (Five Elemental Seal)** that Orochimaru had used to cut him off from Kyuubi during the chunin exams several years ago. He himself had several seals that were based off of that one which he and Jiraiya had made in case Kyuubi's chakra overtook him and there was no one who could stop him from going on a rampage, but he and Jiraiya were seal masters. So Naruto had to wonder where the man could have gotten such a thing, especially since seals were an extremely difficult and obscure art to learn. Very few people ever became proficient with seals and even fewer mastered them. So for that man to have a seal designed to cut off a Jinchurikki from their tenant's chakra meant that he had someone who had been working for him, or the more likely case that he had been working for someone that gave it to him. While the seals used to seal of Nibi's chakra could be done by anyone who was proficient enough in seals, the fact that Kotake had an extremely powerful and complex seal on him that was designed to kill him told Naruto that there was a seal master at work. The blond wished he had his spy network back then so he could find out who had given him the seals. However he knew it was a mute point right now, and that he would have to look into it later.

"aruto… Naruto!"

Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts and focused his attention on A, "sorry I was thinking about something… erm what were you saying again?"

The Raikage shook his head for a moment before speaking, "I was just asking if you think there may be any more spies in the council?"

Naruto hmm'd in thought before speaking, "it's perfectly possible, though you can never know for certain until something happens or you interrogate everyone on the council. Still it would be best to play it safe and assume that there is another spy, either on the council or among the populace."

The Raikage nodded having come to the same conclusion, though it was always good to hear a second opinion and he trusted the Uzumaki Namikaze heir. "Very well, I appreciate the help."

"Not at all," Naruto replied as he sat up, "I'm always glad to be of assistance to my friends."

A watched as the man offered a nod of respect and walked out the door, when the door closed the Raikage picked up his weights and began lifting again.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Using the key Yugito gave him Naruto unlocked the door to her apartment, putting his cloak up on a stand before walking into the bed room. When he got there a small smile formed on Naruto's face as he spotted Yugito sleeping on the bed, rolling around every now and then as she made small, cute noises in her sleep.

Naruto took off his clothes and put them in an extra dirty bin hamper that they had gotten just for him, since Naruto visited often he and Yugito had actually gone out and gotten several things for him for when he came over. Naruto now had his own dresser filled with shinobi and civilian clothing and toiletries in her bath room, Kirabi and A had actually joked that Naruto might as well live with Yugito; of course that had gotten the both of them hit on the head by an embarrassed and angry Yugito.

When Naruto finished getting ready to sleep he walked over to the bed and slid under the covers, almost as soon as he did Yugito turned over and as if sensing his presence latched onto him and pulled him closer to her so that half of her body was on top of him with one leg intermixed with his own and one arm over his chest. Naruto chuckled as he pulled an arm around the blond woman, who gave a sigh of content before snuggling closer.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Jiraiya looked over as Naruto appeared right next to him in a yellow flash, "so I take it you've got everything squared away in Kumo?"

Naruto nodded, "yes, there were a few extra problems I had to deal with but they were taken care of. How did Tsunade take it?"

Jiraiya winced, "let's just say that I am not looking forward to seeing her and giving an explanation as to why you went off to face two Akatsuki members on your own."

Naruto felt a small shiver run down his spine but ignore it as they began walking again, "well I didn't have much of a choice…"

"Yeah, yeah I know they would have gotten one of your girlfriends," Jiraiya grinned, "I think I'll put that in my next book. The hero goes off and saves his beloved from death, than gets his reward of OOMPH!"

Jiraiya found himself face first in the dirt as Naruto smashed a fist into the back of his head, "if you keep doing this Ero Sensei one day you're going to regret it."

Jiraiya got up and rubbed the back of his head, mumbling about no good gaki's who gave no respect to their elders. As they continued on their way Naruto smiled as he thought about how everyone would react to his return, as well as how good it would be to see the rookie eleven and the rest of his friends in Konoha.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Omake: Jiraiya's punishment pt. 2

Jiraiya walked along the dirt road as he made his way to the next town; with luck he would get there and be able to get in some research before his apprentice came back from spending some time with Yugito.

As if sensing his thoughts and determined to ruin his plans Naruto appeared right next to him in his typical yellow flash, however the blond was not alone. Yugito was standing right next to him and was currently glaring at the Sennin, with one of those glares that every male knows. It was the glare that said 'I'm going to make you suffer' and was a look Jiraiya had gotten whenever he was caught peeking in the hot springs.

_Uh oh, _Jiraiya thought as he backed away from the two, "uh… it's a pleasure to see you again… Yugito-san."

"I'm afraid I can't say the same thing _Jiraiya!" _she spoke his name with a cat like hiss.

"Look if… if this is about that movie then-"

"**RRAAHH!"**

"Oh shit!" Jiraiya cursed as Yugito transformed into a giant two tailed cat.

The white haired Sennin took off running as fast as he could, hoping to get away from the now Nibified Yugito. Unfortunately for him, Yugito was not only sixteen times larger but was also nearly four times faster, she soon caught up to the man and pounced on him, pinning him to the ground with her paws. She then began to exact her revenge for using her Naruto in a porn movie.

As Jiraiya began to scream about his fishing tackle, Naruto stood back and shook his head. _With luck this will make him think twice about being a pervert… than again I doubt anything can do that._

XXXXXXXXXXXX

So this is done, I had wondered if I should put another chapter before this one, but figured you guys were ready for Naruto to return to Konoha. Which is the next chapter. YAY! The main event has arrived, at least until the next main event comes.

**Next! Chapter 8: A Hero's Return!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Neccor: it does seem that way; however it is actually a proven fact that people develop their skills the fastest when they first start out. After wards they end up struggling because they do not have much to learn, and have often times reached most of their potential. Plus Naruto does have the kage bushin's, in canon Naruto did elemental training for like a month and was able to split a water fall in half (something that would take most jonin several years to do). Now take a more intelligent Naruto like the one in my story and have him train almost nonstop with two to three hundred kage bushin a day.**

**Midnari: to answer your question, no he does not know about Konan. Naruto knows that if Jiraiya found out about Konan then he would find out about Nagato, which means the man, would drop everything he was doing to go to Ame and end up getting himself killed.**

**Zathol: I do have a plan for Fu, she will not be with Naruto though. However she will get some lovin' but I won't ruin the surprise by saying who.**

**Khaoticryu: you won't have to worry about me not finishing this, honestly I already have an ending, I just have to make all the awesome chapters in between.**

**Flamenvy963: what kind of story would ever be complete without Anko as a crazy and sexy psycho bitch?**

**Bakapervert: it's not that Kumo is incompetent; it runs more along the lines that most people would not think to look at some of those areas. Kotake despite his hatred of Jinchurikki and dislike of anything the Raikage tried to do, he had never shown any traitorous tendencies and knows several loopholes that were able to keep him out of trouble until Naruto pointed out the facts that he was the most logical person to be a traitor. It's a similar situation to Danzo in Konoha, everyone knows that he is in charge of ROOT, and yet they cannot do anything because they simply don't quite have the evidence and he has tons of loopholes so he does not get discovered despite the fact that they meet one of his ROOT Anbu.**

**Lightning Blade39: he could have but then would have lost the use of his arm for however long it took to heal, what would have happened if he had done that and several of the hearts had managed to get away. Plus he would have still had to deal with Hidan (Remember the Rasenshuriken is not everything, nor do I want it to be his crutch like they have it and the Sage mode be in canon).**

**Greed: to be honest I was expecting something like this in the manga, I get the feeling that Kishi is trying to tie Naruto to all the other characters, events and what not (Like Kushina being Kyuubi's Jinchurikki for instance). Also the only reason Nagato got that power was because Madara gave him the power of the Rikudo's eyes and spiritual chakra, remember Itachi gave Naruto a gift and we have yet to find out what that is so for all we know he could get it.**

**Sasmith: he will get one woman from Konoha, but it's going to be Yugao not Hinata.**

**UMMX: I don't think another porn movie would be a good idea, the first time he was able to get Jiraiya in trouble. But what would be his excuse for doing it a second time? (Can you imagine the pain he would experience from his girls, melted balls, Nibi wailing on his ass, Koyuki would probably sic her samurai on him and let's not forget that we just saw Konan use like six hundred paper bombs to try and kill Madara, imagine him getting that treatment ((shudders))).**

**Marc: I could probably add a BOOM! In there.**

**Chapter 8: A hero's Return!**

It was a peaceful day in Konoha, as the mid day sun shone over the village. There was a slight breeze rustling through the entire area, cooling the slightly warm temperature and allowing the many trees that were located all around the village to gently sway. Many shops were open as merchants sold their wares, while civilians and ninja alike bought them. Teenagers were lounging around the cafés and restaurants, discussing the latest gossip or news. All together it was a very peaceful and calm day.

Said peace was soon shattered as a black cat raced down the street, dodging civilians left and right as it weaved in between their legs; the cat was moving so fast one might think the hounds of hell were chasing it. Of course this could be a fairly accurate analogy, except rather than hounds it was three genin who were chasing it. The one in front had spiky brown hair and was wearing a blue scarf, his name was Konohamaru Sarutobi. The other male in the squad who was slightly to the left of Konohamaru, was wearing glasses and had a perpetually runny nose, this boy was called Udon. The last of the three was a female, she had orange hair done up in twin pigtails and a large blush that spread across her face, this girls name was Moegi. Together these three formed what had become known as the Konohamaru corps, a name which they had gained in their younger days.

The three continued chasing the cat; eventually taking to the roofs until they managed to corner it in an alley. Said feline hissed and snarled, in an attempt to scare the three away. It was all in vain however as Konohamaru pounced on the creature, finally managing to pin its limbs to its body. Moegi pushed a button on her head set letting their sensei know that their mission was complete. However some time during this discussion the cat had gotten loose, and soon enough Konohamaru's screams were heard throughout the village.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Konohamaru grinned like a madman, as he watched the cat they had just caught get squeezed to death by its owner, one Madame Shinji who was the wife of the fire Daimyo. This was the only consolation he ever got when taking this mission; he really couldn't even understand why they got this mission anyways, since it never let him show off his skills. Hopefully their sensei would let them go on another C rank mission soon; otherwise the spiky haired genin was sure he would go crazy.

Once the Daimyo left with her nearly choked to death cat, Ebisu turned on his team with a scowl. It was not long until he began to berate them for the mission, listing off all of their faults in painful detail. He ended telling them that the mission had taken way to long, and that they would be doing it over again as soon as it came back up.

"But Sensei," Moegi said as she tried to defend her team, "you know how hard it is to catch that cat. With all the times we've done it, I'm pretty sure that cat is used to running away."

"I don't want to hear any of your excuses," Ebisu said with a scowl, as he pushed his sun glasses up his nose with two fingers. "This just proves to me that you need more training, since you obviously lack the proper skills necessary to perform this mission."

This however was the wrong thing to say to Konohamaru, who soon became indignant. They had gotten this mission so many times it wasn't fair, in fact he was sure that they had gotten this mission more times than any other team. Sitting on the floor the young Sarutobi began to complain, stating that these missions were too lame and he could not show off his awesome skills with such boring missions. Of course this had the consequence of getting one Iruka Umino to yell at the genin, claiming that you could only take C rank missions after you had done a certain number of D ranks. Tsunade seconded this, telling them that they had to work harder if they wanted to get higher ranking missions.

Of course this still did not sit well with Konohamaru who turned around, showing his back to the Hokage as he crossed his arms. "I can't keep doing such boring missions, after all I'm gonna be the Nanidaime (Seventh) Hokage!"

Tsunade gained an amused smirk as she looked at Konohamaru, who reminded her of another indignant brat she had known. "Oh and who may I ask is gonna be the Rokudaime (sixth)?" Tsunade asked in a curious voice.

"Why Naruto-nii-san of course!"

Everyone was quiet when they heard that, it had been four years since Naruto had left on his training trip with Jiraiya. Tsunade and the others had to wonder what Naruto would be like when he got back; they knew that he would not be the same little boy they had known four years ago. The news of the blond shinobi's exploits had traveled throughout Konoha and the entire elemental nations by now. Based on that information alone, they knew he would not be the same Naruto they had known before he left.

"It's been four years since Naruto left to go training with Jiraiya-Sama, I wonder when he'll be back?" Iruka thought out loud as he scratched his cheek, thinking about the person he considered to be a younger brother. During Naruto's time in the academy Iruka had been the one person to try and help the blond, and while it had taken awhile Iruka had been the only person there to see Naruto for who he was, not what he held.

"According to Jiraiya's latest report their going to be a little late…" Tsunade frowned at that. She had gotten a report two days ago when the two were due to return, claiming Naruto had gone off to fight the Akatsuki. Though the message had made it clear that Naruto was fine and the two members he had fought were dead, however it had not given her a reason why her grandson/son figure had gone off to battle them alone. She sighed knowing she would not likely get much information on that for the time being, "I hope he comes back soon. I really miss him," Tsunade admitted with Iruka and her assistant Shizune nodding in agreement.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

As the day wore on two figures emerged from the forests of Konoha, they entered the gate and stopped. Letting their eyes roam over the village they had not seen in four years.

The one on the left was fairly tall, standing at 6'5" and carried a large scroll on his back. He had shock white hair that spiked up, and trailed down to about mid back. It was held up by a Hitea-ate with the Kanji for oil, the symbol for Mount Myobokuzan where the toads lived. He was wearing a red vest over a green gi and mesh shirt, on his feet were a pair of wooden geta sandals. On his face was red kabuki paint, which trailed down his cheeks. This was Jiraiya, the legendary Toad Sennin and self proclaimed super pervert.

On the man's right was another figure, this one standing at an even height of 6'. His hair was a golden blond, which was rare no matter which country you were in. The hair was spiky and went down to his shoulders; two large bangs framed his face, while several smaller bangs hovered just a little over his eyes. Holding up those bangs was a Hitea-ate with the Konoha leaf symbol on it, the tie itself was black and the ends fell down to his knees. His clothing consisted of a pair of black shinobi pants, which were wrapped from mid calf in white bandages that went into a pair of black steel toed combat boots. His shirt was black skin tight and sleeveless, over it was what looked like a Jonin flak jacket in the Kiri style. However unlike a flak jacket this did not have pockets, instead right in the center of it was a round orb. Hanging around his neck and situated right above the orb was a crystal necklace, an artifact that had been passed down in the Senju family and originally belonged to the Shodaime. Around both his arms were white bandages; over the bandages were black Anbu style forearm protectors. His hands had a pair of dark orange fingerless gloves on, with steel plating on the back, one with the Uzumaki swirl and another with the Namikaze clan crest. Finishing off his look was a dark orange, sleeveless high collared Haori with black flames licking the bottom. This was Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, the son of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze.

"I can't believe it's been four years…"

Jiraiya turned to look at his student who was wearing a nostalgic expression and smiled, the boy had grown a lot in recent years. Gaining strength even faster than his father had, when the Toad Sennin had taken Minato on a training trip. Yet even with all the sights they had seen and places they had been, the young man had still missed his home. Jiraiya assumed that the blond got his love of Konoha from his parents, like his father and mother; Naruto had inherited the 'will of fire' that they had both been known for.

"Come on Gaki," Jiraiya said as he pulled his scroll up before walking into Konoha, "we need to see Tsu-hime before she beats me to death for being late."

Naruto grinned as he caught up to his sensei, "you know she's probably gonna beat the crap out of you anyways right. Knowing you Ero-sensei, you're bound to make some perverted comment about her before long."

One of Jiraiya's eyebrows twitched as a scowl worked its way on his face, "damn it gaki how many times do I have to tell you! Stop calling me that!"

Naruto's grin widened, "when you give up your perverted ways I'll be sure to stop calling you that."

The Toad Sennin snorted, "like that will ever happen."

Naruto shrugged as if to say 'then you shall forever remain Ero-sensei' before the two quieted down. Despite the many arguments they had, most of which revolved around Jiraiya's perverted nature. The man was still the closest thing Naruto had to a father, the blond held a great amount of respect for the man. Though there was the occasional time where Jiraiya had incurred the wrath of the **Oodoma Rasengan enema**, usually when he made a perverted comment about Naruto and or one of his girls.

Now that the two were silent, Naruto turned his attention to the village populace, who he noticed were all staring at him. The looks ranged from shock, awe and disbelief, at least the men's looks did. The women were staring at him with unmasked lust, something that caused Naruto to shiver. He never understood how women could degrade themselves like this; offering their bodies to someone they didn't even take the time to get to know. It was almost enough to make Naruto feel some form of sympathy for Sasuke… almost. _At least they're not fan boys… _Naruto thought with a shudder. Shaking the disturbing thought off, Naruto channeled some chakra into his ears to listen to what the people around him thought about him.

"I can't believe it, it's Yondaime-Sama!"

"Yondaime-Sama, he's returned from the grave!"

"That's not Yondaime-Sama, that's Naruto Namikaze-Sama, he's Yondaime-Sama's son!"

"Naruto, you mean that loud brat who was always playing pranks! No way!"

"You obviously haven't heard about what he did in Kiri."

"Who cares what he did or whose son he is, he's hot!"

"I wonder if he'll let me have his children?"

Naruto shivered at the last comment, it was things like that that gave women such a bad rep. he couldn't really see how these women could say something like that, they didn't even see him, just his name.

"Well seems like your quite popular with the ladies gaki," Jiraiya said with a lecherous grin. He too had noticed all of the looks his student had been getting; it was something that made him both proud and jealous. "You know Minato was also quite the lady killer back in his day."

"Yeah well you know as well as I do that a snow ball has a better chance of surviving in hell, then these woman have of ever getting with me," Naruto said with conviction. "I won't date a fan girl, who only cares about my clan name, rather than me. I will only ever marry someone who loves me for me, and can see me for who I am."

Jiraiya just shrugged at that, he knew of his student's desires to be with women who loved him. The kid had always been something of a romantic that way; it was another thing Jiraiya was sure he had gotten from Minato. That man could have had so many women it wasn't even funny, yet even after he had been given clan status he refused to marry anyone other than Kushina, since she was the only one who did not care about him being Hokage or a Clan Head. Thinking about love and women brought a perverse giggle to his lips, Naruto didn't need fan girls anyway since he already had three beautiful ladies who Jiraiya was sure would marry him eventually.

"I hope you're not thinking any perverted thoughts about me and the women in my life, _Sensei,_" Naruto said in a threatening manner. The blond grinned when his sensei shut up, the last time Jiraiya had thought of the blond and his girls in said blondes presence… let's just say he had not been able to sit for a month.

_That's something else he picked up from Minato,_ Jiraiya thought lamentingly as he remembered a time when he had been peeking in the hot springs and Minato and his wife had come in. He had not known they were there until he saw Kushina, and unfortunately for him had not realized that Minato had come with her. The beating those two had given him had been even worse than when he had peeked on Tsunade.

The rest of the trip to the Hokage tower was made in silence, as the two were left to their own thoughts.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Tsunade sighed as she finally finished the paperwork, it had taken a long time and a lot of sake but it was finally done and she could now relax. She turned in her seat to look out over the village, her mind going to a certain blond. She seemed to be thinking about the gaki quite often these days, but given that she had not gone a week without hearing some kind of rumor about him that did not surprise her. The busty blond woman sighed as she wondered when he would come back; she was so caught up in her thoughts that she barely noticed the knock at the door.

"Come in!" she called out as she turned around.

The door opened and the first thing Tsunade saw, was a familiar mop of golden blond hair. As soon as she spotted that she shot out of her seat, she was just about halfway there when she laid eyes on the rest of the person who was standing in the doorway. Her mind soon shut down and her mouth hung open, as she stared at what she could only assume the man was some kind of Kami. A blush began to spread across Tsunade's face, as she took notice of the man's handsome and roguish face as well as all the hard muscle that was on his compact body. The blond Hokage was staring for so long that she did not even notice the man move to stand in front of her.

"You know baa-chan it's kind of awkward having someone I think of as a grandmother drooling over me," Naruto teased with a foxy grin.

Tsunade blinked as she heard the familiar nickname, before her mind rebooted. She blushed in embarrassment for a second as she wiped her mouth, and saw that much to her chagrin there was drool. She looked back at the blond, "Naruto?" she asked tentatively as she wondered if this was really the blond gaki who had left four years ago.

Naruto gave her a cheeky grin, "who else would call you baa-chan?" the blond shinobi asked only to stumble back as Tsunade latched onto him. The blond Hokage wrapped him up in a tight hug, which Tsunade was delighted to feel returned.

"I missed you Gaki," Tsunade said with her voice being muffled by his clothes.

"I missed you too Tsunade," Naruto replied as he for once used her name to show how much he truly missed the woman.

Tsunade released him from her death grip hug and looked him up and down, "Kami kid you look just like…"

"Looks just like his old man doesn't he?"

The two blonds turned to see Jiraiya grinning at the pair, it was one of the only times Tsunade ever saw the man grin with something other than perverseness.

"He does," Tsunade replied, "I almost didn't recognize him if it were not for the whiskers."

"I know what you mean," Jiraiya replied, "He's been mistaken for his old man several times. I remember this one time when we were on the border of Tsuchi No Kuni…"

"You do know I'm right here right?" Naruto interrupted in an annoyed tone, "don't speak of me like I'm not even here."

Jiraiya gave a hearty laugh at his apprentices whining, while Tsunade let out a small chuckle as she moved back behind her desk. Sitting down she leaned her head on her hands as she looked at Naruto, "I hear you had a run in with Akatsuki?" she said, obviously fishing for more information.

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he gave a sheepish expression, "well yeah. You see when I was in Kumo I gave the two Jinchurikki there one of my Hiraishin Kunai, they promised me that is they ever ran into Akatsuki they would use it." Naruto shot a quick glance at Jiraiya, telling the man to keep his mouth shut about Yugito. Right now there were too many variables to let anyone know about his relationships, if people like Danzo found out Naruto knew he would have to deal with a whole new set of problems.

Tsunade sighed and closed her eyes; she probably should have known that would happen given Naruto's protective nature. And finding two more people like him, it would be obvious to anyone that he would want to keep them from harm. Thankfully she missed the look Naruto and Jiraiya shared, "I suppose I can understand that gaki. Still you need to be careful, especially when dealing with Akatsuki."

"Don't you worry baa-chan, I know what I'm doing," Naruto said dismissively.

Tsunade eyebrows twitched at her name, but figured she could let it go just for today. "You know news of your feats have reached all of the elemental countries," the blond Hokage said, "It's good to see you've actually improved."

"That's cruel Tsu-Hime, were you not expecting him to grow strong under my care?" Jiraiya asked as he wiped away some fake tears.

Tsunade was about to answer when Naruto beat her to it, "she probably thought you were going to be so busy peeping on women, that you would forget all about training me."

As Jiraiya began to skulk in the corner, Naruto and Tsunade laughed. Finally Tsunade looked at Naruto with a semi serious expression, "you should know that council also knows of your feats as well, particularly your stint in Kiri…"

Naruto frowned as he realized where she was going with this, "I already figured as much, Ero-sensei and I saw the results outside." As Jiraiya mumbled about disrespecting blonds, Tsunade laughed at the nickname Naruto had come up with for the Toad Sennin. "So you expect the council will try to find a way to claim my clan's power," Naruto said as he got back on topic. "Either through arranged marriages or through major ass kissing."

Both Jiraiya and Tsunade cracked up at hearing the rather blunt, yet completely accurate way to describe the situation. The Konoha council was well known for their greed, most of the members were merchants who owned many different businesses both inside and outside of Konoha. Because of this they had always believed that they deserved more power than they were supposed to have.

"You would be right brat," Tsunade said after she managed to regain her breath.

"So how did they take my heritage being revealed anyway?" asked Naruto.

Tsunade shivered, "at first… they threw a fit. Even when I showed them the Marriage contract between Minato and Kushina, your blood test and your birth certificate they were fighting tooth and nail to not let you claim your inheritance. It wasn't until I told them of what you did in Kiri that they had a change of tune."

"I see…" Naruto sighed before looking over at Tsunade. "Speaking of blood tests, I was wondering if I could get the test to see if someone has a Kekkei Genkai done."

Tsunade blinked in surprise, "you think you have a bloodline?" she looked over at Jiraiya and glared, she had not heard of this in the reports she had been receiving. Jiraiya noticed this and paled, thankfully Naruto saved him.

"To be honest I am not sure if it is a bloodline or not," Naruto said with a shrug. "But by combining water and wind I can create **Hyoton Jutsu,**" to emphasis his point Naruto held out his hand, and Tsunade gasped as she saw the water molecules in the air form a sphere of water in Naruto's palm. It was just like her grand uncles ability, however if she was shocked by that then what happened next nearly gave her a heart attack. The water began to freeze, turning into a crystalline sphere of ice. Naruto looked at the sphere before throwing it out the window, "I also have the ability to use **Ranton (Storm Release) **which is a combination of water and lightning. And the ability to do what I have taken to calling **Araton (1).**"

"**Araton**?" Tsunade asked as she managed to get her emotions under control.

"Yes I couldn't think of another name for it," Naruto said as he began to explain his ability. "Basically what it is, is the ability to control the weather." Tsunade gaped at him for a moment, unsure whether she had heard right or not. Naruto continued headless of her shock, "by infusing and saturating the air with my chakra and using my elements which I have unparalleled control over, I can create storms and make them do my bidding. Right now I only have very basic control over this ability, but I plan on working on it and improving my ability to do this. However I am unsure if that's a blood line or just that I have really high control of my affinities."

Tsunade closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, in an effort to not hyperventilate at hearing of the blond shinobi's abilities. "I… see, I suppose we can do a blood test later, now I…" Tsunade was interrupted from her speech by a knock at the door.

"Tsunade-Sama," Sakura said as she opened the door, without waiting for permission to enter. "I have those files… you… you…" she trailed off as her eyes landed on the blond Adonis who was talking with Tsunade. Like Tsunade before her, the pink haired girls mind shut down. Her mouth hung open with drool coming out of it, and a huge blush spreading across her face making it match her hair. Naruto could even see a trickle of blood running down her nose.

Naruto looked at the pink haired girl in amusement as he walked over to her, "you know it's impolite to stare Sakura-_chan_," Naruto said as he closed her mouth with a click.

Sakura's face felt like it was on fire as the blond hunk called her such an affectionate suffix, then she blinked for a moment as she realized there was only one person who had ever called her that. "Naruto?" she asked in a mixture of shock, and…lust?

"The one and only," Naruto said with a grin, "so how have you been?"

Sakura blushed as she tried to regain her bearings, "I've been good…"

While the two former teammates were catching up, Jiraiya informed Tsunade of the things he had left out in the reports on the blonds training. Most of what he said was information she already knew, however some it was pretty surprising. Had she not already known of Naruto's exploits, she would have no doubt been shocked. As it was she merely nodded at the information before getting the Uzumaki Namikaze Heir's attention. "Naruto!" said blond turned to looked at Tsunade, before walking over. "I had planned on having you tested today, however given what I know and what I've just been told I think I'm going to have your test tomorrow."

Naruto nodded his head, "that's fine, I'm guessing since Kakashi is outside your window, that he is going to be the person who tests me?"

Sakura looked at Naruto in shock, how could he know if Kakashi was there? Sensing chakra was one of the hardest abilities if you were not a natural sensor type.

Kakashi having heard the blonds words stepped into the office and gave an eye smile, though a part of him wanted to have a heart attack when he saw Naruto. It was only his experience as a Jonin that kept him from being shocked by his student's looks, "it's quite impressive that you were able to sense me Naruto. You seem to have grown quite a bit, I look forward to seeing how strong you've become."

Naruto grinned, "So am I, though it looks like we'll have to wait…" Naruto stopped his speech for a moment as his eyes momentarily widened in remembrance, "I almost forgot I have a present for you sensei." Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out a little red book and tossed it over to Kakashi, said cyclopean ninja looked at it as if it was the holiest of grails.

"Thank Naruto!" Kakashi said as he cuddled the newest addition of the Icha Icha collection to his chest, making Naruto sweat drop, while the two females glared.

"No problem that one was actually mine, but I don't care for smut so I never got to reading it." Naruto's statement caused the two women in the room to look at him with an almost new found respect, however one person did not like their art being insulted.

"Hey watch what you're saying brat, that's my art you're talking about," Jiraiya said to his student with a light glare.

Naruto just grinned, "your art is crap, or have you forgotten that my book has sold four times more then all your books combined."

While Jiraiya grumbled about blond, disrespectful gaki's getting all the luck, the other three in the room looked curious.

"What book did you write Naruto?" asked Sakura, if it was porn or something similar he was going to get a pounding hunk or not.

**CHA! SHOW THOSE PERVERTS WHO'S BOSS! **Inner Sakura ranted as she made several punching motions.

"I'm glad you asked Sakura," Naruto said as he pulled out a blue book, with the picture of a woman wearing blue clothes on it.

The moment the two women saw what it was they appeared right in front of Naruto, with their own copies of said book magically appearing in their hands.

"You wrote this?" Sakura breathed as hearts appeared in her eyes.

"This is my absolute favorite book!" Tsunade squealed as she held it out for Naruto to sign, "Can you sign it for me?"

"Mine to?" asked Sakura as she held hers out as well.

"Sure," Naruto said with a grin as he looked over at his sensei, who was currently crying anime tears. "So tomorrow at training ground seven I assume?" Naruto asked after he handed both women their books.

"Yes," Tsunade answered as she cuddled her book to her chest, unknowingly imitating a certain Cyclops. "It will be at 9:00 am, don't be late." She glared at Kakashi to let him know who she was talking about, the cyclopean Jonin gulped and gave her a nod.

"Since everyone already knows about my heritage can I live in my parents' house?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya had told him that his parent's original house had been destroyed during the Kyuubi attack, but that the Sandaime had rebuilt it for when Naruto took up his clan name.

Tsunade nodded since there was no point in denying Naruto what was his, "of course I assume you know where the key is?"

In response to her question, Naruto walked over to the picture of his father. Taking the picture off Naruto set it aside as he bit his thumb, he swiped his blood over the blank area causing a seal to shimmer in existence. Soon both the seal and the wall faded out, revealing a small cupboard. Naruto reached his hand into it, and pulled out a key.

"Thanks baa-chan, I'll see you tomorrow," Naruto said before he disappeared in a burst of lightning, shocking everyone around him; no pun intended.

"I can't believe that was Naruto," Sakura said with a blush as she thought about how hot he had become. "And to think he's Yondaime-Sama's son…"

Jiraiya snorted, "I'm surprised you guys couldn't even figure it out until someone actually told you. Anyone with half a brain should have been able to see it, I mean how many ninja do you know that have spiky golden blond hair, and blue eyes?"

Sakura looked down at the ground knowing that Jiraiya was right, she and all the other people of this village had been foolish for not being able to see the obvious.

"Now that that's over with," Tsunade said before turning on Jiraiya with a glare. Said man felt a shiver run down his spine, as the temperature began to drop nearly 60 degrees. "What's this I hear about you making my godson star in your porn movie?" she asked in a menacing voice as Jiraiya backed away.

Sakura looked at the man in disgust, though a part of her could not deny that she wondered what it would be like to sleep with Naruto. A part of her was even thinking about seeing the movie, now that she had heard Naruto was in it. An image sprang into her mind of a naked Naruto, causing her to sway on her feet as a trickle of blood ran down her nose and her eyes glazed over.

Meanwhile Kakashi had to hold in a giggle, lest he also incur the blond Hokage's wrath. He had of course seen the movie she was talking about; while one part was jealous of the blond, another part of him could not help but feel proud of Naruto.

"N-Now Tsu-Hime lets be rational here," Jiraiya held out his hands and waved them in front of his face. He soon found himself backed into a wall, with nowhere to go he did the only thing he could think of, "Mercy?" he squeaked.

"Sorry all out of mercy," Tsunade replied as she sent a chakra enhanced fist to Jiraiya's gonads.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

BOOM!

Naruto stopped his walk for a moment to look at the Hokage tower, where a rather loud explosion had just sounded. He chuckled when he saw his sensei fly off into the distance, _I swear that man will never learn._

He continued on his walk, which was farther away from Konoha's epicenter than any other place he had been to. Minato had built his family's house behind the Hokage Monument, wanting to keep the secrets to his and Kushina's jutsu away from prying eyes. Naruto had heard from Jiraiya that the house had been a wedding gift to his mother, which had been a little while after his father's name had been given clan status.

Naruto finally found the house, which was protected by a high wall and gate that he could not see over. Looking at the gate Naruto recognized several seals that were on them as security seals, however he knew instinctively that this was not his father's work. Aside from the fact that they were not very advanced, they were also a little sloppier then what he would expect from a seal master. He shrugged this off, it would just mean he would have to create his own security network.

Walking up to the gate Naruto took out the key, biting his thumb he swiped his blood on the key. As his wound healed with a slight hiss, the blond put the key into the lock and turned it. There was a clicking noise as the key turned, Naruto pushed the gate open and could not hold in the whistle that escaped his lips. The house was as large as the Hyuuga estate by any means, but it was definitely one of the larger houses Naruto had seen. It looked to be about three stories, and was made in a mixture of traditional Japanese and Western style architecture. Naruto smiled as he made his way towards the house, using the same key that had opened the gate to open the front door.

Stepping inside Naruto looked around, he was currently in what seemed to be the living room. It was a fairly spacious room, with several comfortable looking leather couches that were surrounding a coffee table. A little to the left and hanging on the wall, was a very large flat screen television. And situated around the room were several lamps, which were currently giving off a dim lighting.

Naruto soon began to explore the rest of the house, with his first stop being the kitchen. The place was what Naruto would easily describe as a chefs wet dream, all the counters were made of stainless steel. The cabinets were made of Mahogany and while the kitchen ware was not the most recent, it was still far superior to what most people had. The only problem Naruto could see was that he had no food in the cabinet or fridge, however that was an easy problem to solve. Naruto created a **Kage Bushin **and ordered it go buy food.

The next area to check was the second floor, this was where all of the smaller bed rooms were located. Though they were only small in comparison to the rest of the house, as each room was about three times the size of a standard apartment bedroom. Each one consisted of a queen sized bed, two dressers and a walk in closet. They also each came with their own bathroom, which had a shower/bath combo that could even act as a personal Jacuzzi. There were ten of these rooms in all, enough to hold a decently sized family.

Walking up the stairs Naruto reached the master bedroom, this room was not just located on the top floor. But was in fact the entire third floor, and could in many ways be considered a house unto itself. In the left hand corner near the entrance sat several leather chairs, which were arranged in front of another television. On the right hand corner was a large king sized bed, with red sheets and pillows and had a dresser on either side. Opposite the bed was a large walk in closet, which was easily twice the size of the ones downstairs. To the left and a little farther from the chairs was a door, which led to a bathroom that had the same setup as the one downstairs; the only difference being that this one had a double shower head.

Naruto walked over to the bed and looked at the pictures which were arrayed on the dresser, there were pictures of his parents. Some of which were actually rather funny, like a picture which was obviously taken by his mom of his dad who had been eating ramen; only it looked like he had sneezed and had ramen coming out of his nose. However some were much more heartfelt, Naruto picked up one such picture as he gently pressed his fingers against the glass. It was one of both his parents, Kushina had both her hands on her belly, which was bulging and clearly showing when she was pregnant with him. Minato had one arm around her shoulder, while his right hand was on both of her hands. Both of them were smiling, looking for all the world like a young couple who was not about to suffer untold tragedy.

Naruto wiped away the tear that threatened to fall from his eyes, the thought of having a family was nearly overwhelming to the blond. However he knew better than anyone, that dwelling on the past got you nowhere. Better to look towards the future, then to ask yourself what ifs, and what could have been. _Besides…_ Naruto thought with a small smile, he already had four amazing woman who he planned on marrying. They had become his family now, and with luck he would eventually have children with them and finally have the large family he had always dreamed of. Sighing Naruto put the picture down and left the room, there was only one more room to check out.

The basement.

Thanks to the seals his father had put up on the basement, it had been able to survive the Kyuubi attack intact. Or at least that was what Jiraiya told him, according to him his father had taken extra precaution when designing the seals for the basement. Since the place was going to be where his father and mother studied seals, or sparred and practiced jutsu. However Jiraiya was not sure of the state, since he was not able to actually enter the basement due to the seals keeping him and everyone else out.

Naruto walked down the stairs and opened the door, before a large grin formed on his face. The basement was split into four different sectors, the first being the library. Which was filled with what looked like thousands of scrolls, with all kinds of knowledge from jutsu to weapons forging and even some on civilian faculties like gardening. There was a large dojo, that had an array of different weapons mounted on the wall and Naruto noticed self repairing seals on the floor, ceiling and wall. On the left was what looked like an office, Naruto could see that it was where his father had studied and come up with new seals and jutsu. The last area looked like it was where said jutsu were practiced, it was a gravelly area and had several training dummies to launch jutsu at. Naruto also noticed this area had self repairing seals as well.

He would so not be getting any sleep tonight, without using hand signs Naruto created around five hundred **Kage Bushin's **and had them head into the library to read.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next Naruto awoke as the sunlight streamed in through his room. Sitting up in bed he stretched himself out, listening in satisfaction as his bones and joints popped. He looked over at the clock on the dresser, it currently read 6:00 am. Despite only getting around four hours of sleep, Naruto felt completely refreshed, benefits of being a Jinchurikki. Getting out of bed Naruto walked into the closet and got dressed in his standard shinobi attire, before walking down the stairs and into the basement. He still had a few hours to go until the test, so he should be able to get in a good workout until then.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

At training ground seven several people were waiting to see one Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, after Tsunade had let slip to them that said blond had returned.

"YOSH!" Lee shouted as he looked at his team mates and sensei, "I wonder how Naruto-kun has been doing, it will be most youthful to see him again!" Rock Lee was one of Konoha's foremost taijutsu experts, with the only people being able to keep up with him being his sensei Maito Gai and team mate Neji Hyuuga. Lee had been one of the few people who had truly respected Naruto, having understood what it was like to be made fun of for being the dead last. Because he did not have the ability to use chakra for anything other than tree climbing and water walking, Lee had been picked on during his time at the academy; much like Naruto had for not being able to make a **Bushin.**

"No doubt Naruto-san's flames of youth are burning even brighter than ever Lee!" Gai said as he went into his nice guy pose, complete with sparkling teeth.

"As much as I dislike you analogy," Neji Hyuuga but in, "I have to agree that he will definitely be much stronger then when we last saw him." Neji Hyuuga was considered the prodigy of the Hyuuga Clan, due to his expert use of the Jukken taijutsu and the sight of his Byakugan, which was said to be as powerful as the clan head Hiashi Hyuuga. Ever since his father had sacrificed his life to save his brother's, Neji had been embittered. Coming onto the belief that Fate ruled everything, and that no one could escape it. That had changed after Neji had fought Naruto, when the blond had beaten him during the final stage of the Chunin Exams. While he was still a little stiff, Neji had grown into a powerful ninja and was much closer to his… eccentric team.

"He'll definitely be much stronger then last time," Tenten agreed, "I picked up a recent bingo book and Naruto has his own page in there. He's being called the **Nidaime Kiroii Senkou, **I hear Iwa is even thinking of giving him a SS class ranking and several countries have a 'surrender on sight' order if he catches them." Tenten Higarashi had never had as much interaction with Naruto that her other two team mates had, however the blond had earned her respect and gratitude after he had beaten Neji. That respect had only climbed when she had heard that Naruto was not only the son of the Yondaime, but also Kushina Uzumaki who had been well known for her ninjutsu and kenjutsu.

"OoooH! To have such a youthful nickname!" Lee shouted as he put a fist near his face, and his eyes seemed to light on fire. "I must work hard so that I may get my own youthful nickname! And if I cannot do that I will run around Konoha for two days on my thumbs! And if I cannot do that I will…"

As Lee and Gai began to go off on one of the 'youthful' rants, Tenten and Neji ignored them and made their own conversation.

"I wonder what Naruto's gonna be like now?" Ino wondered as she looked at her two companions, "with all the rumors going around, I'm sure that he's going to be much different from what we remember." Ino Yamanaka was the heir to the Yamanaka Clan, a clan well known for their mind Jutsu. During the academy days she had been one of Naruto's many detractors, often times making fun of him when he was unable to do something right. After Naruto's heritage had been announced, Ino had felt terrible for the things she had done and said to her fellow blond. She had told herself that from now on she would not judge people, without getting to know them first. "What do you think forehead?" Ino asked as she turned to Sakura.

Sakura did not say anything, however at the mention of Naruto her face turned a bright red.

"I think he's going to be even more troublesome now than he ever was, even more then when we were at the academy," Shikimaru said from where he lay on the grass. Shikimaru Naara was the heir to the Naara clan, like other people from said clan Shikimaru was the definition of lazy genius. It was nearly impossible to get him to do anything, the only people who could make him stop his cloud watching were his mother, Ino and Tsunade. Despite his lazy demeanor Shikimaru was considered to be one of the most intelligent members to ever come out of the Naara clan, it had been that intellect that had allowed him to see that there was more to Naruto then met the eye. Unlike most people in the academy Shikimaru had never really made fun of the blond, whether because it was too troublesome or some other reason was hard to tell. However unlike most the Naara heir had seen the way people looked at Naruto, like he was the worst kind of scum alive and had head the whispers of monster and demon that accompanied him. However it had not been until the Chunin Exams when Naruto used that red chakra, that Shikimaru had been able to place it all together. He was the only person within the Konoha eleven who knew that Naruto was the Jinchurikki for the Kyuubi, having studied up on it after Naruto had used the red chakra during the final Exams. It had been that knowledge more than anything, which had earned Shikimaru's respect.

"He may… be stronger… but he's… still Naruto," Chouji said as he munched on his bag of premium potato chips. Chouji could be considered one of the few friends Naruto had really had at the academy, or at least one of the few people who never made fun of him. Due to members of the Akamichi clan all having larger than average bodies for their jutsu, Chouji had been teased for it. During one of those times Naruto had happened to spot this, and despite not knowing Chouji stood up for him. While they had not done much after school, Naruto had occasionally joined him and Shikimaru a few times to do cloud watching.

"I bet you anything he'll be like his old man," Asuma said as he took a drag of his cigarette. Asuma Sarutobi was the son of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage and Professor. The cigarette smoking Jonin had at one time been a member of the twelve ninja guardians, a group whose job was to protect the Daimyo of Ki No Kuni. He had never really known much about Naruto, other than the pranks that the blond used to pull and drive his old man insane with. However he had been a Chunin under Minato's command, "Back when I was a Chunin…"

"Man I can't stand all this waiting, it's killing me!" Kiba complained rather loudly as he stood with his team. Kiba Inuzuka was the clan heir of the Inuzuka clan, which were known for their using combination attacks with their ninja dogs and enhanced senses. Members of this clan were often joined by members of the Hyuuga and Aburame Clans, in order to form powerful tracking teams. Kiba had been one of those people who stood on both sides of the fence when it came to Naruto, on one hand he had often made fun of the blond for his inadequacies, yet on the other he respected Naruto for the pranks he had been able to pull off. Like most members of his clan, Kiba was very brash and often got himself into trouble for jumping into things head first. However he was also very loyal, and had the same pack mentality that all members of his clan had.

"What do you think Hinata-san?" asked Shino in his monotone voice. Shino Aburame was the heir to the Aburame Clan, a clan that was known for the Kikochu bugs that they carried inside of them and used in battle. Shino had been one of the few people who not only never made fun of Naruto during the academy, but also held some respect for the blond shinobi. Unlike many of his peers, Shino had been observant enough to see how many people made fun of Naruto for some unknown reason that seemed illogical to him. Because of their bugs the Aburame clan was often ostracized, much like Naruto himself was. And even if he did not know why Naruto was made fun of, he still respected the blond for his perseverance and ability to never give up.

"I-I think Th-that N-Naruto-kun w-will be much str-stronger," Hinata stuttered as she poked her fingers together. Hinata Hyuuga was the heiress to the Hyuuga clan, she was a very shy and soft spoken girl. Most considered her to be the anti-Hyuuga, as she was everything they were not, or as Kiba put it 'she did not have a large stick up her ass'. It had been well known that she had a Konoha sized crush on Naruto, during their time at the academy Hinata had memorized where the blond would be and what times he would be there. She would often follow Naruto where ever he went, and was always watching him from the shadows. The past four years since Naruto had been gone, Hinata had made strides to change herself and grow stronger. Though she remained extremely soft spoken.

Kurenai Yuuhi looked over her students with a smile, the beautiful red eyed woman was known throughout Konoha as the Genjutsu mistress for her powerful and inventive genjutsu. Though she was even more renowned for her aversion to perverts, and the powerful and potentially deadly pervert killing genjutsu she had created. Unlike many of the other Jonin she did not know all that much about Naruto, having never really interacted with him. Though she did remember the many pranks the blond had pulled, and while she would not admit it she had found a lot of them to be quite funny.

A little ways away from the Konoha eleven stood five other figures, Iruka, Shizune, Kakashi, Jiraiya and Tsunade. Shizune was standing by Tsunade's side as always, she had been disappointed when she heard that Naruto had come back and she was not there to see him, hopefully she would get to see her brother figure today and see how strong he had become. Iruka was standing near a tree, as he anxiously waited for Naruto to show up. Tsunade and Jiraiya were both standing next to each other, wearing surprisingly similar smirks, though they were for slightly varied reasons. Kakashi was as always reading his new book with a giggle, causing many of the women near him to cast glares his way.

At 9:00 am exactly all those present spotted the figure emerging from the tree line on the opposite side, Shizune, Sakura, Ino and Tenten all found a rather large blush spreading across their faces as they stared at the blond Adonis. Hinata who had had her Byakugan on, spotted more of the blond then the others and let out an 'eep!' before passing out from blood loss. Even Kurenai who was currently dating Asuma, found it hard to keep the heat from rising to her cheeks.

The blond walked up to the group with a large foxy grin present on his face, causing the women in the group to feel even more heat rise to their face and a few felt heat going to… other areas. "Yo! I hope you guys have been doing good while I've been gone," Naruto said while the others stared at him.

For a moment no one said anything, most wondering who this person it was. It was not until they saw the tell tale whisker marks that they realized who they were staring at, most could not believe that Naruto who had been nothing more than a shrimp was now what many women would consider a Kami on earth. Even knowing what he had done and his now famous reputation, did not change their shock at seeing such a dramatic physical change.

The silence was broken when Lee appeared in front of Naruto, in his nice guy pose. "Yosh! Naruto-kun your youthful flames have truly grown stronger, I look forward to sparring you! And if I cannot beat I will…"

Naruto stopped Lee's speech with a raised hand as he chuckled, it seemed that some people would never really change. "I look forward to sparring you as well, it will be interesting to see how our taijutsu styles compare."

As if a dam had opened the rest of the Konoha eleven rushed over to Naruto and began to bombard him with questions, barely even letting the blond get a word in. off to the side Tsunade and Jiraiya smiled at seeing how all of Naruto's friends reacted, and how happy they were to see him. As well as how happy Naruto seemed to be, now that he was back in Konoha and with the friends he had made throughout the years. Tsunade gave them a little bit of time to talk, before deciding to get the test started.

"As much as I would love to let you all talk Naruto's ear off, we do have a test that needs to get started." Tsunade said as she made the Konoha eleven back off of Naruto, who gave her a grateful smile as he adjusted his haori. "This test will be Kakashi Hatake vs. Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, in a one on one battle!"

Naruto and Kakashi made their way out to the center of the training field, standing on opposite sides of each other next to the training posts. "Brings back memories, eh sensei?" Naruto asked with a smile as he looked at the middle training post, remembering when he had been tied to it when he and the other members of team seven had failed their genin test.

"It does doesn't it?' Kakashi said with an eye smile as he to remembered his times on team seven. Both those when he was a child under Minato, and again when he was the sensei of team seven. "Now then remember to-"

"Come at you with the intention to kill," Naruto finished with a smirk. "If you want me to fight without restraint, then your gonna want to reveal that eye of yours. Otherwise you might not actually live…"

"You know," Kakashi said as he lifted up his Hitea-ate, allowing his red Sharingan eye to show. "Somehow I think you may be right…"

"Are both fighters ready?" asked Tsunade who received a nod from both of them. "Then Hajime!"

Naruto and Kakashi kicked off the ground and launched themselves at each other, as they began a taijutsu battle. The two soon began trading blows as the attempted to land a hit on the other, Naruto using his father's style and Kakashi using a mixture of the Uchiha style and the Hatake style. For awhile this went on with neither being able to really land a hit on the other, Naruto was faster than Kakashi and had far better reflexes. However Kakashi had the Sharingan, which allowed him to keep track of Naruto's movements and predict where he would be next.

On the sidelines the Konoha eleven was watching the battle with shock, they knew Naruto had gotten strong. Given the rumors and news that had spread throughout the elemental nations, it was impossible not to. However hearing of that strength, is far different then actually seeing it.

"He's fast," Neji commented as he turned on his Byakugan, "my eyes can't keep up with Naruto and he's not even going all out."

Tenten turned to Neji in surprise, "he's really that strong?"

Neji nodded, "I also noticed several weights and seals on his persons, and I get the feeling this is not as fast as he can move with those weights on."

While Tenten gaped at Neji, Lee was covering his eyes with an arm as he cried. "To think Naruto-kun has gotten this strong, it is most youthful!" He brought his hands up in the air, before bringing a fist in front of his face. "I WILL INCREASE MY TRAINING AND TRY TO STRIVE TO FAN MY FLAMES OF YOUTH JUST LIKE NATUO-KUN! IF I CAN NOT DO THAT THEN I WILL DO FOUR THOUSANDS LAPS TO SUNA AND BACK ON MY HANDS!"

"THAT A BOY LEE!" Gai said as he got into his nice guy pose, "IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU TRYING TO STOKE YOUR YOUTHFUL FLAMES! I WILL HELP YOU AND IF YOU CANNOT DO FOUR THOUSANDS LAPS TO SUNA, I WILL DO SEVEN MILLION PUSHUPS ON MY THUMBS!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"OH LEE!

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

The two were soon hugging, which caused a genjutsu complete with crashing waves and sunset back drop to appear behind them. Everyone who was within range of this nightmarish sight were soon on the ground, screaming as they tried to claw their eyes out in an effort to rid themselves of the sight. Several ninja including one Kurenai Yuuhi were trying and failing to dispel said illusion, much to her horror and confusion.

Neji and Tenten who were used to it just sighed, as they looked back at the battle.

Naruto frowned as Kakashi blocked his kicked, before moving into counter attack him with a thrust to the solar plexus. Naruto twisted his body to the side as he dodged the attack, before spinning on his feet and launching another kick at Kakashi. The two had been fighting for around fifteen minutes now, which in the shinobi world a long time. Neither had gotten a good hit on each other, however Naruto had not just been fighting with no plan. The entire time he had been analyzing his opponent's moves and reaction time given to Kakashi by the Sharingan, and decided it was time to take it up a notch.

The battle began to play a different tune as Naruto switched styles, where before his moves were fast but predictable. Now his moves had turned into his name sake, coming at speeds that very few would ever be able to match and at angles that were impossible to predict; in other words Naruto's attacks became a literal maelstrom.

After Naruto had reviewed his battle with Sasuke and studied what he could find on the Sharingan, Naruto had realized that the Doujutsu had one major flaw. They were susceptible to attacks that had no style to them. Every fighting style always had a set of stances that one would attack from, the most obvious being the ready position for the Gokken that Gai and Lee used. This is what allowed the Sharingan to predict an opponent's attacks, and make effective counter attacks by showing them where the chakra was going to be next. But if there was no style of fighting used, then the attacks would be impossible to accurately predict, since not even the one they were fighting knew what they were going to do next.

The 'style' Naruto was now using, could be considered more of a lack there of. It was a style that he had created, with the help of Jiraiya. It was Naruto's counter to the Sharingan, though he had never used it on a Sharingan user before. Still he figured now would be the best time to unveil this style, rather than wait until he ran into Sasuke or Madara and used it them, only to find out it didn't work.

Naruto threw the cyclopean Jonin a punch to the solar plexus, when Kakashi went to swat the hand away however Naruto changed tactics. Moving his hand under the Kakashi's he grabbed it and pulled the jonin into a knee, Kakashi was able to counter it however he was not able to do anything when Naruto switched tactics again. Moving his leg up, then down and smashing a foot into Kakashi's stomach, bending the cycloptic jonin over as he attempted to regain his breath. He got back up and was just in time to dodge another attack, only to get hit by a punch that suddenly came at him from under the other attack.

"Holy Shit!" Kiba shouted as he watched Naruto kick Kakashi's ass, "when the hell did Naruto get so powerful!"

"You do realize that Naruto is an S rank ninja right?"

Everyone turned their attention to Jiraiya, "as good as Kakashi is he is still only A ranked. And while Kakashi has more experience, Naruto is quite simply better and sometimes that's all one needs to win. Hell even with all my experience I still only win half the time whenever we spar all out, even then that number is going down."

Everyone stared wide eyed at the white haired Sennin, going back to the battle they all had to wonder just how powerful was Naruto?

The taijutsu battle continued as Kakashi found himself completely on the defensive, he had not been able to even get in one counter attack ever since Naruto had changed tactics. Even his Sharingan was working against him, showing him where Naruto was going to be only to be proven false as Naruto switched attacks at the last second. Said blond came at Kakashi with a knifes edge to the throat, the cyclopean jonin tilted his head to dodge. Only for Naruto to make a fist as he passed by Kakashi's head, said jonin was sent flying as a great amount of force smashed into his cheek.

Kakashi managed to flip himself in the air before he landed on the ground, and skidded back about twenty feet. He winced as he felt the stinging on his cheek, wiping his hand along his mouth he looked at it and saw that he was bleeding. "How did you hit me?" Kakashi asked with a mixture of pride and curiosity in his voice.

"I didn't," Naruto said with a smirk, seeing his sensei's confusion he decided to elaborate. "When you dodged my attack I merely added my wind element and released it as my fist passed by your head, it made it seem as if I hit when you when in truth you dodged."

"Tha-that's ingenious!" Asuma spoke as his cigarette dropped from his mouth in shock, every turned to Asuma. "To use wind chakra in such a way… it's like the perfect counter to the Sharingan."

"What do you mean?" asked Ino who had seen what Naruto did, but was not exactly sure what it was she was supposed to be seeing.

"He calls it wind fighting," Jiraiya answered for Asuma, making the Konoha eleven look at him. "Naruto took the basics that he had heard about of Tsu-Hime's super strength technique, however rather then put all his chakra into a single tenketsu point and releasing it at the point of impact. Naruto uses his wind chakra and continuously pumps it through his tenketsu to make a more wide scale attack, without losing any of its power."

Many people could not help but feel shocked as they looked at Naruto, who was currently smirking.

"So that's lesson number one, taijutsu," Naruto said with a smirk.

Kakashi gave him an eye smile, "then we'll be going on to lesson number two, genjutsu." Kakashi went through a few hand seals before he and everyone else disappeared.

Naruto looked around curiously as he wondered what was going to happen.

"N-Naruto…"

Naruto turned his head and despite knowing this was a genjutsu felt his heart lurch, standing in front of him was Yugito. However she was missing her left arm, one of her eyes was hanging out of her socket and she was pierced with a sword threw the stomach.

"N-Naruto why couldn't you save me?" she asked with a set of accusing eyes. Before he could respond another voice spoke up.

"You betrayed me."

Turning around Naruto saw that it was Mei this time, she was lying on the ground with several scimitar style swords pinning her to the ground. "You left me to die," she stared at him with a set of accusing eyes that bored into his soul.

For a moment Naruto could not even think as he felt his heart stop, it was only years of training that allowed him to remember he was in a genjutsu. Acting quickly before he could see his other two loved ones, Naruto stopped the chakra to his coils before flooding it with an intense burst of power. The genjutsu shattered as Naruto came back to the real world, he looked over at his sensei and glared. "That was a cheap trick sensei," Naruto stated in a dead tone.

Despite feeling an intense shiver run down his spine Kakashi spoke up, "well we are ninja, and we use whatever we can to win."

Naruto grit his teeth for a moment before sighing, Kakashi was right after all. "I suppose, then allow me to introduce you to my favorite genjutsu." Naruto held out his hand and a set of seals began to glow along his arm and ring finger.

"**Kongangyou No Jutsu! (Bringer of Darkness)"**

"Th-that's Nidaime-Sama's most powerful genjutsu!" Kurenai said in shock, "Naruto is suppose to be terrible at genjutsu, so how can he do this?"

"Fuiinjutsu," Jiraiya answered her question, "because Naruto is unable to do genjutsu he tried to find a way around it. He did this by creating several seals, one that creates a specific set of hand seals for certain genjutsu he thought would be useful, and another that simulated perfect chakra control so that he could use the genjutsu."

Everyone as shocked when they heard what Naruto had managed to do with seals, no one had known what they could do. Except the typical sealing scroll and exploding tags, that Naruto could get rid of one of his weaknesses by using seals was incredible.

Kakashi looked around with something akin to fear as he tried to see out of the genjutsu, however even his Sharingan could not penetrate the inky blackness that surrounded him. He quickly brought his hands up in the release seal, and flooded his chakra coils.

"**KAI!"**

….

"**KAI!"**

As he continued to do this with nothing happening he became increasingly desperate, and flooded as much chakra as he could into releasing the genjutsu.

"**KAI!"**

Finally the genjutsu shattered, except that what he saw made him wish he hadn't. standing before him was none other then what could only be something out of his worst nightmare, he was in Konoha except it was not the Konoha he knew. The entire place was burning, corpses laid strewn about the entire area, worst off was he knew all the dead bodies before him.

Minato was pinned to a wall by several of his own Kunai, his sightless eyes staring at Kakashi with what looked almost like shame.

Half of Obito's body was gone, having looked like he had been ripped in half with the muscles and other innards falling from his body.

Rin was missing both arms and legs, her eyes had been pulled out and were in her open mouth giving her an utterly ghastly look.

But the worst was his father, a man who had been admired as one of the strongest ninja in the village next to the Sandaime and Sennin in his time. Before he had sacrificed his mission in order to save his team, bringing shame on him and making him commit seppuku. He was just as Kakashi had found him, impaled on his own sword, with his sightless eyes staring at nothing. Though they held a look of sadness and shame, and the cyclopean jonin could not help but feel that they were that way because of him.

"Obito! Rin! Minato-Sensei! Father!" Kakashi stared at the corpses wide eyed, were it not for years of experience he would have broken down right there. As it was his Sharingan was able to see through this illusion, despite its realism.

"**kai!"**

The illusion shattered and Kakashi was back in the clearing with Naruto glaring at him, "not very nice when someone does that to you is it sensei!"

Kakashi winced knowing he deserved that, "I'm sorry," he said, "I guess I didn't think about what it might make you feel."

"It's fine," Naruto sighed as he took a deep breath, "as long as you learn your lesson and don't do something like that in a spar again we'll be cool. Anyway I think we have one final lesson, don't we?"

Kakashi eye smiled glad to see that while he could be vicious, Naruto had still kept his forgiving nature. "Your right lesson two genjutsu complete, next up lesson three, ninjutsu." Kakashi began speeding through several hand seals faster than any of the Konoha eleven save Naruto could follow, before putting his hand to his mouth and calling out his jutsu.

"**Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu! (Fire Release: Grand Fire Ball Jutsu)"**

A large ball of fire shot out of Kakashi's mouth and barreled down towards Naruto, who had begun his own hand sealing.

"**Suiton: Suejinheki!"**

Moisture began to gather around Naruto as he used his chakra to pull it out of the air, less than a second later a giant wall of water had formed and blocked the fire ball from going any further. The fire ball crashed against the water wall with a hiss of steam, before it dissipated. When it did Naruto went through even more hand seals.

"**Suiton: Saryuudan No Jutsu!"**

The water wall soon began swirl and form the shape of a dragon with yellow eyes, the dragon gave a roar as it launched itself at Kakashi. Said shinobi jumped out of the way, letting the dragon crash against the ground, drilling its way through the rock and creating a decent crater which was now filled with water.

"Unbelievable…" Shizune said in awe, "I thought only Nidaime-Sama was able to draw water molecules out of the air."

"No anyone can do it if they have a high enough affinity," Jiraiya said, "water is one of Naruto's most powerful elements."

Shizune looked at Jiraiya in surprise, "you mean he has more than one?"

Jiraiya grinned, "Naruto has three, water, wind and lightning."

Shizune along with the people who had heard what the Sennin had said felt their mouths hang open, even most jonin never reached getting a third element. Yet Naruto had gotten three within just four years, it would have shocked them even more if they had learned he mastered most of those elements within the first year.

In retaliation for Naruto's jutsu, Kakashi went through several more hand seals before calling out his jutsu.

**Katon: Hosenka No Jutsu! (Fire Release: Phoenix flower Jutsu)"**

Several basket ball sized fire balls shot from Kakashi's mouth, forcing Naruto to go through several more hand signs.

"**Suiton: Tepodamma! (Water Release: Water Bullets)"**

Naruto launched several water balls which crashed against the fire balls and negated them, as they did Naruto went through more hand seals.

"**Hyoton: Kitsune Hisu No Jutsu! (Ice Release: Ice Fox Jutsu)"**

The water began to coalesce in the air and take shape again, this time into four small foxes with red eyes. However rather than just launched themselves at Kakashi they froze over, before attacking. Kakashi's eyes widened as he dodged the foxes, however the ice creatures merely turned around and attacked again. Forcing him to continue dodging.

"**Hyoton!,**" Shizune said in shock, "how can he possibly do **Hyoton **jutsu, I thought only those from Yuki or those with bloodlines could use those!"

"I think you'll find that Naruto is a man of many surprises," Jiraiya said with a grin.

Sakura listened to the discussion going on around her and could not help but feel somewhat distressed, it was obvious Naruto had surpassed her. Hell she was pretty sure that Naruto had surpassed everyone here, it made her wonder what she had been doing all these years. It felt as if her team mate had left her behind again, and she was still running to catch up.

Getting tired of constantly dodging the foxes, which seemed to have an almost limitless energy and knew where he was even after using a **kariwimi**. Kakashi went through several hand seals, calling upon his only original jutsu.

"**Raikiri! (Lightning Blade)"**

Lightning formed on Kakashi's hand and as the next fox came up to him, he sliced at it, breaking the fox into pieces. Kakashi continued this until he had destroyed the last one. He was just about to look for Naruto when he felt cold steel on his neck and froze, looking down he saw a tri pronged kunai right next to his jugular.

"Looks like I win sensei," Naruto said with a smirk.

The cycloptic jonin looked at his sensei's famous kunai in shock, before he started chuckling. "When did you mark me?" Kakashi asked curiously, knowing that Naruto had not thrown the kunai since he had not seen it.

"During our taijutsu battle," Naruto answered, "I marked you when I grabbed your arm."

Kakashi looked at his sleeve and found that he did indeed have the Hiraishin seal, on the sleeve of his shirt. Kakashi chuckled, "looks like you really have grown, and you've already surpassed me."

Naruto grinned as he pulled his kunai away and put it in his pouch, "thanks sensei." The two walked back over to the stunned crowd, who was staring at Naruto like he had grown a second head. "What?" Naruto asked with a confused expression as he tilted his head to the side, all the girls there bit their lips in an attempt not to glomp the poor boy and shout 'kaiwaii!'.

Kiba snorted, "what? He just kicks Kakashi's ass into next week and all he says what!"

Several others nod at this, however Naruto just rolls his eyes, "Hello S class ninja here!"

Tsunade looks at Naruto as she starts speaking, "you really have gotten better, I think it's safe to say genin does not suit your skills anymore." Tsunade pauses for a moment, "however due to the fact that we have yet to test you in the field with our jonin I can only grant you the rank of Tokabetsu (special) jonin. Though that should work until some of the other jonin rate your skills."

"Your just giving me this rank so that I can suffer through council meetings, didn't you?" Naruto dead panned. Part of the prerequisite for being allowed a seat on the council if you were the last of your clan was to be at least of Tokabetsu jonin rank.

Tsunade smirked, "now why would you think that? You don't think I would do something so cruel to someone I consider a son would you?"

"Yes, yes I think you would baa-chan," Naruto answers, "Great this is just what I need. Having to sit through a bunch of meetings with greedy old bastards, who can't even shit without help."

Everyone laughed at Naruto's description of the council, many feeling that it was slightly true of the civilian side.

"Think of it this way," Tsunade said, "at least your getting experience for when you become Hokage."

"Ugh… that's right," Naruto groaned, "when I'm Hokage I'm gonna have to deal with this shit even more. Hmm… maybe I should just not be Hokage, I'll let Konohamaru take the title when he is ready instead."

"Oh no you don't," Tsunade said, "I have waited too long to retire, when you're ready your gonna take that damn title off my hands so I can relax."

Naruto pouted a bit before he gave her a mischievous grin, "well I suppose I can do that. After all your getting to old for this job baa-chan," everyone stepped away from Tsunade who had gotten a tic mark on her head. Naruto however continued on as if oblivious to the woman's growing anger, "I mean who knows, you might even bite the dust before Konohamaru's ready. In fact I think we should put you in a retirement home right now."

BOOM!

Naruto jumped out of the way just in time to dodge one of Tsunade's punches, "careful baa-chan, wouldn't want you getting cramps at your age," Naruto said with a laugh.

"God damn brat! Stand still and take your punishment like a man!" Tsunade yelled as she tried to smash Naruto's face in.

Naruto merely laughed at her as he continued to make fun of the enraged woman.

Everyone else sweat dropped at seeing Tsunade trying to kill Naruto.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Tsunade chugged down her saucer of sake before slamming it down onto the table.

"Your still an extremely heavy drinker eh, Tsu-hime?" Jiraiya said with an amused smirk as he poured her another saucer. However he was forced to hold up his hands when Tsunade glared at him.

"Can it pervert!" the busty blond said as she took another drink of the sake, this time sipping it and allowing the liquid to burn its way down her throat. "Now why don't you tell me what this is about? And if you say it's a date, you can be sure I'm going to pound your ass into the dirt!"

"My I didn't know you liked it rough Tsunade-chan!" Jiraiya said with a lecherous grin, which soon turned into a look of fear when Tsunade's face turned red with anger. "Alright alright," the Toad Sennin said defensively, "I wanted to talk to you about Naruto." Jiraiya reached into his pouch and pulled out one of his apprentices silencing seals, placing it under the table before speaking.

"What about Naruto?" Tsunade asked, "is something wrong?"

Jiraiya looked slightly uncomfortable, "he's having a bit of trouble with his seal." He quickly held up his hands in a placating gesture when he saw Tsunade look like she was about to freak. "Don't worry the seal isn't breaking or anything, it's just loosened," he finished lamely.

"Loosened? What happened?" Tsunade asked when she saw the slightly guilty expression.

"I… it's actually my fault it happened, I had used the key to loosen the seal. I had hoped it would allow Naruto to access more of Kyuubi's chakra…"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Flashback…_

_Jiraiya groaned as he pushed himself on the ground, looking up he found himself petrified as he gazed at what had almost killed him. Or rather who had almost killed him._

_Naruto was currently in a vicious battle against Yugito and Bee who had pushed him out of the way, and the battle was not going in the favor of the other two Jinchurikki. The Kyuubi's chakra had completely covered Naruto's body, mixing itself in with his blood and had burnt off all of the boy's skin. Not that you could even see the skin, since the chakra was so thick it actually looked similar to the full transformation that Yugito, and Bee could do. Outlining Naruto's form were what looked like fox bones, giving Naruto an even more menacing appearance. His eyes were a glowing white, and his teeth looked like large black fangs. Behind him were seven fox tails which were currently swishing back and forth in an agitated manner._

_Jiraiya was not quite sure what had happened, one moment he was loosening the seal to allow Naruto better access to Kyuubi's chakra. The next moment all hell had broken loose, with the vile power exploding out of Naruto in an uncontrolled manner._

_Bee and Yugito were using a combination of team work and power to try and subdue the blond, without hurting him to badly. However it was hard since Naruto was not going easy on them, and the Kyuubi was the strongest of the nine. Naruto sent out his tails, forcing the two other Jinchurikki who were in full cloak mode to dodge and weave in between them. Yugito jumped back as Bee came at Naruto, using his eight tails to hold down Naruto's seven. His last tail wrapped itself around Naruto himself, allowing Bee to lift the blond into the air and toss him._

_Naruto was sent sailing, before he smacked onto a rock wall sending dust and debris everywhere. A red light began to gather in the dust cloud, and the two were soon forced to dodge a giant cylinder of destruction. The beam tore a path through the landscape before exploding in the distance, at the same time Naruto shot off the wall and engaged Bee in a battle. The Hachibi Jinchurikki was forced to dodge the vicious attacks of the blond, however Naruto managed to catch him off guard and smacked him with his tail. Bee was soon sent flying to the same place he had sent Naruto to earlier._

_Yugito tried to use Bee's battle as a distraction to get up close, however Naruto seemed to have heard her as he looked over at her and roared. Launching himself at the woman, Naruto used his claws to try and swipe at her. Yugito did her best to dodge, while trying to get Naruto to come back to his senses._

"_**Naruto-kun you have to control yourself!" **__Yugito yelled in her semi demonic sounding voice, __**"Don't let all that power consume you!"**_

_Naruto did not act as if he even heard Yugito, and just continued to attack. After awhile he managed to catch the Nibi Jinchurikki off guard by sending a blast of compressed chakra at her. It smacked her dead on and sent the young woman into a rock face, Yugito coughed as the force of the impact created a large crater. She was just about to get back up when she let out a cry of pain, and felt a stinging sensation in her left shoulder. Looking up she saw Naruto who had just impaled her through the shoulder with one of his tails._

"_**Please," **__Yugito said to Naruto in a soft voice, trying once more to get the blond back to his senses. __**"This isn't you…" **__she trailed off as Naruto tilted his head and looked at her, as if trying to solve a piece to a puzzle. Yugito tried again to bring back the person she had found herself falling for, __**"please, come back to me."**_

_Naruto looked away as he grabbed his head, shaking it like he was trying to clear it or in pain. Bee and Jiraiya who had been rushing towards them stopped, not sure what was going on and knew better then to try something with Yugito currently at the blonds mercy. Naruto continued shaking his head as he grit his fangs, he turned his head to look at Yugito. __**"Y-Y-Yugito… chan…" **__the voice was distorted and sounded completely demonic, but the fact that Naruto could speak at all meant that he was still there. Before anything else could be said, Naruto pulled his tail out of Yugito. Throwing his head up Naruto roared, sending out a stream of continuous red energy._

_Bee and Jiraiya who saw this realized what was happening, "he's letting' out all the energy into the sky, trying to drain Kyuubi's chakra dry."_

_Jiraiya looked over at Bee, "tell me do you ever stop rapping?"_

_Killer Bee just looked at him like he was stupid, "why would I quit, when my raps a hit."_

_Jiraiya just shook his head before looking back at his apprentice, he was just in time to see Naruto turning back. The red chakra began to recede, first from his face and then continuing downwards. As it did the Toad Sennin could not hold in a grimace, his apprentice looked like he had his skin peeled. The young teens entire body was an angry red color, blood was leaking out of many spots where the skin had been completely burned away. Some area's were so bad that Jiraiya could see Naruto's muscles and organs, it definitely looked painful and judging by Naruto's hoarse screams it was more than just that._

_Finally Naruto was back to normal, or at least as normal could be when in such bad condition. The blond dropped to the ground as exhaustion and pain took him, thankfully Yugito was right there and managed to catch him before he could hit the dirt. She sat down and gently placed Naruto's head in her lap, tears of worry running down her face as she stroked the blonde hair, which had started to grow back. Soon the rest of the boy's body began to heal, normal and healthy looking skin began forming on him. Crawling up his body making it almost seem alive, as steam began to sprout from the other wounds that were healing._

_Naruto opened his eyes and saw Yugito's tear streaked face over him, despite his hand feeling like a two hundred ton weight the blond managed to lift it up. He placed it on Yugito's face and began to stroke her cheek with his thumb, making the blond woman purr and lean into it. "A-are you… ok Yugi-chan?" asked Naruto in a voice that sounded as if it had not been used in years._

"_B-Baka," Yugito said as she grabbed Naruto's hand with her own, "I'm t-the one who should be asking that."_

_Naruto smiled as his eyes began to close, "Sorry to worry you, I'll be fine… after some… some rest." The blond Shinobi's eyes closed as his hand became limp, making Yugito hold his hand a little tighter to her face as he fell asleep._

_Jiraiya breathed out the sigh of relief he had been holding in, he knew that they had been lucky. Had it not been for Naruto's incredible will power and his feelings for Yugito, the Toad Sennin was sure that things would have ended much worse. He would have to make sure Naruto knew to be more careful when using Kyuubi's chakra from now on._

_Flashback end…_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"That was extremely reckless of you Jiraiya!" Tsunade said as a scowl marred her features.

"I know! I know ok!" Jiraiya said, "I should have been more careful and checked the seal before messing with it. But I didn't think the repercussions would be that bad, I thought it would just allow Naruto to access more of Kyuubi's power."

Tsunade sighed, "is there any danger of something like that happening again?" she had to be sure that Naruto would be alright, both for his sakes and whatever team he was on a mission with.

"It hasn't happened since that first time," Jiraiya said, "even when he does use Kyuubi's power he does a pretty good job controlling it. Right now he can go up to six tails and still retain control, however each tail is twice as difficult to gain control over then the last one. Still I wouldn't worry, he has too loose all forms of emotional control in order for him to go berserk and that's a lot harder to do now that he has matured."

Tsunade sighed, "very well, but next time be more careful ok?"

"Don't worry I won't be doing that again," Jiraiya said.

The rest of the time the two team mates sipped their drinks in peace.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Man I love boos!"

Naruto rolled his eyes as Kiba walked around the Akamichi owned restaurant with two bottles of sake in hand, the dog ninja was already drunk. _Who would have thought that Kiba was a light weight, _Naruto snickered to himself as he looked around at the people there. The Konoha eleven had decided to come here and celebrate Naruto's return and recent promotion, allowing Naruto to talk with some of his friends. Over in the corner of the room Naruto spotted Shikimaru, Shino and Neji all of whom seemed to actually be sober. He made his way over to them, "yo! Shino, Shika, Neji how are you guys doing?"

"We are doing pretty well Naruto-san?" Shino said as he looked at the blond through his goggles, at least that was what it looked like, it was hard to tell with Shino.

"I take it these last four years have been good then?" Naruto asked as he took a small sip of his sake.

"Nothing too troublesome has happened if that's what you mean," Shikimaru said in his lazy drone.

"It has been pretty quiet without you in Konoha," Neji put in as he picked at his food.

"Yeah well not many people can liven a place up like I can," Naruto said with a small smirk.

"That's true, you seem to make trouble everywhere you go," Shikimaru said with a mumble of troublesome blond.

As the conversation continued Naruto looked out over the small group of people. Lee was talking with Tenten as he made enthusiastic gestures, Naruto could not make out the entire conversation but he had heard something about 'youthful parties' in the discussion. Ino was currently talking with Sakura, who had managed to thankfully drag the platinum blond away from Naruto a few minutes ago. Kiba was still running, well stumbling around with alcohol in his hands. Chouji was not surprisingly over by the food table, eating to his heart's content. In fact the only person who seemed to be missing was…

"N… *hic*… Naruto-kun…"

Naruto paled as he turned around, to find a drunk Hinata trying to make her way towards him. Truth be told Naruto was not quite sure what to make of the lavender eyed girl, he had not really had much interaction with her other than her blushing and fainting whenever she was near him. It had taken spending time talking to various woman and learning what he could about interacting with them, that he had realized the girl had a crush on him. However there was a problem with this, the simple fact was Naruto did not have any romantic feelings for the girl. She was his friend and he would not deny she was physically attractive, however she was just not the kind of woman he looked for when looking for a relationship.

The girl soon stumbled into him, forcing Naruto to wrap his arms around her so she would not fall. this however proved to be a mistake, as she pulled his head down so it was next to hers. "Have I… *hic*… have I ever told you… how much I… how much…" just as the girl looked like she was about to kiss him, when thankfully her head dropped and she fell unconscious.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he lifted the girl up, he looked over at Neji and gesture to Hinata. "hey Neji do you think you could…"

"Yes I will take her back home," Neji replied as he took Hinata from the blond. Neji shook his head, "I wonder what Hiashi-Sama will think when his daughter comes home passed out from drinking?"

"Probably something along the lines of picking up Tsunade's bad habits," Naruto said with a small chortle.

"She is learning from Hokage-Sama," Shino said.

Naruto perked up at this, "really I thought Sakura was the only person she was teaching."

"No Ino is learning from her too…" Shikimaru said with a groan, "she's picked up that troublesome woman's bad habits."

"Oh she's started to drink and gamble as well?" Naruto asked with a grin.

"Worse," Shikimaru falter shudder run down his spine, "she seems to have picked up the habit on beating us men every chance she gets."

Naruto laughed and was just about to say something when…

"NO LEE DON'T DRINK THAT!"

Naruto turned around just in time to see Lee drink some sake Kiba had offered him. There was one moment where it seemed like time stood still, right before Lee became a whirlwind of action and mass destruction.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sighed as he threw off his clothes, before laying down in bed. It had taken nearly an hour to subdue Lee, and had required a combination of Shikamaru's **Kage Mane No Jutsu (Shadow Possession Jutsu), **Chouji's **Baika No Jutsu (partial Expansion Jutsu) **and Naruto hitting several pressure points to knock the boy out. After that they had been forced to clean up the mess, while Tenten dragged Lee out as she apologized.

Laying his head on the pillow Naruto closed his eyes, tomorrow was gonna be another big day. He was going to go to his first council meeting, so it would be best if he got some sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Omake: Jiraiya's punishment pt. 3

Jiraiya awoke with a groan, his head was currently ringing and it felt like he had gone several rounds as Tsunade's punching bag; which was an accurate description of what happened. As he opened his eyes he realized that he was lying on a table, which he was currently bound to. His arms were tied under the table in a way that he could not even move them, while his legs were spread eagle and tied to the end. Not only that but his chakra was completely sealed, so he could not use any of his seal less jutsu to escape.

A little ways away was a television, which suddenly turned on. A woman with large breasts and an odd mask with red swirls on the cheek appeared, **"hello Jiraiya," **came distorted and demonic voice. **"You must be wondering why you are here, your perverted ways have caused many problems recently. Therefore we are going to play a little game," **Jiraiya's eyes widened as he tried to break out of his bonds, as he did that a small slot opened up at the ends of the table near his feet. And ran up to his male goods A small round chainsaw appeared at the end of it, which began to spin.. **"For the next twenty four hours you will be forced to watch Yaoi anime, every time you close your eyes or turned your head the chainsaw will move two inches. Good luck…"**

The screen went blank, before being replaced by something Jiraiya would never in a million years want to see. Out of reflex he both closed his eyes and turned his head, the chainsaw moved four inches. Jiraiya looked down and noticed this, "Hey! I thought you said it was only two inches!" he began to struggle and break the bonds holding him, only for the blade two move two inches. "oh boy, oh boy," Jiraiya said, "come on you can do this, just twenty four hours, come on Jiraiya. He turned his head as he tried to the television, only to force it away again.

The blade moved another two inches.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

For the next twenty four hours, Konoha was host to ghastly screams; making many people quickly assume that Konoha was becoming haunted.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

And cut! That's a wrap for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it. For those of you who are getting worried for Jiraiya, this will be the last of his punishments and the poor toad sage will be officially off punishment… until he does something stupid like peeping on the hot springs.

So it looks like the Manga is actually kicking up, a lot of things are happening. Though I'm feeling a love hate relationship with it right now, mainly because it looks like Kishi killed Konan who is tied for first place with Mei and Yugito for my favorite woman in Naruto (which means two of my favorite woman are dead). As for Nagato being an Uzumaki, if you think about it it's not that hard to realize that. I mean they had Kushina as Kyuubi's Jinchurikki along with another Uzumaki, so using this as a convenient plot makes sense. It could also be foreshadowing events to come, though we'll have to wait to see if that's true or not.

**(1) Araton- **this basically means storm release much like **Ranton **does, however it is fundamentally different. Naruto does not make 'jutsu' with this form of elemental manipulation but rather uses the elements and his chakra to quite literally control the weather. With it he can do anything as simple as forming thunder clouds, to creating monsoons, hurricanes, tornado's, thunder storms with hailstones and any manner of powerful destructive weather patterns. Make a not that this ability is more powerful at sea, where Naruto has the entire ocean at his disposal.

Until next time, peace.

**Next! Chapter 9: Council Meetings!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Jozen: Do not worry, Ichiraku's will make a comeback I just could not find anywhere to fit them in this chapter. As for Naruto telling Tsunade about his wives, he will eventually but because he does not know it Danzo is listening in or if the man can somehow intercept the information he does not want to inform her yet. I may have the rookies spar with him but it will not be an all vs. Naruto, I take an issue where stories do this since it pretty much throws all ninja conduct to the wind. Remember deception is a shinobi's best trait, I will eventually show off Naruto's abilities but only when Naruto is required to use them (Aka battling S class ninja and Akatsuki). **

**Bakapervert: we are all waiting for that I think.**

**Dbtiger63: she is stronger than she was in the first Naruto, but she does not have any fundamental changes since she would not really be Hinata otherwise. Plus even if he did return her feelings it could not actually go anywhere, I feel that all those stories where they fall in love and get married are actually pretty unrealistic (aside from the fact that it happens within the span of five seconds). While the manga does not up and say it, the fact that every Hyuuga looks like every other Hyuuga means that they practice inbreeding (Incest), as heir to the Hyuuga clan Hinata would never be allowed to marry outside of said clan (plus the elders would never allow the Byakugan to belong to another clan). Also there will be a Konoha kunoichi in Naruto's family, Yugao Uzuki (Hayate's Anbu girlfriend).**

**Fritter: actually the council is shown after the Pain battle when the fire Daimyo and Konoha are trying to select a Hokage. Otherwise Danzo, Homura and Koharu would have no clout over Tsunade's decisions, which during the canon we see them forcing her into things a few times (Sai's implementation into team seven).**

**Disappointed (Don't know if this is your real name but we'll go with it): First off I do not mind flames so long as they are constructive, which yours was. I did go in and re-read the chap, and fixed up those errors (Sun and Shone) that you mentioned. As for Naruto being some kind of god, are you referring to how powerful he is? Or what I have the woman think he looks? Cuz as far as power goes, well he's been training for four years (kami only knows how many it equals to with kage bushin) so he's bound to be strong. If your referring to how the woman think he looks, because I have seen tons of Fanfics where that is how Naruto was described. **

**Ty Son of Battle: I don't know if he will be able to use Jinton, I would have to find someone who knows the mechanics behind its use since I don't like using something unless I know how it's done.**

**Roshane: Naruto is not an ass, while he may be disappointed in Kakashi, he's not gonna brutally tear the fucker apart like no bodies business.**

**Keriein-kun89L first off which part of cheesiness are you talking about cuz I will admit there is a lot in this story. I grew up on star wars, anime and fan fiction, all of which I find are usually clichéd or corny.**

**I: first off its hard to judge power, I put High Jonin level but really I'm just saying he's close to kage but not quite there yet. High Jonin is actually more of a class which is what Kakashi is considered. Also have you only read the first chapter because after that Naruto starts to kick fucking ass, sure it's not a complete victory until after the second chapter but he gets really strong. So don't bitch about something like that, since it's not true. While Naruto is not a fucking kami on the battle field he is still stronger than most Kage's in terms of raw skill and power (First chapter he just lacked experience).**

**cruel vamp: Naruto already knows stage two of the Hiraishin and used it in chapter six I believe.**

**DemonAngel Of Ice: Kushina's chakra chains are actually a very rare trait found within the Uzumaki Bloodline, so it is not actually a jutsu, or not a jutsu that can be anyone other than a select few. It's similar to Hashirima's ability to control the Bijuu through Mokuton, this was actually the reason she had been chosen to hold the Kyuubi. Whether or not he has this ability is yet to be seen.**

**Chapter 9: Council Meetings!**

It was early in the morning and Naruto was walking through the streets of Konoha, glad that he had gotten up early so he could enjoy the peace and quiet before people started waking up. As he walked he looked around the nearly deserted streets, the sun had only just risen a minute ago so only a few shop keepers were up and about, prepping their stores for the day. Naruto turned his attention back to where he was going, picking up the pace a little bit so he could get there sooner. The blond was on his way to the hospital today, in the hopes of getting his blood tested so that he could find out if his abilities were truly a Kekkei Genkai.

Naruto entered the hospital doors and looked over at the front counter, smiling when he saw his sister figure, Shizune. The black haired woman was the one in charge of the hospital since Tsunade was the Hokage, which meant she was usually here making sure the place was in top shape before they opened. Before going to make sure the blond Hokage was doing her work, or berating her for drinking, whichever came first.

Walking up to the front counter Naruto tapped on it to get Shizune's attention, said woman turned around and smiled when she noticed Naruto. "Oh! Naruto-kun what are you doing at the hospital, and this early in the morning?" Shizune asked with a bit of surprise. It was a well known fact that Naruto hated hospitals, in fact the few times he had ever been to the hospital the blond shinobi would often sneak out. She remembered at least six separate occasions when the blond shinobi had been in the hospital, each time he had snuck out and they had been forced to send the Anbu after him and drag him back. So Naruto could imagine why she might be somewhat surprised.

"Not much Shizune-nee-chan, I'm actually here to take the test to see if I have a Kekkei Genkai," Naruto replied giving the woman his patented foxy grin.

Shizune blushed a bit at the smile before her eyes lit up in remembrance, "that's right! Tsunade-Sama said you would be coming in to get one, well let's get started just follow me."

Naruto followed Shizune as they made their way down the hall; said blond had to repress a slight shiver as all the walls looked the same. It was the whole reason he disliked hospitals so much, they were completely bland. Naruto decided to get his mind off the drab environment of the hospital, and started speaking with the woman next to him. "So what have you been up to these past four years?" he asked.

"Oh not much," Shizune replied, "mostly I've been working at the hospital and trying to keep Tsunade-Sama out of trouble."

"Bet that's pretty hard," Naruto spoke with a knowing grin, "knowing baa-chan I have no doubt you've been constantly forced to babysit her and make sure she doesn't get herself plastered."

"You know you shouldn't call Tsunade-Sama something like that," Shizune said with a semi stern glance, though she let out a giggle at the end.

"Perhaps, but when have I ever cared about what I should and should not do," Naruto smirked at the black haired woman.

"That's true," Shizune admitted with a smile. They quieted down as Shizune opened the door to one of the rooms, gesturing for Naruto to go in while she came in behind him. "Just sit over on the bed," Shizune said as she closed the door and began going through the cabinets.

Naruto grunted in acknowledgement as he walked over to the bed, sitting down and closing his eyes as there was nothing to look at but the dreary walls. A little while later Shizune walked up to him, "hold out your arm please." Naruto opened his eyes and did as asked; Shizune tapped his arm a few times before finding the vain she wanted. Sticking in the needle Shizune twisted a capsule on it, making blood begin to flow into the vial at the end of the needle. Naruto watched as his blood bubbled into the vial with an odd sort of fascination, he had only gotten a blood test done once and that was when he was three, so this was a new experience for him. "There," Shizune said as she pulled out the needle and set on the table, she went back to wipe of the blood and fix the wound. However when she turned around she saw Naruto wiping off the blood himself, with the wound already completely healed and remembered his Kyuubi healing factor.

"Thanks Shizune-nee-chan," Naruto said with a smile as he stood up.

"It's no trouble," Shizune replied as the two walked out the door and back to the front. "Tsunade-Sama will be busy for awhile, but I'll make sure she gets this sometime next week," Shizune told him as she sealed the vial in a blood seal.

Naruto nodded, "that's cool, thanks again."

Shizune waved to him as he left, walking back out the door. Looking at the sun Naruto figured he still had several hours to kill before the council meeting, Naruto decided to walk around Konoha. It was still fairly early so not a lot of people were out, just a few shop owners who were setting up stores. As Naruto looked around the street he spotted the Yamanaka flower shop, which was just opening. Changing direction Naruto made a Bee line for the store, as he opened the door the bell rang signaling his entrance.

Hello what can I- oh Naruto-kun!" Ino said in surprise before her voice turned flirtatious. "So what can I get you, or did you just come to see me."

Naruto resisted the urge to grown, despite having obviously grown up and gotten stronger, it was still plain to see that Ino had not lost her fan girlish tendencies; still Naruto figured it would be rude to not converse with her. "Not this time I'm afraid, I just came in to get some flowers."

"Oh…" Ino's voice dropped a bit in disappointment, "so who are they for?" she figured Naruto was getting them for Sakura.

"My parents," Naruto said with a sad smile.

"…oh…" the platinum blond found herself cursing for ruining such a good mood. "In that case I would suggest a bouquet of roses," Ino said as she led Naruto to the section where the roses were. She began to rearrange them before putting them into a plastic wrap, when she was done Ino led Naruto to the front desk. Typing in a few numbers on the cash register she rung up his total, "that will 150.00 yen."

Naruto nodded and with a puff of smoke had Gama-chan out of its seal, opening it up he grabbed the necessary money and handed it to Ino. "Thanks Ino," Naruto said as he grabbed the roses.

He was just about to leave when Ino grabbed his hand, "Wait!" Ino stopped him as she remembered something Sakura had told her, "I heard from Sakura that you were the author of a certain book…"

Naruto smirked, "you mean loveless right? Yeah I'm the author," Naruto grinned, "so you a fan?" he asked. Only to sweat drop as Ino was suddenly right in front of him, with hearts in her eyes and his book in his face. _Is it just me, or do all women seem capable of the __**Hiraishin**__ when they want something…_

"I can't believe you wrote this," Ino squealed, "this book is my absolute favorite! The beauty of your words and the deep meanings behind them are all so… so… breathtaking." she held the book out to him, "can you sign my book!"

Naruto smiled; "Sure," he grabbed the book and pen she had, signing it for her before handing it back. "Thanks for the flowers Ino," Naruto said as he threw a wave over his shoulder.

He never noticed the gleam in Ino's eyes as he left.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugao placed the single flower she had next to the memorial stone, standing back up she looked at the one name that had meant the world to her.

Hayate.

It had been well known to the ninja population that the two had been dating, she and Hayate had been together since they were genin. However what had not been as well known was that she and Hayate had actually been engaged for nearly six months before the invasion of Konoha struck. They had been nearing the final stages of planning out there wedding, when Hayate had been killed by a wind blade. Taking him from her life, and leaving the woman feeling completely empty. Ever since then she had been lost, her entire life seemed to revolve around her fellow swordsman. Now that he was gone she had felt as if she was just ghosting through life, without really living.

Her friends of course had tried to help to the best of their abilities, trying to get her out of the apartment she had shared with Hayate. Taking her out on the town in the hopes she would at least smile, they had even tried to hook her up with another man. However none of it had worked, she could not bear the thought of leaving the place she and Hayate had shared so many memories. She rarely ever with out with her friends anymore except to drink, usually Yugao was doing some kind of S class mission or in the hospital after said mission went wrong. And no one else could ever fill the void that Hayate's death had caused, a part of that may have been her fault but she really did not feel like moving on. It felt like she would be betraying Hayate's memory.

"Excuse me miss do you mind if I stay here?"

Yugao's eyes widened in surprise as she twirled around, when her gaze landed on the figure her eyes widened even more. "Y-Yondaime-Sama!" Yugao spoke in shock, finding herself staring into the blue eyes of who she assumed was the Yondaime Hokage.

Naruto was about correct her when he found his gaze traveling along the woman. She was definitely beautiful, with long purple hair that had two large bangs falling over her shoulder and several smaller bangs covering her face. Her eyes were a dark brown, which contrasted nicely with her pale milky skin. She had a heart shaped face, with small yet pouty pink lips and a small nose. She was wearing the Anbu attire for female kunoichi, which did nothing to hide her amazing figure. Nice well rounded and firm hips, a narrow waist, and luscious mid to high C cup chest. All in all the entire woman was the epitome of beauty, yet it was not these qualities that attracted his attention. It was that he knew this woman.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Flashback…_

_A five year old Naruto was huddled in a corner of an alley trying to hide from his pursuers; he had gone out of his 'home' in one of the alley's in the low class district of Konoha to get some food from the garbage. Something he had been forced to do for several months now, since the orphanage had kicked him out. When several drunk civilians had noticed him and began to throw various objects and chase him, claiming that he was stealing. Naruto instinctively knew that they really just wanted to justify beating him, it did not happen often, but the occasional time he had been seen people would make some trumped up claim and do what these people were doing just now._

"_Well, *hic* well well *hic* what do we have here?"_

_He looked up and his eyes widened before he was kicked in the chest, his malnourished body hit the wall making him cough up blood. The man who kicked him lifted the blond by his throat, slamming him into the wall before slamming him on the floor. The man than stomped on his back and Naruto screamed as it felt like his spine snapped in half._

"_Aww do you *hic* not like that?" the man asked in a drunken and whiny voice. "Too bad!" the man laughed as he kicked Naruto on his stomach, before raising his foot up to stomp on his face. Naruto closed his eyes as he waited for the inevitable blow._

_It never hit._

_After nearly a minute of nothing happening, Naruto opened his eyes to see a young girl standing in front of him; she had long purple hair and was wearing black clothes. She wasn't very tall and looked to be around 15 years old. On her face was one of those funny masks that Naruto had seen answering to the old man in the funny hat, she was currently grabbing the man's leg keeping it from hitting him._

"_Who the hell are you," the man said in anger and disgust. "You better *hic* be on your way girly, or we're gonna… AHH!"_

_He cried out as the leg she had in her hand on previously was suddenly sliced off by a sword the young woman had pulled out. "You people disgust me, picking on an innocent child because of his burden." She slashed the man across the throat, killing him. She turned to look at the other two men who despite being drunk, were sober enough to realize the danger they were in. Both were nwt cowering in fear as the woman stalked towards them, two quick slashes of her sword and a fire jutsu later they were dead and burned to ashes._

_She turned around and walked to Naruto who huddled up against the wall, "Please, please don't hurt me."_

_The woman winced at the pitiful tone in the boy's voice, she kneeled down next to him and took off her mask, revealing grayish brown eyes and a heart shaped face. "Don't worry little one, I'm not gonna hurt you," she stretched out her arms._

_Naruto looked at her for full minute with eyes that were surprisingly piercing, finally he moved from his hiding spot. She noticed that he was limping and in obvious pain, despite the fact that she could see the fox healing the boy's injuries. She ignored that as she picked the little blond boy up and noticed that he was far lighter than he should be an obvious sign that he was malnourished. She decided to take him to her apartment and get him some food, she may not be able to do much but she would help where she could._

_That very same day Naruto had been given an apartment by the Sandaime, who had been looking for him._

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

"_Naru-Chan!"_

_Naruto ran out of his room and quickly wiped the smile off his face as he went into a pout, crossing his arms and puffing out his cheeks. "I told you not to call me that!"_

"_Awww, I'm sorry Naru-chan," Yugao smirked; she loved how easy it was to tease this boy. It had been nearly two months since she had found him, the Sandaime had made her Naruto's personal body guard until he entered the academy in six months._

"_Yugao-nee-chan," Naruto wined as Yugao laughed._

_XXXXXXXXXXX_

"_Naru-chan, I want you to meet my boyfriend Gekkou Hayate," Yugao introduced a sickly looking man with a bandana headband and sword strapped to his side._

"_What!" Naruto cried out getting surprised looks from the two. "I thought I was your boyfriend!"_

_Yugao made some choking sounds as Hayate laughed at her, "Why Yu-chan are cheating on me with younger men, perhaps I should tell Hokage-Sama that your robbing the cradle..."_

_Yugao shot him a glare, but Hayate just laughed while Naruto looked just confused._

_Flashback end…_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Despite the fact that he had not seen her since he started the academy when he was six, Naruto could never forget that face. She looked exactly as she had ten years ago, though he noticed that she had bags under her eyes, a sign that she had not been sleeping well. Her eyes also held a great sadness in them, a void that left her empty. Yet even with that Naruto found that she was still as beautiful as ever.

"It's been a long time hasn't it Yugao," Naruto greeted, startling the purple haired woman.

Yugao scrutinized Naruto as she got a closer look, it was then that she noticed the six whisker marks on his cheek and realized who he was. "Naruto!" Yugao said incredulously, "I didn't even recognize you! You look…"

"Older? More mature?" Naruto questioned with a grin, "… devilishly handsome?"

Despite her sadness Yugao managed to crack a small smile, "you certainly have grown…" her smile soon turned into a frown as her thoughts went back to Hayate.

Naruto sighed at seeing this, "so you don't mind if I…" he trailed off as he held up the flowers.

"No, go ahead," Yugao said as she moved over.

Naruto nodded in thanks as he walked up to the memorial stone, placing the bouquet next to it before he stood up. He looked over the many names that were listed there, before finding the two that meant the most to him.

Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze.

Naruto placed his hand on the memorial stone, letting his fingers ghost over the names of his parents. He took a step back and moved over to the left, allowing Yugao to take a place besides him. "You know I find it kind of funny," Naruto said, making the purple haired Anbu turn towards him. "Every day for nearly six months I would meet my team here, yet not one time did I ever look at this… All this time my parents were right here and I never even knew…"

"That is a little ironic," Yugao replied as she stared at the stone.

"… You're here to see Hayate right?" Naruto asked after a moment of silence.

"Yes…" Naruto looked over at Yugao as he heard the crack in her voice, closing his eyes as he realized that it was still a sensitive subject for her.

"I'm sorry," he apologized in a small voice.

"Not your fault," Yugao said, though Naruto knew from her tone that she did not want to talk about it anymore.

Naruto and Yugao stood there for several long minutes, neither saying a word while one mourned her loss, and the other mourned what would never be. It was a little while later that Naruto turned his head, feeling a chakra signature enter the area. There was a swirl of leaves, as an Anbu sushined next to them.

"Namikaze-san, Tsunade-Sama has requested your presence in her office," the Anbu said.

Naruto nodded, "thank you, tell her I'll be there shortly." As the Anbu nodded and disappeared Naruto turned to Yugao, he placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze before he too disappeared.

Yugao watched until the blond was gone, looking back at the memorial stone one last time before she left to see what S rank missions she could take.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"You called baa-chan!" Naruto greeted as he appeared within Tsunade's office, right before he was forced to duck under a paperweight.

"You know despite growing up a bit your still a brat!" Tsunade said with a scowl.

Naruto just grinned as he sat down in one of the seats that were in front of her desk, "maybe, but you still love me."

Tsunade smiled before gaining a dismissive demeanor, "whatever gaki."

"So what did you call me in for?" Naruto asked knowing that there was still about an hour before the council meeting started.

Tsunade sighed as she started speaking, "I figured now would be a good time to inform you about your new duties as a Clan Head. No doubt Jiraiya skipped out on all of the important information when he spoke to you about this."

Naruto laughed, "that's true, in fact the only thing Ero-sensei taught me about was the C.R.A. which he seemed rather excited about."

"I'll bet!" Tsunade said with a scowl, "remind me to beat that pervert the next time I see him!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

In the hot springs of Konoha, Jiraiya let out a loud sneeze before covering his mouth and nose in the hopes no one heard that. Unfortunately Hana Inuzuka was one of the women currently in the hot springs, and her enhanced senses were able to pick up the noise easily. Jiraiya soon found himself running from a mob of women who had all sorts of weaponry, threatening him with death and castration. He continued to run, however his luck ran out when he slipped on the wet surface. Hitting the ground hard as the woman surrounded him, giving off that aura of death that all woman gain when they are about to cause someone extreme pain.

Soon shouts of pain were only eclipsed by the women's shouts of pervert.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'll be sure to remind you," Naruto said with a grin.

Tsunade smirked at him before getting into an explanation as to what his duties as a clan head would be, most of what he had to do was fairly simple. As a part of a clan he was a member of the council, which helped the Hokage rule over Konoha and set up new laws and policies. It was also important for him to set an example for the citizens to follow, though that made him wonder why clans like the Hyuuga clan seemed to walk around with a ten foot pole shoved up their ass. She also discussed several laws about the clans, most of which were centered around a clans rights to privacy. This would keep the council out of his business, in theory anyway since he had no doubt they would at least make an attempt to get into his affairs.

"Also I am not sure whether or not you know this, however a clan is suppose to have something special about them that helps strengthen the village," Tsunade said.

"You mean besides a Kekkei Genkai?" asked Naruto in unmasked curiosity.

Tsunade nodded, "Yes, each clan has something besides their blood line that helps contribute to Konoha, otherwise your father's name would have never been given Clan status. The Hyuuga Clan for example holds great political power, and is well known for their diplomats and influence outside the village. The Inuzuka clan is a well known tracker clan; they usually end up teaming up with the Aburame and Hyuuga clans for this, they also own all the vets. The Aburame clan is likewise a tracker clan, but they are also well known for a lot of their shinobi spending several years within the Anbu. The Akimichi clan is responsible for the demolitions corps, while the Yamanaka clans are well known for their interrogation skills and have several members who work I&T. And the Nara clan has always been charged with creating evacuation drills and counter attacks during times of war."

Naruto nodded as he listened to what Tsunade was telling him, "so I need to find something that will help the village?"

"Yes," Tsunade said, "your father had been planning to do this eventually, but was unable to before he died. So it will be up to you to find out a way to better Konoha, think of this as something of an initiation test to see if your name is deserving clan status."

Naruto nodded, "very well, I actually think I already have something that will work." Tsunade cocked an eyebrow at how fast he thought something up, but did not speak as Naruto continued. "As you know my father was well known for fuiinjutsu, which Jiraiya told me I inherited. I think it would be beneficial if I came up with several seals that would help Konoha."

"What kinds of seals are we talking about?" asked Tsunade, intrigued with what Naruto was saying.

"Well most people never go beyond the standard sealing scroll and exploding tag, many of which I can produce in a higher quality. However there are also several seals I can design that can help people with more subtlety. I was thinking about what happens when our ninja are captured and slated for torture, what if they had a seal that could be activated by either chakra or blood that would allow them to escape?"

"I'm listening," Tsunade said as she grew more and more interested by the second.

"Ok what I'm thinking of are several seals that could be used for this, the first is a seal that will store a certain amount of elemental chakra in it, any kind would do though I recommend wind. When the seal is released the wind is shot out in several blades, which will form a protective sphere around the user. I can make similar things such as a fire wall, a water sword, earth spikes, or charge the body with electricity to increase speed and power. With wind it will allow him or her to cut through wires and even people if they get to close, though the downside is they become a walking target for their opposing element…"

Tsunade continued to listen to Naruto with interest, some of the idea's he came up with were amazing. While they each had small weaknesses it did not really matter, if you were captured most of the time it meant you were as good as dead. This would actually give their shinobi a chance to escape, and even a small chance was better than no chance at all.

"Those are some pretty good ideas," Tsunade told him, "I suggest you speak to some of the ninja stores and show them your seals once their made. We can also present them to the council; this should get them off your back for the most part." Tsunade looked over at the clock, "speaking of the council it's about time we headed out."

Naruto nodded as he got up, with Tsunade following suit.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The council chamber was currently a bustle of activity as the members waited for the last two people to come in for the meeting. There was an air of excitement in the room that had not been there for awhile, this was due to the fact that Naruto was going to become the new head of the Namikaze clan. Many of the members of the council were eagerly awaiting this, having made plans to acquire the power that his clan held. Though most of this came from the civilian side of the council, who hoped to force Naruto into several arranged marriages.

The elders were also another group who wanted to take the Namikaze clans power for themselves, something they had desired to do since Minato had been named Hokage and his name was given clan status. The elders always held a strong dislike for the blond man, who had stripped the council of almost all its power during his short tenure of Hokage. They had always felt that Minato had been nothing more than a young upstart, trying to get rid of them when only they deserved the power to control Konoha. After all they had been protecting this country long before Minato had even been born.

Now that man's son was going to take his father's seat as Clan Head, which they personally thought was a ridiculous notion. Not only because the boy was the Jinchurikki for the Kyuubi, but also because they felt he like his father did not deserve any of the power that came with being the head of a clan. Danzo in particular was weary of letting the boy get such power and influence in Konoha, unlike his two cohorts who while intelligent, were also arrogant in their beliefs of their own superiority. Danzo knew that if the boy was anything like his father, it would be hard to gain the Namikaze clans power. However he was still fairly confident that he could turn everything in his favor, so that the roots of Konoha could flourish.

On the other side of the table sat the clan heads, the only people who were not thinking of ways to gain the blonds power.

In the seat right next to the Hokage's was none other than Hiashi Hyuuga, the head of the Hyuuga clan which was currently the largest clan in Konoha. Hiashi was a man who despite his cold demeanor, always put his clan and Konoha first, even when it went against his own beliefs. That had been the main reason he had pushed Hinata so hard during her training, it had been his hope that she would push back and eventually grow into a strong Clan Head. However it had only been in recent years that the young girl had shown just how strong she could be, which surprisingly enough was the same reason or person that the council had been called for.

When Hiashi had heard that Minato still had a son, he had been ecstatic. It was not well known but Hiashi and Minato had been rivals during their academy and genin days. Minato had graduated as the Rookie of the Year, with Hiashi following behind him in second place. At first it had been extremely humiliating to be beaten out by a clan less orphan. This had caused Hiashi to push himself to be stronger, always trying to outdo Minato in everything. It had not been until the Chunin Exams that Hiashi and Minato became friends. Hiashi had faced off against the blond ninja during the third stage of the exams, and despite the blond being two years his junior Hiashi had lost; badly. Despite the fact that his defeat could be considered one of the most humiliating days of his life, Hiashi had seen something during that fight. He had been able to see that Minato had been what Sarutobi would call a carrier of the 'will of fire' that he would often speak of, it had been that will and determination for change which had formed Hiashi's friendship with the blond. Later on he and Minato had made many plans for when Minato became Hokage, one of which had been the blonds plan to help Hiashi get rid of the bird cage seal. Unfortunately Minato had sacrificed his life when the Kyuubi came and attacked the village. When he had found that out and that the beast that killed his friend had been sealed, Hiashi had desired to order the young child executed despite his friend's last wish. It had been both a great shock and horror when nearly fourteen years later, he had received news that Minato's son and living legacy was in fact the child he had wanted executed. This had brought shame to Hiashi, who was disappointed in himself for not realizing who Naruto was sooner; especially for someone who was recognized for his all seeing eyes. It was because of this that Hiashi vowed to himself that he would support young Naruto, giving the young blond his and his clans backing.

Two seats from Hiashi was Tsume, the clan head of the Inuzuka Clan. This clan was well known for their collaboration with ninja dogs, and their pack mentality. They always believed in looking out for family, and were well known for their fierce loyalty to others. It was because of this that Tsume felt she had shamed her clan name by not recognizing Naruto for who he was. Kushina Uzumaki had been one of her best friends during the academy, she and the red head had been the pranksters of their class. Many times the two would get in trouble for playing pranks, which would end up causing mass amounts of property damage. In truth this should have been the Inuzuka heads first clue about who Naruto's parents were, with his father's looks being the second clue. Tsume had promised that if something ever happened to Kushina, she would take care of the woman's pups with the red haired tom boy promising the same. When she had heard that her best friend's child had been the very boy she had hated for containing the beast that killed her husband, the Inuzuka Matriarch had been horrified. To find out that she had broken her promise and left Kushina's pup without protection, it was the greatest dishonor she could give. This was why she had promised to herself that she would help Naruto with whatever he needed.

Sitting next to the Inuzuka Matriarch was Shibi Aburame, the clan head of the Aburame clan. The Aburame's were well know as a clan that followed logic, believing that to do otherwise would cause more issues to arise then need be. They were also ostracized, much like Naruto because of the bugs they carry. That was why Shibi had honored the Yondaime's wish, they knew that Naruto was no more the Kyuubi then their Kikai bugs were them. His clan had been the only one who would really help the boy. It was not as much as he would have liked, since his clan was small and could not look after the boy all the time. But the first few birthdays that Naruto had after starting the academy, Shibi had made sure that one Aburame was there to watch him. It had proved to be a good idea, as during the young boy's birthday many people would get drunk to the point that their logical processes would not work. The end result was a drunken mob who would try to go after Naruto; thankfully his clan had always been able to stop that by draining the mobs of their chakra before they could do anything. When he had heard the news that Naruto was in fact the son of one of the few Shinobi who had received his clans respect, it had never made him so thankful for honoring said mans last wish.

The last in the lineup were the members of the Yamanaka, Nara and Akamichi clans, who were well known for their powerful team work. These three were Inoichi, Shikaku and Chouza and they had been known as the Ina-Shika-Cho trio, due to the teamwork they used during the Third Great Shinobi War. These three all had very different views on what they felt should have been done with Naruto. Shikaku, who was the most intelligent of all of them was more than smart enough to realize that Naruto was just a boy. Unfortunately the man had not done much, for the simple fact that like all Nara members he was too lazy and it would be too troublesome to really do something to help the boy. It was something he was regretting now that he knew of Naruto's heritage. Chouza had been on the fence about Naruto, while he knew that the boy was not the Kyuubi he was still wary about letting his child near him. Of course Naruto ended up befriending Chouji anyway, having stood up for the boy when he was being picked on by bullies for his weight. That had probably been the turning point for Chouza, but he had still not really done anything to help the boy, something he was now regretting. Inoichi Yamanaka was the one person in their group who had wanted nothing to do with the boy, while he had not believed that Naruto was the Kyuubi. He had still been wary of him and had told his daughter to stay as far away from him as possible, now that he knew of the blond's heritage he was coming to regret his decision.

It was fifteen minutes after everyone else had entered the council chamber that the doors opened again, and in walked the last two people they were waiting for. The first was easily recognized as Tsunade Senju, the Godaime Hokage and last of the Senju clan. However it was the second figure that had caught everyone's attention, and ended up shocking those in the council chamber.

Standing before them was what many could only feel was the Yondaime reborn; the young man looked like an exact replica of his father. Even the way the blond teen moved was akin to his father, each step he took spoke of a man who had great confidence in himself. Yet at the same time it showed that he was not arrogant, it was graceful much like a predator stalking its pray. That combined with the aura of power and confidence the young man exuded, was enough to make many of the people in the room look at Naruto in the same light as his father.

The two blonds walked over to their seats, Tsunade sitting at the head of the council. Meanwhile Naruto took his clan's seat, which was right between Hiashi and Tsume. Naruto offered Hiashi a nod of acknowledgement, which was returned. Before turning to Tsume and giving the woman a feral grin, that surprisingly enough began to make the Inuzuka Matriarch feel hot under the collar due to how feral the look was. It seemed to literally scream alpha to her.

Tsunade cleared her throat before speaking, "as you are all aware we are here to welcome Naruto as the new head of the Namikaze Clan. But before we do that I would like to know if any of you have objects to this decision," she looked at all of the council members with a glare, letting them know that she would be going through with this decision anyway. Thankfully no one objected, though the main reason behind this was less then savory. "Good then I hereby bestow upon Naruto all the rights, responsibilities and privileges of a Clan Head," Tsunade said. "And now that that's out of the way we can…"

"Actually Hokage-san," Danzo said with an impassive face, though on the inside he was feeling quite smug. "There is one thing we must discuss with Namikaze-san…"

Before he could complete his sentence he was stopped by a growl, Danzo along with everyone else turned to look at the source of said growl in surprise. It was Naruto who was currently glaring at Danzo, "I suggest you hold your tongue when speaking to the Hokage in such a way Danzo-san. You will refer to her as Tsunade-Sama or Hokage-Sama as her position dictates, to do otherwise is a vast insult to her, and if Hokage-Sama wished it could be considered as an act of treason."

Danzo along with the other two elders resisted the urge to glare at the young man; frankly they felt that being called out like this was beneath them. But they knew that they would not be able to call Tsunade with anything but respect, now that Danzo had been called out and the threat made sure that it would be impossible for them to get away with the small demeaning tactic. Unfortunately they could not do anything about it; they could no longer risk treating the blond woman with disrespect anymore; lest they wish to go to jail or worse. However the only sign they had that conveyed their displeasure, was the way they pursed their lips.

"Of course," Danzo said in a clam voice, though on the inside he was seething. Still he would not do let this boy get to him, he was positive that in the end it would not matter and he would still get what he wanted. "I apologize Namikaze-san, but as I was…"

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," Naruto interrupted as he gestured to Tsunade.

Danzo grit his teeth but kept his outwardly calm appearance as he turned to the Hokage, "I apologize for the lack of respect Tsunade-Sama, it won't happen again."

Tsunade looked over at Naruto who gave her a discreet wink, resisting the urge to smirk Tsunade turned back towards Danzo. "Apology accepted Danzo-_san,_ just see that it does not happen again," she said emphasizing 'san' to let the man know who was in charge. She was so glad she had given Naruto the Tokabetsu jonin rank; she finally had someone who would help put the civilians and elders in their place.

Danzo resisted the urge to glare at Naruto before continuing, "as I was saying before, there is something very important that you must know Namikaze-san. Because you are the last of your clan, you fall under article D, Claus 36 of the Konoha Clan charter. As it states 'any last male heir of a new or extinct clan must marry a minimum of four women by the time of their eighteenth birthday, in order to produce strong heirs for said clan so as to keep the clan from dying out'. As you are the last of your clan, it is required that you find at least four women to wed."

As Danzo finished and sat down another elder, named Koharu stood up in what had to have been a practiced routine. She picked up a scroll and unrolled it while clearing her throat. "Namikaze-san we of the council have chosen several women who we feel would benefit your clan; I hope that you will…"

"Excuse me Koharu-san," Naruto cut in with a frown. "But I believe that under Claus 37 of the same article it states, 'until the time of the heirs eighteenth birth date, neither the council nor even the Hokage have any say in who said heir is to wed. To do so is in violation of said Heirs Clan rights, as such if the council or Hokage tries to force the heir into marriage before that time. Then said heir has the right to take his clan assets, and leave Konoha' I am only sixteen at this moment Koharu-san. So correct me if I am wrong, but I believe you don't have the power to even suggest who I am to wed. am I right?"

The Shinobi council looked at Naruto with a mixture of awe and respect, none of them held any love of the elders or those on the civilian side of the council. So to see them being humbled like this, was definitely a pleasant experience for them. Hiashi in particular was both amazed and impressed by Naruto's political prowess; to him it felt almost like he was looking at Minato who was speaking circles around the council. He would have to invite the young man over for dinner sometime.

Homura and Koharu narrowed their eyes in anger, displeased that another young upstart was countering their every move. It was like Minato was staring at them and ridding them of their power all over again. It was even worse since this boy was not only his son, but also the Jinchurikki for the Kyuubi. Danzo despite feeling the same way did not show his emotions, not wanting to give the young blond another victory.

Likewise the civilian council was feeling most displeased with the situation, many of their daughters had been on that list. It had been their hope that they could get some of them to marry Naruto to get into the clan, and then they would be able to use several political loop wholes to strip the boy of any actual power. However until Naruto turned eighteen there was nothing they could do, making them regret turning Naruto into a Clan Head.

Tsunade smirked as she looked at Naruto, feeling quite proud at how her godson was handling the council. She knew that the main reason Naruto was able to talk circles around the elders, was because of the topic at hand. When Naruto had told her that Jiraiya had gone over the C.R.A. in explicit detail, he had not been kidding. The young blond knew the C.R.A.'s laws better then the back of his hand, having memorized every single sentence of that law. Making it the one thing that the elders would never be able to beat him on.

Tsunade coughed into her hand, getting the attention of the council. "Namikaze-san is right," Tsunade said as she used a more respectful suffix then she usually would when they were in a more private setting. "However you do know that you will need to wed at least four women, before your eighteenth birthday?"

Naruto nodded at Tsunade as he gave a smirk, one that made the civilian and elders on the council feel unease. "Do not fret Hokage-Sama, I am well aware of my obligations in this department," Naruto replied. "Fortunately I have already found four such woman who I have met throughout the years and fallen in love with; they understand my obligations and have accepted that. So none of you need to worry about me not finding anyone to help me restore my clan."

Any last vestige of hope that the civilian council had to gain the boys powers was lost with that statement. They had assumed that despite being a Namikaze he would still not be able to find anyone to marry, or more like hoped he would not find anyone. That way when he turned eighteen they could arrange several marriage for him, and he would not be able to get out of them. Now all of that was a moot point.

"If I may ask Namikaze-san," Danzo said as he stood up, there should still be at least one way he could salvage this. If he could get find out who the boy was marrying and somehow get them under his thumb, he could use them to get the young man within his grasp. Then he would not only have his weapon, but also the blond's children as his weapons. "Who exactly are you planning to marry?"

Naruto gave Danzo a cold smile, "I am sorry Danzo-san, however you should know that I cannot tell you yet. It is well known that my father had made many enemies, which have only compounded onto my own. With Iwa and Akatsuki on the loose, it would not be wise for news of my wives to get out right now. I'm sure you understand," the blond finished with a condescending smile.

Danzo's one eye narrowed at the boy, he knew that Naruto was going to become a problem the moment he had found out about his heritage. Unfortunately Danzo knew that right now there was nothing they could do, the boy was too powerful to take out at the moment. However Danzo was patient, he would wait until the time was right, then he would strike.

However not all of the people in this room were smart enough to keep their mouths shut, as one of the council members proved when he stood up and glared at Naruto. "So what! You don't trust us!" shouted the member of the civilian council, a man who went by the name of Denbe Shojuko. Said man pointed at Naruto, "I see how it is! You think that just because you're in some clan that your better than everyone else! You think that you can do whatever you want!" Denbe had always been known for his insatiable greed, even among the council as well as his hatred of Naruto. It was actually because of this man that Naruto had been unable to buy even the bare necessities in Konoha, such as food and clothing. Since Denbe owned more than half of the shops in Konoha, and had gotten Naruto blacklisted by the others through political loopholes and threats. Soon the man's rant began to degrade even more then what it already was, "the only reason you even have that seat is because of your father! It doesn't matter anyway, you don't deserve that seat! Your nothing more than a demon! An illegitimate child from some whore that the Yondaime fucked, and got pregnant! I bet you that…"

The man's words died in his throat as the air around the room dropped nearly 60 degrees in temperature, the people in the room actually began to clatter their teeth together as the cold seeped in. accompanying this was an absolutely dreadful feeling, it was not like an intense blast of Killing intent. No it was far more subtle than that, too many it felt as if the Shinnigami himself had entered the room and death was touching them. The source of this feeling was none other than Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, who was looking at the now freezing Denbe with a deceptively calm face.

"Tell me councilor-san, do you have any family?" Naruto asked in a conversational tone, as if merely talking about the weather.

Denbe and everyone else shivered at the deceptively casual tone, but he steeled himself as he would not let the demon upstage him. "Why are you going to kill them?" Denbe asked with a sneer.

Naruto gave the man a cold smile, "not at all, I was merely curious."

The councilor scoffed, "no I don't have a family, you should know since you're the one who killed them!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow but did not comment on the man's stupidity, instead he turned to Tsunade. "Hokage-Sama is the thirds law still in effect?"

"Er… well yes," Tsunade answered in an unsure tone.

"Good," Naruto said before turning back to Denbe, "it's too bad you don't have a family, otherwise I might have let you live."

Before the man could even open his mouth Naruto threw one of his **Hiraishin **Kunai, before disappearing and reappearing right next to the man in a flash of yellow, with a **Rasengan **in hand. Naruto plunged the sphere right into the man's head, making it explode and shower gore on all of the civilian council members. Many of the civilians went wide eyed, as they began to shake in fear from seeing all of the gore and more than a few were unable to hold in their lunches. The few who were not as affected were shaking like a leaf in the wind, as they stared at Naruto who was eyeing them all with a cold expression.

Said shinobi was walking behind the civilians, forcing them to turn in order to look at him; while he spun the tri pronged kunai in his hand in a lazy fashion. "I seem to be finding myself very disappointed with the stupidity of this council," Naruto started in a near lazy drawl. Many of the council wanted to protest, but the odd feeling of death that had come to them stopped their tongues cold. Meanwhile Naruto continued on headless to their problems, "after the number of times I had protected Konoha, I would have thought you would have all realized by now that I am not the Kyuubi. I am no more the Kyuubi then a sealing scroll is the kunai that's been sealed into it. However if I was the Kyuubi, then don't you think that provoking me as you have for the first twelve years of my life might not have been the best choice. If I really was the Kyuubi, then all of you would be dead by now for what you put me through." he paused here as he made his way to the center of the chamber, letting many of the councilors think on what he had just said. In truth many had to wonder about that, it was true after all. If Naruto had really been the Kyuubi, then Konoha would have most likely been destroyed long ago. When Naruto got to the center of the chamber he continued, "however what bothers me more than your treatment of me. Is the way you claim to hail my father as one of your greatest ninja, and yet you continue to show such blatant disrespect! My father not only gave his own life, but the life of his own son so that all of you could be safe! He sacrificed everything for you! And all he asked in return was that the child, HIS child be treated as a hero! And yet you took that request and stomped on it! Treating the child like he was less then dirt! Hailing the father and damning the son!" Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "if my father were alive right now he would be ashamed of you. In fact I'm almost positive that he is rolling in his grave right now." Naruto locked eyes with each and every member of the council, with eyes that were so dead even Itachi would shiver. "I want each and every one of you to consider this; would you have treated your own child the way I was treated if they had been used for the sealing instead of me?" With his piece said Naruto went back over to his seat, sitting down with a soft sigh.

Many on the council looked at him with varied emotions; those on the shinobi side were looking at him with awe and respect. But many were also looking at him in shame, knowing that they were just as guilty as the civilian side for not being there for the boy. The civilians were looking at Naruto with a mixture of contemplation and some even in shame, though only time would tell how they were truly going to take it.

Tsunade closed her mouth as she got over her own shock, "I agree with Namikaze-san, I am disappointed in how he has been treated throughout the years. I hope this will be a lesson for all of you…" Tsunade paused for a moment before deciding that a subject change was needed, "now that this is out of the way I would like to discuss the renewing of our trade agreement with Nami No Kuni. And would the Anbu please take that body away!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto gave a heavy sigh as he sat on the couch in the Hokage's office, "man that was hard…"

"Really?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow as she went over behind her desk, "I thought you did really good."

"Maybe," Naruto said as Tsunade sat down next to him with a bottle of sake and two saucers in hand. "My my baa-chan, drinking on the job are we?" Naruto smirked at her, "for shame."

"Shut up gaki," Tsunade said as she poured some sake into the saucers before taking one of them. "With all the paper work and crap I have to do, I think I deserve a drink every now and then."

Naruto gave a small chuckle as he grabbed the other saucer, sipping some of the sake and letting it burn down his throat. "Is this the Kumo imported rice sake?" Naruto asked as he took another sip.

"It is," Tsunade said with a grin as she sipped some of her own, "sounds like your into sake just as much as I am, if you know that. So you have no right to complain to me about drinking."

Naruto took another sip before he grinned at her, "maybe but since I can't get drunk anyways it doesn't really matter. Besides that, I'm not the Hokage."

Tsunade humped before the two fell silent for a moment, quietly drinking their sake. After awhile Tsunade spoke up, "when do you think you can have a demonstration for the seals you plan on making?"

Naruto frowned in thought as he poured himself some more sake, "well the first thing I have to do is find a store that specializes in ninja ware. I'm thinking of going to the Higarashi weapons store since I know Tenten, after that I'll schedule the demonstration. As for the seals," Naruto paused in thought before continuing, "they should be done by the end of the week. Most of them are actually things I've been working on for a long time, so they won't take much longer to finish."

Tsunade nodded, "let me know when you plan on doing the demonstration and I'll inform the council."

"You mean the shinobi council right?" Naruto said with a grin.

Tsunade matched his grin with one of her own and nodded in agreement. After the discussions on trade and other commerce agreements, Tsunade had been going to start discussing shinobi affairs, such as the academy teachings and budget. Before that could happen Naruto had once again helped Tsunade by kicking out the civilian council, they had of course protested by claiming they had a right to be there. Naruto had just countered their claims by reminding them that, according to the law set down by the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage's they had no right to involve themselves in shinobi affairs. "Of course, now why don't you tell me about your training trip with Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked.

"Well…" Naruto said with a smile as the two spent the rest of the time drinking sake, while Naruto told Tsunade stories of all the pranks he had pulled on the perverted Sennin.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning Naruto was up bright and early again, after he finished his training Regime and eating a healthy breakfast the blond decided to go see if he could meet Tenten and her dad. Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha, as he watched the people getting ready for their day. It was still early in the morning so only a few people were up, allowing Naruto to just walk around and enjoy the quiet. Naruto made his way over to the Higarashi weapon store, opening the door which sounded with a chime.

He looked over at the cash register and saw Tenten, sitting on a stool and reading a magazine of some kind. _Most likely a weapons magazine of some kind, _Thought Naruto with a smile as he walked over and tapped on the desk, "good morning Tenten!"

Tenten looked up at Naruto and a blush quickly spread across her face, "good morning Naruto-kun! How are you doing?" Tenten asked.

Naruto gave the girl a smile, "not bad, I can't complain at least. What about you?"

"Oh I've been good," Tenten said as she squirmed in her seat a bit. "So um… how can I help you today?"

"Actually I was wondering if your dad was in," Naruto said as he tilted his head to the side.

Tenten was just about to respond when a gruff voice did it for her.

"He is in."

Naruto and Tenten turned their head to the stairs, and saw a man with messy brown hair walking down. He was of decent height being at about 5'9" and had a fairly bulky build, his eyes were a brown color much like Tenten's, giving Naruto the clue that this was her father. The blond noticed that the man walked with a slight limp, denoting that he had received some kind of injury to his heel. This as well as the general aura the man had, led Naruto to assume that he had been a shinobi at one point in his life.

Naruto bowed to the man, "it's a pleasure to meet you sir, I'm…"

"I know who you are," Tenten's father chuckled, "it's almost impossible not to with your reputation. And don't call me sir, I hate that respect crap." Naruto gave a grin as he scratched the back of his head, amusing the man who had seen that same expression on Minato's face many times in the past. "I'm Kenchi Higarashi," Kenchi introduced himself as he held out a hand.

Naruto smiled as he took it, "nice to meet you."

"Likewise, I was wondering when I would see you in my shop," Kenchi said, "so is there anything I could do for you?"

"Actually I was wondering if there was something I could do for you," Naruto said, getting two raised eyebrows from Tenten and Kenchi.

"Oh? And what is it that you can do for us?" Kenchi with his curiosity piqued.

"I can see that you guys sell things like standard sealing scrolls and exploding tags, however like most stores you guys don't have much else in the way of seals. I am currently in the process of creating several seals that will help Konoha," Naruto looked at the two of them. "I am sure you know that a clan needs to find some way to contribute to the village in some way Kenchi-san."

Kenchi nodded, "yes I am well aware of that, I take it this is your way to do that?"

"Yes," Naruto nodded, "I was hoping to have a demonstration at the end of the week. As you are the only shinobi store I know of that is run by a shinobi, I wanted to have you there."

"What makes you think I'm a shinobi?" Kenchi asked, if this boy, _no man, _he corrected himself. If this man was anything like Minato, then he would be able to give him an accurate dissertation of why he thought Kenchi was a shinobi.

"When you were walking down I noticed you have a slight limp, by the slight movements your leg makes I would say that the wound was caused by a sword to the heel. Wounds like that are not something civilians get and escape who ever gave it to them to alive, meaning you had to have been in combat at one point. Aside from that," Naruto shrugged, "your general aura is the same as anyone who has ever been a serious ninja at one point in their life."

_He's just like his father,_ Kenchi thought with a smile. "That's a pretty good deduction, and you were right about the leg. So why is it that you feel it matters whether a store is shinobi owned or not?"

"Because that makes this shop far more popular than the other stores, since you have ninja experience and know what they would want." Naruto answered.

"I see," Kenchi said with a nod, "Because I have firsthand knowledge on what ninja want and the ability to forge custom weapons based on that knowledge, more ninja come to my store. If I were to endorse your seals they would sell that much more, am I right?" At Naruto's nod Kenchi continued, "this will also give you more of a profit in the end too, since more people will…"

"No," Kenchi and Tenten looked at Naruto as he spoke, "I'm not doing this for any monetary gain. You can keep any money you make, I have more than enough thanks to my book, I am simply doing this to help Konoha."

Kenchi blinked in surprise for several moments before he grinned, "you really are Minato's kid aren't you?"

Naruto smiled, "so I've been told."

"Well alright, I'll come to this demonstration of yours and if your stuff is any good we'll start selling them the moment its ready for the market."

Naruto nodded, "I appreciate this," the blond said before he looked over at Tenten, "you're welcome to come to if you would like."

Tenten blinked for a moment before blushing; "Thanks I think I will." she looked back up for a moment and tilted her head, "so what book were you talking about?"

Naruto looked at her with an odd expression before smiling; he reached into his pouch and pulled out Loveless. "I'm the author of this book," Naruto said with a grin, only to sweat drop when Tenten appeared in front of him with a copy of the book in her hand. _I swear to Kami it's like these girls have a pocket dimension, where they can just pull anything out of it magically._

"This is my favorite book; can you sign it for me?" Tenten asked as he once again saw what he had taken to calling the **Suta-Boushi No Jutsu ****(Starry Eye Jutsu)**.

Naruto shrugged before grabbing the book and signing it for her, after that he gave the two a good bye before heading home.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto groaned in relief as the warm water from the shower hit his form, loosening the tensed up muscles in his back and shoulders. Today had been a hectic day for him, even more so then yesterday when he was in his first council meeting. After he had left the Higarashi weapons store, Naruto had gone into another council meeting. Where he had been forced to sit through several merchants discussing a trade agreement between Konoha and Tsuchi No Kuni, which had almost made the blond Clan Head fall asleep. After that he had gone home and did his typical training regime, and then he had sat down at his desk and began hashing out his plans for the seals he wanted to create.

In truth most of them were already done, he just needed to finalize them. He had several powerful seals that he was sure would be useful to Konoha, things like sensor seals that could be used to set up around a camp when on long term missions. Trap seals that even a genin could set up, that when triggered would release anything from a fire jutsu to a paralytic poison. Sometimes things like that were all that were needed to complete the mission, and get back home safe. However the ones he was really wanting to show Tsunade and the others were not the ones that were done on paper, but a powerful seal array that should make capture and rape statistics drop. However that seal was also the one he had yet to really finish, as well as the one that was the hardest to complete.

Naruto turned off the water as he stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel he dried himself off as he made his way into his bedroom. He threw the towel in a hamper as he walked over to the closet, opening it he made his way inside. Naruto began to leaf through his clothes, looking for some formal ware for this evening. Normally the blond would not be caught dead wearing formal clothing; however he had been eventually forced to get some. Koyuki had bought him some formal Kimono's for when he made his appearance before the Haru council, so that he could look good when he and Koyuki presented him as her fiancé. Something he planned to do once he managed to get rid of Akatsuki.

Naruto sighed as he picked one out and began to get dressed; tonight he had been invited over for dinner by Hiashi Hyuuga. Knowing just how much power that clan held, Naruto knew declining his invitation would not be an intelligent idea.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Hinata Hyuuga was nervous.

This would not surprise anyone who knew her. Despite the young woman making strides towards bettering herself as a kunoichi, she was still a shy and soft spoken girl. It was something that had never changed about her, even her continuous improvement with her taijutsu and Byakugan. So the fact that Hinata was nervous would not surprise anyone, however this time she felt she had a valid reason for it.

That reason being her father Hiashi, who was currently smiling. It was well known that Hiashi Hyuuga almost always kept up the cold Hyuuga Façade; he said it had something to do with presenting a noble aura to those beneath them. Whatever the reason for it was, Hiashi was not one to smile, ever really. Sure he would occasionally when Hinata was progressing well in her taijutsu; however this was something that had only happened recently. Now he was smiling for what seemed to be no reason, other than the fact that they had a guest. Apparently one important enough that her father was smiling about it.

This was not really a shock of course, due to their status and political power both in and out of Konoha; they would often receive visiting dignitaries. However none of them were important enough for Hiashi to actually be happy about seeing them, this was what made her nervous. The fact that she was going to be meeting someone who was important enough for Hiashi to smile about meant that she would need to be even more, 'Hyuuga like' for lack of a better term, than usual. Which due to her kind nature was something she had a problem doing.

"Hiashi-Sama, your guest has arrived."

The three Hyuuga's at the dinner table looked up to see one of the branch members standing over by the entrance.

"Thank you, send him in please," Hiashi said as he stood up to greet his guest.

The branch member bowed before leaving to get the guest.

Hinata smoothed the hem of her Kimono, which was a lavender color to match her eyes. The Kimono had floral designs on it, and was tied together with a dark violet obi. Unlike her normal clothes, the formal wear she had on did nothing to hide her figure. Something she was very self conscious about, which was of course why she always wore that large baggy overcoat. Taking several deep breaths to help her calm down, the young Hyuuga Heiress looked over at her little sister Hanabi.

Said sister was currently sitting with her back straight, and wore the impassive Hyuuga stare. She was wearing identical clothes to Hinata, except that hers were in the opposite colors.

Hinata turned her head towards the door when Hiashi began to walk over to it, and had to hold in a gasp of surprise. The person who her father had invited over was none other Naruto! Hinata quickly looked away, and had to start taking deep breaths lest she pass out. When she felt she was calm enough she looked back to see her father greeting the blond shinobi.

"Welcome Naruto-san, I am glad you could make it," Hiashi said as he shook Naruto's hand.

Naruto gave a nod as he took the offered hand, "thank you for inviting me Hiashi-san, I appreciate it."

"Not at all," Hiashi replied easily as he waved the thanks away. Naruto followed the man as he moved over to sit down, when they were both seated Hiashi gesture to his daughters. "I believe you have already met Hinata," Hiashi said.

Naruto smiled at the girl, "it's a pleasure to see you again Hinata."

Hinata felt heat rise to her cheeks, but thankfully was able to keep herself from hyperventilating. "I-it's good t-to see y-you as w-well N-Naruto-k-kun," Hinata said as she grabbed the folds of her Kimono in an effort to keep from poking her fingers.

"And this is my youngest daughter Hanabi," Hiashi introduced as he gestured to a little girl who looked a lot like Hinata, except she had what Naruto had dubbed the 'I'm a Hyuuga so I must act like I'm constipated' look.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Hanabi-san," Naruto said with a smile. Despite the girl's cold look, Naruto was able to notice the slight blush that crossed the girl's cheeks.

"You're the one who beat Neji-Nii-san in the Chunin Exams," Hanabi said in an accusing tone.

Naruto looked at the girl with an odd expression for a second, "yes that is true that I beat Neji."

"How did you do that?" Hanabi asked, "Neji-Nii-san is the Hyuuga clan prodigy, there's no way you could beat him."

Naruto frowned at the girl; it seems that she was much more of the stereotypical Hyuuga then the members he had met. Of course he had only known Hinata and Neji, and Neji had been similar to her before Naruto had removed the stick in his ass. Naruto continued to look at the girl before shrugging, "I was able to beat him because unlike him I had something to fight for."

Hanabi tilted her head at the cryptic answer, "Something to fight for? Like what?"

Naruto smiled, "well at the time my reason was to dispel Neji's delusional belief that fate controlled everything. He had to understand that there is only one 'fate' we all share and that is death, but how we get there and the choices we make before we die are our own."

"Wise words," Hiashi said, "you sound just like your father."

Naruto looked over at Hiashi, "you knew my father well I take it?"

"I knew him quite well," Hiashi said with a very small and nostalgic smile, "I was in the same class that your father had been in at the academy. He had been the Rookie of The Year, and became something of my rival."

"I see," Naruto said as he remembered his own 'rivalry' with Sasuke, before the fool went to play with a pedophile anyway. Naruto looked at the Hyuuga head with a mischievous expression, "so if you were his rival did he call you teme as well?" Naruto asked in an innocent voice.

Hinata and Hanabi looked at Naruto in shock, while Hiashi made several choking noises. "N-no he didn't," Hiashi said as he was able to get himself under control. He paused for a moment before sighing, "however your mother did."

If the two Hyuuga Heiress' had been startled by Naruto's comment, then they nearly jumped out of their skin when Naruto started to laugh, loudly. Hanabi more than Hinata was shocked by the 'commoner' behavior the blond man seemed to have, it made her wonder why her father had invited him over in the first place.

Naruto's laughs soon became wheezes as he tried to get his breath back under control, "oh… oh…" Naruto sighed as he stopped laughing. He looked over at Hiashi and shook his head, "you know I can somehow see my mother doing that."

Hiashi gave an imperceptible smirk, "I could imagine, you are a lot like her in many ways."

Naruto chuckled, "I think I'll take that as a compliment."

"Of course," Hiashi said, "though you do seem to have more of your father's personality now. I admit to being quite impressed with how you handled the elders during your first council meeting."

Naruto smiled as the two of them talked back and forth, trading conversation between one subject or another. Naruto knew this was a standard political process that people who wanted something from you did, and he knew Hiashi wanted something. While he was sure the man's desire to repent for not helping him when he was younger was genuine, Naruto also knew that Hiashi would not invite him over for that reason alone. However he continued to play along with the man, knowing that there was a time to be blunt and a time to use finesse. So Naruto spoke with the man, and occasionally tried to add Hinata and Hanabi into the conversation so they did not feel left out.

Their conversation quieted down as the food came; Naruto was surprised when he was served a side of Ramen with his food. It seemed that even Hiashi knew of his ramen addiction, which was actually kind of funny since ramen was not his favorite food. Well most ramen was not, his favorite food was the ramen they served at Ichiraku's but there was a reason for that. Teuchi and Ayame had been the first two people to ever treat him as a human other then Sarutobi and Yugao, so the blond had often gone there when he did not want to be glared at, or overcharged for food. They had also given him several free bowls of ramen, making the place even better in his eyes. It was not long after going there that Ramen had become his comfort food.

After they had eaten Naruto figured it was time to see what Hiashi wanted, "I believe you wanted to speak to me about something?"

Hiashi smirked ever so slightly, "yes I did, we can go to my office for our discussion."

Naruto stood up as did Hiashi, he turned to look over at the two girls, "I'll see you later Hinata-chan, Hanabi-_chan,_" Naruto smirked at seeing the younger girl scowl. Though he also noticed her blush as well, during the course of the conversation he had taken a liking to teasing the younger heiress. He felt the girl was far too uptight for her own good, so he had taken it upon himself to 'remove the stick' as it were from her proverbial ass. Of course he knew this would be a little harder than Neji, after all he could not beat the shit out of her like he did Neji. Still that would just make it more of a challenge.

As Naruto walked down the halls with Hiashi, the blond decided to get a layout of the estate. Unlike his father's house, the Hyuuga estate was made in the purely traditional Japanese style. The building were centered around a Zen garden, filled with trees and a koi pond with a bridge over it. Doors were lined up along the wall facing the garden, leading to any number of rooms that were used for various purposes. The place was definitely nice; Naruto had to admit that, though the atmosphere was a little to stuffy for his tastes.

They finally stopped in front of a door; Hiashi opened it as he gestured for Naruto to enter. As soon as they were both inside Hiashi closed the door and set up a silencing seal, before moving over to a seating area with red padded cushions on the ground. Following the Hyuuga Head's lead, Naruto sat on one of the cushions with his feet under his rear and his back straight.

Hiashi looked at him with a calculating gaze before speaking, "I am sure you are well aware that the Hyuuga Clan is currently the largest of Konoha's clans. It also goes without saying that we are the clan who holds the most political power; no Hokage has ever been selected without our support. That is even more true now, since the only clan that could contest with us is no more."

Naruto nodded at what the man was saying, narrowing his eyes in thought the blond picked apart Hiashi's hidden meaning. "You are saying you will support my position for Hokage? However I assume you also want something for this, otherwise you would not have invited me over for dinner."

Hiashi managed to crack a small smile, "you are quite astute in your observations Naruto-san, truly your father's son." Naruto nodded at the compliment as the man paused another moment, before heaving a deep sigh. "Yes I do have something I wish to ask of with you, or more like I need your help with something. I am sure you know of the bird cage seal?" Hiashi asked.

"Of course," Naruto said with a nod, the blonds mind soon came to a conclusion as to why Hiashi had invited him over for dinner. Still he did not say anything, preferring to hear it from the Hyuuga head's own mouth.

"What was not as well known was that Minato and I had planned to do away with the seal," Hiashi said.

"I take it he was going to force the Hyuuga elders to get rid of the seal by showing its inherent weakness," Naruto said, "and then offer up a counter seal for all Hyuuga's to wear."

Hiashi did not show it, but he was greatly impressed with the boy's ability to figure things out with only a little bit of information. "Yes he was, it was our hope that this would eliminate the differences and bridge the gap between the our two families."

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, "do you know how far my father got?"

"I believe he was able to create the replacement for the bird cage seal," Hiashi answered, "however I know for a fact that he had not even been able to get started on finding the bird cage seals weakness."

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at Hiashi, "I will help you with this. To be honest I had planned on getting rid of that seal anyways, this will make it much easier to do so."

Hiashi sighed in relief as he and Naruto stood back up, moving over to his desk Hiashi pulled out a scroll. "This is scroll contains the bird cage seal for you to study," Hiashi spoke as he handed Naruto the scroll.

Naruto took his and placed it in his pouch, "I will get back to you sometime within a month, by then I should have both the replacement seal and the weakness to the bird cage seal."

Hiashi gave a nod as he let Naruto out, "I appreciate the help Naruto-san."

"Not at all I'm happy to help," Naruto replied as he walked out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Hinata watched as Naruto left her father's study, and began his trek back to the front gates. She followed the blond boy, making sure to always stay in the shadows so he would not see her. The moment Hinata had seen Naruto here; she had realized this was her chance to confess her feelings for the blond. She knew that she may not ever get a chance to do so like now, since he was right here in her house. However she was still having trouble gathering her courage to go up and talk to the boy.

The decision was soon taken from her as Naruto called out, "you can come out now Hinata."

Hinata's eyes widened in shock, how had he seen her? This had never happened in all the years she had followed him, something like this was not only unprecedented, but also unexpected. Whatever the case he had found her, so she had no choice but to come out and confront the blond.

"H-Hello N-Naruto-k-k-kun," Hinata said, cursing herself for being so shy. She knew she would never get another chance like this, so she had to take it. She took several deep breaths as she tried to calm her raging nerves, which felt like they were overloading her brain right now. Hinata opened her mouth as she looked at him, only to start swaying on her feet for a little bit. _I… will… not… faint… _Hinata thought to herself as she tried to steady her nerves. Finally she opened her mouth, "iloveyou!"

The words had been spoken so fast, that had Naruto, not had enhanced senses he was sure he would have missed it. The blond Clan Head repressed the sigh that threatened to escape him, while he commended the girl for gathering the courage to tell him that, he had really hoped she wouldn't. perhaps it was naive thinking, but Naruto had been hoping that the girl's shy nature would keep her from confessing; at least until he had something to say that would let her down easy. Still now might be the best time to nip her feelings in the bud, after all he did not wish to lead her on with the false hope that they might get together.

"Hinata you are a very kind, beautiful and compassionate Kunoichi," Naruto said knowing that what he said next would break her heart. "However I don't have any romantic feelings for you, I'm sorry."

"What?" Hinata asked as if she had not heard him, it took a few seconds for the words to register, but when they did tears started to form at the corner of her eyes. "You mean… you don't…" she couldn't believe it; she had worked so hard to tell him, only for him not to have the same feelings for her.

"No," Naruto said in a soft voice, "I don't."

"But… but…" Hinata's mouth was unable to work properly, not that it mattered anyway as she spun around and took off.

Naruto sighed as he chased after her, knowing that if he did not reason with her, things would not end well. He doggedly followed the lavender eyed girl, who was dodging and weaving in an effort to lose him. However Naruto was far faster and more agile then she was, and soon caught up. He grabbed her arm to keep her from moving.

"Let go of me!" Hinata shouted as she yanked on her arm.

"Not until you listen to me," Naruto replied in a calm voice.

"I don't want to hear it! Let go!" realizing she would not be able to get away like this, Hinata turned around and attempted to Jukken strike Naruto. Said blond was surprised that Hinata would go this far, but thanks to his enhanced reflexes was able to avoid the strike. He quickly wrapped Hinata in a bear hug, keeping her arms pinned to her sides so she could not use them. Though the girl continued to struggle and even tried to Jukken him with her feet, however she soon began to tire. Eventually the girl sagged into him as she started to cry, sighing Naruto just let her do so until she calmed down.

"Why?" the girl asked, with her voice muffled by his Kimono, "why don't you love me? Why won't you love me?"

"Because you don't love me," Naruto stated causing Hinata's head to snap up so fast, the blond thought it would break.

"How could you say that!" Hinata asked, completely unaware that she had not stuttered. "I've always loved you! Ever since the academy! You gave me strength and courage! I-"

"Only saw what you wanted to see," Naruto interrupted her, "you saw the side of me that was loud, obnoxious and was not afraid to scream about how he would be Hokage at the top of his lungs. You were so fixated on this image of me and felt that I was something to strive for, so you put me on a pedestal. As something you would always watch from afar, but never touch, which was why you were too afraid to talk to me."

"That's not true at all!" Hinata shook her head, "I saw you as something I wanted to be! Something to strive for…"

"Which is what you do when you place someone on a pedestal," Naruto interrupted in a soft voice. "Hinata what you saw was not me, not all of me anyway. You saw the parts of me that you wanted; because that side of me was everything you were not. You felt that if you could just be near me, then maybe you would gain some of my strength. Am I right?"

Hinata gave a hesitant nod, since that was true. Ever since she had seen his loud and proud attitude, she had begun to admire the boy. She had taken to following him, because just watching the blond had given her strength to go on. He was what she felt she wanted to be, she wanted the courage he would show even when the world had tried to stomp on that courage. That never give up attitude, that's what she wanted to have for herself.

"That's exactly what I mean, that's not real love. You wanted me to be your strength, your courage, to be able to lift you up when you could not do it yourself." Naruto shook his head, "what you have to understand is that by trying to use me for your strength, you end up weakening your own."

Hinata's eyes widened as what Naruto said began to sink in, "what do you mean?"

"Hinata I can give you no more strength then a soldier pill can give you chakra, yes you may gain a temporary boost by relying on me. But in the end it's only a passing feeling and can never give you the strength you are looking for. What would happen if you were on a mission that went bad, all of your comrades were incapacitated and you were the only one capable of protecting them and completing the mission. What would you do if I wasn't there to give you that pick me up? If you had to rely on your own strength to carry on, only you had been relying so much on me that your own strength failed."

Hinata looked at Naruto with wide eyes as his words were tossed around in her head, it was painful to admit but she realized he was right. All this time she had been trying to rely on Naruto instead of herself, even when he was gone her thoughts were on the blond. It was like he had become some drug or a crutch as he said. Because truthfully all she had been trying to do was emulate the blond in front of her. It was enough to make her feel sick, "I really am weak," Hinata muttered as tears formed in her eyes again.

"You are not weak Hinata," Naruto said in a firm voice, as he placed his hands on the girl's shoulders. Hinata looked up at Naruto as he spoke, "you just have yet to come into your own strength, but it's there. However you need to find the right reasons to gain that strength, which are not to impress a boy."

"What are your reasons?" Hinata asked, hoping that if she knew the reasons of someone else, she could try to find out her own.

"At first my reason was simply because I wanted to be acknowledged, it was stupid but that was why I tried so hard." Naruto's eyes began to glaze over and his voice softened as he continued, "however as time went on and I gained people who did acknowledge me, my reasons changed." Naruto looked at Hinata, "now I fight and gain strength so that I can protect the people who are most important to me. The people who I have found a family in, the Konoha eleven, the people I met in my travels… it's for them I try to get stronger, so that I can protect them."

Hinata was silent for a moment as she thought about her reasons, really thought about them. Now that she was thinking a little more clearly, she realized that what she had been doing was no better than when Sakura and Ino had tried to gain Sasuke's affection. Everything she had done was for Naruto, but now that Naruto made her realize this she did not really have a reason… or did she?

"I… I think I want to gain strength to protect my family, and make them proud of me." Hinata said as she looked at Naruto, "I don't want them to think of me as weak, or a burden anymore."

Naruto gave the girl a smile, "that's a good reason, wanting to help your family is one of the best reasons anyone can have. I know that with that desire in mind, you will gain strength." Naruto stuck his hand out to the girl, "friends?"

Hinata looked at the hand and then back to Naruto before smiling, "Friends," she said as she took the hand.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto stood out on the field with the Shinobi council, Tsunade, Kenchi and Tenten, all of whom he was going to show his seals to.

"Now that everyone is here I figured we'd better get this show on the road," Naruto said as he took out sealing scroll and unraveled it. He unsealed the contents revealing several different scrolls of various seals, ink and a brush. Grabbing the first seal Naruto unrolled it, "I am sure you all know of the standard exploding tag, which by adding chakra will make it detonate and in some cases can set a timer for a slight delay. But what if they did not just explode? What if instead they launched an A rank jutsu, or a cloud of deadly and poisonous gas."

"Are you saying you can create a scroll that has an A rank jutsu in it?" Tsume asked incredulously.

Naruto smiled, "I could tell you yes, but I think it would best to show you." Naruto created a clone who took one of the small tags in the scroll, walking several feet away before channeling some chakra into it as he set the scroll on the ground. The clone poofed out of existence and Naruto turned to Tsunade, "Hokage-Sama could you make a **Kage Bushin **please?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow but did as asked, less than a second later a clone appeared. "Good," Naruto said as he turned to the clone, "I want you to go over to the scroll." As the clone did as instructed Naruto turned to Hiashi, "Hyuuga-Sama would be so kind as to turn on your Byakugan and tell me what you see?"

Hiashi nodded and did so; truthfully he was quite curious to see what they boy came up with. As the Tsunade clone got within five feet of the scroll, everyone became shocked as a giant dragon made of lightning launched out of the scroll. It roared as it homed in on the clone, smashing into it before exploding in a shower of sparks.

"It… it reacted to her chakra," Hiashi said his voice for once filled with awe. The others heard what he said and looked at the now burnt out scroll in shock.

"Yes it reacts to any chakra signature that does not belong to the person who used the scroll, though it can be set to recognize other signatures as well." Naruto smirked as he looked at the gob smacked audience, "as you can see things like this could easily tip any engagement or skirmish in our favor, just imagine if you were to create a minefield of these and placed a camouflaged dual layered genjutsu over them, an enemy comes within five feet of it and they suddenly find themselves within a barrage of A rank techniques…" Naruto left them to imagine the potential of his strategy for awhile. Once they got over their awe he began showing them some of his other seals, with each one being more impressive then the last. Finally Naruto got to the seal he had really worked on this week, "for this next seal I'll need a volunteer, it has to be a female."

The last request had stopped several of the males from stepping forward; unfortunately it also made the females wary. Tsume Inuzuka however took it as something of a challenge and stepped forward, "let's see what you've got pup."

Naruto smirked, "very well follow me so I can apply the seals," Naruto picked up his ink and brush and headed into the tree line. Tsume despite being surprised followed him as well, once they were out of sight Naruto stopped.

"Alright so why did you have to bring me out here alone," Tsume asked before giving a feral yet oddly seductive smirk. "Or was it just that you wanted to get me away from the rest of the council, so you could have your way with me. You know I think you might be a bit young for me, though you are quite handsome…"

Naruto blinked in surprise as the Inuzuka Matriarch blatantly flirted with him, he had truthfully not expected this. Still that did not mean he was going to be upstaged, "well you are quite Sexy Tsume-_chan,_" Naruto said as he modulated his voice into an animalistic and husky growl, that caused Tsume almost cum herself. "Unfortunately that's not the reason, this time anyway." Naruto shrugged, "I really just figured you would not want to have to strip in front of all those men."

Tsume blushed at those words, but it soon turned to a glare, flirting was one thing but asking her to strip for him was not something she would take lying down. "Alright listen here if you think I'm gonna strip for you, you've got another…" she could not get another word in as Naruto's presence literally overwhelmed her senses. Where before he had the strong presence that was found in all leaders, his entire aura right now just screamed Alpha. It was so strong that her animal side was actually telling to her bow down and do whatever the blond said.

"Do not think I am doing this so I could see you naked Tsume, I will not deny that you are quite attractive. However you seem to forget that I am already engaged to four women, all of whom I love. The mere thought of being unfaithful to them makes me feel like committing Seppuku," Naruto's glare actually made the Inuzuka woman bow her head submissively. Naruto sighed as he released his dominating presence, "I will explain what the seal does while I apply it, is that ok?" he asked. When he received a nod in return Naruto had the woman strip down, until she was in her undergarments. He then began to apply the seals while explaining their functions, by the time he was done Tsume's eyes were wide.

Several minutes later they came back out to the field, "I apologize for the wait however we're now ready for the final demonstration." He took no head of the looks he was getting, or the light blush Hiashi was trying to hide. They obviously knew what had gone on in the forest, or at least they knew what Tsume had done.

Naruto paid attention to none of it as he unsealed a chair, "alright Tsume just sit on the chair." Having knowledge on what the seal was supposed to do, the feral looking woman did as told. Naruto tied her up with steel ninja wire, making sure they were bound tightly enough that she could not move. Naruto turned back to the crowd, "now then as you know one of the most serious problems we run into as ninja is the possibility of capture. When that happens all we can do is try to make sure that we die before we end up cracking from whatever torture we are subject to. However that does not have to happen, what if we could give our shinobi a small window of opportunity to escape? Hiashi I would like you to use your Byakugan to tell me what you see." Naruto did not wait for the man to give an affirmative, before he turned his attention to Tsume and raised an eyebrow in question.

He received a nod from the woman, right before he unleashed a concentrated dose of Kyuubi's killing intent. The woman felt her eyes widen as the feeling of fear came over her from feeling the same power that had killed her husband all those years ago, thankfully it only lasted a second as the seal activated. The ropes were suddenly sliced apart as a shield of powerful cutting winds encased Tsume, who was completely protected by it.

Naruto grinned as everyone was once again rendered speechless, "tell me Hiashi what did you see?"

"The seal activated when you unleashed that killing intent," Hiashi said, "however it was not activated consciously."

"Correct," Naruto said, "this seal is actually several arrays that are located on different areas of the body. You have one seal that constantly stores the excess chakra that all people produce in another seal. The others seals are what creates the wind shield, one to activate it and the other to maintain it. It activates subconsciously when the body is feeling any sort of negative stimuli, whether that be fear or something else. This means that even if someone has their chakra sealed off, the seal can still be activated because it is not depended on one's ability to use chakra."

"Because it's based on the bodies' reaction to their emotions," Tsunade said in shock. What Naruto had just created was not only a complex seal, but something that also required a thorough understanding the human body and human psyche. "To come up with something like that is amazing…"

Naruto smirked, "that's not all, now I need a volunteer. This one has to be male," when no one stepped forward Naruto sighed. "Very well since no one is stepping forward, Shikaku," Naruto chose with a grin. "You are going to help finish my demonstration."

Shikaku blinked in surprise before muttering a troublesome and walking up, "so what do I need to do?"

Naruto turned to Tsume as the wind shield dissipated, "are you ready for the second stage?"

"Yeah…" Tsume said though she still felt a little skittish from feeling Kyuubi's Killing intent. Still getting a little scared was well worth the knowledge that they could save the lives of their ninja with this. Especially what the second demonstration was going to do.

Naruto turned to Shikaku and gave him a mischievous grin, "what you will have to do is try to touch Tsume's vaginal region…"

There were several seconds of pure silence.

"WHAT!" Tsunade and Tenten yelled in Unison.

Naruto turned to the two, "you heard me, this is necessary to show what the other seal does."

The two glared at him before Tsunade spoke, "listen here gaki, I don't care if…"

"Hokage-Sama I have already been told this was going to be required, and have given my permission to allow this demonstration done on me," Tsume interrupted her.

Tsunade looked at the Inuzuka Matriarch in shock, "but…"

"Don't worry the pup explained to me what was going to happen," Tsume said.

Tsunade sighed, "well alright if you're ok with it…"

Naruto nodded, "now Shikaku if you would…"

"Do I have too?" the lazy Clan Head asked, if his wife found out about this she would have his head.

"Yes," Naruto said, "this is quite possibly the most important part of today's demonstration."

That got several raised eyebrows, the Clan Heads wondering what could be this important. Shikaku sighed as he began to mumble about getting in trouble with his troublesome wife for this, walking up to Tsume he reached down towards her crotch. That was when Naruto activated a seal on a scroll he had taken out that launched false pheromones into the air, simulating the lust most bandits and low life's released when about to rape a woman. Before Shikaku's hand got three inches, it was shocked with a burst of lightning.

"Damn! That hurt! Troublesome…" Shikaku tried to rant, but was too lazy to do as he shook his hand.

Naruto looked over to the again shocked crowed, "what do you think just happened?"

For a moment everyone was silent until Tsunade spoke up, "you used that odd smell which activated the seal that shocked Shikaku-san?"

"More or less," Naruto answered with a shrug, "I have destroyed enough bandit camps that I was able to reproduce the pheromones they release when raping a victim through chemistry. When I released those pheromones, Tsume recognized them and her body reacted instinctively to them. It also reacts to emotions, but since we know that Tsume is not afraid of being raped in her own village I did it this way. Now that was also a powered down version of the seal, had it been at full strength that shock would have made Shikaku-san's hand useless."

"Incredible," Tenten spoke, "that's an anti rape seal you just designed right?

Naruto nodded, "yes, the seal was something I thought of to help decrease Kunoichi rape statistics. Every kunoichi fears being raped, when their body responds to that fear the seal activates and whoever was about to touch them now has a useless hand, same could be said if they used other… more intimate parts. Now combine that with the escape seal, which can also be used on a male and we now have a way to give our ninja a better chance at escaping physical harm and traumatizing experiences."

"How long does the seal last?" asked Inoichi.

"It depends on how much chakra is stored in the storage seal," Naruto replied, "it can hold up to an A rank jutsu, so theoretically it can last for up to an hour, the anti rape seal likewise enough power for ten shocks. However the escape seal has a weakness, when used you become susceptible to fire."

"Still it is a better chance to escape then what they first had," Shikaku said with the others nodding in agreement.

Naruto smiled as he turned to Tsume, "are you ok Tsume?" Naruto asked seeing that she was a little wobbly.

"Of course pup," Tsume said, though the two experiences were not quite pleasant. Still knowing this could ninja, especially kunoichi's made this well worth it.

After some questions behind the mechanics of the seals, Tsunade decided it was time to wrap things up. "I think we have seen more than enough to say you passed the 'initiation' test," Tsunade said. "Two days from now we will hold the public announcement of your heritage and Clan Head status."

Naruto nodded, "cool, now I think I'm gonna hit the shower and then hit the sack."

Tsunade shook her head as Naruto walked off, before leaving with the rest of the clan heads who were speaking excitedly about the new seals.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

It was the day of the announcement and Naruto was looking out over the crowd of people, it looked like almost all of Konoha had come. He was standing in between Tsume and Hiashi as had become custom, while Tsunade stood in front of them on the ledge where speeches were made. It was not long before Tsunade held up her hands to silence the crowd, as she began her speech.

"People of Konoha, I am here today to introduce, or perhaps I should say reintroduce a man whom I am sure you all know!" The was a slight rumble through the crowd, as began to wonder who Tsunade was talking about. "This young man has just gotten back from a training trip with my team mate, Jiraiya of the Sennin! I am sure by now you all know who I am talking about! I would like to introduce to you the new Clan Head of the Uzumaki Namikaze clan, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze!"

Naruto smiled as Tsunade said that, it had been one of their agreements. He had refused to give up his mother's name, not just because he had been an Uzumaki for so long, but also because he wanted to honor both his parents. His smile turned into a smirk as he flicked one of his Hiraishin Kunai next to Tsunade, before appearing right next to her in a yellow flash. Resisting the urge to grin at the shocked gasps from the crowd at seeing the feared technique in use, Naruto raised his hand. "I would like to thank all of you for coming today! I Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze vow that as the Uzumaki Namikaze clan head, I will do all that is within my power to protect the great Tree that is Konoha!"

A roar swept through the crowd as the people cheered for him, praising his name and clapping enthusiastically. Naruto let them do that, knowing that what he had to say next would not make him very popular with some of the people here. "Before we leave in celebration today, I would like to inform all of you of something important!" Many people began to whisper, wondering what he could possibly tell them. Even Tsunade was looking at him oddly, since they had not done anything like this in the rehearsal.

Naruto merely gave the woman a reassuring smile before he continued, "a little over sixteen years ago a great beast known as the Kyuubi No Kitsune attacked our village… many people died in an effort to stop its rampage. And just when all hope seemed lost my father, the Yondaime Hokage defeated the demon. Using a self sacrificing jutsu which cost his life to slay the creature, this is the history that we are all taught."

As Naruto spoke many of the civilians and council members paled, realizing what Naruto was talking about. Many even had a hunch about where he was going, unfortunately due to the laws set down by the Sandaime they could not do anything to stop it.

"I am going to tell you all right now that what you have been taught is a lie…"

Gasps were what accompanied this announcement, all of the younger generation wondering what he meant and the older feeling dread well up in their guts. And so Naruto began to tell them the truth about the Kyuubi's defeat, setting in motion the action that would let him know who really respected him and who was just wanting to use him.

This was the catalyst that would start Naruto's new life in Konoha, for better or worse.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Omake: Council Room Break Dancing!

"I seem to be finding myself very disappointed with the stupidity of this council," Naruto started in a near lazy drawl. Many of the council wanted to protest, but the odd feeling of death that had come to them stopped their tongues cold. Meanwhile Naruto continued on headless to their problems, "after the number of times I had protected Konoha, I would have thought you would have all realized by now that I am not the Kyuubi. I am no more the Kyuubi then a sealing scroll is the kunai that's been sealed into it. However if I was the Kyuubi, then don't you think that provoking me as you have for the first twelve years of my life was the best choice. If I really was the Kyuubi, then all of you would be dead by now for what you put me through." he paused here as he made his way to the center of the chamber, with no one knowing what he would do next.

What he did was the last thing they expected.

"EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!"

As odd disco music sounded in the council room, Naruto struck a pose. One hand pointed into the air, while the other was on his hips.

"EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!"

Soon enough Naruto was dancing in the council chambers, with everyone else looking like their eyes were going to fall out of their heads.

"EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!"

Naruto got on the ground and began to do the worm, moving away from the council and heading for the door. When he got there the Anbu guarding it were so shocked, that all they could do was open it as Naruto 'wormed' his way out.

"EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!..."

When Naruto was gone and the music ended, everyone only had one thought in mind.

'_What. The. Fuck.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Another chapter done. It's a bit long and I hope all of you enjoyed it. This chapter was by far my hardest to make, since I wanted Hinata's reaction to Naruto's words to be realistic and end so they were still on good terms. I also hope you liked Naruto's complete fucking over of the council, and his killing of someone who was actually deranged enough to lose his mind. I wanted to show that while Naruto is kind and compassionate, he knows how to be ruthless when Necessary. He does not like it, but he knows that sometimes it is required. Any who Let me know what you think!

Pokemaster signing off!

**Chapter 10: The Kaima**


	10. Chapter 10

**This is a note for everyone who has been asking me to add women to the harem. It's not gonna happen. This story is staying strictly Naruto/Mei/Yugito/Koyuki/Konan/Yugao, I will not be adding anyone else to it. Now this is not to say that other women will not get a crush on our favorite blond shinobi or feel physically attracted to him, as I've already shown many of the women in the Naruverse think he's the hottest thing since Sasugay Uchiha. But if they do it will be one sided, Naruto already has several women that he loves, Yugao will be coming in soon, so he does not need any more.**

**Bankai777: I don't know if he will teach them the Hiraishin, that requires a mastery of Fuiinjutsu that no one except Minato and Naruto have in order to use. As for the Rasengan, hell yeah they'll be learning it!**

**Flamenvy963: No Naruto did not do any of the filler arches after the Sasuke Retrieval Mission. Naruto left to train right afterwards.**

**Deathmvp: I'm… not sure if that would work. I mean could you actually see Hinata wearing provocative clothing and bending over so Naruto can see her cleavage? She'd probably pass out the moment she entered his presence.**

**Hollow-Unlimited: Sasuke will not be appearing soon, right now I am trying to establish Naruto's place in Konoha. Most people don't do this and go right into the storyline, but I feel that would be unrealistic and unbelievable. He will do a few chapters where his position will be established, and then I'll get down to the storyline.**

**Bakapervert: you think so? I only had one person actually acting stupid in there. In any case council meetings would most likely be boring; I can't imagine them actually being any fun (Except for when Naruto slammed a Rasengan into someone's head).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 10: The Kaima**

As the sunlight began to shine through the opulent bed room, one Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze began to stir. The first thing he noticed as he woke up was the weight that was on his chest, as well as the fact that it was breathing. Looking down Naruto's lips curved upwards in a content smile, as he gazed at the still sleeping form of Koyuki Kazahana who was nuzzling into his chest. He continued to lay there for a good while as he ran his hands through the woman's hair, while admiring her nude form. A part of him could not believe just how lucky he had truly become within the recent years, to have not just one, but four beautiful women with whom he could share his love and happiness with. He knew that without them he would never be even half of the man he was today.

"Mmm… Naru-kun…" Naruto held in a snicker as Koyuki mumbled out his name, her face trying to borrow its way into his muscular chest. One of her hands came up and began to subconsciously message the left side of his chest, Naruto looked at the hand and noticed it was the one he with the ring he had given her.

Like the other rings he had given to the women in his life this one was very similar, and yet looked fundamentally different in order to reflect Koyuki's personality. Like the others it had all of the seals he had come up with, but it also had an additional seal that could allow her to actually use the **Shinsei Henge **in case she needed to hide her appearance. It worked the same way Naruto's anti rape and escape seal worked, by storing the excess chakra that all humans and animals produce and releasing it when someone is feeling high levels of negative emotions. This also had an added seal to change her appearance into one of the people she knew from memory. She could also activate it on her own, since Naruto had shown her how to use chakra. Though she only had a civilians amount so it was only enough to activate the seals in the ring, but he hoped she would not actually need it.

As for the ring itself, the band was made out of white silver with alternating flower and snowflake motifs running around it. In the center of the ring was a Zultanite gemstone, a jewel which would change color depending on the environment. The jewel itself was cut in the shape of the Haru No Kuni national flower, with nine tails surrounding it in a protective fashion. On either side of the gem was a diamond, one cut in a blooming flower and the other in a snowflake. He had given it to her on the day he had come over to celebrate the one year anniversary of Koyuki's ascension to Daimyo and the lands freedom of her uncle Dotou.

After a while Naruto gently rolled them over and extracted himself from her from last night's… activities. He brushed some hair out of the beautiful Daimyo's face, before leaning down and kissing her cheek. Rolling over he got out of bed and put on the robe to cover his still nude form, the first time he had visited via **Hiraishin** they had not done that and a maid had walked in before passing out from blood loss; since then they always had a robe on hand to prevent such incidents. Naruto walked over to the door leading to the balcony, going outside Naruto leaned against the railing as he looked at the rising sun. It looked to be around 5:00 am here, which meant that he still had several more hours before he had to leave.

As he continued to enjoy the sunrise a pair of arms wrapped around his waist, and a set of definite feminine assets pressed into his back. Naruto smiled as he turned around in Koyuki's grip, wrapping one of his own arms around her. He brought a hand under Koyuki's chin and lifted her head up. Leaning down he placed a soft kiss on her lips, Koyuki moan into the kiss as she began to increase the pressure on their lips. She licked his lower lip to let him know what she wanted, making Naruto open his mouth to allow her entrance. Their tongues became intertwined as they began to dance, letting the two enjoy the taste of each other before breaking a part. When they did Naruto placed their heads together, as he gave the woman a smile.

"Morning Yuki-hime," Naruto said making the dark blue haired woman smile, "how did you sleep?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Koyuki asked with an amused grin, tilting her head up to kiss him again.

"That good huh?" Naruto chuckled after they broke away again, "I'm gonna have to be careful from now on. With some of the things we did yesterday I might end up knocking you up, even with the seals on your ring."

Koyuki gave his chest a playful slap while mock glaring at him, "you shouldn't say things in such a crude fashion." Her glare however soon turned into a playful smile, "speaking of knocking me up… the council has been asking me questions about you and our relationship. They have been asking me if I have plans on marrying you, I believe they are hoping that I will produce a strong heir."

"We will announce how relationship soon, but you know that we can't do it right now…" Naruto said with an apologetic smile. He did not want their relationship getting out until he had taken care of Madara and the rest of Akatsuki, especially since out of all the women he loved she was by far the most vulnerable; being a civilian and all. Even though she had many samurai who offered her protection, none of them would even hold a candle to one of the Akatsuki members, much less someone like Pain or Madara.

"I know," Koyuki sighed as she leaned against his chest. They stayed that way for several more minutes before Koyuki broke away, "we should probably get something to eat."

"Alright, I could use a large breakfast right now anyway… what with all that energy we spent last night…" Naruto trailed off as he let his eyes roam over Koyuki's body, which even in the robe showed off her amazing figure.

"Perv," Koyuki muttered with a blush, as she turned around and walked back inside.

She only managed to get too steps through the door, before Naruto wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed her against his back. "You say that like it's a bad thing Hime," Naruto whispered in a husky voice as he nibbled on Koyuki's earlobe. Said woman gave a small shudder and a moan escaped her throat, "besides we both know who the real pervert here is."

That was true enough; while Koyuki did not have as large of a libido as say Mei, the Daimyo loved to experiment. Often times Koyuki would have the two of them role play out several fantasies she desired to do with him, they had done things like the naughty nurse, a schoolgirl and her teacher, a master and his servant and what seemed to be Koyuki's favorite. The hero and the princess, though he was sure it was her favorite because of how he really had saved her like in the movies, twice in fact.

"N-not fair," Koyuki stuttered as a blush spread across her cheeks, her entire body turning into putty due to the young man behind her.

"You know you love it," Naruto said with a grin, which widened as an idea came to him. "You know we're still pretty dirty from last night, why don't we go get _cleaned _up in the shower."

Koyuki gave a sultry smile, "I think you just want some more _alone _time with me."

"True enough, I can never get enough alone time with you." Naruto shrugged as he would never deny he greatly enjoyed spending time with the women he loved, "so is that a yes?"

His answer was when Koyuki spun around in his arms, stripped herself and him, before jumping on him and claiming his mouth with hers in a hungry kiss. Naruto grinned as he caught her by the butt, squeezing her cheeks to earn a low moan from the woman. She wrapped her legs around Naruto's waist as the blond made his way to the shower.

Breakfast could wait until they were done.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Tsunade sighed as she sat back in her chair, having finally finished the paperwork which had been nearly triple what it should be thanks to a certain blond. She would have never expected Naruto do have done something so daring as to tell everyone about his Jinchurikki status, and risk the possibility of having everyone hate him for holding it. However she could also not deny the effect it had on the younger generation, which as soon as Naruto left had turned angry eyes on their parents. Now they were questioning the older generation, not only for keeping something like this from them but for the way they had treated the blond. Everyone knew just how badly Naruto had been treated during his child hood to some extent, since most parents had told their children to stay away from him during that time, claiming that he was nothing but trouble. The way children had their parents keep them away from Naruto, treating him like he was the plague had not been missed by the kids. It was not until Tsunade had revealed Naruto's heritage that the older generation had changed, going from hating his guts to praising him as the last Namikaze. Unfortunately for them because they did that, they were unable to take it back after Naruto had revealed his status, unless they wanted to seem like liars in front of their children. Which they were already dangerously close to being seen as.

The busty blond Hokage shook her head of the thoughts, she had just finished the paperwork his speech had caused and did not want to think about it anymore. Instead she opened her drawer and reached under her desk, she always kept a bottle of sake hidden under there for whenever she needed a drink; and right now, she needed a drink. She had to hold in a growl however when she found the drawer empty, no doubt Shizune had been in here recently and had taken the liberty of removing her sake. The blonds shoulders slumped a bit at the thought of not getting her drink, sighing she decided to instead put her head on the table to get some sleep.

Or at least she would have had a blast of lightning not appeared in the center of her room, scaring the living day lights out of her.

"Good morning Baa-chan!" Naruto chirped in a singsong voice, only to duck under a chair that was thrown his way. He looked behind him when he heard a crash, and saw that the chair had smashed through the door. "Now that wasn't very nice," Naruto said with a grin as he sat down in one of the chairs in front of the Hokage's desk. "What did that door ever do to you?"

Tsunade groaned, "It's too early for this gaki… I haven't gotten much sleep, and I don't have my sake so don't get start trying to get smart with me."

Naruto snickered, "So Shizune-nee-chan took your alcohol away huh? Well you shouldn't be drinking on the job anyways baa-chan; it's bad for your health."

"Oh shut up you," Tsunade said with a glare, "so what do you want?"

Naruto shrugged off her slightly irritated nature, "I was hoping you could give me a mission."

Tsunade tilted her head in thought for a moment, before nodding, "I suppose I could do that. It will be good for you to integrate yourself with the other ninja again anyways." she began going through the scrolls looking for a good mission, "let's see we'll also need to find you a team and…"

Before she could say another word both her and Naruto leapt to their feet and crouched down, pulling out a kunai as instincts kicked in. A black ball of cloth shot through the window, which had been closed last night. As the glass shattered and sprayed across the room, the ball unfurled to reveal a woman Naruto had only met once; however she had left an impression he could never forget.

"Anko Mitarashi! Reporting for a mission!"

As Anko went into a dramatic pose, Naruto took the opportunity to study the woman. She was just the same as he remembered, wearing a tan trench coat that barely covered her assets and went down to her knees. Her shirt was just a fishnet mesh shirt that did nothing to hide her body, allowing everyone to see a tantalizing view of her bountiful assets and slim waist and toned stomach. Last and most definitely 'least' was the short orange miniskirt that barely covered her feminine parts, Naruto was sure that ran some kind of offense for indecent exposure; though most people were probably too afraid to tell her that.

Tsunade eyebrow twitched violently as she stared at the woman, "Anko… how many times have I told you not to come through the window?"

Anko rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish expression, "hahaha er, well let's see… I think this makes it somewhere around three hundred at least. Almost as many times as I caught the old man reading his porn, now about that… mission…" she trailed off as her eyes landed on Naruto and a grin spread across her face. "Hello what do we have here," Anko walked up to him with a sashay to her hips, "it's that delicious looking Namikaze."

"Uzumaki Namikaze actually," Naruto replied with a grin as he decided to play along with the woman. "And you Anko are just the same as I remember you, still a crazy, psychotic and sexy bitch."

"Oh such kind words," Anko replied with her grin still in place, as she trailed a finger along Naruto's jaw line, "you know if I wasn't dating Iruka-kun I would take you right now for such a compliment."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in surprise, "you're dating Iruka? When or how did that happen?"

Anko grinned, "it's quite the story let me tell you…" she was just about to get into all the juicy details of her love life when a cough interrupted them.

Both turned to see a very irate Tsunade, who had both of her eyebrows twitching and several tick marks on her head. "If you two are not going to grab a mission, then take that 'discussion' of yours somewhere else!"

Naruto and Anko looked at each other with matching expressions as they blinked, they looked back at Tsunade and in unison said, "We'll take the mission!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Danzo paced back and forth as he tried to find a way around the most recent problem that had developed for his plans, problems that were once again caused by Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. Who would have ever thought that the boy would have the audacity to let all of Konoha know of his Jinchurikki status, it was easily one of the most brilliant political maneuvers he had ever seen. Not only did it make the younger generation lose faith in the old, but it also made their respect for the blond that much more powerful and his position in the village that much more solidified. The fact that the older generation could not do anything without looking like hypocrites since they had proclaimed Naruto as a hero when his heritage had been first announced was just a bonus for the young Clan Head.

The boy was reminding him more and more of Minato, who despite always being a thorn in Danzo's side was a man he had respected. Unfortunately it also made Naruto even more of a problem for Danzo, had the boy just been a loud mouth with no real sense for politics like his mother it would have been much easier to control him. However Naruto was clearly more like his predecessor then Danzo would have ever expected, especially with all the trouble the man had gone through to subtly stunt his growth until he could get the boy into his ROOT. Now he was not sure he could do that, not without some kind of leverage over him.

Perhaps he could use the political pull he had left to get one of his ROOT on Naruto's team, which would allow him to keep an eye on the boy and find some kind of weakness to exploit. Now the only problem was to find someone who could perform this task.

He raised a hand and summoned one of his Anbu to him; he looked at the emotionless face of the person before him.

"Get me Tori."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto looked out over at the sea with a calm smile on his face, taking a deep breath of the salty air the blond let out a large breath. After being cooped up in the village going to council meetings and creating those seals, he had never been so grateful to get out and into the world again. Ever since his training with Ero-sensei had started, Naruto had developed something of a wanderer's spirit. And while it was nowhere near as bad as his sensei's desire to travel, Naruto still loved to get out and see the world.

Currently he was on a B rank mission that had the possibility of turning into an A rank mission, due to the unknown circumstances that concerned the mission. It seemed that ships were being attacked off the coast of Umi No Kuni (Land of Sea), by a Sea monster which was being called the Kaima by the local populace. Not much was known about this Sea Monster, which was why several merchant guilds had decided to hire Konoha shinobi to take care of the problem.

"Ugh…"

Naruto turned his head to look at the amusing sight of Ino Yamanaka puking over the side of the ship, the poor girl had gotten sea sick almost as soon as the journey had started. It seemed like most of their time on the ship, she had been in the same spot she was now. Seeing the girl who had always been so loud vomiting over the side made the blond shinobi chuckle.

"It's not funny," Naruto blinked as he looked over at Ino who was glaring at him, right before she turned green and went back over the side.

"Sorry," Naruto apologized as he tried not to laugh at her predicament, "I just never assumed someone like you would get motion sickness." Deciding to be a good team mate Naruto walked over to the girl, and gently rubbed her back in a soothing motion.

"Stupid Sea … stupid boat," Ino mumbled before heaving over the side yet again.

As this continued Anko Mitarashi walked out onto the deck, spotting the two she made her way over to them. "So I spoke with the captain and he said that we should get to the port within the hour…" she trailed off as she spotted Ino. A grin soon made its way to the woman's face, "aww is the poor baby sick," she cooed with a smirk that somehow looked both seductive and blood thirsty at the same time; Naruto had to wonder if she just always looked like that. "You know Anko-chan can fix that right up for you, how would you like Anko Mitarashi's super secret 'fix any ailment' treatment?"

"No… urp… no thank you," Ino said as she dry heaved, "I… know what… what your oh kami… treatment is. All you would… ugh do… was beat… the crap out urp… me… until you thought I was… cured."

Anko gave a pout before turning a seductive smile onto Naruto, "what about you handsome… any _ailments _that need curing?"

Naruto chuckled as he decided to play along, "well I do have this awfully odd muscle that seems a little _Stiff, _perhaps you could help me with that…"

"Aww now you know I can't do that," Anko stuck out in lower lip in a pout. "After all Iruka-kun would get mad at me… and you," the woman went into a thinking pose after she said that, as if a brilliant idea had struck her. "Of course if you would like to join us…."

Anko looked over at Naruto and laughed when she saw him join his fellow blonde in throwing up over the side.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Ino gave a sigh of relief as she stepped off the ship, "Finally I hated standing on that ship!"

"Technically you weren't standing, you were leaning," Naruto corrected, only to close his mouth when Ino glared at him.

"Alright gaki, Hokage-Sama says you're in charge, so what are your orders?" Anko asked as she stretched out, causing several of the men on the dock to pass out from blood loss as the trench coat she wore opened.

"You know I'm your superior in this mission Anko, do you really think calling me gaki is the best idea?" asked Naruto with a mock annoyed tone.

Anko smirked at him, "this coming from the man who calls the Hokage, baa-chan."

"Touché," Naruto said with a grin he was just about to speak when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye.

There was a young woman who looked to be about two or three years older than he was. She had an average height of around 5'5", with shoulder length black hair and two bangs that were tied at the bottom and framed her face. She was wearing a faded blue sleeveless over shirt that looked several sizes too big for her, and went down past her knees. It was held near her waist by a white piece of cloth that she wrapped around her several times. Her shorts were a dull brown, which were fairly baggy that covered to her calves and she was walking barefoot. There were also several bandages covering her around her forehead, left cheek, neck, her right forearm, all of her left arm and her right leg. Naruto noticed that if it were not for her dirty appearance she would be quite beautiful, however it was not this that had gotten his attention.

It was the look she had in her eyes; they held a sense of hopelessness that he knew very well. The same look he had when he was younger, and suffering under the abuse and loneliness he had gotten from his village. But it was even more than that, since he also took notice of the way people glared at her and the whispers they spoke. They seemed to go out of their way to avoid her and looked at her with utter hatred and fear, like she was some kind of monster or plague. It reminded him a lot of his own past, and was enough to make his blood boil.

"Watch where you're going you freak!"

Naruto's eyes hardened as he saw some teenager purposely bump into her, knocking her bag out of her hand and spilling its contents. Naruto resisted the urge to shove a **rasenshuriken **up the boy's ass; instead he walked over to the young woman. Kneeling down he began to help her put her groceries back into the bag, making sure nothing was broken and would fit well. The woman looked at him for a second; when Naruto looked up at her he saw a brief flicker of emotion before it left. When all of her groceries were back in the bag, the woman stood up and left.

"How rude," Ino huffed as she and the other two Konoha ninja walked up to him, "she didn't even say thank you."

Naruto ignored the platinum blond as he looked over at Anko, "did you see it?"

"Yeah…" Anko trailed off as she rubbed her neck where the cursed seal was, "she had that hopeless look in her eyes."

Naruto nodded as he chose to ignore her holding the curse seal for now, "Shino did you put a bug on her?"

"Of course Namikaze-san," Shino replied.

"Just Naruto, Shino, I dislike titles," Naruto said as he came up with a plan. "Alright Shino I want you to follow that girl, don't make your presence known just tell me where she goes and what she does." When he received a nod he turned to Ino, "I want you to use your mind jutsu to discreetly gather information from the villagers. Anything you can find about the Kaima and that girl will be useful," Naruto then turned to Anko. "And I want you to question the sailors on what they know about the Kaima, make sure you're discreet."

"And when you say discreet what do you mean exactly?" Anko asked with a sly grin.

"I want them perfectly capable of walking," Naruto said, causing Anko to pout.

"What will you be doing Naruto-san?" asked Shino. 

"Jiraiya has a contact located here, so I'm going to speak with that person and see what they know." Naruto answered; receiving a nod from Shino, he ordered the three to start moving. In the mean time he would see what he could find out about this Kaima as well.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Tsunade slumped in her seat as her eyes stared at the information she had just received, her eyes were able to see read the information but her mind seemed to be incapable of computing it. As she slowly began to think coherently her mind began to stray again as guilt took over, many thoughts and questions ran through her head. A part of her wondered if this was Kami's way of playing some kind of cruel joke, or perhaps just her bad luck with gambling at work. Whatever the case what she had just found out was almost enough to make her want to run away from Konoha again out of shame, especially since it meant she had done something that to her was unforgivable. A part of her wondered if Jiraiya knew. If he did then the pervert would get the most serious beating of his life worse than when he had caught him peaking on her in the hot springs. Yet at the same time she knew that logically he could not know, however this only compounded on her guilt.

She grit her teeth as she wiped away a few tears from her eyes, she could not face this right now.

She would deal with it later.

Hopefully several years later.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto stared out of the window in his room, as he reviewed the information he had received from the members of his team. Most of what he found out would seem useless to a lot of people, but for those who not only went by the old adage of 'look underneath the underneath' but also took that and looked underneath several more times, the information he had received was more than enough to put most of the pieces together.

The first piece of information he had was about the girl, whose name he had found out was Isaribi. Ino had gone through the memories of several of the people here, and found out some useful information about the girl. The first one being that a lot of people hated her in the same way he had been hated in Konoha, its apparent cause was the irrational hate and fear most humans had of the unknown. Ino had discovered that Isaribi along with nearly forty other children had all one day disappeared, vanished with not even a trace of them being found. Many people here made up some superstitious claim about it being monsters, Naruto was sure that it was a monster who had done it; just not the type they were thinking of. Then about five years later Isaribi reappeared, much to the shock of the people around her; she had also been the only one to actually come back from where ever she and the others had been taken. This had led to the people coming into the belief that she had been transformed into a monster, and had come to somehow destroy the village. It did not help that upon her return several ships had been attacked.

This led to Shino's discovery when he had followed Isaribi, who lived in a shack on the north eastern coast near a peninsula. There the girl had shown off the ability to transform, into a creature that Shino described as very fishlike before taking off into the water. This confirmed that the girl was in all likelihood the Kaima; however it also brought up more questions. Like why was this girl attacking ships? Naruto had seen in her eyes the hopeless despair and desire for acceptance, so he knew she was not a bad person. This gave him the idea that someone was using her for their own ends, which correlated with what Anko had found.

The ships that were attacked always had one of two things that were of value, the first was money or anything that could earn money. This made it rather obvious that someone had some desire to get some monetary gain for some purpose that was obviously illegal, and since Isaribi lived in a shack Naruto knew it was not her. The second thing that gave ships a high probability of attack was based off of the amount of people on board, the more people who were on the ship the more likely said ship was to be attacked. It seemed that whoever wanted to attack the ships wanted one of those two things, the first was easily understandable. However the second was harder unless one was able to look deeper into several other factors.

Factors he had discovered when he had done his own investigations, when Naruto had contacted Jiraiya's informant he had found out some rather interesting and disturbing information. The first was that about eighteen years ago, one Orochimaru of the Sennin had passed through here with Anko. Apparently Anko had been found in a shack on one of the islands located off the coast, with no memory of what happened here. The fact that Orochimaru had come here was cause for concern, and what had led him to the current conclusion on what was happening here. One of Orochimaru's laboratories was still here, and someone was using it. Naruto did not believe it was the snake Sennin himself, the man had not been seen in this country for over ten years so that ruled out the possibility of it being him. However it could easily be one of the man's subordinates, someone who despite Orochimaru cutting off all ties with them had continued the work anyways.

All they would need to do now was follow Isaribi and apprehend the person responsible.

He was just about to get into bed when a knock sounded at the door.

"Come in!" Naruto called out, already knowing who it was thanks to his enhanced senses. "What can I do for you Anko-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing just figured I'd let you know that I was unable to find anything else, except that another ship is departing tomorrow," Anko said as she rubbed her seal again.

"Has it been acting up?" Naruto asked in a soft voice, startling Anko.

Said woman narrowed her eyes as she realized what he was talking about, "how do you know about that?"

Naruto snorted, "Anko everyone knows who your sensei is, it's impossible not to know with the jutsu you use. Anyways I also remember that Sasuke used it during our fight before he went to go play hide the snake in the trousers with Orochi-teme."

Anko snickered a bit at his name before letting out a sigh, deciding that she had nothing to lose in telling him, "yeah it has been acting up recently."

"How long ago did this start?" asked Naruto.

Anko moved over to sit on the couch, drawing her knees up and wrapping her arms around them as she spoke. "It started around the time we got into Umi No Kuni, I… I don't know why but I think it has something to do with some of the memories that have been resurfacing…"

"What kind of memories?" Naruto asked as he moved over to sit next to the woman, in case she needed to be comforted.

"There not much really, just flashes," Anko said as her eyes glazed over slightly. "Most of what I saw were the Silhouettes of people, however I do remember being in pain…" Naruto rubbed the woman's back in a soothing manner as she continued to speak, "other than that I just remember seeing the teme in the dreams, he was telling me something but I could never hear what it was."

"I see…" Naruto trailed off for a moment as he gathered his thoughts, "it probably has to do with the fact that Orochimaru most has a base stationed here, or former base anyway. Since it does not seem to be acting up seriously, that probably means that the man himself is not here and it's just reacting to remnants of his presence in this land. If you'd like when we get back to Konoha I can take a look at the seal and see if I can't do something about it."

Anko's head twisted to look at him, moving so fast Naruto was surprised the woman did not break her neck. "What do mean do something about it?" she asked in a voice that was mixed between hopeful and guarded.

"I mean I could look at the seal, while a part of Orochimaru's jutsu is considered a Juinjutsu it is also part fuiinjutsu. That means that there may be a way to get rid of the seal, or at the very least counter its affects so that it seems negligible," Naruto explained.

"So you can get rid of the teme's seal?" Anko asked as she brought her hand back to her curse mark. She had always hated this thing, and not just because of how it acted up sometimes. She had always felt tainted by it, like Orochimaru still owned her because of it.

"To be honest I'm not one hundred percent sure," Naruto said with a shrug. "However I am positive that if given enough time I can work something out, I know I can at least make a better seal then the one you have." Naruto was silent for a moment before sitting up and stretching, "anyways it's getting pretty late. We should get some rest since we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Naruto moved over to his bed, "Good night Anko."

Anko stood up, "good night gaki, and thanks." Anko walked out of Naruto's room and moved into her own, lying down on the bed she let sleep claim her.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning the four had gotten up bright and early, and had made their way over to the shack where Isaribi lived. Naruto made sure that they stayed within the tree line just off the beach, so that the girl would not see them as she left. Because of how early they had gotten there it was a several hour wait until the girl finally made her appearance. She walked out of her shack and went over to the ocean, which was when Naruto and the others got to see her transformation.

She looked like a cross between a human and a fish, in many ways she reminded Naruto of Kisame Hoashigaki. She had light blue scales all over her body, which Naruto saw had spread out from her bandaged areas. Her ears looked like small fins; they had small spikes at the end and looked webbed. Likewise her hands and feet had the same webbed look. Her hair was like a giant fin that spread back, looking similar to hair but scaly and webbed. She looked every part the sea monster, with the sole exception of her eyes.

Once the girl jumped into the water Naruto and his team shot off, following the girl. Naruto using his advanced senses and water affinity to feel the current the girl was making while she swam, allowing him to track her to a string of islands. Eventually they got to one of the islands and the blond shinobi could no longer pick up the currents, he assumed she had gone through an underwater entrance of some kind. He turned to his team to give out orders.

"Alright we'll be splitting into two groups," Naruto began as he looked at them. "Shino and I will make one group, while Anko and Ino will form another. Be sure to keep your headsets on and inform the others when you find the entrance do not try and enter yourselves. Chances are high that this place will have a lot of traps, so it would be better to do this as a group."

Anko and the others nodded as they adjusted their headsets, "knowing the teme I would not be surprised if this place had loads of traps." the snake mistress looked at Ino, "come on girly lets head out."

As the two females left going around the eastern side of the island, Naruto and Shino headed around the western side, moving at a slow pace. Shino was in the front, sending bugs ahead of them to make sure there were no traps or shinobi waiting for them. For a while neither shinobi spoke, preferring to keep their senses on alert and their thoughts focused on their mission. After several minutes Shino perked up.

"Naruto-san, my bugs have located an entrance on the northern side of the island," Shino said. "It is several meters inland."

Naruto nodded his thanks as he thumbed his headset, "girls, Shino's bugs have found the entrance. It's on the northern side, if you get there before us be sure to wait. Over."

"Gotcha," came the somewhat staticy voice of Anko, "we're almost there so we'll wait for you. Over."

Naruto turned off the headset and the two continued on their way, eventually they reached the northern side where Anko and Ino were waiting for them. The three made their way inland, and moved up to the door. Said door was large, at least 15' tall and 10' wide. It looked like it was made out of some kind of composite grade steel, and was most likely very thick, at least a foot if Naruto's estimation was correct. There was also no handle but Naruto did notice what looked to be grates on the bottom, meaning that the door lifted up, rather then swung open. From what he could see there were no trap seals of any kind, but that did not really mean anything. Especially since he noticed that there was a camera currently focused on the group.

Anko gave the camera a wave as she tossed it a cheeky grin, "so how are we gonna bust this thing down?"

Naruto frowned as he thought the same thing; he had several techniques that might work. Deciding quickly he came up with the one that sounded the best to use right now, "I want you three to stand back by the beach," Naruto ordered.

The other three looked at him for a moment, before shrugging and moving back. When they did Naruto formed a single reinforced **Kage Bushin** and had it hold out its hand, making it form a perfect **Rasengan **within it**. **when it did Naruto began to infuse the spinning sphere of destruction with his wind element, further increasing its power. He had yet to really master this jutsu as he wanted that being to find a way to throw the jutsu. However he had come up with an alternative for the moment, if the need to use it ever arose. By using aclone Naruto could have it use the jutsu, while he just stood back. Of course there was a small weakness in this, since the clone did not have as much chakra as he did it would not be anywhere near as powerful as the originals attack. About half power would be there all told; still it should be more than enough for the door.

A bell like screech soon filled the air as the **Rasengan** suddenly turned pure white, and the wind began to pick up around it. Four wind blades formed around the white sphere, spinning rapidly and making the entire jutsu look like a large Fuma Shuriken. As the wind began to pick up even more, Naruto's haori was whipped around wildly. The other three ninja looked at the jutsu in shock, having never seen such a powerful and deadly looking jutsu. The **Rasengan **was of course well known to everyone, but what they were seeing was utterly ridiculous.

When Naruto finished pumping his element into the technique he stepped back, moving over to where Anko and the others were. Once he reached them he gave his clone the mental command to go, which it did as it launched itself off the ground on a one way collision course with the door. Once the clone reached the door it thrust out his hand, connecting with the door and causing an immediate reaction.

BOOM!

Anko and the others were forced to close their eyes as the area with the door was suddenly engulfed in a large dome; said dome was at least 20' in radius. Large amounts of debris and dust was kicked up, as violent winds threatened to throw the ninja out of the area. They were forced to apply chakra to their feet, while listening to the fierce winds howl. When it was over the ninja who were with Naruto uncovered their eyes, and gaped at the sight.

Not only was the door completely gone, but so was everything else within a 20' foot radius. A large and perfectly round crater was where the door stood, with the side of the mountain even being round where the attack had hit. As Naruto walked up to survey the damage, the other three simply followed dumbly as they tried to figure out what had happened.

"What the fuck was that!" Anko said as she finally found her mind rebooting from the shock.

Naruto, who had been looking over the damage, looked back and shrugged. "That was the complete form of the **Rasengan**," Naruto said.

"Complete form?" questioned Ino.

Naruto nodded, "it was only known to a few people but the **Rasengan **is an incomplete jutsu. When my father first made it he had wanted to add his elemental affinity to it, combining the ultimate shape manipulation with the ultimate attack chakra." Naruto made a sweeping gesture, "That is what this was, I call it **Fuuton: Rasenshuriken."**

Anko gaped at the boy for a minute before speaking, "that's got to be the most overpowered jutsu I've ever fucking seen! The amount of power a normal **Rasengan **does on its own is enough to cause some serious damage, but adding your element to it…"

Naruto shrugged, "meh, this wasn't even half of the power behind the actual jutsu."

With that said Naruto walked into the building, not even waiting for the other three gob smacked Konoha ninja were following.

Anko, Ino and Shino looked at each other, before moving quickly to catch up to Naruto.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"You stupid girl!"

Isaribi fell to the ground as the scientist known as Amachi smacked her, having grown used to it over the years she merely got back up.

"How could you let those pesky ninja follow you!" Amachi screeched in an angry voice. Amachi was a very short man, standing at about 5'3" in height. He was wearing brown pants, a grown shirt and white laboratory coat. He had beady looking black eyes, and the top of his head was bald with only a little hair around the sides. All together he looked like your stereotypical mad scientist.

"I did not let them follow me," Isaribi said, "I didn't see them near me and had only met them once in the city."

"I don't want to hear any of your excuses!" Amachi yelled at her, before moving over to a computer terminal. "Now I've got to deal with these insects," he mumbled as he typed in keys. "Can you handle them?" he asked seemingly to thin air.

"Of course," a voice answered as a figure stepped out of the shadows; he was wearing purple clothing, sunglasses and a bandana covering his face.

Amachi then turned back to Isaribi, "come on you stupid girl, we have to go catch a ship. And don't mess up this time; if you do I will never give you the cure to turn you back to normal."

Isaribi followed the man, with a single tear falling down her cheek.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto frowned as he, Anko, Ino and Shino walked along the hallway, moving slowly just in case there were several traps along the way. The hallway was exactly as he had expected something belonging to Orochimaru to look like; the place was dank, dark and wet. The walls had cracks running along them, and the entire place looked completely run down. However there was something that had been bothering the blond shinobi since they had entered, not once had they run into any traps. Given who this base had once belonged to and the fact that it was still occupied; Naruto would have expected some traps or enemy shinobi at least. Yet so far nothing had happened to them, which made Naruto assume that there would be an even more dangerous trap waiting for them at the end.

"Man this place is so creepy," Ino said with a shiver.

Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "What did you expect from a place like this. Bright colors on the walls, and cute fluffy bunnies."

"No!" Ino said as she glared at the blond, "I'm just making a comment."

"Yamanaka-san you may want to keep your voice down," Shino said, "as we are in enemy territory it would be unwise to speak so loudly."

Ino huffed but remained quiet, as they continued to walk. They eventually reached the end of the hallway, and found out that their path was blocked by yet another door. This one was the exact same as the one outside, after checking the door to make sure there were no traps Naruto tried to figure out which jutsu to use to get past. He could not use the **Rasenshuriken **for this, if he did the whole laboratory might collapse if there were any important support structures in the wall. Making a decision Naruto unsealed **Susanoo **and got into a batoujutsu stance, with his knees spread slightly apart and bent. Taking a deep breath Naruto unsheathed the blade and made several slashes, all the other three ninja could see were flashes of light. When finished Naruto sheathed his blade with a resounding click, the door then fell into sixteen even cuts.

Naruto looked back at his companions, to see them gaping at him as he resealed his sword. "The wonders of wind chakra," Naruto said in answer to the obvious question of how he had cut the door down.

"Wait," Ino said as her mind kicked back in, "if you could have done this, why didn't you do that with the other door?"

Naruto blinked for a moment, "that's a good question…" he shrugged, "to be honest I didn't even think about doing things this way until just now." With that said Naruto walked in ignoring the two face faulting females, and the buzzing noise coming from Shino.

Stepping into the room Naruto let his enhanced vision scan the area, it was still too dark to see everything but what he did see was not good. All around the room was what the blond assumed was standard laboratory equipment, several computers were located throughout the room. Monitors held above them, showing various sets of data on what looked to be the same experiments as Isaribi. The thing that Naruto noticed the most and got his blood boiling were the tubes that were behind the computers.

Each tube was filled with some kind of liquid that was glowing a dark green color, as well as what Naruto knew was a human. Or at least what had been human's, now they were beings that had been experimented on and twisted to the point that they were only recognizable as humans by the standard bipedal shape. Many of the creatures looked similar to Isaribi, with scales of varying colors, clawed and webbed hands and feet, fins running out of their backs, and on their forearms. Seeing something like this was enough to make Naruto sick, and judging by his companion's expressions they felt the same way.

"Spread out and look around," Naruto ordered as he shunted aside his anger, "however do not touch anything, we have no clue if any of these things have traps on them." As the other three took a look around Naruto went over to one of the tubes, looking at the creature inside he could see that it looked the closest to Isaribi. Naruto looked at the monitor that had the information scrolling down; he could not understand half of what was on there but hoped that Tsunade could. Naruto placed a hand on one of the seals on his chest and channeled some chakra through it, there was a small puff of smoke and in his hand was a small rectangular device.

It was a new form of technology that had not even reached the markets yet, he had gotten it from one of the scientists that Koyuki had working on producing different technologies; one of the many benefits to being secretly engaged with the beautiful Daimyo. It was called a U.S.B. drive and worked by cracking, downloading and compiling knowledge found on computers such as this. Naruto had no clue how the thing actually worked, but he knew it was designed to easily download and access data, or transfer it to another computer. Plugging the device into one of the slots on the computer, the blond watched as a bar appeared in the center of the screen and slowly filled up.

"Watch'a doing gaki?"

Naruto turned his head to see Anko looking over his shoulder; turning back to the display monitor he shrugged. "I'm downloading the data from this computer, this," Naruto pointed to his drive. "Is some new technology I got when I was in Haru No Kuni, and is designed to download information so that I can look through it later. Hopefully we'll be able to find out something useful about whatever the hell the person working here was trying to achieve, maybe even some information on Orochi-teme."

"So you got that in Haru huh?" Anko asked with something of a lecherous grin. "Was this before or after you made that porno with the Daimyo? You know I've got to hand it to you gaki; you've got some pretty big balls to do something like that. I've also got to thank you for all the material you gave me and Iruka-kun…"

"I really don't want to hear about your sexual life with my brother figure Anko," Naruto said with a sigh. The device gave a soft chime to let Naruto know it was done; he unplugged it and turned to the others in the room. "Alright you guys, it's obvious whoever was hear has left for the moment so let's get out of here and plan our next move."

Ino and Shino came over to them and they began to walk back towards the entrance, before they could even get within two feet of the exit the floor dropped out from under them.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto groaned as he stood up, while the fall was not enough to kill any of them it had still hurt quite a bit. He looked over at the others to see that unlike him, they had not been able to land on their feet. The blond sighed as he walked over to Anko and kneeled down next to her, "Anko," Naruto said as he shook her awake.

"Uh… ugh… what happened?" Anko asked as he she blinked her eyes open to see Naruto standing right above her. "Gah!" she rolled away getting on her feet with a kunai in one hand and another on her chest. "Don't do that Gaki! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Naruto snickered as he stood back up, "sorry I didn't think you would get so scared."

"I wasn't scared!" Anko protested, "Just startled is all…"

"Right…" Naruto drawled as he went over to help up Ino, who had just woken up. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I mean I only have one of the worst headache ever but I'm fine," the platinum blond replied sarcastically.

"At least you don't have sea sickness," Naruto said with a grin that while Ino could not see, knew was there.

"Shut up," Ino mumbled.

"That was a most unpleasant experience," Shino said as he took got up, brushing himself off as he looked around. "It seems that we fell for some kind of trap."

"The only question is what kind?" Naruto said as he looked around the tunnel. There seemed to be only one way to go, with the other end blocked. "Looks like we don't have much of a choice but to go this way, so let's head out but keep a sharp eye out for anymore traps."

The other three nodded, as they got into a triangle formation with Naruto in front and Anko covering the rear. Several minutes later they found themselves in decent sized room, Naruto could not get the exact proportions right since he could only see about twenty feet in front of him. But judging from the way his chakra bounced off the walls when he flared it, he would have to say it was at least a 30' by 30' space. As they continued walking both Naruto and Anko felt their instincts kick in, grabbing one of the other two they jumped out of the way just a several kunai were launched at them.

"Your reaction times are quite impressive," a voice reverberated through the room.

"Who are you! Show yourself?" Ino yelled out.

"Now why would I do that?"

Naruto frowned as he tried to locate the source of the voice, however due to the acoustics of the room it was bouncing around too much for him to find. He flared his chakra again and frowned when he could not detect a human shape aside from the three next to him. However he could see a door on the other side, someone would need to deal with whoever this was if they wanted to get to the door.

"Shino?" Naruto whispered, "Can I leave this guy to you?"

"Of course Naruto-san," the Aburame heir replied, "you three may go on ahead while I take care of this."

Naruto nodded and had the other two members of his squad follow him, as he made a dash towards the door.

"Don't think it will be that easy to get away!"

Several kunai were launched at the retreating trio, however a swarm of bugs appeared behind them and stopped the attack.

"Your opponent is me," Shino said in his monotone voice.

"Very well, after I kill you I'll get them," the voice laughed, "that is if 'they' don't get them first."

Shino did not respond as he sent his bugs out.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto cursed as several traps activated, launching kunai at them as they ran. Without warning Naruto picked up both Anko and Ino, before using one of his own original speed techniques to beat the traps. The jutsu was called **Shunpo (Flash Step) **and was designed to surprise an opponent; it was very similar to the **Hiraishin. **However unlike the famed thunder god, this technique was based off of pure speed. By using a combination of lightning and wind chakra, Naruto was able to move at speeds that could match the **Hiraishin's **teleportation. By creating a current of air in front of the user and channeling lightning chakra into the bottom of the feet, Naruto was able to 'skate' across the surface in a burst of speed that left a yellow streak in its wake.

He deposited the two surprised females on their feet, as he took a look around the room. This room was a large cylindrical room; Naruto could tell it was a fair bit bigger than the one they had left Shino in. the lighting while still low, was enough for him to make out the door at the other end. As well as several gates located along the walls, this gave the blond shinobi a bad feeling about this place.

"What the hell was that?" asked Ino as she looked at Naruto with an expression that demanded an explanation.

Naruto looked over at his fellow blond, "what was what?"

"That thing you did to get us over here so fast!" Ino practically shouted, causing both Naruto and Anko to wince.

Naruto sighed, "It's a family technique, that's all."

Naruto walked off before Ino could question him further, forcing her and Anko to follow him. When they were about halfway to the exit, the three heard a slight screeching sound as the gates began to open. The Konoha ninja quickly went back to back, waiting to see what would happen. Naruto began to channel chakra into his eyes, to increase their perception. He was able to make out the outlines of several bodies that looked the same as the creatures back in the lab; Naruto knew what they were even before their eyes opened to reveal bulbous fish like eyes that glowed with a light green color.

"W-what the hell are these!" Ino screeched as she saw the eyes staring at them.

"Most likely the experiments of Orochi-teme's, or who ever owns this place now," Naruto replied, preparing for what he knew would be a long fight.

"There's quite a few of them and with whoever caused this not here means we don't have time to play around!" Anko growled as the creatures started to move in, revealing they were indeed like the experiments they had found on the upper floors of the lab. "Gaki! Get out of here and let the girly and I deal with this!"

"You sure?" Naruto asked, "we don't even know if this is all of them."

"Yeah we'll be fine," Anko said, though Naruto noticed that Ino looked like she wanted to disagree.

"Fine, here catch," Naruto pulled something out of his pouch and tossed it to Anko. Said woman looked at it for a moment before her eyes widened, "if you need help don't be afraid to call." With nothing left to say, Naruto shot off the ground in a burst of speed. Moving towards one of the creatures that was blocking his path, in less than a second he had formed a **Rasengan **in his hand and shoved it into the creatures head. He ignored the explosion of gore as he ran through the opening, heading out into the tunnel.

"Now that the gaki's gone let's have some fun," Anko said as she flicked a kunai in her hand, moving it to her lips and licking it.

"What do you mean fun! Can't you see were surrounded!" Ino yelled, she was seriously beginning to regret going on this mission.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto jumped and spun his body in mid air, allowing the kunai that were launched at him to fly past. Landing on the ground he rolled to his feet, before putting on a burst of speed just as several kunai shot out of the walls. This entire corridor was a death trap; it seemed that whoever owned this place had put all of his traps in one spot. No doubt hoping that if someone managed to get past the creatures, they would be too tired to get past these traps. Naruto jumped and flipped onto the sealing as the spikes shot out of the ground, jumping back down just as more came out of the ceiling. Naruto was close enough now that he could see the end of the tunnel, which was once again covered by a door.

Naruto's mouth compressed into a thin line as he continued to dodge traps, and swiftly decided on what jutsu to use. He began to channel chakra into his hand, forming the **Rasengan **once again. However rather than go with a standard one he began to increase the chakra output, making the jutsu much larger than normal, at least three times the size of a standard **Rasengan. **

Acting on instinct Naruto formed a **Kage Bushin **behind him, who shot out his hands and launched a blast of wind at the blond who had jumped into the air. Forming an air current in front of him Naruto stuck out his hand, allowing the **Oodoma** **Rasengan **to hit the door. Blowing the entire thing off its hinges and flying several feet away, hitting the water outside with a loud splash.

Naruto sighed in relief as he got outside; turning his head he noticed that he was on another island entirely. It did not look like there was a way out, as all he could see was a large coral reef. Naruto walked onto the water and moved towards the farthest point, he soon dove down in the hopes of finding an exit. Luckily it looked like there was one at the bottom of the reef. Swimming down to it, Naruto exited the area and swam back up. He got back on his feet as he stood above the water, as he looked around he realized he did not have a clue on where to go to find whoever they were looking for. With a sighed Naruto put on a burst of speed and decided to head back to port.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Shino used his Kikai bugs to block the kunai that came his way, when the barrage ended he sent them out to attack whoever threw them. Only to find that no one was there, right as another barrage of kunai came at him. This time rather than use his bugs, Shino took out his own kunai and began to block and dodge the attacks. At the same time he sent his bugs over to where the attack originated, only to frown as he once again came up with nothing. The Aburame heir knew there was no way this person could be fast enough to escape his bugs like this, which meant that all the places he was sending them to never had his enemy from the start. The logical conclusion to this meant that whoever his enemy was, had some way to activate the traps without actually being there. However he was sure his enemy was still in this room, the man had been taunting him for awhile now to try and make him loose his cool. Shino decided it was time to use a different approach.

As he continued to dodge and block the kunai, the bug user called all of his Kikai back to him. Then Shino sent out his female Kikai beetles, ordering them to spread throughout the room in the hopes of finding the location of his attacker. For a few minutes they continued to search but found nothing, it was seventeen minutes later that one of his kikai began to emit the powerful pheromones that sent his male bugs into a frenzy. He soon let them loose, allowing them to swarm over to one area. A scream began to emit from that spot, as the bus found who Shino had been looking for and began to suck him dry. Shino did not even pay attention as his enemy dropped to the floor dead; instead choosing to head towards his companions had gone.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto stopped his run as his enhanced senses heard what sounded somewhat like explosions, channeling chakra to his ears Naruto tried to pick out the location of the noises. They seemed to be coming from the southwest, looking over Naruto channeled chakra into his eyes. When he did he saw two transformed fish-like people attacking a ship, Naruto recognized one as Isaribi who was actually just standing there. The other he did not know, but was going to go with the assumption that he was the scientist who made Isaribi what she was.

Not wasting another minute Naruto shot off towards the ship, leaving a crescent wave in his wake.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Amachi grinned as he shot another canon ball sized water bullet at the ship, sending wood chips everywhere as he destroyed more of its hull. Who knew that this form would feel so exhilarating? He had never felt so powerful in his life, knowing that he was easily a god of the sea while in this form. He could do whatever he wanted, it was all so easy. Had he known this the man would have started to use this form a long time ago, rather then just have that simpering little girl do this. Speaking of her, the bitch wasn't actually helping him.

"Hey you stupid girl, start doing your job and help me destroy this ship!" Amachi yelled out.

Isaribi looked at him and bit her lip, "wh-when are going to give me my cure? I've been doing this for four years now, and you still haven't given it to me."

"Cure?" Amachi said with an incredulous expression, right before it turned to anger. He stopped what he was doing and swam over to Isaribi, before grabbing onto her throat and choking her. "You stupid girl what makes you think I ever bothered to make a cure!" the man laughed as the girls eyes widened. "I'm the one who made you what you are, why would I want to unmake you! Your only purpose was to do the job I gave you, until I collected enough data and then disposed of you! And since you're not doing your job and I feel I have enough data, I think I'll just get rid of you right now!"

The man laughed as Isaribi began to tear up as she tried to get out of the man's iron clad grip; he was just about to crush the girl's throat when something he had not expected happened. An invisible blade of wind cut right into the man's arm, slicing it off at the elbow.

"AAHHH!" as the man began to scream out in pain another voice spoke up, falling back into the water as he held the stump where his forearm had once been.

"You know I'm not sure what you said, but I do know it's not polite to make a woman cry."

Isaribi turned to the source of the voice, and saw herself staring at the man who had help pick up her groceries.

"W-who the fuck are you!" Amachi yelled, gritting his teeth as he tried to ignore the pain of his lost hand.

Naruto tilted his head to the side as he re-sheathed **Susanoo, **"I thought it would be obvious. I'm the guy who here to kick your ass."

Amachi grit his teeth, "That's not going to happen! Now you'll have to face my greatest creation!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man, before they widened as he saw what was rising out of the water.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Anko snarled as her kunai continued to bounce off of the ugly creatures she and Ino were fighting, "damn it why the hell are those hides so tough!" Anko yelled. Her arms shot up as several snakes came out, latching onto one of the creatures before her. Spinning on the balls of her feet, the snake mistress swung the creature into a horde of its brethren, knocking them all down. Unfortunately they just got back up a moment later, the things while slow and easy to dodge were nearly impenetrable to anything less than high level jutsu and exploding notes. Unfortunately for her they were also resisted to fire and mud jutsu, which were her specialty and she wanted to save her exploding tags for later.

Over to her left Ino was engaged with a few of the creatures, weaving her lithe body in and out of the monsters while she tried her best to beat the things. However unlike her friend Sakura who had gotten Tsunade's strength technique down, Ino was only able to increase her strength by about half and that only knocked the creatures back. She had tried other methods, such as a Kunai to the neck, base of the skull or temple but none of that seemed to work. She jumped back towards Anko, who had just finished tossing another creature away and was about to ask what they should do, when a gurgling noise interrupted her.

Turning they saw one of the creatures being swarm by a cloud of bugs, which were draining it of its chakra. The thing thrashed around for a bit, before it's body lay on the floor twitching as it died. "It seems that even with their tougher skin, they are still susceptible to being drained by my Kikai." Shino spoke as he materialized in front of them.

"Shino!" Ino shouted; glad to see her companion safe.

Shino nodded to her, "I suggest we think of a plan to get out of here."

Anko nodded as she came up with a plan, "well now that you're here we don't have to worry about running out of weapons. We'll launch a barrage of kunai with exploding notes attached to them into the ones blocking the exit, and then we'll make a run for it."

The others nodded as they reached into their pouch, pulling out kunai and exploding tags. They wrapped the tags around the kunai, and on an unspoken signal activated them and threw them at the horde in front of the exit. As soon as the explosions went off, the three ran for it. Not even paying attention to the body parts and gore that was being thrown around the area, they soon reached the tunnel and ran for the exit. Thankfully Naruto had activated all of the traps when in there, so they had not been subject to any as the ran. Soon enough they shot out of the tunnel and into the open air.

"I'm… never.. Ever doing… that… again," Ino huffed as she bent down and put her hands on her knees, trying to regain her breath.

"Yeah I know what you mean girly I- AH!" Anko was interrupted from her speech as a searing pain shot through her body, originating from the curse seal.

"Anko-sensei!" Ino shouted as she and Shino rushed to the woman.

Anko fell to her knees as she grabbed her mark, the last thing she saw before darkness claimed her was Ino shouting something at her.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Acting fast Naruto released his gravity seals as he grabbed an unresponsive Isaribi, before jumping out of the way of a giant watery tentacle. Naruto created a clone in midair and handed the girl off, landing on the ground he unsheathed **Susanoo**. Dodging another tentacle, Naruto channeled wind chakra through his blade and sliced the watery appendage off. However the… thing since that's all Naruto could use to describe the amorphous blob of water with tentacles and a red orb in the center, did not seem to be affected by the loss of its appendage. A new one merely seemed to take its place and begin attacking him.

"HAHAHA!" Amachi laughed in his mad scientist voice, "there is no way for you to defeat my greatest creation! Even lightning is ineffective against my ultimate creation!"

Naruto listened to the mad man speak with one ear, like all evil people this one seemed to have a desire to monologue. Telling him about his creation and how it was unstoppable, of course this just gave the blond more knowledge to analyze the creature with and hopefully find a way to kill it.

As he continued lopping off limbs that just re-grew, Naruto began to devise a way to defeat it. _Let's see that guy said lightning was ineffective, if I go by what he said then that means the elements don't really work the same way as normal. This means that the creature isn't really alive, or at least not enough to be affected by things like pain. That would mean the only way to kill it would be to evaporate the water and attack it's 'core' hmmm… I should be able to destroy it that way. That would mean I need a powerful fire jutsu to work, unfortunately I don't know any fire jutsu above C rank since it's not my affinity. And I can't summon toads since they're fresh water amphibians and I don't want to be on their bad side like Ero-sensei… _Naruto began to think of ways he could evaporate the creature when an idea came to mind.

'_Hey Kyuubi!' _Naruto gave a mental shout in his mind.

'_**You need my power ningen?' **_came the demonic voice of Kyuubi.

'_Yeah I need your power to fry this creature and evaporate him.'_

The great fox remained silent for a moment, _**'very well I suppose I did offer to help you… for now at least. However I expect you to make this battle amusing, and try not to embarrass me!'**_

Naruto did not respond to the foxes parting comment, as he felt Kyuubi's chakra run through his system. The fox cloak began to form around Naruto in less than a second; stopping at three tales which Naruto believed would be enough. As the next tentacle came after him, two of the tails shot out from behind the blond. As they grabbed the appendage and kept it in place, the other tail ran straight through the water, evaporating it as it made its way to the core. Soon enough the red chakra tail pierced the core and shattered it, causing the creature to screech and flail. Channeling all of Kyuubi's excess chakra through the tails, Naruto released it in one go. The result was the entire creature exploding in a shower of steam.

Amachi who had been watching in glee, now stared in shock as his creation died. He turned around un to get away, only to see another Naruto right behind him with a spinning ball of chakra in his hand. Said ball soon smashed into the scientist, tearing his skin and muscles away. As the man let loose an anguished scream, he was blasted back by the energy and sent skipping across the water, before stopping as he lay face down. The clone Naruto went over and grabbed the man by the cloak, throwing him over his shoulder in an uncaring manner.

Meanwhile the real Naruto walked over to the clone holding a crying Isaribi, he put his hands on the girl causing her to nearly jump out of her skin. "Hey, are you ok?" Naruto asked only to wince as the girl turned her now bloodshot eyes on him.

"How can I be ok! That man lied to me! Now I'll never be turned back to the way I was! Now I'll never be human!" the girl shouted as tears streamed down her scaly face.

Naruto frowned, "you know there may be a way to cure you," the girls looked up at him in shock, before they narrowed in suspicion.

"And what would I have to do to receive this _cure_?" she asked saying _cure _as if it was some kind of poison.

"Well you would have to come back to Konoha with me," Naruto replied with a shrug. "Unfortunately the woman who I'm sure can cure you, is also the leader of our village. So she can't just leave whenever she wants. However after that you can just leave if you want, or stay there as a citizen and start a new life. I'll leave that choice up to you, if you want to come to Konoha that is."

Isaribi looked at Naruto, trying to see if he was lying, she had already been tricked once and did not want to have her hopes dashed again. After several minutes her shoulders slumped, even if he was lying she did not really have much of a choice but to go with the blond man. "Ok, I'll go," she said in a soft tone, as she changed back to her normal form.

Naruto nodded, "right well now all we have to do is wait for my comrades and…"

"Naruto!"

Both Naruto's and Isaribi turned their head to see Ino and Shino running towards them, the blond frowned when he did not spot Anko. He soon realized that the reason for this was because she was being carried on Shino's back, unconscious. Naruto ran towards them, stopping in front of the two he looked at Anko, who was muttering incoherently in her sleep.

"What happened?" Naruto asked in a worried tone.

"We don't know!" Ino said, "We had just managed to get out of that creepy place with the fish people, when Anko just started grabbing her neck and passed out!"

Naruto looked over at Shino, who nodded in agreement. Sighing Naruto gave them his orders, "alright I want you Shino to head back to the hotel and get Anko to the bed, Ino you can escort my clone and Isaribi to the hotel as well. If they deny you access you may threaten them, since I have placed the girl under my protection. I'll go over to the dock and tell the people there about this ship and that they need assistance, after that we'll leave. Understood?"

"Yes/ ok!" the two said as they moved off.

Naruto cracked his neck as he too headed off, glad that the mission was for the most part over.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Pain. That was all she felt as she lay there face down on the floor, it was like an acid dripping through her entire body. She felt as if it was eating her from the inside out, no matter what she did it would not go away._

"_Well it seems one survived," despite the agony she felt, she looked up and spotted him. The pale face and snake like yellow eyes were unmistakable, she knew that face anywhere. It was the same face as the man whom she had admired most, the man who had taken her in and taught her everything she knew. The same man who had been like a father too her and the same man who had taken her trust and betrayed it. "Kukuku, I'm surprised you survived Anko-chan, but then again you are my apprentice…" the man hmm'd for a moment before shrugging, "still it seems as if your usefulness is at an end."_

_He turned around to leave, but stopped when a hand gripped his leg. "W-wait," Anko said as she grit her teeth, the man turned around and looked into Anko's eyes as she spoke. "W-why?" she asked as she tried to understand why this man would betray her so. "Why are you abandoning me?"_

"_Kukuku," Orochimaru laughed at her as he leaned down, gently caressing her cheek as if nothing bad had happened between them. "Because my dear Anko-chan you lack the desire for power," the man paused for a moment before he smiled. "Still the fact that you survived is impressive, maybe you're not so useless after all." He stood up and offered his hand to Anko._

_After a minute of staring at the hand, Anko growled and knocked it away. Now that she knew what this man had done, she wanted nothing to do with him._

_Orochimaru just gave his snake like laugh, "very well Anko-chan, if that's your choice." He turned around and walked away; shutting the door and casting out the light as Anko let darkness claim her._

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ugh…"

Anko slowly opened her eyes, adjusting to the light as she tried to find out where she was. It was obvious she was in a room on some kind of bed, and judging by the swaying the room was making she was in a boat. She was just about to sit up, when a voice called out to her.

"I'm glad to see you awake," turning to the voice she saw Naruto writing in a folder. Writing for a few more seconds he snapped the folder shut, and looked at her with a smile. "You've been out of it for awhile now, how do you feel?"

For one of the few times in her life Anko smiled, "I feel good…"

Naruto looked at her for a moment with a raised eyebrow, noticing that she seemed much more calm then before. He shrugged it off, whatever it was was not any of his business, "that's good to hear. Anyway we should be reaching Hi No Kuni (fire country) in a few hours; you might as well get some more shut eye." Anko nodded as Naruto stood up and left the room, no longer finding a need to be in there now that he knew Anko would be alright.

As the door closed behind the blond, Anko shut her eyes again. Smiling as she had one last thought before falling asleep again, _I left him by my own choice, it was my decision…_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto frowned as he gave his report to Tsunade, listing off what had happened during the mission in chronological order. The moment he had entered the room he had noticed that something was different; something felt 'off' would be the best way to describe it. Aside from the obvious fact that Tsunade had not thrown anything at him for calling her baa-chan, which was definitely an oddity in and of itself, there was something else that seemed wrong. The busty Hokage also refused to even look him in the eye, again that was something that had never happened before; even when the woman was angry at him.

"… and so I was hoping that you would be able to find some way to help Isaribi here," Naruto gesture to the scaly teenage girl as he finished his report. "I figured since you're one of the best medics around you would be able to find some way to get rid of her scales…"

"Very well," Tsunade said, still looking down at her paperwork and refusing to meet his eyes. "If you come into the hospital tomorrow at noon, I'll be able to check you over and see what I can do. Ok Isaribi-san?"

"That's fine Hokage-Sama," Isaribi said with a small bow and hopeful look.

"In the meantime I'll have Shizune help you find a place to stay, after I check you over and see what I can do about your 'scaly' problem you can decide whether you want to stay here in the leaf or leave. Shizune!" Tsunade called out, getting the woman to walk in through the door.

"Yes Tsunade-Sama?" Shizune asked as she looked at her boss.

"I want you to help Isaribi-san here find a hotel for the night; Naruto has told me that he will be paying so you don't need to worry about cash." Tsunade said as she filled in a few papers and gave them to the dark brown haired woman. Said woman bowed and gestured for Isaribi to follow her, the fish girl looked over at Naruto and seeing his encourage nod left with Shizune.

The other three ninja left after them, now that the report was over, leaving just Naruto and Tsunade. For a moment Naruto said nothing before deciding to take the plunge, "Tsunade is something wrong?"

Tsunade hid her wince at being called by her name, Naruto only ever called her Tsunade when he was being serious or heartfelt; she knew which one it was right now. "No, nothing's wrong. Why do you ask?" Tsunade asked as she continued working.

"Well aside from the fact that you did not try to throw something at me, for calling you baa-chan. You also refuse to look at me, instead opting to do work, which you always complain about doing." Naruto answered as he crossed his arms, waiting for the woman to answer him.

"Nothing's wrong," Tsunade said again, putting on her poker face as she looked at him. "I'm just a little tired is all, and I want to get this work done before I get another batch."

Naruto's frown deepened as he tried to figure out what could be wrong with the woman he thought of as a mother/grandmother. "Did you get the results of my Kekkei Genkai test?" Naruto asked. His eyes narrowed when he saw the small display of emotion that flitted across her eyes, it was not much, in fact Naruto was sure that most others would have missed it. However Naruto was an expert on reading people through their eyes, and he knew the emotion she had displayed. Guilt. Now the question was what could she be feeling guilty about.

"… Your test did come in," Tsunade said eventually, bringing her eyes back to her papers so she did not have to look at him.

After several seconds of not getting an answer, Naruto began to get impatient. "And?"

Tsunade resisted the urge to bite her lip as she looked back up at him, keeping on her best poker face so he would not see her guilt. "It came up positive; your ability to combine two elements to create sub elements is a bloodline."

"Do you know who I got it from?" asked Naruto.

"The strand with your bloodline was found in the DNA that you got from your father," Tsunade answered quickly.

Naruto closed his eyes for a few moments before speaking again, "do you know why I have it and he didn't?"

Tsunade sighed as she spoke, "I can only assume that the Kyuubi's chakra may have somehow jumpstarted your bloodline, it has been theorized that all bloodlines came from them so…"

Naruto nodded, "and you're sure you're alright?"

"Of course, as I said I'm just a little tired from all this work," Tsunade answered.

Naruto looked at the woman for a moment longer, he knew she was lying. One of Naruto's abilities was that he always knew when someone was lying, and he knew right now that Tsunade was hiding something from him. Yet he knew that he could not question her, or demand answers since she was the Hokage. For now he simply nodded his head, "I can see how it would be tiring, I guess I'll leave you too it baa-chan." with that Naruto disappeared in a swirl of water.

As Tsunade looked at the spot where Naruto had been a single tear ran down her cheek.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto found himself wondering around Konoha, as he tried to clear his mind from his conversation with Tsunade. He knew that there was something important he was not getting, but he also knew that right now he would not get anything out of it by thinking about it. Shaking his head Naruto looked up and blinked as he found himself standing at the gates to the academy. He smiled as a moment of nostalgia hit him, walking towards the academy doors Naruto decided to see if Iruka was in.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"… and that is how the Shodaime Hokage…" Iruka trailed off as he noticed that none of the kids were paying attention to his lecture. Most were talking to each other, whispering about whatever took their fancy, while some were even sleeping. Several tic marks appeared on Iruka's head, **"QUIET DOWN AND LISTEN YOU BRATS!" **Iruka yelled out as he used his **Oni Hitsu no Jutsu (demon head jutsu)**. All of the kids instantly shut up, staring at him wide eyed. Iruka nodded his head in satisfaction; he was just about to restart his lecture when another voice spoke up.

"Tsk tsk Iruka-sensei, it seems your lectures are as boring as ever."

Iruka and the class turned as one, to see Naruto looking at them with a smirk as he leaned on the door frame. Naruto grinned as he got up and walked into the room, noticing how all of the kids there had stars or hearts in their eyes, depending on their gender.

"You should make your lectures more fun sensei," Naruto said with a grin, "that's why everyone never pays attention in your class."

"And I suppose you're an expert on teaching?" Iruka asked with a tic mark on his head, though truth be told he was happy to see Naruto. The scarred Chunin smirked as an idea came to him, "well then sense you're here, why don't you answer a few questions? That way the students can learn what it's like to be a real ninja of Konoha."

Naruto tapped his chin in thought before grinning, "alright then, that's sounds cool."

Almost as soon as he said that several hands shot into the air, with almost every child shouting for his attention. Iruka tried to calm the class down, and get them to ask their questions one at a time to no avail. He was just about to use his jutsu again, when Naruto decided to quiet the kids himself.

"Quiet."

Naruto had not even raised his voice when the words were spoken, yet every child there had heard it as clear as day. The tone of voice and presence that single word projected, was so commanding that none of them could help but obey him. Iruka stared at the quiet kids and Naruto in shock; he had never been able to get them to be this quiet so fast.

Naruto grinned, "alright if you have a question simply raise your hand, I'll call on you to ask."

Every hand was raised into the air; Naruto looked at the kids before eventually picking a young boy in the front row. Said boy put his hand down as he asked his question, "was it true what you said about your dad sealing the Kyuubi inside of you?"

Iruka stiffened at the question and was about to lash out at him, however Naruto merely raised a hand to stop the scarred Chunin. He gave the young boy a small smile, "yes it is true, because Kyuubi cannot be killed due to the fact that it's simply a mass of chakra with a conscious, my father did the only thing that can defeat such a creature. He sealed inside of me, his own son who had just been born only a few hours before."

This time Naruto chose a girl in the back row, "but why did he seal it inside of you?" she asked.

Naruto ran a hand through his hair as he spoke, "to be honest I don't know. I am unsure if he just chose me because I was the only child available, or if there was some other purpose. But if you were the leader of your village, could you really ask someone else to sacrifice their own child in such a way? A Hokage's job is to protect the village, even if it means sacrificing yourself and the things you hold dear to protect it."

He looked at chose another boy, this one sitting over by the window. "Does it bother you that he chose you?"

"For awhile it did," Naruto replied with a shrug, "you have to understand that until I had turned twelve I never even knew about the Kyuubi. It was only when a traitor had tricked me that I found out, he had told me about the Kyuubi being inside of me and how a law prevented any one but me from speaking about it. In fact if not for Iruka-sensei here that man would have killed me," several of the kids looked over at Iruka as Naruto spoke. "For awhile after that I did blame my father, how could I not. I had no clue why he had chosen me; in fact I did not even know he was my dad until a year and a half later. But it doesn't affect me anymore; I know that if there was another way he would have done it. To be honest I'm glad he chose me, since it means no one else has to suffer like I did."

Many of the kids stared at him in awe, while some of the girls were actually crying. Naruto smiled as he chose another child.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ah!" Naruto said sighed as he finished gulping down the broth from his Ichiraku ramen. "Now that hit's the spot, eh sensei?" Naruto asked as he turned to Iruka.

Said man just looked at Naruto and the thirty two bowls in exasperation, "you know despite how much you've obviously matured, it seems that some things never change…"

Naruto gave the man a grin, "well you know the old saying, 'if it's not broken, don't fix it'. Besides I don't eat ramen nearly as much as I used to, I've got to make up for lost times."

Iruka simply laughed as Naruto inhaled another bowl of ramen, "I suppose it does…"

"Now," Naruto said as he set his last bowl down, thanking a blushing Ayame before turned a mischievous grin on Iruka. "Why don't you tell me how you and Anko got together?" the blond asked in an innocent tone.

Iruka choked on the noodles he was eating, causing Naruto to laugh while he blushed in embarrassment. "Well I… you see it was… uh…"

Naruto chuckled at seeing the man with a beat red face, as he stuttered over his worse than a certain Hyuuga use to. "Wow Iruka-sensei, I don't think I've ever seen you so flustered."

Iruka scowled for a moment before sighing, "I suppose I could tell you… it actually started when I found her at the bar completely drunk…"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Omake: Repercussions of a writer pt. 1

Naruto sighed as he exited the council chambers; he was seriously beginning to regret taking his clan position. Having to sit through these meetings were so boring, seriously why did he and the other shinobi have to put up with listening to whiny, bitching council members who don't know their head from their ass. The blond sighed as he made his way home; if this kept up he might just go missing ninja since at least they had freedom…

The blond shinobi paused in his walk as he heard an odd rumbling sound, turning around Naruto paled at the sight before him. Running towards him was what Naruto could only consider to be a horde, but not just any horde. No this was a horde of rabid, raving fan girls. Women ranging from the ages of 12 to 35 were stampeding towards him, a look of absolute lust in their eyes. Naruto even saw some of them quite literally foaming at the mouth, as they neared him.

"THERE HE IS GIRLS!"

"LET'S GET HIM!"

"COME HERE NAMIKAZE-SAMA!"

"PLEASE SIGN MY BOOK!"

"SIGN MY CHEST!"

"LET ME HAVE YOUR BABIES!"

It was that last sentence that snapped Naruto out of his fear induced stupor, knowing what awaited him if they caught him, the blond did the only thing he could do. He ran like a bat out of hell, disappearing in a cloud of dust with the fan girls in hot pursuit.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto's first mission back, and he meets up with the blood lusting and sexy Anko Mitarashi. I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, anyway I hope you all liked it.

In the words of Arnold Swarchznegar: 'I'll be back'

**Next! Chapter 11: Chunin Exams!**


	11. Chapter 11

**GreeniceDragon1789: I know, but this is fan fiction and because Naruto left right after the Sasuke Retrieval mission this mission never happened in my story.**

**Freehawk: yes we do not know what Madara meant, however he did say that he was taking back 'his power that he gave to Nagato' which I assume means he gave Nagato the power of the Rikudo's eyes and powerful chakra. I could be right, I could be wrong and we won't find out until Kishi gives more info. But remember that Nagato is an Uzumaki, which means he and Naruto are related in some way.**

**Comicguy262010: I know how my story is going to end, I just need to write all of the awesome in between (I imagine it will be somewhere between 20-26 chapters of awesome).**

**Deacon Krow: I know, but this is fanfiction. I tried to make it believable by having him actually interact with women when he left Konoha (So he has experience with flirting before he even met Mei). Honestly I think the anime itself is slightly unrealistic because Naruto comes back from training with the world's biggest pervert and is still completely clueless about women.**

**Snowclyde: that's easy I did not go out and say it but Naruto and Koyuki had makeup on and wigs that changed their basic appearance to look like the characters on the book. (I think it's a blond woman and a brunette man though I'll have to look at a picture of the book again to be sure).**

**Bankai777: Kushina would kick his ass for being in a porno, Minato would give Naruto two thumbs up and then get his ass kicked as well.**

**RoyalTwinFang: He does, I just had it custom made to look like Jonin armor (The orb is the device that powers it).**

**Avenge thee: yes I will have one woman from Konoha. Yugao.**

**DBZLOVER: of course it is, but I thought it was something Tsunade would do. Besides at least she did not invite the whole council over or stage his exam as a performance in front of the entire populace of Konoha(And at least he kept some things secret Aka seal less jutsu).**

**Jarjaxle: his parnter was killed by Kankuro in the chunin exams if you remember.**

**A lot of people have been asking and giving guesses on what Tsunade found out through the blood tests. I will tell you right now that I'm not telling (Evil I know) =D. don't worry you'll find out eventually, and when you do and if you were right knowing will be that much sweater.**

**Several readers have been a little concerned that I might have too many filler chapters; I would like to allay your fears. What I plan on having Naruto do is have a few fillers than a chapter with the story then maybe another filler or two and then get back to the story, after that there will be no more serious fillers but I feel that if I were to get right down to the main story without cementing Naruto's place in Konoha it would feel weak. Like Naruto comes back from a four year training trip, then he dishes out all his skills in painful detail and is promoted to elite Jonin and then hey he's now Hokage less than a month later! That shit doesn't fly with me since it does not show how capable he is as a leader.**

**YES! I now have over 500 hundred reviews! I'm not quite sure, but I think this marks some kind of special occasion for us writers. I would like to thank everyone who did review my story, not only are they a large ego booster, but they also help me improve my writing skills.**

**Disclaimer: How do you know I don't own Naruto, unless you're psychic?**

**Chapter 11: Chunin Exams!**

It was the day after Naruto's mission to Umi No Kuni, and the blond once again found himself in the hospital. Most people would consider this to be odd for the Uzumaki Namikaze Clan Head, especially since neither of the times he had been in here was he injured. Said blond was searching the cabinets, while cursing the unhelpful nurses who don't put bottles and medicine in alphabetical order. Finally he found what he was looking for, a powerful herbal pill that would numb all pain for one hour. Turning around Naruto made his way over to the bed, where the entire reason he was here was; or perhaps who would be more accurate.

Anko Mitarashi was currently sitting on the bed, with both her trench coat and fishnet shirt off, allowing her curvaceous figure to be completely unimpeded. She was the reason Naruto was currently at the hospital for the second time within two weeks, without actually having an injury. Naruto had promised to look at her curse seal the moment he got the chance, which Anko had jumped at when she had found him and Iruka eating at Ichiraku's the night before.

Said scarred Chunin instructor was sitting right next to Anko, with one of her hands in his. When Anko had asked Naruto to look at her seal, they had decided to bring Iruka along for emotional support. The academy teacher was a little apprehensive of having Anko half naked in front of the young blond; however he also trusted Naruto not to be a pervert, despite the perverted jutsu said blond had come up with in his younger days.

"Alight Anko I want you to take this pill," Naruto said handing her the pill as he explained what he was going to do. "After that I'm going to take off the binding seal on the cursed mark that keeps it in check, what I need from you is to activate the seal so that I can see it in its entirety. Thanks to the pill you should not feel any of the pain you normally would when it's active, now please take the pill."

Anko hesitated for only a moment before swallowing the pill whole, as she did Naruto moved around to her back. Unsealing his special Fuiinjutsu brush, which he had created to make ink from his chakra, he took a look at the seal before getting started. Using the precise strokes that only came with years and years of experience, or four year's worth of several hundred **Kage Bushin **training in Fuiinjutsu**, **Naruto created a counter seal designed to get rid of the binding seal on the curse seal. When it was done Naruto placed a hand on her neck, and began channeling chakra into the seal. The seal that bound the cursed seal and Naruto's own seal began to dissolve, melting off as if someone had put acid on it. Once the binding seal was completely gone Naruto got down to the next step, "Anko, please release the cursed seal."

Taking a deep breath Anko began to channel her chakra and her negative emotions for her former sensei into the seal, causing the black flame like marking to spread out from the center of the mark. Naruto watched as they spread and waved about as if alive, it was exactly like when he had seen Sasuke use it. When it was done Naruto went to work, pulling out a blank scroll as he began to copy what he saw. For about half an hour Naruto's brush strokes and Anko's breathing were the only thing heard in the room, as Naruto moved from her back to her front. Drawing out the seals in a circular pattern along the paper, making sure that he had everything right by double and triple checking his work. Once he was satisfied Naruto spoke again, "alright deactivate the seal."

With a nod Anko began to call the cursed seal back, letting it retract from her skin in much the same way it came. Once she did Naruto who was behind her again, began to apply a more advanced binding seal then the one she had on. This one was actually based off of Naruto's own eight tri grams seal, which held the Kyuubi at bay. Naruto had been able to find a way to modify it in order to contain the seal on Anko, making the binding seal many times more powerful than any other in existence. After all if something is designed to contain a Bijuu, then containing human created powers are nothing. "Alright," Naruto spoke with a sigh of relief, "it's all done, that seal should keep it from even twitching until I can find a way to get rid of it."

Naruto came back in front of the two as he rolled up his scroll, putting it into his pouch where it was sealed into a containment seal. He looked at the two and gave them a smile, "now then why don't you guys just enjoy yourself. I should be able to find a way to remove within the month."

"Confident aren't you gaki?" Anko asked with a grin, though one could see she really hoped that what he said would be true.

Naruto grinned, "I think I've got a right to be confident, after all Ero-sensei even admitted I'm better than him with Fuiinjutsu."

"Baka! Don't insult the Sennin with such disrespectful titles!" Iruka scolded, though it was rendered ineffective by Anko's laughing.

Naruto grinned, "I just call 'em as I see 'em, and any man who can call themselves a super pervert without shame deserves such a nickname. Amway's, I'm gonna go see baa-chan and see if she's got a mission for me," Naruto left the room with a red faced Iruka, and a madly cackling Anko.

Making his way outside Naruto headed off to the Hokage tower, along the way he made sure to pay attention to how the people around him reacted to his presence. As his speech had intended to do, nearly all of the generation his age and younger were looking at him with no small amount of awe and respect. It had been one of the few reasons he had announced his status to the village. Because those who were too young to remember the Kyuubi's attack or not born yet had an unbiased opinion of what had happened so long ago. Without the hate and fear clouding their mind as many of the older generation had, they were able to make a more informed decision on his revealed Jinchurikki status. It also helped that the adults had dug their own grave, telling their children to stay away from him and then proclaiming him as a hero and the last Namikaze. They could not afford to call him a monster after that, since it would be the third time they went back on their word.

Naruto also noticed how many of the people who did remember the Kyuubi attacked reacted, a few were of course giving him looks utter loathing and disgust; however those people turned their eyes as soon as he looked at them. What surprised the blond was that they seemed to be in the minority for the most part, many of the adults were now looking at him with shame and regret in their eyes. Showing Naruto that they truly regret their treatment of him, it was those people who would receive his forgiveness.

Naruto stopped paying attention to the crowed as he walked into the Hokage Tower, moving up to the top floor where the Hokage's office was. When he got to the desk in front of the tower, Naruto found himself getting a bit of a surprise. "Isaribi?" Naruto asked as he walked up to the desk and stared at the woman behind it.

Said woman looked up and almost immediately a large blush lit her cheeks, "oh Naruto-kun! How are you today?"

Naruto blinked for a moment as he looked at the woman, she looked so different then he had remembered. The most major change of course was that her scales were gone; she now had completely unblemished and healthy skin. She must have gone in and seen Tsunade early this morning or some time yesterday, and the cure must have been easier then thought, since most operations of this nature usually took a lot longer time do. She was also out of those rags she had worn before, and was now in a yellow sun dress that complimented her skin. It hugged her enough that Naruto could see that despite not being a kunoichi, she had a very nice figure. Naruto assumed she got it from all of the swimming she used to do.

Naruto's mind rebooted as he registered the question and he smiled at the girl, "I'm doing good. And how about you? I see you went to see Tsunade."

Isaribi nodded, "yeah I went in early this morning, apparently the process was easier then she had initially thought it would be…" Isaribi blushed a bit in embarrassment, "she gave me an explanation, but I didn't really understand any of it. Afterwards she said I could work here, while Shizune-san works at the hospital."

Naruto gave the black haired woman a foxy grin, causing said woman's blush to spread further across her face. "That's awesome; to be honest a lot of her explanations would go way over my head as well. It's good see that you got a job already, I guess this means you're going to stay?"

Isaribi nodded, "yeah I mean I don't really have anywhere to go and…" she looked at Naruto with a blush.

Naruto knew what it meant but pretended not to notice it, "I'm happy for you. So I take it baa-chan is in?"

Isaribi giggled at the nickname as she nodded, "yes she is, she had actually sent an Anbu to find you. Though since you're here and they aren't I guess they're still looking."

"Thanks," Naruto said as he walked to the door, without even bothering to knock he threw it open. "Hey baa-chan I heard you were calling for me?"

Tsunade who was sitting at her seat sighed at the name; she looked up at Naruto and covered up any guilty emotions as she began to speak. "Yes I did, I am not sure if you're aware or not but in one month the Chunin Exams will be coming back to Konoha."

Naruto tilted his head to the side, "I was not aware of that, I take it you have a mission that involves the Exams for me? I hope it's not another invasion," Naruto spoke in a dramatic fashion at the word invasion.

"Don't even joke about things like that gaki," Tsunade said, though there was no real malice in her voice. "But yes I do have a mission for you involving the Chunin Exams," she handed him a scroll. "You along with two other Jonin will be acting as proctors for the Chunin Exams."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in surprise at this, he had not expected to ever proctor in the Chunin Exams. He had always been a fighter type shinobi, point him at the enemy and let him go kind of guy. Still it was an order, and if he was honest with himself it did sound fun. "Alright I guess I can do this, so who are my partners?"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Man… that woman drag you into this troublesome job too?"

Naruto looked over at Shikamaru, who was apparently going to be one of the proctors for the Exam. "Yeah she did, I'm surprised she would choose you for something like this though. I mean you're so lazy…"

"Mah Mah Naruto, you know you're also something of an oddity for this mission," Kakashi said as he flipped a page of his book.

"Yeah but then again so are you," Naruto retaliated with Kakashi conceding the point. They of course knew the reason Naruto and Kakashi had been chosen, it was to show the strength of Konoha. By having two such prominent figures such as **Kakashi No Sharingan **and the **Nidaime Kiroii Senkou **it would make a huge political statement about how powerful Konoha is. This would in turn make more clients want to higher them, knowing that two powerful shinobi were a part of the leafs forces.

"So anyway there are usually three parts in this exam," Naruto said as he looked at his mission scroll. He had already memorized it, but it never hurt to read it over again.

"Yep," Shikamaru said in a lazy drawl, "the Chunin Exam is always three phases. The first is a written test to test a shinobi's aptitude of looking underneath the underneath' as the old adage goes. Then you have the second stage, which is a test in the Forest of Death. This one can vary in difference from test to test however one thing remains the same, it is a test of teamwork and to see if they have what it takes to survive in a harsh environment. After that if there are too many people who passed, we will have to hold a preliminary round to get rid of a few genin. And the last test is always a one on one tournament, which is designed to show potential clients the strength and skill that the genin who passed the other exams possess."

Naruto looked at Shikamaru for several seconds before speaking, "Shika I think that's the most I've ever heard you speak in a single go." Naruto grinned when he heard a mutter of troublesome, "so who's going to take which parts? Personally I think you Shikamaru would be better at the first part, with your IQ you could probably create a test with so many twists and steps that the genin will end up failing on principle."

Shikamaru nodded, "that does sound like its right up my alley, plus I won't have to do as much troublesome standing."

Naruto sweat dropped as he listened to Shikamaru's main reason for wanting the first test, shaking his head he turned to Kakashi. "What about you? I mean I figure we could go either way with the two that are left, which one do you want to take?"

Kakashi looked up from his book for a second in thought, "meh I think I would be good for the second test. I have an idea that I think would work well with it, plus having you as the third proctor would allow Konoha to display you better to the clientele."

"Ugh, great just what I need," Naruto groaned, "I almost feel like a trophy wife."

"Well," Shikamaru drawled with a smirk, "you're certainly troublesome enough to be one."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the lazy Nara heir, "you may want to be careful Shika, after all if your mom were to hear you say that…"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Within the Nara household Yoshino Nara sneezed into the food she was making. She got so mad that when Shikaku walked into the room she began to hit him with a frying pan. Shikaku who had not been expecting it was sent flying into the ground, where he was beaten into unconsciousness.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Shikamaru paled at the thought of what his troublesome mom would do if she found out about that comment, "I hate you Naruto…"

Naruto merely laughed at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

A blinded folded Naruto stood in the center of a clearing in his back yard, he was in a basic stance for one of the Toad styles he had been taught. Around him were nearly two hundred other Naruto's, some had **Susanoo **out as well, others had **Hiraishin **kunai and some were merely using their bare fist. For a moment all was silent, except for the faint rustling of the trees when a breeze blew by. Then without warning all of the clones attacked, coming at him with speeds that were beyond most jonin. Naruto however remained rooted to the spot, and as soon as the clones got in close Naruto began to move. He did not attack any of them however, but rather redirected their attacks so that they hit each other. His feet stayed in the same spot, never moving as Naruto used **Susanoo** to shift blades and kunai to the side. When he felt a fist go at him, Naruto would merely use a hand to redirect the attack into another clone.

The style he was using was called **Gama** **Nintai (Toad Patients Sword Style) **because of the patients and calm required to use it. Most people could never remain calm or patient when one let alone when hundreds of people were attacking you, that was because of the nervous system and naturally ingrained reflexes that controlled automatic movement functions. In order to properly wield this style one had to learn to turn these automatic functions off, allowing one to remain calm even in the face of certain death.

For several hours Naruto continued this, neither attacking nor counter attacking as he simply redirected attacks. Letting them flow over and around him as he stood there, each time he destroyed a batch he would create another, larger batch of clones until he was up to five hundred. The object of this exercise was for him to see how long he could retain his ability to remain calm, while also increasing the size of his enemies. Finally he felt a slip in his abilities, which got him nicked on the arm. It healed up a second later, and Naruto knew he had found his limit with this so far: 550 clones.

"Now it's time to surpass it…" Naruto muttered as he summoned six hundred clones, all of which charged him the moment they were made.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"So tell me, why are we here again?" Naruto asked the people who had managed to drag him here. Naruto and his friends Kiba, Chouji, Ino and Sakura were in one of the shinobi bars located throughout Konoha. The four had somehow managed convinced him go with them, not that he minded being with friends, but since he could not get drunk he did not see the point in going to a bar.

"We're here bcaushe you need to letsh loosh every onshe in awhile," Kiba said in a slurred voice, before taking another shot of sake.

"The light weight here is right," Ino said, making Kiba's face gain an expression that looked somewhere between wanting to snarl at her, and wanting to hit on her. "And while I don't feel like getting myself wasted, it's a good place to hang out," Ino finished as she took a sip of her sake.

Sakura nodded, "Ino's right, with all the things we do as shinobi we should take whatever opportunities we can to relax."

"Yeah I suppose so," Naruto said as he scratched his chin in thought. He gave them a grin, "and with all the god damn council meetings I have to go to I need to let loose, seriously I'm starting to get the picture of why baa-chan drinks so much. Having to deal with that group of pompous and overly arrogant wind bags would make anyone want to drink themselves stupid, if for no other reason than to block out the headache they bring."

"You know you really shouldn't call Tsunade-Sama such a disrespectful name," Sakura said with a frown as she drank her non alcoholic juice. Once upon a time she would have hit him for saying something like that, however she knew he was not the little boy he used to be anymore and would probably not take well to getting a fist smashed on his head anymore; besides he was right about her drinking habits.

Naruto shrugged, "it's a term of endearment Sakura, I don't give these titles to just anyone you know. Besides she knows she loves it, she just hasn't realized it yet."

"Whatever," Sakura replied not really wanting to get into an argument over something like that.

"Man shpeaking of the Hokage…" Kiba muttered as he took another shot of sake, "she'sh hot!"

Sakura smacked him on the back of the head while Ino kicked him in the shin, causing the Inuzuka heir to howl in pain.

"Baka!" Sakura shouted, "Don't be so disrespectful to Tsunade-Sama like that!"

Kiba was just about to reply when another voice yelled out.

"You bitch!"

Naruto and the others turned their attention to see four men surrounding a woman. One of the men lunged at said woman with the woman dodging a little to the left with a little bit of a drunken swagger, before smashing her fist into the man's face. The man was sent flying back into one of the tables, breaking it and spilling several drinks. That was when the woman stood up and Naruto felt his eyes widen as he realized who it was, the woman was none other than Yugao. The blond shinobi instantly noticed that she looked worse then she had when they first met, her hair was unkempt and her eyes were blood shot and had bags in them. She was obviously drunk as fuck from the way she was swaying, but she also looked like she had just gotten out of the hospital as well. Naruto noticed several bruises on her face, bruises he was sure she had not gotten from these men.

"Alright… who… who wants some more?" Yugao asked as she got into a sloppy taijutsu stance.

"Fucking cunt!" one of the men yelled out as he charged at her.

Before he could get even five feet from her, a fist planted itself right into his chest with all the force of an rhino. The man was soon sent flying backwards, crashing through not only a table but straight through the wall. Naruto stood up and looked at the last two men coldly, "I suggest you leave this woman alone." The dead tone in the blond's voice caused the two men two shudder, Naruto sent a dose of killing intent their way and smiled when they began stumbling over themselves in their haste to leave. Naruto sighed and was about to turn around, until a pair of arms around his waist.

"That… was so… so romantic… Naruto-kun."

Naruto felt a slight shiver pass through him as Yugao pressed her assets into his back, while struggling to stand up properly. Naruto turned around in her grip as he pulled her arms off of him, placing one around his neck as he held her up by her waist. Naruto turned to the bartender, "I'm sorry for the damage, please put it under the tab name Uzumaki Namikaze." Many of the patrons began to whisper at the name, having recognized it and him. Naruto ignored this as he sent an apologetic expression to his friends, before leaving with Yugao.

"Who was that?" Ino asked with a hint of Curiosity and jealousy, "and how did she know Naruto-kun?"

"I don't know but a drunk like her doesn't deserve someone like Naruto!" Sakura said in an angry voice.

Ino looked at Sakura and grinned, "Why Sakura is that jealousy in your voice?"

Said girls face turned the same color as her hair, "d-don't be ridiculous I'm not jealous! I just don't think someone like her is good enough for Naruto!"

Ino just grinned a knowing grin; it was at that moment that Kiba decided to make his presence known.

"Who caresh who she ish! That chick wash hot!"

Both Ino and Sakura got tic marks, looking at each other they both nodded. Rearing their fists back, the two women smashed them into the back of Kiba's head. The end result was Kiba's face getting sent right into the wooden table, with said table breaking and sending Chouji's food all over the place. Chouji looked at the food and soon began to cry anime tears, while Kiba was knocked unconscious with swirls in his eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto resisted the intense urge to groan, he wondered how it was that he found himself in situations like this. He was unsure whether it was a blessing or a curse but every time a beautiful woman was in some kind of trouble, he seemed to be in the right place at the right time to help. It happened with Koyuki, as well as several other Daimyo's, it happened with Mei, it happened with Konan and it happened with Yugito and Anko. Now it was happening with Yugao, and while he did not mind helping her. Quite the contrary in fact, he was more than happy to finally be able to help her rather than the other way around. He really wished she would change her topic of conversation.

They were currently wondering aimlessly, since the woman was refusing to tell him where she lived and he could not remember. Worse than that Yugao's choice of conversation were of the things she and Hayate used to do… things that should forever remain private.

"And did you know… did you know that Hayate-kun is a… is such a pervert?" Yugao asked with a giggle. "I remember this one time… when he wanted… us to play out this one scene, it… was from one of the Icha… Icha books…"

And so Naruto tried to ignore the purple haired woman as Yugao went into explicit detail of her and Hayate's sex life, something he would never in a million years want to hear about. "Um… Yugao-chan, not to be rude or anything, but could you please tell me where you live so I can escort you home?" Naruto asked after finally having enough listening to her sex talk, which was something he would have expected from Anko.

He was forced to stop walking when Yugao began to shake, Naruto turned his head to look at her and frowned wondering if she was cold. That was when he noticed that there were now tears coming out of her eyes, which were hidden by her bangs. Naruto felt a twinge of guilt at seeing this, feeling this was somehow his fault for sounding so abrupt. He had always hated watching woman get hurt and it was worse when it was someone close to him. Naruto put a hand under Yugao's chin, gently lifting it up so he could see her eyes.

Grayish brown met cerulean blue. When Yugao saw Naruto's eyes which if she and any other girl that ever saw them were honest with themselves, were easily the most beautiful eyes ever seen, she instantly felt warm and safe. Of course this caused her to start tearing up even more, as she lunged at the blond shinobi and began crying into his chest. Naruto had absolutely no clue what to do in this situation, one minute she was talking about her sex life with her former lover Hayate and the next she's crying her eyes out. So he did what he always did when trying to comfort a woman. He simply pulled her closer, resting one hand on her mid back while the other began to run through her hair. Naruto began to whisper sweet nothings in Yugao's ear, letting her know that he was right here for her. It seemed like several hours when in truth it was only fifteen minutes that they had been like this, Yugao's breath eventually began to even out and Naruto realized she had fallen asleep.

"She didn't even tell me where she lives," Naruto muttered to himself with sighed. Knowing he could not leave her here, Naruto gently lifted the woman up bridal style and began his trek to his house. When he got to the gate, Naruto let his chakra flare to open it. Walking into the yard Naruto made a clone to open the door, as he walked in the clone closed it and followed the original. Naruto made his way upstairs and chose one of the rooms, having the clone open it so he could make his way inside. The clone followed him and went over to the bed, lifting the sheets before dispelling.

Naruto gently set the purple haired woman in the bed, taking off her shoes and moving over to place them by the door. He walked back and brought the sheets up over Yugao, who was mumbling Hayate's name in her sleep and looked like she was having a nightmare. Naruto tucked her in and sat down on the bed, running his hands through her hair until her whatever she was dreaming of seemed to subside. The blond shinobi frowned as he looked at the woman; while he had noticed how bad she looked when they had met at the memorial stone, she had not looked nearly as bad as she did now. The bags under her eyes were much more prominent, showing that she had gotten barely any sleep and was probably over working herself with missions. Her breathing was also sounding a little strained, while Naruto was no medical ninja, he was more then skilled in the medical field to recognize that her injuries from her last mission had not healed yet.

Knowing she was a friend of Yugao's, Naruto had explained his history with the purple haired Anbu to Anko and asked if she knew what exactly was going on with Yugao. She had informed him that Yugao had not been doing well since Hayate's death, it seemed that no matter what her friends did nothing seemed to work. Anko had hoped that Naruto could somehow help Yugao, since he had a small history with her and no one else was able to do anything. Unfortunately the blond did not even know where to start, though that did not mean he would do nothing. Naruto brushed some of the hair out of Yugao's face, leaning down he kissed her on the forehead before getting up and leaving.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning Yugao Uzuki woke up with a massive hangover, groaning she held onto her head as she sat up in bed. She slowly opened her eyes, so that they would not get hurt from her oversensitive eyes overloading from the light in the room. It was then that she realized she was not in her apartment, nor in any of her friend's apartments. She looked around and saw that the room she was in was nice, it reminded her of some of the four and five star hotels she had stayed at when dealing with nobles. The bed was a deep crimson color, with soft and plush pillows. On the left hand side was a dresser with a reading lamp on it, farther along the wall was a door that led to a walk in closet. On the other side was a door that was slightly ajar to show a bathroom, no doubt it would be just as opulent as the room she was in now. The carpet looked extremely soft and matched the color of her bed; meanwhile the walls were a light blue that contrasted with the sheets and floor.

As she looked around the room, Yugao tried to remember what had happened last night. She could not remember too much, she remembered going out on another S rank mission and had almost gotten herself killed when they ended up fighting an S rank missing ninja and several Chunin level ninja. It had only been thanks to one of her comrades carrying her back to Konoha while she had only been half conscious and near death from blood loss that she survived. After she had woken up Yugao snuck out of the hospital like usual, she then went to look for her friends in the hopes they would want to get a drink. However she had not been able to find any of them, deciding she did not care Yugao had gone to get drunk by herself. After that things got fuzzy, she remembered a fight of some kind, feeling really bubbly, then feeling depressed and finally feeling completely safe. She was unsure what to make of this; however she knew that whoever had given her that last feeling, which she had not felt since Hayate's death, must live here.

Getting out of bed, Yugao felt her legs wobble a bit and had to wait for a moment to regain her balance. Once she did the young woman checked herself over, and sighed in relief when she noticed the only thing that was out of place on her was the fact that she had no shoes on. Looking around she spotted her shoes near the door, moving over despite the headache she had Yugao put on her shoes. She then opened the door and looked out, one side had a stair case while the other had a door. Not seeing anyone Yugao moved to the staircase, walking down as she made her way to the first floor.

About halfway down the stairs an absolutely heavenly aroma hit her nose, Yugao soon found herself following the mouth watering scent. She stopped where the scent seemed to be and found herself in a kitchen, looking around she blinked in surprise as she noticed who was cooking. It was Naruto wearing a pair of what looked like workout sweats of some kind, flipping some kind of pancake in the frying pan he held. Yugao stayed in her spot for a long while as she looked at what in her head, was a really odd scene. That was when Naruto turned around to put the pancake, which Yugao noticed was flat, down in a dish and saw her.

Naruto gave the woman a large smile, "good morning Yugao-chan! How did you sleep?"

Yugao blinked before remembering her manners, "oh um, I slept fine… how about you?"

"Pretty good," Naruto replied as he poured some batter onto the pan, "why don't you go sit down while I finish cooking breakfast, it should only be another minute or two."

Unable to really think properly due to the scene before her Yugao merely nodded, walking over to the table and taking a seat. Several minutes later Naruto came to her with an empty plate, and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. He set some pills on her plate, making her look at him and quirking an eyebrow.

"There hangover pills," Naruto explained as he walked back into the kitchen to grab a large dish filled with the flat pancakes. "I came up with them when I was traveling with Ero-sensei, the man would always wake up in the morning with a serious hangover." Naruto set the dish down, "I created those so I didn't have to wait for him to get over it naturally to train me."

Yugao nodded and despite still feeling out of sorts cracked a smile; it was just like Naruto to give someone in authority such a disrespectful name, she remembered the times she had been the boy's bodyguard and he had barged in on the Hokage, calling him Ojisan. She grabbed the pills off her plate and swallowed them with some orange juice, sighing in relief as she felt her headache disappear. "That feels so much better," Yugao said, "thank you Naruto."

Naruto grinned at her as he served her a plate of the flat pancakes, "not a problem Yugao-chan, you know I'm always willing to help a friend."

Yugao smiled one more time before she turned her attention to the food; it had to be the oddest looking breakfast she had ever seen. The pancakes were completely flat and were rolled up, stuffed inside were various fruits and some kind of cream cheese. She picked up a fork and cut a piece off, "what is this?" she asked as she looked at Naruto.

The blond shrugged, "something I found in my mom's cook book, there called crepes. You'll have to tell me how they are, since this is the first time I've ever cooked them."

Yugao looked at the food with a small amount of apprehension, back when she had been watching Naruto the blond had been a terrible cook. All he had been able to cook was instant ramen, and that was only because all you had to do was pour water into it, put it into a microwave and set the timer. Still it did not look bad, and it certainly smelled delicious. In the end she decided not to be rude she took a bite of the food, her eyes promptly widened as the absolutely amazing burst of flavor overcame her. The food was sweet and literally melted in her mouth, soon enough all reservations were gone and Yugao was stuffing her mouth like never before. However she stopped when she heard a laugh, looking up she found Naruto laughing at her and instantly blushed in embarrassment.

"So I take it the food in good then?" Naruto asked with mirth clearly visible in his eyes.

Yugao blushed even more as she began to feel absolutely mortified with how terrible and messy she had started to eat, she put down her fork as she tried to regain some of her dignity. "It's delicious," she complimented though her red cheeks remained, "I honestly don't think I've ever tasted something this good." She looked over at him and noticed that his plate was empty, "aren't you going to eat?"

Naruto shook his head, "it wouldn't matter if I did since I'm just a clone." Yugao looked at him in surprise; she had not even realized she had been talking to a clone this whole time. "The real Naruto is most likely just finishing with his workout; I was made to make you two breakfast and keep you company until he got here."

Yugao had to smile at Naruto's thoughtfulness, knowing that he cared so much about her invoked an oddly warming feeling in her.

"Good morning Yugao-chan."

Yugao blinked as the clone at the seat dispelled, and a few seconds later another Naruto took its place and began piling crepes on his plate. He paused for moment as the memories of the clone hit him; he looked over at Yugao and grinned. "I'm pleased to know you like my food so much," Naruto told her.

"It's really good," Yugao said as she repeated what she told the clone, "where did you learn to cook?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Well when I was traveling with Ero-sensei I got to try a lot of different foods besides ramen. I guess after awhile I just wanted to try and cook for myself, so I went to a library and grabbed several cook books and well…" he trailed off with a shrug.

The rest of the meal was eaten in a comfortable silence, as Naruto hummed a soft tune and Yugao went into her own thoughts. The young woman was feeling a bit confused as she ate there with Naruto, a part of her loved it, this warm feeling that she had been missing for so long. And yet another part of her felt like she was betraying Hayate, that by feeling what she had felt with him when she was with another person was a betrayal to him. Her thoughts began to get more and more distraught and depressing as she continued this line of thought, eventually they became too much and she stood up.

"Yugao-chan is something wrong?" Naruto asked as he too stood up.

"I- I'm sorry Naruto but I have to go," Yugao said as she headed towards the door.

Before she could reach it a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, causing the young woman to stiffen. "Yugao," Naruto said in a soft tone that belied how worried he was, "what's wrong? Please talk to me."

"I-" the young woman's voice cracked as she shook the tears from her eyes, "I'm sorry I can't." with that she shook herself out of Naruto's arms, opening the door she left before Naruto could try and stop her.

For a long moment the blond shinobi just stood there, wondering how he could help the woman who had helped him when he was a child. He closed his eyes for a moment, deciding that he would talk with Anko and Kurenai when he got the chance. He looked over at the clock on the wall and noticed that he had a meeting with Shikamaru and Kakashi in a little while; soon he too was out of the door and on his way.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you ready Anko?" Naruto asked as he, Anko and Iruka once again found themselves in the hospital.

It was the last day before the chunin exams started and Naruto had been busy, whether it was going to meet up with Shikamaru and Kakashi or looking for a way to get rid of Anko's cursed seal, the blond had once again barely found any time for himself. Despite not having much time, Naruto had been able to find out a way to get rid of the cursed seal. Through his study he had learned two things; the first was that the seal was actually a transference of a bloodline that existed on someone. Jiraiya had told him it was a man named Juugo, a person who was considered to be psychotic and violent. He was in one of Orochimaru's hideouts, they had not been able to find out anything else but it was enough. The second was that the seal that allowed the enzymes from Juugo to work was made from a mixture of Orochimaru's blood and chakra. This was why he had to bite the person to inject the enzyme; each fang contained a portion of Orochimaru's blood and chakra as well as the enzymes.

The way Naruto planned on getting rid of the seal was in theory quite simple, in execution however, it would be difficult and painful. Using Anko's weight in her own blood Naruto had created a large sealing array in the room he planned to use, the blood was mixed with Naruto's chakra, which he would use to overpower Orochimaru's chakra. In essence what he was doing was fighting Orochimaru for dominance over the cursed seal; with him in control he could simply will the seal away.

Anko nodded, "I was ready the moment I got this thing."

Naruto nodded, "alright then, I want you to sit in the center of the array and we'll begin."

Anko gave another nod, kissing Iruka on the cheek she moved over to the center with Naruto, where she sat down. Naruto got out his brush and the special ink he had created from her blood and his chakra, the first thing he did was get rid of his binding seal. With that done he moved onto the hard part, "Anko, this is going to hurt but I need you to activate the cursed seal." Unfortunately he had found out that because of the pain numbing effects medicine had on the nervous system, Anko could not use any since her body would be unable to fight the seals affects and that could end up destroying her body from the inside out.

He watched as Anko activated the seal, gritting her teeth as pain began to spread throughout her body. Naruto dipped his brush in the ink and began to create his seal, covering every inch of the activated cursed seal with his own. The process was only around fifteen minutes, but to Anko it felt like an eternity. When it was done she heard Naruto mutter, 'now comes the hard part'. The blond began to inject his own chakra into his seal, using it to try and overpower Orochimaru's tainted chakra. Anko soon began to scream as the pain became overbearing, collapsing to the floor as Naruto's chakra and Orochimaru's began to push against each other for dominance in the seal.

Iruka who was still standing to the side was about to rush over, but a glance from Naruto stopped him, if he interfered his chakra could easily tip the balance of power in the seal. Naruto felt sweat trickle on his forehead as he continued, watching the seal go from blue to black and back again as the struggle continued. The problem with what he was doing was that Naruto had to be careful with how much chakra he put into the seal, to much and Anko would suffer from chakra overload, too little and he would not be able to get rid of Orochimaru's chakra. Naruto gave one last push of chakra, watching as the seal turned blue and stayed that way. Naruto sighed in relief as he shut off his chakra flow, gently lifting Anko who had passed out sometime during the process. Naruto looked at the cursed seal which was now blue, having had Orochimaru's chakra exercised. Naruto took his hand and placed it over the seal, using another seal he had prepared he sucked all of his chakra out of her system, making the cursed seal disappear as if it never was.

Naruto looked over at Iruka who had finally came over, "get her trench coat."

Iruka blinked before nodding dumbly and going back to grab Anko's trench coat, he walked back and gave it to Naruto who wrapped it around Anko. Standing up he gave the purple haired snake mistress to Iruka, "it's done, the seal is gone."

Iruka looked at Anko's neck and noticed that the seal was indeed gone, he gave a large smile as he thought of how happy Anko would be when she learned of this. "Thank you Naruto," Iruka said to his little brother figure.

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he gave a smile, "not at all, you don't think I would let my precious people suffer like that did you?" He put his hand down and got serious again, "make sure that you give her a lot of fluids, also make sure she waits a month before doing anything that requires her to use chakra."

Iruka nodded, thanking Naruto again before he left.

Naruto created several **Kage Bushin's **and had them clean up the room before he too left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shikamaru sighed and resisted the urge to mumble troublesome, even though that was exactly what this was. The genin who managed to get past the genjutsu down below were now starting to filter into the room, taking seats at the many tables around it. Unlike last time when they had desks when he had taken the exams, this time there were several dozen rounded tables. Each table had three chairs, making it obvious that they were meant for teams to sit in. the Chunin watchers were on three sides of the room, while Shikamaru was in front. On the walls all around the room were dozens upon dozens of posters, which caught the eyes of many of the genin.

Shikamaru waited for about thirty minutes for any genin teams who were lagging behind, before nodding to one of the Chunin close the door. Shikamaru stood up and with a lazy expression got started with the test, "alright listen up you troublesome children…" many genin sweat dropped at the lazy tone in their proctors voice, which said proctor ignored as he began to explain the test to them. "As you know this is the first stage of the Chunin exams, I want you to listen as I explain the rules because it would be too troublesome to go over them again." Shikamaru paused as he looked around, "first rule, there can be no talking during this test. If either I or the seers see you talking, you will get two points docked off. For those who get seen three times, you will be automatically disqualified. Second rule you are not allowed to look anywhere but in front of you, again two points will be docked off if you do this and three times getting caught, will get you sent out of here. Fourth rule, any ninja caught cheating will get two points docked off as well, if you haven't figured out what will happen when you're caught three times, then that sucks for you because I'm not gonna explain again. Now for the final rule, this is a team test meaning that if one of your teammates fail, so does the rest of the team…"

The genin soon erupted into shouts, telling Shikamaru how it was not fair and how that was the dumbest rule they ever heard. The Nara heir just groaned, _why did I have to be picked for such a troublesome mission…_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto looked around the jonin room as he sat on one of the couches in it, he had decided since he was proctoring in this exam that it would be a good opportunity to hang out with his fellow jonin. The room itself was very basic; it looked almost like an apartment's main room. There was a kitchen area and a living area where the couches were located, which had a basic television set. Currently occupying the area besides himself was Kakashi, who was reading his book and giggling perversely. Genma who had gotten a genin team about two years ago, after he had gotten his promotion from Tokabetsu jonin to jonin. Ebisu who Naruto knew was Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon's sensei. And surprisingly enough Anko Mitarashi.

After their last mission to Umi and then Naruto getting rid of her cursed seal, he and Anko had become fairly good friends. The two were in many ways similar, mainly in how they had both been hated by the village for things beyond their control. Because of this they had found something of kindred spirits in each other, and Anko had become a sister figure to him. A very creepy, blood loving, psychotic sister, but a sister none the less. Often times when Iruka was at the academy or working, Anko would hang around with him, either going out to dango or ramen; depending on who won their spars.

Naruto turned to look at Ebisu, "so Konohamaru and his team are in the Chunin exams this year?"

"Yes," Ebisu said in his somewhat prissy voice as he adjusted his sunglasses. "They still have much to learn, but they have gotten stronger and understand the value of team work. I figured it would be best to let them see some of the competition, that way if they don't make Chunin this year they know how much harder they need to train."

Naruto nodded as Genma spoke up, "I hear your actually one of the proctors this year?"

Naruto gave the man a grin, "of course! Baa-chan figured I was the best man for the job because of how totally awesome I am!"

For a moment all was silent as those who had not heard of Naruto's use of disrespectful suffixes for authority figures registered what he had just called the Hokage. When they did there were four different reactions, Ebisu looked like he was about to shit himself with a scandalous expression on his face as he gaped at the blond. Genma made several sputtering and choking noises, Kakashi ignored the whole thing as he gave a perverted giggle. Meanwhile Anko had just fallen onto the floor, holding her sides as she took wheezing breaths while laughing.

"Damn kid," Genma said as he got himself under control, rolling the tooth pick in his mouth around. "I always knew you had balls, what with those pranks you used to pull and all. But to call Hokage-Sama that…"

"You think that's bad," Anko said as she got back into her seat still wheezing, "You should hear what he calls Jiraiya."

Everyone turned to Naruto expectantly, causing the blond man to sweat drop. "Er… well you see I figured since he had proclaimed himself to be a 'super pervert'," Naruto said as he put up quotes with his hands. "I figured that a good name for him would be Ero-sensei… or if he's not your sensei you could just all him Ero-Sennin."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Somewhere in Tsuki No Kuni, Jiraiya was spying on the bath houses when he sneezed.

"Did you hear that?"

"It must be a pervert!"

"Let's get him!"

Jiraiya's eyes widened as the wall separating the male and female sides broke; several women in towels had somehow managed to get numerous weapons in their hands. From bats and pitch forks, to giant butcher knives. One of the girls pointed to Jiraiya, "there he is! Let's beat him girls!"

Jiraiya paled before taking off, trying to avoid the deadly swings which were aimed at his man parts. Somehow he knew this was Naruto's fault, _I'll get you for this gaki!_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"I take that back," Genma said, "kid you've got to have the biggest pair of brass balls I Have ever seen, to call two of the three Sennin something like that."

Anko grinned, "oh this kids got a pair all right, in fact if it wasn't for Iruka-kun, I would take this kid home and…"

"Anko…" Naruto interrupted the woman with a blush, "I so do not need to hear that right now."

Anko pouted for a second before looking at the clock, "the lazy bastard should be about finished with his test…" she looked over at Kakashi who had just released another perverted giggle, "hey Cyclops aren't you, I don't know, going to go over there or something?"

Kakashi looked up from his book and looked over at the clock; he then just shrugged and went back to his book. "Nah," he said in a lazy voice, "I've still got at least three more hours…"

Everyone else in the room sweat dropped at the man's choice to be tardy.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Shikamaru sighed as the hour he gave the kids to finish their test came up. The test had been designed to make it so you had to cheat, but also make it increasingly difficult, like the test he had been given this one had questions that were far too advanced for the average genin. However rather than have Chunin hiding in the room and writing the answers, Shikamaru had the answers hidden in the posters. The seats were strategically placed so that each genin could see several of the answers, but not all of the answers. And because they could not look anywhere other than in front of them, they had been forced to communicate the answers to each other. This meant that they had been forced to establish some form of communication, since they were unable to talk. Some had done this through mores code, others had given foot nudges and some had just used eye contact. The last question had been a riddle that could only be solved when all of the previous questions had been answered. In the end thirty two of the seventy teams had passed, _troublesome I thought it would be less…_Shikamaru sighed, oh well. At least they were no longer his responsibility.

"Congratulations to all of those who have passed," Shikamaru said in the same lazy voice he had used throughout the whole exam. "All of you will now need to wait for your second proctor to get here, good luck in the next exam and I hope to never see your troublesome faces again." with that Shikamaru and the Chunin seers disappeared within a puff of smoke, leaving the genin to themselves.

"Man!" Konohamaru said as he stretched out in his seat, "I'm so glad that's over with!" Konohamaru let out a loud yawn, "That test was absolutely boring, and it was so hard and pointless!"

"I would rather take this test again then go where we have to go next," Udon said, "I hear that the second exam takes place in the forest of death…"

"I've heard a lot of rumors about that place," Moegi said as she agreed with Udon. "I heard that there are giant insects and tigers that love to feast on human flesh, it's supposed to be a really dangerous place."

"Who cares how dangerous it is!" Konohamaru said as he stood up and put a foot on his chair. "I'm not afraid of some forest of death! I will face anything that comes my way, only then will I be able to defeat Naruto-nii-san!"

Moegi and Udon both looked amused as Konohamaru went on another 'beat my rival' rants that had been getting more and more frequent. Ever since news of what Naruto did in Kiri reached Konoha, the young Sarutobi had started pushing himself even harder to beat his 'nii-san' and hero. Of course they could not blame him; after all they both felt quite a bit of hero worship for the blond shinobi too.

"Man that was so boring," an orange haired genin from Kiri said. The young man looked to be about in his mid to late teens, with spiky orange hair and brown eyes with a height of 5'8". He was wearing a pair of white and black cameo style pants, which were tucked into a pair of black shinobi sandals. On his torso was a sleeveless black shirt showing off his muscles, and wrapped on his left arm was his Kiri Hitea-ate. In his left hand was a large black sword with no guard with the tip on the ground, which he twirled the hilt of around in his hand. "Seriously could this be any more boring…"

"Shut up Ichigo," said the other male on the team. This man stood at a height of around 5'7" and had red hair done up in a head tie, making his head look like a pineapple with his Hitea-ate around his head. Around his eyes was a weird looking tattoo that looked kind of like seals. Like his companion he was wearing cameo pants, except they were in the opposite color. Likewise his shirt was long sleeve instead of short sleeve; on his hands were a pair of black fingerless gloves. "You just didn't like the test because it was too much for that tiny brain of yours to comprehend."

Ichigo growled as he stood up, "You want to say that again Renji!"

"Did you not hear me the first time?" Renji asked with a smirk.

"You better watch yourself squiggles, otherwise I might have to beat the crap out of you again," Ichigo said. Now his was his turn to grin as Renji stood up and glared.

"What did you call me Carrot top!"

"You heard me pineapple!"

Soon the two boys were face to face and glaring at each other.

"Will you two stop fighting!" asked the only girl in the group. This had had black eyes and black hair with a single bang going down the middle, and was only around 5'1" in height. Unlike the others she was wearing a black Shikkashou and Hakama, with tabi socks and sandals. Her Kiri Hitea-ate could be seen hanging around her neck.

"I'm gonna pound your face into the ground!"

"Bring it on strawberry!"

The girl soon gained several tic marcs, as her two team mates continued to glare at each other and insult each other.

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!"

Instantly the two boys were in their seats, along with everyone else in the room. "Sorry Rukia," they said with a pale face, not wanting to piss their team mate off.

Eventually the genin all began to talk again as they waited for the second proctor of the Chunin Exams.

And waited…

And waited…

And waited…

"GAH!" Konohamaru yelled as he grabbed his hair, "where the hell is the second proctor! I swear if I have to wait one more minute I'm gonna beat the crap out of him!"

Many others nodded in agreement with the young Sarutobi's statement, thankfully at just that moment their second proctor walked through the door. Many sweat dropped as this man looked even lazier then their first proctor, which they had not thought was possible. He looked up from his porno and gazed out across the students, with a single eye that was half lidded in a lazy and uncaring manner. "Hmmm…" he mumbled to himself, "there's more than I thought there would be."

Konohamaru and Ichigo quickly stood up from their seats and yelled, "YOU'RE LATE!"

Kakashi looked at the two before giving everyone an… eye smile? "Well you see I was on my way here when I ran into a cat stuck in a tree, so I had to get it down. Only I found out that it was a black cat, so I had to take the long way around and that was when I got lost on the road of life…" Kakashi gave himself a mental pat on the back for coming up with such a brilliant excuse, which was really just combining several excuses he had already used when being late, but they didn't need to know that.

None of the genin were even able to say anything, having been so shocked at hearing such a lame excuse that it had rendered them speechless. Kakashi went back to his book as he spoke, "Any way's, meet me at the entrance to training ground 44 in one hour, those who don't make it in an hour will be automatically disqualified. Ja ne!" with that Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the grumbling genin to get up and head to training ground 44.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi gave a perverse giggle as he read his book, Icha Icha: Civil War, special red addition. _Oh Chei-chan you naughty naughty girl… _looking up from his book for a moment he noticed that a few genin were starting to trickle in. shrugging he went back to his book, continuing his perverted giggling, much to many of the females ire. After an hour of waiting Kakashi snapped his book shut, putting it into his pouch before pulling out a bell.

"Now then this is the second stage of the Chunin Exam, I would like to welcome all of you to the forest of death," Kakashi said. Despite his voice being just as lazy as always, the genin began to sweat as the cyclopean jonin began to let out his killing intent. "Now the purpose of this exam is rather simple, each team will get a single bell," Kakashi lifted up his bell and jingled it. "Your purpose is to get at least one other bell in order to pass, you will have a total of five days to do this." He paused here for a moment, "however the teammate who does not have a bell will automatically fail."

Kakashi watched as the genin erupted into shouts of anger; it always amused him how easy it was to rile genin up. They were still so pissed from him being late that the Cyclops doubted they could even think straight. Finally deciding they had shouted enough, Kakashi shut them up with a burst of killing intent.

"Good now that I've got your attention I need you all to do something else," a Chunin appeared next to Kakashi with several sheets of paper. The jonin took a sheet from the top and showed it to everyone, "because we have a lot of people die in here every year, we are going to have you all sign these forms. Otherwise we would not have a way to claim deniability when we have to return your corpse to your village!" Kakashi chirped in a cheerful voice as he gave the now pale genin an eye smile.

The Chunin began to hand out stacks of death wavers to the genin, telling them to pass them off. Once all the papers were signed, the genin went to their assigned gate where they were given a bell. Finally the Kakashi's voice rang out over the speaker telling them to start, and the gate opened up. The genin began to speed off, not even aware of the dangers that awaited them.

Kakashi pulled his book back out and began to read for a moment, "so what do you think?" he asked seemingly to no one.

There was a slight rustle in the trees as a dark orange blur shot out, landing on the ground a little ways away. Naruto stood up and shook his head at his sensei, "I cannot believe you actually gave them a bell test. Seriously Kakashi it's like you have some kind of bell fetish," Naruto finished with a cheeky grin.

Kakashi let out a huff, "hey I'll have you know that the bell test is a team seven tradition."

Naruto merely laughed, "right I suppose it is…" he was going to say more when several screams pierced the air. Naruto looked out into the forest, "well looks like the fun has started already."

"Seems so," Kakashi said as he flipped another page of his book.

"Well I'm going to go in," Naruto said, "I'll see yeah later sensei!" The blond tossed a wave over his shoulder, before he jumped into the forest and sped off.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was smiling as he lay on the bed that was located in one of the rooms reserved for the proctor. His smile widened when he heard a low moan from the woman that his hands were currently trailing up and down, gently running along her back. Said woman was none other than the blue haired beauty Konan, who had called for him to summon her just a little while ago. Unfortunately since they were in the middle of the second stage of the Chunin Exams and also in Konoha, Naruto could not take her out like he usually did. But Konan did not seem to care, having told him that as long as she could be with him then nothing else mattered.

"Morning sleeping beauty," Naruto said with a grin as Konan lifted her head up and looked at him with her beautiful amber eyes.

Konan smiled at him as she leaned into him and gave him a kiss, Naruto felt a shiver pass through his spine as he felt the woman's nearly unclothed breasts rub against his chest. He was now absolutely positive that Konan did in fact wear her night clothes just to tease him, if for no other reason than the coy smile she gave him after every time she noticed his reaction. The blue haired woman had been getting a lot bolder in her teasing recently, not that Naruto was going to complain since he greatly enjoyed her more teasing personality.

"Morning yourself," Konan mumbled into his lips as they continued to kiss.

Naruto pulled the blue haired woman even closer, licking her bottom lip as he asked for entrance. Konan opened her mouth, but rather than let him in she tried to push her tongue into his mouth. However Naruto was not so easily out done and the two soon began to duel as they let their tongues push against each other. Having more experience Naruto was the winner in their duel, he began to eagerly explore the woman's mouth. She tasted of Flame broiled fish, which Naruto knew was her favorite food and something he would cook for her whenever they got together. Eventually Naruto retracted his tongue and let Konan do some exploring of her own.

When they broke apart Konan smiled at him as she laid her head on his chest, "You know I had a really good dream last night."

"Oh?" Naruto asked as his hands began to slowly trail up and down Konan's back again, "I hope I was in it," he said in a teasing voice.

"Mmm you were," Konan said as she gave light moans from Naruto's touch. "I had dreamt we finally achieved true peace," Konan gave a content sigh. "We got married and had a family, and had two children a boy and girl… our sons name was Yahiko."

Naruto smiled as he closed his eyes and listened to Konan, "that does sound like a good dream, when we have a son we'll name him that in honor of your friend." His blue haired lover gave Naruto's chest a light kiss, before resting her cheek against Naruto's chest. "And what about our daughter?" asked Naruto.

"I don't know, I didn't hear her name in the dream," Konan looked up at Naruto, "what would you name our daughter?"

Naruto closed his eyes in thought for a moment before smiling, "Kushina."

"After your mother?" Konan asked with a somewhat sad smile.

Naruto nodded as he opened his eyes, "Yes, because I never knew my parents I am never able to feel as close to them as I want. I know that a part of me loves them, but another part doesn't really know enough to love them. All I know are the stories I hear, but I've never met them or anything… I feel that maybe if I name our child after her, I can in some way be closer to my mom, you know?"

"I do," Konan said as she brought her hand up and began to draw circles on the blond's chest, "I only knew a bit about my parents. They died when I was young, though I can't even remember their names anymore. I was about six years old when they died, seven when Yahiko found me scrounging through the trash in one of the slums in Ame."

Naruto kissed Konan on the head as he buried his face in her hair, letting her scent invade his nose. They stayed like that for awhile until Naruto spoke again, "so what has Akatsuki been up to?"

Konan sighed as she realized they would have to talk business, "so far Akatsuki only has the Rokubi and the Sanbi which Deidra and 'Tobi' just captured." Naruto nodded when Konan quoted the name Tobi, knowing who she was talking about. "I think Kisame and Itachi are currently going after the Gobi, but I can't be sure. Since you killed three of their members, the others have been forced to switch targets in order to compensate, I'm sorry." Konan said as she lowered her head, slightly ashamed at not being able to give better information.

Naruto frowned as he lifted Konan's face up, placing a chaste kiss on her lips before speaking. "Kona-chan you know that I don't really care about the information, the only reason I'm even considering letting you stay with them is because of Gaara, Yugi-chan and Bee. The fact that you have information on what Akatsuki is doing is more than enough to help, though I would personally prefer if you stayed with me…"

Konan smiled at him, pleased to know that he was so concerned for her. "Thank you, but you know that no matter how much I wish too, I can't leave right now."

Naruto did indeed know, if she left now it would become obvious she was a spy and traitor. They would then hunt her down and kill her, and Naruto knew that while he was strong, strong enough to fight almost everyone in Akatsuki. He still might not be able to defeat Pain, and he knew for a fact that right now he could not defeat Madara. "I know," Naruto sighed before giving Konan a grin, "doesn't mean I can't dream though right?"

Konan giggled as she shook her head, missing Naruto's mischievous smirk. In one quick move Naruto flipped the two over, startling Konan who was now under Naruto as the blond straddled her waist. "You know I'm kind of tired of talking about all of this Akatsuki business."

Kona grinned when she saw Naruto's smirk, "then what do you want to talk about?"

In answer Naruto closed the distance between them, for the rest of their time together the two of them used their lips for something other than discussion.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Five days had come and gone and all those who had passed the second test were now standing in one of the Forest of death Tower's many chambers. Tsunade looked out over the genin and frowned at the number of teams that had passed, eight teams had passed so there was a total of twenty four genin there. That was even more then when the Konoha eleven had been in the Exams, it also meant they were going to have a preliminary test. She should have known Kakashi would be too lazy to make a test that was actually hard, she was going to pound that open pervert jonin for not coming up with another test.

Standing a little ways from Tsunade, Kakashi let out a shiver but chalked it up to the weather and continued to read his book.

"I would like to congratulate you all for making it this far in the Chunin exams," Tsunade said as she decided to get the ball rolling. "Before we begin the final stage, I regret to inform you that-"

She was unable to say anymore, as she and everyone else in the room became completely gob smacked. Just before the platform she was on, something none of the people here had seen was happening. Ice was shooting out from the ground, they were large towering ice spikes that came out of the floor and each other. The entire thing looked like a large and creepy ice castle, it was something you would think you would find in a fantasy book. Once the ice castle was fully created it began to crack, leaving long lines to run up and down its entire length as arcs of lightning shot out from the cracks. Finally the entire structure shattering into a million pieces, forcing everyone there to cover their eyes. When they opened them again they saw one Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze standing where the ice castle had been.

Naruto grinned at the surprised and shocked looks he was getting from his peers, as well as the looks of envy he was getting from the genin. "Hokage-Sama why don't I explain what's going on," Naruto said as he turned to her.

"Uhh… ok…" Tsunade said in a dumb founded voice.

Naruto grinned as he turned back to the genin, "alright! My name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and I'm going to be your proctor for the third exam!" Naruto felt a smirk come on his face as many eyes widened in recognition, the Iwa team that managed to pass actually looked like they were going to shit themselves in fear. _And I haven't even unleashed my killing intent, _Naruto thought with a grin, _damn I'm good!_ he soon began to speak, "now as Hokage-Sama was about to say, unfortunately too many teams ended up passing the last test. This means that we need to decrease the number of genin who will be in the last exam, which means we are going to be holding preliminaries."

"Wait you mean right now!" a genin from Kusa asked.

"But we just got out of that damn forest!" one of the Konoha genin shouted

Naruto shrugged, "not my problem; had you not taken so long you would have had more time to rest. Now then I want all of you to move up to the fighters balcony, when you name appears on that board." Naruto pointed to the board behind and above him, "I want you to come downstairs and onto the arena floor."

The genin went upstairs as the board began to run through names before selecting two random ones from the genin who passed.

The first two matches passed by in a blur to Naruto, who did not find anything particularly skilled in the participants. The first match was a man from Iwa named Kanashi Motaka, and a Suna genin called Otame Shinji. Otame was able to win by using a wind jutsu to cut through Kanashi's stone armor, and knock the kid out by smashing some of the excess rock on the Iwa genin's temple. The second fight was between a Kumo kunoichi named Akira Kazuchi, and a Kusa shinobi named Kayale Tenabe. Akira was able to win by using a **Raiton **jutsu to scramble Kayale's nervous system, allowing her to knock the boy out.

'Renji Abari vs. Kaen Nokaza'

Naruto watched as the two fighters took to the arena, the red headed Kiri shinobi standing on one side. And the Iwa shinobi, a man with black hair and gray eyes, stood on the other.

"Are both fighters ready?" asked Naruto, receiving a nod from each fighter in turn. Naruto's hand made a slashing motion, "then Hajime!"

Renji pulled his katana from his sheath as he charged towards the Iwa genin, who was currently going through hand seals. When Kaen was finished he slammed his hand into the ground and shouted.

"**Doton: Doroku Gaeshi! (Earth Release: Earth Shield)"**

An earth wall appeared before Renji, forcing the Kiri swordsman to swerve and change course. While this was happening the Iwa shinobi was going through more hand seals, finishing them just as Renji appeared on the left hand side.

"**Doton: Doryuu Dango!"**

A giant mud ball was launched out of Kaen's mouth, heading on a collision course with the Kiri genin. However Renji poured some chakra to the bottom of his feet, putting on a burst of speed and dodging to the right. He then came in close to Kaen and aimed a slash at the other genin's head, however Kaen was able to keep out of the way for the most part and only had his jacket slashed. He took out a kunai as Renji charged again, the two were soon fighting a close quarter's battle. As the fight progressed it became clear that Renji was better, not only did he have a sword which extended his reach but he was just plain more talented. In the end Renji made the Iwa genin duck under a slash, and then smashed his foot right into the man's face sending the Iwa genin sprawling to the ground, unconscious.

"Winner by knock out is Renji Abari!" Naruto announced as the red haired genin went back to his team.

The next match was between a Kumo shinobi named Raiden, and a Konoha genin called Datenta Onmikotsu. The battle was fairly well matched until Raiden starting channeling lightning chakra into his hands, making it so that even if Datenta was not hit he would still get a mild shock. The Konoha genin eventually received so many electrical burns that he just ended up passing out from the pain.

'Konohamaru Sarutobi vs. Notaru Ikaze.'

"Alright!" Konohamaru shouted as he forsook the stairs, and simply jumped over the railing. Landing on the floor with a spring in his step, he looked at his opponent and grinned.

The other genin was a Kusa shinobi who was fairly tall and had a blocky build, obviously he was a taijutsu fighter. He did not react to Konohamaru's eagerness, and merely got into his taijutsu stance.

"Are both fighter's ready?" asked Naruto receiving a nod from Notaru.

"Of course I'm ready!" Konohamaru yelled, "Let's do this!"

Naruto grinned, "then Hajime!"

Notaru kicked off the ground and rushed towards Konohamaru, meanwhile the young Sarutobi was going through several hand seals. When finished he placed a hand to his mouth, as he called out his jutsu.

"**Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu!"**

A decent sized fire ball shot from Konohamaru's mouth, and barreled towards Notaru who was forced to roll to the right in order to avoid being burnt to a crisp. When he got back up it was to notice that Konohamaru was not in his original position, the Kusa genin was about to look around when he was forced to roll in order to avoid several kunai. Coming up he turned to the left and saw Konohamaru going through several more hand seals, he rushed up to the Konoha genin just as the young Sarutobi slammed his hands into the ground.

"**Doton: Doryuu Taiga! (Earth style: Earth Flow River!)"**

A river of mud came out from the ground and smashed into the Kusa shinobi, knocking the man off balance. Naruto saw Konohamaru go through even more hand signs, and recognized that the young boy was going to use one of Hiruzen's favorite collaboration jutsu.

"**Katon: Endan! (Fire Release: Fire Bullet)"**

A small flame bullet was launched from Konohamaru's mouth, igniting the mud river and consuming everything in it. The Konoha genin waited to see if his jutsu had worked, only to be surprised when he did not see Notaru anywhere. That changed when he fist rammed into the back of his head, sending the young boy sprawling across the ground. Thankfully Konohamaru was able to flip himself up and dodge another attack, thus began a taijutsu battle between the two. However Konohamaru despite being decent in taijutsu was not as good as the larger boy, he was forced to weave and dodge between strikes as bruises from several hits appeared on his skin. Realizing that he had to get out of the boys reach, Konohamaru grabbed several smoke pellets from his pouch and threw them into the ground.

Managing to slip around the Kusa ninja's guard, Konohamaru gained some distance and tried to think of a plan. He had already used to much chakra, those three jutsu were C to B rank and more than most genin could perform. That left close quarter's combat, however taijutsu was out of the question. Grabbing a scroll from his back, Konohamaru unsealed its contents to reveal a long black staff. He got into the Sarutobi style boujutsu stance, as he waited for the smoke to clear.

When it did Konohamaru ran at Notaru, launching a strike from the left. As the other man went to block Konohamaru switched and struck from the right, smacking the genin across his shoulder and making him stumble a bit. With the added reach and versatility the staff offered to the boy, Konohamaru was able to drive Notaru back. Eventually managing to crack the other genin in the back of the head, making the boy crumble to the floor.

"Winner by knockout is Konohamaru Sarutobi!" Naruto said with a grin.

"YES!" Konohamaru jumped into the air, "I'm the best!" He ran up the stairs to where his team mates were, getting congratulations from them.

The next match was between the last Iwa shinobi, a tall man called Hitore Gozan. And a Suna shinobi with black hair and green eyes, who went by the name Juka Carotake. The fight lasted a little longer than the others, as it was a pure taijutsu match and their styles contrasted with and counter acted each other. Hitore used his muscle and weight to give hard, heavy hits that broke bones. While Juka's style relied on speed, flexibility and counter attacking, but he could not do as much damage to the Iwa genin. Eventually though Juka was able to win by launching a senbon into the other genin's neck, knocking the genin out cold.

'Moegi Utatane vs. Hanabi Hyuuga.'

The two fighters walked down to the arena floor and glared at each other, Naruto could tell they had some kind of rivalry going on. As the two stood on opposite sides Naruto looked at them, "are both fighters ready?" he asked and got a nod from each. "Then Hajime!"

Moegi threw several kunai at the Hyuuga girl, knowing that close range with her was suicide. Hanabi merely dodge and blocked the kunai, before continuing on her way towards the orange haired girl. Moegi began to back pedal as she continued throwing kunai, trying to gain some distance between them. Unfortunately for the orange haired genin, Hanabi was the worst possible opponent for her. Moegi was a genjutsu and medical ninja type, and she had not been training under Tsunade long enough to learn the woman's secret strength technique. Genjutsu would not work on Hanabi, and her taijutsu was only subpar since she rarely used it.

Despite this disadvantage when Hanabi managed to close the distance, Moegi stepped up her game and tried her best against the taijutsu specialist. The battle was not as long as the others, Moegi was only able to get in a few good hits as her tenketsu points were closed. When Moegi fell unconscious due to too many tenketsu points being closed, Naruto was forced to call the match.

"Winner by knockout is Hanabi Hyuuga!"

Said girl began to walk back up to the balcony, while the board began to call names again.

'Rukia Kuchiki vs. Talia Notami.'

Naruto watched as the two girls came down, neither really spoke. Talia the last Kusa genin took the left, while Rukia stood on the right and unsheathed her sword.

"Are both fighters ready?" Naruto asked as he received a nod from each, "then Hajime!"

Naruto jumped out of the way just a Rukia put on a burst of speed, Talia did not even have time to act as the Kiri genin slashed across her arm. The Kusa kunoichi hissed in pain, as the muscles in it were damaged enough that she would not be able to make hand seals for jutsu now. She threw several shuriken with her good hand, but Rukia just knocked them away as she came in. Talia was soon forced to dodge and move back as she attempted to put distance between her and the sword user, however Rukia stuck on the woman like glue. In the end Talia ran out of juice and was forced to forfeit.

"Winner by forfeit is Rukia Kuchiki!" Naruto called out, as Rukia went back up to the balcony to her team.

'Udon Mitokado vs. Hikari Kotone.'

Udon walked down to the ring, rather than getting in a ready stance he put his hands in his pouch. On the other side Hikari, a kunoichi from Suna who was a few years older than Udon, got into the Suna Academy taijutsu style.

Naruto looked at both of them, "are both fighters ready?" as he received a nod from each he slashed his hand down, "then Hajime!"

As soon as the fight started Udon threw several shuriken at Hikari, then went through several hand seals.

"**Ninpou: Shuriken Kage Bushin No Jutsu!"**

Five shuriken became twenty five as they sailed towards Hikari, they stabbed right into the Suna kunoichi. However rather than blood coming out, flower petals flowed out of her body. Udon watched as Hikari's entire body soon dispersed into flower petals, he looked around waiting to see what happened.

"U-Udon-kun!"

Udon turned around and saw Moegi lying on the ground in a pool of blood, her hand was reaching out to him. For a second Udon began to freak out, before remembering that Moegi was in the hospital with her tenketsu closed. _Genjutsu…_ Udon thought as he put his hand in the release seal.

"**Kai!"**

The vision wavered before dispersing; Hikari appeared right next to Udon with a kunai in hand. The Konoha shinobi ducked under a slash, planting a hand on the ground Udon lashed out with a kick, hitting her hand and causing her to drop her kunai. Reacting quickly Udon pulled out some ninja wire and attached it to a kunai, jumping back he swung it around and threw it at the kunoichi. Hikari soon found herself falling onto the ground as the wire wrapped around her, before she could even think of escaping Udon grabbed her kunai and placed it at her neck.

"Surrender," Udon commanded.

Hikari tried to think of a way to get out of her situation, but soon realized there was nothing she could do. Sighing, the Suna kunoichi gave in, "I surrender…"

"Winner by forfeit is Udon!" Naruto said, as said genin cut Hikari from the wire and helped her up.

The next match was between two Konoha genin, who Naruto thought honestly did not belong in the Chunin Exams. Their battle reminded him of Sakura and Ino's fight during the time when he had been in the exams, meaning it was as bad as two fan girls duking it out. Like that battle this one ended in a double knockout.

The second to last match was between a Kumo shinobi called Onoui Tateno, who was tall with black hair and red eyes. And a Konoha shinobi named Hisai Bameno, an older shinobi with brown hair and brown eyes. The battle did not last long as the two started throwing kunai and shuriken at each other, before moving onto taijutsu. Onoui managed to knock Hisai out by using a **Kariwimi **to fool the Konoha genin and neck chop him from behind.

'Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Geosa Wetoshe.'

Ichigo appeared in the arena floor as soon as his name appeared on the board, taking a few practice wings with what Naruto could only consider a giant butchers knife. While Geosa just walked down and stood in his spot, waiting silently for the battle to start.

"Are both fighters ready?" Naruto asked, getting a nod from Geosa.

"Of course we are Blondie," Ichigo said in his cocky tone, "let's get this party started."

"Whatever you say strawberry," Naruto chuckled as the Kiri genin growled, "Hajime!" Naruto quickly **sushined **away, appearing next to Tsunade.

A good thing he did too, since as soon as he started the battle Ichigo had blasted across the ring. The Kiri genin sent an overhead slash at Geosa, who sidestepped the attack. When the sword hit the ground, it formed a large crater. Ichigo did not even seem to notice as he swung his sword diagonally, hoping to bisect Geosa. Said genin jumped back, but did receive a gash across his chest. Ichigo continued to stay on the Konoha shinobi's tail, slashing and hacking at his opponent. Knowing he could not stay on the defensive forever, Geosa reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out several smoke pellets. When Ichigo came in to attack again, the Konoha shinobi threw the pellets in the teens face.

Jumping out of the expanding smoke screen, Geosa began going through several hand seals.

"**Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu!"**

A fire was launched from Geosa's mouth, heading towards the smoke screen. It had not even gone two feet when a large blue blade of energy sliced it in half, continuing on towards the Konoha genin. Geosa jumped out of the way, letting the blade slice into the wall instead of him. That was all the opportunity Ichigo need to appear right in front of him, beginning the game of cat and mouse again.

Naruto looked at Ichigo's blade as he analyzed the attack just used; _interesting that seems to be a chakra based attack similar to the ones the Samurai of Tatsu No Kuni use. However it also has some fundamental difference, namely that its stronger and takes less control to release it. Judging by the amount of raw chakra put into that attack, I feel it's safe to assume that the more chakra put into it the stronger the attack becomes. It may also have something to do with the sword he is using, which kind of reminds me of the swords that are used by the __**Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu**__. I wonder if I can create a technique similar to that and use it with __**Susanoo.**_

Naruto looked back at the battle just in time to see Ichigo smash the pommel of his sword against Geosa's face. The Konoha shinobi landed on the ground completely dazed and out of it, seeing that the genin was not going to get up Naruto called the match.

"Winner by knockout is Carrot Top!"

"What did you call me fishcake!" Ichigo growled as he glared at the blond ninja.

Naruto grinned, "what you don't like your new nickname? Well I suppose I can just call you strawberry again…"

"Now listen here you, I don't care if you are an S class shinobi I'll still kick your ass!" Ichigo shouted as he glared at Naruto.

Naruto gave him a smirk, "right you think that. But you should know even if by some miracle you did defeat me, Mei-chan would melt your balls off."

Ichigo paled as he remembered the rumor that this man and his Mizukage were very intimate with each other. While he himself had never seen the two of them together, since he had always been on missions or at the academy. Many other people had, and would often speak about how romantic it was that their hero and Mizukage were together. He muttered an apology to the blond as he hurried back up to his team, leaving all of the ninja who were not from Kiri confused.

Seeing that all the battles were now done, Naruto called the genin back down before beginning his small speech. "Congratulations to all of those who passed! You have truly shown that you are the best of your village, be proud that you have made it this far! Now the final exam will take place in one month, I suggest you use that time wisely to train and create strategies to defeat your opponents!" Naruto paused for a moment to let his words sink in, "now normally we would draw numbers and you would find out who you're facing. However we won't be doing that this time, in live combat you almost never know who your opponent is until you start fighting, so to shall it be with this tournament. Therefore I suggest you train to be able to counter any opponent you may come across! Good luck and I will see you in the exams!"

As the genin began to filter out, Naruto went over to Tsunade. Wanting to talk to her about something for the upcoming final exam.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Omake: Repercussions of an author pt. 2

Naruto ran as the horde of fan girls followed him doggedly, trying to get him so they could do any number of uncouth activities with him. The blond was not sure how they found him, nor how they continued to find him and stay on his trail. It was like they were blood hounds, or maybe they had some kind of Naruto sensor on them. In either case he was forced to continue running. As he turned a corner he opened a door to one of the bars in the area, slamming it shut and hiding.

He did not even realize the danger he was now in.

Naruto peeked out of the window as his fan girls past his spot, screaming out to him about marriage, children and why toast was always butter side up. As they did he swore to Kami that if he found out who let loose that he was the author to Loveless he would skin them alive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the Yamanaka flower shop Ino let out a loud sneeze, "I guess someone's talking about me," she rubbed her nose, "I hope whoever he is is hot!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was just about to give a sigh of relief as the girls passing died down to a trickle, when a familiar scent hit his nose and made him pale.

It was the scent of arousal.

Turning around Naruto found himself staring at what was apparently one of the many Naruto and Loveless fan clubs that had formed throughout Konoha. Naruto looked at the banners with his face and book on them, then turned his attention to the nearly four dozen blushing and drooling woman were staring at him. He pressed his back on the door as he grabbed the handle.

"Uh… heh… hi girls," Naruto said weakly. That seemed to be the signal as all the woman stood up and pointed at him.

"IT'S NAMIKAZE-SAMA! GET HIM GIRLS!"

Naruto shot out of the door like a rocket, as he began running from this new horde. Of course with fan girls nothing ever goes right, and soon enough the first horde joined the second. As Naruto ran in fear of his life and man bits, he cried anime tears. _Why is this happening to me!_

XXXXXXXXXXX

Ah! Done, I hope all of you liked this chapter. I wanted to do something that I have not really seen done before, every time Naruto proctors the Chunin exams it's during the time when the Konoha eleven does it. So I figured it would be cool to do it after his return from Konoha. Also note the Kiri genin I introduced, yes I did get them from bleach and they will play a small part in the series like all minor characters.

Well that's all I can think of, if you have comments, questions, rants, or just want to tell me exactly why toast is always butter side up. Let me know.

Also I am currently looking for a Beta Reader, if anyone is interested please MS me.

Ja Ne!

**Next! Chapter 12: Of Training and Love**


	12. Chapter 12

**UMMX: Um… who's Kuro-chan?**

**Getsuga Tensou: Thats actually kind of interesting, maybe it has something to do with the weight.**

**Stone20: You mean will he be going to the falls of truth or whatever it's called? Unknown, however he will have to face the fox if he wants to use its power.**

**Icecce: Yeah, I always thought of kiba as a more lecherous and maybe slightly more intelligent version of canon Naruto.**

**Disclaimer: if I owned Naruto there is no way in hell I would be writing on fan fiction.**

**Also I'm passed the 500 mark in reviews, I think this is a cause for a celebration! I would like to thank everyone who has been revewing my stories and giving me their honest opinions and I hope that you all continue to do so.**

**Dsiclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto, not me… but one day, one day I will own Naruto. And then I will rule the world! MWAHAHAHA! *Cough* ok I'm done now.**

**Chapter 12: Of Training and Romance**

* * *

Naruto clapped his hands together, as he looked at the three genin who were with him at training ground seven. He had spoken with Tsunade and there sensei Ebisu, and had managed to get their permission to train these three for the Chunin Exams finals. Standing in front of him were Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon, it was his plan to train these three during the one month hiatus. While he had seen that these three were decent for genin, Naruto knew they would need to be better. Especially when they ended up fighting the Kiri genin, who from what he had seen, were much better than any of the other genin in the Exams.

"Alright!" Naruto said as he looked between the three genin, "I'm sure you all know why you are here. I plan on training you for this month before the Chunin Exams; I'll be training you guys in all facets of the ninja way." Naruto paused for a second as the three genin looked absolutely ecstatic, "however before we get started on your training, I want to see how well you three perform. While I've seen how the three of you fight during the preliminaries, I've always been of the belief that you never truly know what others are capable of, unless you battle them yourselves."

Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out two bells, attaching them to his pants as he turned to the three genin. "Your jobs will be to get these two bells from me using everything trick you can think of. Don't worry," Naruto said as he saw Moegi open her mouth to speak, "you don't have to worry about actually getting a bell. I will be training all of you regardless of whether any of you get a bell; I merely wish to see what you're capable of. Also," a smirk quirked at the corner of Naruto's lips as he stared at the three, "you three will need to come at me with the intent to kill, if you want any hopes of even laying a scratch on me."

The three genin's eyes widened, causing Naruto's smirk to increase. For a moment everyone in the clearing was silent, until Naruto decided to get the fun started. "Well what are waiting for, the test starts now!"

With that the three genin took off, moving to hide into the trees.

Naruto chuckled as his enhanced senses were able to find their locations easily enough, while they were decent for genin and may give Chunin a good while to detect, they were no match for someone who made a hobby of hiding from the Anbu in his youth. The blond shinobi reached into his pouch activating one of the many containment seals in it, there was a poof of smoke as Naruto pulled out an apple. Taking an exaggerated bite out the juicy fruit, Naruto concentrated on the chakra signatures of the three genin who were hiding just a little to his left in the tree line.

Several minutes later Konohamaru burst out of the trees, tossing kunai and shuriken at Naruto in an effort to distract him. Naruto used the hand that was not eating an apple to catch all of the projectiles, before putting them in his pouch. As he turned his attention to the spiky haired genin, Naruto felt foreign chakra invading his coils and smirked. He discreetly released the genjutsu Moegi tried to cast on him, making Konohamaru shimmer before his position changed. The young Sarutobi heir was unaware of this as he continued his charge, jumping into the air and launching a kick at Naruto. Said blond merely disappeared the moment Konohamaru's kick would have connected, making the genin stumble to the ground and look around before freezing as a voice spoke up behind him.

"You know you should never let your enemies get behind you," Naruto spoke up with his hands held in the tiger sign. **"Konohagakure Hidan Taijutsu Ogi: Sennen Goroshi! (Hidden Leaf Village Secret Technique: 1000 Years of Pain)"**

Before Konohamaru could even turn his head Naruto sent his chakra induced fingers up, giving the young genin what amounted to a glorified ass poke.

"AAAAHHHHHH!"

Konohamaru flew nearly forty feet into the air, holding his hands to his ass before splashing into the river. Naruto chuckled as he stood back up; he had always wanted to do that after his genin test. Looking in the water where Konohamaru splashed down Naruto smirked, now all he had to do was wait and see what the three would do next.

* * *

Naruto grinned as he looked at the three genin, all of whom were tied to one of the posts for not getting a bell. He knew it did not really matter if they got one or not, but it was still fun to have someone besides himself getting tied to them. They had actually been pretty decent for genin, while they had not been able to even touch him, Naruto knew that many of their strategies could have taken out a Chunin and given a few of the villages jonin a run for their money.

"Well despite not getting a bell I have to admit you three did pretty good," Naruto complimented them, getting a smile from the tied up genin. "Now that I have a clear understanding of your skills and a basis to work with we'll begin training," three **Kage Bushin's **appeared behind the genin and cut them from their bindings. "Now then this is going to be our schedule for this month, in the morning were going to do physical exercises and sparring, afternoons will be for chakra control, tactics, jutsu and anything else I feel you may need." Naruto looked up at the sun, "since we still have a little bit of time before lunch we're going to do some physical exercise." Naruto turned to the three genin and gave them a grin that sent shivers down their spines, "Alright you three! I want you three to start off with twenty laps around the training field, then do fifty pushups, fifty sit ups, fifty pull ups, fifty squats, one hundred log punches with each arm and one hundred log kicks with each leg!"

The Konohamaru corps looked at him with wide eyes, while their minds tried to comprehend what Naruto was telling them to do. Naruto saw this and got a tic mark on his head, "Didn't you hear me! Get MOVING!"

That seemed to shock the genin into action as they jumped up and got started, beginning with the laps around the training ground. Naruto grinned as he watched the three work, he had not told them but this was about half of what he had done when he started training seriously under Ero-sensei. He had thought about making them do the full routine, but in the end decided against it. After all they did not have a demonic fox sealed in their gut, so they could not heal muscles tears like he could. It took about four hours for the three to finish, when they did Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon were all lying on the ground, looking like they might die of exhaustion.

"Not bad you guys," Naruto complimented the genin, who were too tired to even cast him a glare, though not for lack of trying. Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out a scroll, unrolling it on the floor and unsealing its content with a puff of smoke. When the smoke dispersed it revealed what could only be considered a picnic buffet, on top of a blanket were a cacophony of different kinds of foods. "Before we get started on the next part of training, I want you guys to eat up and get your energy back." Naruto said, blinking as the previously exhausted genin, suddenly appeared right next to him and began eating.

Naruto let them get their food before getting some for himself; he ignored the genin who were stuffing their face as he ate. Letting his mind wander over to the three's performance, both during the preliminaries and the spar. He looked back and waited for them to finish stuffing themselves before speaking about their training, "glad to see you three are full." Naruto reached into his pouch again and this time pulled out three slips of paper, handing one to each of the now confused genin. "I want you three to channel some chakra into that paper," Naruto explained as he saw their confused expressions. "This will tell you what you elemental affinity is, if it's fire it burns, wind it will cut, water it will soak, earth it will turn to dust and lightning will crinkle. By knowing what your affinity is, we will be able to find out which elemental jutsu you are most suited for."

Eager to see what their affinity was for, the three genin channeled chakra into their paper. Moegi's became soaking wet, showing she had a fairly strong affinity for water. Udon's surprisingly became crinkled, showing he had a lightning affinity. However the most surprising to Naruto was Konohamaru's, which had one side get lit on fire and the other turned to dust.

"It looks like each of you have different elements," Naruto said with a nod to himself as he thought up how best to train them. Resealing the picnic basket and blanket, Naruto stood up and made two **Kage Bushin's**. One of them went over to Moegi and the other went over to Udon, "I want each of you to follow one of us and we'll teach you how to use your affinity."

As Udon and Moegi followed their clone, Naruto turned to look at Konohamaru. "Before we get started on your elemental training, I want to know how you're doing with that jutsu I gave you before I left."

"Ugh… not good Oyabun (Boss)," Konohamaru admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck, and gained a sheepish expression. "It's just so… hard! I have no clue how to do it; I haven't even gotten past the first step!"

Naruto nodded, "I expected that much, it's a pretty hard jutsu. Thankfully now that I'm back in Konoha I can help you get it down, we're also going to work on that as well as your element." Naruto paused for a moment as he chose what they would focus on first, making his decision Naruto gestured for Konohamaru to follow him. The blond walked up to one of the many trees, and using a bit of wind manipulation cut off several leaves and made them float into his hand. Turning to Konohamaru he handed him the leaves, said genin merely blinked before looking up at him with a 'what the hell' expression. Naruto chuckled as he began to explain, "The key to the exercise we are going to be doing is using your chakra to light these leaves on fire. Now then fire is a very wild element and to use it you must…"

* * *

Clone Naruto and Moegi stopped walking as they came to a small river; turning to the orange haired girl Naruto began to explain what they would be doing. "The first thing you have to understand about water is that water always has a flow, or a rhythm, even when supposedly still. Water is also one of the most versatile elements you can use, and while it does not have the raging power of say fire it is still very strong in its own right. Now most water techniques are defensive or supplemental in nature, such as the **Suejinheki, **or the **Baku Suishoha**. Because of this the more offensive jutsu normally require a longer string of hand signs, since water was not naturally designed to hurt others." Naruto paused to look at Moegi, seeing the girl hang off every word he had said so far, Naruto plunged on.

"However by training in the use of your element it is possible to cut back not only the number of hand seals a jutsu uses, but also the amount of chakra required for a jutsu. This comes from understanding the basics of how your element works, in this case how water 'flows' so to speak. Now to do this I want you to use your chakra and create a whirlpool affect in the river…"

* * *

As soon as Naruto and Udon got out of sight from the other two genin, Naruto turned around to the runny nosed preteen and began speaking. "Before we begin I want you to know that the lightning element is not only one of the most destructive, but also one of the most dangerous. While fire if used incorrectly can get you burned, and wind can get you cut. Lightning if not channeled properly can quite literally fry your nervous system and organs," Udon paled slightly at the knowledge, but still looked determined to learn. Naruto nodded his approval before continuing, "That being said lightning is also in my opinion at least the second strongest offensive element."

"What's the first strongest sensei?" asked Udon.

"Wind," Naruto answered quickly, "wind because of its almost pure offensive nature and versatility in combat makes it the most powerful offensive nature manipulation type. This is because wind can be used to slice through all kinds of matter, without regards to how strong or durable something is, or be used for blunt force trama. And while fire can beat wind due to their opposing natures, a skilled wind user can beat just about any other ninjutsu specialist out there." Naruto shook his head, "anyway we're getting off topic… Now the thing about lightning is it is not just an offensive or even defensive element, like fire and wind. There are many **Raiton **jutsu's that are supplemental in nature, the best example I can give you the **Raiton No Yoroi (Lightning armor) **that is used by the Yondaime Raikage. Which increases not only ones physical strength, but also increases speed and reflexes by speeding up the neural synapses, increasing their overall physical performance by a factor of 4." Naruto smirked as Udon had a look of awe on his face, "there are many jutsu that can do things similar to this. However all of these are more advanced than the other jutsu and require an innate understanding, if not total mastery over lightning."

Naruto used wind manipulation to cut some leaves off of the branches and handed them over to Udon, taking one of them the blond twirled it in his finger. "To start learning how to utilize this chakra I want you to make these leaves crumple, much like you did when you channeled chakra into the paper." Giving an example Naruto channeled some lightning chakra into the leaf in his hand, making the entire thing crumple, making it look similar to a candy wrapper. "To do this you will have to learn to channel enough lightning chakra to make static electricity, to do this it's best to think about what happens when you rub a balloon on your head…"

* * *

For the first week this was how Naruto would train the three genin. Every morning they would get up and do their physical work out, which Naruto had made harder by adding weights to them. Afterwards he would have them spar against each other and himself, making sure to point out there flaws and correct them. Naruto also gave Moegi and Udon a different fighting style, or to be more accurate helped them make their own style, since all they used was the academy style or as Naruto called it, the cookie cutter taijutsu style. Moegi's was a variation of what Naruto knew on the style Shizune used, which was a medical ninja style that relied on the usage of the **Chakra Meisu (Chakra Scalpel)**, to cut tendons and muscles. Naruto had given Moegi the scroll for that jutsu, but rather then cut tendons and muscles, he made her go after tendons, muscles and the eight vital spots in the human body. With Udon he had him mix the standard academy taijutsu with jujitsu, which relied on grappling and using an opponent's weight against them. Naruto also taught Udon how to use chakra strings, allowing him to apply the basic chakra control exercise to the taijutsu style, this way he could trip or tie up his opponents temporarily to give him an edge. Neither style was complete and would not likely be for years to come, but he was sure they could make it good enough within the next month to properly use them. Thankfully Konohamaru used the Sarutobi or Saru (monkey) style taijutsu, so all Naruto had to do with him was spar and help point out his flaws.

After lunch they would then work on individual exercises. For the first two hours Naruto would have them work on their element, doing the exercises he had instructed. None of them had gotten even close to mastering them, though Konohamaru could produce smoke and slight burns on the leaf. But that was to be expected since this was jonin level training, and only Konohamaru used elemental jutsu.

After words he would then work on strategy, mainly by playing shogi and go with them. As well as chakra control, this was something Naruto had been pretty strict on. Technically they were capable of water walking, but Naruto believed that these exercises were not mastered, unless you could fight while using them. To help with this Naruto would have them spar for at least one hour, either on a vertical surface or on the water, though the latter was much more tiring since it required them to constantly pump out chakra and increase or decrease the amount according to how the water reacted to their presence. This however led to a decent increase in their reserves, while it was nothing truly significant, they had managed to gain a 15% increase in their reserves.

Naruto looked at the three genin as they entered the clearing; walking up to him they gave a greeting of 'Ohoya sensei' before awaiting their instructions.

"I'm pleased to say that you three have made remarkable progress so far," Naruto said, causing pleased smiles to spread across their faces. "Therefore I have decided to not only increase the weights, but also double our morning work outs!"

All throughout Konoha wail's of despair could be heard for the rest of the day.

* * *

Mei sighed in both frustration and relief, relief at having finally finished the paperwork, which sometimes never seemed to end. And frustration at the sheer amount of paperwork she had to finish, something that made her begin to regret taking the Kage position. It was even worse since her Naruto was not here to give her those absolutely Kami like messages. Thinking of the blond haired man who had come into her life brought a smile to her face; because of the Chunin exams they had not been able to see each other for a while. However she had sent a team to participate, a team that she was sure would make it to the final rounds. Especially since they were trained by herself, Ao and Chojuro in the shinobi arts. _If they pass that means I'll be able to visit Konoha in order to watch the Chunin Exams, maybe I can even get there a bit early…_ her thoughts were derailed when a knock sounded at the door.

"Come in!" she called out.

The door opened to reveal Ao who walked in and gave her a bow, "Mizukage-sama we have just received word, that all three of our genin who are participating in the Chunin exam passed the second test."

Mei felt a grin spread across her face, standing up she walked towards the door. "Thank you for informing me, I would like you to inform the council of this and tell them I will be going to see how our genin fare." she had just made it to the door when Ao mumbled behind her.

"I think you're really just going to visit Naruto-san, I swear back in my day when two people liked each other they would just get married and be done with it…"

Mei's hand halted on the door knob as she turned with one of her chillingly pleasant smiles, the ones she used when about to inflict great pain on someone. "Ao… shut up… or I'll kill you!"

Ao eyes widened at the threat and he realized he had said that out loud, he soon began trying to talk his way out of it, which as always only made the situation worse.

* * *

The second week was nearing its end, and Naruto had once again upped the training of the three genin. Increasing their weights, physical routine, and the difficulty of the chakra control exercises and had started to actually teach them jutsu for their elements. While they had not gotten close to even managing to do more than base manipulation of their element, he felt that they should have a few that could be used for the Chunin Exams. They were only in the C rank, but even a C rank jutsu in the right hands could have devastating effects.

Naruto smiled as he sat on his father's head, a place he had often come to when he wanted to be alone. Today was the day he had given his students to relax, since he knew full well that without resting their muscles would never repair themselves and grow stronger. He looked back down at what was in his hand, his smile growing ever so slightly. He had been searching through the desk his parents had used when creating their seals, he had been looking for the seal that his father had come up with as a replacement for the Bird Caged Seal. While searching he had come across a small leather bound book, at first he had thought it would be some kind of book with notes on sealing techniques. Opening it he had found out that it was not a book on sealing, or anything even remotely shinobi related.

Instead what he had found was a journal, his father's journal to be precise. It seemed to date back from the time his father had first learned to write, which was obvious by the messy scrawl at the beginning of the journal. And went into the third great shinobi war that his old man had been a part of, telling of his experience as a sensei and his desire to create a jutsu to end the war. Unfortunately for Naruto it seemed to stop after that, mainly because it was completely full. Also unfortunately there was not much about his mother in this journal, only a little where his father talked about her beauty and a few experiences he had with her; like when she had been kidnapped by Kumo ninja and left her hair as a trail that her father followed. The blond Clan Head assumed that his father had another journal somewhere, however despite searching had not found it. This also brought up something he had hoped to find.

Naturally he assumed that sense his father had a journal, then his mother would have one as well. Naruto had searched the entire jutsu library for any trace of something like that; however his search had been in vain. He had not been able to find any trace of a journal or diary from his mother; he had not even managed to find the letter Jiraiya said she had left. This led to the assumption that it had most likely been in the actual house during the Kyuubi attack and had probably been destroyed.

Naruto was snapped out of his reverie when he fault a spike in chakra, signaling the use of a **sushin **near his location. Naruto turned his head just as an male Anbu in a Neko mask appeared.

"Namikaze-san, Tsunade-Sama has requested your presence," he said in the typical monotone voice of an Anbu.

Naruto sighed as he stood up and stretched, "very well, I'll head their right now."

The Anbu nodded before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto followed suit, only using water instead as he went to find out what Tsunade wanted him for.

* * *

Tsunade stared at the red headed beauty with an incredulous expression, trying to comprehend just how this conversation took this peculiar turn. It had started out ordinarily enough; she and the woman who Tsunade knew was the Mizukage of Kiri had started off swapping the basic pleasantries that all foreign dignitaries do. Doing basic standard political maneuvering to find out what kind of person the other was, by talking about mundane every day topics. Tsunade despite having been surprised by her early arrival had not allowed it to get to her as they spoke, and had in fact found the conversation mildly pleasant, especially since it allowed her a break from her paperwork. She was also pleased to know that there was another woman besides her who had become a Kage, it kind of made the busty blond feel like she was setting a trend. However the conversation had taken an awkward, at least for Tsunade, turn.

"Tell me…" the blond Hokage spoke slowly as she gave the woman a mild glare, "why are you requesting to spend the upcoming exams at the estate of one of my more prominent Clan Heads?" Tsunade had already paid for the Mizukage's stay in Konoha at one of the five star hotels they had, along with extra places for her two guards. Of course she had an idea that had formed in her head the moment the red haired woman made this request, but was holding off her judgment until she was proven right. However if Tsunade was right then someone was going to have some serious hell to pay.

Mei just gave the woman a smile as she carefully hid the hand that held her ring; she knew Naruto had not informed anybody about their relationship yet. So while it was big news in Kiri, it would not reach the other elemental nations, due to her countries terrain that isolated it from the rest of the world. "I think it would be best if perhaps we had someone fetch Naruto, that way we could give you a proper explanation." She could of course just tell Tsunade herself, hell she did not even need to mention she was going to sleep at the blonds place and just gone over after being shown to her hotel. However due to Naruto's influence Mei had developed a small devious side, well the devious side had always been there, but it was normally reserved for her and Naruto's bed time activities.

Tsunade just sighed before lifting up her hand, making one of the Anbu who were hiding in the room shimmer into existence. "You go find me Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze!"

The Anbu bowed before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

About ten minutes later Naruto himself appeared within a swirl of water, "Yo Baa-chan you wanted to see me?"

"Not now gaki," Tsunade said as she pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to rid herself of the head ache she had gained. "In case you haven't noticed we have guests."

Naruto would have responded, but was stopped when a pair of slender arms wrapped around his neck and an impressive bust pressed into his back. "You know I'm disappointed that you did not even notice me in the room Naru-koi," Mei said as she whispered into Naruto's ear. "That's not only disappointing but I feel rather hurt too."

Before she could say anymore 'Naruto' puffed out of existence, causing the red haired beauty to stumble forward. A pair of arms wrapped around her waist before she could get far, pulling her into an embrace and impressive set of muscled abs and pectorals. "I apologize Mei-hime; I assure you it was not my intention to disappoint. I was only hoping to surprise you…"

Mei grinned and repressed a shiver of pleasure as she spoke, "you must be getting rusty, I was feeling rather hurt that you would ignore me."

"Well then why don't you allow me to _Make it up to you,_" Naruto said before gently nibbling on her earlobe, causing the Mizukage to let out a soft moan.

Tsunade despite having figured that this was in fact one of the four woman Naruto spoke of at his first council meeting, was for lack of a better word shocked. In fact she was so shocked that she did not even stop the pair as they continued their rather blatant sexual banter. She had of course known that Naruto knew the Mizukage and that they were at least friends, the blond's abilities to make friends with people he barely knew was unmatched, and given the outstanding report Mei had given her on Naruto's performance in the Kiri Civil War, it was obvious they had to at least be close. However when Mei had appeared before her and rather bluntly asked her to point her to Naruto's estate, well she had an inkling as to what it was about. However like most things, hearing about it and seeing it were too different things.

She quickly got her bearings however and coughed into her hand, "Naruto…" she said getting the pairs attention, though the blond had yet to actually take his arms off the red head. "You have a lot of explaining to do; I suggest you start doing it!"

"Eh heh heh heh," Naruto gulped a bit knowing that look Tsunade was giving; he had seen it on her often enough when Jiraiya pissed the woman off to know what it meant. "Err… well I guess the first thing I should tell you is that she is one of the women I have fallen in love with and am already engaged to…"

Naruto stopped his explanation as he and everyone else turned towards the door, which had just slammed shut. Looking around Naruto blinked as he noticed that Chojuro was missing, most likely the one who had just left. "Looks like I crushed any hope he had of being with you huh?" Naruto asked.

Mei just sighed as she closed her eyes, she had of course knew of Chojuro's crush on her. Hell all of Kiri knew of it, the poor boy could not get within two feet of her without turning red, and whenever he spoke with her his stuttering would get ten times worse. However she also knew that he knew of her relationship with Naruto, it would be impossible for him not too when he had walked in on the two of them making out on her desk. She would have thought that he had gotten over it by now, but she guessed that he had probably held out hope that what she and Naruto had was just a fling.

"Ao, could you please find Chojuro and then the two of you can either explore, or go to the hotel," Mei commanded in her soft yet firm voice.

Ao just bowed, "at once Mizukage-Sama," with a shake of his head the blue haired man left to find his wayward partner.

"Now," Tsunade said, "why don't you two explain to me just why you thought it was a good idea to keep this from me…?"

Naruto shook off the slight fear at her subtle or not so subtle threat; _well it's subtle for her since she did not threaten me with bodily harm. _Shaking the thoughts off Naruto released Mei from his arms, walking over he took a seat in one of the chairs and gestured for Mei to sit in the other. However the beautiful red head seemed to have other ideas, as she walked over and plopped herself right on Naruto's lap.

Tsunade eye brow twitched violently but she repressed the urge to threaten the two, and instead sighed as she gestured for them to begin.

Naruto cleared his throat as he and Mei began their story, telling Tsunade how they met and found comfort in each other during the Kiri Civil War.

* * *

Chojuro growled in frustration as he stomped around Konoha, unconsciously releasing his killing intent, making several civilians back away. He just could not understand it! How was it that that damn blond managed to worm his way into HIS Mizukage's heart, when he and everyone else around her had not? Was it because of the blond's confidence? The commanding aura he had? That flirty attitude that was similar to Mei's own? Or something else entirely? Chojuro was not sure, but he did not feel that boy deserved someone as beautiful and amazing as Mei. He had known Mei for far longer than that boy! He should be the one that was with her!

He was so wrapped up in his anger and inner rant that he failed to notice the other person turning the corner until it was too late.

* * *

Isaribi cursed as she ran through the streets of Konoha, using the many side alleys and back roads to get to the Hokage tower. She had been requested to take a later shift at the Hokage tower and was now running late, having been held up at her second job. Isaribi had been working two jobs for the past two weeks now, having been hired to work at the Ichiraku's Ramen bar. Of course she did not need the second job; the one had the Hokage tower gave her enough money to live off of. However there were other reasons for her wanting to get the job, like being closer to a certain blond shinobi. She had found out early on during her time in Konoha that Naruto would often frequent the by now famous Ichiraku Ramen stand. And so hoping that she would be able to run into him at places other than the Hokage tower, she had gotten herself a job there.

However while she got to see a lot more of Naruto, the young woman was unsure if he saw her, at least in the way she wanted him to. The young Clan Head was not rude of course, quite the contrary if she was not busy taking orders Naruto would talk with her, often times staying even after he finished eating to continue a conversation. And yet he did not seem to notice the subtle hints and advances she gave him, or perhaps he chose not to notice. She was beginning to think it was the latter, since Naruto treated her the same way he did Ayame, like a sister.

The thought made her sigh; perhaps it would be better if she found someone else? She had gotten a few advances, but had not really thought about going out with anyone other than Naruto. Perhaps she should talk to him, at least ask him what he thought of her before going for one of the men who asked her on a date. While it would hurt if he did not have any romantic feelings, it's not like it would be the end of the world.

She was so focused on her thoughts and running, that she completely missed the other person as she turned the corner.

"OOF!"

Isaribi thumped against a hard body of solid mass and fell backwards, her eyes were slightly closed as she waited to fall on the ground.

…

She opened her eyes when instead of feeling herself hitting hard ground, she felt a pair of arms wrapping around her frame to prevent her from falling.

"Are you alright miss?"

"Uhh…" Isaribi opened her eyes and blushed in embarrassment as she found herself staring into a pair of black eyes. She quickly shook it off as she spoke, "yes I'm fine." when the man let go of her she dusted herself off a bit before turning to her savior. The man was of an average height, maybe a few inches taller than her. With black eyes, blue hair and oddly sharp, almost shark like teeth. _Though he is kind of cute…_ she shook her head of the thought as she looked at him, "I'm sorry for bumping into you. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going."

Chojuro merely waved her apology off, "it's alright, I should have been more aware of my surroundings."

Isaribi tilted her head to the side, "so are you new to Konoha?"

"Oh no I'm not from Konoha," Chojuro replied as he pointed to his hitea-ate, which was located securely on his chest. "I'm from Kiri; I'm here with… the Mizukage as her body guard for the Chunin exams."

"I see…" Isaribi looked at the ground for a moment before looking back up, "Anyway I'm sorry for bumping into you, I was on my way to my second job." Chojuro was about to wave her apology off again when Isaribi began speaking, "I know! why don't you allow me to make it up to you!"

Chojuro blinked in surprise and was about to tell her she really did not have to, when Isaribi spoke up again.

"I know how about after I get off work I'll give you a tour!" she suggested, "It's the least I can do for running into you."

The young Swordsman tried to tell her it was perfectly alright, but was once again interrupted.

"Oh no! I almost forgot I have to get to my job!" Isaribi looked at him, "so I'll meet you here at 5:00 pm and then take you on that tour ok!" She did not give him a chance to respond as she ran off.

Chojuro blinked as he watched the girl run towards the place he just left, wondering what that was all about and if he should do what she suggested. In the end he decided since she had pretty much told him she would be here, that it would be rude not to accept her invitation. And it's not like she wasn't cute, he blushed a bit at that thought. Maybe he should see if they could do something other than just a tour, after all it's not like he was going to be getting with Mei now. _I wonder if this could be considered a date…_

* * *

Naruto did not even bother holding in a grin as he watched Mei shovel his food into her mouth, eating as if she had not been fed in weeks. "Enjoying the meal are we?" the blond asked in an amused tone.

Mei blushed as she realized what she was doing; she had been so overjoyed at getting to eat some of Naruto's food that she completely forgot her manners. This was almost as embarrassing as the first time he had cooked for her, which had pretty much been her doing the same thing. However she had just missed his cooking so much that she had forgotten herself, and Naruto's cooking was far better than eating out like she did when he was not with her.

It was only known to Naruto, but Mei could not cook, in fact it would be accurate to say that she was downright awful at it. She had only tried to cook once, it had been the first time she had used the **Hiraishin **kunai to summon Naruto. Mei had wanted to show her appreciate for all he had done for her, and felt there was no better way to do that then cook him a good meal. She had remembered reading something about the best way to get to a man's heart was through his stomach, something she discovered while reading in one of the magazines she had on marriage. And so she had set about to try and make Naruto a good meal, the key word being tried. What she had managed to do instead was create a kitchen catastrophe of epic proportions. First she had somehow managed to burn the water, how water could possibly burn was beyond her but it had happened. Then she had started a fire in the oven, she had of course used a water jutsu to put it out but the oven had been ruined. Finally when she thought she had been getting the hang of things, she somehow managed to blow up her whole kitchen. The explosion had sent all of her Shark Anbu in Kiri rushing to her mansion, thinking it was some kind of terrorist or ninja attack. It had only been thanks to Naruto taking the blame for the cooking accident that she had been able to save face in front of her ninja forces. Of course that had not stopped the utter humiliation that the disaster caused, since Naruto himself had lain witness to it. Of course he had merely laughed at her, before telling her that he did not care if she could cook or not and that his feelings would never change. She had been so happy that she had proceeded to kiss him senseless, that night had also been the night they had made love for the first time. Turning what had been one of her worst experiences, to one of the best nights of her life.

"Shut up," she mumbled as she looked away from him, her face forming a pout. "It's not my fault your cooking is so damn good, no one else can make such incredible food," she admitted.

Naruto's grin merely widened, "well that's good to know, and after all I wouldn't want someone taking away my job."

Mei looked at him and quirked an eyebrow in amusement, "job huh?"

Naruto grinned, "That's right; my job is to be Mei Terumi's perfect husband."

Mei blushed as a smile slowly formed on her face, "and what does this 'job' entail other than making amazing food."

Naruto merely smiled as he stood up and walked towards her, a puff of smoke signaled the creation of two **Kage Bushin's **as Naruto grabbed Mei's hand. While the clones took their plates away, and washed them in the sink. Naruto led Mei over to the couch; sitting down the blond pulled Mei with him and situated her in between his legs. His hands soon began to gently message her shoulders, getting a soft moan from the red head as she felt the tension in her muscles start to leave her. Naruto leaned his head down and planted a kiss on her neck, "rather than tell you that, why don't I _show you,_" Naruto whispered against her neck.

Mei shivered as the blond's hot breath hit her neck, before letting out a small gasp as Naruto nibbled on her neck. "That… would be mmm… nice," Mei said as she tilted her head to let Naruto have better access to her tender flesh.

Naruto grinned and while his mouth lavished attention on her slender neck, his hands traveled down to her lower back and began to message there. Mei's moans and whimpers began to increase in volume, so much so that she did not here the tell tale poof of a **Kage Bushin **being formed. It was only when she felt two extra set of hands on her body, particularly her breasts that she opened her eyes and found herself staring at another Naruto. However her eyes closed a second later and her back arched, as the blond in front of her began to gently message and kneed her breasts through the fabric of her dress.

The clone Naruto leaned in and captured the woman's lips, nibbling on her lower lip until he was granted access to her mouth. Mei grinned into the kiss as her hands trailed up to the zipper on the front of her dress, unzipping her garments so that the two Naruto's could take it off.

She knew that they were not getting any sleep tonight.

* * *

"98, 99, 100!"

A was sitting behind his desk doing what he always did when he was on the job, neglecting his paper work to focus on his training. Something that was a common occurrence since he had taken the Raikage title, he was just about to start doing reps with his other hand when a knock at the door interrupted him.

"Enter!" The Raikage called out as he dropped his weight to the floor with a smash.

The door opened to reveal one of his messenger ninja with a scroll in hand; the ninja walked up and bowed before presenting him the scroll.

A grabbed the scroll and unfurled it before reading its contents. As he did a grin crept onto his face, apparently three of his shinobi had made it to the finals. This would be the perfect opportunity to check out the caliber of the other nation's shinobi, as he thought of that another thought entered his mind. One that made his smile widen even more. Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze had been reported to have arrived at Konoha about one or months ago, and had taken up his Clan name. No doubt Yugito would love to see the young man again; he looked up at the messenger before speaking.

"Get me Bee and Yugito!" A said as he stood up.

They were heading to Konoha.

* * *

Mei had a large and content smile on her face as she and Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha. After a hearty breakfast Naruto had decided to take Mei out on a tour, showing her the many sights the village had to offer. She had to smile at the different places he had taken her; each one seemed to have a rather funny story to it. Most of the places he had shown her revolved around one of the many pranks he had pulled when he was a child. Her favorite story had been when he had taken her through the Clan district of Konoha, and shown her the Hyuuga estate. He had given her the story of how he had snuck into the estate during the night, and he had managed to dye all of their underwear a bright pink color, and hang them up around the village.

She dutifully ignored the stares of jealousy and envy she was receiving from the various females they had passed. Mei figured that Naruto would be popular given his good looks and Clan Status, so while it was annoying she could deal with it. She also had to admit that it was rather amusing that these girls thought they had a chance with Naruto. Mei could proudly claim that she was one of the few people who truly knew the young blond Clan Head, so she knew that he would never consider getting with some fan girl.

As the two walked around Mei took Naruto to several clothing stores, trying on different outfits to tease her blond fiancé with. She even went so far as to come out wearing nothing but a bikini, though that ended up causing a bit of a problem when Naruto smashed his fist into the face of a man who had given Mei a cat call. Other than that they merely walked around discussing various topics that interested them, they made sure to avoid anything even remotely ninja or Kage related.

Eventually Naruto stopped them when the two found themselves standing in front of the Ichiraku's Ramen bar. The place had gotten a lot more crowded than it used to be, a combination of Naruto's new found fame and the Ichiraku's new menu managed to give the place new life. After the blond had returned from his training trip and visited the Ramen stand for the first time, he had suggested that they expand their menu to make more than just ramen. Naruto had even given the stand owner and his daughter a few recipes from his mothers cook books. Now the place had become so popular that they had actually needed to make an outdoor area for guests to eat there, as well as hire more help to keep them from being overwhelmed.

"Come on Mei-chan," Naruto said as he gently tugged on her hand and entered the stand. When he did many of the people eating their stopped and stared, something that had been happening quite often now a days and never ceased to both amuse and annoy the blond shinobi. Several of the men there were giving Mei looks of lust and looked like they might start giving her cat calls, however Naruto turned an icy glare on them causing whatever they were going to say to die in their throats. Once the people there began to start conversation again, Naruto made his way to the front of the stand. As always the seat that was specifically reserved for him was open, Naruto smiled as he sat down and pulled Mei with him. As he secured his arms around the red head, Naruto looked over at Teuchi who was cooking some food over a stove. "Oi! Teuchi-Ojisan how about some ramen for your favorite customer!"

Old man Teuchi turned around when he heard the familiar voice, "Ah Naruto-kun it's good to…" he trailed off as he saw the beautiful woman sitting in the blonds lap. A sly grin crossed the old man's face as he looked at the two, "who is this lovely young lady your with Naruto? Your girlfriend?"

Naruto grinned at the man who had been one of the few people to ever treat him like a human being when he was younger. "Close Ojisan, very close," Naruto cleared his throat as he introduced the two to each other. "Mei-chan this is Teuchi-Ojisan, owner of the best Ramen stand in the entire elemental nations. Ojisan this is Mei Terumi, one of my most precious people and someone I hope to spend the rest of my life with."

While Mei blushed at the rather bold proclamation, Teuchi just blinked for a moment as he looked the two over. As he did he noticed the two's interlocked hands, or more specifically the ring on Mei's left hand. The old man chuckled for a bit before speaking, "so what kind of ramen can I get you and you're… lady friend?"

Naruto grinned, "Start me off with three bowls of Miso and we'll make our way from there."

"And I'll have some shrimp ramen with a side of dorayaki** (1)**," Mei said as she looked over the menu. While ramen was not her favorite food, she had to admit that it was good on occasion and if Naruto's bragging was anything to go by, the ramen would be even better here.

Teuchi nodded as he turned his head to the back, "Oi Ayame! Why don't you help me make some Miso for our favorite customer?"

"Hang on!" Ayame called out as she came out of the back with a box of supplies, blocking her view of Naruto. Grunting with exertion she put the box down and turned to Naruto with a smile, "so three… Miso… Ra… men…" she trailed off as she noticed that Naruto was not alone, and was in fact cuddled up to a woman with red hair, and if Ayame were honest with herself she would admit to being jealous of the woman's beauty. For a second Ayame felt an intense surge of jealousy, while the young man had always been a younger brother to her, his recent change had made it hard to see him as such. She knew he saw her as a sister, as evidenced by the way he still called her nee-chan. She tried to respond in kind, but it was still hard seeing him with another woman.

"Who is this?" Ayame asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

Despite seeing the narrowing of the younger woman's eyes, Mei merely smiled knowing she was just being protective of Naruto.

Naruto in an effort to diffuse the situation decided to introduce the two of them, "Ayame-nee-chan this is Mei Terumi, one of my most precious people. Mei-chan this is Ayame-nee-chan."

Mei untangled one of her hands from Naruto's and offered it to the brown haired ramen waitress, "it's a pleasure to meet you Ayame-san, Naru-koi has often talked about you whenever he visits me."

Ayame blinked as her mind registered the affectionate suffix the woman used, looking at Mei's hand she slowly took it, deciding to treat her nicely, if for no other reason than Naruto would want her too. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well Mei-san, I take it you're not from around here?" Ayame asked trying to be pleasant as she started to make their ramen.

"That's right," Mei said as she raised her voice a bit so Ayame could hear her despite the new distance, "I'm actually from Kiri. I came here because we have an entire team that passed this year, and I felt I could use it as an excuse to see Naru-koi."

"So how did you two meet?" Ayame asked as she brought them their first bowl.

Naruto and Mei smiled as they began to retell the story of how they met, leaving out a few details that they did not want getting out to the public yet. The two stayed there for awhile as they continued to speak with the ramen waitress, whenever she was not taking other orders. After three bowls for Mei and twenty three bowls for Naruto, the two headed out and continued their walk around Konoha. As the two walked arm in arm around the village, Naruto noticed that the sun was starting to set.

"Hey Mei-chan, why don't we go back home and I'll cook you some dinner," Naruto said.

Mei nodded as she leaned her head on his shoulder while they walked, "that sounds good koi."

* * *

"Where are you taking me Naru-koi?" Mei asked as he led her up a hill. Not that she could actually see that, since Naruto had blindfolded her. They had just gotten finished having dinner a little while ago, and Naruto had said he wanted to show her something. Of course he also said it was a surprise, hence the blindfold. All she knew for certain was that they were walking up a hill.

"If I told you it would ruin the surprise Mei-chan," Naruto said in a slightly teasing voice. "Just be patient, I guarantee you'll love what I have to show you." Mei gave a pout as she lifted her hand to the blind fold, only for Naruto's hands to grab hers. "Ah ah ah Mei-chan, come on now, you don't want to ruin the surprise do you?"

Mei sighed as she decided to relent as she was led to where ever Naruto was taking her. They continued making their way up the slope, Naruto behind Mei and gently pushing her forward. The woman stumbled a few times since she could not see where she was going; thankfully Naruto was right behind her and made sure she would not fall to the ground. Eventually Mei began to hear the sound of running water, piquing her curiosity and making her wish she had her hands free, so she could take her blind fold off. As the sound of running water became clearer they stopped, Naruto reached up and undid the Mei's blind fold. When the blindfold was removed, Mei found herself gasping at the scene before her.

They standing in a small clearing that had a slope to it, yet somehow it was still able to maintain the water from the small lake in the middle. Said lake was where the noise was coming from; to the pair's right was a decent sized waterfall. The water of the lake was a crystal clear blue, it was so clear that Mei could actually see the bottom even out in the middle from where she was standing. All around the lake were various forms of flora and fauna, decorating the entire area in different colors. Many of the flowers she did not recognize, but that only made the clearing that much more breathtaking.

"It's beautiful," Mei breathed out in awe at the sight.

"Thank you," Naruto said from behind her, "it took me awhile to build. I actually had to have someone I know help me grow the plants faster." he had found out through various means that the Anbu with the Neko mask was named Tenzo, and had found out through accident that he somehow had the ability to use **Mokuton** jutsu. The blond had managed to get the man's help when he had been assigned guard duty for Tsunade, and had overheard Naruto discussing his idea to make this place. And so Tenzo had helped him create the trees, the lake and the waterfall. Naruto had planted the flowers and plants he wanted to have there. After words he had used a large seal to cast a powerful genjutsu over the entire field, so that only he or the few people he wanted to let in here could even see it.

"You made this?" Mei asked in shock, she knew that one of Naruto's hobbies was gardening, but she did not think he would ever take it this far.

Naruto nodded as he walked a little ways in front of her, "well not all of it, I had some help." Naruto then proceeded to take off his shirt, tossing it to the side before making to remove the other articles of clothing he had on. Naruto looked back over at Mei who was staring at him, or to be more precise, drooling over his form. Naruto grinned, "I know you like staring at me, but you should probably start taking off your own clothes if you want to go for a swim with me."

Mei blinked a few times as his words registered; as they did she gave Naruto a grin. "I would love to get these infernal clothes off, but the zippers in the back and I can't reach it…" She gave a Naruto a pouty expression, "perhaps you could help take it off me."

Naruto chuckled as he stood up in nothing but his boxers, walking behind the beautiful red head. Grabbing her zipper Naruto moved it down; loosening the dress she was in. Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder afterwards and began to slide the dress off of her, his hands caressed her sides as her dress fell to the floor, pooling at her feet. Naruto whistled as he stared at Mei, who was now surprisingly completely nude. "Now how did I miss that?" the blond asked rhetorically.

Mei turned her head to give him a sultry smile, "wouldn't you like to know? Now," she turned around to face him. Grabbing the hem of his boxers, the woman's smile increased, "this won't do at all…" with that she slid his boxers off of him. Moving back up and allowing her hands to ghost over him, before she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss, pressing her body against his and sensually rubbing her breasts up and down his chest. Both of them moaned as they felt each other's skin rub against them, sending small jolts of pleasure through them. Mei broke away and grabbed his hand, before leading him towards the water, "now I believe you said something about swimming…"

* * *

Yugito tried not to pay attention to Bee has he began to rap to the guards he had given their passports to, which she would have normally kicked him for. Instead the blond Kumo Kunoichi was looking out over the village they were at; Konoha was vastly different then what she had been expecting. All of the buildings were made out of a mixture of wood and brick, they were square and fairly standard looking. All around the village were trees, a lot of trees in various shapes and sizes. While she had seen villages that were very similar to Konoha, it was still something she had not expected, given that this was a ninja village.

The atmosphere was also very different then what one would expect from a ninja village. The place had a very peaceful air to it; there was none of the paranoia and militaristic feel that her own village produced. As the three made their way into the village she also noticed the difference in the population. In Kumo more than 90% of the population was made out of ninja, with the other 10% being civilians such as merchants and the like. Here it looked like more than 50% were civilians, which became quite obvious from the way they were blatantly gawking at them as they passed. However she knew that this did not mean that Konoha was in anyway weak, some of the best shinobi in the world were produced here, including Naruto who was one of the most powerful shinobi she knew. Yugito turned her head as she sense that they already had a tail trailing them; if not for her enhanced senses there would be no way she would have found them.

She shook her head and decided to ignore the ninja trailing them; they did not give off any intent to harm, so they were most likely just watching them to make sure they did not cause trouble. Likewise she ignored the gaping civilians; they were probably not use to seeing Kumo shinobi much less the Raikage in their village. They walked over to the large red tower in the middle with the kanji for 'fire' over the door, obviously the Hokage tower. Walking inside they took a set of stairs to the third floor, where they spotted a black haired female looking through some files on her desk.

The three went up to the girl and A tapped on the desk, "Excuse me." the girl looked up and felt her eyes widen as she recognized the Kage robes A was wearing. "I am A, the Raikage of Kumo. With me are my bodyguards Yugito Nii and Kirabi…"

"Yo young one, I'm the master when it comes to fun! I float like a butter fly and sting like a bee, that's because I'm the-" Killer Bee began his introduction, only to be interrupted when he was kicked in the face by Yugito.

Before the cat woman could begin yelling, A turned to the girl and spoke. "I believe the Hokage is expecting us."

Isaribi nodded as she walked over to the door that led to the Hokage's office, she knocked on it a few times before opening it and sticking her head in. "Hokage-Sama, Raikage-Dono and his escorts are here," she informed the busty blond who was for once, actually doing her work.

Tsunade looked up, "very well send them in."

Isaribi nodded before opening the door for the three Kumo ninja to enter. As they did Tsunade stood up and walked over to them in greeting, "Raikage-Dono it is a pleasure to see you here." She stuck out her hand, which the Raikage took. "I trust your trip went well?" Tsunade asked as she went through the customary pleasantries.

"As well as could be expected," A replied, "unfortunately I was not able to find the time to lift my weights, but some sacrifices must be made."

Tsunade blinked for a moment and was glad that she had received a report from Jiraiya about the man's… eccentric and very Gai like attitude towards training. "That is good to hear," Tsunade said as she went back to her seat. "You are a week earlier than expected; thankfully we have already reserved your hotel rooms for you."

The Raikage scratched the back of his head, "yes well we were also hoping to see Naruto-san some time before the tournament began…"

"That's right! That's right!" Bee said in an enthusiastic voice, "our kitty here, was hoping that her blond fox was near!"

Tsunade blinked at the odd and rather terrible rapping, she opened her mouth to say something when Bee's head was suddenly implanted in her wall.

"Damn it Bee!" Yugito yelled an angry and embarrassed blush on her face, "why can't you ever stop rapping! This entire journey that's all you've done! And worse adding me into them!"

Bee merely pulled his head out of the wall, "now come on kitten, you know you shouldn't be hittin."

Tsunade's brow twitched as she watched the duo, a part of her was impressed at her fellow blond's strength. However another part was rather upset that she would need to get her wall repaired. Deciding to intervene before the blond Kumo kunoichi did that again she spoke up, "excuse me." the three turned their attention to her, "what did you mean when you said… well whatever it was you just said?" Tsunade asked since she was not quite sure what to call his bad rap.

Before Bee could rap again A spoke up. "What he meant was that our little Yugito here," the Raikage pointed to a now embarrassed Yugito. "Has a how shall we put this… a very close relationship to Naruto-san, so we came early to allow her to spend time with him."

Tsunade scrutinized the young blond before her, making the Nibi Jinchurikki blush and squirm under the older woman's gaze. Finally Tsunade looked at the blond Kumo Kunoichi's hands, sure enough proudly displayed on her right ring finger was a ring. One that looked very similar to the one another woman who had come in a few days ago wore. _That little brat! _Tsunade mentally ground out. Finding out that Naruto was engaged to the Mizukage was shocking enough, now Naruto she finds out he's also engaged to a Kumo Kunoichi and a known Jinchurikki no less!

What was next a Daimyo!

* * *

In the middle of a council meeting in Haru No Kuni, Koyuki gave a loud sneeze.

"It seems someone is talking about you, Daimyo-Sama," one of the delegates said.

Koyuki wiped her nose with a tissue her aid gave her, "seems so…" _I hope it's Naruto._

* * *

Before her mental rant could go any further, another thought came to mind. "I suppose you would like to know where Naruto lives, right Yugito-san?" asked Tsunade with a smirk, _this will show him what happens when he does not tell me such important information._

Yugito blushed a bright red, "yes."

Tsunade nodded as she grabbed a scroll and wrote down the instructions, giving them to the girl who thanked her before running out of the door.

_This will be his punishment, _thought the busty blond Hokage as she turned to the Raikage and began their conversation again.

* * *

Mei sighed as she sat on one of the couches in the living room, it had only been a few hours but she was already missing Naruto. The blond shinobi had gone out to train Konohamaru and his team, having felt that he was neglecting them by sending **Kage Bushin's **every day since Mei had gotten here. She knew that she was feeling spoiled by being here, getting to see him every morning, getting kissed awake every morning… among other things. She grinned as she thought of all the enjoyable times they had had this week,_ and there's even more enjoyable times on the way…_

She looked over at the clock and saw that it was nearing 5:00, meaning Naruto would be getting back soon for their date tonight. That brought up a thought; she still needed to get dressed. Of course she already knew what she was going to wear; she had Naruto unknowingly buy it for her during their first day together in Konoha. Still it would take awhile to put on so she best get started now, she stood up and was about to go upstairs when the bell for the gate rang.

Mei grunted in both annoyance and curiosity, moving towards the door she wondered who could be coming over since no one had ever bothered to come here before. The beautiful red head walked outside and up to the gate, placing her hands on the two small circles and channeling her chakra like Naruto told her to. The seals that Naruto had placed all over the gate soon began to retract, curling in on themselves as they moved towards the circles. When they stopped there was a click signaling the gate was unlocked, Mei opened it and was about to tell whoever it was that Naruto was not here. Only to stop when she spotted a woman she had met only once before.

"Yugito-san."

* * *

Naruto entered the gate to his house after his training session with Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon. The blond was quite pleased with their progress; they had advanced far within the past three weeks. Naruto could honestly say that anyone of the three could take on the average Chunin and win, though they still had a long way to go to defeat higher ranked ninja. Still he was sure that if given time they would get there, he was also sure that they would become Chunin after these exams were over.

Unlocking the door to his house Naruto walked in, looking around as he shut the door. He frowned when he did not see Mei, for the past week that she had been living with him; the woman had always greeted him at the door. _Maybe she's just getting ready for our date…_ Naruto thought to himself as he walked farther in the house. He shrugged the thought off as he walked upstairs to his room to get ready for their date; Mei was a Kage level ninja so he knew that she was not in any danger. However, before he could get too far along the stairs a noise behind him made the blond stop, or rather two voices made him stop.

"Hello Naru-koi/Naruto-kun."

Naruto turned around in surprise, his eyes soon found a familiar face he had not expected to see so soon.

"Yugi-chan!"

* * *

Naruto repressed the small shiver of fear that ran up his spine; he looked at the two women both of whom were attached to one of his arms. Naruto had decided that rather than just him and Mei going on the date, it would be him, Mei and Yugito who had shown up just today apparently. Of course he had been forced to change the reservations to three instead of two, but that would not be too much of a problem. The only issue would be the increased cost, and Naruto was rich enough that it would not even put a dent in his account. Though even if it did, he would have still taken them out anyway.

However there was a slight problem that Naruto noticed, and that was the tension he felt between the two women he was with. They were not at each other's throats or anything, but he did notice a definite rift between them. That they had also taken to throwing the other the occasional glare only served to confirm this. The blond male was not blind to this, nor to the reasons behind it. Unlike most men, Naruto could proudly say that while he did not know exactly how females thought, he was probably the closest living male to have an inkling of their thought process.

This was due to Naruto's use of the **Orokie No Jutsu **that he had made when he was a kid, which had been used on several missions he had undertaken with Jiraiya during his training trip. There had been several slave trade rings that he and his perverted sensei had broken up, say what you will about the Toad Sennin's perverseness but the man did respect women, in his own way of course. This had been used as a part of Naruto's training; it had been his job to infiltrate their base of operations somehow. Naruto had decided to use the **Orokie No Jutsu **to disguise himself as a female, after that he had gotten 'captured' by the bandits who would then take him to be processed before being sold on the black market. His time as a female had given Naruto a look into a females mind set, allowing him to understand the fairer sex better than most.

Naruto knew that he was the main reason for the tension Mei and Yugito felt between each other, there was not really anything else that could cause it. Both of them were extremely strong females, which meant that they were unused to having to share things. It made worse that Yugito had never been in love before this, so she did not really know how to handle it. While Mei was a Kage with a flirtatious attitude and a strong desire to get married, she was used to being the center of attention and not just his. So having someone who he loved as much as her with them, and who could compete with her in beauty was a possible recipe for disaster.

Naruto looked at the two of them again; they had both taken the time to dress up in clothes that showed off just how beautiful the two were. Like always Mei was in a blue dress, however this one differed from the one she usually wore. The dress was strapless and had a low V cut in the back, showing off her slender yet toned shoulders and back. They front seemed a little tight and pushed up her already rather ample bosom, and Naruto could tell she was not wearing a bra. The dress stopped half way above the knees, allowing Naruto to see her mile long legs. She also had her hair done up in a traditional Japanese bun, even the four bangs were out of her eyes allowing Naruto to see both of her emerald green eyes. There were a few strands of hair that had gotten loose and framed her face, however that only added to her beauty as far as Naruto was concerned.

Yugito was also dressed up nicely; having taken to wearing the same dress she had on for their first date, bringing a smile to Naruto's face at the fond memory. Her hair was also done up today, rather than let down like she usually had it when they went on their dates. The blond woman was also wearing makeup, red lipstick and purple eye liner with a hint of blush. Naruto knew that Yugito only knew the basics of how to put on makeup, hell even Naruto knew more about makeup then she did. Naruto could easily recognize her makeup as the handiwork of Mei.

In an effort to get them stop throwing each other glares and condescending looks, Naruto disengaged them from his arms before wrapping an arm around the two's waists. "You two look beautiful," Naruto complimented, as he pulled them close enough so that their heads were leaning on one of his shoulders.

Both girls blushed at hearing the compliment, only to notice the other was blushing and ended up glaring at each other again. Unfortunately for Naruto he had not noticed the glare, though he could feel the increased tension. Thankfully they arrived at the restaurant without any incident.

The three entered the rather opulent entrance to the restaurant, a new one that had opened up just last year called Bukimono's. As they entered Naruto had to hold in a whistle, this place could easily be mistaken for some kind of Palace! Grand columns and tapestries with the Konoha leaf symbol and Hi No Kuni national flower on them were strung up on the walls. The center of the room was empty at the moment, and rather than soft carpet the floor was made of varnished wood. There was a light music being played by a band on a stage on one side of the room, Naruto was able to deduce from this that center floor was for dancing. Along the walls and large and comfortable looking booths, with deep red colored cushioning and curved in a quarter circle. Located throughout the restaurant were large aquariums filled with different species of fish, each one filled with species from a different region of the elementals.

Naruto walked up to the front desk where a waitress was standing; tapping it on the desk he got the young woman's attention. Said waitress looked up and blushed at seeing the by now very well known handsome blond. "How can I help you Namikaze-Sama?" she asked before noticing the two women on his arm and glared.

Naruto kept himself from sighing as he spoke, "I believe that I have a reservation here for three, it would be under Uzumaki Namikaze."

The young waitress stopped glaring at Mei and Yugito, looking down as she leafed through the reservations book. "Let's see… ah! Here it is," the woman grabbed three menu's before gesturing for them to follow her. Naruto tightened his hold around Mei and Yugito's waists as he followed the waitress; stopping at the table they were granted. Naruto slid in as Mei and Yugito each got on one side of him, making sure that they were as close as possible without being uncomfortable in the booth. "Now here are your menus, your waiter will be here shortly, so if there is anything you need do not be afraid to ask him." With that the young woman gave Naruto's two dates one last glare, before walking back to the front desk.

As they sat Naruto decided to talk in order to dispel the still growing tension between the two women, "so Yugi-chan how have A and Bee been doing?"

Yugito looked up at him and smiled, "there doing well. A is the same as always, though he has been complaining more recently, something about not getting any challenging fights." Naruto chuckled at hearing that, but did not say anything as Yugito continued. "As for Kirabi, well he's Kirabi. He's still doing his terrible raps, and is still getting on my nerves."

"Well it's good to hear that some things never change," Naruto said with a smile, making the blond woman smile as well.

"So you're close to the Raikage Yugito-san?" asked Mei as she tried to get the conversation towards her.

Yugito nodded, "yes, they may be annoying and… eccentric but they have always been the closest thing I've ever had to family."

"That must be nice being so close to the Raikage like that," Mei commented, "I hear he is quite powerful."

Naruto could instantly see where this was going and made to stop it before any argument could break out, "He is fairly powerful, and I would often spar with him when I was in Kumo, so I can tell you first hand that if I was not a Jinchuirkki he would kick my ass six ways to sunday. By the way how has Kiri been? I hear you made a trade agreement with Nami recently?"

Mei gave the blond shinobi a grin, "we have, thanks to you…" her grin turned somewhat seductive as she leaned into him. "All it took was your recommendation and they were practically walking over themselves to give us a trade agreement."

"That's great!" Naruto said in an enthusiastic voice as he continued conversing with the two. As the conversation continued, Naruto found out very quickly that he could not stay on any one topic for too long. If he did then either Mei or Yugito would attempt to make a subtly scathing comment about the other, thus Naruto would change topics whenever one of them began to look like they would make a condescending remark. The waiter came a little while later, after the three had ordered their food Naruto decided it may be a good idea to excuse himself for a moment. With how… territorial he guessed was an appropriate word, with how territorial the two were acting, the blond figured it would be best if he were removed from the equation for awhile. Hopefully it would give them some time to talk to each other more civilly.

As Naruto walked off, Mei turned to Yugito and offered the Nibi Jinchurikki a small smirk. "I heard from Naru-koi that you are quite the powerful Kunoichi."

Yugito smirked as well; if this woman wanted to talk ninja she could do that with the best of them. "I am, in Kumo I am considered the second strongest Jonin."

Mei smiled as if she had won a victory, "that is most impressive, being such a powerful _Jonin_," Mei finished as she placed an emphasis on jonin, letting the blond woman know who had the higher status.

Yugito frowned as she spoke, "it is nice I suppose, I get to travel and see new sights." Yugito's frown turned into a small smirk as she continued, "plus I don't have to deal with any paperwork other than the standard mission papers."

Mei pursed her lips before smiling, "that does sound nice. Though paperwork is not as bad as many people make it up to be, especially when you have someone like Naru-koi giving you a message while you work."

Yugito's mouth turned into a thin line, "he does give amazing messages, especially the full body messages he usually gives me when we go to the hot springs."

Mei narrowed her eyes a bit at that; however she soon gave Yugito a grin. "When Naru-koi and I go to the hot springs we prefer to do… other activities."

Yugito could not hold her glare in this time, "yes well some of us have enough decency not to be so blatant about our sex life in public!"

"Don't try to act like your better than me with this," Mei said as she narrowed her eyes at Yugito, "I think you know that you are no better than me. And at least I am not afraid to admit it!"

Yugito hissed at the girl and the two soon began to trade more and more insults, with each one becoming more vicious and degrading then the last. The waiter who had come with their food, left rather quickly after setting it down in order to avoid the increasing killing intent coming from the two. Eventually their argument came to where the two were actually about to trade blows, Mei ended up slapping the blond Kumo Kunoichi. In retaliation Yugito hit Mei hard enough to knock her onto the table, unfortunately for them Mei also ended up creating enough kinetic force to send their food flying. The two stopped fighting as they watched their food fly into the air, before landing right on top of the whole reason for their argument.

Naruto sighed as he got out of the bathroom, hoping that the two had been able to solve their problem. He walked over towards where they were sitting, and blinked in surprise when he saw Mei getting punched in the face. Because of his surprise Naruto was unable to notice the food that had been sent sailing, food which landed right on top of him. Soon the blond shinobi found himself covered in noodles, sushi, rice, chicken and some kind of garlic smelling broth. Without really thinking Naruto took off his jacket and wiped away what he could of the food and sauce, while walking over to the two now ashamed looking women. Naruto did not pay any attention to their expressions, or those of the other customers who were whispering. Gently grabbing the two girls by the hand he led them to the front desk, where he paid for the meal and left.

During the walk home Naruto had still not spoken as his mind tried to process what happened. He could not understand how the two could actually lose their cool like that, becoming angry enough at each other that they would actually start to fight. Both Mei and Yugito had always been able to keep their emotions under control; they would not be such amazing Kunoichi if they couldn't. His body stayed on auto pilot as the three entered the gate to Naruto's house, opening the door Naruto let the two girls in first.

He led the two over to one of the couches and sat them down in one, while he took another. For a moment he just looked at them, making the two bow their heads as they began to feel like a child who had been caught doing something they should not. Finally Naruto decided to speak, "so… what exactly happened back there? I mean it's not like you two to lose your cool over something, unless it was serious."

Both Mei and Yugito looked up as they began to corroborate their story, occasionally trying to interrupt each other and almost getting into another fight. However Naruto made sure to break it up before anything could happen, eventually Naruto began to get an idea of what happened. A part of him had been afraid this would have happened, after all if he had to share either of them with another man you can be sure he would not stand for it. A part of him had hoped they would not fight, and that they would at least remain civil until they got to really know each other. Still he could not blame them for it; after all it was his fault they were fighting over something like this. It had always been on his mind when he had first been told he would need to marry multiple woman by Jiraiya due to his clan, how would they feel about being forced to share him with not just one, but three other women? It was something that he had continuously felt bad about, making him feel like he was denying them a chance to find someone who would be able to spend all of their time with just them.

Naruto sighed as he closed his eyes, "I'm sorry you two," the two women looked at him in surprise. However Naruto did not see their expressions as she spoke, "this is my fault, I doubt you two would have fought if it were not for having to share me. I'm sorry I am not able to give you girls what you deserve, someone who can spend all their time with you and treat you right."

The girls felt their jaws hang open as Naruto spoke, how could he even say that? He had always taken time out of his schedule to visit them, despite it getting even fuller due to his Clan Status being active and all the council meetings he's had to go to.

Naruto stood up bringing their attention to him, "I'm going to go take shower," Naruto said in response to their looks. "Perhaps you girls could talk, maybe see if this… being with me is what you really want." With that Naruto left, walking upstairs to take a shower.

Both girls put their heads back down as they cursed themselves for getting into a foolish argument. Both knew what happened to clans, especially ones that had kekkei genkai. Due to the war in Kiri, Mei had been forced to order six bloodline clans that were on the verge of extinction because of the war Kiri had gotten out of, to practice polygamy. In fact due to her bloodline, she would be forced to produce a male heir who could take multiple wives as well. So she knew this would happen, she had told Naruto that she was ok with it. Yet she had still gotten in a fight with one of the other women he was going to marry.

Likewise Yugito knew of at least three bloodline clans in Kumo that had been placed under the clan breeding program. Hell they had been going to use the kidnapped Hyuuga Heiress for breeding, had the kidnappers not been caught. Yet even knowing this she had still been rude to Mei, who if she were honest with herself she respected a great deal.

The two looked at each other, "I'm sorry/I apologize," they both blinked as they spoke at the same time. Mei gesture for Yugito to go first.

"I'm sorry," Yugito said, "I did not mean to say any of those things to you. None of them were true; in truth I actually respect you for being able to make Kage."

Mei smiled, "I would like to apologize as well, I did not mean say anything that would hurt you, especially with insults that were false."

"So… um…" Yugito squirmed a bit, feeling unsure how to proceed.

Mei decided to help her and stuck her hand out, "friends?"

Yugito smiled and gave a nod as she took Mei hand, "thanks," Yugito said. She looked over at the stairs and sighed, "We really messed up huh?"

"Yeah we did," Mei said as she too turned her eyes to the stairs. She thought for a moment before a smile crept onto her face, "however I know of a way we can make it up to Naru-koi..." The read head began to explain her plan to Yugito.

* * *

The next day Naruto had a large smile on his face as he and Yugito walked down the street, dutifully ignoring the stares they received. They had been receiving them all day, Naruto was unsure whether it was from them seeing him with someone other than Mei, whom he had been seen around Konoha with for the past week. Or whether it was the ridiculously large smile he was sporting, of course he felt he had a damn good reason to smile. This morning he had woken up to not just Mei but also Yugito, both of them had been flushed up against him, cuddled onto his chest. It was the first time he had ever slept with more than one of the important women in his life, he had to admit that it felt good.

After he had given them both a wake up to remember, they had all taken a shower together, having a little fun there before getting clean. The three had then had a large breakfast of Pancakes, bacon, eggs, hash browns and orange juice, which had been prepared by a Naruto clone. Afterwards Mei had left, saying something about it probably being a good idea if she actually met the genin team she had sent, which she had not done the entire time she had been in Konoha. This had given Naruto and Yugito the entire day to themselves.

And so they had planned out the day, Naruto had first taken Yugito on a tour, similar to the one had given Mei. Around noon Naruto and Yugito had made their way to the ramen bar, although that had not been as good an idea as he had thought at first. When Ayame saw Naruto walking in with another woman besides Mei, she had been pissed. It was the first time the blond shinobi had ever seen his nee-chan so angry at him, she had ranted his ear off about being faithful for nearly fifteen minutes. It was really only thanks to Yugito that he had gotten off easy, helping him explain that he was subjected to the C.R.A., telling her what it was and that she was perfectly ok with knowing that she would not be the only women marrying Naruto. Though this might have been the wrong thing to say in public, many of the woman who had heard had looked at him with a glint in their eyes, he was sure that were it not for Yugito they would have tried to rape him. Once they had gotten their food and talked with Ayame and Teuchi, Naruto and Yugito had gone over to one of the lakes in Konoha, deciding to have a picnic together before cuddling up under one of the trees.

Now the two were walking around Konoha and checking stores that Yugito saw items of interest in. unlike Mei who had an insatiable desire to shop, Yugito only had one area of interest when shopping, shinobi related equipment. The woman despite coming into her more feminine side with Naruto, was still at heart a ninja and seemed to have an obsession for high quality ninja gear in a way that could rival Tenten's weapon fetish.

"This store Naru-kun," Yugito said, using her new pet name for him as she dragged the blond to what Naruto recognized as the Higarashi Weapons store. Naruto smiled as he and Yugito entered the shop, he laughed when he saw his fellow blond stop in her tracks and stare wide eyed at all of the merchandise, Naruto noticed there was even drool dribbling down her chin.

"Your drooling Yugi-chan," Naruto said as he wiped the small trail of saliva away with a finger. Yugito blushed as Naruto gave her a grin, he was about to make another comment when someone behind him spoke.

"Excuse me but if you're not ninja I'm afraid you can't come in here."

Naruto turned around to see Tenten standing behind them, "awww Tenten I thought I was a ninja."

Tenten blinked as Naruto turned around, "oh! Naruto I didn't realize it was you, you look different in civilian clothes."

Naruto shrugged, "I suppose, though I thought my hair would be enough of a give away to figure out who I was." Tenten held back an embarrassed blush. Naruto laced his hand with Yugito's as he pulled her forward, "Yugito I would like you to meat Tenten, Konoha's foremost weapons expert. Tenten I would like you to meet Yugi-chan, a woman I plan on spending the rest of my life with." Both of the girls blinked at Naruto's introduction, Yugito blushed while Tenten held in a sigh of disappointment. While she was not a fan girl like Ino and Sakura had been in their younger days, where they would try to get with anyone who was hot and from a powerful clan, she would not deny that Naruto was by far the most physically attractive man she had ever met.

Tenten looked at him with an odd expression as she remembered something, "wait I thought you were with that red haired woman." The weapon mistresses eyes narrowed, "if your cheating on her I'm…"

"Sweat Kami…" Naruto groaned, "What is it with you people and cheating. If you looked up the laws in the Konoha Clan charter regarding any member who is the last of their clan, it states that they are eligible for the C.R.A. and _must_ wed at least four woman by the time of their eighteenth birthday, otherwise the council gets to choose wives for them."

Tenten bowed her head for a second, she had not realized that, though in her defense she did not know much about the Clan Charter seeing as how she was not in a clan. "I'm sorry," Tenten said in a small voice.

"No it's alright," Naruto replied as he heaved a sigh, "sorry for snapping at you. This has happened several times, so I'm a little snappy when it comes to that subject." Naruto turned his head and smiled at Yugito as she began to rub his back in a soothing circle pattern. "Thanks Yugi-chan," Naruto said as he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

Tenten blushed as the two kissed, "so if you're in the C.R.A. then…"

"I already have four woman I plan on marrying," Naruto interrupted. While he would admit Tenten was cute, he had no romantic interest in her.

Tenten sighed a bit before perking up, she did not know him that well so it was only a minor dissappointment, it just would have been nice to see if anything could have happened between them. Beside they could still be friends. "So what can I get for you today?" Tenten asked as she changed the subject.

"Oh we're just looking around," Naruto replied with an offhand air.

Tenten nodded as she turned to Yugito, "so I don't think I've ever seen you in the store before."

"That's because I'm not from here," Yugito replied as she looked around the store, "I'm from Kumo."

Tenten's eyes widened, "I see… so how do you know Naruto?"

Yugito looked over at her as she spoke, "I met him when he and Jiraiya had come to Kumo."

"Yugi-chan here is a Jinchurikki like me," Naruto said surprising Tenten, thanks to his announcement she knew what he was, but she had not known there were others like him aside from Gaara. "She helped me with my training to use the fuzz balls chakra," Naruto continued with a grin and he could have sworn he heard a grumble of 'insolent ningen' in his mind, "though I'm still not as good with my Bijuu's chakra as she is."

"I see," Tenten said as she did not know what else to say, "Well you might not want to tell Neji about…"

"I wouldn't worry," Naruto reassured her, "that was the Sandaime Raikage, the Yondaime has no interest in the Hyuuga Clan."

Naruto and Yugito spent some time talking with Tenten. When they decided to leave Naruto ended up buying several kunai that could channel elemental chakra and several exploding tags. After they left Naruto looked up at the sky and noticed the sun was starting to set.

"Hey Yugi-chan," Naruto said, getting the young woman's attention. Naruto wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, "there's something I want to show you." He didn't even give her a chance to respond as he disappeared within a sushin, reappearing on top of the Hokage Monument.

Yugito was about to ask Naruto what that was about when she turned and saw the village from atop their perch, "oh wow…" The entire village looked like it was on fire, the reds, yellows, oranges and purples mixing together, forming one of the most amazing sunsets she had seen.

"I know right?" Naruto said with a grin, gently grabbing Yugito's hand as he led her over to one of the spikes from his father's hair. Sitting down the blond shinobi pulled Yugito in between his legs, wrapping his arm securely around her waist. Yugito leaned into his back, letting her head rest against his as he set his on her shoulder. For several minutes they stayed like his, letting each other bask in the comforting presence of the other. After awhile Naruto spoke up, "I always use to come here when I was kid, whether it was to think or just get away from the villagers this has always been one of my favorite spots. It's kind of funny really, all this time I had come up here and sat on my 'fathers' head and never knew it."

"Perhaps you knew instinctually that he was your father," Yugito said as she turned her head and kissed Naruto's cheek.

"Maybe…" Naruto replied with a grin.

"What about your mother?" Yugito asked, she had always been curious about his parents. She of course knew of his father but had never really heard much about his mom, she only knew her last name was Uzumaki.

"My mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki, who was a Kunoichi from Uzushiogakure No Sato…"

The rest of their time on the Hokage Monument was spent with Naruto telling Yugito what he knew of his mother.

* * *

Omake: Repercussions of an Author pt. 3

Naruto sighed as he finally managed to slip his way past the last horde of fan girls and reach his destination. He grinned at how he had finally been able to get rid of, or at least avoid the nuisances that were fan girls. It had taken awhile but Naruto had found a book specifically designed to avoid them, it was called Fan Girl 101: How to Identify and Avoid Fan Girls. The book was an absolute godsend for the blond. Odd thing about the book though was the writer, it was apparently written by Itachi Uchiha. Naruto had to laugh at that, one of his biggest problems for the future had just given him the solution to one of his largest issues right now. He would have to thank the man before they fought.

Naruto entered the place he had spent an hour trying to get to with a large smile on his face. Walking over to the front desk Naruto tapped on it to get the attention of the young woman manning it. Said woman looked up and felt heat spread to her cheeks as she recognized him, thankfully she realized the need to be professional while on the job and greeted him properly, albeit she was still blushing.

"How can I help you today?" she asked.

"I'd like to spend the day in one of your onsens," Naruto replied as he unsealed Gama-chan.

"Very well Namikaze-Sama," the young girl looked at their standing price for the day, "your total comes to 10,000.00 yen."

Naruto nodded as he handed the girl the appropriate amount, sealing the wallet up again. Naruto began to make his way over to the male changing rooms when the woman stopped him.

"Wait!" Naruto turned around to see the young woman holding up his book, "can you sign this please?"

Naruto looked at the girl before sighing, grabbing the book he unsealed one of the Fuiinjutsu brushes he always kept on hand. "What's your name?" Naruto asked as he signed.

"Miari," the girl answered with a light blush staining her cheeks.

"Alright," Naruto said as he finished signing and handed the book back.

"Thank you soo much," Miari squealed as she began to cuddle the book to her chest.

Naruto just smiled and walked out.

Miari continued cuddling the book to her breast, however she blinked a few seconds as she felt she was forgetting something. Finally a gasp escaped her as she remembered.

"Oh no! I forgot to tell him today was mixed bathing!"

Naruto finished taking off his clothes, folding them up he put them in one of the baskets. Almost as soon as he opened the door he knew something was wrong, opening it all the way Naruto saw that there were females in the hot spring.

Lot's and lot's of females.

As the group of girls, which seemed to be at least in the number of about fifty, stared at him, Naruto began to sweat.

"U-uh… hello," he said weakly.

As if by some signal all the girls stood up.

"IT'S NAMIKAZE-SAMA! LET'S GET HIM!"

Naruto paled as the girls rushed him, he could not get away in time as they grabbed him. All of them yelling about how amazing he was and asking if they could have his children, all the while grabbing onto parts that only belonged to four woman.

Naruto cried anime tears, knowing that this was the end.

He was so scared he never even thought of using **Kariwimi **or **Hiraishin **to escape.

* * *

In a tree overlooking the hot spring Jiraiya of the Sennin was furiously scribbling down in his notepad. "Damn that gaki's an absolute gold mine!" Jiraiya listened to Naruto screams for help and to not touch his meat stick. "I'm so glad I let slip he was going to the hot springs today," the white haired Sennin smirked, "serves him right for all the times he and his women beat on me."

For the next few hours Jiraiya watched and wrote as Naruto struggled furiously to keep the rabid, mouth foaming fan girls away from his family goods.

* * *

So this chapter is done! It's a little long and is really a filler like the others, but things will be kicking up soon. I also hope those of you are into lemons liked this one, I was writing this when I was with one of my friends and she was being a complete pervert, giving me all kinds of writing idea's (I swear people who say men are perverted, don't know her). So let me know what you all think.

Momma always told me life is like a box of chocolates… oh wait, wrong saying, sorry.

Asta La Vista Baby!

**Next! Chapter 13: Third stage!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Daiski: first off use your fucking Fanfic name if you're going to say shit like that so I can fucking chew your ass out, fucking pussy! God I fucking hate it when little bitches like you who know absolutely nothing about others comes on and says this shit, first off if you read the fucking later chapters of the manga you'll see that Naruto actually is a mama's boy (I.E. he calls her a total babe). So this is actually somewhat keeping with canon, second off I have never dated woman who were that much older than me, perhaps your speaking out because of your own fucking insecurities and mommy fetish, or perhaps your into grandmas and are upset with the fact that Tsunade's not in the harem. Next up in this story Yugito is only 21 years old in this fic, Naruto is 16 that's only a 5 year difference and Yugao and Koyuki are around the same age. Second you don't know who I am, you know nothing about be, yet your saying that because I have Naruto with older women that I am some kind of mama's boy (how the two correlate with each other I suppose I'll never know since this isn't some kind of incest story, if it was I might be able to see where you're going but it isn't so your point is completely invalid). However since you're obviously the one suggesting it, perhaps the real problem is this reminds you of your own situation and infatuation with your mom. Do try to remember not to insult people personally, I don't particularly care if some punk ass little shit like you wants to insult my work (though you better have a good reason for it), but if you don't even know the fucking person you're talking about then you should not insult them. Especially when it seems that you're nothing but a dickless coward who can't even use his real pen name. Also the fact that I have almost 800 people who have added this story to their favorites, tells me otherwise about it being a failure. If you think my story sucks so much why don't you try to make your fucking own and see how well your story does. So why don't get your mind out of the gutter, stop thinking about how you obviously want to fuck you own mother and grow a pair!**

**For those of you who are not this guy, I apologize for the rant. Back when I was a kid I was something of an ass to my mom and dad, and now that I'm living on my own I don't see them often and actually feel really bad about how I treated them. So I don't really like it when people accuse me of something that in my opinion is absolutely disgusting to even think of, as well as the fact that I was not actually all that close to my parents.**

**luffyxrobin-luffyxnami: Do not worry this was a onetime deal and won't be happening again. The only reason it happened was because it was a threesome (like I said a onetime deal).**

**Bakapervert: I know that you and a few people may be getting impatient for the story to actually move along, but I feel this is necessary and they serve a needed purpose. Stories that just have Naruto jump right into the action without setting the pace and position he has after a significant change (like returning to Konoha after four years) makes the story unbelievable. Don't worry though, this is the last filler before the story picks up.**

**snow Clyde: yeah I thought about adding her, but it would have been hard to place her in this chapter when I had planned for this chap to have a conflict between Mei and Yugito. That and there is no way I'm going to even attempt writing a foursome (as awesome as I am, I am not that awesome).**

**Sweat Heavens: Don't worry we'll get to see how much more awesome and kick ass this Naruto is then canon Naruto (not that we don't see that with all the beautiful woman he has, but you know what I mean).**

**Leaf Ranger: yeah I bet no one saw that coming, I've never seen before so I thought why the hell not!**

**Fham: it's not like he's that much older, it's just Shippuden, besides it's kind of like a team seven tradition, from what I know all team seven teams had this test, so why wouldn't Naruto use it?**

**Chm01: the harem will have one more women on it, Yugao Uzuki will be added.**

**For those of you who love my friend, I will let her know you all think so highly of her (perverted as she is, to be honest that's one of the reasons I myself love her, she's one of the few woman who have honestly admitted to be that she is a pervert). Anways she will be pleased to hear that you like her.**

**Also I finally got a Beta Reader, Ininity777 will be doing the Beta so this is my thank you shout out to him.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not owned by me. I wish it was but it's not and I have to get over that fact every single day… it's kind of depressing.**

**Chapter 13: The Third Stage!**

It was the day of the third and final stage of the Chunin Exams, and it seemed as if the entirety of Konoha had managed to get tickets. The stadium was filled to the brim with people from all over the elemental nations, many of who had come to see this generation's line up of ninja. People from all stations in life, from Daimyo's to paupers had come for what many were sure would be an exciting set of matches. Of course it also helped that everyone finally got to see the newest and possibly one of the famous or infamous, depending on whom you asked, ninja.

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze was standing with the genin who had made it to the finals, in the center of the stadium where everyone could see them. He looked out at the crowd, and noticed that many of the people there were pointing to him as they spoke. The blond shinobi was really beginning to rethink his position on whether or not being so well known was a good thing, when he had been younger he would have killed for this kind of attention. Now though…_now I just want some peace and quiet… _

He shook himself out of his thoughts and looked up at the kage booth, to see the four kage's who were in attendance this year being seated with their body guards.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Tsunade looked out over the crowd that this year had turned up, it was exactly what she had expected the turn out to be this year. The blond Hokage had sent several personal letters to Daimyo's and anybody who she deemed as important to let them know that she had a special attraction for them at the Chunin Exams this year.

"Hokage-Dono."

Tsunade turned around to see Mei Terumi greeting her with a smile, walking up to her with her two bodyguards on either side.

"Mizukage-Dono," Tsunade greeted as the woman took a seat on the blonds left.

"You know this is the first Chunin Exam I've actually been to as a Kage," Mei said as she looked down at the stadium, smiling as she saw Naruto. "It's rather exciting."

"It is a rather interesting things to see from this perspective."

The two women and their bodyguards turned to see Gaara and his two siblings walking up to them, "I myself had the same feeling the first time I watched the Chunin Exams as a Kage."

"Kazekage-Dono, it's a pleasure to see you again," Tsunade greeted. "How was the trip here?"

Gaara took off his Kage hat as he sat down on the left hand side of Mei, "it was fine, there was nothing very eventful that happened." Gaara turned to Mei, "you are the new Mizukage correct?" he asked.

"I am," Mei said as she held out a hand, which Gaara accepted after a bit. "I have heard many things about you from Naru-koi."

Gaara cocked an eyebrow at the suffix, he absently wondered if the Mizukage and Naruto had a relationship outside of just what he did for her during the civil war. When Naruto had visited Suna he had not mentioned being close to Kiri's new leader, then again Gaara had gotten the feeling that there were a lot of things his blond friend had not mentioned back then. "He has spoken of me?" Gaara enquired.

Mei smiled, "quite often, he told me about the similarities you two have with your past."

While Gaara's siblings were slightly shocked, the red haired Kazekage merely nodded in understanding.

"Looks like everyone else is already here."

The three Kage's turned their head to the voice, to find A, Bee and Yugito walking up to them. "It looks like this year has gained quite the crowed; I don't think I've seen so many people at one exam."

"We have gotten a pretty big turn out this year," Tsunade agreed as the Raikage took the seat on her right. "Though it may be that some of the people here are really just coming to see one of Konoha's more infamous shinobi."

The Raikage laughed, "yes that would not surprise me, people always seem to have something of a fandom for certain powerful figures in the shinobi world. And I must admit few seem to fill that requirement as well as Naruto-san does!"

Kankuro leaned into Temari's ear as he whispered, "it seems that Naruto has really gotten around." He could not believe that the little pipsqueak who had only worn orange and screamed 'Dattebeyo!' at the top of his lungs was so famous. Not only famous but apparently had some kind of intimate relationship with the Mizukage, who in his humble opinion was a complete babe.

"I know what you mean," Temari whispered back, "he seems to know just about every Kage in the elementals. In fact the only one he does not seem to be friends with is the Tsuchikage, and that's just because Iwa hates his father."

"Yugito-chan," Mei greeted the younger woman with a smile, "are you looking forward to seeing the kids Naru-koi trained in action?"

Yugito looked at the red haired woman and offered her own smile, despite their rocky start the two had ended up becoming friends. "I am, knowing Naru-kun they should be able to put up quite the fight."

As the two women talked the other ninja in the booth looked at them, most wondering how the two knew each other. None of the other Kage's or their bodyguards besides Tsunade knew that Mei and Yugito had both been staying at the Namikaze estate. Tsunade had made Naruto tell her his relationship with all of the girls he planned on marrying; the only female she did not know he was dating was Konan. Even then Naruto had forced her to come to his estate before he told her anything, making sure that he told her in the most secure location he could think of so that the information was away from prying eyes. Most people would assume that the young man was being paranoid, but Tsunade knew that with all of the enemies he had in and outside of the village, paranoia was a good thing.

Tsunade looked out at the crowed, specifically the Daimyo's booth in an effort to make sure that all the dignitaries who had come for the Exams were present. Nodding to herself the blond Hokage stood up from her seat and walked to the ledge, she raised her hands in a grandiose gesture as she began her speech. "Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome all of you to the Chunin Exams!" A roar of approval came up from the crowed, Tsunade waited for it to die down before she continued. "This year we have nine contestants who have proven their worth, showing skills beyond their status. Today you will get to see these talented young ninja in action, let the Chunin Exams begin!"

"You seem quite good at riling up the crowd Hokage-Dono," Mei complimented as Tsunade returned to her seat, Mei herself had never been all that good at speeches, even short ones; at least not to the masses. She could do it of course, no Kage worth their weight would be unable to give a good rallying speech, but it had never been her forte.

"Thanks I guess, I honestly hate speeches," Tsunade said, getting a trickle of laughter to run through the Kage booth.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Before we begin this exam there are a few new additions to this Exam that I have added," Naruto said as the tournament started. "First we have the same rule as the one in the Prelims, you listen to what I say, when I say it. Failure to do this will result in your immediate termination from the Exams. Next to make this Exam a little more challenging and… entertaining, I have placed several traps all throughout this arena." Many of the genin felt a sheen of sweat on their skin at seeing the sadistic leer on Naruto's face. "There may be other surprises in store as well, problems that will arise and force you to think on your feet. I hope all of you have prepared well this past month…"

"Now," Naruto began, "let's get to the first battle, Juka Carotake vs. Hanabi Hyuuga. Everyone else please leave the arena floor and go up to the fighter's booth!"

As the other seven genin left the arena floor, Hanabi and Juka stayed, moving to opposite sides of the arena. Hanabi got into a classic Juken stance and flared her Byakugan, making the veins around her temples bulge. Juka got into the Standard Suna academy stance. Neither spoke yet as they waited for the signal to start.

"Are both fighters ready?" Naruto asked and received a nod from both of them. Bringing up his hand Naruto made a downwards slashing motion, "then Hajime!" The blond shinobi jumped back as the battle started.

"You should give up," Hanabi stated in her emotionless voice, using her Hyuuga face to maximize affect. "You cannot win against me."

Juka snorted, "less talk, more action little girl."

Hanabi glared at her opponent and rushed towards Juka, hoping to get in close so she could use her Juken taijutsu style. As the Hyuuga Heiress ran, Juka began going through hand seals, stopping on the Tori (Bird) seal as he called out his jutsu.

"**Fuuton: Daitoppa! (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)"**

A large gust of wind hit Hanabi, attempting to lift her into the air. The young pale eyed genin channeled chakra into the bottom of her feet, sticking to the ground as she let the gust pass her. When it did she kicked off again, closing the distance she aimed a strike at one of the tenketsu on Juka's abdomen. However the Suna genin jumped back, pulling out several kunai and wrapping exploding tags around them. He channeled some chakra into them and threw them at Hanabi. The Hyuuga genin saw the kunai coming and began to spin.

"**Hakkesho Kaiten! (Heavenly Divination Rotation)"**

A blue shield of chakra surrounded the Hyuuga Heiress, deflecting the kunai and making them bounce off her shield. However that did not stop the notes from exploding, the blue energy sphere was blown back a ways, dissipating to reveal a slightly burnt Hanabi. Said girl shook the cob webs out of her head and began another charge. Juka began going through more hand seals as he continuously back pedaled, only to trip a wire and force both Hanabi and he to dodge as several kunai and shuriken came flying at them. Before Hanabi could recover, Juka re-did his hand seals and called out his jutsu.

"**Fuuton: Reppusho!"**

Juka thrust out his hand with his palm facing out, a blast of wind shot from his hand and towards Hanabi. Being able to see the chakra, Hanabi dodged the wind attack and managed to close the distance. In that instant it was over as the Hyuuga kunoichi closed off Juka's tenketsu points, knocking the Suna genin unconscious.

"Winner by knock out, Hanabi Hyuuga!" Naruto announced.

The crowd cheered for Hanabi as she left the arena floor. Several medics came out with a stretcher, placing Juka on it before heading to the medical wing.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Your genin is quite talented Hokage-Sama," Gaara said as the fight ended.

"Though she was quite reckless," Mei spoke up before Tsunade could say anything, "had it been a real battle and she charged a wind user with more powerful techniques, she would have died."

Tsunade nodded, "I have to agree with you Mizukage-Dono, and she has good techniques but needs to work on her strategy."

"Still at least she's got spirit!" the Raikage said, "that's always a plus in my books!"

The other Kage's looked at him oddly for a moment, but nodded in agreement.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Next match, Konohamaru Sarutobi and Renji Abari, could you two please come down to the arena floor!" Naruto called out over the noise of the crowd.

While Renji walked down the stairs, Konahamaru in his typical fashion jumped out of the fighter's box, using chakra to lessen the impact of his fall. Konahamaru moved to one side of the stadium while Renji took the other.

Knowing he would need to use something other than a kunai for this battle, the young Sarutobi heir unsealed his bo staff. Twirling it around before getting into his stance. In response to the younger genin bringing out his weapon, Renji unsheathed his sword and got into a standard kenjutsu stance.

"I hope you're ready for me to kick your ass!" Konohamaru shouted in an enthusiastic and cocky voice.

Renji sweat dropped, _this kid is like a miniature version of Ichigo with that attitude, _out loud he said, "I think you're a little too cocky for your own good kid, I'll enjoy taking you down a few pegs!"

Naruto looked at both fighters, "are you two ready?" receiving a nod he shouted, "then… Hajime!"

The two shinobi rushed each other, clashing their respective weapons together in an attempt to hit the other. Renji came it with a diagonal slash that was blocked by Konohamaru, who used his staff's double sidedness to counterattack. The Konoha genin's staff managed to clip Renji's side, spinning with the blow the Kiri shinobi spun around and aimed a slash at Konohamaru's mid section. Konohamaru parried the blow and began to spin his staff in increasingly complex maneuvers, Renji jumped back so as not to get hit. Timing his attack, Renji thrust his blade in the complex weaving of the bo staff, stopping it in its tracks. Renji pushed against the staff and tried to skewer Konohamaru who leaned back and twisted his body out of the way, spinning his staff at the same time to knock Renji's sword off course and give the young Sarutobi an opening. Planting his staff in the ground, Konohamaru used it to increase the force of his kick as he smashed a foot into Renji's face. Renji went flying back but managed to flip in mid air and land on his feet.

"**Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu!"**

The red head looked up and cursed as a giant fire ball came barreling towards him, Renji put on a burst of speed as he jumped out of the way. Seeing Renji dodge, Konohamaru went through more hand seals and slammed them into the ground.

"**Doton: Doryuudan! (Earth Release: Earth Dragon Missile)"**

A dragon head rose out of the ground and began to fire powerful mud balls at Renji, forcing the Kiri genin to dodge. Konohamaru pulled out several kunai and shuriken from his pouch, throwing them at Renji. Seeing the kunai coming Renji used his sword to deflect the ones that came near him. The barrage stopped and the pineapple head tried to rush Konohamaru with said genin doing the same. Neither saw the seals on the ground until it was almost too late, when they did their eyes went wide and they were forced to **Kariwimi **as the ground under them exploded, sending fire and eath into the sky as well as tearing huge gouts in the field. They both appeared on opposite ends of the field, looking at each other they kicked off the ground and tried to move in close range, albeit much more cautiously then last time.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well this is turning out to be quite the fight!" A said as he watched the two genin enter a close combat battle again, "I have to admit to being impressed!"

"They are getting pretty good," Mei said as she studied the battle, "though they could think more tactically."

"Still I think they might both be Chunin material, but we'll have to see more before deciding that," Tsunade said.

"Their combat level is definitely Chunin though," Yugito tilted her head, "they have both been trained very well. Most Chunin don't actually learn all it means to be a Chunin until they after they earn the rank anyway."

"The kitten is right yo, that means they gotta gain experience to know," Bee agreed as a tic mark formed on Yugito's head.

"Damn it Bee, shut up with your rapping!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto watched as the two genin went at it; their battle was impressive for genin. While it would not compare with say his battles with Akatsuki or Yagura, they were displaying quite a bit of skill. Naruto was glad he had taken to training Konohamaru for the month hiatus, had he not received the blonds harsh training, there would be no way the younger genin would be able to keep up with Renji. As it was the two were evenly matched, Renji was faster but Konohamaru could use both sides of his weapon, negating Renji's advantage.

Renji came at Konohamaru with a slash; leaning back Konohamaru let the blow pass over him and attached an exploding tag to the flat side the Kiri genin's blade. He jumped away just as the tag exploded, Konohamaru was breathing heavily as he waited for the smoke to clear. When it did he saw that Renji was on the ground, his sword several feet away. Konohamaru gave Renji no time to recover as he made asingle **Kage Bushin** and held out his hand, the clone came up and began to help Konohamaru with the manipulation for his jutsu. Soon enough a familiar spinning ball of chakra formed in the palm of the young genin's hand.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Naruto taught him the **Rasengan**!" Tsunade shouted as she stood up from her seat. As she stared at the infamous ball of chakra she could feel several different emotions running through her. The first was pride at the fact that Naruto could teach someone an A rank technique within a month, as well as the fact that Konohamaru was able to learn such a powerful jutsu. And anger at the fact that Naruto taught such a powerful technique to a genin, she would be having a word with the blond when this was over.

"I suspected Naru-koi would do something like this," Mei said as Tsunade sat back down. "I have to admit I am impressed that a genin was able to learn such a powerful technique within a month."

"It does speak well of the boys skills," the Raikage said, "as well as that of the teacher."

"However the fact that he is using such a technique when he doesn't need it also shows he needs more restraint," Yugito interrupted. "Right now the boy is just showing off."

The others in the booth nodded in agreement.

XXXXXXXXXX

Konohamaru ran right at the red haired Kiri shinobi, smashing the **rasengan **right into Renji's stomach. The red head was thrown back from the power of the technique and hit the ground.

When Renji did not get back up Naruto nodded to himself as he announced the winner, "winner by knock out is Konohamaru Sarutobi!"

"ALRIGHT! YES!" Konohamaru jumped up and down in the air as the crowd cheered for him. Meanwhile Renji was placed on a stretcher and taken to the medical wing.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"these matches are quite entertaining," the Raikage said as the others turned to him, "Watching all of these battles makes me wish I was down there fighting right now!"

"It was quite impressive, though Konohamaru needs to learn when to use such powerful techniques," Tsunade said. "Still they both showed a decent amount of skill. Your ninja is quite impressive with a sword," the busty blond turned to Mei.

"Thank you Hokage-Dono," Mei said in gratitude, "he is one of the people I am hoping will revive the **Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū**."

"Well he is pretty talented," Yugito said, "with some more time, training and experience that goal is quite possible. Who his is trainer?"

"Raiga Korasuki," Mei answered, surprising the other three kage's and their body guards.

"I thought Raiga became a missing ninja several years ago?" Tsunade questioned the busty red head.

"He did," Mei answered, "Naru-koi fought him about a year ago, rather than kill him he brought Raiga to me. I had offered the man a position in the village again, he accepted on a few conditions and had a hand in training the people I am trying to make into the new swordsmen." Mei shivered a bit when she had mentioned his conditions, aside from keeping Ranmaru with him at all times, the man had demanded that he be allowed to give his enemies funerals. She had been tempted to just kill him after that, but with her village in desperate need of powerful shinobi she had not been able to afford to do that.

The others noticed her shiver but ignored it as they went back to the battles, though a few of the people there continued to wonder how close she was to Naruto to use a nickname like that.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Will Raiden and Ichigo Kurosaki come down!" Naruto called out the next names to battle.

Ichigo appeared a little ways away, his sword out at the ready. Raiden walked out of the entrance, moving to the opposite side of the orange haired genin. Ichigo grinned as he got into a wide two handed stance, his sword in front of him running parallel to the ground. Raiden in turn got into a taijutsu stance, presenting his profile view with his left foot in front and his right behind him, ready to push the balls of his feet.

"I hope you're ready to lose," Ichigo replied in his typical cocksure tone, a smirk on his face.

"I believe you should wait until after the battle is finished to gloat," Raiden replied, "lest you end up eating your words."

"Are both fighters ready?" Naruto asked.

He received a nod from Raiden.

"You bet I am!" Ichigo said as he grinned, "let's do this!"

Naruto nodded, "then Hajime!"

Ichigo disappeared in a burst of speed, reappearing right next to Raiden swinging his sword. Raiden ducked under the sword and came up after it passed over his head, aiming a punch at Ichigo who jumped back. Raiden went through several hand seals, slamming his hands on the ground he called out his jutsu.

"**Raiton: Ikazuchi Hakai!"**

A large bolt of lightning tore through the landscape, heading towards Ichigo who jumped into the air to avoid it. Raiden jumped in the air to meet him, taking out a kunai and piercing him through the stomach. Only for Ichigo to burst into water. A large blue and ethereal looking wave came barreling up from the ground; Raiden used a **Kariwimi **to escape the attack. Appearing near a tree on the other side of the arena, he tried to think up a plan but had no time as a sizzling noise reached his ear. Turing his head he cursed to find several exploding tags, he jumped out of the tree just as it exploded. As he landed on the ground Ichigo appeared right in front of him, Raiden ducked under the swing sent his way, getting down on his hands and pushing out with a kick. Ichigo used the flat end of his blade to block, skidding back from the force he looked up to see Raiden going through more hand signs.

"**Raiton: Raikyuu!"**

A ball of lightning the size of a canon ball shot out of Raiden's mouth, in return Ichigo channeled some chakra into his sword. As soon as the lightning ball came close enough to him the orange haired shinobi sliced it in half, a blade of blue chakra was launched from the end of Ichigo's sword and flew towards Raiden. The Kumo shinobi was forced to jump out of the way, however Ichigo appeared right next to him and the young man was not fast enough to dodge the kick to his face. Raiden flew back and into the air from the kick, flipping around so he landed on his feet. He grabbed his bleeding nose and set it back in place with a crunch, looking up to see that Ichigo was gone. He looked around only for instincts to kick in and make him roll to the left. A good thing he had too, as soon as he did a large blue blade on chakra slashed into the spot he had been standing on, destroying the area and leaving a crater. The young man stared at the spot he had previously been, giving Ichigo the distraction needed to come in behind Raiden and smash the butt end of his sword into the back of the Kumo genin's neck.

As Raiden crumbled to the ground, Naruto announced the winner. "Winner by knock out is Ichigo Kurosaki!"

Ichigo raised his hand as the crowd cheered, walking back into the entrance to the fighter's booth. Meanwhile a medic team had placed Raiden on a stretcher, standing up to take him to the medical ward.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"I have to admit that boy is impressive to defeat Raiden," A said as the fight ended, "he is one of my better genin."

"Well Ichigo has a lot of raw power to throw around," Mei replied, "to be honest were it not for that I doubt he would have won. The boy lacks finesse."

"That reminds me of how Naruto used to be," Tsunade said, remembering how the blond had been before his training trip.

Mei looked over at the busty blond woman with a smirk, "oh? Do tell."

Tsunade gave her own smirk as she began to tell stories of how the young blond used to be before his training, much to the amusement of the other's in the box.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto felt a shiver run down his spine, _I get the feeling someone's talking about me and it's not in a good way._ He shook his head of the thought before focusing on the task at hand. "Will Udon and Otame Shinji please come to the arena floor!" Naruto called out, resisting the urge to sigh. At first being a proctor actually sounded kind of fun, but now it was just boring. _All I'm doing is saying the same thing over again,_ the blond teen thought as he watched Udon and Otame come down and stand on opposite sides of the arena. "Are both fighters ready?" Naruto asked as he looked at the two. He received a nod from each and decided to get this started, "Then Hajime!"

The two genin instantly jumped away from each other, Udon going through hand signs while Otame threw several shuriken enhanced with his wind chakra. As the kunai came in Udon spread his hands in front of him in what looked like a defensive gesture.

"**Raiton: magunechikku gyakuten! (Lightning Release: Magnetic Reversal)"**

The air around Udon became saturated with static electricity; it was unnoticeable to all except those with doujutsu and those who could sense Lightning chakra. When the kunai came into the field they stopped instantaneously, turned around and headed right back to a surprised Otame. Said Suna genin was able to only just get out of the way, though it was not without injury as the two slashes that now ran across his left arm indicated.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"It looks like you've got a **Raiton **user," A said as he looked at the boy with the bull cut and glasses. "And that technique, simple but extremely effective. I take it that Naruto-san has been teaching him as well?"

"Yes," Tsunade said as she looked over at the Raikage, "how did you know?"

The Raikage laughed, "it's quite simply really, he used that same jutsu on me during our first spar!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Udon did not give Otame any time to react to the unexpected attack from his own weapons, charging straight at the Suna genin, Udon pulled several Kunai from his pouch and tossed them at Otame. The older genin made to dodge, jumping up and to the left. In response Udon manipulated his fingers, which had chakra strings attaching them to the kunai and changed their direction back towards Otame. The Suna genin was impaled through the arms and legs, seconds later he burst into smoke before a log appeared in the man's place.

"**Fuuton: Kazedirite! (Wind Release: Wind Cutter)"**

A fierce wind with several large wind blades smashed into Udon, at least it smashed into where Udon was as the genin soon disappeared in a puff of smoke, a log replacing where he had been. Otame jumped out from the tree he had been hiding in, looking around to see if he could spot Udon. His eyes widened a bit as he rolled to the left when Udon appeared right next to him, aiming a slash for the Suna genin's neck. Otame pushed himself up onto his feet as he turned to face Udon, going through several hand seals.

"**Fuuton: Reppusho!"**

A gust of wind hit Udon before he could react, sending him flying towards a tree. He was able to flip himself around and land on the trunk, however he froze as a seal appeared under him, paralyzing him for several precious seconds. Seconds which Otame used to chuck several shuriken at the now frozen Konoha genin, thankfully the seal disrupted in time for Udon to do a quick **Kariwimi**. Appearing on a tree several meters away. Reaching into his kunai pouch, Udon pulled out several shuriken and flung them at Otame. Said Suna genin turned around just in time to see them and began going through several hand seals.

"**Fuuton: Daitoppa!"**

A gust of wind knocked the shuriken off course, but the distraction was all Udon needed to get close. Sending punch to Otame's chest, it was swatted away by the genin's other hand but had served its purpose. When Udon jumped away Otame looked down and felt his eyes widen as he saw the exploding tag on his shirt, the slight sizzle showing the tag was active. The sizzle ended and the tag exploded, however Otame was able to rip his shirt off in time, revealing his white undershirt. Frowning Udon threw several kunai at him, Otame saw this and used a **Kawirimi**,appearing behind a tree. He sighed as he tried to come up with a plan, looking out from behind the tree he frowned when he saw Udon was no longer there. That was when everything went black as he felt the butt end of a kunai smash into the back of his neck.

Naruto saw Udon come out from behind a tree, dragging an unconscious Otame. "Otame is unable to continue the battle, therefore the Winner is Udon!" Naruto announced. As Udon cleared made his way to the stand and Otame was taken out by a medical team, Naruto called the next match, "will Rukia Kuchiki and Onoui Teteno please come down to the arena floor!"

The two genin walked down to the floor and stood on opposite sides of each other. Rukia had a hand on the hilt of her blade, but had not unsheathed it as she took a batoujutsu stance. Onoui meanwhile had taken out two serrated kunai, with small traces of lightning coming out of the blades.

"Are both fighters ready?" asked Naruto, receiving a sharp nod from both of them, "then… Hajime!"

Once the word Hajime left Naruto's mouth, Rukia disappeared in a burst of speed. Reappearing right in front of Onoui, Rukia's sword came out and attempted to bisect the genin. However Onoui had been able to see her movement and blocked the attack with his kunai, Rukia was forced to jump back as a lightning coursed from Onoui's blades and through hers. Rukia shook her head to clear it after receiving the shock, however Onoui was not going to let her get any rest as he came after her. Rukia was forced to duck dodge and weave her way around the two kunai, knowing that she would be in serious trouble if she got hit by those. Knowing that she could not use her sword in this instance, Rukia jumped back and went through a series of one handed seals.

"**Suiton: Tepodamma!"**

Several canon sized globs of water shot from the Kiri Kunoichi's mouth, forcing Onoui to jump back and dodge as the water balls smashed into the ground. Doing so left the young man open to attack, appearing in front of the boy Rukia managed to kick the kunai out of the Kumo genin's hands. Unfortunately for her, Onoui did not need kunai to channel lightning chakra. He grabbed on to Rukia's extended leg, channeling lightning through his hands and into the leg. Rukia let out a muffled scream of pain as she bit her lip.

Onoui began to spin around; using his and Rukia's combined weight to fling her into the air. He began to go through several hand seals.

"**Raiton: Bakufuu! (Lightning Release: Blast)"**

A bolt of lightning shot out of Onoui's extended hand; the lightning hit the still air born Rukia, sending electricity coursing through the Kiri genin's body. Only for said body to turn into water.

**Ninpou: Kirigakure No Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu)"**

A thick mist began to spread out around the arena, since there was not a very large water source nearby it was only enough to hamper visibility rather than render everything invisible. Onoui went on guard as he peered through the mist, it was not enough that he could not see through it, however it would certainly affect his vision and skew it enough that it could prove costly. That was when his instincts started screaming at him to move, he followed them just as Rukia dropped from the sky, slashing at where he had been. Thus began the game of cat and mouse as Rukia would appear and try to take Onoui out, and then disappear one second later. Worse because the genin's vision was skewered by the mist he could not accurately predict how close Rukia actually was, it often looked like she was farther away then she really was.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"This is turning out to be quite the exciting battle," the Raikage said as he tried to peer into the mist, "your genin is good. To be able to fight so well despite being handicapped by facing against, someone with an opposing affinity."

"Thank you Raikage-Dono," Mei replied, "to be honest she is one of my better strategists among the genin, it was why I placed her on this team." She paused in thought for a moment, "that and she's the only one her other two team mates are actually afraid of among the genin."

"So she keeps them in line," Yugito said with a smirk. 

Mei grinned, "of course, you know how men are."

The women in the booth smirked at that comment, all of them knowing of the trouble men cause and how much of a handful they can be.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Onoui dodged another attack from Rukia as he tried to come up with a plan, he knew of a jutsu he could use but it required more chakra then he had. As he dodged a slash that came at him from the right, he reached his hand into his pouch and pulled out two soldier pills. This would leave him exhausted after wards but he felt it would be his best chance to win, swallowing them he felt a burst of chakra and began going through several hand seals.

"**Raiton: Raikou Nami! (Lightning Release: Lightning Wave)"**

Lightning burst from Otame's body as he spread his arms wide, sending what looked like a wave of lightning in all directions. There was a shout of pain from somewhere within the mist as it began to clear, Otame dropped onto his knees with his breathing heavy. When the mist cleared it showed Rukia on her knees with electricity sparking off of her, though she was still conscious. Omate grunted as he stood up and made his way over to the black haired girl, when he got next to her he put a kunai to her neck. Only for his eyes to widen in shock as Rukia turned into a puddle of water, he had no time to react as a blade touched his throat.

"Surrender," Rukia commanded.

Onoui sighed as he realized he had no chakra left to get out of this, "I surrender."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"That girl is quite impressive," Tsunade said, "she has excellent strategies."

"thank you, I taught her about tactical combat myself," Mei replied with pride in her voice.

"I have to admit your genin has amazing talent," A said, while Onoui was not his most powerful shinobi he was decent and the Kiri genin had a disadvantage in element.

"Thank you Raikage-dono," Mei replied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Winner by forfeit is Rukia Kuchiki!" Naruto shouted out to the crowd. As the crowd cheered the two genin left. Naruto sighed as the first half of the Chunin Exam finals was over; he looked up at the stadium as he began to speak again. "The first half of the Chunin Exams are now over! We will be having a short fifteen minute break for all guests to grab a bite and stretch their legs before moving onto the second round!"

As the spectators began to rise from their seats, Naruto turned his attention to the kage booth. Grinning he disappeared in a gentle breeze.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Tsunade along with the other kage's stood up in their chairs to stretch legs a bit, letting themselves get some of the feeling back. Despite being forced to sit at a chair all day due to their jobs, none of them actually got used to it and the chairs they were in now were less comfortable then their Kage chairs.

"Those were some exciting matches," the Raikage said with a grin, "I can't wait to see the rest!"

Tsunade chuckled, "yes they were pretty good, we'll have to discuss who among them deserves to be Chunin since there are many potential candidates."

"There are a few who can make it to Chunin," Mei agreed, "but I think it would be wise for us to wait until we see what else they are capable of, especially since the battles will get harder the more they fight, forcing them to think with a level head."

"Your pretty smart yo, a pretty little thing like you knows how things go!" Kirabi said in his rap.

This time he was not just smacked by Yugito, but also by Mei who was looking at Bee with a creepy smile that spoke of immense him feeling immense pain if he said the wrong thing.

"Bee stop rapping!" Yugito growled.

"Especially about me… in that context… do so again and I'll melt you," Mei replied in that sweet and creepy voice. The men around her shivered at the tone, though Ao was glad that for once it was not directed at him.

Bee actually paled at the threat, having Yugito kick him was fine, he would usually be up right after since they only hurt when she was really pissed. But having a Kage say she was going to melt you, and knowing that she actually had the capability to do it with her **Yoton **jutsu was an entirely different kettle of fish. Thankfully before he say could say anything that would likely get him melted, a voice spoke up behind them.

"Now that isn't nice Mei-chan," every one turned to see Naruto looking at them with a grin, "I don't even think he can help his rapping. Though…" Naruto looked at Bee and the man felt a small shiver run through him, "I would suggest that you not make any crude comments about her."

"Naru-koi/kun!" Yugito and Mei greeted the blond as they walked up to him. Naruto gave the two a smile as he pulled the two into an embrace, letting one of them each rest their head on his shoulder as they returned his hug.

As this happened everyone who did not know about his relationship with two women, meaning everyone except Tsunade was looking at Naruto in shock. Well the men were looking on in a mixture of shock and envy, Kankuro was even muttering about lucky blond bastards and Gaara's face actually looked to be the same color as his hair. Temari however was glaring at the two girls, sure she did not know Naruto that well and when they first met she thought he was a brat, but even she could not help but feel jealous seeing those two girls with him now.

Naruto chuckled as he wrapped his own arms around Mei and Yugito, "how are you two doing up here? Not too boring I hope."

"Not at all," Mei grinned as she lifted her head up and gave him a rather heated kiss, one that cause Kankuro to get a slight nose bleed from just watching. Breaking the kiss she leaned her head back on his shoulder.

The blond shinobi barely had any time to react after Mei's rather passionate lip lock as Yugito claimed his lips next, moaning a bit as she sucked on his bottom lip. Pulling back she gave Naruto her own smile, "but it's much better now that you're here," the blond woman finished for Mei as she too put her head back on Naruto's shoulder.

That was something the two had started doing recently, whenever one of them would speak the other would finish it. Every time they did that it sent pleasurable shivers down the blond shinobi's spine, Naruto was sure that the two were doing it on purpose. He suspected that it was Mei's idea, Yugito while she had her moments, she was never one to as outgoing or… experimental as the red haired Kage. _That and they have been hanging out together after that restaurant incident when I've been training Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon._

Naruto gave a soft chuckled that the girls felt as a slight rumble in his chest, "you know you two are becoming insatiable, you know that?"

"Only cuz you spoiled us this week," Mei replied as she looked at him with a grin.

"I suppose so," Naruto said with a small smirk, "I'm going to have to be careful around you girls."

As the three continued their banter the others looked at the pair in shock, Kankuro leaned over into his brother's ear and whispered, "did you know Naruto was getting play like this from TWO hot women?"

Gaara shook his head, "no… I wonder how he does it?"

Kankuro blinked for a moment as the words registered in his ear, when they did he turned around and looked at his little brother in shock. _Is Gaara actually thinking about girls? _Kankuro wondered to himself. Gaara had become quite popular with the ladies of Suna, though Kankuro knew it was unintentional since his little brother knew nothing about woman. To hear his little brother ask something like that was shocking.

"Yo big bro, what's going on with those three, do you know?" Killer Bee asked as he tried to turn away from the sight of the three, yet somehow found himself staring.

A just shook his head, unable to come up with an answer as he too stared at the trio. _It is too bad Jiraiya-Sama is not here, I'm sure this would be great material to help him write his books._

It was several minutes later when Naruto was forced to go back down to the arena floor, much to the girls protest. However he promised to make it up to them later, giving them a knowing look before leaving for the arena again.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"You know I don't think I'll ever get tired of your cooking Naru-koi," Mei said as she took another bite of the food Naruto had prepared, moaning in delight as the food melted on her taste buds. On the other side of him Yugito was nodding her head in agreement as she ate her food.

It had only been a few hours since the Chunin Exams ended; each stage had gotten harder from the next, with Naruto occasionally making **Kage Bushin, **forcing the genin to team up with each other, to creating storms with his unparalleled control of the elements. The final contestants had actually fought in a three-way battle. Akira, Ichigo and Konohamaru had been the three to make it into the final round, with the big surprise winner being Akira. Though maybe Naruto should have not been so surprised by the outcome, the Kumo kunoichi had played it smart, merely let Ichigo and Konohamaru beat the crap out of each other and when they had been sufficiently weakened she had knocked the two out. Out of the nine genin who had participated in the exams, only Rukia, Akira and Udon had made it to Chunin. Some of the others had the skills of a Chunin, but did not know when to make a tactical withdrawal, the best two examples of this being Ichigo and Konohamaru. Still that only seemed to get the two even more determined to do better next time, of course the two also vowed to defeat the other, having formed a rivalry during their three-way battle royal.

"I'm glad to hear that," Naruto replied as he took a bite of the food he had made for himself. Swallowing his bite before speaking again, "I would be awfully disappointed if my food was no longer satisfactory to you."

Currently he, Yugito and Mei were in the small paradisiacal lake Naruto and Mei had gone swimming in two weeks prior, having a picnic. The three were sitting under one of the many trees, a blanket was laid out under them and there was an assortment of food on top of it. It was their last night together, the two women would be leaving now that the exams were over and so Naruto had made them all a large dinner.

Yugito grinned as she swallowed another piece of sushi, she had to admit, while Naruto's food was not as good as the sushi she got at Kenshi's, it was still quite delicious. "Then it's a good thing you don't have to worry about that, though even if your food wasn't good, I'm sure we'd still love you."

"You know that sentence doesn't inspire that much confidence," Naruto said with a mock pout on his face. "You make it sound like you might not feel the same way if my cooking was not as good as it was."

Mei gave the blond shinobi a teasing grin, "Well I didn't want to say anything but…"

For the rest of their time there the three talked and teased each other. Naruto gave an internal smile as the two women spoke like they had been good friends for years, he was glad they were no longer fighting. When everyone had had their fill of the food, Naruto resealed the picnic basket and blanket in a scroll.

Standing up he grinned at the two before taking off his shirt and throwing it at the two women, "so do you girls want to go for a swim?"

His answer came in the form of Mei and Yugito throwing their own close at his head, right before they tackled him into the lake.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sitting at her desk in the Hokage Tower, Tsunade was finishing up her report on the Chunin Exams and the paperwork for Udon's promotion. she looked up at the clock and sighed as she realized how late it was, _and I still have to do the regular paperwork after this,_ Tsunade groaned. What she wouldn't give for a cup or bottle of sake, _or ten_. Unfortunately Shizune had come in once again and gotten rid of her secret stash… again. Sighing in annoyance she worked harder to finish the paperwork so she could go home and get a drink. As she continued working a knock sounded at her door.

"Come in!" she called without looking up.

The door opened and three people walked in and stood in front of her desk.

"Tsunade-Sama," a voice she recognized instantly sounded.

Tsunade's eye twitched as she looked up to see Danzo Shimura, Homura and Koharu, three people she did not want to see. "What do you three want?" Tsunade asked without bothering to do any of the customary greetings, "in case you haven't noticed I have a lot of work to do."

The three elders frowned at her disrespectful voice, but knowing what they came here for decided to let it go. Danzo stepped forward to speak, "we are merely here as concerned citizens Tsunade-Sama."

"Oh?" Tsunade asked, stopping her work as she looked at the three with a raised eyebrow. "And what is there that could concern you three?"

Homura coughed into his hand as he spoke, "we have been hearing many rumors about this Akatsuki that Jiraiya-Sama has been spying on. We are concerned about the affects this could have on Konoha, especially when they come after Namikaze-san…"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes as she figured where this was going; she knew that the three would not leave their issue with Naruto alone. The only question was what were they planning? "And why would you be concerned about Namikaze-san? You do know that he is an S rank ninja, yes? One whom I am sure may even be more powerful than me."

"We know very well how powerful Namikaze-san is," Koharu retorted, "however we feel it would be beneficial to give him some added protection… after all with all the enemies he has now, leaving him without adequate protection would be fool hardy."

_So that's what they want,_ Tsunade thought as she now understood what they were after. They wanted to have one of Danzo's men to keep an eye on Naruto, someone who could find some kind of weakness they could exploit to bend him to their will. To be honest she was surprised they were being so transparent; normally she would have to look under what they were saying to find out what they really wanted. Though perhaps that could be accredited to the fact that they were getting desperate, Naruto had outplayed them in every game they had so far, they knew they were running out of options.

"And you think you have someone who is strong enough to protect Naruto?" Tsunade asked incredulously, stalling for time. "I don't know of any shinobi besides myself and Jiraiya who are able to fight S rank ninja in combat, unless there is something you three are not telling me…"

To their credit the three did not show any outward reaction to her threat, "I can have one of my best security personnel accompany him on missions," Danzo said. They knew he had to be careful with this, Tsunade knew that Danzo's ROOT operation was not disbanded as it was supposed to be.

Tsunade lips became a thin line as she listened to the man. She knew what his 'security personnel' really was; the blond knew he was actually referring to his supposed 'disbanded' ROOT Anbu division. However she also knew she could not prove it. Danzo was easily the most paranoid man she had ever met; he had covered his tracks so well that not even Jiraiya's spy network had been able to get more than a small glimmer of information. It was part of the reason neither she nor Sarutobi before her were ever able to try Danzo for treason. As she was thinking of what to do with their request, another thought came to her.

Danzo wanted one of his ROOT members to keep an eye on Naruto; however it could easily be used to get the reversed affect. If she could have Naruto get close to one of his men they would be able to spy and possibly locate Danzo's base of operations, at the very least they could gain some useful information. From what Jiraiya had told her, Naruto was an expert in information gathering, stealth and espionage. Aside from that the young man also had the uncanny ability to make friends out of people, even enemies something that could and had proven useful on many occasions.

That decided Tsunade put on her poker face as she spoke, "I… suppose what you say has some merit, very well, I will allow one of Danzo's personal security guards onto a team with Naruto. Though he may not always be teamed up with him, he will go on any missions of importance."

While Homura and Koharu were nodding their heads in a pleased fashion, Danzo narrowed his eyes at the woman. She had relented far easier than he had expected, the old war hawk was not naïve enough to believe that Tsunade would just let one of his men on Naruto's squad just like that. While Tsunade could not prove it, Danzo knew that she knew of his ROOT Anbu. This led him to wonder what she was planning. He shook the thought off, even if she had some kind plan it won't matter in the end. He would still get what he wants.

"I'm glad to see we came to an agreement Hokage-Sama," Danzo said, "I will have my chosen man here tomorrow morning."

Tsunade nodded, "very well."

As the three elders left her room, Tsunade turned her chair to look out at the village. She was taking a risk by allowing one of Danzo's men to get close to Naruto, someone who could potentially harm or even assassinate the Uzumaki-Namikaze heir. However she had faith in the blond's abilities to get through most situations, and she knew that Danzo would not be bold enough to try that... Not yet at least. She could only hope that this would work out in the end.

Turning back to her desk, Tsunade picked up the first sheet on the stack of paperwork.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto let out a soft grunt as he rolled himself over Yugito, now lying down in the center of the bed. Mei rolled over as she wrapped one arm around his chest, throwing her leg over him and pulling herself close enough that Naruto could feel her still hardened nipples as they rubbed against him. On his other side a tired and sweaty Yugito did the same thing, lightly purring as she nuzzled into his neck. Naruto smiled as he wrapped an arm around their waists, pulling them flushed up against him so that there was no room in between their bodies. Both girls let out a low moan and then a sigh of content as Naruto began to rub his hands up and down their backs.

"I'm gonna miss this feeling," Yugito murmured as Naruto's natural warmth began to lull her to sleep.

Mei did not say anything, merely hummed in agreement, already falling prey to the natural warmth the blond shinobi emitted, her stamina no where near Yugito's due to her not being a Jinchurikki.

Naruto kissed both Yugito and Mei on the forehead, "so will I, but it's not like we won't see each other."

"I know…" Yugito sighed as she kissed Naruto's shoulder, "doesn't mean I'm not gonna miss getting spoiled."

Naruto let out a soft chuckle, "don't worry, eventually I'll be able to spoil you girls like this every day." Naruto kissed her head again, "now let's follow Mei's example and get some rest."

Yugito smiled as she did as asked, letting sleep take her.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"You called Danzo-Sama?"

Danzo looked at the figure kneeling before him, a young man who was wearing a bird mask that could not be any older then seventeen. Yet he was also one of Danzo's most valuable assets, having been trained at an early age when the war hawk was unable to get Naruto into his ROOT program.

"I have a new mission for you," Danzo said without preamble, "you are to watch Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. Find out everything you can about him, strengths, weaknesses and any people he is close to. Do you understand your mission?"

"Hai Danzo-Sama," the young boy spoke in an emotionless tone.

"Good take off your mask, you will not need it for this mission," Danzo ordered.

The young man took off his mask revealing coal black eyes, black hair and pale skin. Still kneeling the youth set the mask on the floor, keeping his head bowed down for his leader. Danzo gave a small smile to himself, this boy would complete his mission, the bandaged man had made sure of that.

"For this mission your name will be Sai."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto looked into his bowl of steaming ramen with a sigh, twirling the noodles on his chop sticks he brought it to his mouth and began eating. It had only been a day since Mei and Yugito left and he was already missing the two women, he had gotten used to waking up with the two next to him and spending the time he was not using to train himself or others with them. Shaking his head he finished eating his ramen, drinking the broth straight from the bowl before unsealing his frog wallet and taking out the necessary money where he put it on the table.

"Thanks for the food Teuchi-san!" Naruto called out to the ramen chef who was in the back. "Give my regards to Ayame-nee-chan when she gets here!"

"Alright! See you later Naruto!" Teuchi called as his head popped out from the back.

Naruto tossed a wave over his shoulder as he lifted the flaps on the restaurant and left. The blond shinobi waved to several people as he walked by, recognizing them as the ones who respected him for his burden. As he made his way home Naruto spotted Chouji, Shikamaru and Ino walking out of a shinobi store, changing direction the blond made his way over to them.

"Hey guys," Naruto greeted as he stopped next to them.

"What's up Naruto?" Chouji asked as he hefted his new halberd on his shoulder.

"Not much," Naruto replied, "now that the Chunin Exams are over things have gotten pretty quiet."

"Yeah it's also been a lot less troublesome now," Shikamaru said, personally he was glad those troublesome exams were over with. Now he could get back to his cloud watching.

"Everything is always troublesome for you Shikamaru," Ino scolded him.

"Nah, just anything that actually requires me to work," the lazy Jonin replied.

Ino scowled before turning her attention to Naruto, "so what's this I've been hearing about you spending time with two foreign woman?" Being a gossip queen, Ino was quite curious to learn more about this. It had been the talk of nearly every girl in Konoha, first claiming that Naruto had been seen with a red haired woman with rumors of it being the new Mizukage. Then their was the rumor of him spending time with a blond woman, a Kumo kunoichi at that, which then turned into him spending time with the two of them. Ino had been able to confirm those rumors when she had seen Naruto with the two women in question on his arm during the breaks in the Chunin Exams, but wanted more information.

She also would not deny to being jealous, Ino had tried multiple times to flirt with Naruto. After the young blonds first council meeting as a clan head, her father Inoichi had let slip that Naruto had been placed under the C.R.A. and would have to take multiple wives. As clan heir it was necessary that Ino know about Clan Laws, so she knew about this almost as soon as Naruto's heritage had been revealed, but having her dad confirm it made her that much more determined to make the blond shinobi hers. It hadn't worked out the way she had wanted, Naruto while not being rude had either turned down or redirected any attempts at her asking him for a date or any time she had tried to flirt with him. It had been a vexing experience for the blond kunoichi who was used to using her beauty on men in the village to get what she wanted. She had eventually stopped trying to get him and instead just focused on being his friend, though that did not mean that she did not feel jealousy towards those who had.

Naruto blinked at the question before shrugging, he had known the moment those two appeared on his door step that word would get out, and with Ino being a such a gosip her need to know would be insatiable. "The red haired woman was Mei Terumi, the Godaime Mizukage. And the blond was Yugito Nii, a Kumo kunoichi and the Jinchurikki for the Nibi No Nekomata." The three with him gaped at him when they heard of the blonds status, they knew that Naruto was a Jinchurikki… and in all honesty didn't care, but hearing about another one was always a surprise. "They also happen to be two of the four women I plan on marrying," Naruto said, there was no way to hide that now that the three had been seen together. Not that their was much of a point anyway, Yugito was already a target for Akatsuki so the information about her being his fiance would not really mean much. And since she lived in Kumo, Danzo and his Cohorts would be unable to make a move on her. And Mei was a Kage, meaning not only was she an S rank ninja, but she also commanded several thousand other ninja; Akatsuki and Danzo would have to stupid to attempt trying to get her as a hostage.

"So you mean that your marrying them!" Ino asked in surprise, hunches were all well and good, but hearing the rumors straight from the horses mouth so to speak was another thing entirely.

"Didn't I just say that?" Naruto asked rhetorically, seriously why do some woman like to repeat what he already said. Maybe Shikamaru had a point, some woman were troublesome.

"Well… it's just surprising is all…" Ino said in her defense.

"I suppose that's true," Naruto said, he had refused to give any information about who he planned on marrying, feeling that it was not only nobodies business but his and the women he was marrying. "However I've known them for several years now."

"One of them is a Kage and the other 's Jinchurikki like yourself," Shikamaru muttered, "sounds like some kind of troublesome political arrangement."

Naruto laughed at him, "I suppose it would, to be honest I never thought about it like that. I met both of them during my days traveling the elemental nations," he smiled a bit as his eyes glazed over in remembrance, "both of them had something that I not only love, but was unique and distinctive to just them, aside from the fact that they have unrivalled beauty even among other kunoichi. I'm not one to believe in destiny or fate or any of that bull shit, but I really do have to thank kami for bringing me to them…"

The three ninja looked at the blond who looked like one of those love struck kids in some kind of drama show that Shikamaru's mom loved to watch.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yoshino Nara sneezed as she watched her favorite Soap Opera, "someone's talking about me," she mumbled as she grabbed a tissue. "If it's anything bad they are going to get a beating from my frying pan."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Ino once again felt jealousy well up inside of her, it was clear as day that Naruto was utterly devoted to those two. When she had been chasing after Sasuke, and to a lesser extent and much more recently, Naruto, she had hoped to see that look aimed at her. She sighed in disappointment.

Naruto shrugged as he snapped himself out of his trance like state, "though it will definitely help village relations with both Kumo and Kiri, still it's really only convenient and not something that matters."

"It still sounds troublesome," Shikamaru said.

Naruto just rolled his eyes at the lazy Nara. The four continued talking for awhile, switching the subject to a topic that did not involve the blonds personal life when Naruto sensed movement behind him. Spinning around he unsealed **Susanoo **and sent a wind blade into to black tigers, both of them fell apart as the blade passed through them and Naruto frowned when a smell hit his nose, _those things are made of ink._ looking around Naruto spotted a figure on one of the roofs several meters away.

Channeling chakra into his eyes Naruto was able to get a good look at the figure. It was a boy around his age with short ink black hair, black eyes and very pale skin. He had a small backpack on him that Naruto assumed held the equipment he used to make those two ink beasts. He wore a short black jacket and also carried a tonto on his back under the pack. The rest of his outfit consisted of a high collared shirt that exposed his midriff, black pants, shinobi sandals and gloves with his index finger and thumb exposed. In many ways the teen bore a strong physical resemblance to Sasuke Uchiha; however there was one major difference.

Sasuke Uchiha always held a look of absolute hatred and utter loathing for his brother and people he believed were weak, as well as a desire for power and revenge. This boy's eyes held nothing; they had no emotion what so ever. Naruto instantly knew that this boy worked for Danzo, who had a habit of turning his men into emotionless puppets.

_He was most likely sent here to test me, but why would he do it so openly? More important, what does Danzo gain by this? It's well known that I'm considered an S rank ninja on par with a Kage, so he knows that anyone less then another S class ninja could never really challenge me. _Naruto shook his head; _I don't have enough information on the man to make an accurate estimation of anything. I'll deal with this first and see what I can find out later._

Naruto watched as the pale skinned youth took a brush and began to write on the scroll that was in his lap, a few seconds later more of those ink tigers hot out.

"Shikamaru!" Naruto shouted at the lazy jonin, who just sighed and muttered a quick troublesome before going through several hand seals.

"**Ninpou: Kage Nui No Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Shadow Sewing Jutsu)"**

The Nara heirs shadow shot up from the ground, impaling the ink tigers and allowing Naruto to continue moving. More ink beasts leapt at Naruto who was about to skewer them with a wind blade, only for Chouji to enlarge his arm and slice them apart with his halberd. Nodding in thanks Naruto continued, putting on a burst of speed that made him all but invisible. Six more ink beasts came towards the blur that represented Naruto, with **Susanoo **still in hand Naruto made several slashing motions as he passed them. He did not stop as the ink beasts burst nack to their original state, reappearing in front of the pale skinned youth, Naruto aimed a slash for his head. The young teen acted fast, whipping out his tonto and blocking Naruto's slash, however he had not expected the strength behind the blonds attack and the ground under him cracked as he was pushed onto a knee.

_What strength! _thought Sai as he struggled to keep from being skewered.

"You know it's not very nice to attack a fellow leaf shinobi," Naruto said in his emotionless voice, "do so again and I will make sure you regret such a choice."

"My apologize," the black haired teen said as he gave Naruto a smile that was so fake the blond wanted to throw up. "I was merely testing your skills as a shinobi, and I have to say with how terrible you are you must not have any balls."

Naruto blinked, then blinked again as what the pale skinned youth said. When it did Naruto looked at the young man with a hard look, and for the first time in his life Sai felt a small chill run down his spine. Before the black haired teen could do anything Naruto exploded, sending him flying back and smashing into a wall where a large human shaped crater formed under him. Sai pulled himself out of the way crater and shook his head to clear it of the ringing, looking up he saw Naruto staring at him from the roof where he had been previously. Blinking he looked again and saw Naruto had disappeared, Sai frowned before **sushining **to go report to Danzo.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto appeared within his home a few minutes after the confrontation, walking down the stairs Naruto entered his study. He began to open several drawers, searching for something his dad had been working on before the Kyuubi attack. Naruto frowned as he continued his search, wondering why he could not find it. Expanding is search Naruto made several clones to go look through the library, sitting down in his chair Naruto took out some parchment, high quality ink and a brush. While he waited for his clones Naruto began to write out some of the idea's he had on new seals, or modifications of previously existing seals.

"Hey boss."

Naruto turned around in his seat just in time to catch a scroll that one of his **Kage Bushin's **tossed to him. Turning the scroll over the blond saw that it was what he was looking for, "thanks; dispel yourself to alert the others." The clone nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke, turning back around Naruto nipped his thumb and spread some blood across the seal. There was a slight hiss as his skin healed up and the seal disappeared in a puff of smoke, unrolling the scroll Naruto smiled as he saw the almost completed work.

Setting it down Naruto began to work.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Omake: Dickless

"My apologize," the black haired teen said as he gave Naruto a smile that was so fake the blond wanted to throw up. "I was merely testing your skills as a shinobi, and I have to say with how terrible you are you must not have any balls, Dickless."

Naruto blinked, "and how would you know if I have no balls or not? For that matter why are you so interested in my dick? Cuz you know, it's totally cool if your into that kind of thing, but if that's the case you may want to go to Oto. I hear Orochimaru has a fetich for pale skinned boys."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Within one of his many bases Orochimaru sneezed, "someone must be talking about me," the pale skinned man mused as he rubbed his nose, "I hope I can use them for my experiments."

"Who cares if someone was talking about you," Sasuke scoffed, "now get back to training me!"

"Of course Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said as he licked his lips as he restarted… training Sasuke.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Because of how pathetic you are," the pale teen replied with a smile.

"Ah I see," Naruto said, nodding his head as if what the pale skinned youth had told him explained it all. "And how exactly am I pathetic?" Naruto put more of his strength against **Susanoo**, making the tonto the pale teen was using begin to crack. "Does it have something to do with strength, because if so we both know I'm stronger then you." Naruto used even more strength to shatter the other boy's blade, spinning around he kicked the pale teen in the head, sending the boy flying. "Or maybe it's that you don't think I have skill?" Sai looked up to see Naruto in front of him, "I assure you I have far more skill then you."

Sai tried to create several ink beasts but the Naruto in front of him exploded, making the boy once again crash into a wall. Sai managed to get up just in time to see a sword heading for him to take his head off. He rolled to the left, only to get kicked in the face.

"Come on!" Naruto said as he smashed another foot in the pale boys face, "what was this you were saying about me lacking balls! You can't even take a beating like a man," Naruto smashed a fist in Sai's face, making the boy stumble back. "Don't insult people if you know things are not true," Naruto did a heel drop on Sai's shoulder, sending the teen into the ground and knocking him out. Naruto stood over the unconscious boy with a grin, "you know I don't think you've had enough punishment yet…"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning Sai could be found still unconscious with people staring up at him, taking pictures as he hung from the flag pole. He was completely naked, save his underwear, which was being used to hang him on said flag pole. On the boy's face, in red bold print were the words 'I like dicks' written for everyone to see.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

So this is the end of the fillers as far as I can see, I don't know if there will be more in the future but we'll see. This one is a little shorter then my others and some of it was actually used to rant about some cock sucker who insulted me in a review. Which reminds me if anyone agrees with me about idiots who should keep their mouths shut when using reviews to insult a person and not someone's work please add that in your review. Seriously I don't mind flames, since I'll either ignore it, or if it gives me good advice for my stories use it. But when people just make a review that insults the writer themselves it's stupid, it's kind of like you ignored the story line and just reviewed to say 'hey by the way you're an idiot and you like to suck cock!' it does not help the writer and in fact has nothing to do with the story.

Anyway's if you agree be sure to leave it in your review.

I'll catch you all on the flip side.

**Next! Chapter 14: Nanabi!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Authors Note: I would like to apologize to those who felt my rant was uncalled for. I just want to point out this review was NOT a flame (I personally think some flames are useful in making sure us writers don't get too big of a head), it was an insult about me personally. There is a difference between telling someone their story sucks, and telling someone they like to fuck their mom because they have a harem of older women in a story (and ignored the fact that there are quite a few stories with actual incest in them Aka Naru/Kush stories). Thankfully that should be a onetime deal; I will do my best to ignore future insults.**

**Bakapervert: Fu has pink hair, there is no way in hell I'm making someone with pink hair a dude (that's just an insult to manliness everywhere). Just kidding, but seriously Fu's gonna be a girl.**

**Leaf Ranger: don't worry I have a plan for Sai.**

**Bankai777: oh don't you worry Kushina will be giving Naruto and Jiraiya a beat down for being a pervert in this story eventually (It won't happen at the same time but it will happen). Also for the Kaiten, remember Hanabi is not a genius like Negi (I may not like genius's but I won't deny he is one) so she is not as good with the family techniques (aka they are weaker than normal).**

**Zekuren: Still a five person limit, and yes it is Yugao.**

**Stone20: thanks, in the manga that was always my biggest problem, he only learns a few techniques and he never actually grows a brain. Which should be obvious after some the latest chapter's where he still thinks of Sasuke as a brother, despite the fact that he wants to destroy the leaf village.**

**Chapter 14: Nanabi**

Itachi and Kisame were walking through the woods on the borders of Hi No Kuni near Takigakure (Hidden Water village), heading towards their next mark. To most the pair would seem quite odd, one being a person who looked more like a shark then a man with a bloodlust to match. While the other was vastly shorter, with a pair of blood red eyes and a demeanor that was cold enough to freeze hell. Despite their vast differences both in countenance and battle styles, they were the only pair within Akatsuki that truly got a long. Both held a great respect for the other and considered each other equals, though Kisame would often defer to Itachi in combat situations due to the man's finesse and tactically sound mind.

Kisame turned to look at his partner as they walked, "so how are we gonna get this one?" It was the question he had been wanting to know for awhile. The Nanabi was not originally their target, having been Kakazu's before the man was killed. From what Kisame had heard, the Nanabi Jinchurikki had two powers that made her quite a difficult opponent. Her bugs which were similar to those in the Aburame clan, and her super powered strength that was said to be on par with Tsunade due to her affinity with the earth element. And while Kisame was sure he could take her if push came to shove, having a ninja who could use their bugs to drain your chakra like he did with Samehada would make it much tougher.

Itachi did not even bother to look at Kisame as he spoke, using the same emotionless tone he always did. "You are going to be the distraction that draws her out and the other ninja to you, when you do I will take care of her since her bugs put you at a disadvantage."

Kisame gave the Uchiha slayer a shark like grin, "So I go in and cause mass amounts of damage?" the shark man chuckled, "Sounds good to me." Readjusting Samehada on his back, Kisame grinned at the prospect of fighting a lot of enemies.

It was something that never failed to bring a smile to his face.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Shibuki gave a happy grin as he finally finished all of the paperwork for his village, leaning back in his chair the young village leader let out a sigh. Not much had changed for the village in the last four years, it still looked the same as ever with the large tree in the middle where the Hero's Water was produced stood as tall and grand as ever. The water fall entrance and natural defenses of Takigakure had allowed for it to escape damage from all three shinobi wars, as well as keep the country from ever being invaded.

The only real change that had happened came when Jiraiya had arrived in Taki to warn them about the threat of Akatsuki. Ever since then there had been much debate on what to do with Fu, the Jinchurikki for the Nanabi No Kabutomushi (Seven Tailed Beatle) and his sister. Many of the elders of the village felt that Fu should either be exiled or even just outright given to Akatsuki in order to appease them. Many of the civilians unfortunately agreed with them, like in most places Jinchurikki were just as feared and hated here. However Shibuki as the village leader had adamantly shot down all of their attempts at getting rid of his sister, claiming that not only would it be foolish to give her to a group of criminals, but also reminding them that Kakazu had been a part of that group before his remains had been sent to Taki, courtesy of Naruto. That had been the only reason the elders did not press the issue as much as they would have, since anything related to Kakazu was considered Taboo.

Even though not much had changed for the village, it had for Shibuki. A little over four years ago he had been nothing but a coward, riding on the fame of his father who had used the Hero's water to save the village from a threat it had been faced with, sacrificing his life in the process. All that had changed when one blond Konoha shinobi had come to Taki on a mission. During that time Shibuki's former teacher Suien had betrayed the village in order to get his hands on the Hero's Water, at first Shibuki had been too afraid to do anything. His father had died protecting the village, which had given Shibuki his cowardly nature since he did not want to die. Naruto had been the one to change his outlook, going down to face Suien knowing that he was outclassed. It had been that never say die attitude that had given Shibuki the courage to fight for his village, even going as far as to drink the hero's water, something that would normally kill the person who used it. He had miraculously survived after using the Hero's Water, and after that had taken up being a true leader to Takigakure.

A large explosion within the village knocked the young man out of his thoughts. Before he could even so much as stand up, one of his men burst into the room panting heavily.

"What the hell is going on!" asked Shibuki in a commanding voice.

"It's… Akatsuki…. Shibuki-Sama," the Chunin panted, "they're here… inside Taki!"

Shibuki's eyes widened at this information, he knew it would only be a matter of time before Akatsuki tried something to get his sister, or more specifically the Nanabi. It was for that reason that he had ordered Fu not to do any missions, keeping her within the village where he felt that she could be better protected by using the villages natural defenses. He would have never assumed that Akatsuki would be so reckless as to actually attack her within the village…

"Gather all of our shinobi forces!" Shibuki ordered, "They've come for Fu, we have no idea what a group of such criminals will do if they get their hands on the power of the Nanabi! Also send out one of our hawks to contact Konoha and request for them to send aid!" Shibuki did not give the man any time to answer as he put on his Jonin flak jacket and left, rushing towards the explosion. After the Suien incident Shibuki had trained himself as hard as he could, he was pleased to say that he was now officially considered one of the strongest ninja Taki had ever produced and he would be damned if he could not protect his home.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Kisame grinned as all of the ninja in the village headed for him, reaching a hand over his back, the shark man pulled Samehada off of him as he stood on the surface of the water next to the Hero's Tree. Soon enough the ninja came, surrounding and charging at him. Grinning he unleashed his carefully hidden reserves of chakra, letting his power explode from his body. His chakra was so strong that it was visible as a deep blue color, and had caused many of the ninja who had been charging to stop in shock. This was the reason that Kisame had earned his nickname the Bijuu without a tail, Kisame's reserves were nearly without equal, the only one being his superior in chakra reserves being Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, and easily rivaled that of some of the lesser Bijuu like the Ichibi and Nibi.

Not giving the Taki ninja a chance to recover, Kisame rushed them. Swinging his sword with reckless, yet control zeal. Samehada smashed into one of the shinobi, taking the man with him as he continued on to hit another one, sending the two flying away with broken ribs. The others soon snapped out of their stupor and charged, one of them closing distance with Kisame, attempting to impale him with a Kunai. Only for Kisame to smash Samehada on the man's shoulder, dragging the sword as the scaly spikes came out and tore the man's skin off. The shark man did not bother with the man as he screamed, merely kicking him out of the way as another ninja came up to him. Kisame grinned as he ducked under a swipe from a water sword, coming up as he smashed Samehada into the kunoichi's stomach, getting the woman to cough up blood before sending her flying away.

"**Suiton: Suigadan! (Water release: Water Fang projectile)"**

Kisame turned around as he heard the ninjutsu called to see several dozen water fangs coming towards him, the man merely gave a shark like grin as he put Semehada back on his back and began doing his own hand seals.

"**Suiton: Suejinheki!"**

A giant wall of water formed around Kisame, blocking the water fangs from hitting him. When the attack subsided Kisame went through even more hand seals before calling out his jutsu.

"**Suiton: Suikoudan No Jutsu! (Water Release: Water Shark Projectile Technique)"**

A large column of water rose from the surface of the lake, easily reaching a height of sixty feet before charging the Taki Ninja, taking the shape of a shark halfway through. There were several pained screams as the jutsu tore straight through many of the ninja, either outright ripping them apart or taking off limbs. The jutsu crashed back into the lake some distance away, taking that as his cue, Kisame grabbed his sword again and charged.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Shizune-san!"

Shizune looked up to see a man running towards her carrying a message in his hand. Noticing the man's frantic look she began asking questions to calm the man, "what's wrong?"

"Here… letter… Takigaukure…" the man said in between his pants.

Shizune took the letter and began to read, she felt her eyes widen at the news the carrier hawk from Takigakure had sent them, knowing that they had to respond quickly to this she made her way to the Hokage Tower. Rushing up the stairs and not even bothering to knock as she usually does, the young woman barged in on her sensei.

"Tsunade-Sama!"

Tsunade spit out the Sake she had been drinking at the surprising intrusion, she looked over at Shizune and was about to offer some excuse about being caught drinking when she noticed her apprentices worried countenance. The Busty blond instantly went into her Hokage mode, "What's wrong Shizune?"

"Akatsuki is attacking Takigakure!" Shizune cried out, causing Tsunade's eyes to widen. "We just received a message from them that they are under attack, the description given indicates they are being attacked by Kisame Hoshigaki!"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes as she realized something, "Did the reports mention anything on his partner?"

Shizune shook her head, "No Tsunade-Sama, he apparently has not been seen."

Tsunade nodded as she made her split second decision on what to do, they could not afford to let Akatsuki get their hands on any of the Bijuu so they would need to act fast. "Get me Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, Kakashi Hatake, Sakura Haruno and… Sai!" the blond woman ordered.

Shizune looked surprised, "Tsunade-Sama are you sure? I mean Naruto-kun is…"

"I know very well that Naruto is also a target," Tsunade interrupted the black haired woman, "However he is also the only other S rank ninja in the village right now besides me and the only one who can face Akatsuki one on one and win. Now hurry up and get them!"

"Hai Tsunade-Sama!" Shizune said as she rushed out of the room.

Tsunade turned to look at the village, a troubled look crossing her visage.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto finished putting on his shinobi clothing and made his way down to the kitchen, a clone had already cooked breakfast and had it set on the table. Sitting down Naruto piled as much food as it could fit onto it and began to eat as he planned out the day. He had just finished his training routine, maybe he should go and get a mission or see if one of his friends wanted to spar. As he continued eating a ring came, signifying someone was at the gate. Pushing his plate away from him, Naruto got up and made his way over to the door. Walking outside he moved over to the gate and unlocked it, opening it up he came face to face with a flustered Shizune.

"Shizune-nee-chan is something wrong?" Naruto asked as he picked up her increased heart rate and tension.

"Ts-Tsunade-Sama has a mission for you," Shizune said as she looked at him, "It's Akatsuki!"

Naruto's eyes widened, before narrowing, he grabbed onto Shizune and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Itachi breezed through the now nearly deserted streets as he made his way towards the hideout, where if the information Akatsuki had received was correct, was where the Nanabi had been hidden. A simple genjutsu surrounding him made the clan slayer all but invisible to the naked eye as he moved. He was on the opposite side of the village from where Kisame's battle was going on, a tactical decision made by him so he could get the Nanabi without much resistance. Looking ahead of him, Itachi saw a large dome like structure where the Nanabi was supposed to be held. Before he got there however the black haired man was forced to dodge a swarm of beetles.

Looking up Itachi spotted Fu standing on top of the dome, glaring down at him. Fu was a girl in her mid to late teens with an orange hair clip in her short green hair; she had lightly tanned skin and pink eyes. Her ninja attire consisted of a white shirt that exposed her midriff and she had mesh net armor underneath. On her arms from about mid bicep to the end of her wrist were white arm bands, her Takigakure Hitae-ate was displayed on her right arm. She was wearing fishnet shorts and had a short white apron skirt over it. The last article she had on her was an odd looking red cylindrical object strapped to her back by red straps that crisscrossed her chest.

"I figured Akatsuki would come here looking for me," Fu said as she glared at Itachi, "I should have realized it would not matter if I was in a village or not."

Itachi ignored her words as he spoke, "Come with me and we will not harm this village anymore then we already have."

Fu's eyes narrowed even more, "What makes you think I'd ever come with the likes of you. I know what you want to do with me, I have no intention of dying because you want the Nanabi!" As she said this a swarm of bugs moved in on Itachi, who jumped out of the way and sent a fire ball at the swarm, which dissolved before the fire ball could hit them.

Itachi did not let any emotions that might come on his face show as he prepared to battle the Nanabi Jinchurikki and take her by force.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto appeared within the Hokage office with Shizune to see that Kakashi and Sakura already there, he also noticed the odd pale boy who had attacked him the other day but ignored him for the time being. "You called Tsunade-Sama?" Naruto asked as he looked at the woman, using a respectful suffix due to the serious nature of why he was here.

"Yes," Tsunade said as she looked at him and the other three in the room, "We have just received a request for help from Takigakure. Akatsuki is attacking them in order to acquire the Nanabi Jinchurikki Fu," she watched as Naruto's eyes narrowed before continuing, "You four are going there to assist in…"

"Four?" Naruto questioned as he turned to look at the pale skinned youth, "you mean he is on my team?"

"Yes," Tsunade said, "This is Sai, he will be working with you for the foreseeable future."

_I see, _Naruto thought to himself, _so Danzo is starting to consider me enough of a threat that he wants someone on my team to watch me and discover some kind of weakness to exploit in order to get me under his thumb._ Out loud Naruto said, "Very well, do we know which Akatsuki members are attacking Taki?"

"The description we were given matches that of Kisame Hoshigaki," Tsunade informed him.

"And Itachi?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes in thought.

Tsunade shook her head, "He was not in the report."

_Meaning that Kisame is merely a distraction to keep the Taki ninja occupied, in the meantime Itachi will find the Nanabi and take her before they know what's happening, _the blond deduced within his mind. It was a sound plan he had to admit, one that depending on the enemy could be used to great effect. Naruto was shaken out of his thoughts by Tsunade.

"Naruto you will be in charge of this mission since you have the most experience when dealing with Akatsuki members."

Naruto nodded as he turned to address his team, "I want you three to prepare for an S class mission, you have one hour to get your equipment ready and then meet me at the east gate."

Kakashi and Sakura nodded, both somewhat surprised by Naruto's now commanding presence.

Sai merely gave the blond a smile, "We will be there, it will be a pleasure working with a dickless wonder like you."

Naruto blinked in surprise, before narrowing his eyes as he resisted the urge to kill the teen for his insult. He could not afford to kill someone when he had a mission to prepare for.

He would just have to prank him later.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Kisame grinned as most of the Taki ninja lay dead or dying around him, the few that were still capable of fighting were eyeing him warily. "Alright so who wants to be the next victim to help me feed Samehada?" the shark man asked, looking around him as the ninja tensed.

"How about no one?"

Kisame and the others turned to see Shibuki looking at the Akatsuki member with a harsh glare, "I'm not going to let you get away with this and I'm not gonna let you get my sister!"

Kisame chuckled, "If you say so Gaki, though I think it would be more convincing if you backed up your words with action." Kisame swung Samehada as if it weighed nothing, setting on his shoulder as a shakr-like smirk graced his face.

Shibuki said nothing as he shot off the branch he was standing on, going through a string of hand seals before calling out his jutsu.

"**Suiton: Suiryuudan No Jutsu!"**

A large water dragon rose up from the lake, roaring as it launched itself at Kisame. The shark man lifted Samehada over his head, when the water dragon came near him smashed his sword down, breaking the water dragon apart and absorbing some of the excess chakra. Jumping into the water, Kisame swam to Shibuki at speeds that most people could not run. Jumping out of the water the Shark like member of Akatsuki tried to smash Samehada into Shibuki's stomach, however the Taki leader evaded to the side. Pulling out a kunai Shibuki threw it at Kisame's arm, pulling his arm back, Kisame used Samehada to bat the Kunai away. Spinning around Kisame swung Samehada at Shibuki, who ducked under the large blade and tried to get in close. He was unable to as Kisame's foot smashed into his ribs, sending the village leader flying.

Shibuki flipped in the air and landed on the water's surface, skidding back a bit as he held his ribs, thankfully he did not feel anything that was broken. Standing back up he was just in time to see Kisame finishing a set of hand seals before calling out his jutsu.

"**Suiton: Daibakufu No Jutsu!"**

A giant vortex of water shot up in front of Kisame before flying towards Shibuki, cursing the young man dived out of the way. Rolling across the water's surface he came up only to see Kisame in front of him, swinging Semehada down at his head. The Taki leader was able to get out of the way of the man's sword, which missed smashing his head and ended up sending water flying everywhere. He could not however dodge the knee that planted itself in his gut, Shibuki coughed up some blood as he was sent flying back. Skidding across the water he was able to get back on his feet, but had to bend on a knee and hold his stomach.

"You're not too bad gaki," Kisame complimented as he walked up to Shibuki at a slow pace, "but your about fifty years too soon to beat me."

Shibuki cursed as he felt pain rack his body, despite all the training he had done he could not defeat this man. A stray thought crossed his mind, he could use 'that' but he knew what the consequences would be if he did. He shook the thought off, it did not matter, all that did was that he protect his home. Reaching into his pocket Shibuki pulled out a vial of liquid, it was a small sample of the Hero's Water. Opening the vial he drank the contents, chucking the vial away as his chakra burst out of him, increasing to ten times what it had been.

Kisame stopped where he was and looked on curiously, honestly he was not very concerned with the boys chakra increase, which was now almost at his own level. Even if it went above that he could just use Samehada to absorb the chakra. _Still the fight should be much more interesting now, _Kisame thought with a shark like grin.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto searched his surroundings as he and the three members of his squad were jumping through the trees, making sure they were on the right path to Takigakure. As soon as the three had appeared at the gate Naruto had set a grueling pace, telling them to keep up or they would be left behind, knowing that he had very little time before they managed to capture the Jinchurikki there. Thankfully the only person who seemed to be having a problem keeping up was Sakura, who while having gotten stronger was still just a Chunin. Naruto and consequently the other three stopped as they reach a waterfall, behind which the blonds enhanced senses picked up the sound of battle.

"It sounds like the battle is still going on which means that they have not managed to capture Fu yet," Naruto began without preamble. "According to the report on the fight we received from Taki, only Kisame is actually fighting. This means that his partner Itachi is most likely either searching for, or currently engaging the Jinchurikki in battle."

"Wait!" Sakura said, "Itachi… isn't he…"

"He's the one Sasuke wants to kill," Naruto said, "Itachi Uchiha. Now Kakashi and Sai, I want you two to engage Kisame and keep him from causing anymore damage. Sakura, I want you to help heal the wounded that you find since your more suited for a support role and will need to be in top form if Kakashi or Sai get hurt. Meanwhile I'm going to find Itachi and deal with him, hopefully we'll be able to dispose of them, but if not so long as they do not get their hands on the Jinchurikki we'll be fine."

"Are you sure you can handle Itachi on your own Naruto?" Kakashi asked in a worried tone, "I mean I know you've gotten powerful but…"

"Don't worry about me Kakashi," Naruto cut the man off, "I know my limits, I'm positive that I can beat Itachi should it come down to it."

"I don't see how someone who seems to be lacking a penis can fight an S rank criminal," Sai replied with the fake smile he had been giving them since the start.

Naruto glared at the boy, this kid had been nothing but trouble since they had met. Aside from the fact that the smile he gave was obviously fake and the boy had the emotional range of a toothpick, he also seemed to have some weird kind of dick fetish. He had mentioned Naruto's penis at least six different times when the blond was speaking, most of which were an insinuation to Naruto's lack of one.

Yep, this kid was so lucky they were on a mission right now.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that, so that I don't end up killing you," Naruto said. He turned to look at Kakashi, "You're in charge until I get back, try not to get yourself killed." With that Naruto disappeared.

"You heard the man," Kakashi said, "Sai and I will go first, Sakura you come in after us and when we have Kisame fully engaged I want you to start helping the wounded."

"Got it Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said as Sai gave a nod of affirmation.

"Good then let's go!" Kakashi and Sai sped off into the waterfall entrance to Taki with Sakura following close behind.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Shibuki fell onto his knees as he felt his body begin to shut down and weaken, a side effect of using the Hero's Water. The village leader knew that he did not have much time left, the first time he had used the Hero's Water he was lucky since his reserves had not amounted enough to really make the Hero's Water affect him. This time however his reserves were just a little under a standard Kage's and he would not be able to get out of the full affects of using the water.

Looking up he saw the grinning figure of Kisame stalking towards him. Shibuki had thrown everything he could at the shark man, from taijutsu to S rank ninjutsu, none of it had worked. The man was like a monster, with chakra reserves that seemed to have no rival and monstrous speed and strength to match. Nothing he had done affected the shark like man.

Said man stopped a little ways away and grinned, "Well that was actually quite fun, I'm impressed. It's almost a shame I gotta kill you now… though it looks like you're about to die anyway." Kisame chuckled as Shibuki glared at him, the shark man was just about to use one of his favorite jutsu when the sound of a thousand birds chirping filled the air.

Turning their heads the two saw none other than Kakashi Hatake racing towards them, his Sharingan eye blazing and lightning coming out of the palm of his hand. Racing up to Kisame, Kakashi thrust out his hand forcing the shark man to jump back as he pulled out Samehada. The jutsu clashed with the large blade before dissipating from the sword sucking up all of the energy, Kakashi was forced to jump back as his jutsu disappeared.

"Well if it isn't Sharingan No Kakashi," Kisame said with a large grin, "you managed to get here quite fast."

"Really?" Kakashi said in a nonchalant voice, "that's too bad, I was hoping to use my latest excuse for being tardy. Oh well."

"I hope you give me more of a challenge then what I've been getting so far," Kisame said as he ignored Kakashi's words.

"Well I suppose since I'm here I might as well," Kakashi replied, his nonchalant voice belying his serious demeanor.

Before Kisame could say anything more another voice spoke out.

"**Choujo Giga!"**

Several lions made of ink shot down from the tree and came towards Kisame, who used Samehada to smash them apart. Doing so he got covered in ink as the beasts were destroyed. Using the distraction Sai provided Kakashi went through more hand signs, calling out his jutsu as he took a deep breath.

"**Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu!"**

Kakashi blew out a large fireball that headed for Kisame. However the shark like Akatsuki was not about to let himself get fried, going through his own hand seals he called out his jutsu.

"**Suiton: Suejinheki!"**

A large wall of water formed around Kisame, blacking the fireball which dissipated with a hiss of steam. The water wall dropped revealing no one in it putting Kakashi on guard, taking out a kunai the Sharingan ninja looked around for his enemy. He spotted the shark man when Kisame shot out of the water, barreling towards the scarecrow. Kakashi jumped out of the way, pulling several kunai out of his pouch as he sent them sailing towards Kisame. Said ninja grinned as used his sword as a shield, going back into the water and swimming towards Kakashi. The copy ninja jumped into the air just as Kisame came up and attempted to smash him with Samehada, going through several hand signs Kakashi called out a jutsu that Naruto had taught him in one of their training sessions together.

"**Raiton: Gian!"**

Kisame cursed as a blast of lightning shot out of Kakashi's mouth and headed towards him, landing on the water Kisame jumped into the air. The lightning jutsu hit the water, sending electricity everywhere, several volts traveled along the water droplets Kisame made and hit him. The shark like ninja grit his teeth as he pushed past the pain, putting Samehada on his back as he went through several hand seals.

"**Suiton: Suikoudan No Jutsu!"**

A column of water rose from the lake and barreled itself towards Kakashi, taking the shape of a shark as it got closer. It smashed into the copy ninja, only for Kakashi to burst into smoke before turning into a log.

While the battle was going on, Sakura hurried over to Shibuki.

"Shibuki!"

Shibuki looked up to see the pink haired girl that had been with Naruto during Suien's betrayal. "Sakura-san," he said in a haggard voice as the affects of the Hero's Water took its toll on him.

Sakura kneeled down next to him and began to run a medical scanning jutsu over him. She furrowed her brow at what she found, while there was nothing wrong with his muscles, bones, ligaments or joints, there was a serious issue with his chakra system. All of his chakra coils were breaking down, the tenketsu were literally starting to shrivel up. Sakura got out a scroll with medical supplies, unsealing its contents she grabbed a jar of soldier pills.

"Here take this," She said as she put it near his mouth. Shibuki looked at it for a second before taking the pill in his mouth and chewing.

"Blah!" he tried to resist the urge to spit out the terrible tasting pill. Chewing it up and swallowing. While he took the special soldier pills Sakura had created, the pink haired girl began to pour medical chakra into Shibuki's coils, keeping them from becoming more damaged until the pills could do their work.

"You're very lucky we got here in time," Sakura told Shibuki, "Had we gotten here any later, you would not have survived whatever is happening to your chakra coils."

"Good to know," Shibuki said in a strained voice as he finished swallowing the rest of the horrific pill. He was actually beginning to think it was better to just die then eat something that tasted as horrid as these pills.

Sakura did not say anything else as she continued her work.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Itachi looked at Fu's fallen form, which was burnt up and had numerous cuts and bruises. Looking up, the Uchiha slayer surveyed the destroyed landscape that had been caused by Fu's insane strength. The battle had been a lot harder than he had anticipated. Due to the use of her bugs, Itachi's greatest advantage had been negated. Contrary to what some might think Itachi was not a ninjutsu specialist, while he was good at it, better than most even, his true specialty was the subtle power of genjutsu. Unlike most of his clan who preferred to flaunt their Sharingan and show off the jutsu they copied, Itachi felt that deception and misdirection were better suited for a ninja, and that genjutsu accomplished that task better than other ninja arts.

That power had not worked on the Nanabi Jinchurikki, who's bugs would dispel his illusions before they could set in. Also because he could not kill her he had been unable to use his Mangekyo ability Amataresu. This had forced him to use ninjutsu and taijutsu, though even with just those two spheres to use Itachi still won with relatively little injury. He walked over to Fu's unconscious form and was just about to lift her up when his instincts had him dodging a hail of kunai that came from the left.

"You know I was wondering when we would meet again," Itachi looked towards the source of the voice, to see Naruto looking at him with a blank expression that matched his own.

"It is good to see you again Naruto-kun," Itachi said in an emotionless voice as he stood up. If the Uchiha was surprised he did not show it, merely stared at Naruto with his emotionless mask. "I hear you have gotten much stronger."

Naruto shed his weighted trench coat, knowing that to beat a Sharingan user he would need speed. "One does not train with a Sennin and not learn a thing or two," Naruto replied, "in any event, I'm here to make sure you don't take Fu over here."

"I see…" was all Itachi said as he prepared to battle against Naruto, knowing he would have to go all out from the start to win.

For a long moment the two were just stared each other down, Naruto slipping into his father's stance as Itachi's Sharingan began to spin. On an unspoken signal the two began, Naruto tossed several kunai as he jumped towards a building. Those kunai had their momentum arrested when they met Itachi's shuriken as he too jumped to a building, this one on the opposite side of Naruto. The blond shinobi launched several shuriken this time, focusing wind chakra into them. In retaliation Itachi threw some more shuriken himself, but was forced to dodge when his own weapons were sliced in half by Naruto's. Looking up Itachi spotted Naruto heading right for him, he blocked the incoming strike but was still sent back from the power the blow held. Flipping onto his feet Itachi pointed at Naruto.

Itachi vanished from view and soon fire began to surround Naruto, realizing this was merely a genjutsu Naruto stopped all of his chakra and sent a large pulse of Kyuubi's chakra. The burst destroyed the genjutsu and unknowingly broke the second layer that Itachi had placed over it. Naruto watched as Itachi shimmered into existence right next to him, blocking the strike from the S rank criminal before lashing out with his own fist. Itachi ducked under Naruto's fist and came up trying to smash an open palm into the blond's torso, Naruto twisted his body to the side as he redirected Itachi's attack and came at the shinobi with an elbow. Itachi jumped away, beginning a set of hand seals.

"**Katon: Goryuuka No Jutsu!"**

A large fire dragon shot towards Naruto who held up both hands, palms facing the dragon as it charged at him.

"_**Suiton: Suiryuudan No Jutsu."**_

A dragon made of water coalesced in front of Naruto, it raced towards the incoming fire dragon. The two jutsu exploded against each other in a blast of smoke and steam. Itachi looked into the smoke as he prepared for anything, despite this he was caught off guard when a pale blast of lightning shot through the steam. Quick use of the **Kariwimi **got him away from the blast, however a second later Naruto appeared in front of him. The blond ran Itachi through with **Susanoo**, only for the black haired man to disappear in a puff of smoke. A large ball of fire came at Naruto from above, using his speed the blond was able to dodge. Pointing a finger where the blast came from Naruto sent another _**Byakurai **_towards Itachi and went straight through the man's chest. However, as Itachi hit the ground his body turned into a flock of crows. Naruto had just enough time to realize it was a genjutsu before a lightning covered hand shot into his back.

"You have grown quite strong Naruto-kun," came the emotionless voice of Itachi behind him. "To be able to keep up with me means you must have trained quite hard, however you are still not at my level, give up."

Naruto turned his head and smirked at Itachi, right before he exploded. Itachi was barely able to make use of a **Kawirmi **to escape, however Naruto was already waiting for him.

"_**Kai."**_

Naruto felt half of the weight for the gravity seals and resistance seals on his body release, making him feel hundreds if not thousands of pounds lighter. He struck out at Itachi with a knife edge to the throat, the Uchiha Akatsuki member tilted his head only for Naruto to grab him by the back of the neck and pull him into a head butt. Itachi stumbled back with a bloody nose as Naruto came at him again, throwing a high kick low kick combination. Itachi ducked the first and swept away the second, he did not even notice the third one until he felt a foot connect with his chin. Itachi used the momentum of his kick to get air born and caught Naruto with his own foot. The blond jumped back as Itachi's foot clipped his chin, flipping in the air and landing back on his feet.

"_**Fuuton: Renkudan."**_

Naruto sucked in a deep breath before hitting himself on the gut, sending a condensed ball of wind chakra at Itachi. Going through several hand signs Itachi sucked in a breath as he called out his jutsu.

"**Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu!"**

A large fireball came out of Itachi's mouth and headed over to the canon ball sized wind bullet, due to winds weakness against fire any sort of fire jutsu would not only plow right through a wind jutsu, but the wind would increase its power even if going in an opposite direction. That was what would have happened here, if a Naruto **Kage Bushin **had not appeared under the fire ball and shot a water bullet at it. The condensed ball of water went straight through the fireball, leaving a large hole in it before it dissipating. The wind bullet continued on and hit Itachi, who disappeared in another puff of smoke.

Naruto spun around on his heel, stretching out his arm to block the incoming kick. Grabbing Itachi's foot Naruto spun it, sending the Uchiha spinning before landing on his back. Itachi struck out with a leg, managing to clip Naruto on the foot and sent him sprawling to the ground. The two pushed themselves back up, moving into a series of flips as they jumped away from each other. Naruto flicked his wrist and shot several kunai at Itachi, who dodged them, remembering what happened last time. Itachi began going through several hand signs as he prepared another jutsu.

"**Katon: Hosenka No Jutsu!"**

Several basket ball sized fireballs sailed towards Naruto, the blond shinobi's cheeks bulged before several water bullets shot out of his mouth. Connecting with the fireballs and creating steam, Itachi came out of the steam with a Tanto in his hand. In response Naruto unsealed **Susanoo, **blocking the left side slash. Naruto moved the locked blades up and over his head, snapping a kick at Itachi's mid section. Itachi lifted his leg, letting his shin take the hit, though Naruto smirked when he noticed the normally emotionless face wince. Pulling back his blade Itachi came in with a thrust to impale the blond, Naruto redirected the attack to his right. Closing the distance he smashed an elbow in Itachi's ribs, only for the man to disappear in a swirl of flower petals.

_When did he get me with a genjutsu? _Naruto wondered as he dispelled it. He was just in time to twist his body as Itachi tried to stab him from behind, this time it managed to graze his torso before Naruto brought his sword up and redirected the attack over their heads, locking the two blades together. With their blades locked Naruto threw a fist at Itachi's face. Itachi tilted his head to dodge the blow, however Naruto encased his fist in wind and Itachi was sent sailing back with the same force as if he had been hit by Tsunade. Itachi flipped onto his feet, looking up he saw everything going dark until he was consumed by blackness. For just a moment Itachi actually felt a hint of fear, while he never took the same pride in his eyes that the Uchiha clan had, he still had the same fear of going blind. To not be able to see anything despite having his Sharingan active was a frightful thing. However he knew it was a genjutsu and flooded his chakra coils with as much chakra as he could muster.

"**KAI!"**

The genjutsu dispelled just in time to see Naruto run up to impale him, the blond ran Itachi through, only for the Uchiha to turn into a log. Naruto cursed as he turned around and saw a fire ball sailing towards him, flicking his wrist Naruto unsealed a tri pronged kunai. He began to spin the **Hiraishin **Kunai in his grip as the fireball sailed towards him, when it reached rather than explode the fire ball was sucked up into his kunai. Itachi felt his eyes widen as he saw the technique that he had seen the Yondaime do several times in the past, he had not realized that Naruto had come that far with the **Hiraishin**. A whistling noise snapped his attention back to reality, looking up he saw another tri pronged kunai heading for him. Jumping back Itachi let it fall to the ground, however he was forced to use another **Kariwimi **to escape when the fireball he had launched came out of the kunai.

Itachi reappeared on one of the building, his breathing getting a little heavier than before. "It seems you truly have gotten strong, unfortunately I do not have time to test my strength against you."

"You mean you no longer can," Naruto said, "You're too low on chakra to do anymore then the basic academy jutsu. From my estimation you had already used about 1/4th of your chakra to fight Fu, I came in fresh and have far more chakra then you even at full strength. Your genjutsu do not work on me anymore, and only the Tsukiyomi will have a true affect." Itachi's small frown said it all, they both knew he would be unable to continue fighting and unfortunately for him Naruto still had more than half of his reserves left. "Not like it matters anyway," Naruto continued with a grin as he pointed over to where Fu was. Itachi followed the blond's finger and saw that Fu was gone.

_He must have had a __**Kage Bushin **__take the Nanabi Jinchurikki away, _Itachi thought, _he truly has gotten strong_. "So I see, I doubt torture will get you to tell me where she is."

"If you could torture me you mean," Naruto shot back, "you can't use Tsukiyomi right now and we both know the damage it does to your vision."

"It seems you really have gotten stronger Naruto-kun," Itachi said, "You are correct I cannot win right now." his Sharingan right eye suddenly morphed into a pinwheel, Naruto's eyes widened as he felt chakra gather in Itachi's now bleeding eye.

"**Amataresu."**

A black flame shot from Itachi's eye, Naruto pulled out a scroll from his pouch, unrolling it as he channeled chakra into a seal that was written on the scroll. The black fire was sucked into the seal, which glowed after all of the flames were inside. Naruto rolled up the scroll as he looked around, Itachi was gone. A **Kage Bushin **phased into existence besides him before puffing out, a little while later another clone came out from one of the buildings, carrying a still unconscious Fu.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Kisame grinned at Kakashi and Sai who stood several feet away. He had several burn marks from close calls with **Raiton **jutsu and a few scrapes, but otherwise still looked capable of fighting. "You two are pretty good, it's nice to see that I can have a decent fight here," Kisame spoke with his shark like grin on his face. "But don't think this is over, I haven't even gotten started yet!"

Kakashi and Sai tensed, before any of them could act, Itachi appeared next to Kisame.

"Kisame, this battle has become unfavorable," Itachi said, "It seems we will need to reevaluate Naruto Namikaze's strength."

"The blond gaki's here too huh?" Kisame said, "Well damn had I known that I wouldn't have wasted time with these two."

"It matters not," Itachi said, blinking the blood that was running down his eye away, "What does is that we need to leave since we are at a disadvantage."

Kisame sighed but put Samehada on his back, he went through several hand seals and called out a jutsu.

"**Suiton: Tsunami no Jutsu (Water Release: Giant tidal wave Jutsu)"**

A large wave rose up in front of Kisame and Itachi, reaching a height of nearly a hundred feet before it came crashing down towards the Konoha ninja. Kakashi and Sai jumped out of the way, Sakura grabbed onto Shibuki before jumping up herself. They landed on the tree as the wave crashed against it, shaking the foundations of the tree before settling down. Looking over to where Itachi and Kisame had been, they noticed the two had disappeared. The three Konoha ninja and Shibuki were back on the ground, Kakashi and Sai walked over to Sakura, who was checking over Shibuki to make sure her pills were healing him right.

A little while later Naruto appeared next to them, still holding Fu in his arms. He looked over at Shibuki and grinned, "Wow Shibuki, you look like shit."

"Yeah well thanks, cause I feel like…" his sarcastic response was stopped as the voice registered in his mind. The pitch and timber were a deeper then he remembered but he knew that voice, looking over he spotted a smirking blond with blue eyes and six whisker marks. "Naruto!" he exclaimed before spotting who the blond was holding in his arms. "Is she…"

"She's fine," Naruto interrupted, "they need the Jinchurikki alive in order to extract their Bijuu, she's just unconscious is all."

Shibuki sighed in relief, "That's good…" he looked over at Naruto again as he spoke, "You know I'm surprised at how fast you got here."

Naruto gave a sheepish grin as he put a hand behind his head, however before he could answer, Sakura did it for him.

"That's because he decided to set a ridiculous pace," Sakura huffed, "He claimed if one us fell behind they might as well go home."

Naruto shrugged, "Yeah well just think of it as training… anyway we'd better get you and sleeping beauty here to the hospital." Naruto looked around to see many other ninja who had been injured, he blinked for a second, "We should probably get them to the hospital too."

Shibuki felt like rolling his eyes at the obvious suggestion, "You think?"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Fu's eyes fluttered open, groaning as she sat up. Looking around she realized she was in the hospital, Fu furrowed her brow as she wondered what had happened. The last thing she remembered was fighting that Akatsuki member, but she did not look like she had been captured, if she had she was pretty sure she would not be alive.

"No!"

Hearing her brother's voice coming from the room on her left, Fu stood up and walked over to the wall, putting a hand to the wall as the conversation continued.

"Shibuki you know this is the best option."

Fu blinked when she heard the unfamiliar voice, deciding to find out who it was, she left her hospital room and entered Shibuki's.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Shibuki looked at the blond Konoha shinobi with a scowl, "I'm not going to let my sister be taken away. I spent too much effort to keep her from being exiled or given to the Akatsuki to let you take her back to Konoha."

"And what happens if Akatsuki attacks again?" asked Naruto, giving his friend a frustrated look, "We might not be able to get here in time, or what if they decide to send more than just two members? Your village would be in even more danger." Naruto took a deep breath before plunging on, "I'm not saying exile her, after the threat of Akatsuki has been dealt with, she'll come right back."

The two had been arguing this point for the past day as they waited for Fu to wake up, right now the two were in the hospital. Shibuki was lying on the bed, several bandages wrapped around his frame from the injuries he had sustained during his battle with Kisame. Naruto was sitting a little ways away, looking at Shibuki with a determined expression.

He knew Shibuki did not want his sister away from him, but he also knew it would not only keep her safe but would actually be good for her. Like him she had also been hated by nearly everyone in her village. Unlike him however she still had it bad, she was still mass hated by the population. Because of this Shibuki was quite protective of her, he was the only one she would actually talk to. Because of the hatred she suffered from, Naruto had heard that Fu had grown to hate most of humanity due to her neglect. That was another reason Naruto felt she should come with him, if she stayed here, where she was hated Fu would likely continue to hate humanity.

Shibuki opened his mouth to retort but another voice broke through the room.

"What's going on Shibuki-nii-san?"

The two turned to look at the door, Fu was standing there looking at the two. Shibuki put on a smile as he addressed her, "Imouto, how are you feeling?"

Fu shrugged as she walked further into the room, her eyes moving over to Naruto with a wary expression. "Alright," she replied at last, "I'm not sore anymore or anything. What happened? And what are you two talking about?"

Shibuki was about to answer when Naruto cut him off, "Akatsuki came to take, you got in a fight with Itachi Uchiha and lost." Fu scowled a bit at Naruto's rather blunt statement, even if it was true no one liked there faults being so blatantly shown. Naruto either didn't notice or didn't care as he continued, "Shibuki had sent Konoha a message and the Hokage sent us here. I found Itachi about to take you and battled him, eventually forcing him to a retreat." Naruto watched the various emotions play across Fu's face, fear at almost being caught, and a mixture of gratitude and weariness at him for saving her. Naruto continued, "As for what we were talking about, I thought it would be a good idea if you came to live with me in Konoha until Akatsuki has been dealt with."

Fu's eyes widened in shock as she looked from Naruto to her brother, for a second she was unsure what to think. "You want me to come to Konoha?" at Naruto's nod she narrowed her eyes, "Why?"

"Because this time you were lucky enough that I was not on a mission," Naruto answered simply. "Right now only myself and Jiraiya are capable of fighting S class criminals due to our freedom from any serious duties. The only other people who can battle them on even grounds are the Kage's, and they are stuck to their desk most of the time. If I had not been available Konoha would have been unable to send any aid and you would have been captured." Both Fu and Shibuki winced at that, what he said was harsh but considering what happened, it was also true. "That is why I feel that having you come to Konoha will be beneficial, it will be much easier to protect you that way."

"Why would you do this?" Fu asked, "I know who you are and that your considered a hero here for what you did to help my brother. But you know what I am, so why would you…" she trailed off and found a blush spreading across her face as Naruto took off his armor and lifted up his shirt, however that blush soon turned to shock when she saw the seal on his stomach.

"I'm helping you because like you I am also a Jinchurikki," Naruto said, "Like you I was hated for most of my life. Hell it wasn't even until my heritage as the Yondaime's son was revealed that people started to look up to me, and even now there are some people who are only acting like they respect me because of who my father was, but still fear and hate me." Naruto put his shirt back down and put the armor on, ignoring the looks of shock on the two Taki ninja. "Plus I think it would do you good to get out of a village that hates you."

That got the two to pause and think, right now she was mass hated by the people in Takigakure. Her only solace had been when she was on missions, allowing her to go to cities that did not hate or vilify her. Fu looked at Naruto, tilting her head to side as if trying to solve a puzzle.

"If I went with you people would eventually find out about my status," Fu said at last. "They would still hate me."

Naruto shook his head, "No they wouldn't, I'm well known by now as the Jinchurikki for the Kyuubi. Sure some of the older generation might hate you, but the younger generation would look up to you." Fu gained a thoughtful look as Naruto continued, "It would also mean you would be protected by myself, Jiraiya and Tsunade, three S rank ninja."

Shibuki was silent as he looked at Fu, who seemed to be deep in thought. He did not want her to go, but in the end it was her decision and if she wanted to he would support her. After a few minutes of silence Fu came looked back at Naruto, "If this is the best way to deal with Akatsuki then I will go with you."

Naruto nodded, "We're going to stay here for a few days while Sakura helps to heal the injured, then we'll leave."

Fu nodded as Naruto left the room to give the two sometime alone.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Shibuki asked in concern.

"I…" Fu shook her head, "yes, I don't want to be looked down on and hated anymore, if what he says is true then I…"

"I understand," Shibuki said, "if this is what you want, I will support your decision."

Fu looked at Shibuki with a rare smile, "Thanks nii-san."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto walked around Taki as he surveyed some of the damage done by Kisame's assault, it had not been much, most of the damage was done to the ninja forces. As he walked towards the large tree that held the spring for the Hero's water, Naruto saw Sai sitting near the edge with a canvas in one hand and a brush in the other. Walking up the blond saw that he was painting a picture of the tree.

"That's a good painting," Naruto said as he looked over Sai's shoulder. Sai's head snapped around and Naruto saw a brief flicker of surprise in the boy's eyes, _so he's not just an emotionless puppet after all…_

After a moment the pale skinned youth gave Naruto his fake smile, "What can I do for you dickless?"

Naruto felt his eyebrows twitch in annoyance, "You know we're really going to have to work on your etiquette. Also can you stop talking about my dick, I don't swing that way."

Sai tilted his head, "I do not know what you're talking about, I was merely commenting on what I have noticed from observation."

"Whatever," Naruto said as he rolled his eyes, the blond turned back to the painting, "So you like to paint?"

Sai looked at his painting and shrugged, "I'm… not sure."

"What do you mean you're not sure?" Naruto asked in confusion, "You either do or you don't."

"That's just it, I'm not sure," Sai replied with a shrug as he went back to his painting.

Naruto sighed at how frustrating Sai was being, if this was what Danzo did to his men, then Naruto was glad the old fool had never been able to sick his claws into him. "So you got a name for that painting?" asked Naruto as he sat down.

Sai blinked as he stopped painting and looked at the blond shinobi, "I… no," Sai looked back at his painting and frowned.

"Well that's no good," Naruto said, "You know every great master piece has to have a name, otherwise it's not as memorable."

"Maybe…" Sai said, "I've never been good with names… I've tried before but… every time I try and think of one, it never comes to me."

Naruto nodded as he realized that Danzo had probably stunted most of this side, which relied more on emotion. The fact that the boy was even painting at all was a miracle since it meant he was not completely indoctrinated, "well you just have to let them come to you I guess."

"What would you name it?" Sai asked and Naruto could hear a hint of curiosity in the boy's voice.

"To be honest I don't know," Naruto replied, shrugging his shoulders, "I'm not an artist and I've never been good at naming things, hell even my jutsu names suck. My emotions are felt in a different way than creating art."

"Emotions?" asked Sai, "I don't have any emotions."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "None at all? Don't you feel something when you create work like this?"

Sai frowned, "… No, I feel nothing."

Naruto stood up, "I think you're lying," Sai's head snapped up to look at him, "Why else would you paint? I know for a fact that your master Danzo would not like you having an outlet designed to express feelings, and painting is such an outlet." He noticed Sai gaining a thoughtful look, "I think deep down you do feel emotions, but there buried so far underneath that you don't know it." Naruto paused for a moment, "Well whatever, it's none of my business I guess. Just make sure your ready to leave three days from now."

As Naruto walked off, Sai turned to look back at the tree, a thoughtful frown on his face as he continued painting.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"So you are telling me you have failed to capture the Nanabi Jinchurikki?" Pain asked the holographic figure of Itachi, narrowing his R innegan eyes.

Itachi kept up his emotionless façade while speaking, "Yes, it seems they managed to request aid from Konoha. They came faster than I expected and I was forced to fight Naruto Namikaze. From what I understand, the Nanabi Jinchurikki is now in Konoha under his protection."

"It seems the gaki is getting pretty strong, to be able to force Itachi to retreat," Kisame said, a shakr-like smirk forming on his face, "Makes me wish I had fought him myself."

"To be so strong means he must be a good boy!" Tobi yelled, "he is like me! Tobi is a good boy!"

"Tobi shut up yeah!" Deidra shouted at the spiraled masked man, "how many times have I told you not to be so annoying!"

"Woops! Sorry Deidrai-Sempai!" Tobi said in an embarrassed voice as he rubbed the back of his head.

Pain closed his eyes as a troubled look crossed his face, that boy was causing more trouble than he was worth. He would need to be dealt with soon… "I will need to think on this new development, all of you are dismissed."

The images faded out leaving only Pain, Konan and 'Tobi' left.

"That boy is causing even more problems than his father," Madara said, no longer acting the fool. "He will need to be dealt with soon."

Pain opened his eyes too look at the man, "Should we send the Akatsuki after him?"

Madara thought about the question for a moment before shaking his head, "No… at the moment it would require more power then we currently have, since it would mean going up against Jiraiya and Tsunade as well as Konoha itself. I wish to concentrate our efforts on the other then Jinchurikki. Send Itachi and Kisame after the Yonbi, he has been spotted in Tsuki No Kuni. Deidra and I will go after the Gobi, which has been spotted in the eastern province of Kiba No Kuni (Land of Fangs). Also, what news of Sasuke?"

"He is still under Orochimaru's guard," Pain said, "however the Snake Sannin has yet to try and use his immortality jutsu on him."

"Good," Madara said, "I will have need of Sasuke's Sharingan and cannot have Orochimaru getting his hands on it. We have had many failures as of late Pain, I expect them to be rectified soon." with that Madara faded out of existence.

Pain scowled as Madara disappeared, he disliked how this man tried to order him around. However he knew that right now it was not possible for him to do anything, it was Madara who had made all of this possible and currently Pain did not have the strength to beat the sharingan user. But soon… _soon he will feel the power of a god. _Pain thought as he faded out as well, leaving the only female member of their group left.

Konan closed her eyes, she would need to tell Naruto of this development soon.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The trip to the Hokage tower was for the most part silent, Fu listened as Naruto explained a little bit about Konoha, giving her a bit of a history lesson on the major sights. Walking into the Hokage Tower the five ninja went up the stairs to the top floor. Naruto walked up to the desk where Shizune was currently going through several files, tapping on it a few times Naruto got the black haired woman to look up.

"Oh Naruto-kun!" Shizune exclaimed with a smile, "I take it the mission was a success?"

Naruto gave her a smile, "Was their ever any doubt?" he asked rhetorically. "Yeah the mission was a success; we also will be having a guest I placed under my protection." At this Shizune noticed the green haired girl that was with them.

"I see," she said as she put the files she had been handling down, walking over to the door she knocked several times before opening it. "Tsunade-Sama, Naruto-kun has returned from his mission."

Naruto and the others followed Shizune in and stopped in front of the desk. Tsunade looked up to see the four ninja she had sent, as well as the new arrival.

"Report," she said in her Hokage voice.

Naruto nodded as he began to explain what had transpired during the mission, from sending Kakashi and Sai to deal with Kisame and Sakura to help heal the injured while he fought Itachi into retreat. "… after that I invited Fu to stay here under Konoha protection, I also felt it would be a good idea to help with her training so that she can become strong enough to protect herself."

Tsunade looked at the green haired girl, who seemed slightly unsure of herself now that she was actually in Konoha. The busty blond sighed, somehow she had expected this to happen. "I suppose she will be staying in the Namikaze compound then?" Tsunade asked.

Naruto nodded, "Yes."

"Very well, I'll be expecting a written report tomorrow," the blond woman said in a commanding tone.

Naruto nodded before turning to Fu, "Come on we'll get you situated into your new home for the time being, then I'll show you around Konoha."

Fu blinked a few seconds before nodding and following the blond out.

When the blond and the others left Tsunade turned to the only one left in the room, "So how did he do?"

Kakashi snapped his book shut before speaking, "He did extremely well. He was able to pick up what was happening long before we even got to Takigakure and created a plan of action that was not only sound, but also worked by utilizing the abilities of himself and his team."

Tsunade nodded, "Do you think he's ready for promotion to full Jonin?"

Kakashi gave a hmm of thought before answering, "Yes, but I would have him take a few more missions before giving him Jonin status."

Tsunade nodded, "Thank you, you're dismissed."

Kakashi nodded, pulling out his book and giving a perverse giggle as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Fu sighed as she finished placing all of her clothing in one of the drawers, looking around the room she had to admit it was nice. _Way nicer then my terrible apartment back home, _she said to herself. The placed reminded her of a few of the tales she had read about the rooms in a Daimyo's palace. Finding that everything was put away she nodded and to herself, moving over to the door as she made her way out. Walking down the hall she was stopped as Naruto came out of his room.

"Hey you got your stuff all put away?" asked Naruto.

Fu nodded, "… Yes."

Naruto noticed a small frown etched on the woman's face, "Miss your home?"

Fu looked up at him before shaking her head, "Not really, I was always hated there for what I held. Forced into a harsh training regimen in order to harness the Nanabi, sent on suicide missions afterwards, only to be treated like the plague upon return."

Naruto nodded in understanding, "The life of a Jinchurikki is never easy." Naruto paused for a moment as he decided to switch topics, "How about I show you around and we can go out and get something to eat."

Fu looked at him somewhat startled that he was being so nice to her, _though he is also a Jinchurikki._ "Ok," she said out loud.

"Great!" Naruto said as he pushed her down the stairs, "Then there is only one place we can get food."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oi! Ojisan some Miso ramen for me and my friend and keep 'em coming!" Naruto shouted as he entered Ichiraku's and sat down at the stool reserved for him. Fu followed close behind, sitting down on his right. Teuchi and Ayame turned around to find the two sitting down, the old man offered a grin.

"Well Naruto! It's good to see you, and who is your friend? Another one of your…" the old man held up a pinky and wiggled it conspiratorially.

Fu felt a large blush spread across her face, Naruto just laughed as he waved a hand in the air. "Nothing like that Teuchi-Ojisan, she's staying here from Taki until all this Red Cloud business is taken care of. I offered her a place to stay until then."

Teuchi nodded, knowing better then to question Naruto about his missions, "alright then, your Miso will be coming right up!"

Ayame walked over to the counter and plopped her head on the butt of her hands, leaning on the counter top as she looked at Naruto. "So I take it you were on a mission? You were gone for quite awhile," she said.

Naruto nodded his head as he slurped up the noodles, "Yeah I had to go Taki and help defend the village from an enemy that was attacking it." Naruto kept his explanations vague, while he loved the ramen chef and daughter duo, he did not want them getting involved in anything Akatsuki related.

Half an hour later Naruto and Fu finished and the blond paid for their meal before leaving, the two were walking along one of the streets when Naruto turned to Fu. "Come on, I'll show you around the rest of Konoha," he said as he began to give her a more detailed tour of the village.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"I see…" Danzo said as he listened to Sai's report. If what his subordinate said was true and Naruto had been able to force Itachi into a retreat then the boy was indeed powerful. However there was another piece of information that intrigued him even more, "So the Nanabi Jinchurikki is here? And wipe that stupid smile off your face!"

"Yes Danzo-Sama," Sai replied with his head bowed in a submissive position, "she is staying at the Namikaze estate under Namikaze-san's protection." Sai looked up with his smile still in place, "and I was told that a smile is the best way to get into people's hearts."

Danzo frowned in thought as he ignored the boy's words, for now, instead coming up with a plan for the new information he had received. If he could somehow get the Nanabi Jinchurikki under his control then it would help solidify his position, however the Namikaze would still be a problem. "This is most interesting information," Danzo said, though it seemed as if he was talking more to himself.

"Danzo-Sama," Sai said, getting the one eyed mans attention. "I would like to request to stay with Namikaze-san as a member of his team."

Danzo looked at the boy in shock for a second, Sai had never once requested anything and him doing it now made Danzo wonder what was going through the boys mind. However, Danzo's arrogance in the belief that a shinobi he personally trained could never turn on him kept the man from assuming it was anything more than wanting to keep an eye on his target. "Very well, I will allow it," Danzo had already planned on having Sai continue watching the boy so he could discover Naruto's weakness. "I will want weekly reports on what Namikaze-san is doing and who he spends time with."

"Hai Danzo-Sama!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

Omake: Penis or no penis.

"I don't see how someone who seems to be lacking a penis can fight an S rank criminal," Sai replied with the fake smile he had been giving them since the start.

Naruto glared at the boy, this kid had been nothing but trouble since they had met. Aside from the fact that the smile he gave was obviously fake and the boy had the emotional range of a toothpick, he also seemed to have some weird kind of dick fetish. He had mentioned Naruto's penis at least six different times when the blond was speaking, most of which were an insinuation about Naruto having a lack of one.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, so that I don't end up killing you," Naruto said. He turned to look at Kakashi and was about to speak when Sai interrupted him.

"You know you shouldn't deny your dickless status," Sai gave the blond shinobi a large smile, "I read in a book once that the first step to getting over something is admitting you have a problem."

Naruto eyebrow twitched as he ground his teeth together, "Sai if I hear one more word about dicks out of you I'm gonna-"

"You can't do anything," Sai said, "after all when you're a dickless wonder like you are, there is nothing you can do. Best to just accept it and move on."

"That does it!" Naruto growled as he a familiar ball of swirling blue chakra formed in the palm of Naruto's left hand, before increasing its size to epic proportions. Naruto appeared in front of Sai in a yellow flash as he thrust the giant ball of energy in his hand.

"**Cho Oodoma Rasengan!"**

XXXXXXXXXXX

Omake 2: Itachi's book.

"I see…" was all Itachi said, preparing to fight against the Namikaze heir.

"However before we begin I would like to discuss something with you," Naruto said in a serious tone.

Itachi frowned as he wondered what the blond wanted to talk to him about, "what do wish to discuss?"

Naruto grinned as he walked up to Itachi and pulled out… a book? "I wanted to thank you for writing this! This book is an absolute godsend, I can't tell you the number of times this baby kept me from being raped!"

Itachi took a look at the book, Fan Girl 101: How to Identify and Avoid Fan Girls by Itachi Uchiha. A rare smile graced Itachi's face, "I am glad you can appreciate that book, it is one of my proudest accomplishments."

"I'll say," Naruto said, "when Konoha gave you that title of genius they really meant it, this book is pure genius. Though I noticed you forgot to add something to it…"

Itachi looked at him in undisguised curiosity, "oh, what did I forget?" he was sure he had gotten everything.

Naruto shuddered, "you forgot to add how to escape fan boys."

Itachi felt a shiver crawl up his spine as he heard the words that made him pale even worse than fan girls. "That is a most problematic idea Naruto-kun," Itachi said as he reached into his pouch and pulled out… a box of pocky. He grabbed a stick and put it in his mouth before offering one to Naruto, "we should discuss how t rectify this problem over some pocky," Itachi told the blond, who had a curious look on his face.

Naruto took a stick and put it in his mouth, "this is some good stuff."

Itachi nodded, "you are quite lucky, I have never given any of my pocky to anyone."

"Not even to your old family?" asked Naruto as he bit a piece off.

Itachi gave him a deadpan look, "Naruto-kun, why do you think the massacres even happened?"

"Uhh… well I just thought you went phsycotic and killed them," the blond commented sheepishly.

"No that is not what happened at all," Itachi said.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Before the Massacres: Konoha_

"Itachi-kun!" Mikoto said as she saw her eldest son sitting on the porche eating his Pocky, "seriously Itachi-kun can you eat something other than pocky?"

Itachi froze before turning around, "what did you say?" his voice barely a whisper.

"I'm telling you, you need to eat something other than pocky," Mikoto said, "it's not good for you!"

Itachi glared at his mother, the anger of her words turning his regular sharingan eyes into the Mangekyo, "Nobody tells me to stop eating pocky!"

Before Mikoto knew what was happening Itachi began his rampage, killing off the entire clan in a single night, thus causing what would become known as the Uchiha massacre.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto looked at Itachi as he related the true events of the Uchiha Massacre, "dude, has anyone ever told you your insane?"

"Several have yes," Itachi replied with a shrug, "now about that new book…"

Naruto nodded as he began to discuss several idea's with Itachi, neither noticing that Fu had woken up and was listening to the two in shock.

_And this is the person who beat me, _Fu thought lamentingly.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

So the end of this chapter, the storyline continues a bit here and we get to see Naruto fight against Itachi. Hope you all enjoyed!

And remember when life gives you lemons, take them and throw them at pedestrians, it will make you feel better!

Pokemaster signing off!

**Next! Chapter 15: Bonds.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Kensington: I do realize that the time of the events were way to fast and skewed. There is no logical way a hawk could reach Konoha and they could send a team in time to keep Fu from being taken. For the sake of the story and because I can't think of another way to make it work, I'm playing it off as anime (Or fanfic) weirdness that happens sometimes. As for the time frame for more info on Naruto's bloodline, it will be either chapter 18 or 19. And yes, there will be more Araton, but you won't see much of it until later chapters. I am also pleased that someone else realizes Naruto does not have to fuck every girl he meets and make them a part of his harem.**

**The Lonely Fox: No Fu is not joining the harem.**

**Sweet Heavens: I'll remember your advice and do that in more battles.**

**Leaf Ranger: Beats me, I used the Narutopedia information to find out what she looked like.**

**Sinewyk: No quite a few of these chapters are my own brain child. The manga and anime don't have whats in a lot of these chaps.**

**Bakapervert: I don't know why you feel that way, Naruto doesn't have to get every girl he meets, that makes him seem shallow.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if you haven't figured that out by now I am afraid there is no hope.**

**Chapter 15: Broken Bonds**

Yugao cursed as she and the last member of her unit continued to run, jumping through the tree's at an accelerated pace. The mission she was on had gone wrong, they had been supposed to meet one of Jiraiya's contacts who apparently had information on Orochimaru when they had been ambushed. Several dozen Oto ninja had been waiting for her and her squad, whether they had been betrayed or their contact was killed no longer mattered. They had been forced to fight their way out, now only she and one other member remained.

A whistling noise caught Yugao's attention and she cursed as several kunai were launched in front of her and her teammate, a sizzling noise let her know they had exploding tags attached to them. Yugao pushed her teammate out of the way, jumping out of the way as well as the tags exploded. Landing next to the only surviving member of her team, a man in a boar mask, Yugao began to give out orders. "I'll hold them off! Keep moving to Konoha!"

"But Neko-"

"No!" Yugao interrupted, already knowing what he was going to say, "both of us won't be able to get away, I'm a better fighter then you so I'll hold them off! Go warn the Hokage!"

The man in the boar mask knew better then to argue and jumped back into the trees, taking off as Yugao unsheathed her sword. The woman soon found herself surrounded, however that did not seem to bother her as she charged the first ninja she saw. Ducking under a kunai swipe, Yugao came up and slashed at the man's throat, chopping his head off. Jumping back as several kunai flew to her previous position, she rolled along the ground, coming up and impaling another ninja through the chest. She spun on the balls of her feet, using the now dead Oto ninja as a shield for the kunai that came at her. When hail died down Yugao shoved the dead ninja off her sword and into one of his comrades, jumping up and lunging with her sword, impaling the ninja through the skull.

"**Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu!"**

Yugao cursed as she jumped out of the way of a large fireball, twisting her body, she launched several shuriken with her free hand, impaling one of the ninja between the eyes. Landing on the ground she came face to face with another ninja, this one managed to smash a fist in her masked face hard enough to fly into a tree and shatter the mask. Yugao grunted as her back smashed against the trunk, she did not get the chance to fall as one of the ninja came up and gripped her by the throat. He smashed her back into the tree trunk, making some blood dribble out of her mouth as he began to strangle her. Yugao grabbed onto the man's hand as she tried to pry it off, however he merely began to smash her into the tree trunk. As Yugao's vision began to fade, the last thing she saw was silver hair and glasses. Her eyes soon closed and she had one last thought before darkness claimed her.

_Hayate…_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Fu smiled as she walked around the forest just inside Konoha, looking for different types of bugs that she could find. Despite not really liking her Jinchurikki status, she still found she liked to see different species of insects and had long assumed this affinity for them was somehow because of the Nanabi.

She had been in Konoha for nearly a week and had been shocked at the difference in how she was treated; it seemed that Naruto was right. The people here, especially those of the younger generation treated both her and Naruto with the utmost respect; none of it was out of fear either, but respect for their sacrifice. This was something she was not used to, having been subject to the constant hatred of her village except for when she was sent on suicide missions. Of course there were still people here who seemed to hate her, but they did not openly show it lest they get in trouble with everyone else. So far she had met a few of Naruto's friends as well and they seemed to not even care about what she held, talking to her as if she was any other person. However while she was not yet used to such treatment, she could not deny that she enjoyed not having the stigma of Nanabi hanging over her shoulder.

"Well hello there," Fu said to herself as she found an odd insect that landed on her. It looked like a beetle with twin pincers; however she could sense it draining her of a little chakra. "You know it's not nice to drain people of their chakra without permission," she said to it.

"My apologies."

Fu jumped and felt her eyes widen as she turned around to find someone wearing sunglasses and covering his entire body in gray/khaki colored clothing. Fu watched as the bug flew off of her and moved over to him.

"I did not mean for one of my bugs to suck your chakra, I was merely trying to find out who invaded the Aburame clan's forest. However f it did suck your chakra without my permission you must have powerful reserves," Shino said.

Fu felt her eyes widen again, "I'm sorry I did not realize that this forest actually belonged to a clan."

"It is most alright," Shino said, "I can tell you're a foreigner so that is understandable that you would not know this."

"So that bug is yours?" Fu asked as she walked up to Shino.

"Yes."

"What kind of insect is it? I haven't seen an insect like him before," Fu asked with curiosity pervading her voice. "It reminds me of the Popillia insects that I found in Kiba No Kuni one time, but I can tell it's very different."

Shino blinked in surprise having never found someone outside of his clan who was interested in insects, it did not last long as he began to tell her about his insect hive with Fu listening with rapt attention.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Tsunade rummaged through the list of mission scrolls as she attempted to find a good mission for Naruto to do. Said ninja was calmly sitting in the seat across from her desk. Truth was she had a lot of missions for him, after the chunin exams many of the customers had personally requested the clan head. She had also been forced to throw out a lot of marriage proposals for him that had been disguised as missions sent by various nobles to marry their daughters, she even found one for him to marry a woman who was in her mid forties and already married.

Picking up another scroll she read it over before nodding to herself, "this one should do, it's-"

"Tsunade-Sama!" the door slammed open and Shizune burst into the room, her eyes wide and her breathing heavy.

"What's wrong with you Shizune?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow, a small feeling of dread welling up in her gut.

"One… one of our… Anbu teams… ambushed by… Oto," Shizune said between breaths as she slowly regained her bearings, "we… have a… an injured survivor, he's at the hospital right now."

Tsunade along with Naruto felt their eyes widen, mission forgotten Tsunade rushed out of the room as she made her way to get to the hospital. Naruto watched her go with a frown, wondering what to do for a moment. Making a decision he followed the blond Hokage, catching up to Shizune who was also on her way to the hospital.

"Shizune-nee-chan," Naruto said as he began to walk alongside the woman, "what happened? Whose team was ambushed?"

Shizune looked at Naruto for a moment as she debated whether to tell him or not, Anbu teams normally answer only to the Hokage and anything about their team and what they do are considered classified. Still this young man was probably the third most important figure to Konoha, with only Tsunade and Jiraiya being ahead of him. "One of our teams was supposed to meet with a contact in Oto; however it seemed to be a trap. The man who came back claims to be the only one to escape," Shizune and Naruto stopped in front of the door that Tsunade entered just a moment before.

"Whose team was ambushed?" asked Naruto again, an odd feeling of nausea welling up inside of him.

Shizune looked at him and sighed, "It was Neko's team."

Naruto's mind went blank at the announcement.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The first thing Yugao realized as she woke up was that she was in pain, enough that she nearly screamed as soon as she woke up. The second thing she realized was that she was strapped to a table. Her arms were bound on either side, the bindings strapped tightly around her and done in a way that she felt like she was being stretched. Her legs were tied down in a spread eagle form, feeling much the same way as her arms. Looking at herself she found that she was completely nude with absolutely nothing covering her form, making her instantly feel violated and exposed.

Her head snapped over to the door on the other side of the room, watching as it opened and two figures stepped in. she found herself sucking in a breath as she stared at a pair of yellow snake like eyes and pale skin, recognizing the first person as Orochimaru, Konoha's most infamous traitor next to Itachi. The other person was around mid height, with silver hair and round glasses. He was wearing a purple outfit and had several medical pouches on his persons; while Yugao had never seen him she had been given a general description of this man. This was Kabuto Yakushi, the man Hayate had been going to spy on before he was killed.

"You!" Yugao snarled out as she began to struggle against her restraints.

"Oh my," Orochimaru said in an amused voice, "kukuku it seems she knows you from somewhere Kabuto-kun."

Kabuto smirked as he pushed his glasses, "I don't think I've ever met her before in my life."

"You're the reason Hayate is dead!" Yugao yelled her struggling increasing in fervor inn her effort to get out of her restraints and kill this man.

"Hayate?" Kabuto mumbled in thought before the proverbial light bulb went off in his head, "ah! Now I remember him, the proctor for the Preliminaries when we had our invasion." The medical ninja shrugged, "he was the one who was spying on me and our ally at the time. From what I here he was quite skilled with a sword, he even gave the ninja who killed him some trouble, though that did not save him in the end did it?"

"Shut up!" Yugao yelled, her desire to snap this man's neck reaching an all time high, "you're the entire reason he's dead! I'm gonna kill you!"

"She seems quite violent," Orochimaru commented with a snake like smirk, "do you think you'll be alright alone with her Kabuto-kun?"

"Of course Orochimaru-Sama," Kabuto said as he pushed his glasses up his nose, "just leave everything to me."

"Kukuku, very well," Orochimaru laughed as he began to leave, "I need to check on Sasuke-kun anyway, I believe he wanted some more training."

As the door closed behind the snake Sennin, his right hand man turned back towards the still struggling and snarling Yugao. "Now there is no need for such violence," Kabuto commented as he walked up to the table and unrolled a scroll. Unsealing the contents revealed them to be what looked like medical scalpels and a jar of odd stones floating in a glowing green liquid. Kabuto grabbed one of the scalpels, smirking as he looked over at Yugao. "You know if you continue to struggle this is going to hurt even more."

"Fuck you!" Yugao hissed as she spit on his face.

Kabuto just sighed as he took off his glasses and wiped them off on his shirt, before wiping the spit away. "Now that wasn't very nice, I would have thought you leaf ninja would have more manners. Oh well," he shrugged before taking the scalpel and impaling Yugao through the stomach, dragging it along to open a large incision.

Yugao's screams soon began to echo throughout the base.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto stood up as soon as Tsunade opened the door to the hospital, walking up to her with a determined expression. "Tsunade-Sama I am going to form a rescue squad to see if there are any survivors that Orochimaru managed to capture and rescue them," Naruto said in a voice that told her he was going whether she allowed it or not.

"Your request is denied Naruto," Tsunade said, making the younger blonds eyes narrow. "We don't have enough information to mount a rescue operation; even if we did we are dealing with Orochimaru here. Chances are Neko is already dead or worse…" She knew why he really wanted to go; Tsunade had read the reports about how Neko or Yugao had been his body guard for a year before he entered the academy. She had spent time with the boy outside of her duties, even going so far as to let him know her identity as Neko, something that if the Sandaime had not been lenient about because of Naruto, could have cost the woman her career.

"I wasn't asking Hokage-Sama," Naruto replied through gritted teeth, "I will be going, no matter what you say. Either you send me with a squad or I go on my own."

All conversation that had been going on in the hall screeched to a halt as the confrontation between the two S class ninja escalated. Shizune who had only been listening with half an ear until now, turned wide eyes on Naruto who even though he never gave respectful suffixes unless in council meetings or when receiving missions of great importance, had never gone so far as to show insubordination, especially to this level.

Tsunade looked at Naruto with narrowed eyes, leaking a small amount of killing intent at the blond, "Tokabetsu Jonin Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, I am giving you direct orders not to go after Orochimaru or attempt to rescue our lost squad. It's a lost cause and I won't have you doing something foolish!"

"Well then Hokage-Sama, you can respectfully shove your god damn orders up your ass!" Naruto replied, "I will be going and if you or anyone else tries to stop me I will not hesitate to fight back." Tsunade's eyes widened as Naruto spun on his heels and began to leave the hospital.

"You would be willing to risk becoming a missing ninja for one person whom you haven't even really seen since you were five?" Tsunade asked, "You barely even know her! And what about your dream to be Hokage! If you do this-"

Tsunade was interrupted mid speech by Naruto as he turned around and looked at her with a hard stare, "I know her well enough Hokage-Sama, and I am not about to let one of my precious people die, nor will I believe she is dead until I see her body for myself." Naruto turned his head, "besides what kind of Hokage would I be if I let someone who I consider family die." With that Naruto walked off leaving a stunned Tsunade who continued to look at the door he left from.

"Damn it!" Tsunade cursed, "Shizune!" she yelled out getting the woman who watched the confrontation out of her shocked state. "Get me Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, Sakura Haruno… and Sai! Tell them to be in my office within five minutes!"

"Y-Yes Tsunade-Sama!" Shizune said as she ran out the door to find the people asked for.

Tsunade sighed as she **sushined **to her office in the Hokage tower, Naruto was going to be in so much trouble when he got back. She should detain him, however he had said that if she tried he would fight her shinobi, and if there was one thing she knew it was that when Naruto said he would do something, you'd damn well better believe he would go through with it. She sighed, hoping she was making the right decision.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto double checked his equipment, nodding in satisfaction he rushed out of his room and out of his house as he made his way to the north gate. He ran over the information he had been able to get from Shizune, according to what the Anbu who had made it back before passing out, Yugao and her team had been ambushed ten miles south of Oto. Shizune had said that Yugao and the one who came back managed to escape, but Yugao had decided to stay behind and buy her comrade time to escape. As Naruto reached the gate he heard a voice call out behind him.

"Naruto!"

Turning around Naruto held in his surprise at seeing Hinata, Kiba, Sakura and Sai running towards him. "Are you guys here to stop me?" Naruto asked with narrowed eyes as the three stopped in front of him.

"No… Hokage-Sama has asked us to go with you," Sakura said as she put her hands on her knees in an effort to catch her breath.

"That's right man," Kiba said as he got off his large ninja dog, Akamaru, "we're going to help you with your mission."

"We are supposed to make sure you don't get in over your head dickless," Said Sai as he gave his fake smile.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at the three, he had assumed that Tsunade would try to stop him from going. _I wonder why she actually got me a team rather than try to detain me? _He shook his head; right now anything that did not pertain to rescuing Yugao was irrelevant. "You have my thanks then, we're heading towards Oto where a team of Anbu was ambushed. Our mission is to see if there are any survivors and if so rescue them, we'll be traveling fast so make sure you can keep up." Naruto turned around, "let's go!"

Naruto blurred out of existence as he shot off, putting on a burst of speed and forcing the others to take off in order to catch up. Naruto and his team traveled for several hours, the foliage around the area past by as nothing but a blur as Hinata, Kiba, Sakura and Sai tried to keep up with Naruto. Right now the blonds' only thoughts were on completing the mission he had set for himself, at the moment nothing else mattered. As the sun began to set he looked back at the others, noticing that they seemed to be lagging more and more. For a moment Naruto cursed, he should have gone on his own, at least then he would be able to move much faster. Sighing he came to a stop, Oto was farther than Taki, they could not get there before dark and the others were exhausted, he realized they would need to stop for the night.

"We'll set up camp here," Naruto said as the other came up, "Kiba I can hear a stream from somewhere up north I want you to go and see if you can't catch some fish. Hinata I want you and Sakura to set up camp, Sai I want you to scout the area. Meanwhile I'll set up traps around our perimeter."

The three chunin and one ROOT nodded and went off to their various tasks; Naruto created several **Kage Bushin's **and sent them off with several trap seals and sensor seals so they would not be caught by surprise. That night Naruto cooked everyone some fish that Kiba caught, the entire affair was fairly quiet affair. Kiba, Hinata, Sakura and even Sai were not sure what to say to Naruto, said blond was extremely quiet as he ate, not even looking at anyone as he just stared into space.

"Are you ok Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata, though her voice was still soft she no longer stuttered since her talk with the blond about her reason to grow stronger.

"Hmm?" Naruto looked up, "oh yeah, I'm fine."

"You know you're a terrible liar," Sakura said, "what's bothering you?"

Naruto sighed, "I know the captain of the team who was ambushed… when I was younger she was one of few people who ever showed me kindness and treated me like a human. I… despite how long ago it happened, I never forgot what she did for me and how much it meant. Now she's in trouble and I'm afraid we won't get there in time."

Sakura, Kiba and Hinata were silent as he spoke; they had not truly realized how hard his life was until his announcement of his Jinchurikki status. They had seen how he was hated of course, but never knew why. Now they knew it was because his own father had sealed the Bijuu who had nearly destroyed Konoha, all three realized that they had only seen the surface of just how bad the blond had it. They realized why Naruto was so adamant on saving this woman, because she was one of the few people who had seen him for him.

Sai remained silent as well, thinking about what the blond said. _Is this what it means to have a bond with someone? _He looked at the blond Tokabetsu jonin in unhidden curiosity, _to be willing to go so far for one person. Could this be what makes him the way he is._

Naruto sighed as he stood up, "I'll take the first watch, Kiba you'll take second and Sai will take the third. We'll do watches in three hour intervals, understood?"

"Yes," Kiba said while Sai merely nodded.

Naruto stood up and looked at the darkened sky, hoping that Yugao was alright.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day found the group once again trying to keep the grueling pace Naruto set as he rushed through the area towards the last known destination of the Anbu team.

"Akamaru and I smell burnt wood and flesh up ahead," Kiba said, Akamaru barking in agreement.

Naruto nodded, "lead the way."

Kiba took the lead and the others followed him, they came upon a clearing that was obviously a battle sight given the burnt ground around the area. Naruto immediately ordered the group to spread out and search for clues that could help them find Yugao.

_Judging from the number of foot prints coming from the north the squad was made of six Anbu, _he moved over to where the feet seemed to stop. _They were met by someone here, _looking over around the area he saw a few kunai and the burnt ground, signs of a **Katon **Jutsu being used. _They scattered, four of them were picked off one by one. _He looked at each area, where he could see what looked like ash over the burnt ground. Looking down he spotted foot prints that were indented a little farther into the ground. _Two of them survived and jumped… _he placed his own feet into one of the prints, looking up he jumped over to the first tree in sight. Crouching down he saw a two feet print in the tree; he continued to follow it until he saw a branch that had been taken out by an exploding tag. _They jumped to the ground, _Naruto jumped down and looked around until he saw two sets of foot prints that he identified as those belonging to the Anbu. _This is where Yugao made her stand; _he looked to see a print that was scuffled. _She was knocked back into this tree, _Naruto thought as she looked at the tree, it was splintered showing where someone was slammed into it repeatedly. _Yet there is no burn marks from a __**Katon **__jutsu like the others, which means she was not killed. _Naruto kneeled down onto the ground, looking around he saw a glint of white and red. He moved over and picked up what he recognized as the piece of an Anbu mask; a Neko mask.

Naruto whirled around and looked at the rest of the ninja with him, "Kiba! I need you and Akamaru to track the scent from this," Naruto held up the mask piece.

Kiba took it and brought it up to his and Akamaru's nose, getting the scent that was on it. Both of them began to sniff around, trying to track the scent to see which way it went. Akamaru gave a loud bark which Kiba translated, "Akamaru says he found the scent, it's weak, but we should be able to follow it!" Kiba and Akamaru took off into the trees as they began to follow the scent.

Naruto and the others raced off as well, following the canine shinobi and his companion. They made their way out of the trees and Naruto noticed that they had crossed the borders of Hi No Kuni; they were now entering the borders of Ta No Kuni (Land of Rice) where Otogakure was located. In front of him Kiba stopped and raised his hand, causing the others to stop as well. He and Akamaru sniffed the area for a few minutes and frowned, "the scent stops here."

Naruto closed his eyes in thought, _the scent stops here? We already know they didn't use any kind of scent killer, or they would have used it at the sight and not been so careless. That means that either they did not expect Konoha to send anyone, or they did and are leading us into a trap. I doubt Orochimaru would waste his time to set a trap when he does not know who if anyone would actually come, so it's probably the former. Now since the scent has stopped here that means that the entrance to where ever Yugao has been taken is here. _Several **Kage Bushin **phased into existence, they spread out and began to search.

Naruto turned to look at the members of his team who seemed confused, "if the scent ends here that means that the entrance to wherever Yugao is, is here. I suggest you four spread out and start searching too," following his own advice, Naruto began his own search. Looking around the area for any sign of an entrance, he was not sure what to look for but assumed there would either be a hidden entrance or some kind of panel to open an entrance.

While searching the memory of a **Kage Bushin **hit him, he stood up and ran over to where it had been and smiled. There was a door hidden under a layer of leaves and dirt, he knelt down and looked it over. There were several seals on it that would activate if someone tried to force it open, one designed to alert whoever was in the base and another one that would explode and take out whoever was standing within a fifteen foot radius of the door. Naruto unsealed his sealing brush and began to lay seals over the ones that were in place, making sure his counteracting seals were perfect before channeling chakra into them. There was a slight hissing noise and Naruto watched as the seals began to dissolve, leaving the door completely clear as if the seals had never been.

Naruto looked up to see where the other four members were; he looked at them and individually signaled for them to come over. "Ok you five from this point on I want all of you to use the standard Anbu hand signs to communicate, there will be no talking unless absolutely needed, we are now officially in enemy territory. Due to my speed and reflexes I'll be in front, Kiba you and Akamaru will be after me. Sakura since you're our main healer I want you coming next, Sai will be after you to cover your back and Hinata you will be in the rear and use your Byakugan to scout the area." Naruto grabbed onto the handle and lifted the door revealing a ladder that led into the Oto base. "Let's go."

Going in first Naruto got onto the ladder and made his way down, his enhanced vision was able to see the bottom about a dozen feet down. He got off the ladder and waited as the other four came down, Kiba set Akamaru off his shoulders as the rest looked around the dark hallway they were in. Naruto looked around himself at the darkened passage, even with his enhanced eyesight he could only see about thirty feet in front of him.

Kneeling down Naruto put one finger on the ground and sent trace amounts of chakra through it, _up ahead the hallway branches into three separate hallways. Fourteen doors in each hall, seven on each side. There are a total of fifty six people on this level and there's a staircase leading to another._Naruto stood back up as the information about his surroundings came to him, formulating a plan of action that would allow him to access more ground without having to separate from his team.

He looked over at them and got their attention, they all walked over to him as he began hand sealing.

'_Follow.'_

He turned back around and began to move, walking along the edge of the wall as he used his enhanced senses to aid him. The five man squad made their way along the hall, taking the left branch first. Each time they went up to a door Naruto would place a single finger on it to try and glean what information he could, _four people, mid chunin level._Naruto sighed; _Yugao's not in there…_

This continued for nearly thirty minutes as they went from door to door, there was only one mishap where one of the Oto ninja had stepped out of one of the rooms and Naruto had been forced to kill him and the other three in the room. They ended up finding nothing in the first corridor and Naruto decided to take the one on the right next, doing the same process as the previous rooms. Finding nothing Naruto and the others made their way to the last corridor, still they had nothing and Naruto led his team downstairs.

The first thing Naruto was able to determine was that this place was used for prisoners, or experiments. The place reeked of death and decay, the walls and area were decidedly less maintained then the upstairs. Walking along Naruto looked into the cells and saw people who looked to be half dead, some of them he noticed had died and had yet to be removed. The blonds' disgust for Orochimaru rose as he looked at the area; he shunted his emotions to the side, knowing they would not help here.

Finally he came to the one at the end of the hall in what he had dubbed the prison area and found a door, _three presences, two chunin, one jonin…_Naruto channeled some chakra into his ears, several he could not hear much except for the breathing of the occupants but one of them sounded strained and erratic, as if they were injured. Closing his eyes for a moment Naruto made his decision; he turned to his team and gave them instructions.

'_Wait.'_

Taking a deep breath Naruto grabbed onto the handle and opened the door. He didn't even need a second to take stock of the situation, strapped to a table was a completely naked Yugao. There were numerous cuts, bruises and what looked like stitches all over her body, worse was Naruto could see some odd looking protrusions sprouting out of her skin that looked like bubbles. However the worst thing was the glazed over look in her eyes, it was the kind of look when someone had gone into shock from being subjected to more pain than the body could handle. Naruto's eyes hardened as he took action.

The two chunin didn't even stand a chance, Naruto appeared right in front of the first one, no **Hiraishin **and no **Sunshin, **just a burst of pure speed. He unsealed a kunai and stabbed it right through the man's jaw, sending it through his head. At the same time Naruto created a **Kage Bushin, **which appeared behind the other shinobi and snapped his neck. Naruto laid the two on the ground so he would not create any noise, then appeared right next to Yugao and preceded to un strap her from the bindings. As gently as he could he lifted her out and sat down on the ground with her on his lap. He created a **Kage Bushin **and had it **henge **into a cloak that he wrapped around her frame.

"Sakura!" he called no longer feeling the need to be quiet in this emergency. Naruto looked at the woman and her now dead eyes, "Yugao…" he grit his teeth as he got no response, "Yugao-chan." Her eyes flickered a little bit but otherwise nothing happened, he resisted the urge to shout and instead began to caress her face, he noticed a small reaction as her face twitched, but otherwise nothing.

The others came in and he heard three gasps, the next thing he knew Sakura was right next to him and running a medical scan over the comatose woman. "She has major damage to a lot of her vitals," Sakura said as she analyzed the woman before her, "numerous fractures and internal bleeding…"

"She also has several odd looking bumps on her," Naruto began speaking as he moved over the cloak on her shoulder to reveal the bubbly looking lumps. "Can you figure out what they are?"

Sakura frowned as she went over her medical scan, "Their not a part of her…" the pink haired girl frowned as she tried to determine what they were.

"They have a separate chakra system," Hinata said in an effort to be helpful as she used her Byakugan to look over Yugao.

Sakura's eyes widened a tad, "they're eggs! These things are carrying something, some kind of animal or…"

"Insect," Naruto finished as he remembered a lesson on parasitic insects similar to those of the Aburame clan, except they were decidedly more deadly. "We need to get her out of here," Naruto stood up as another **Kage Bushin **appeared beside him, he gave the purple haired woman to the clone and began to move.

The others had little choice but to follow as Naruto began to run, moving through the prison as fast as he could. The others followed him as he made his way out, as they entered the branching corridors Naruto's danger sense hit a high alert.

"GET BACK!"

Naruto and the clone jumped away, pushing Kiba, Hinata and Sakura out of the way as a large destroyed the roof and allowed the sunlight to filter in.

"It's been awhile… dobe."

The four members of the Rookie eleven looked up in shock to see Sasuke standing above them. He had changed his outfit and was now wearing a white long sleeve shirt that opened at the torso, with a small Uchiha clan crest on the collar. He wore black pants with a blue gray cloth hanging halfway from his stomach to his knees. He had a purple rope around his waist that was tied in a bow in the back. Naruto could tell he had also gotten stronger from the way he carried himself, but he could also see the boy had gotten even more arrogant.

"Sasuke," Naruto said in a low voice as his eyes hardened as he looked at the man he once considered a brother. He had thought about what would happen when the two of them met, what he would do when he saw Sasuke again. He had played out many different scenarios for how it could go down, what he would say, what he would do. For the longest time he had been looking forward to this confrontation, either to convince the man to come back or to kill him should he refuse. However right now all of that was a moot point, he looked over at Yugao who was being held by his clone. Turning back to Sasuke he knew he had no time to deal with the prick.

"Kukuku, well isn't this a lovely little reunion."

Naruto turned his head ever so slightly and saw Orochimaru and Kabuto standing together, both of them held a large smirk.

"I see you've grown Naruto-kun," Orochimaru said in his snake like voice, which was oozing with amusement. "You know word of your accomplishments have reached even me, they pushed young Sasuke-kun here to train even harder so that he can kill you."

Naruto's mind was a whirlwind of activity as he began plotting out the best course of action. His top priority was the safety of Yugao, she was the entire reason he came here. But he knew that against one S class criminal, one A bordering S class criminal and another who was said to be on par with Kakashi, Naruto knew he would have a hard time.

"Sakura, Hinata, Kiba," Naruto said in a quiet voice as he got their attention, "I want you three to go with Yugao and my clone and get to Konoha. I'll catch up with you, but if I don't get there before you get to Konoha then I want you to go inform Tsunade about Yugao's affliction and see if she can help. Sai I want you to take on Kabuto, he is the weakest of the three but he is still supposed to be on par with Kakashi so be careful." Naruto noticed that Sakura was about to protest and spoke before she could, "do not argue with me Sakura, we do not have the time to debate this."

Sakura looked like she was going to say something but in the end just sighed, "fine, but be careful and…"

"I'll do what I can," Naruto cut her off, knowing what she wanted; "I can't make any promises though."

Sakura nodded, knowing that was all she could get from Naruto before she and the others took off.

"Kabuto if you will," Orochimaru said.

"Of course Orochimaru-Sama," Kabuto said as he pushed up his glasses. He took off to follow the chunin; however he was cut off by Sai.

Said pale boy gave Kabuto his false smile, "I apologize but I have orders not to let you pass."

"Well I suppose I'll just have to go through you then," Kabuto said.

Sai gave a smile as he finished drawing on his scroll.

"**Choujo Giga!"**

Several large ink lions shot out of the scroll and headed towards Kabuto, who was forced to dodge the ink beasts. Sai kept up the pressure as he moved continued pushing Kabuto back, taking him away from the fleeing chunin and Naruto's soon to be battle.

_According to Danzo-Sama's report, he is a highly skilled medical ninja with regenerative skills and can use chakra scalpels to attack. That means I need to keep my distance, _Sai concluded to himself as he created more ink beasts, these ones in the shape of bears.

The bear beasts charged at Kabuto who had just finished the lion ink beasts, said medical ninja looked over to see the bears coming at him. Activating his scalpels again he began to cut into them, making ink fly everywhere as they dispersed. A loud sizzling noise caught his attention and he turned to see that one of the bears near him had an exploding tag on it. Kabuto jumped back as the bear exploded, sending fire and ink everywhere, the fire hit the ground and ignited the ink, forcing Kabuto to jump back.

He looked over at Sai and charged, getting in close as the pale skinned boy tried to back away. Kabuto hit Sai right where his heart was, only for the ROOT ninja to burst into ink. A roar made Kabuto dodge just in time as a lion came at him from the left; Kabuto hit it on the head with a chakra scalpel, destroying it. He looked around for Sai, frowning in thought when he did not see the boy. His ears perked up when he heard a whistling sound, looking up he saw several kunai coming down towards him. He took out a kunai and began to dodge and deflect the attacks, a few managed to cut him but his healing ability kept that from being a problem. However a sizzling sound made him look down, his eyes widened as he saw exploding tags on a majority of the kunai, which had been set on a delayed timer. The medical ninja was forced to make quick use of the **Karwimi **in order to escape destruction as a large explosion went off from the exploding tags.

Kabuto cursed his disadvantage, knowing that this boy would be troublesome to deal with.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Dobe…" Sasuke said with a smirk on his face as his Sharingan eyes spun, he had been waiting for the chance to battle the blond again. This time so he could kill him.

Naruto looked at the two shinobi before, switching his gaze from Sasuke to a smirking Orochimaru and then back to Sasuke. "I am going to give you one more chance to come back to Konoha Sasuke," Naruto said.

Sasuke smirk widened, "is that so? What makes you think I would come back to that weak village and give up my power for those fools. Are you going to make me come back? Don't make me laugh, you're still a dobe and you can never hope to match the power of an Uchiha."

Naruto chuckled, "You know Itachi didn't seem to think that after I kicked his ass and forced him to retreat."

Sasuke snarled, "you fought Itachi! When!"

"I'm not going to tell you that," Naruto answered, "I told myself I would give you one more chance to come back to Konoha and if you didn't I would kill you myself."

Sasuke looked at him with wide eyes for a moment before laughing, "you think you can beat me!"

"Not think Sasuke, I know I can beat you," Naruto looked at him, "you probably don't remember, or maybe your brains been so twisted by your delusions of grandeur that your memory of certain events in your mind are skewed. When we last fought I let you win," Sasuke snarled at this but Naruto continued, "during our last charged I tilted my **Rasengan **so that rather take your head off, I merely scratched your Hitea-ate. Do you remember?"

Sasuke put balled his hands into fists, he did remember that day. How could he forget.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Flashback…._

"_**Sasuke!" **__came the demonic roar from Naruto as he charged up a __**Rasengan **__that was pure red due to Kyuubi's chakra being added to the mix._

"_**Dobe!" **__an equally demonic looking Sasuke shouted as he used his level two cursed seal, his skin was an ash color, his eyes were yellow and there was a cross like scar on the bridge of his nose. His wings, which looked like webbed hands were splayed behind his back. He charged his __**Chidori, **__the jutsu turning pitch black as he used the power of his cursed seal._

_The two shot off the ground and clashed at each other, there jutsu clashing and creating a large ball which engulfed them. However Naruto shocked Sasuke as the blond brought his other hand up and shoved a __**Rasengan **__towards his face, at the last second Naruto moved his hand and hit his Hitea-ate instead. Just to prove he could._

_Flashback end…_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

That had been the sole reason Sasuke had not killed Naruto that day, because Naruto could have killed him but didn't. He had let Naruto survive so that when they fought, he could kill him at his full power, that way no one could deny that he was the better of the two of them.

"I see you do remember," Naruto said, "though as much as I would love to reminisce about me kicking your ass, I have a friend who needs me." Naruto shed his Haori and threw it away, letting the weighted outfit hit the ground with a loud bang as it formed a small crater. The blond shinobi began to channel chakra into the seals located throughout his body.

"_**Kai."**_

Naruto let out a slow breath, feeling the gravity and resistance seals release. He looked over at the two shinobi as he got into his taijutsu stance. He knew that he would have to fight with his all the moment this battle started; both would likely underestimate him, one because of his arrogance and the other because of his belief that his clan was better than everyone else. This would hopefully give Naruto enough of an advantage to either kill one of them, or force them to retreat.

"Let's make this quick shall we," Naruto said as he pointed a finger at Sasuke.

"_**Raiton: Byakurai."**_

Both Sasuke and Orochimaru felt their eyes widen as a large bolt of lightning headed towards them, jumping out of the way they saw it continue on its course. Right before it turned around and headed for Orochimaru who created a **Tsuchi Bushin **and **Kawirimi'd **with it.

While that was going on Naruto appeared right in front of Sasuke and smashed a foot in the black haired ninja's torso, sending Sasuke flying to the ground below. Said Uchiha grit his teeth as he flipped around and landed on the ground, he looked up just in time to dodge a wind blade sent his way. Going through a few hand seals, Sasuke charged up his chakra and called out his jutsu.

"**Chidori: Senbon! (One Thousand Birds: Senbon)"**

Sasuke threw several senbon made of lightning at Naruto, who's lungs swelled up before he let it out.

"_**Futon: Mugen Daitoppa."**_

A large gust of wind shot from Naruto's mouth, due to lightning being naturally weak against wind the senbon dissipated. However the gust of wind continued on, hitting Sasuke and lifting him off his feet.

Naruto was about to charge in to finish him off, or at the very least injure him, when he was forced to dodge a swipe from the **Kusanagi no Tsurugi**. Spinning a full one hundred and eighty degrees, Naruto unsealed **Susanoo **and raised it in defense as Orochimaru's blade clashed against it. Rather than push against the snake Sennin, Naruto drop his sword, making Orochimaru fall off balance and came up in the hopes of slicing the man in half. He did, however Orochimaru turned into an earth clone, Naruto jumped in the air just as the pale skinned man shot out of the ground with the **Kusanagi **set to impale him.

Cursing Naruto was about to launch a lightning bolt at the man, when Sasuke appeared right in front of him and hit Naruto in the face. Naruto flew back several feet, flipping himself over so he landed on his feet. He raised his blade in time to block Orochimaru's attack, pushing the man back before striking him in the stomach with a foot. The snake Sennin doubled over and Naruto cut him in half, cursing when the man turned to mud again. The snake Sennin came out of the ground again, this time the **Kusanagi **went straight through Naruto's chest. However rather than bleed, Naruto exploded right in Orochimaru's face. It had only been years of experience that allowed the man to **Kawirimi'd **himself with a mud clone.

Naruto turned around when he heard the sound of birds chirping; seeing Sasuke with his cursed seal spread across his body, coming at him with a lightning covered hand destroying the landscape. Naruto charged a **Rasengan **in his own hand, however unlike the standard **Rasengan **this one was pure white, having had Naruto's wind element added to it. Sasuke thrust out his hand as he came closer, in retaliation Naruto did the same. The two jutsu clashed as they tried to overpower each other, for a while at least. Due to the fact that the **Rasengan **had been an A rank jutsu on par with **Chidori **to begin with, now that it had an element and the most offensive oriented one at that, the jutsu tore right through Sasuke's **Chidori**. Sasuke was blown away by the explosion of power from Naruto's jutsu, landing on the ground several feet away, clutching a slightly torn up hand. Luckily for him his **Chidori**, which had its potency added to it by the cursed seal,had been able to somewhat nullify the **Fuuton Rasengan's **affects, or he would have lost his entire arm.

Naruto had no time to admire his handy work as Orochimaru came at him, Naruto was forced to dodge several sword swings from the **Kusanagi**. Due to the un-telegraphed nature of the style it was only Naruto's enhanced reflexes, which by now were almost on par with the Yondaime Raikage's when using **Raiton No Yoroi**, that Naruto was able to dodge the snake Sennin's attacks. Even still he got several cuts along his arms, Naruto could feel the snake based poison from the blades trying to enter his system. But a quick pulse of Kyuubi's chakra destroyed every trace of the poison.

Knowing he would have to up the stakes even more, Naruto began channeling Kyuubi's chakra directly into his muscles. Because he was fighting a Sharingan user as well as Orocimaru, Naruto knew her would have to be careful. Even though Sasuke did not have the Mangekyo, even a normal Sharingan had the ability to negate and suppress Kyuubi's chakra. All it would take was for the avenger to catch him off guard.

Despite being hailed as a genius, Orochimaru seemed to be surprised that Naruto had not dropped from his strongest poison; as well as the fact that Naruto's speed, strength and reaction time seemingly doubled. Naruto used this surprise to his advantage, managed to cut the snake Sennin's arm off. However several snakes crawled up Orochimaru's arm, making it seem as if he had never lost it. Still it was painful enough that it gave Naruto the opportunity to smash a foot in the Sennin's chest, sending the man rocketing back.

Spinning around Naruto charged **Susanoo **with wind chakra as it clashed against Sasuke's Chokuto, defeating the lightning charged in the Uchiha's blade and forcing Sasuke to jump back. However Naruto let him have no quarter as he appeared in front of him, Sasuke was forced to dodge to the left as Naruto's sword came down. However he could not dodge the kick to his face, as Sasuke was sent flying back, Naruto spun on his heels and blocked another strike from the **Kusanagi**.

Letting the blade slide past him, Naruto ducked and managed to impale Orochimaru through the chest. Orochimaru however merely opened his mouth wide, and another Orochimaru crawled out. Meanwhile the one that Naruto had impaled deflated as it became nothing more than skin. Naruto jumped away as the new Orochimaru tried to impale him. Channeling lightning chakra into his sword the blond shinobi sent an intense burst of lightning towards the snake Sennin, who was forced to use a **Kariwimi **to get out of the way. Resealing his sword Naruto began a string of hand seals as he saw Sasuke charge back over to him.

"**Ranton: Sen! (Beam)"**

Naruto whispered the jutsu before spreading his hands in front of him, a bright white beam shot out them. Launching itself towards a shocked Sasuke, it was only thanks to the Sharingan that he had been able to **Kariwimi **in time. Sasuke reappeared next to Orochimaru, both of them charging towards Naruto having realized that they may actually need to work together to beat him. Orochimaru came in with a knife strike to the throat, while Sasuke attempted to kick out Naruto's legs. Making sure his timing was right, Naruto crouched on the ground and pushed himself into the air so that he was parallel with the ground. Orochimaru's attack flew over him and Sasuke's under, in return for their attack Naruto managed to kick Orochimaru in the gut and Sasuke in the face. With his attacks enhanced by wind chakra the two were sent fifty feet back before they managed to right themselves and skid along the ground. They did not get the chance to do much more then stand as they heard Naruto called out another jutsu.

"**Hyoton: Ryuurenda No Jutsu! (Dragon's Barrage Jutsu)"**

Water coalesced in front of Naruto, taking the shape of several thousand tiny dragons that froze over the second they were formed. The dragons charged towards Orochimaru and Sasuke in mass, the two forced to dodge the literal storm of ice dragons. They soon realized however that just dodging would not help, once the dragons past them they would swoop back around and try to impale the two from behind.

_What the hell is this!_Sasuke mentally screamed to himself, _how the hell does the dobe know Hyoton Jutsu! _Sasuke hated how this fight was turning out so far, this was not how it was suppose to happen. He was supposed to meet Naruto, show him just how much better he was then him and then kill him and gain the Mangekyo Sharingan. Now he was being forced to dodge tiny little dragons, which if hit could very well kill him. On top of that his Sharingan was near useless, Naruto had yet to use any hand seals except for the ones that Sasuke could not copy anyway. It was getting frustrating to see the dobe this powerful, he should not have this power.

Getting frustrated Sasuke began to go through several hand seals.

"**Chidori: Nagashi! (One Thousand Birds: Current)"**

A wave of lightning shot out of Sasuke, hitting the dragons near him and destroying them. Likewise Orochimaru had managed to destroy them with the **Kusanagi. **However neither were able to do anything as Naruto appeared right next to them, smashing a fist in their gut and sending them flying. Naruto did not give them a chance to even get back on the ground as he pulled out two **Hiraishin **kunai, with a flick of his wrists he sent them flying. Not even half a second later Naruto was right above them, two **Rasengan's **in hand, which were soon drilled into their guts.

Orochimaru was fortunate enough to have his regeneration jutsu, which he used again to shed his skin. Sasuke however had no such abilities and as such the spinning ball of destruction tore into his stomach, Sasuke let loose a loud and retched sounding scream. He found himself smashing into the ground, increasing the amount of pain he was in and forcing him to cough up copious amounts of blood. He looked up, gritting his teeth when he saw Naruto standing over him, poised and ready to kill him. A part of him could not believe this, he Sasuke Uchiha, an elite ninja trained by Orochimaru of the Sannin himself had been beaten by Naruto, the loser and class clown.

Fortunately for him and his defeatist thoughts, Orochimaru had forced Naruto away at the last second by throwing the Kusanagi at the blond. Naruto jumped back as he knocked the blade off course, giving Orochimaru enough time to get Sasuke.

"You have been a great thorn in my side boy!" Orochimaru hissed, "but rest assured I will kill you after I take possession of Sasuke-kun's body!" With that the snake Sennin disappeared into the ground, his chakra signature vanishing with it.

Naruto sighed as he felt the adrenaline in his system from the fight leave him, this was one of the first times he had gone full out right at the start of the battle; physically anyways. Now that the fight was done, Naruto felt tired. Needing a boost Naruto called upon Kyuubi's chakra, letting it enter his system and refill his nearly depleted reserves.

"Dickless!"

Naruto cursed as he turned to Sai, the pale skinned teen was slightly worse for wear but otherwise unharmed. "Did you get Kabuto?" Naruto asked, hoping for some good news.

Sai shook his head, "no I was unable to do so since he made a retreat fifteen minutes ago."

Naruto grunted, "Let's go then, we need to catch up with Sakura and the others." With nothing left to say Naruto shot off, using his remaining energy to catch up to his team. Fifteen minutes of high speed tree hopping, Naruto was able to see his team and the clone he left still holding Yugao. He appeared right along side of the group, with Sai appearing just a little bit after.

"Report," Naruto said in a commanding tone as he began drawing on more of Kyuubi's chakra to sustain himself.

"There hasn't been any trouble," Sakura said as she continued running, having gotten somewhat used to the grueling pace Naruto set she was able to speak normally. "We have not run into any Oto shinobi, I don't think Orochimaru was expecting something like this." She looked at him for a second and bit her lip, "did you…"

"No," Naruto said, already knowing what she wanted to ask, "Sasuke managed to get away. But I managed to injure him pretty badly, so he won't be able to do anything for a while, several months at least." Naruto moved up along his clone, and took Yugao from it while still in motion. He looked down at her and noticed that she was beginning to sweat, "have you noticed any change in condition with Yugao?"

Sakura shook her head, "not that I can see, the eggs have not hatched so we're in the clear for now."

Naruto nodded as he glanced back at Yugao, he was unsure whether or not it was because of the fact that he had not really been able to look at her due to what has happened, or because of the eggs but she was looking a lot worse than before. Naruto resisted the urge to growl as he thought about the ones who did this to her, while he had been able to keep them occupied enough that they had been almost defenseless to his assault, he wished he had been able to kill them. _Next time…_Naruto promised to himself.

The group continued traveling as the sun began to go down, however none of the other ninja had Naruto's stamina and because of his fight with Sasuke and Orochimaru, Naruto was near exhausted even with Kyuubi's chakra to sustain him. They unfortunately had to turn in for the night, setting up camp and taking shifts. This time Naruto had Hinata, Sakura and Sai take the three shifts, Naruto stayed with Yugao as he gently laid her down in his sleeping bag. Not caring that the surface of the tent was extremely rocky, Naruto set himself down right next to his bag on the floor, watching Yugao until he fell asleep.

"AAAHHH!"

The next morning Naruto awoke to a tortured scream, jumping onto his feet he unsealed **Susanoo **out of instinct as he looked for the threat. It was only when the scream tore through the room again that he realized where it was coming from; Yugao. Turned Naruto saw the young woman writhing in pain, the blonds' eyes widened for a second as he tried to think of what to do. He quickly shook off any thoughts other then getting Yugao back to Konoha, he jumped out of the tent, thankfully to see that the others had been awakened by the scream.

"Sakura!" Naruto shouted, getting the pink haired chunin to come over. "Take her, do a medical scan, try and stop or at least delay whatever is causing her pain! Hinata I need you to help her as well!" Naruto handed Yugao off to Sakura as Hinata rushed over to help. Naruto bit his thumb and rubbed some blood over his hand as he began stringing along several hand seals, when finished he smashed his hand on the ground and shouted out his jutsu.

"**Kuchiyose No Jutsu!"**

A summoning seal array spread out from the point where Naruto's hand had impacted with the ground, there was a large puff of smoke that covered the entire area as he along with the others were shot up off the ground.

"**Jiraiya you better hope you're not the one who summoned me you damned pervert!"**

Naruto hopped off Gamabunta's head and onto nose, "Bunta I have an injured Konoha kunoichi and I need very fast transportation to Konoha now!" As if to accentuate his words, Yugao let loose with another scream.

Gamabunta seeing the frantic look on his summoners face, and actually liking this summoner, decided to do as asked. **"You got it gaki!" **the giant toad began to hop off at a pace that he rarely ever used.

Naruto rushed back over to Sakura and Hinata who were busy running some kind of healing jutsu over the large bumps, which Naruto could see were deforming as if they were trying to break. "What's going on with her!" Naruto shouted as he tried to make himself heard over the rushing wind.

Sakura looked up from her work for a second, before going back as she explained what was wrong. "Those eggs are hatching! Hinata and I are using our chakra to keep them encased in a bubble of sorts! Hopefully that will keep them from hatching until we can get her to the hospital!"

Naruto nodded as he sat next to them, watching as one of his precious people screamed and writhed in pain, feeling completely helpless because there was nothing he could do to help. He tore his eyes away from the sight and saw that they were coming up on Konoha. Gamabunta jumped right over the village gates and made his way to the Hokage tower. As the giant toad stopped right outside Naruto jumped in through the window, not even bothering to take note of Tsunade and Shizune's shock as he spoke.

"I have Neko, she is badly injured and has some kind of 'eggs' implanted in her! I need you two at the hospital otherwise she might die!"

As Naruto was saying this, Sakura and Hinata came in with Yugao who was still screaming, but had overused her vocal chords so much that all that came out was a rasping noise.

Tsunade seeing this instantly went into medic mode, "Sakura! Hinata! Get her to the hospital! Shizune get a hospital room ready in by the time they get there! Let's move people!"

The four medics hustled out of the room with their orders clear, Naruto took a moment to take several calming breaths before he too left. With a brisk walk he made it to the hospital, when he got there he went up to the front desk and got the attention of the nurse there. "Excuse me but I was wondering if you could direct me to the room Tsunade and the three medical ninja with her went?" he asked.

"Of course Namikaze-Sama," the nurse said as she searched her paper, "they went to the emergency room for intensive injuries. That's just down this hall, take a right, you'll reach the room when you reach the end of the hall."

"Thanks!" Naruto said as he took off, racing down the hallway as he attempted to get there as fast as possible. When he did he saw the red light on, indicating that Tsunade and the others were in there and attempting to help Yugao. Not seeing anything else he could do, Naruto took a seat along the wall, waiting until Tsunade or one of the others came out to let him know if Yugao was alright.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Sakura I need you to hold her down!" Tsunade ordered as she tried to get the now flailing woman from smashing her in the face. They had just gotten her to the hospital room when the eggs had hatched, causing the woman not only more pain, but also making her appendages spasm at ever increasing intervals. She and Sakura each grabbed a limb, pushing it down with their strength before binding them so they could not move. Once the woman was bound Hinata and Shizune who had gotten medical scalpels began to cut into the woman where the protrusions had last been located.

What they had found was disgusting; the thing looked almost like a snake, which in all honesty was not surprising. However, what were, were the hundreds of tiny tendrils that they could see trying to snake their way along the woman's nervous system. This was without a doubt what was causing the spasms as well as the excruciating pain the woman was on, and Tsunade had counted a total of five of them.

"Here's how we're going to do this! Sakura and Hinata! I want you two to constantly monitor the patient's vitals and if necessary add the fluids that she is most likely going to be losing! Shizune I need you to apply a continuous stream of medical chakra into Yugao! It may not do much, but it should at least somewhat ease the pain!"

Tsunade created four heavily reinforced **Kage Bushin's**, all of them already had mental orders and immediately began to work. Tsunade and each of her clones began working on extracting what was no doubt some kind of parasite, what kind exactly she did not know, chances were high it was a knew one that Orochimaru had made himself. The work was hard, harder than anything she had to do thus far, even harder then fixing Rock Lee after he was injured by Gaara in the Prelims four years back. She had to remove each tendril from the woman's nervous system one by one, at the same time she had to use her healing chakra to as soon as the tendril left and continue to send it out. This meant that by the time she would be done, she would be sending medical chakra to one hundred separate spots. Add onto the fact that she had reinforced each clone with 1/5th of her chakra and it made this task ridiculously hard.

As the work continued Tsunade began to sweat from the exertion, for a female she had abnormally high reserves and stamina, especially considering that even though she looked young, she was really in her fifties. Alongside her Shizune was always starting to get low on energy, they had been working for about an hour now so it was understandable, despite this she continued to work and do her best to save the woman Naruto had spent so much effort to rescue. Sakura and Hinata had a bit of an easier time with their tasks. They had managed to plug an IV and heart rate monitor, now all they were doing was replenishing whatever Yugao lost with blood pills and nutrient packs.

Tsunade didn't even dare to wipe the sweat on her brow as she continued working, lest her concentration break.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto kept his eyes closed as he sat in a meditative position as he tried to keep his nerves calm. It had been four hours since he had gotten to the hospital, despite the fact that he was exhausted beyond all comprehension he could not bring himself to leave, not until he knew that Yugao was alright. He held back on the desire to curse himself for what he saw as failing one of his precious people. To him it did not matter that he had not seen the purple haired Anbu since he was six, nor that the village had kept him so busy that before the training trip he had not even had the time to think about her. He had made a promise to himself a long time ago that he would protect his precious people, be it from physical harm or mental harm. Yugao was one of his precious people, and for the past four and a half years she had been suffering. She had lost the person she had considered the most precious to her, someone she had planned on marrying; and he had done nothing to help. He had not even thought about the purple haired woman who had protected him, cared for him and in many ways showed him what it meant to be loved, even if it had only been in a big sister kind of way. In some ways he could not help but feel that this was his fault, if only he had sought her out after the chunin exams, if only he had comforted her before he left for the village. So many things he could have done, should have done, but didn't. It was enough to make him feel like a helpless child again.

He shook his head, _living in the past is useless, if I focus on what I should have done back then, I'll never be able to do things I can and should do now. _He took a deep breath, sending his conscience deep into himself as he began an exercise he had created several years back. Reaching in he began to look for his chakra, it wasn't hard to find. Unlike most people who had to force chakra out of their bodies, Naruto only had to reach it. He liked to think of his chakra as facet, a very large facet. Whereas most ninja actually had to pull and drag there chakra to use, all he would do was turn it on much like turned the handle on a facet to get water. It was for this reason that the **Bushin jutsu **was forever out of his reach, even if he only let his chakra flow for less than 1/4th of a second, it was already too much and the **Bushin **was overloaded. He shook his head again and forced himself to go deeper.

As soon as he reached his chakra he began to feel it out, if chakra were to be given a color most people would often describe there's as a light blue, Naruto's chakra was a dark and thick blue. Reaching even further Naruto felt out the many different types of chakra he had or could produce. The first was easily recognizable as Kyuubi's, a deep red color that seemed to burn and thrash in a chaotic manner as if it was alive. Ignoring it for the moment Naruto began to focus on his other chakras, or his elemental chakra. There were five in total, the first was a deep green color and had feel that was very contradictory in nature, giving off both a calming and chaotic feeling. This was his main affinity, wind chakra. His second was a bright yellow bordering white and the feel it gave could best be described as shocking, it was his lightning affinity. His third was a deep blue and had a completely calming and cool aura to it, letting him know it was his affinity for water. However there were two others as well, the first was white and ice cold, it was drawing from a combination of his wind and water affinities showing that it was ice. The other one was oddly enough purple in color; it gave off an chaotic and electric feel telling him it was Storm.

Continuing with his exercises Naruto began to mix the different chakra types together, getting different combinations of density and power. The exercise itself was useless for combat purposes, mixing more type of one element over the other always gave off explosive results. It was part of the reason bloodlines were so coveted since they made people instinctively know what the right amount of elemental chakra needed to be added into the mix. However, while this did not help with combat situations it did allow him better control over his chakra and elements.

His concentration was snapped as the red light on top of the hospital door turned off, a second later the door opened and a tired Tsunade walked out. Naruto stood up and went up to her, he opened his mouth to speak but Tsunade raised a hand, stopping him.

"Yugao is stable," Tsunade said, "we managed to fix her up and she will be just fine, however she will not be waking up anytime soon."

Naruto sighed in relief, he looked up and Tsunade was surprised to see tears of relief on the younger blonds face. Naruto wrapped his arms around a surprised Tsunade, who stiffened at the physical contact. "Thank you," Naruto whispered.

Tsunade returned the hug as she heard the relief in Naruto's voice, it was only now that she truly realized just how important Yugao was to him. "You're welcome brat," she said as she released the hug. When she did the woman gave Naruto a glare, "however you and I need to have a long talk."

Naruto just nodded, knowing that his insubordination would not get let off.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"… after that I summoned Gamabunta I got Yugao and my team here as fast as I could," Naruto finished his explanation of his self appointed rescue mission.

Tsunade looked at him with an unreadable expression as she listened to the report; she was actually impressed that he had been able to fight two powerful shinobi at the same time. However she was also angry at how reckless it was, given what Naruto was telling her if Sasuke had been given enough time to utilize the full power of his cursed, Naruto could have lost. "What you did was extremely reckless Naruto!" to the blond males credit he did not flinch at her tone or words. "Going up against two S ranked nin-"

"A rank," Naruto corrected, causing Tsunade to raise an eyebrow. "Sasuke is only an A rank ninja without the full power of his cursed seal, with it he may have been able to give me trouble but without it he could not do much."

"That still does not make the fact that you engaged two powerful shinobi at the same time without back up!" Tsunade glared at him. Her glare however was merely to hide the fear she felt at the thought of Naruto getting injured, if something had happened to the young man on this mission, or any mission really, she would never be able to forgive herself.

"I know," Naruto said in a quiet, "that is why I am willing to accept any punishment you offer."

Tsunade sighed; she knew the man in front of her did not regret his decision even for a second. "Because of your insubordinate actions, I am putting you on a one month probation where you will not be able to leave the village. Also you will be required to do thirty one D rank missions while on this probation period." She knew this punishment was somewhat harsh, but most cases of insubordination could be taken as a sign of treason; which was punishable by death.

Naruto nodded, not in the least bit concerned by the punishment he was receiving, "I understand Tsunade-Sama." He paused for a moment, "was that all? Or could I…"

Tsunade sighed as she waved him off, "go on and visit Yugao, she should be out of intensive by now."

Naruto gave her a smile of thanks before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto entered the room where Yugao was staying, grabbing a chair on the wall and placing it near her bed. He sat down with a heavy sigh, running a hand through his hair as he thought about what his confrontation with Sasuke. Any feelings of comradeship he may have once felt for the Uchiha was long gone now, whether he was a part of what happened to Yugao or not, Naruto knew that he would know of it. It did not even matter if he actively participated in her torture, the fact that he knew was enough for Naruto. During their next confrontation Sasuke would die, painfully, Naruto promised himself that.

He shook the thoughts off and focused his attention on the practically comatose form of Yugao; reaching out he took one of her hands in both of his, gently rubbing his fingers along her hand. "Damn it Yugao," Naruto whispered to himself as he thought of the woman. He knew what she was trying to do, going on S rank mission after S rank mission in the hopes that she would die. Her friends had been telling him about how the woman seemed to lose her will to live after the Chunin Exams.

He quickly squashed the guilty feelings that emerged from this train of thought, he could not change the past and dwelling on it did nothing, something he had constantly been forced to remind himself recently. "Never again," Naruto said as he leaned his head down and kissed Yugao on the forehead, laying his head on her bed after that. He was not going to stand by and watch as one of the people he cared for, and admittedly had a crush on since childhood, suffer. _Never again will I let her feel this pain… _

With those last thoughts, Naruto slowly closed his eyes and let himself fall asleep as his nearly depleted energy left him.

A little while later a nurse came by, seeing the blond with his head on the bed, she was about to wake him up. However she noticed the way he was holding the woman's hand, nearly right next to his lips, as well as realizing who he was. Hokage-Sama had given him special permission to stay the night, having anticipated that Naruto would not leave even if ordered. Turning off the lights, the nurse left the room, leaving the two people there to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Omake: Sasugay

"Dobe…" Sasuke said with a smirk on his face as his Sharingan eyes spun, he had been waiting for the chance to battle the blond again. This time so he could kill him.

Naruto looked at the two shinobi before, switching his gaze from Sasuke to a smirking Orochimaru and then back to Sasuke. "I am going to give you one more chance to come back to Konoha Sasuke," Naruto said.

Sasuke smirk widened, "is that so? What makes you think I would come back to that weak village and give up my power for those fools? Orochimaru can give me far more then that village can. Or are you going to make me come back? Don't make me laugh, you're still a dobe and you can never hope to match the power of an Uchiha."

"I see, so Orochi-teme can give you far more then Konoha huh? Well I'll admit if I liked to play hide the snake in the trousers with a pedophiliac freak I would stay too. Though, I never took you for an uki." Naruto said, causing Sasuke to go red in the face. "Well I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by that, you always did strike me as the type that would like taking it up the ass."

"Take that back dobe!" Sasuke screamed, "I am not gay! I like women! WOMEN!"

"Sure whatever you say," Naruto replied with a shrug, "keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night."

"Don't listen to him Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said with an angry hiss, "he just doesn't understand what we have together."

Sasuke looked back at Orochimaru is eyes wide, "What are you talking about what we have together! Didn't I just tell you I like women!"

"~I think someone's in denial~" Naruto said in a singsong voice.

"I am not!"

"That's ok Sasugay," Naruto said, "I really don't care; I mean hey if your gay that's cool. It just means more women for me."

"DOBE!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Another chapter up! I apologize for it being so late; I've been having some issues with my story writing. There are like twenty different idea's bouncing around in my head and it's been causing conflicts with my writing because I don't know what to write. The fact that I had finals to get done didn't help either, I had already failed one of the classes I was taking once and did not want to do so again. Also I will be leaving on vacation for the holidays so I won't be near my computer for the next three weeks. I apologize in advance for not being able to update my stories until I get back, which is why this chapter is not coming out this coming monday. Not much to say about this chapter but be sure to let me know if you guys have anything to say!

Hey! has anyone else realized that if you take the last syllable for Sasuke, you get Uke? Isn't that another word for gay in japanese or something. Perhaps there is some merit to my omake!

Just remember: "Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes." ~ Jack Handey

**Next! Chapter 16: Healing a Broken Heart**


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm loving the reviews a lot of people are giving me about this story. A lot of people seem to really like it and it brings those warm fuzzy feelings to my heart to know people do. There were some people who liked the chapter and some who didn't. However, after writing for several months you learn that it's impossible to please everyone who is going to read your story. I hope that the majority of you like it, but for those who don't just keep in mind that the stories people on this sight come up with are more for their enjoyment. We don't necessarily write for the sole purpose of posting on .**

**Tutenstein: Please keep in mind that Orochimaru is also an S-rank ninja and Sasuke while not S ranked is definitely A ranked. Now normally Naruto would have been able to just go six tails on their asses and kill them, but you have to keep in mind that Sasuke can subdue Kyuubi's chakra. Naruto does not have a doujutsu so he has no defense against Sasuke if he were to do that, meaning Naruto had to run on his own power, which while strong is not strong enough to handle two high level ninja. Besides, he still managed to give Sasuke a good ass kicking.**

**Sweet Heavens: While I feel some form of remorse that you are displeased, I can't please everyone. And I do not feel Naruto went oc, if you recall even canon Naruto would do anything for his 'precious people' meaning he is more than willing to go against orders to protect someone important to him. Also, have you not realized that more than half of the Naruto Anime/Manga is in fact filler? The arc where Naruto and Sakura try to meet Sasori's spy and find Sasuke, Elemental training (Yes this is a filler, he could have easily done this during his three year sojourn with Jiraiya if Kishi was smart), The three tails arch with Guren, any arch that does not have to do with Akatsuki can be considered filler.**

**Kensington: Naruto may have used Hiraishin, but you have to remember he was not quite in his right mind at the time. His worry overrode some of his thought processes.**

**Eduardo: Yes, Yugao is Naruto's fifth and final fianceé.**

**Last, I appreciate people informing of what Uke means. Does anyone else find it ironic and hilarious that the last syllable of Sasuke's name stands for someone who takes it in the ass?**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, just in case you didn't know that. However if you think I should own Naruto then send a letter to Kishimoto and let him know to give the rights to Naruto to me.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Chapter 16: Healing a Broken Heart**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

"Man, I can't believe she's giving you such a harsh punishment!" Kiba complained in a loud voice as he, Naruto and the other members of the Konoha Eleven sat at a large table in one of the Akimichi owned restaurants. "I mean, all you did was go to save one of her ANBU, you'd think she would be-"

"Enough Kiba," Naruto said in a calm voice. He shook his head at his friend; it was obvious that Kiba along with a few of his other friends did not understand. "She's only doing what she thinks is right."

"But-"

Naruto forestalled his words with a smile, "I was given direct orders not to go on my self-appointed rescue mission and disobeyed those orders. I knew that when I returned I would be punished for it, I accepted that and in truth I don't really care about my punishment. So long as I can protect my precious people then no punishment is too high a price."

Kiba shut his mouth after that as he and the others listened to the blond speak. The differences in the old Naruto and the one who came back once again became more clear and pronounced.

"Still…" Ino said as she picked at her salad, "it does seem a little harsh. I mean an entire month of D-rank missions and probation from leaving Konoha for trying to save a friend," Ino shook her head, "it doesn't seem fair."

"On the contrary, it's actually far fairer than what most people would get for such a blatant act of insubordination. The level of insubordination I showed is a major felony in Konoha, border-lining on treason and can be punished with several years in jail as a minimum punishment and at worst death." Naruto said, getting gasps from the others who did not understand shinobi politics.

"What's more my punishment will serve as an example that no one will get away scot-free for disobeying direct orders from the Hokage. As a Clan Head I'm supposed to set an example for other ninja, that I did not means she really had no other option. This will also let others feel a sense of unity knowing that just because I come from a powerful clan, does not mean I will be able to get away with everything I want."

"Man, politics are so troublesome," Shikamaru said with a sigh, "I really don't envy you Naruto, having to deal with all this troublesome business. You know if you become Hokage you're going to have to deal with these types of situations often."

Naruto laughed, "Yeah well just wait until you take over for your father as Clan Head. Who knows, you may end up being my second in command after I become Hokage."

Everyone laughed as Shikamaru groaned at the thought, if he ended up as the second in command for all of the shinobi forces he would have so much work that he would not have any time for his cloud watching, or shogi, or sleeping or anything really. Now that would be troublesome.

Sai who had been invited by Naruto after he had found the pale skinned boy reading at the library just watched as the group interacted. They seemed so normal, nothing like he thought ninja should be, how he was taught ninja should be. They showed their emotions and acted like normal civilians when not on duty, something he had been taught a ninja should never do.

Sai looked over at Naruto; he had observed the blond on the battlefield on numerous occasions now. Never once had he ever seen Naruto lose his cool when fighting, even during their recent rescue mission he had not lost control of his emotions in battle. A part of him wondered if he would be able to better understand emotions, maybe he would be able to gain his own with time.

Naruto looked over at the time and sighed, standing up he looked at his friends and gave them a grin. "Well it looks like it's time to do another D-rank, so I'll see you guys later." Tossing a wave over his shoulder Naruto left the restaurant.

The blond walked through the streets of Konoha, making his way to the Hokage Tower so he could get his D-rank mission. He waved to a few of the people he passed, tossing a grin to a few of the children who would stop playing to watch him. Looking in front of him, Naruto saw the Hokage Tower in view. He walked in and made his way up the stairs, stopping in front of the front desk that Isaribi was manning.

"Writing to your boyfriend again?" Naruto asked with a grin as Isaribi jumped.

"Kami Naruto, don't do that," she said, holding a hand to her chest as she tried to get her heart rate under control. She blushed a bit when she registered what he said, during the Chunin exams when she had met Chojuro, the two had hit it off fairly well. They weren't doing anything yet, having only really hung out together a few times, but they still considered themselves good friends. Of course as soon as Naruto had found out that the two were sending letters to each other he had not stopped teasing her about it.

"No," she said, a light blush staining her cheeks, "I was just looking through some files for Hokage-sama…"

"Reeeaaallly, then what do you call this?" Naruto drawled as he held up a letter, one that Isaribi instantly recognized as the increasing blush on her face spread.

"Give that back!" Isaribi shouted as she jumped over her desk and tried to grab it, only for Naruto to move his hands out of her reach. Isaribi jumped on him in an attempt to get it, but Naruto merely switched himself out with a **Kage Bunshin**. The girl jumped off his clone when she saw another Naruto holding her letter, puffing out her cheeks comically as she put her hands on her hips.

"Give me the letter Naruto-kun," Isaribi said as she held her hand out. When he didn't she gave him the **Kunoi Inu Boushi No Jutsu ****(Puppy Dog Eye Jutsu) **that all females seemed to know, no matter whether they were ninja or civilians. It was one of Naruto's few weaknesses.

Naruto sighed as he handed her the letter, "You're no fun Ribi-chan."

He perked up a second later as a grin crossed his face, "So you admit that is a letter to your boyfriend?"

Isaribi's face got beet red, "I-I never said Chojuro was my boyfriend!"

"And I never said I was talking about Chojuro," Naruto shot back, much to the girl's embarrassment. Naruto laughed as he made his way into the Hokage's office, leaving a stuttering and red faced Isaribi. Walking in the blond saw Tsunade looking out of the window behind her desk; Naruto walked up to the front and stood there. He did not speak, knowing that she already knew he was here and would talk when she was ready.

"Here for another D-rank?" Tsunade asked as she turned around. She looked at Naruto, whose face was fairly impassive at the moment. The blond Hokage had been surprised at just how little resistance Naruto put up when given this punishment, meaning he had not even bothered resisting at all. Tsunade was actually impressed, Naruto seemed to understand the political implications of what he did and how it would affect other ninja in Konoha, which was the reason he did not resist. Though she knew that he would do it again regardless of any reprimands he got, something that if she were honest with herself, also impressed her.

"Yes Hokage-sama," Naruto said, using the respectful title and suffix, he had decided that since he was in trouble it would be best if he did not call her baa-chan for the moment.

Tsunade shuffled through the stack of D-ranks that she had, selecting one that had her smirking. She gave it to him as she spoke, "Your mission is to retrieve Tora the cat, who seems to have escaped her owner again."

Naruto held in a sigh as he grabbed the scroll, nodding to Tsunade before he disappeared in a burst of lightning.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto entered Yugao's room in the hospital, not even blinking as he spotted Shizune checking over the woman's condition. He had been here enough times to know that either she, Sakura or Hinata would check in on the woman once every two hours depending on whose shift it was. Naruto had spent every evening with Yugao, even though he knew that the purple haired woman would not wake up for several more days at the least.

"How is she doing Shizune-nee-chan?" asked Naruto as he took a chair and brought it up to the edge of the bed. Sitting down he reached out and took one of Yugao's hands in his own, gently caressing it like he had been doing every time he came in.

Shizune looked at him for a second before going back to checking the monitors, "She's seems to be doing fine. She's still in her miniature coma, but Tsunade-sama and I believe she will come out of it in a few days or so."

The young woman finished her check and walked around the bed, coming up to Naruto she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You know you don't have to come here every day, she'll wake up eventually and I'll be sure to inform you as soon as it happens."

Naruto shook his head, "Thanks nee-chan, but it's not about her waking up that makes me stay." Shizune raised an eyebrow at the odd comment but did not say anything, knowing that if Naruto wanted to tell her, he would.

Said blond continued to stare at Yugao's face, which looked so vulnerable right now, nothing at all like the face he remembered from his childhood. "I just can't seem to bear the thought of leaving her alone any more than I have to. When I left for my four year training trip, I never thought about how she was doing. Even before that and right after the invasion, I may not have known that Hayate had been killed. But I feel that I should have at least checked up on her to make sure she was alright, I've always proclaimed that protecting my precious people is the most important thing to me. Yet it wasn't until I came back that I even remembered to check on Yugao. I guess…maybe a part of me just thought she would be fine, she's an ANBU after all and they go through extensive emotional conditioning. And then I saw her and she looked…she looked dead, like a part of her had been killed…"

Shizune winced at the anguish in the young man's voice; she knew how much his friends meant to him. During his childhood he had no friends and the number of people he considered close could have been counted on one hand, so it was not surprising that those precious people he did gain, were held onto and cherished that much more. She gently squeezed his shoulder, hoping to in some way help with the pain and guilt he was dealing with.

"You know none of this is your fault…" Shizune told him in a low voice.

"I know," Naruto replied in a soft voice. He took his gaze away from Yugao for a moment to give Shizune a smile, "I do realize that there was really nothing I could do." He looked back at Yugao and frowned, "That doesn't make watching the people I love suffer any easier to bear."

Shizune just nodded in understanding, giving his shoulder one last squeeze before she left the room.

Naruto watched her go before turning back to the purple-haired woman in the bed, _Get well soon Yugao…_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto grunted as he pulled out another weed from the lawn he was working in, looking up he noticed that the sun was beginning to set. It had been about a week since he had been put on probation and been prohibited from leaving Konoha, something his fiancées had not been very pleased to hear about. It had taken quite a bit of explaining to get himself off the hook; even then they had mixed feelings about what had happened. Thankfully they knew Naruto better than most and knew that he would never leave someone he cared about to suffer if he could help it, so they had reluctantly accepted it. It was also good that while he could not leave Konoha that did not mean that they could not be teleported here. He had used the **Hiraishin's **reverse teleportation ability to great affect this past week, summoning Mei, Konan, Yugito and Koyuki during this time, spending several hours with each of them after he had finished his D-rank missions for the day.

Afterwards he would go to visit Yugao who had still not come out of a coma, something Naruto had been told she got from the shock of having her nervous system invaded by a parasite. The blond hoped she would come out of it soon; he was not sure how much longer he could take of seeing the woman whom to him had always been one of the people he thought of as being invincible in the state she was in.

Bending down Naruto grabbed another weed, pulling it out and throwing it in his bag.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Her body shook as she stared at the cut up body of her lover, the wounds signifying that he had been killed by a wind blade. Tears poured down her cheeks as she tried to understand why this had happened. Why was it that the person who meant the world to her had died?_

_She knew that as a ninja death was an ever present reality, most ninja never even live past their mid-twenties, it was the reason a lot of ninja started sexual relationships so early. The Yondaime was the greatest example of that; hailed as a genius among geniuses at age ten, single handedly winning a war at age twenty-one. Dying when he sealed the Kyuubi at age twenty-eight, it showed that even the best could fall. Yet somehow she never thought it would happen to her or Hayate, with all they had been through she thought they would have been immune to such things._

"… _Hayate," she picked up his sword, the same sword she had given him for his fifteenth birthday. When he was still a Genin, Hayate had proclaimed that he would be Konoha's greatest swordmaster, one that even surpassed the __**Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu**__. They had been dating for nearly four years at that time; she had given him this sword as a way of telling him that she believed he would succeed. He had never used another sword since then; she ran her finger along the blade, even after nearly eight years it was still as sharp as the day she gave it to him._

"_Why…" she had never been so glad that she was wearing a mask, it made sure none of her comrades could see the tears streaming down her face. As an ANBU she was not allowed to show emotion while on duty, to do so was to disgrace the ANBU name. They were the elite and the elite never gave into their emotions._

_And yet…she could not stop herself from crying, from feeling as if her entire life had died the day Hayate had been killed._

_As she stared at the body she watched as it began to disappear along with the rest of the surrounding area, engulfing her entire world in black. _

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

She woke up with a slight gasp, her eyes opening as one of the many nightmares she had had during the past four years ended. Yugao had to shut them almost immediately afterwards as the light caused her overly-sensitive eyes discomfort. She opened them again, this time slower to let her eyes adjust. When she did she automatically recognized the room as one of the many in Konoha's hospital. She wondered how she had gotten here; last thing she remembered was…

"Yugao?"

Yugao turned her head ever so slightly as the voice registered in her ears, and found herself staring into the blue eyed, whiskered face of Naruto. She blinked for a second as she recognized his face and put a name from her memories to it,

"Naruto?"

Naruto nodded, "How are you feeling? You know you had me really worried…" he trailed off as he noticed the look in her eyes.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You went on a mission and were ambushed. One of your ANBU managed to make it here and a rescue squad got put together." Naruto answered.

"Why am I still alive?" she asked after a moment's pause, her voice dead.

Naruto frowned, "Why would you ask something like that Yugao?"

Yugao's looked at him, her eyes completely dead, and the eyes of someone who had given up. "Why am I still here? I shouldn't be alive; I should have died on my mission."

"You're alive because I saved you," the blond said as he studied her reaction. He could see a few emotions flit across her eyes, shock, surprise, realization that she was not dead and the most unusual one, despair.

"Why couldn't you just let me die," she said lowly, "Why can't you and everyone else just let me die!"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, but Yugao just continued with ever increasing volume. "I should not have survived that mission! I wasn't supposed to survive that mission! That was the whole point of going on these missions! I should have died! At least then I coul-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as Naruto smacked her across the face, Yugao felt her eyes widen as she brought one of her hands to her stinging face. She turned her head and looked at Naruto, said blond was gritting his teeth as hot tears ran down his face.

"How could you ever say something like that!" Naruto asked, his voice a mixture of hurt and anger. "How could you possibly say things like this! Do you know how many people here would be hurt if you died! What about us! Do you even care how much it would hurt everyone to lose you! What about Kurenai and Anko! You're one of their best and only friends, they'd be devastated if you got yourself killed! Hell they're hurting right now, cause everyday they have to look at you and all they can see is a woman who died inside, a shell of their former best friend!"

Naruto lowered the hand he had used to slap the purpled-haired woman as he continued, "And what about me," he whispered. "You were one of the few people who did not see me as some kind of monster, as the demon my father sealed inside of me. My childhood was fucking shit, but you know what? I would gladly suffer through all that again, if it meant I would have met you. Do you realize how much it would hurt me if you died…"

Yugao opened her mouth a few times as she tried to think of something to say; eventually tears of frustration began to fall down her face. "But I…but Hayate… he…"

"Do you really think Hayate would want you to give up your life like this?" Naruto asked in a soft voice. "Do you think this would make him happy? To see the proud and strong kunoichi he loved like this, dead to the world and unable to move on."

"But we were going to get married!" Yugao said as she began to cry in earnest, "We should have been married! How can I live on when the one I'm supposed to spend my life with is dead!"

Yugao's breathing began to get heavy as she continued to cry, her tears blurring her vision. She knew it was wrong of her to cry, to show emotions that as an ANBU was a disgrace. That was why she had focused on her work, and began taking suicide missions, that way no one could see her pain, not that it helped. And now she had bottled them up inside for so long, never giving into them that she was no longer able to keep them under lock and key.

It was because of her tears that she was unable to see when Naruto moved, sitting down on the bed close to her. She stiffened when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, pulling her into a comforting embrace. As she felt the natural warmth that Naruto exuded her mind became conflicted; a part of her could not stand being in the young man's arms, feeling as if doing so was betraying the love she had for Hayate. Yet another part, the part that she had been feeling since she woke up at Naruto's house last month, wanted nothing more than to feel any comfort he could give her.

"Hayate wouldn't want you to be like this," Naruto said, holding her currently stiff form to him. "I can tell you right now that if you died and met him as you are, I doubt he'd even recognize you as the woman he loved. He would want you to move on with your life."

"How can you be so sure?" Yugao asked, her voice cracking with emotion.

"Because…" Naruto paused for a moment before continuing, "Because I wouldn't want you to be like this if I had been in his place."

Yugao's form began to relax at Naruto's words, her body molding itself to Naruto's as he held her. One of her hands came up and clutched at his shirt and grabbed fistfuls of it, her face buried itself in Naruto's well-muscled chest. Naruto held onto the woman tighter, one hand holding her to him while the other ran itself through her hair. He did not say anything, knowing that words of comfort were not what she needed right now, merely acted as a comforting presence to let her know that he was here for her.

For what seemed like hours, but in truth were only a few minutes, the two stayed like that. Naruto felt Yugao's breathing begin to slow and even out, her hand which had been gripping his shirt in an iron clad grip lessened, though it still held on. Looking down he noticed that she had fallen asleep, being careful not to wake her, Naruto gently laid Yugao on the bed.

He moved a bit to try and go back to his seat, but stopped when he felt Yugao tighten her grip on his shirt again and a small whimper escaped from her throat. He moved back to his previous position, leaning himself against the head board of the bed as he pried Yugao's hand off of him. He laced one of his own with it, using the other to caress the back of her hand.

Naruto turned his head when he heard the door open, smiling lightly when he saw Sakura walk in.

"Hey," Naruto greeted as the pink haired girl walked up to him.

"Hey Naruto," Sakura said as she looked from him to Yugao and back again. "The hospital will be closing soon, I'm sorry but you're going to have to leave."

"Do you think I could stay Sakura?" Naruto asked as he looked at her, "I would like to be here for her when she wakes up again."

Sakura blinked, "She woke up? When?"

"Just a few minutes ago," Naruto answered, leaving out the fact that Yugao had cried since Sakura did not seem to know about that. "So do you think I could stay here?" he asked again.

Sakura frowned a bit but with the look Naruto was giving her, she knew that she would not be able to say no. Though she had the feeling that even if she did, Naruto would not listen to her and stay anyways.

"I… well I guess it's alright," she looked at him, "just don't break anything ok? And if you even think of doing something perverted…" she let the threat hang in the air.

"You don't have to worry about that, I'm not Ero-sensei," Naruto said as he gave her a smile, "thanks Sakura."

Sakura smiled back as she checked Yugao's vitals over, finding nothing wrong she bade Naruto goodnight before leaving.

Naruto closed his eyes as he leaned his head back; attempting to get comfortable despite the hard wood his head was resting against. He let his thoughts leave him as he drifted off to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

For the first time in four years, Yugao woke up feeling oddly at peace. She kept her eyes closed for the moment as she tried to keep this feeling for as long as possible, snuggling her face deeper into the body length pillow in front of her and tightening her hold on it. She frowned for a moment as she felt the pillow move of its own accord, a light up and down movement. Cracking her eyes open she saw that her pillow was in fact not a pillow, but rather someone's back side. For a moment she was tempted to scream, but her training kicked in and let her take stock of the situation before doing something rash.

The first thing was to find out where she was. Turning her head she saw the white tiles of the hospital ceiling. She pushed herself up slightly to look over the body and saw cabinets filled with medicine. That was when she remembered she had woken up in the hospital yesterday; however she had not been alone when she did. Looking down she took notice of the person next to her, the one she had been holding onto like a teddy bear, it was Naruto. Her mind went back to the day before and how the blond and confronted and comforted her.

_Did he not leave last night? _Yugao wondered to herself, feeling oddly warm at the thought that Naruto might have stayed here all night just for her.

"Naruto," Yugao said as she gently shook him, "Naruto wake up."

Naruto mumbled something incoherent, though Yugao could swear she heard him say something about ramen. She almost giggled as she remembered him doing saying something similar when he was younger,

"Come on Naruto, you have to wake up," Yugao shook him a little harder, this time getting a reaction from him.

Naruto turned around, lying on his back as his eyes cracked open and looking at Yugao.

"Yugao-chan?" he asked, his voice deeper than usual due to how groggy he was.

Yugao felt a little bit of heat come to her cheeks at hearing her name being called in what sounded like a sensual manner, though she had the feeling Naruto did not even know how his voice sounded right now. Yugao merely nodded at him,

"Yes, it's me and it's time for you to get up."

As Naruto began to feel more alert, his mind finally processed two things. One, Yugao was here telling him to get up and two, he was lying in a bed and Yugao was leaning right over him, obviously lying in the same bed. Naruto shot out of the bed and away from the woman like a rocket,

"Oh kami! I'm so sorry Yugao, I don't even remember falling asleep! I didn't mean to-"

He was cut off as Yugao actually did giggle, finding the sight of a completely flustered Naruto amusing. "It's ok, I'm not mad at you," Yugao assured him, "in fact I would like to thank you."

"You do?" Naruto scratched the back of his head as he felt his blush receding, "Um…what for?"

"For helping me last night," Yugao said with a small smile, "I…want to thank you for what you said…and did. After Hayate…died, I felt like a part of me had too and I wanted nothing more than to die so that I could join him. But I know that Hayate would never want me to just waste my life away, in fact the last thing he told me…was that no matter what my happiness…my happiness would always be the most important thing to him."

Naruto saw the small amount of tears coming to Yugao's eyes and sat back down on the bed, pulling her to him the same way he did last night. This time Yugao didn't resist as she snuggled her head into his chest, wrapping her arms around him as she let the blonde's natural warmth comfort her.

"You know you never have to thank me for helping you Yugao," Naruto said, "I will always be here for you. No matter what."

Yugao smiled as she held onto the blond shinobi, letting out a content sigh as the feeling she had been getting from him pervaded her senses; it was almost the exact same thing she had felt with Hayate.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something."

The two cuddling ninja jumped apart when they heard the voice speak up; turning their heads they saw Shizune looking at them with a grin.

"My Naruto you're working fast, and to think you're already quite cozy with the Mizukage and that blond Kumo kunoichi too."

Yugao looked at Naruto with a mixture of surprise and a small amount of jealousy. Though why she was feeling jealous even she did not know.

Meanwhile Naruto was blushing up a storm, "Shizune-nee-chan, why do you have to say things like that?"

Shizune laughed as she walked further into the room, "Sorry, I guess I couldn't help myself, it's not often I get to see you so flustered. It's good to see you awake Yugao-san," Shizune looked over at the purple haired ANBU with a smile.

"Thank you Shizune-san," Yugao replied, "how long was I out?"

"About a week," Shizune replied, causing Yugao's eyes to widen. "If Naruto had not gotten you here when he had, I doubt you would have made it."

The purple-haired woman looked over at Naruto who had a light blush; Shizune also noticed his blush and grinned. "You know, Naruto rarely ever left your side since he got you here, in fact if Tsunade-sama had not forced him to take D-rank missions this month I'm sure he wouldn't have left your side at all."

Yugao looked over at Naruto whose blush seemed to have increased in hue and intensity; she blinked as she registered some of what Shizune said. "What do you mean made him take D-rank missions?" she asked with curiosity lacing her voice.

Naruto opened his mouth to say it was nothing, but Shizune beat him to it. "Naruto here had actually been ordered not to go and rescue you, however he told Tsunade-sama to 'shove her orders up her ass' and went after you anyway," Shizune said, putting quotation marks up when she mentioned Naruto's words.

Yugao's mouth opened as she gaped at Naruto, who had his head down to hide his face. Shizune continued on as if headless to the blonde's embarrassment, "Because of that Naruto was forced on a one month probationary period where he can't leave the village, and has to do thirty-one D-rank missions. To be honest I think it's kind of romantic and sweet that he's willing to go so far for you…"

"Did you really do all those things for me?" Yugao asked a smile and a light blush on her face.

"Well…of course!" Naruto said as he put a hand behind his head, "You're one of my precious people, remember? I always look after my precious people."

Yugao's smile widened a tad.

"Yugao-san, now that you're awake, I'm going to allow you to leave the hospital," Shizune said. "However I had a talk with both Tsunade-sama and your ANBU commander, they both agreed that you will not be allowed to do any seriously strenuous activity for several weeks. That means no missions."

Yugao opened her mouth to protest but a hand on her own stopped her, looking up her gaze turned to Naruto, the owner of the hand. He shook his head, letting her know that he also thought she should lay off the missions.

Yugao sighed, "Very well, I suppose I could try and find something else to occupy my time."

Shizune noticed the byplay but chose to ignore it this time, "Great! Then that means that you can leave at any time, bye Yugao-san, Naruto-kun," with nothing left to say the black-haired medical ninja left the room.

For a moment the two occupants left in the room were silent, Naruto looked at the purple haired woman before standing up, keeping her hand in his as he pulled Yugao to her feet.

"Well I don't know about you Yugao but all this emotional stuff and everything has left me starving!" Yugao gave a small smile at hearing the typical Naruto comment; said blond looked over at her with a grin. "How about I take you out to get some lunch?" he offered.

Yugao looked at him for a moment before smiling and nodding in agreement, "Ok, so long as you're paying."

"Great!" Naruto said in an enthusiastic voice as he took off, taking Yugao with him, "I'll let you choose the restaurant, now let's go!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugao hummed a small tune as she and Naruto walked to her apartment; they had just got finished with breakfast, Yugao had Naruto taken her to a small café that she used to enjoy going to. Like he had promised he paid for their food, afterwards she had decided that she did not really want to go back to her apartment yet. Naruto had offered to accompany her around the village, despite telling him it was unnecessary he had not taken no for an answer. While she refused to say anything Yugao was glad he refused to leave her alone, Naruto had been able to keep away the pain that had yet to fade away from Hayate's death.

As they stopped at the front of her apartment Yugao froze, looking at the place that she and Hayate had lived in for so many years. Part of the reason she had not wanted to return after breakfast, was simply because she had not wanted to face the memories this place had for her now that she was not quite as…emotionally deadened as she had been.

"I…I don't think I can go in there," Yugao said in a soft whisper, so soft that Naruto even with his enhanced hearing almost missed it.

Thankfully he had and responded by wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her back flush up against his chest. "I know its hard Yugao-chan, but I think you need to do this, for your own peace of mind." Naruto said in a comforting voice, "Don't worry, I'll be here with you."

Yugao nodded as Naruto's arms disengaged from her, grabbing her hand he led her to the front door. Yugao pulled out a key, unlocking the door and opening it. She and Naruto stepped inside the place that she had lived for somewhere around a decade, the place that held so many fond memories, one that while they brought great joy, also held a great pain for her now.

She was shaken out of her thoughts when an arm wrapped around her waist, looking over she saw Naruto giving her an encouraging smile. Taking a deep breath she began to walk around the apartment, never leaving the safety of Naruto's half embrace.

The apartment was like most of the ones found in Konoha , there were a total of four rooms. A bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen and a living room, all of which had the standard living appliances, couches' , tables, television and the like. However due to her ANBU status, this apartment was a little larger, being about thirty percent larger than most other apartments. As they walked around Naruto took notice of all the pictures that were hung up around the wall, most of them were of Yugao and Hayate. However he also noticed a few that were of her ANBU squad and her team when she was a Genin. He smiled when he noticed a picture of himself and her, it was outside of his old apartment, he was being held by her piggyback style with a large grin on his face. He could not quite remember when they had taken that, but he had that exact same one that until recently, he had kept hidden under his bed, afraid that if the people who would occasionally break into his apartment saw it, would make her life miserable.

They made it to the last stop, the bedroom. Yugao's hand hesitated on the knob before she turned it and entered, Naruto following right behind her. The room was much like his old apartment, except much cleaner, with a larger bed and more pictures. He looked over at Yugao who had moved away from him and towards the bed, Naruto walked behind up behind her. Looking at the bed he saw that there were two impressions, it was obvious who they belonged to and he was surprised that they were still there after so much time had passed. Understanding came to as he once again held Yugao in a comforting embrace,

"You haven't slept here since he died have you?"

Yugao shook her head, "No I haven't, I…I couldn't bear the thought of sleeping here alone anymore. Usually if I ever came home I would take the couch, most of the time I wasn't even here, I normally crashed at Anko's or Kurenai's place."

Naruto nodded his head in understanding, he knew that staying at the place where you use to live with a now dead loved one would be hard, while he himself had never lost someone; he knew that if any of the women in his life died he would be exactly as Yugao was. He closed his eyes as he pulled Yugao closer, placing his head on her shoulder as he nuzzled into her neck.

"If you'd like, you don't have to live here," Naruto said, surprising the purple-haired woman.

"Where would I stay?" asked Yugao after a moment.

"You could stay with me," Naruto told her, making the woman in his arms turn around in surprise.

"Stay with you? You would let me do that?" Yugao asked in shock.

Naruto just gave Yugao a smile, leaning over he planted a chaste kiss on her forehead. "Of course I would, remember what I told you in the hospital? I will always be here for you, that means I will help you in any way I can. And if living with me will in some way help you, then I don't have a problem with it."

"Thank you," Yugao said, her voice cracking with emotion. She wrapped her own arms around Naruto, pulling herself closer as she nuzzled her head into his chest.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugao placed the picture of her and Hayate as Genin on the night stand next to her new bed, letting her fingers glide over the smooth glass before withdrawing. She looked around the room, her room; it was the same one Naruto had placed her in when he carried her home after finding her drunk. It was now her permanent state of residence, for the time being at least. All of her stuff had been unpacked yesterday, her pictures of her, Hayate and other people of importance were hung up, her clothing was put away and her toiletries were in the restroom. Naruto had been a big help, not really with putting anything away, but with being there for her when she had found something that reminded her of Hayate; which was pretty much everything.

Giving the room one last look Yugao went into the restroom, she had not taken a shower since before her last mission and was feeling pretty grimy. Stepping into the restroom, the purple haired ANBU went over to the shower and turned the water on. Stepping back she took off her clothes she had fallen asleep in, ones that Naruto had gotten for her when she had been in a coma and put them in a bin.

She moved over to look at herself in the mirror, her fingers lightly tracing the new scars she had gotten from this last mission. She had quite a few of them; most of the scars were merely small white lines, almost unnoticeable against her pale skin. However she had several that were much larger and were a more angry red in color, the scars she had gotten from when Kabuto had placed those parasites in her.

She tore her gaze away from the scars and stepped into the shower, placing her hands against the wall and leaning against it. She let the hot water loosen her muscles; a small groan of satisfaction escaped her throat before she grabbed some soap and started scrubbing herself down. When Yugao finished she turned off the shower and stepped out, grabbing two towels and drying herself off. She then wrapped one around her body and the other around her hair. Walking out of the bathroom Yugao moved over to her dresser and then her closet, grabbing her clothes to get dressed.

Yugao threw her towels in a clothes hamper before changing and leaving her room, walking into the hall and down the stairs. When she reached the bottom a sweet smelling aroma that hit her, letting her know that Naruto was already up and making breakfast. Walking into the kitchen she saw that Naruto was indeed up and already finished making the food, he already had food piled on his plate, though it looked like he had yet to eat.

"Morning Naruto," Yugao said a little timidly, feeling somewhat unsure how to react around the blond now.

Naruto looked up at the purple haired woman and smiled, "Morning Yugao-chan,"

Naruto stood up and walked over to her. Gently taking her arm the blond guided her to the table, where he had already set up a plate with some Cha No Kuni (Tea Country) imported Tea.

"How did you sleep?" he asked as he sat himself back down.

"I slept well," Yugao replied, "better than I have for a while anyway."

"I'm pleased to hear that," Naruto said, giving her a smile before he started eating.

Yugao began to put some food on her plate and eat, just like last time the food was absolutely delicious. For the most part they ate breakfast quietly, making a bit of light conversation about anything so long as it was not ninja related.

"Hey Naruto." Yugao got the attention of the blond male. "Where's that girl who's staying here um…Fu I think her name was?"

"Oh her," Naruto chuckled a bit. Yugao had met Fu in passing last night before the green haired girl left to go out to dinner with Shino. "She's probably with Shino. They both tend to wake up early and explore Konoha to search for new insects."

Yugao raised an eyebrow at the information but shrugged it off, she already knew that Fu was the container for the Nanabi No Kabutomushi, so the girl's like of insects was not too surprising.

When they finished Naruto created a **Kage Bunshin **and had it take away their plates, Naruto looked over at Yugao and tilted his head to the side.

"Ne, Yugao-chan, I was wondering if you were doing anything later today?" Naruto asked.

Yugao shook her head, "No, because I'm on medical leave I won't be doing anything."

"In that case after I do my D-rank mission for the day, would you like to…get something to eat with me?" Naruto asked.

Yugao looked at the blond in surprise, "You mean like a date?"

While the idea of dating Naruto was not unappealing she knew that he was already engaged to four other women, she had after all been in the council meeting when the announcement was made.

_And if what Shizune said is true one is the Mizukage and the other is a kunoichi from Kumo… _

Also there was the fact that she had only just started getting over Hayate's death, could she really date someone so soon after starting to move on, even if said person was the reason she was able to in the first place?

Naruto squirmed a bit, feeling oddly embarrassed at asking his, admittedly childhood crush to do something that could be construed as a date with him.

"Well…I mean it doesn't have to be if you don't want it to," Naruto looked down at the table. "I just thought it might be nice if we could do something together, we haven't really gotten the chance to see each other since I started the academy."

"I would love to spend some time with you Naruto…kun," Yugao said with a small smile. She felt she should at least spend some time with the young man; Naruto had helped her when she could not help herself. If for no other reason than that she would spend time with him, the fact that she also heard a voice in her head telling her that she wanted to date Naruto helped with her decision as well.

Naruto grinned as he stood up, "In that case I'll be back sometime around four or five, I left some money on the counter for you to use for whatever you want. I already told you about the security system and you're recognized by the blood seal, just remember to flare your chakra when you want to get in." Naruto walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the forehead, giving her a goodbye before leaving.

Yugao blushed a bit at Naruto's somewhat intimate gesture; she shook her head and stood up. Walking over to the counter and spotted the money, picking it up she nearly gasped at the amount, there was more money in here than a standard A-rank mission! She put about half of it back, not needing that much and not wanting to spend all of Naruto's money since he was letting her stay here. Yugao put the money in her pocket before walking out of the house, opening the gate and leaving for the market district to do some shopping.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto let Yugao lead him as they walked down the street, they were in one of the less populated market districts of Konoha; Yugao had told the blond that there was a really good restaurant she wanted to go to here. Looking up as they turned Naruto saw Yugao leading him to one of the smaller restaurants, as the two walked up Naruto opened the door for Yugao and let her go inside before him. Following Yugao they were met with the hostess, who led them to one of the booths near a window. The two sat down on opposite sides and for a while neither spoke, letting a somewhat awkward silence prevail between them.

"So…" Naruto said as he grabbed one of the menu's, "anything, um…interesting happen today?" Internally the blond let out a curse at how lame that sounded, like he was some kind of love-struck little kid, it felt as if all of that time he spent with the opposite sex after leaving Konoha had been for nothing.

Yugao seemed to notice this and brought up a hand as she gave a soft giggle, causing the blond to pout.

"Not much," she said with a light amount of amusement in her eyes, "though I did do some shopping."

"I'm surprised," Naruto said in a slightly teasing voice, "I thought you always hated shopping."

It was one of the things he remembered about the purple haired ANBU, back when she had been his body guard and somewhat caretaker, Yugao had serious issues shopping for anything. In fact often times she would have Hayate do the shopping as she was liable to cause a ruckus trying to find what she wanted.

Yugao's skin took on a light pink in color, "I wasn't that bad…"

Naruto grinned, "You obviously forgot that one time you took me grocery shopping, you almost blew up half the store."

"That was completely different," Yugao tried to defend herself, "and he was being an ass and a pervert."

During that incident Yugao had taken Naruto to buy some groceries so that he would eat more than just ramen, much to the blonde's displeasure at the time. However, the cashier and everyone who worked there in general had not been in the least bit helpful. Though the cashier had been particularly bad, not only insulting and trying to kick out Naruto like the others, but also insulting Yugao and then trying to hit on her. She had actually very nearly chopped the guy's head off, both of them, and probably would have had he not made a break for it.

"Besides," Yugao continued, "from what I remember you were not much better."

Naruto had the decency to look sheepish; the blond had actually smashed into the man like a rocket when he started insulting Yugao. That had almost gotten Naruto a beating; luckily Yugao had been there and had decided to give her sword arm a workout.

"Yeah well, I wasn't about to let him get away with insulting you. And he's just lucky it was when I was younger, had it been a few years later he would have gotten pranked like a motherfucker."

"Language Naruto-kun." Yugao scolded, though it was halfhearted at best. Her mind then went to some of the pranks he had done, "Ah yes, I remember your pranks quite well. You always gave us ANBU a workout," the purple-haired woman smiled at the memory, "the prankster king from hell, that was your nickname."

Naruto grinned as a waiter came up to take their orders; Naruto got Pad Thai noodles while Yugao ordered the sushi platter. The rest of the dinner between the two was spent reminiscing and sharing stories with each other, Naruto telling the purple-haired woman about his time in Kiri, Kumo and Yuki/Haru. Yugao shared stories of her time as a Genin, Chunin and Jonin, telling Naruto of some of the things she had seen and done during that time. When the food came the two quieted down to eat, letting a now comfortable silence settle between them. When the two were finished Naruto paid for the food before they left, making their way home.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto opened the door to the Namikaze estate, letting Yugao enter first before he followed. Toeing off his shoes Naruto looked over at Yugao, said woman was sitting by on one of the couches, looking off into space. Naruto followed her example and sat himself down next to her, not saying anything as he waited to see if she would. When she did not Naruto turned and placed a hand on Yugao's shoulder, startling the purple-haired woman out of her trance.

"Why don't you go get some sleep," Naruto suggested, "you look kind of tired."

Yugao shook her head, "I'm alright," she looked at Naruto and gave him a smile, "you can go if you want. I think I'll stay up a little longer."

"Alright," Naruto said with a small sigh, he knew there were reasons she was not telling him, but he did not want to pry. Leaning over Naruto gave Yugao a chaste kiss on the temple, causing the purple-haired ANBU to feel her face get a little warm.

"Goodnight Yugao-chan," Naruto said in a soft whisper as he walked upstairs.

Yugao watched the blond go with a small smile on her face, "Goodnight Naruto-kun."

XXXXXXXXXX

Yugao gave a soft sigh as her body entered the warm water of the hot springs, stretching her body out in the water to loosen her muscles. She was glad Naruto had convinced her to come here; it had been a while since she had gone to the hot springs, she had not realized how much she had missed just being able to relax like this. Yugao leaned her head against the wall behind her, closing her eyes as she felt herself going into a light sleep.

Yugao felt herself waking as several voices came from behind the spring entrance way, she looked over to the door as it slid open. Anko, Kurenai and Hana walked into the hot springs, as the three walked into the water they stopped talking when they noticed Yugao sitting in the corner.

"Hey there Yugao-chan!" Anko said in a pleased yet slightly surprised voice, "I'm surprised to see you here, and without even inviting us," the snake mistress finished with a slight pout.

"Sorry I would have invited you guys too but…" Yugao trailed off a bit at the end, unsure whether she should tell them she was actually here with Naruto.

"Don't worry about it," Kurenai said as she and the other girls sat down next to her, "Anko knows better than to try and pry into people's personal reasons, don't you Anko?"

Anko gave her a pout before relenting; she, Kurenai and Hana moved towards Yugao, sitting around the purple-haired woman before taking up conversation again.

"You know we haven't seen you for a while," Kurenai said as she looked the woman over. Yugao was looking much better now than she had been in years, Kurenai was not sure what had happened to her friend but was pleased to see her more at peace and happy.

"I know," Yugao said as she looked into the water with a frown, "I'm sorry for worrying you guys…I guess I just had some stuff that I needed to sort out…"

"Four years' worth of stuff?" Anko asked with a semi-sarcastic tone. Yugao flinched at the reminder of just how long it had taken her to begin moving on from Hayate's death, as a kunoichi it was actually somewhat disgraceful to take so long since she knew that death was a constant in their line of work. What made it worse was that had Naruto not help her, she doubted she would have started getting better anytime soon.

_In fact, had Naruto not helped me I would have died before getting anywhere close to being over Hayate-kun's death._

Fortunately for her, Kurenai decided to help her out, "Anko, you really shouldn't be like that, you know how she and…" the genjutsu mistress stopped herself from saying Hayate's name, knowing that it was probably a sensitive topic for Yugao.

"It's alright Kurenai," Yugao said as she looked at her, "I know I should have been stronger, Hayate's death hit me unnaturally hard and I was never really able to begin picking up the pieces until recently."

A small smile appeared on her face as she thought how, or rather who was helping her pick up the pieces of her life.

The other three looked at each other in curiosity, Kurenai and Anko in particular, as they had been trying to help the woman get herself back together for four years. Both of them were wondering what happened in the past month or so to help the purple-haired woman. While Kurenai was looking at Yugao in curiosity, Anko on the other hand had the wheels in her mind turning as she tried to figure out what had happened. She blinked for a second when she remembered a certain blond shinobi asking about Yugao during their several of their sparring sessions together.

A large smile spread across Anko's face, "Did a certain blond Yondaime gaki look-alike worm his way into your heart?"

Yugao looked away, having never been so glad her face was already red from being in the hot springs. However, Anko still managed to pick up on her embarrassed demeanor,

"He did, didn't he?" Anko spoke with a knowing grin. "I can't believe it; we try for four years to get through to you and this kid does it less than three months after coming back from his training!"

The other two looked from Yugao to Anko, wondering who the snake mistress was talking about.

"Who are you talking about Anko?" asked Hana as she tried to figure out what was going on.

Anko's grin widened as she began speaking, "I'm surprised you don't know, after all not many people look like the Yondaime but with whiskers, in fact I know only one person who matches that description."

Kurenai's eyes widened as she looked at Anko, "You don't mean…Naruto do you?"

Anko nodded with a smirk, "The one and the same. It seems our Yugao has some past history with that delicious looking blond."

"Anko!" Kurenai and Yugao shouted, one scandalized and one both scandalized and embarrassed at their friend's blatant and cavalier remark.

"What?" Anko asked with a shrug of her shoulders, "Neither of you can deny the man is hot! Why if I didn't have Iruka-kun I would…"

Yugao, Kurenai and Hana all found themselves immensely grateful that they already had a semi red face from the heat, since if they didn't the blush on their face would have been that much more prominent as they listened to all of the sexual acts Anko would commit on Naruto if not for the fact that she was dating Iruka.

It was particularly bad for Yugao, who despite the fact that she had still not fully gotten over Hayate could not deny that the thought of being with the blond shinobi was not unpleasant. Several images of her and Naruto flew into her head, causing her blush to deepen. Yep, not unpleasant in the least; thankfully for the three help arrived in the form of a voice from the male side of the hot springs.

"Anko-chan, as much as I'm sure they all love hearing about how you would rape me, I would appreciate if you stop."

The three women who had not known that Naruto was there blinked before feeling heat coming to their face, even Anko found a bit of a blush coming across her cheeks.

Naruto continued on as if headless of the conversation that had just gone on, "Yugao-chan, I'm heading out for now, I'll see you back at home ok?"

Yugao felt her face begin to literally burn up as the other three women stared at her, two looking shocked and one with another large grin on her face.

"Ok Naruto-kun!" she replied only to cover her mouth as she saw Anko's grin growing even wider and realized she had used an affectionate suffix for the blond.

"So…" Anko said with a slight drawl and a perverse gleam, "you're living with Naruto-'kun' eh?"

Yugao's blush deepened; something that Yugao had not thought was possible given just how red her face already was. She had really only just started calling Naruto '-kun' but for some reason it just felt right, she felt comfortable using such an affectionate suffix on the blond. At least she would be if Anko was not looking at her with a rather large and knowing grin, and that perverted gleam in her eyes.

"You must be quite comfortable with the guy to be calling him that," Anko continued, "and did I hear right when he said 'see you at home?' Does that mean you're living with him? And to think you didn't tell us this, for shame."

Kurenai and Hana both looked at Yugao who became increasingly more and more embarrassed; both were unsure what to make of this new development. Hana while being friends with the purple-haired ANBU, was not close enough to her to really say anything for or against Yugao's decision to live with Naruto; and if she were honest with herself, she would admit that she might take up living with the blond if offered the chance, especially if what her Kaa-san said about his alpha presence was true. Kurenai on the other hand was not sure what to think, Yugao had been devastated by Hayate's death for over four years, and now she was getting close to Naruto who nearly a decade her junior.

Yugao looked around as she tried to figure a way out of this, "W-well look at the time, I should really be getting back home," Yugao took off, trying to get away from Anko before she said more.

However Anko managed to get one last comment before the now thoroughly flustered Yugao could leave, "Be sure to use protection! And don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugao sighed as she looked out over the backyard and starry sky, her thoughts drifting to what had been going on within the past few weeks. So much had happened to turn her life around; she was not even sure how it happened, all she really knew was that it was because of one person who she had admittedly not really thought about for years. Ever since Naruto had come back from his training with Jiraiya, even during their few short meetings, Yugao had actually begun to feel again.

She was startled from her thoughts when a voice spoke up behind her.

"You know, you'll catch a cold if you stay out here all night."

Turning around Yugao saw Naruto with two cups of steaming liquid, the blond shinobi walked up to her and gave her what she recognized as tea.

"Thank you," Yugao said as she took a small sip, she turned her head back towards the backyard.

"You're welcome," Naruto replied with a smile as he took a drink from his own cup. The two sat in comfortable silence for a while, looking out over the night sky.

"It's quite beautiful isn't it?" Naruto said as he looked at the stars. Yugao looked at the young man as he spoke, "When I was with Ero-sensei I would always look up at the stars, they were a lot more clear when you're out in the wilderness."

Yugao giggled a little bit at the nickname that he gave Jiraiya, "You know, that's just like you to give a nickname like that to one of Konoha's most powerful shinobi Naruto-kun."

Naruto grinned, "You know I've been told that quite often, at least you're not getting angry like some of the other people I know."

Yugao just smiled, "After watching you barge into the Hokage's office when you were five and listening to you call the Hokage Ojisan I long since stopped getting surprised. You were always such a loud little kid; it looks like that hasn't changed at all…"

"Hey!" Naruto said, puffing his cheeks out at Yugao's teasing, "I'll have you know I'm way more mature than I used to be!"

"You sure about that?" Yugao said with a teasing smirk, "You still seem like a bit of brat to me Naru-chan!"

Naruto gaped for a moment, his eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open as he registered what Yugao just called him.

"You haven't called me that since I was five," he said in a dumb sounding voice.

Yugao just snickered, "Looks like I win this round Naruto-kun."

Naruto sighed as he mumbled about hot purple haired ANBU women being too good for their own good; Yugao blushed a bit since Naruto had made sure to be just loud enough for her to hear. Spotting it Naruto grinned, "Looks like I get the last laugh after all Yu-chan."

Yugao looked at him for a moment as her mind blanked; Yu-chan had been the nickname Hayate had given her, he had started calling her that during their time at the academy. The memory was no longer painful, or at least as painful to think about, something she attributed to the help of the young man beside her. She looked at the young blond out of the corner of her eye as she replayed the way he said her nickname in her head, and decided that she could get used to being called that by him.

Yugao finished her tea and watched as a clone phased into existence right next to her, grabbing hers and Naruto's cup before leaving. "You're getting better with that technique aren't you?" she asked.

Naruto grinned, "That and my chakra control, I try to work on it as much as possible. Hell if it weren't for the Kyuubi I may even be able to do some of the medical jutsu with the control I possess now."

Yugao looked at him before smiling, she scooted herself a bit closer to the blond until they're shoulders were touching. Naruto looked at the woman before grinning, "Why Yu-chan are my manly charms finally getting to you?"

Yugao blushed but managed to cover it up with a snort, "Manly charms my ass, you just happen to be the closest heat source and I'm cold."

"You could go inside if you're cold," Naruto said with a twinkle in his eyes, "it's ok if you admit that you think I'm too attractive for my own good. Do that and I'll admit that you are easily one of the sexiest kunoichi I ever met?"

This time the purple-haired could not hide her blush, however that turned into a frown. "Don't you already have two women your close to?" she asked.

Naruto looked at her oddly for a moment, "Yeah, I am currently engaged to both the Mizukage, Mei Terumi and Yugito Nii, Kumo's Nibi Jinchuuriki."

Yugao's eyes widened enough that Naruto was afraid they might actually roll out of her sockets, "E-engaged!"

"Yeah," Naruto said looking at her with a surprised expression, "I'm surprised you didn't know that, I mean I know that you were busy with missions but isn't it a requirement for ANBU to know Konoha clan laws?"

It was something he had read about when looking to see if he wanted to get into the ANBU. They were required to be aware of the laws concerning clans, that way they could be careful about overstepping their bounds if something came up with a clan, it had been like that since the Uchiha Massacre.

"W-well yes," Yugao said in embarrassment, truth was while she knew the clan laws, she had not really thought about them, or how they pertained to Naruto. "I just…I guess I never really thought about it, I mean it never really sunk in that you're actually the head of your own clan."

Naruto nodded, "I suppose it would, I mean it's not every day that someone goes from clan-less orphan to Clan Head and son of a Hokage huh? In any case, during my travels around the elemental nation I ended up falling in love with Mei, Yugito and two other women. And no because of whom they are I can't quite tell you yet, these grounds are pretty secure but if anyone else were to find out those other two women could be in trouble from some of the enemies I made in this village."

Yugao nodded her head in understanding before standing up, "Well I think I'm going to go to bed, good night Naruto."

Naruto watched Yugao walk off with a small frown, did he say something wrong?

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugao listened to Anko telling her and Kurenai about some guy she got to torture a few days ago, as they were walking towards the dango shop the three used to frequent. Well Yugao wasn't really listening to what the woman said, so much as keeping an ear open while thinking of her own problems. Something she had been thinking about for quite a while, that problem being the conflict in her mind about one Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze.

The three women made their way into the dango shop and went to the booth they used every time they had been here. Yugao shook the thoughts of Naruto off for the moment, turning her attention back to Anko.

"So Anko, how are you and Iruka doing?" she asked, hoping to get the bloodthirsty woman off the topic of how she tortured some poor sap.

Anko grinned, "Oh we're great, he's such a sweetie and the sex is great, so I can't complain." Anko hummed happily to herself, while her general demeanor had not changed from bloodthirsty psychopath, she had been a lot happier since she started dating the Chunin academy teacher.

Anko looked over at Kurenai, "So Nai-chan, what's this I hear about the possibility of you and Asuma getting married?"

Yugao looked over at Kurenai who had a light tint of pink on her cheeks.

"It's nothing definite," Kurenai responded as she tried to will away her blush, "it's just something we talked about."

"You know that's not what Asuma has been telling people," Anko said with a grin.

Kurenai narrowed her eyes, "Oh and what has he been saying?"

Anko's grin became even more prominent, "Oh you know, the usual prideful boasts men make when they're with someone as hot as one of us…"

As Anko began telling Kurenai what she had heard Asuma saying, Yugao turned her attention to other matters. However, Anko and Kurenai seemed to notice how quiet their purple-haired friend was being.

"Hey Yugao-chan what's with the lost look on your face?" Anko asked, "I thought you had gotten rid of that look by now."

Yugao blinked a bit as she knocked herself out of her thoughts, "Well it's just that I was thinking about…"

She paused in thought for a moment as she wondered if she should tell them. In the end she decided that they should know, after all they were her best friends and she always use to go to them for advice before when she had been dating Hayate, maybe they could help her with this problem.

"I was thinking about Naruto and…"

"Uh huh, I get it now…" Anko said with a sly grin, "so you're having some relationship problems with everyone's favorite blond gaki? You know auntie Anko can help you with all of your problems, I find that the best way to get a man is sick my snakes on them, tie them up so they can't run and then…"

"Anko!" Kurenai said in a lightly scolding voice before she turned to Yugao, "Just ignore her Yugao. So what exactly is your problem? I had thought that the two of you were close?"

"We were-are!" she corrected herself, "it's just that…I mean all of the things we've been doing recently. I feel like I've gotten much closer to him. But…"

"But what?" asked Kurenai, curious as to what could make her friend so hesitant? Her purple-haired friend had not been hesitant for two weeks now, and seeing her so, meek, was the word. Yes, seeing her so meek was worrying.

"Well, you see Naruto is the last of his clan," Yugao said, "I mean, I guess I never really thought about what that would mean for him. However…"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Anko shouted as she flailed her arms in front of her face, "You're talking about clan laws right?" At Yugao's nod, Anko's eyes lit with understanding, "So you're having problems because of the laws that he falls under."

Yugao did not say anything, merely nodded to let Anko know she was right.

"What laws does he fall under?" Kurenai asked, "I mean I know that clan laws differ from civilian laws, but they can't be that much different can they?" While she had two clan heirs and an heiress in her former genin squad, she had never really studied the laws they lived under.

"I'm not surprised you don't know Nai-chan," Anko said as she turned her attention to the black-haired beauty. "Despite the fact that your genin team was comprised of Clan Heirs, none of them were subject to the laws that Yugao is talking about. You see since Naruto is the last of his clan that means that he fall under the C.R.A. or the Clan Restoration Act."

Kurenai blinked for a moment before her eyes narrowed as she soon realized what that meant, "You mean he'll have multiple wives."

"Now don't get your panties all bunched up Nai-chan," Anko said in a defensive tone, "it's not really Naruto's fault."

"How is something like this not his fault?" Kurenai asked, hearing things like this really got her blood boiling.

She had always been known as a serious pervert hater, if she found a guy doing anything even remotely perverted and lecherous she would subject them to some of her most powerful genjutsu; it was part of how she got her nickname of Konoha's Ice Queen.

"He doesn't have a choice," Yugao said before Anko could speak up, Kurenai turned to look at her with a curious expression. "Whether he wants to or not he is subject to the C.R.A. the same way any other male heir would be if they were the last of their clan."

"What if the last heir was female?" Kurenai asked.

"Then they have to produce a strong male heir by the time of their eighteenth birthday, so that their son can be placed under the C.R.A.," Anko said, "You know how Konoha likes their bloodlines."

"So you're telling me he doesn't have a choice?" Kurenai asked.

Yugao shook her head, "It's either he chooses a minimum of four wives by the time of his eighteenth birthday, or the council will set him up with several arranged marriages."

"And I don't know if you realize it, but Naruto is not very well liked by the council, at least by the elder and civilian council," Anko said.

Kurenai looked over at Anko with curiosity in her eyes, "Why not?"

Anko gave the woman a grin that looked to be a mixture of sadistic and content, an odd look even for her. "This is just the basic rumor mill that's been going about in the I&T department, but apparently Naruto pretty much managed to kick off the elders and civilian council from all shinobi related affairs." Anko leaned back in her chair and heaved a content sigh, "He basically stripped them of all power over shinobi they once had, through some political loopholes."

Kurenai raised both eyebrows in surprise, she had not heard of such a thing happening, but then again most shinobi related politics were kept from public eyes. Still she had noticed that Konoha's ninja force had been working a lot more smoothly due to several new laws that had been emplaced recently, she had just accounted it to Tsunade managing to pass them through votes.

"While that is impressive, if he can get the civilian and elders on the council stripped of all power, why can't he nullify the Clan Laws on him?"

Anko rolled her eyes, "You need to read up on the Clan Charter Nai-chan. The reason he was able to get rid of the civilian and elders was simply because Konoha Laws made it so that the council only had authority over civilian affairs. That little bit of information had been discarded after the Kyuubi attack and the Sandaime retook the seat. However, by that time the council had been able to horde enough power that the Sandaime wasn't able to do anything, or he was, but rather was too old and not as strong as he once was to do such a thing. I guess Tsunade-sama just had not realized this little fact until Naruto pointed it out."

"So why can't he nullify clan laws?" asked Kurenai again, wanting her to get to the point.

Anko sighed, "Because they are just that, laws. They were set down during the founding of our village you know. He was able to get rid of the civilians butting into shinobi affairs because they were going against Konoha laws, but the C.R.A. is a clan law and therefore not something he can actually escape."

Anko paused for a moment, "Unless he wants to become a missing ninja."

Anko looked over at Yugao now that her explanation was done, "So I'm guessing your problem is that you're finding yourself with a little crush on our favorite blond fox, yet are not sure what to do about it right?"

Yugao found herself blushing again, that was exactly what her problem was, only there were a few things that made this harder to deal with.

"It's not just that," she paused as she looked around, not wanting anyone else to listen to this conversation she placed one of the silencing seals Naruto had given her under the table, "I just found out last night that Naruto is already engaged to four women."

Both Anko and Kurenai had their eyes widen in shock, Yugao noticed the looks and continued. "I don't know what to do because while I'm sure that I like Naruto, _possibly _even love him, I'm not sure what the other women he's with will say. Or if I'd even be willing to share."

Kurenai and Anko frowned as they thought about the problem Yugao was in. After a while it was Kurenai who spoke up, "Do you really love him?"

"I…I'm not sure," Yugao answered with a small frown, "I mean it's only been a few months that I sarted seeing him again, I hadn't seen him before that since he was six. Even then we've only started getting close within the past month,"

The purple-haired woman's frown soon became a smile as she thought about the past month. "Yet even though we had not interacted in any way for a long time, Naruto has done everything he can to help me. He's given me a place to stay because it was too painful living in my old apartment, he was the one who brought me to my senses and made me feel alive again."

Yugao leaned in conspiratorially despite the fact that there was a silencing barrier up, "Did you know that he disobeyed direct orders from the Hokage to rescue me when I had been captured by Oto?"

Both Anko and Kurenai looked at her in surprise.

"We didn't," Anko said, "is that why we've seen him doing D-ranks around the village?"

Yugao nodded, "Shizune told me that Naruto had told the Hokage to 'shove her orders up her ass' and then left to rescue me."

The two other women in their both gasped in shock, well one gasped in shock, the other coughed so that she would not laugh her ass off.

"Because of that he was given a one month probationary period and has to do thirty-one D-rank missions," Yugao finished.

"Wow," Kurenai said in shock, really that was the only thing she could say, being too surprised to make any other comments.

"Wow is right," Anko said with a grin, "truthfully I don't think it's that surprising. Especially with how devoted he seems to be to you, and the people he cares about... personally I don't see why you're not already with him and stripping him of his clo-"

"Anko!" Yugao shouted as she hid her face in her hands.

Anko merely laughed at her friend's heated face.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto spun three hundred and sixty degrees, using his momentum to slice a part the last of the clones he had summoned for his battle royal. He looked around and was just about to reseal **Susanoo **when he heard clapping, turning around he came face to face with Yugao Uzuki, decked out in ANBU armor and a sword strapped to her waist. Naruto looked at her with a grin as he bowed.

"Did you enjoy the show?" Naruto asked, coming back up with a smirk.

"I did," Yugao said with her own smirk as she pulled out her blade, "in fact, I enjoyed it so much that I decided I have to see how strong you've gotten myself."

Naruto grinned as he held his sword near his head, his feet spread apart. Yugao got into her own stance, her sword held in front of her in a vertical position; her feet spread shoulder width a part and slightly bent. For a moment the two eyed each other.

On an unspoken signal the two kicked off the ground; Naruto came in with a swipe at her shoulder, Yugao twisted her body slightly to dodge and came at him with her own attack. Naruto blocked the slash, pivoting on his foot and coming in with a high kick that would hit the purple-haired woman in the face. Yugao ducked under the kick before slashing up, forcing Naruto to jump back and land a few feet away before he launched himself at her again.

Naruto had to admit the woman was amazing with a blade, while he himself was no sword master, he was better than most. Yugao was more than capable of blocking and dodging all of his attacks; each time she did her movement would set her up in a position to counter-attack, which she did often. Thankfully Naruto had the advantage in speed and reaction time, so he was able to keep up with her and counter any attacks she made as well.

As the fight continued, Naruto jumped up onto the ceiling, sticking there and gesturing for Yugao to come up. Following the blonde's lead Yugao jumped onto the ceiling, twisting in mid-flight and landing on her feet, sticking to the ceiling as she channeled chakra to her feet. The two continued their duel, Naruto relying on quick and precise slashes and thrusts to get through the woman's guard while Yugao preferred counters to get the blond. Several tears appeared on their clothes but neither seemed to notice as they continued their battle.

Naruto jumped back as Yugao made a slice at his legs, forcing gravity to take him as he twisted in midair and landed on the ground. He looked up to see Yugao coming towards him with her sword above her head, looking similar to a vengeful angel. She slashed down at him but Naruto's strength allowed him to counter her momentum, and he used the force of her attack to push her off of him and make her flip several feet back.

Naruto came in with a small stab, making Yugao move out of the way and bring her sword to the side, letting his blade slide against hers. Not being deterred in the least, the blond shinobi spun on the balls of his feet, coming in with a slash from the left. It was blocked and Yugao used her blade to redirect his over their heads. That was when she did something he had never expected from her.

She disengaged one of her hands from her blade, grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into a searing kiss. For an instant Naruto froze as he felt Yugao's soft warm lips over his own, however instincts bred from experience only allowed him to be surprised for so long. He let go of his sword, letting it clatter to the ground as his hands went to Yugao's waist, pulling her closer to him. Likewise Yugao dropped her own sword, one hand going around Naruto's neck while the other ran through his hair. He felt Yugao licking his lips and opened his mouth, letting her tongue slide into his mouth where her tongue met his in a dance, entwining each other and moving around the other. For what seemed to be an eternity but in truth was only several minutes the two broke apart.

Naruto blinked as his mind snapped back to reality, "Yu-chan…what exactly was that for?"

Yugao gave him a smile, though Naruto could tell there was some nervousness in it. "That was a kiss, you know when a man and woman…"

"I know what a kiss is," Naruto gave her a mock glare, "I meant…I mean…I didn't think that you would umm…you know. And with me already in multiple engagements I just thought that…well that you wouldn't be interested." Naruto turned his head slightly, trying to hide the small amount of embarrassment he had.

"Naruto," Yugao said in a soft voice that caused him to look back at her, "I know it seems strange and fast. Despite knowing each other for a long time, we never even saw each other after you went to the academy and at that time you were not only young, but I was already in a relationship…"

She paused there and Naruto saw a twinge of pain, he instinctively pulled her closer, letting her rest her head on his chest. "When I saw you again, I was nearly dead; I tried to get myself killed on a mission, multiple missions." She brought her head back up and looked at him, "You saved me, not just physically but emotionally. I was all but ready to die, and then you came and showed me that I still had reasons to live."

She stood up on her tip toes while simultaneously pulling Naruto head down, bringing him into another kiss, this one more tender than the other.

"I'm not totally sure of my own feelings," she told him after breaking the kiss, "but I want to give us a chance," she paused for a moment before looking down, "if you let me that is…"

Naruto looked at Yugao for a while as he tried to sort his mind, a part of him telling him this was some kind of genjutsu while another part was dancing and Chibi Naruto's were running through his head with flags that said 'score!' on them.

He thought about what this would mean if they did get into a relationship, he would need to talk to Mei, Yugito, Koyuki and Konan about it first. He told himself that he would not get into any relationships without them knowing, hell even Konan was known to the others, they just didn't know she was a member of Akatsuki. After a moment's thought he brought a hand under Yugao's chin and lifted it up, bringing his lips back down on hers.

Yugao returned the kiss with fervor; no words were needed to understand what this kiss meant. The rest of their time together that night was spent sparring with something other than swords.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**Another chapter done, I tried to make this one heartfelt and believable (Don't know how believable it is though and it was too fluffy for my tastes). Be sure to let me know what you think, love it/hate it/don't care either way? Or if you just want to inflate my already massive ego, please feel free to do that…in fact I would kind of prefer that. =D**

**Anyway I'm going to hit the sack, see you all later.**

**Next! Chapter 17: Movies, and the Formation of Team Hebi.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: When I end up owning Naruto, I'll tell you. But for now, I have to inform you that I do not own Naruto... God that sucks, I get so depressed everytime I have to say that**

**Chapter 17: The formation of Team Hebi**

* * *

Naruto hummed a little tune to himself as he prepared breakfast, flipping the pancake he was currently making for the final time before taking it off his pan and placing it in a large serving dish and than placing some more batter on. With a large smile on his face Naruto finished making breakfast, absently he creating a **Kage Bunshin **which grabbed onto the serving dish and took it over to the table. Naruto reached into the cupboard and grabbed two glasses, walked over to the table and set them down. Another clone came up with a pitcher of orange juice that it had created from one the oranges on one of the trees out back, pouring it into the two cups. Naruto looked into the fridge, finding the butter and grabbing it along with some maple syrup. He walked back to the table and began setting everything up.

"You seem happy."

Naruto grinned as he turned around and saw Yugao walking up to him, wearing nothing more than a bathrobe. Her hair was still wet signifying she had just gotten out of the shower; Naruto took a moment to admire her beauty before he walked over to her. He gave her a light peck on the lips, leaning back with a grin as he laced their hands together and led her to the table.

"I think I've got a reason to be," Naruto said as they sat down and put some food on the table, "yesterday was the last day of my probation."

"Ah!" Yugao said in understanding as she began to eat.

She could understand why he was excited; now that his one month probationary period came to an end he would be able to start taking missions outside of the village again. For someone like Naruto who loved to get out and move around it was a godsend.

The two ate in relative silence, no longer feeling any of the awkwardness that had occasionally filled their time together.

"Where is Fu-san?" asked Yugao as she noticed the green-haired girl was not here at the moment, though she had noticed that the Nanabi Jinchuuriki was usually absent.

Naruto chuckled, "She stayed over at Shino's, I think she's helping him create a new colony with the Nanabi's power. I swear she's over there more than she is here."

"Sounds like someone has a crush," Yugao thought out loud.

"It does, doesn't it?" asked Naruto, grinning as he thought of all the teasing he was going to give the two. It would be amusing to watch them squirm, especially Shino since the boy almost never reacted to anything, the kid was like a brick wall.

When the two were finished Naruto created a **Kage Bunshin **that grabbed their dishes and went to wash them. Naruto stood up with Yugao following suit as they walked up the stairs, they stopped at Yugao's door and looked at each other for a moment.

"So what do you have planned today?" Naruto asked in curiosity.

"I'm still on medical leave for another week, so I was going to spend the day with Anko and Kurenai," Yugao replied.

Naruto nodded as he gave her a smile, pulling her to him as he planted a kiss on her lips. Yugao responded as she wrapped her arms around him and deepened the kiss, trailing her hands through his hair. They broke away a little while later and Naruto gave her a large grin, "Have fun then, I'm going to see if there are any missions that will take me out of Konoha so I may not be here for a few days. You remember how to let people in?"

Yugao nodded, "Channel chakra into the two circles on the gate to allow it to accept foreign chakra."

"Right, I'll see you later," Naruto gave her one last kiss before heading out.

Yugao watched him walk down the stairs with a smile, before opening the door to her bed room and preparing for the day.

* * *

Deep within one of his many bases Orochimaru sat in his bed, gritting his teeth in pain as he began to hack and cough. His body was reaching the limit of how long he could stay in it, having been in for nearly four years, far longer than he had originally wanted, however he had forestalled switching bodies so that Sasuke's could be at the peak of perfection for when he switched. His and Sasuke's faceoff against the Namikaze brat had also sped up the process, something he had not anticipated. He didn't even bother to question how that damned brat had gotten so powerful, Minato Namikaze had been one of the few people Orochimaru would never willingly tangle with.

Despite knowing this, the Snake Sannin had underestimated that damn brat, assuming that despite his growing reputation he would still be that loud idiot who had always been shouting nonsense. He supposed he should have known better but he had been arrogant, he had not truly believed all of the reports coming in about the blonds accomplishments, he had just decided that they would be a good motivator to get Sasuke to increase his power.

A lot of good that did.

While neither he nor Sasuke had been able to utilize their full strength, the fact that Naruto had fought them both on equal terms regardless proved that the blond was far more powerful than Sasuke currently was. Orochimaru was positive that had either he or Sasuke fought the blond alone they would have been killed, the boy was just like his accursed father, always one step ahead of him and ruining his plans.

"Gahh!" A pained scream tore through the Snake Sannin's throat, "Huh… ha…"

"You're approaching your limit," Kabuto said as he finished running his medical scan over the pale skinned man. "You'll need to take a dose of rank 10 medicine or your body will die," the medic sighed, "I'll go and exchange this medicine."

The white-haired Medic ninja stopped at the door to turn his head, "I'll be back in a minute," with that he was gone.

As Kabuto left Orochimaru began to cough again, this time he began to cough up blood. Orochimaru's eyes looked towards the wall on the opposite side of his room just in time to see a blade penetrate it. Gritting his teeth he held his arms in a cross guard, letting the sword stab through his arms, but allowing him to keep his head.

_This chakra is his, _Orochimaru thought to himself, _but he's never used this kind of shape manipulation. _Orochimaru watched where the chakra blade was sticking out of the door, a minute later multiple slashes appeared in his door, causing them to fall to the ground in separate pieces.

In walked Sasuke Uchiha, the cursed seal on his shoulder receding, his blade the **Kusanagi; **leaning against his shoulder as he held out his hand with the chakra blade still piercing Orochimaru's arms.

"I knew it would come to this," Orochimaru hissed, ignoring the pain in his arms as he focused on Sasuke.

"I have nothing more to learn from you," the Uchiha said in an arrogant tone.

"Kukuku, so you say and yet Naruto-kun beat you quite handily," the Snake Sannin chuckled.

Sasuke glared at the man as his Sharingan flared to life, "He also beat you, which means you no longer serve a purpose to me. I'll kill you now and I won't show any mercy, even if you beg for it." Sasuke began to walk into the room, forcing Orochimaru to move his arms as the chakra blade went all the way through them and into the wall.

"Orochimaru," Sasuke said, his face blank as the flame pattern of his cursed seal spread out from the seal, "you're weaker than me. There is no point in sacrificing my body to you anymore."

"Big words from a fledgling Uchiha," Orochimaru hissed with a glare.

Sasuke smirked, "Humph, if I hadn't been so weak I never would have sought you out would I?" Sharingan eyes began to spin as Sasuke continued his tirade, "You only wanted me because you couldn't handle Itachi, right Mr. Great Sannin Genius?"

Sasuke's smirk turned into an arrogant grin, "Perhaps the world at large would consider you gifted, but you're nowhere near the level of an Uchiha. Before us the greatest genius in the universe barely comes off as average."

"Yes and that's why Naruto-kun smashed a **Rasengan **in your gut and forced me to save you," Orochimaru said, smirking when he saw Sasuke snarl from his taunt. "Had I not been there you would have been killed, perhaps you Uchiha are not all I thought you were."

"Naruto is nothing compared to me!" The young Uchiha ground out before managing to get a hold of his emotions. "When the time comes I will show him what it means to be an Uchiha, I will kill him and everyone he holds dear to show him his inferiority to the might of the Uchiha clan."

Sasuke looked at Orochimaru, "But first, I'll kill you!" Sasuke ran forward letting his chakra blade, push itself further in Orochimaru's arms.

Said Sannin grit his teeth as he blocked out the pain, Orochimaru opened his mouth as wide as it could go and out shot another body, this one different from normal.

"A scaly white serpent," Sasuke mused as he looked from the now shed skin to the new Orochimaru, "I see, so this is your true form."

The white serpent went to its full height, its face looked similar to Orochimaru's, only it was even more snake-like. The serpent's body was made up of thousands upon thousands of snakes, all of them flicking their tongues out.

"You wanted to take over other people's bodies so badly, you experimented on your own," Sasuke said in a voice that spoke of how pathetic he thought the Sannin was. "Now you're nothing more than a shell of your former self."

"**Kukuku Sasuke-kun,"** Orochimaru said, his voice now sounding completely like that of a snake, **"Give me your body!"**

Sasuke jumped into the air as the snake lunged.

* * *

Naruto looked over at Sai, Ino and Sakura, his three teammates for his first mission outside of the village in a month. Smiling he turned his attention back to Tsunade, "So what have you got for me baa-chan?"

Sakura, Ino and Tsunade got several tic marks on their head but decided it would be best to ignore him for the time being.

"I actually have several for you," Tsunade said as she dug through a few scrolls, "it seems that with your public debut in the Chunin exams almost everyone wants you to do their missions."

Tsunade grabbed the scroll she had been looking for and held it up, "This is the one you'll be doing for now." she tossed it to the blond shinobi, "It's a A-rank mission to guard Koyuki Kazahana during diplomatic meeting to Tsuki No Kuni (Crescent Moon Country)." She watched as Naruto's face seemed to light up, he hid it well but Tsunade, despite sucking at gambling, was able to pick up subtle changes in facial expressions.

She of course knew of her fellow blonde's relation with the Daimyo of Haru No Kuni, having forced the information out of Naruto under threat of castration and severe beating. Though it had only been after she had promised to keep his relationship a secret, even from the council, Tsunade knew why of course, Koyuki was a civilian, a daimyo but still a civilian. And her samurai would not last five minutes against an S-rank ninja, let alone six of them. She shook the thoughts off as she focused on the four ninja, "I trust you will complete this assignment?"

"Of course," Naruto said with a smirk as he turned around to address his team, "we'll leave in one hour, pack for an A-rank mission and meet me at the north gate."

"Yes/understood/ok!" the three said in unison, before leaving to get ready.

* * *

As soon as Sasuke jumped into the air, several snakes from Orochimaru's skin lunged at him, opening their fang filled mouths. Sasuke pulled out his sword, spinning around and slicing the heads off of the two snakes before landing on the ground.

Orochimaru hissed, whether in pain or anger, Sasuke could not be sure, though it was not like he cared either way. Several dozen snakes shot out of Orochimaru's body, all heading towards Sasuke who re-sheathed his sword. Shunting off the top half of his robe, Sasuke let his cursed seal flare into existence. Activating the second level, Sasuke's skin began to turn the color of ash, his eyes while the Sharingan turned yellow with the sclera turning black, a black four pointed star appeared across his nose.

"Though the snake dreams of soaring through the sky," Sasuke began to speak as Orochimaru's dozen snakes began to cover and wrap around him, "it is forever doomed, to crawl on his belly!"

The snakes were all destroyed as Sasuke exploded with the power of the cursed seal, pieces of snake were sprayed, blood splattered all over the wall. Two odd shaped wings that looked like webbed hands appeared on Sasuke's back, moving and grasping as if alive.

"You'll have your chance to fly snake, in the talons of a hawk," Sasuke said with a smirk.

Orochimaru hissed angrily at the boy's words, **"SASUKEEEE!" **he lunged at the Uchiha.

* * *

_Flashback…_

_Orochimaru looked at the grave of his parents, unsure what to feel now that they were dead. Like all good shinobi he refused to shed any tears; that did not mean that it still did not hurt. But it was more than that; he also felt hatred, hatred over the fact that death took them from him. He sighed as he shook the thoughts off and laid the bouquet he had gotten for them on the tomb. As he did he noticed something, reaching out for it he saw that it was a snake's skin._

"_Ooh good eye," Sarutobi said from behind him, "that's a white snake's molted skin!"_

"_I've never seen one before," Orochimaru said as he looked at the skin in idle curiosity._

"_Heheh, me neither," Sarutobi said with a slight chuckle, "they're extremely rare, very hard to find."_

"_How come it's white?" asked Orochimaru, looking up at his sensei with a curious expression._

"_I don't actually know," the Sandaime Hokage mused, "no one's ever really thought to find out. But for years, they've been considered a symbol of good fortune and rebirth"_

_Orochimaru poked at the snake skin, wondering if what his sensei was telling him was true, "Good fortune and rebirth…"_

_Sarutobi looked at his prized student sadly, he knew Orochimaru was hurting from his parents' death, but the boy had always tried to keep his emotions to himself._

"_The fact that you found it by your parents' grave must be a sign…" he said, trying to cheer up his student, "Perhaps they've been reborn in new bodies, so that someday, when you've grown up, they can see you again."_

_Orochimaru looked up at his sensei before looking back down at the snake skin, "When's that gonna be?"_

"_Haha I'm afraid I don't know that either," Sarutobi said._

_Orochimaru looked at the snake skin, 'rebirth', he was unsure if people were reborn after they died, but it was this day, this conversation that ultimately made him decide he would not be in this cycle. He would be eternal._

_Immortal._

_Flashback end…_

* * *

Naruto walked up to the palace in Haru No Kuni, he walked over to one of the Samurai who snapped into a salute as soon as he saw Naruto.

"Sir, Koyuki-sama has been expecting you," he said as the door opened, "please follow me."

"We didn't even give him our passports," Ino whispered to Sakura, sounding slightly confused. Normally standard procedure when foreign ninja were entering a country they always had to show their passports, and people were even more cautious when dealing with a Daimyo, so it was odd they would just let them in like that.

Sakura nodded as she whispered back, "I know, that's odd don't you think?"

The four Konoha ninja were led down the hall by the Samurai they had met at the door, following a meandering path as they made their way to a set of large double doors with gold embroidery. The samurai knocked smartly three times.

"Come in!"

The door opened and the Samurai ushered the four inside, as they walked in Sakura and Ino marveled at the décor. Everything was gorgeous and just what they would expect of a palace, long beautifully crafted columns, golden and blue tapestries hanging from the ceiling. Along the walls were several beautiful paintings done by master artisans, many of them depicting Haru both now and when it had been known as Yuki.

Naruto and Sai did not pay any attention to the layout or design of the room, one having seen it quite often for the past several years, and the other did not have the emotional capacity to enjoy it, though Sai did occasionally glance at the paintings. Naruto on the other hand, focused his attention on Koyuki, who was wearing the traditional Kimono of a Daimyo and was currently writing down something on a piece of parchment.

The Konoha ninjas' escort Samurai stood in front of the desk, snapping to attention as he spoke, "Koyuki-sama, Naruto-sama and the other Konoha ninja you have hired have arrived."

Ino, Sakura and even Sai felt surprise as they heard the Samurai give Naruto such a respectful suffix, however there was no time to question this turn of events as Koyuki stood up from her desk and looked at them with a smile.

"Welcome to Haru No Kuni," Koyuki said as she moved around her desk. "It is good to see you again, Sakura-san…"

She turned her attention to the blond in front of her and gave a smile that was meant only for him. "Naruto."

Sakura, Ino and Sai bowed as protocol dictated, however Naruto like always went against the grain as he walked up to Koyuki and gave her a smile.

"It's been awhile Koyuki-hime," Naruto said as he took one of the Daimyo's hands in his, "it's surprising but every time I see you I can't help but be amazed that you seem even more beautiful and radiant than the last time we met." Naruto lifted the young Daimyo's hands to his lips, giving them a chaste kiss.

Sakura and Ino gaped at the audacity Naruto had to actually speak with a Daimyo so informally, people have been executed for less. The two looked at the Samurai expecting them to make some kind of move to arrest the leader of their mission, but to their surprise none of them even seemed the least bit perturbed, as if this was some kind of everyday occurrence.

Koyuki smiled, "And you are the same flatterer that I remember from the last time we met." Both of them smiled at their little inside joke, the last time they had met was a little less than a week ago when Naruto had called her, Mei, Yugito and Konan to discuss the situation with Yugao. This was merely to keep up appearances to make it seem as if they did not see each other on a regular basis, something Koyuki hoped would end soon.

Naruto let go of Koyuki's hand and took a step back, "I believe you called us to be a part of your escorts to Tsuki No Kuni?"

"That's correct," Koyuki said as she adopted her business tone of voice, "you along fifty of my Samurai and several shinobi from Yukigakure (Hidden Snow Village) are to be my escorts." She looked at the four ninja, "I hope you four are up to the job."

Behind Naruto the other three ninja snapped to attention, the whiskered blond looked at Koyuki and gave her a grin. "I think we can handle anything that gets thrown at us."

Koyuki smiled, "That's good to know. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way I'll have my maids show you three," she looked over at Sakura and the other two, "to your rooms, until we leave in two days are. Naruto," she looked back at the blond, "I would like to discuss the arrangements of this assignment in more detail."

Naruto offered a bow, "Of course Koyuki-hime."

Several women in maid outfits entered the door and escorted a confused trio of Konoha shinobi away, the three cast one last look at Naruto and Koyuki before leaving.

Koyuki watched as the door to her office closed, smiling she pulled Naruto to her and gave her blond lover a heated kiss.

"You know, with the way you're acting one would think that you really just wanted me to yourself," Naruto spoke with a grin as they broke away.

Koyuki gave him a slightly mischievous smile, "Maybe I did, is there a problem with that?"

Koyuki let out an 'eep!' as Naruto scooped her up in his arms, her arms found their way around Naruto's neck as he held her to him. She looked up to see a familiar glint in Naruto's eyes, "Not at all hime," the blond shinobi said with a smile. "Had you not done it, I would have ended up kicking them out myself. So... the gardens?" he asked, looking at Koyuki.

Koyuki thought about it for a moment before offering a smile and a nod, "The gardens." She smirked a second later, "but first, we need to get the costumes."

Naruto looked at Koyuki and gave her a grin, "as you wish." A second later Naruto and Koyuki disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

Sasuke stared at the remains of Orochimaru; the giant snake he had turned into was now cut up into eight different segments. He smirked as his cursed seal began to recede, his wings retracted into his back. Sasuke was just about to walk off when he fell to the floor, his eyes widened as it became hard to move.

"Finally affected are we?" Sasuke looked over to see Orochimaru's head ascending as his body reformed, "The humors of these white snakes can even taint the air with their paralyzing venom."

Orochimaru's mouth opened far wider then Sasuke had ever seen it do when the Sannin had been in his human form, "I am undying. You are just a whelp whose jutsu are still too weak to kill me!" Orochimaru lunged at Sasuke.

Sasuke's Sharingan eyes widened as everything went black.

* * *

Sakura and Ino found themselves sitting at a very ornate table in one of the dining halls in Koyuki's palace, eating as they tried to figure out a mystery, said mystery being why Naruto and Koyuki seemed so close.

"Don't you find it odd?" Sakura wondered as she took a bight out of her salad, "I mean the way Naruto and Koyuki-dono were talking. He seemed so comfortable with her, like they'd been on friendly terms with each other for years."

It was something that had been bothering the girl for a while now; if she were honest with herself she was jealous of Koyuki for seeming so close to Naruto. She had realized a while ago that the blond boy who had a crush on her for an untold number of years had moved on, it was a disheartening feeling.

"I guess," Ino said with a shrug, while she was also jealous, she didn't care as much as her pink-haired friend. "But they probably are close; didn't you and him come here for a mission once?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded as she recalled her mission back when the country was covered in snow. "This place was called Yuki No Kuni back then, Sasuke-kun, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei and I came here to guard Koyuki, who was going to be filming a movie here under the alias Yuki Fujikaze."

That had been one of the many adventures Team Seven had been on together, unlike most teams, hers seemed to always find the most dangerous missions; she blamed that on Naruto's penchant for finding trouble.

"Well there you have it," Ino said, causing Sakura to look at her. "Naruto is actually considered a hero here, you know?"

"Really?" Sakura asked in surprise, she had not known that.

Ino eyed her friend with an exasperated look, "You mean you don't know?" at the blonde's question, Sakura shook her head. Ino sighed, "Honestly Sakura…well you know how the last Princess Gale movie came out several years back?" Sakura nodded as Ino continued, "Well the movie was actually turned into an odd, Drama/Documentary type film. Anyways, in the movie Naruto played as one of the key parts an-"

"Wait, Naruto was in the movie!" Sakura asked; surprise clearly evident in her features and voice.

"Didn't you see the movie?" Ino asked.

"No," Sakura shook her head, "I've always been too busy to go and watch movies, so I never bothered."

Ino sighed in disbelief but continued her explanation, "Well, whatever. Yes Naruto was in it, you and the others were too, but he seemed to be in it the most. And during the ending credits Naruto had a personal thanks from Koyuki for saving her country, I'm surprised you never knew this."

Sakura flushed in embarrassment, "Well I never watched the movie so…"

"And you never really paid attention to Naruto," Ino said with a teasing grin.

"Neither did you," Sakura replied as she threw her friend a light glare.

"That's true," Ino sighed, "it's too bad, he's such a hunk now."

"So Naruto's a hero, that still doesn't explain how he and the Daimyo are so close," Sakura mused.

"Well," Ino drawled as she finished off the last bite of her food, "You do know that Naruto came here at one point during the four years he was absent to film a porn movie with Koyuki-dono, right?"

Sakura scowled, "Yes!" her voice denoting to how much she hated being reminded of that particular event. She had not even known about it until the blond shinobi had come back, however hearing that Naruto had somehow been convinced by Jiraiya to star in a porno vexed her to no end. "Do you have to bring that up!"

Ino grinned, "Sounds like someone's jealous," Sakura's scowl increased as Ino's grin widened. "I'll admit I'm a little jealous too, after seeing all the positions those two did…"

"You mean you've seen it!" Sakura asked in a loud and scandalized voice.

Ino grinned as she licked her lips and began to explain in absolutely graphic detail all of her favorite scenes from the Icha Icha movie. By the end of it, Sakura had passed out from a large nosebleed, leaving a laughing Ino to drag her back to their room.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha opened his eyes and looked around, frowning as he wondered where in the nine hells he was. The place he was in had no walls, allowing nothing but an inky blackness to stretch far beyond his Sharingan's vision. The floor was made of some kind of white fleshy substance, moving and writhing as if it were alive. Altogether it looked like something his now former teacher might cook up from his overly vivid imagination.

"Huh," Sasuke mumbled to himself, "what is this place?"

"An alternate dimension inside me," Sasuke's Sharingan spun as he looked towards the source of the voice. Several feet away from him, some of the fleshy surface of the floor began to bulge, looking like something were trying to break through.

"And the place where I carry out the soul transfer ritual," Orochimaru finished as his form rose from the ground, covered in the slimy surface. "It's already started," the Snake Sannin's ridiculously long tongue flicked out of his mouth.

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise as several snakes began to form out of his body and clothing; looking around he noticed that the floor began to rise up, changing shape as it did. The young avenger found himself staring at people; people that he now realized were the previous beings whom Orochimaru had used his soul transfer jutsu on.

He looked over at Orochimaru's smiling form, his Sharingan eyes spinning as the Snake Sannin inched ever closer. The Snake Sannin's eyes widened as several stakes appeared in his body forcing him to stop, he remembered this, it had happened to him once already when he had attempted to get Itachi's eyes.

"_Orochimaru, all your jutsu are powerless, against these eyes."_

"Hehehe, those eyes…" Orochimaru said as he began to move again, despite the pain he was feeling from the genjutsu his now former student placed him in. "Those eyes will be mine!"

Sasuke just watched with an impassive face as the man inched ever closer.

These eyes would never be his.

The Uchiha avenger smirked.

* * *

The queen struggled with her bindings as the man who bound her laughed over her; said man was tall and had bulky muscles that made him look like a pro wrestler, his hair was black and shaggy, his eyes likewise were coal black. Running along his face were several scars that were an angry red in color, crisscrossing along his nose and eyes.

"And now my _Queen _you will do as I say," the man said, sneering as he called her queen.

"Never!" the Queen shouted as her struggling increased, "I'll never give you my kingdom!"

"My dear, you don't have a choice," the black-eyed man said, taking his hand to caress her face. The queen shivered in disgust as his rough fingers ran along her cheek, "You will accept this marriage, you will surrender to me and this will be my kingdom!" The man's voice turned into a yell at the end. He calmed down again as he gave her a smirk, "You no longer have a choice, no one will be coming to save you."

"You're wrong," the queen whispered, she stopped struggling as she bent her head down making her hair cover her eyes. "_He _will come," she said with conviction, a smirk quirking up the corner of her lips.

"Him!" the man questioned incredulously before laughing, "He is currently being 'occupied' by some of my best men, even 'he' is no match for my elites."

"You know, I take offense to that."

The black-haired man turned around and felt his eyes widen as he spotted the figure that stood before him. The man was fairly tall, standing around 6'0" even; he was not bulky but had the physic of an Olympic runner with compact muscles that looked like they had been carved from stone. He was wearing dark blue western armor with red and gold trim, in his hands was an ornate and beautiful double sided blade with jewels lining the hilt. His spiky golden blond hair was being held out of his face with a red blue bandana that had the motif of a dragon on it, and his blue eyes were currently drilling into the black-haired man with an intensity that caused said man to shiver.

"I-impossible!" the man yelled, "There is no way you could have survived my elites!"

The golden-haired man looked at him with a smirk, "While your men were decent, I've had better fights from my grandmother," he shivered for a moment, "Kami that woman hits hard," the man mumbled at the end.

The black-haired man growled, "I suppose my guards were just more incompetent than I thought, to let someone like you defeat them." he reached for his own sword and pulled it out of the hilt on his left side, "I'll just have to kill you myself!"

"You can try," the blond man said with a smirk, taking several steps towards the man who was now rushing towards him. "But in the end you'll lose like everyone else!" his steps picked up until he was in a sprint, bringing his sword across his body in a slash.

Swords began to clash and the sound of metal clanging against metal was heard throughout the small clearing. Each time one would strike against the other it would cause a slight wind to pick up, showing just how powerful these men were. The strikes were so fast that the Queen who was watching could not even see them; they were mere flashes of light. To her it looked like a dance, yet she knew that this beautiful dance was also deadly, each strike was meant to kill and even a single mistake could cost either of them.

The two continued their battle, adding in acrobatics into the mix now, flipping and leaping over their each other as they attempted to strike the other from behind. Spinning, twirling and slashing as the two moved at speeds no normal human could even hope to match. Overhead, diagonal slash, horizontal, thrusts, all manner of attacks were used as the two seemingly even opponents tried to kill one another. All it would take was a single mistake.

All it would take was one slip up.

Said slip up came when the black-haired man overextended his reach, attempting to stab the blond through the heart. Said blond ducked and moved slightly to the left, lightly redirecting the man's attack with his blade as he moved in. There was a 'shlinct' sound as the blonde's blade pierced the black haired man's armor, and then the man's chest. Said man stared at the blade piercing him with wide eyes, right before he burst into smoke.

"Damn it!" the blond mumbled in frustration, "Stupid **Kage Bunshin, **always dispelling just as I'm about to make the witty one liner!" the blond shook his head and got back into his role as he ran over to his queen, "My liege, are you alright?" he asked as he severed the robes binding her.

As soon as the queen was free, she jumped up and wrapped her arms around the blond, burying her head in his neck as she inhaled his scent. "I am now," the queen replied as she lifted her head to look into the blond man's blue eyes, "Thank you Sir Naruto."

Naruto gave her a cocky grin as he spoke, "You know there is no need to thank me my queen. I will always be there to protect you."

"Oh but there is," was the queens response as she went up on her tip toes, "Such a good deed deserves a reward."

Naruto smiled as he began to lean towards his queen, "Koyuki-chan," he mumbled as their lips met.

* * *

Kabuto frowned as he stirred the medicine he had made for Orochimaru together, "The medicine won't be enough anymore." he looked at the concoction in the vial, picking it up and pouring into a container for Orochimaru.

"At best, he could have lasted until tomorrow, but he'll more than likely need to do the soul transfer ritual today." Kabuto held up the medicine and looked at it, "I doubt even this will help much."

Kabuto had been Orochimaru's right hand man for a long time, after the Snake Sannin took Sasori's slave seal off the young medical ninja had pledged his life to the man's service. He had seen Orochimaru's power and genius in action, the man was always making new abilities and did not let some ridiculous sentimentality for life stop him from progressing in his goal. It was one of things Kabuto admired and the reason he so willingly followed Orochimaru, he allowed Kabuto to experiment on others in the name of science, something that he doubted anyone else would allow him to do. That was why he was worried about his master, the man had pretty much let him do as he pleased to the prisoners they had and allowed him to watch the Sannin's own experiments.

"Still…" the silver haired medical ninja mused, "I doubt Sasuke is going to be quick to say yes to something like this." He shook the thought off as he left, _It doesn't matter, even someone like Sasuke should not be able to survive the ritual._

Kabuto closed the door to the lab and began to walk back towards Orochimaru's chamber; however, when he was got close enough to see the door he stopped and his eyes widened. The door was gone, having been cut to pieces, and along the walls and floor was blood. Not knowing what was happening Kabuto ran up to the wall near the door, pressing his back against it as he peered into the room.

Standing in the room was Sasuke Uchiha, looking at the remains of Orochimaru, which was in its snake form. Its head severed from the body and the body sliced into eight segments.

_What's Sasuke doing here? _Kabuto wondered, as his mind tried to come to a conclusion to that question his eyes widened as an answer came to him._That giant snake is molting, so that means that the ritual is over already._

Kabuto moved away from the wall and stood in front of the door. _What the hell happened? _The medical ninja asked as he stared at Sasuke, wondering if this was Sasuke or Orochimaru.

As if sensing his presence Sasuke turned his head, "Kabuto?" he questioned in a bland voice at seeing the medic ninja. Turning, Sasuke made his way over to Kabuto, not even bothering to look at the silver haired medic as he walked past.

Kabuto turned his head to look at Sasuke, "Which one are you?" he asked. When Kabuto had first seen him, he had been positive that it was Orochimaru who was in control. However the way that Sasuke was acting did not seem like Orochimaru at all, he was too quiet, had it been the Snake Sannin he would have said something by now and had Kabuto run a medical scan to make sure everything was working properly.

"…" Sasuke turned his head to look at Kabuto, a smirk appeared on his face, "Which one do you think?"

Sasuke's Sharingan eyes flared and Kabuto saw black.

* * *

_This is where the soul ritual takes place, _Kabuto realized as he looked around his new environment, the same one that Sasuke had been in mere moments ago.

As he looked around he saw Sasuke Uchiha covered in the white substance from the ground, and Orochimaru closing the distance as the snake Sannin attempted to perform the soul transfer technique. Several tentacle like appendages appeared out of the goop that covered Orochimaru, making their way towards the avenger. They latched onto Sasuke's form and Orochimaru was about to perform the soul transfer ritual; however before he could Sasuke activated his cursed seal.

Orochimaru's eyes widened as the white flesh began to crumble, "This-this can't be happening!"

The white flesh covering Sasuke crumbled around him, leaving the Uchiha as if nothing had happened. The white substance then began to coil and grow, taking the form of some odd creature with a large claw filled mouth. It then started to eat at the white substance of the dimension. "I created this dimension! There is no way…there is no way! This can't be! This is my-"

"Orochimaru…" Sasuke interrupted the man's ramblings, his Sharingan eyes spinning. "Against my eyes, none of your jutsu…" he paused before smirking, "Actually, you know the rest."

_This is…horrifying…at this rate Sasuke will… _Kabuto paused and corrected himself, _is starting to eat away at this dimension… _The medical ninja watched as the dimension began to dissolve.

"Ugh!" Orochimaru said as he strained to win against the Uchiha avenger, "I refuse…" Orochimaru's eyes narrowed, "I refuse to let this happen! I am Orochimaru! I am immortal! Destined to discover the true meaning behind everything! Destined to take control of everything…in the world!" Orochimaru continued to struggled, "I will not die here!"

Kabuto's eyes widened as he found himself back in Orochimaru's hideout, "Orochimaru-sama is…dead…" he looked over at Sasuke to see the Uchiha avenger smirking, "No wait…it's more like-"

"I've taken over," Sasuke said, his smirk increasing.

Kabuto stared in shock at Sasuke as he walked away.

* * *

Sai stared out at the sea as he sat on the ship that was taking him and the rest of the team he was with to Tsuki No Kuni. He turned his attention back to the painting he was drawing; it was a picture of the see using the perspective of someone sitting on the bow of a ship. However, as his paint brush moved across the canvas, his mind was elsewhere. He had been with Naruto for a little over two months now and was still no closer to discovering the key to emotions, or figuring out what made Naruto…Naruto.

The Clan Head was a man of contradictions as far as Sai could see, when on missions he was usually very serious, never showing his emotions; yet when not on a mission he was laid back, relaxed, with a slightly playful and teasing nature. He was also willing to risk becoming a missing ninja for the sake of a single person, going as far as to refuse a direct order from the Hokage herself.

Every interaction he had had with the blond so far had left him confused.

* * *

_Flashback…_

"_Nicknames are often used as terms of endearment between two people who are close," Sai read out loud. He was sitting in Konoha's general library, looking up information on friendship. Ever since he had his first mission with Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi he had been trying to understand what friendship really was._

"_What in the hell are you reading?"_

_Sai's eyes widened in surprise as he looked behind him to see Naruto reading over his shoulder._

"_How to make friends? The understanding to building a Bridge of Friendship?" Naruto said in an incredulous voice as he read the titles of some of the books Sai had picked up. "Why are you reading crap like this?" the blond shinobi asked._

_Sai replied with his stereotypical fake smile, "I am trying to understand emotions and how friendships works." He picked up a book, "These books are very informative about the subject and tell me how to make friends."_

_Naruto gave the pale skinned teen an exasperated look, "You won't understand emotions and make friends by reading a book Sai. In order to understand anything you need to experience something first."_

"_So I should do reconnaissance?" Sai asked, trying to better understand what Naruto was telling him._

"_No you sh-you know what," Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose, "you should disregard everything those books tell you, they're not very helpful." He grabbed the boy by the shirt and hauled him to his feet, "The only way to learn is by experience, now come on, I'm going to meet with the rest of the Konoha Eleven."_

"_What?" Sai asked as Naruto began to drag the boy out of the library._

"_You're going to meet my friends, you're going to see how they act and you're going to be normal," Naruto said. "Now come on, I don't want to have to drag your sorry ass the whole way."_

_Sai said nothing more as Naruto let go of him, merely followed the blond Clan Head as he walked over to an Akimichi restaurant._

_Flashback end…_

* * *

There had been many other incidents like that where Sai had interacted with the others from the famed 'Konoha Eleven' throughout the time he had been assigned his mission to spy on Naruto. Often times he would leave confused, however he did feel he was getting closer to understanding emotions a little better.

He stopped painting for a moment and looked over to the deck; Naruto and Koyuki were sitting in two chairs a little ways away, playing a game of Shogi. He wondered if board games would be a good way to help him understand other people?

* * *

Sasuke walked into one of the many rooms within Orochimaru's base, this one like the others was rather bland. In the center of the room however, were several large tubes. In each tube was a person, or what had once been a person, a few having been transformed into unrecognizable monsters. Computer screens were located throughout the area, showing data on various experiments and long wires and hoses connected the tubes to other pieces of machinery.

Sasuke ignored most of the tubes as he walked up to a specific one. Inside was a teen about his age and of average height, he had white hair with a light blue tint and purple eyes. The teen gave Sasuke a smile with his shark-like teeth as the Uchiha avenger stepped in front of him.

"I thought it would be you, so you actually defeated Orochimaru, eh?" the man said.

"That's right," Sasuke replied, "now don't move for a second so I can get you out of here." Sasuke pulled out his chokuto and slashed across the glass, letting the water and white-haired man out.

"Finally," the man mumbled as he his hands on the watery surface, it looked as if half of his body was submerged in water despite the fact that the water merely a puddle. "I guess I owe you some thanks Sasuke."

"We'll take care of you first, Suigetsu," Sasuke said, not paying attention to the now named Suigetsu's words, "Come with me."

"Me first huh?" Suigetsu said as he began to push himself out of the water, his body forming from the molecules, "What about the others?"

"There are two left," Sasuke said in an uncaring tone, normally he would never be this patient with someone who was inferior to him but it was necessary for now. "We need to get Juugo in the north lair, and Karin in the south"

"Ugh, do we have to?" Suigetsu complained, putting his feet on the water and standing up, "I can't stand those two; I don't think I'll ever be able to even get along with them."

"I just need the three of you to cooperate," Sasuke said as if explaining to a child, "you don't have to like each other."

"Well, you did save me," Suigetsu said after a moment, "so I guess if that's what you want I'll go along with it." He frowned in thought, "So why did you choose them, what do you think of them?"

"They need to learn how to shut up," Sasuke replied in a way that made it obvious he was not talking about the other two, "Now put some clothea on so we can go."

"Heh, well you definitely sound like a leader," Suigetsu said , the next moment he disappeared and Sasuke felt someone pressing a finger against his temple.

"Let's get a few things straight," Suigetsu said in a slightly bored yet playful tone, "Ok?"

Sasuke just looked at him as the water user spoke, "You are not in charge just because you took Orochimaru down, everyone was after him…someone was bound to kill him eventually. You were his preference, so he did keep you under surveillance and let you stand at his side. You just got more chances at him than the rest of us," Sasuke made no movement, even though he felt like killing this person for trying to talk down to him.

Instead he spoke in a calm, almost bored voice, "What's your point?"

"That I have the advantage now" Suigetsu said as he pushed his finger harder against Sasuke's temple. Then the man grinned and took his hand away, "Not! Just kidding…wow your heart rate didn't even change, that's enough for me to know you victory was not a fluke. I always heard how strong you were; your squad was the one who defeated my old sempai Zabuza Momoichi, wasn't it?"

Suigetsu gave Sasuke a shark-like grin, "So hey, before we go get them do you think we could go somewhere else first, there's something I wanted to get."

Sasuke said nothing; he needed Suigetsu for now so he would play along.

* * *

Naruto walked in front of Koyuki as he and the other Konoha ninja assigned to this mission, along with nearly a dozen Samurai and four Yuki ninja escorted the Daimyo through the streets of one of Tsuki No Kuni's cities. He and his comrades were walking in a diamond formation around Koyuki, with him in the front, Sakura and Ino on the sides and Sai in the back. As the group continued on, they ignored the various stares and whispers from the people around who had stopped what they were doing to stare.

Like all cities in Tsuki, this one held a festive air. Tsuki No Kuni had always been considered a great tourist country due to its many forms of entertainment, namely gambling, there were many different casinos here that had all kinds of games of chance. He was sure that Baa-chan would love to come here.

Naruto remained on alert as they made their way to the large blue palace in front of them, the gates opened as soon as their entourage came into view. Walking through the gate they found themselves standing in a very beautiful garden, several dignitaries were already waiting for them. Two of them were Michiru Tsuki, the Daimyo of Tsuki No Kuni, and his son Hikaru. Michiru was a fairly rotund man, wearing an extravagant royal blue kimono. Hikaru was a boy of decent height, fairly thin and wearing white pants and shirt with a bow hanging over his shoulder.

"Daimyo Koyuki, it is a pleasure to finally meet you," Michiru said as he stepped forward and gave a bow.

Koyuki retuned the gesture with a poise and grace befitting both a Daimyo and an actress, "It's nice to finally meet you as well, I would like to thank you for agreeing to this."

"Not at all," Michiru replied, "with our open door policy on trade, we are always happy to accept new agreements." he paused for a moment as he looked at the members of her entourage, his eyes landed on Naruto and they seemed to widen ever so slightly.

"Naruto!" he asked in surprise, causing Hikaru to look up with wide eyes.

While everyone else either looked shocked or confused, Naruto stepped forward and gave Michiru a bow, "It's good to see you again, you and your son look like you're doing well."

Michiru was about to respond but his son beat him to it, "Naruto-nii-san!" Hikaru ran up to him.

Naruto grinned as the boy stopped in front of him, "How are you doing squirt?" he ruffled the boy's hair.

"Hey, don't call me squirt," Hikaru complained, "I'm almost eleven now!"

Naruto's grin widened ever so slightly, "You're still a squirt to me."

As Naruto decided to have fun teasing Hikaru, Michuru turned to look at a surprised Koyuki. "I shall have my men escort your guards to their living quarters, and if you'd like I can give you a tour of the palace."

"… yes that would be nice," Koyuki said, turning to him.

Michiru nodded and gave her a pleased smile, "Excellent!" He turned to where Naruto was asking Hikaru about his bow practice, "Hikaru, why don't you and Naruto go to the range out back!"

Hikaru nodded, "Come on nii-san! I want to show you how good I've gotten with my bow!" he grabbed Naruto and began to drag him towards his bow practice range.

"Alright, alright I'm coming," Naruto said as he began to walk on his own power.

"So how do you guys know Naruto?" Koyuki asked as she and the other three Konoha ninja followed Michiru. Meanwhile the rest of Koyuki's entourage was being shown to their quarters.

"Well you see we had hired Konoha to send us escorts for our tour around the elemental nations," Michiru said as Koyuki and the Konoha ninja listened with interest, "They sent him and his sensei Jiraiya, we…"

* * *

Sasuke and Suigetsu found themselves staring at a rather large and impressive bridge. Suigetsu had changed into a purple sleeveless shirt and a pair of gray pants. Around his waist was a belt with several water bottles attached to it, and another belt that currently did not hold anything.

"What do you think Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked as he turned to look at his black haired leader.

Sasuke did not say anything, merely stared at the name of the bridge, The Great Naruto Bridge. For just a second the black-haired avenger almost felt nostalgic…almost.

"Sasuke let's go!" Suigetsu said as Sasuke continued to stare at the bridge.

Sasuke cast one last look at the bridge before moving across it; they walked through the now prosperous town of Nami, making their way to the edge of it and into the forest. Sasuke led Suigetsu to the spot where they had buried Zabuza and his apprentice Haku.

"Never thought it'd be all the way out here," Suigetsu said as he moved over to the grave, one of which had the infamous Kubikiri Houcho. The water user grabbed the handle of the blade, "I'll be taking this Zabuza-sempai."

He pulled the blade out of the ground. Suigetsu held the blade in both hands, struggling a bit to keep it up. "Woah, this is heavy…so this is the blade of Zabuza, The Kiri No Oni (Devil of the hidden Mist), the Kubikiri," Suigetsu planted the sword back into the ground when it became too heavy to wield.

"Can you even wield that blade?" Sasuke asked, actually finding himself amused at the sight.

"The katana used by the **Kiri No Shinobigatana Nananin Shu **are passed down from generation to generation," Suigetsu said, "I trained like crazy so I could join them one day. With this great sword I could probably even beat you,"

Suigetsu began to fix a strap around it, "Since Juugo's joining us, I figured I'd need it." Suigetsu attached the sword to the belt that hung on his chest and looked at Sasuke, "Alright, let's head to the closer one."

Sasuke nodded as the two of them set out.

* * *

"Why didn't you ever tell us how you saved this country?" asked Sakura as she, Naruto, Sai and Ino set up a perimeter and patrolled around the place Michiru and Koyuki were meeting.

Naruto looked over at her and shrugged, "Because it never came up I guess. It's not like it's that big of a deal or anything."

"Not that big of a deal!" Sakura said in shock, "How could you say that? You saved an entire country!"

Naruto just gave her a blank stare, "Sakura, with our mission record on Team Seven, saving a country is something of a norm for me." He gave an amused chuckle, "I mean, how many people can say they saved a country on their first C-rank mission, or saved and protected a Princess who was disguised as an actress, or saved a country embroiled in a Civil War? Doing things like this just seems to be some kind of rule when it comes to me. Murphy's law loves me like that."

Sakura looked embarrassed, what Naruto said was true, so many of their missions outside of the village had been nothing but misadventures of some kind or another. Even after Naruto left Konoha to train he seemed to do things that most normal shinobi would never dream of. "Well I guess you're right," Sakura said.

"Man, I'm so jealous of you," Ino said as she decided to butt into the conversation, "you always seem to have some kind of cool adventure."

Naruto merely smiled, "That's just because I'm so awesome."

"Whatever," Sakura said, she would have said more however a loud roar caused the four ninja to turn around.

They were just in time to see a giant white saber-toothed tiger leaping towards them. Ino and Sakura both yelled at the sight, while Sai pulled out an ink scroll and brush. However they were all shocked when the tiger smashed right into Naruto who had not moved from his spot, they became even more shocked when said tiger started licking Naruto's face.

"Ack! Haha hey s-stop Chamu," Naruto laughed as the large tiger ran its tongue across his face, "Seriously Chamu."

Eventually Naruto was able to push the large tiger off of him, the blond grinned at the tiger, eliciting a fanged grin from Chamu, well he thought it was a grin at least; it was sometimes hard to tell with all those teeth. Naruto began to scratch the tiger behind the ears, getting a purr from the large beast as it nuzzled against his hand.

"N-Naruto you know this tiger?" Ino asked with a slight stutter that sounded like a mixture between fear and shock.

Naruto looked up from her as he continued to pet Chamu, "Of course, Chamu was here when I took my mission. He even helped me take down Ishidate, the leader of the ninja that Shabadaba hired to kill or capture Hikaru. Bit the man's arm right off," Naruto gave the giant tiger a big hug, "isn't that right?"

The other three sweatdropped as Naruto rubbed his face against Chamu's furry whiskered cheek.

* * *

Sasuke and Suigetsu entered the south base with little concern of ambush or trap, walking along the dank stone halls. They passed several barred rooms, each of them filled with a dozen prisoners. As soon as they passed the prisoners got up close to the bars and looked at the pair, many began to speculate about why Orochimaru was not with them, coming up with the theory that the Snake Sannin was dead and Sasuke had come to free them. A few of them however shot that down, loudly.

Sasuke ignored this as he kept walking; he and Suigetsu were forced to stop when a girl around their age walked in front of them from the opposite end of the hall. The girl in front of them had red eyes and hair, her hair was sharp, pointy and unkempt on one side, while the other was straight. She was wearing lavender glasses, a lavender uniform, short black shorts and long black thigh high stocking with semi high heel sandals.

"I knew it," the red-head said as she placed a hand on her hips. She looked at Sasuke with a frown, "you're all alone Sasuke, so it's true then…" she mumbled to herself at the end.

"What am I, chopped liver?" asked Suigetsu, only to be ignored.

"What do you want?" she asked staring at Sasuke.

"Sasuke's got a proposition for you," Suigetsu decided to interrupt the conversation, "can you take us to a room or something? We've been walking forever, and I'm too tired to stand around while you talk."

"Hmph," Karin hmphed and once again ignored Suigetsu.

"Come with me, Karin," Sasuke said, "I need you."

"Huh!" Karin said dumbly as her eyes widened in surprise, "Why do I need to go anywhere, I'm in charge of this place!"

* * *

Naruto watched as the meeting came to an end, all of the nobles who were part of Tsuki's council and had been involved were leaving. Naruto never understood why a council was truly needed, he had seen the council of Konoha, was a part of it in fact, and in all honesty except for a few situations the council seemed to be more trouble than it was truly worth.

Shaking himself of such thoughts, he walked over to where Koyuki was still speaking to Michiru. He waited patiently until they were done and Koyuki had turned to him before speaking, "Koyuki-sama," Naruto said, using a title appropriate for her rank since they were not alone. "I trust the meeting went well?" he asked as he held his arm out to her.

Koyuki smiled as he took his arm in her own, "Our negotiations are proceeding smoothly, hopefully sometime next week Haru and Tsuki will have a trade alliance."

"That's good," Naruto said with a smile, "now that the meeting is over perhaps you would like me to escort you around the city? Maybe I could take you out to dinner somewhere?" He looked over at Michiru, "So long as you and Michiru-dono do not have any previous engagements."

"Not at all," Michiru said, "I actually already have plans to go with my son and teach him some of the things he will eventually need to know for when he takes my place."

Naruto nodded before turning his attention to the beautiful woman on his arms, "So how about it Koyuki-sama?"

Koyuki smiled at him, tightening her hold on his arm, "I would like that."

As Naruto led Koyuki away neither of them noticed the pair of eyes watching them.

* * *

"Orochimaru's out of the picture now," Sasuke said as he and Suigetsu sat on a couch in one of the few recreational rooms, Karin standing a little ways away from them.

"What are you gonna do with all the captives?" Karin asked as she spread her hands out in front of her.

"Suigetsu…go free all the prisoners," Sasuke ordered.

"Wha-"

"Heh, still acting like the boss eh," Suigetsu chuckled as he interrupted Karin, though he still got up and prepared to do as asked.

"Don't you dare!" shouted Karin as Suigetsu moved towards the door.

"There's no reason to keep them around," Sasuke said in an uncaring manner, "what would you do with them?"

Karin did not answer right away as she watched Suigetsu leave, "I refuse! Besides I'm not under any obligation to follow you around you know!"

"…." Sasuke looked at her, deciding on the many options that presented themselves to get her to go with him. "Fine," Sasuke said at last, "if you feel that strongly then I'll find someone else."

Karin looked at him as she back away, pressing herself against the door as her hand came up and locked it.

"I'll come," Karin said in a soft voice, now walking towards Sasuke as she took off her glasses, setting them on the couch as she sat next to him. "If you really want me to," Karin said, a pouty expression on her face, "I'll go with you."

Sasuke actually found himself getting confused at the near one-eighty change, "What's with you? You changed your mind pretty quickly," he found himself backing away a bit as Karin leaned into him.

"I was just thinking about how tired I am of standing guard," Karin said as she continued to lean into him. She stopped for a moment when she heard a rattle at the door; she looked at it before turning back to Sasuke.

"Would you back off?" Sasuke asked in an annoyed voice.

"We don't have to take that stupid Suigetsu either," Karin ignored his words as she continued closing in, "all we need is each other."

Before the red head could get any farther the door was sliced open, Karin jumped away from Sasuke as Suigetsu walked in, one of his arms was now bulging with muscle as he used his control over water to change his muscle structure.

"Let's get out of here Sasuke," Suigetsu said as he leaned against Kubikiri, "Karin clearly doesn't want to come."

"Actually, she's changed her mind," Sasuke said.

"I-I didn't say that!" Karin said loudly as she put her glasses back on. "I just uh…I'm headed in the same direction that you two are! Purely coincidence!"

"Oh really? Lucky us," Suigetsu said, "I guess you'll be with us for a little while then."

"Just a little while!" Karin said as she adjusted her glasses.

Suigetsu shrugged as his arm changed back to normal, "So Juugo's the last then."

"Wha- Juugo!" Karin said in surprise and a little fear, "You want his help too?"

"What do you care?" asked Suigetsu, "I thought you were just along for the ride."

"Y-yeah, I am? So what? You wanna go? C'mon!"

* * *

Within a dark room, one figure was crouched down, his face in his knees.

"Mm…yeah, girls, girls are definitely better… wait, no, guys. Guys are better, eh…nah…girls…or actually guys…"

* * *

Koyuki smiled as she and Naruto ate at one of the many restaurants found in Tsuki No Kuni, "You know, you neglected to mention that you saved this country the last time you shared stories of your adventures."

Naruto laughed, "Well it happened after we made that movie, after that it never really came up. We were too busy doing other…activities to be concerned with me telling you stories."

Koyuki blushed as she thought about the activities he was talking about, "That's true," she took a bite out of her food. Looking up at him she smiled, "since it came up now, why don't you tell me about it? Michiru gave an overview, but he's not a very good storyteller."

Naruto gave a large grin as he finished the cup of sake he had, "I think I can do that. You see it all started when me and Ero-sensei got a message from Konoha asking us to escort Michiru and his son around the elemental nations…"

Koyuki spent the rest of their time at dinner listening as Naruto told her how he and Jiraiya had defeated Shabadaba and the ninja he had hired to take of Tsuki No Kuni.

* * *

Sasuke, Karin and Suigetsu were walking through one of the many barren wastelands of Tsuchi No Kuni (Earth Country), well Sasuke and Karin were walking. Suigetsu had his hands on his knees as he panted; sweat rolling down his face as the sun burned overhead. He pulled out one of the many water bottles from his belt and began to drink, needing to keep himself hydrated since he would quite literally evaporate if he didn't.

"You're so lazy!" Karin yelled at Suigetsu, "The north hideout is still a long ways away!"

"I thought you were headed somewhere else," Suigetsu said, his tone uncaring and bored, "why don't you just leave? I've already got enough crap to deal with."

"I…just remembered I have business here too!" Karin said, trying to come up with an excuse so she could stay next to Sasuke, "I need to stop by there first!"

"Yeah right…" Suigetsu said, taking another sip of water.

Sasuke just sighed as the two continued to argue, he was beginning to regret this decision.

* * *

Naruto stared out of the window as he lay in bed, absently stroking Koyuki's hair. It was night time now and he could see the stars shining outside as the moonlight streamed through the window. He looked back down at Koyuki who was peacefully sleeping on top of him, the bed's covers only covering up to her hips allowing him to see a sight he would never grow tired of.

_I'm lucky security here is so lax or I would have never been able to sneak into her room like this, _the blond thought to himself as he ran brushed a few stray strands of hair out of Koyuki's face.

"Mmm…Naruto-kun…" Koyuki mumbled in her sleep, burrowing her face into his muscled chest.

Naruto held in a snicker that threatened to escape his throat, not wanting to wake her up. She was going to have a long day of meetings ahead of her tomorrow; hopefully they would be able to finalize their treaty. Sighing to himself Naruto grabbed the covers and pulled them up so that Koyuki was adequately covered, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her as close as possible. Letting his eyes droop the blond let sleep claim him.

* * *

"Whew! Time for a break!" Suigetsu said as he sat down right where he had been standing, pulling out another water bottle.

"Get up you slacker!" Karin yelled as she turned to the exhausted looking Suigetsu, "We're practically there!" When Suigetsu did not get back up Karin began yelling some more, "It's that katana! It's too heavy! Just drop the damn thing so we can go!"

"Guys…" Sasuke said not looking at them as he spotted something.

They both turned around to see Sasuke staring at a prone figure in the typical garb Orochimaru's scientists wear. The three walked up to him, Karin looked him over as she lifted his head. "He came from the North Hideout," she determined, "he's still alive."

"What happened?" asked Sasuke as he saw the man's eyes open.

"Sas…uke… Uch…iha," the scientist said in a rasped breath, "please…save…us…"

"What happened to you?" Suigetsu asked.

"It started…as soon as we heard Orochimaru was dead," the man started to explain, "our captives started a riot. At this rate," the man started coughing as he drew a shuttered breath right before he died.

"Ahh crap, he died," Suigetsu complained, normally he would not have a problem with death but the man had not even given them any information before it happened.

Before anyone else could say anything the earth shook and splintered as something crashed down several feet away. Sasuke and the others saw it was a creature with dark brown skin, horns on its head and wings on its arms. Each of them knew this was one of Orochimaru's experiments.

"You…you're," the thing tried to say, but its vocals chords did not sound quite up to the task.

"What the hell is that thing?" Suigetsu wondered out loud.

"A level two cursed seal," Karin said in shock, "he's already completed the transformation!"

Sasuke just looked at the experiment before disappearing; there was a spurt of blood that came from the cursed seal warrior. As the man began to transform back into a human, Sasuke appeared behind him, his sword out and blood dripping from it. As the man fell and died, Sasuke re-sheathed his sword with a 'shink' sound.

"Tha'ts the North Hideout up there," Sasuke said as he looked up at the tower-like structure, "hurry up and help me find Juugo."

* * *

Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Ino walked up to the front gates of Konoha, walking over to the two eternal Chunin Izumo and Kotetsu, the blond shinobi presented their papers.

"Well look whose back!" Izumo said as he grabbed the papers and read them over, "So I take it the mission was a success?"

"Of course," Naruto said, "you expected anything less?"

Kotetsu chuckled, "I heard your mission was to guard the Daimyo Koyuki Kazahana."

"You heard right," Naruto said as he got the papers back.

"You know I saw that movie you two were in," Kotetsu said with a lecherous grin, "did you two put those talents I saw to practice."

Sakura and Ino held intense blushes at the thought of Naruto and sex, Ino ended up getting a nosebleed as she had seen that movie and several images passed through her head.

Naruto sighed, "Somehow I get the feeling that movie's gonna haunt me for the rest of my days." he shook his head, "Whatever, anyway I'll see you guys later; we need to go and report to Baa-chan." Naruto turned to his team, "Why don't you guys head home while I go and give my report."

Ino and Sai nodded before leaving, however Sakura stayed with him.

"I need to talk to Tsunade-shisho anyways," Sakura said, "so I think I'll accompany you."

Naruto shrugged, "Sure thing," the two of them began making their way to the Hokage Tower.

* * *

"You're late!" Tsunade yelled as she turned to look at Jiraiya, "Where the hell were you?"

"Now take it easy Tsunade," Jiraiya said as he raised his hands defensively. He was about to say more when Naruto and Sakura walked in, "Hey Naruto! How have you been?" he asked, glad for the distraction from Tsunade's glare.

"Ero-sensei?" Naruto said with a raised eyebrow, "What are you doing here?"

"Ah! Naruto," Tsunade said as she turned her attention to her fellow blond, "I take it the mission was a success?"

Naruto smiled and gave a nod, "Yes, Koyuki had been successfully escorted to Tsuki No Kuni and protected throughout the trade negotiations…" Naruto gave them a brief report on what had transpired.

Tsunade nodded, "It's a good thing that you came back when you did; there are important things we need to discuss."

Naruto sensed the shift in the atmosphere as Tsunade sat down and knew that whatever she had to talk about was serious. He straightened himself as his eyes went from their typical vibrant blue, to an icier shade as all emotion left his face and went into what Tsunade had taken to calling his mission face.

"What is it you wish to talk to me about Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked.

"Information has been coming in from other countries," Tsunade began, a serious expression on her face, "I wanted to discuss it with you."

Naruto frowned as he looked over at Jiraiya, the man held a grave expression, something that was rare and only used when something big happened. "What information are you talking about?" the blond Clan Head asked.

"Orochimaru is dead," Tsunade said, "and it seems that Sasuke Uchiha is the one who killed him."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock, however Naruto's narrowed as his mind went several thousand miles a second. _From what I remember when I fought the two of them it was obvious that Sasuke despite gaining strength did not have the power to defeat Orochimaru, I doubt he gained enough power to do that in the short amount of time since I our little scuffle. That means that he killed Orochimaru when the Sannin was at his weakest, when the Snake Sannin needed to do the transfer ritual. Now that Orochimaru is dead Sasuke's next step will be… _Naruto looked over at Jiraiya, "how accurate is this information?"

"I know for a fact that it's true," Jiraiya said, "My most reliable source confirmed it."

"Then…then he's going to come back to Konoha right?" asked Sakura, hope in her voice.

Naruto snorted, causing everyone there to turn their attention to him, "Sasuke coming back to Konoha?" the whisker marked blond shook his head, "I highly doubt that."

Sakura looked over at Naruto in shock.

* * *

Sasuke, Suigetsu and Karin looked towards the entrance to the North Hideout; it was littered with Orochimaru's experiments, all of them in their cursed seal forms and all of them looking ready to kill.

"The guards…they're all dead," Karin said as she used her chakra sensing abilities to look for anyone who was not under the seals influence.

"Hoo-boy, how are we supposed to know which one's Juugo?" Suigetsu wondered as he looked at all the creatures, "Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked over at Karin, "Karin, is Juugo in there somewhere?"

"Hold on, just give me a second," Karin said as she held out her hand a sign. She closed her eyes as she tried to find Juugo's signature within the mass of cursed seal warriors, "He's not in there," she said at last.

"Hey! That means we can go nuts on them right?" Suigetsu asked with a grin.

"Hmm…whatever, let's just find Juugo," Sasuke said as he held out his chokuto.

"Alright," Suigetsu held up Kubikiri Houcho, readying himself for battle.

"Let's go," Sasuke said

The two shinobi charged.

* * *

"Weeew," Suigetsu leaned on the large cleaving sword, he looked out at all of the people now lying in pools of their own blood feeling rather pleased with himself.

"Hey!" the two turned to see Karin holding up a set of keys, "I found the keys!"

The three made their way into the base and began walking down the hall; they were soon forced to stop at a four way hall.

"Karin, lead the way," Sasuke said.

"Why are you doing this Sasuke?" Karin asked.

Sasuke just looked at her as Suigetsu spoke up, "Just find him would ya? You're always bragging about your ability, try actually using it."

Karin gave Suigetsu a withering glare but turned her attention to the task at hand, "That way," Karin said pointing down one of the four hallways.

"Finally," Suigetsu mumbled, turning towards the hall and beginning to walk down it.

Sasuke made to follow but Karin grabbed his arm and began dragging him down a different hallway.

"What are you-" Sasuke began, only to be cut off by Karin who had turned to look at him, a blush staining her cheeks.

"He's really this way," she said, "let's hurry Sasuke!"

Sasuke sighed in frustration, "Why did you lie? Now Suigetsu's going the wrong way."

Karin turned around and continued to drag him as she spoke, "Suigetsu's just an obnoxious jerk, I can't stand him! Now c'mon!"

"Let go of me," Sasuke said as he tried to break her surprisingly strong grip, "I can walk by myself!"

* * *

"You know that curse seal seems to turn everyone who uses it into freaks," Suigetsu said as he walked down the hall, unaware that he was alone. "Sasuke, does that happen to you when you use it?" he waited for a moment and after receiving no answer turned his head, "Hey I'm talking to y-"

He blinked when he saw no one following him, Suigetsu clenched his fists as he realized what happened, "That bitch…"

* * *

"Is this it?" asked Sasuke as he stared at the door, it was made of some kind of sturdy metal, had four locks keeping it shut and two chains in a crisscross position as added insurance, in order to keep the man they had come for from breaking out.

"Yeah," Karin said, "Juugo's in here." She walked up to it and placed a key in the first lock, unlocking it and each one after one by one. "That's the last one," she said as she moved her hand to grab and open the door.

Only for Sasuke's hand to grab it first, "I'll go in Karin, stand back." Sasuke opened the door and looked inside, only to come face to face with Juugo beginning his transformation.

"JACKPOT!" Juugo screamed as the flame like patterns for his curse seal began to spread across him, "YOU'RE DEAD!"

Juugo began to run at Sasuke, looking intent on smashing the black-haired avenger into a pulp. Sasuke ignored Karin's cry of "watch out!" as he crouched down and placed a hand on his chokuto.

SMASH!

Juugo rammed Sasuke into the call, causing it to crack as a cloud of dust expanded over it.

"Geh hah hah hah hah!" Juugo laughed in glee, half his face covered in the cursed seal, "I'm not done with you yet!"

Juugo's arm transformed into an odd looking clawed arm, with spike pointing inward to his fist from the elbow down. On the back of his elbow was a protrusion, which moved up and then push down. The wall exploded as chakra blasted out of Juugo's arm.

When the smoke cleared it showed a giant hand like wing holding onto Juugo's fist.

"Not another copy of me!" Juugo yelled as his fist pulled away, "But this one's pretty tough!" Juugo noticed that Sasuke only had half of the transformation up, just enough to have protected him. "He can even do partial transformations! He must have good control over the cursed seal!"

"I didn't come here to fight you," Sasuke said as he looked up, one eye black and the other yellow, "I need to discuss something with you Juugo, that's all."

Juugo ignored Sasuke's words as he charged, "He's strong, the strongest since that other copy, Kimimaro!"

He thrust out his fist at Sasuke in the hopes of crushing the avenger; however it was stopped by the Kubikiri Houcho.

"Huh?" Juugo stumbled back as he turned his attention to Suigetsu who just arrived.

"You didn't use that power the last time Juugo," Suigetsu said as his sword arm flew back from the force, man that stung." Suigetsu readied his sword again, "Let me deal with him Sasuke…and Karin you're next."

"Stop it Suigetsu," Sasuke said, "we didn't come here to fight anyone. Let me talk to him."

"Words don't really register with him," Suigetsu said with a laugh, "you have to make him listen with force."

"Oh yeah! Now I remember!" Juugo yelled as he looked at Suigetsu, "You're Suigetsu!"

Suigetsu said nothing as he swung the giant zanbatou, only for it to be blocked when Juugo hit it with his transformed arm. Suigetsu slid back and came at him to try again, ignoring Sasuke's shout as he came in with an overhand swing. Juugo yelled as he came at Suigetsu with a maniacal laugh, intent on ending his life.

Both felt their eyes widen in surprise as they were stopped by two large snakes coming out of Sasuke's sleeve, said Uchiha standing in between them, a cold look on his face. "How about I kill the both of you?" Sasuke asked in a dead voice, his Sharingan eyes spinning.

Both Suigetsu and Juugo felt their eyes widen and a trickle of fear form in their gut as the snakes retracted, Sasuke's killing intent crushing any will they may have had to fight. Juugo's cursed seal retracted and he felt his eyes widen as he realized what his insane side had done, making him run back inside of his room and smashing the door shut.

"LOCK THE DOOR!" he yelled as he crouched in the corner of his room, holding his head in his hands.

"Juugo, I came here to free you," Sasuke said, "come with me."

"He's too scared now," Suigetsu said with a slight sweatdrop.

"No that's not it," Karin replied.

"I don't want to kill people anymore!" Juugo yelled from inside his cell, "Don't make me go outside, just leave me alone! Please!"

"What the hell?" Suigetsu spoke, wondering where the killer went, "Woah, talk about your double personality."

"I told you," Karin said, "no matter how hard he tries Juugo always succumbs to the urge to kill. He has no control over himself, but in reality, he really doesn't want to hurt anyone."

"I could lose it at any time!" Juugo said, "Please lock me back in!"

"I told you Juugo was dangerous Sasuke," Suigetsu commented, "just walking along side of him would be a huge risk."

"What the hell do you want from me?" Juugo yelled, "Just leave me alone!"

"Orochimaru is dead," Sasuke said as he walked up to the door, "and this place is falling apart. You'll go down with it if you stay here any longer."

"Good…that means I won't kill anyone else!" Juugo said, glad to die so he would not have to bother trying to resist his violent urges.

"Relax," Sasuke said in what he tried to make a comforting voice, he was not very good with this but he needed Juugo on his team. "I'll act as your prison, if you try to kill anyone, I'll stop you."

"What do you think you could do?" Juugo asked, "The only person who was able to calm these impulses was Kimimaro, I'm not going anywhere without him!"

"Kimimaro was from the Kaguya clan right?" asked Suigetsu as he tried to remember what he could about the now deceased bone user.

"Yeah…he and Juugo were Orochimaru's favorite subjects," Karin answered, "they stayed here as subjects for human experimentation from the moment this place was built. Kimimaro was the only subject in the whole organization whom I could work on without fear of resistance or violence. And he was so strong…I heard he was the only one who could stop Juugo's rampages without getting hurt."

"But isn't he…" Suigetsu was unsure whether he should say dead since he did not know what Juugo would do if he knew.

Sasuke had no such compunctions however, "Juugo…Kimimaro is dead; he died fighting for my sake."

Within his cell Juugo's eyes widened in realization, "He died…for you? Then that means you're…"

Juugo remembered when Kimimaro had come here telling him that he had to leave, that he was going to get Sasuke. Kimimaro had said that he and Sasuke were the only ones fit to be Orochimaru's vessel, that Sasuke was in a way Kimimaro's rebirth and he would bring Sasuke back even at the cost of his life. Juugo stood up and moved over to the door, opening it, agreeing to come with Sasuke.

* * *

Sasuke looked at the three people he had gathered as they stood outside of the North Hideout, "Gathering the three of you completes our platoon and the first stage of my plan." Sasuke had been waiting for this, the day he could begin his plan.

"It's time I explained my purpose to you all," he said, "I'm going to kill Itachi Uchiha, and you all are going to help."

* * *

**Chapter done, I hope you all enjoyed it. Now I think I'm going to go do some Homework than after that… sleep!**

**Mmm… sleep…**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: When I can find someone to steal the rights to Naruto for me, I will own Naruto. Until I do own it however, I would suggest reading my fanfiction.**

* * *

**Chapter 18: Chasing Sasuke**

* * *

Suigetsu, Juugo and Karin stared at Sasuke as he spoke those words, not all of them were quite sure what to make of that statement. Suigetsu had a thoughtful look on his face as if trying to remember something. Karin had a frown, and was most likely worried about what could happen if they went after Itachi. Juugo did not seem to care about what Sasuke said as much, though he did not really like the fact that they were going to have to kill someone.

"I knew it," Suigetsu finally said, crossing his arms. He had been sure this was Sasuke's goal since from what he had heard, that was the only reason Sasuke had gone to Orochimaru after all. "I knew you were going to go after your brother."

"Karin," Sasuke said as he looked at the red head, "you said you have other business to attend to, what will you do?"

Karin suddenly felt very flustered about being put in the spotlight, "W-well now that I think about it, it's not that urgent."

"Would you cut the bullshit and just be honest for once," Suigetsu said in an annoyed voice, seriously, what was it with women always having to lie to others about something; or maybe it was just Karin who lied. "Perhaps you should just say, 'I want to get into Sasuke's pants and screw his brains out' or something, hmm?"

"Th…that's not it!" Karin screeched, several tic marks forming on her head, "You sick pervert! How could you even say something like that! I just-"

"Bull's eye," Suigetsu said with a smirk, "look at you, you're so flustered you can barely talk. Give it up, I know the truth. A long time ago, you did something to Sasuke…"

Karin's eyes widened in shock, and then she got angry and ended up throwing her fist through Suigetsu's face, turning it into water.

"Suigetsu, stop messing around with Karin," Sasuke ordered, he did not want to put up with these two constantly bickering. "I told you to cooperate with her."

Suigetsu's head began to reform, "My bad, my bad, sorry Karin."

His head was completely restored again as he looked over at the girl with a grin, "For the record, I plan on sticking close to Sasuke." Karin clenched her hands as Suigetsu continued, "One of the Kiri No Shinobigatana Nananin Shu, Kisame Hoshigaki, is with Itachi Uchiha. And I plan on taking his sword, the Samehada for myself."

"You're just gathering swords?" Karin said in a distasteful voice, "That's so lame."

Suigetsu had always desired to collect all of the swords from the Kiri No Shinobigatana Nananin Shu. Ever since he was a little boy they had been something of hero figures for him. For this woman to insult them and the swords they used, it was probably the greatest insult she could ever give.

"Suigetsu," Sasuke said in warning, noticing the swordsman's glare.

"I know I know," Suigetsu said with a sigh, knowing that he could not do anything because of Sasuke. "Juugo, you're free now. What are you gonna do?" he asked as he turned to the orange haired man.

"Kimimaro said Sasuke's existence was like his rebirth," Juugo began as he looked at Sasuke. "And Kimimaro sacrificed his life to protect him; I need to see for myself how strong of a shinobi he is."

"Then it's settled," Sasuke said.

* * *

"What do you mean?" Sakura demanded, angry that Naruto could even think that way, "Of course he'll come back! How could you even think that -"

She was cut off when Naruto looked at her with one of his colder glares, forcing Sakura to actually take a step back. "Naïve girl, you really think Sasuke will come back?" Naruto shook his head, "Don't be a fool, were that the case he would have come back when I offered the last time we fought. Sasuke's heart is consumed by darkness; all he can even think about is revenge. He will not come to Konoha since in his mind we stand in the way of his revenge."

"But Naruto," Sakura tried, "Sasuke-kun is-"

"Not coming back," Naruto snapped in a voice so cold the others in the room shivered, "after everything that's happened, after everything we've tried to do to get him back, he has refused time and time again."

* * *

"From now on, we four move as one," Sasuke said as he looked at the three he had gathered for his purpose, "our group will be known as Hebi."

* * *

"The fact of the matter is, you cannot bring someone back if they do not want to come back," Naruto looked at the pink haired girl with a grim look. "And even if we were to drag him back what do you think would happen? Do you think we'd be Team Seven again, and that things would go back to the way they were back when we were genin?" Naruto shook his head, "You need to face reality, even if we brought him back, Sasuke would be forced to stand trial and he would then be executed for treason."

"No…" Sakura muttered, her face taking on a look similar to despair.

"Naruto's right Sakura," Tsunade backed Naruto up, "Sasuke knowingly and willingly left to follow an S-rank traitor. That is treason of the highest order, not even being the last member of the Uchiha clan would be able to protect him from execution." The blond haired woman looked at Naruto, "I have new orders for you." Naruto instantly snapped back to attention, already knowing what those orders were. "I will be forming a platoon, your mission will be to go after the member of Akatsuki we have the best chance of finding."

* * *

"Hebi has only one purpose," Sasuke said.

* * *

Naruto looked at Tsunade as he spoke, "In other words, you want us to find…"

* * *

Itachi Uchiha looked up at the sky from the cliff he was standing on; dark storm clouds were roiling overhead. "It looks like a big storm is coming," Itachi murmured, his Sharingan eyes spinning as he looked at the vast expanse of clouds.

"It's about to rain," Kisame said from behind him, his shark like grin ever present. "Let's wait this out under a tree; we can't have the body getting too cold."

Itachi turned his head to look at Kisame, "Right."

Kisame picked up Roshi, host for the Yonbi No Saru with his sword, Samehada, "We should be hearing from the leader soon." He hefted Samehada with Roshi on it, leaning it against his shoulder.

As the two began to walk, Kisame decided to start a conversation, "I wonder… there are only a couple left right? Obviously we need to seal the nine tails last. Our leader has made it clear that if we don't, the balance will be destroyed and the sealing statue will crumble. And since we need to bring them back alive, don't you think we should try to find the Jinchuuriki as quickly as we can?"

Itachi sighed as he leaned against a tree, "Not really. Besides with all of the Jinchuuriki we were unable to get, trying to capture the Kyuubi would be pointless." Kisame tossed Roshi off his sword as Itachi spoke, "Also we have to worry about Konoha's response should we go after the Kyuubi, they will do all in their power to get it back, and would cause problems for us."

"I suppose you're right," Kisame said.

"Konoha has a lot of contacts in the other hidden villages," Itachi continued, "not only that but the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is well liked by all of the hidden villages with the sole exception of Iwagakure. On top of that but he is far stronger than we could have imagined, and has managed to kill several of our members and protect three of the Jinchuuriki we have tried to go after. As it is all we can do is try and get up to the Hachibi before he can respond, then go after the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki with our full might."

Kisame sighed, "That does make sense."

Both of them snapped to attention as they felt the call from their rings.

"He has good timing," Itachi said as both he and Kisame responded to their leaders call.

* * *

In a small black cave with nothing but a single fire for light, seven ghost-like figures began to appear. One by one they phased into existence, until they were all there.

"You're late," Pain said as he looked at Itachi and Kisame.

"We just caught the Jinchuuriki a moment ago." Kisame explained, "We had to take a few precautions to make sure he wouldn't get away."

"Good," Pain said in a pleased manner, though no one there could tell due to how monotone his voice was, "it looks like everyone is here. Now let us begin with the extraction of the Yonbi."

* * *

"Yes," Tsunade confirmed, "I want you to find and if possible capture Itachi Uchiha. I have ordered every squadron to try and take any members of Akatsuki they find alive."

"Unfortunately they're not very easy to talk to," Naruto and Sakura turned to find Kakashi standing in the doorway. "While only Naruto seems to have had any real encounters with them, it's clear that they are too dangerous to capture."

"Which means the only thing we can do is try our best to find Itachi," Naruto said, "we'd need to get him alone without Kisame, since that would make capture that much harder."

"That's right Naruto," Kakashi replied. The silver haired Jonin was very pleased and proud to see the man Naruto had become. Every time Kakashi looked at the blond, he couldn't help but be reminded of his sensei. The young man had become an amazing shinobi.

* * *

"So are we going to do this then?" Kisame asked, "I'd like to seal the Yonbi as soon as possible." He had always found it something of a pain to just stand around for three days while they extracted the Bijuu from their hosts. That he didn't get to kill anything during that time made the waiting even worse.

"We will," Pain said, "but first I have some information…it seems that Orochimaru was killed."

Itachi's eyes snapped open in surprise as he looked over at Pain.

"Well it has been ten years since he left Akatsuki," Kisame commented, "I suppose his time finally came, eh? Whoever killed him must have been something else. So who was it?"

Pain's eyes moved from Kisame over to Itachi, "It was Sasuke Uchiha."

"I wanted to kill him, yeah," Deidara complained as soon as he heard of the man's murderer.

"Heh… impressive," Kisame said with a grin, "you must be proud of your little brother, Itachi-san."

"He's gathering up a few underlings," Pain continued, ignoring Kisame's comments, "all of whom can be problematic for us."

"Oh?" Kisame said with a hint of curiosity.

"You should know one of them," Pain said, "one of the Kirigakure's Houziki Brothers."

"Suigetsu?" Kisame asked, receiving a small nod, the shark man smirked, "Heh, now that takes me back."

"Juugo of Tenpin is with them as well," Pain looked at Kisame and Itachi, "Itachi and Kisame, you two need to stay alert. They are probably going after you two." Itachi said nothing and Pain decided to continue, "Everyone else, remember what I've told you about Sasuke Uchiha. If they learn too much about Itachi and Kisame they may disrupt Akatsuki's plans."

"Hey Kisame, what's the deal with that Suigetsu guy you mentioned, yeah?" Deidara asked.

"Hmmm…" Kisame mumbled, going back in his memories, "I saw him ten years ago…cute kid, always smiling. He'd always chop off the limbs of his enemies before beheading them. People called him the second coming of 'the Kiri No Oni (Demon of the Hidden Mist)' he's a child prodigy in the art of murder."

"They sound like an interesting bunch," Deidara said, thoughts on taking out Sasuke himself going through his mind, "… yeah."

* * *

"So our mission will be to hunt down Itachi Uchiha of Akatsuki?" Naruto asked, looking at Tsunade for confirmation. Seeing the woman nod he continued, "Okay, say we do find him, what would we do with him? Even if we capture Itachi I doubt Sasuke will want to come back, not that we could, Itachi is one of the most dangerous shinobi in Akatsuki from what I can tell. Capturing him will be next to impossible." Sakura looked over at Naruto, whose face held a grim frown. "If we're even going to attempt to capture Itachi, we're going to need more than one squad. Alone I should be able to kill him, but capture," Naruto shook his head, "that's not something I can do."

"You're right," Kakashi said, "we will need more squads, and one squad of two would be the most ideal amount for our mission."

Naruto nodded, "Having three or more teams makes it easier for them to spot you, and the chain of command can get convoluted." Naruto frowned in thought for a moment, "You will also need a lot more skill to capture someone than you do to kill them. Communication is also a vital aspect for a mission like this, so we'd need a squad that has experience doing missions together."

"I agree," Kakashi said as he hooked his thumb towards the door, "in fact I've already picked a team that's been on a lot of missions together." Kakashi and the others in the room turned towards the door, "Come in!"

The door opened and in walked several people, all of whom Naruto recognized. A smile made its way to his face; he should have known that they would want to involve themselves in something like this.

* * *

Suigetsu stared at the abandoned city, following Sasuke as they made their way inside. The place looked like it had been unused for many years, trash blew through the streets, and soft wind whistled from the wind. The place had probably not been used for years, maybe even longer than that. Sasuke eventually led everyone to a stairwell. They walked down and found themselves in a hallway, several pipes and large cables trailed along the walls and ceiling.

Suigetsu took it all in and resisted the urge to snort, "This dump is a hideout? I'll be damned."

Sasuke turned to look at the sword wielder, "It's one of Orochimaru's, however my clan used to use it as a weapons storehouse. We'll get ourselves equipped here."

"All the tunnels look the same." Suigetsu commented, "I hope we don't get lost."

"The air here is so stifling," Karin said, ignoring Suigetsu's comments, "it's kind of hard to breathe."

"Well excuse us."

Karin nearly jumped out of her skin as she whirled around, looking for the source of the voice. She along with everyone except Sasuke stared in shock at who, or rather, what stood before them. Two cats wearing white gis, with a mesh net shirt underneath. One was skinny with black ears, tail and paws, while very where else was white. The other cat was chubbier with a few streaks of black near the left and right sides of its face, this one had a line with two parallel lines running through it.

"Denka, Hina," Sasuke greeted, "how have you been?"

The other three looked shocked that Sasuke was speaking to a couple of cats, even more to thei shock when said cats talked back.

"If it ain't Sasuke," Denka said.

"Meew-watcha here for?" ask Hina.

"Weapons, medicine and possibly a few other things," Sasuke said, ticking the list off his finger, "we need to get ready for a large battle."

"Talking Tanukis, awesome," Suigetsu said as he leaned down and placed a hand on his knee, while the other one reached out to the cats. "Here boy," the sword user made some clicking noises with his tongue.

Unfortunately for him the cat did not like being called a Tanuki or the disrespect shown, "RREEOWR!"

"Woah!" Suigetsu snapped his hand back, not wanting to get it bitten off.

"Their ninja cats," Sasuke said, finding Suigetsu's weary look oddly amusing. "Don't mess with them unless you want to end up as a scratching post."

"Didja bring the goodies?" asked Hina, not sounding the least bit concerned about what happened.

Sasuke reached into his Kimono and pulled out a bottle, "How about a bottle of cat nip?" he asked, giving the bottle a shake.

Denka nodded and began to move down the hall, stopping only to look at them, "C'mon, let's see the elder cat."

Sasuke and the others followed the two cats and soon found themselves in large cylindrical room, there were all kinds of nick nacks and odd object and items within it. Off to one side, on a behind in front of a bed was a woman smoking a pipe, she was old, with wrinkles on her forehead and around her mouth. She had cat-like ears and a black cat like nose, and was also surrounded by cats.

Sasuke bent down on his knees and bowed before the woman, "I have come to repay my debts to you, elder cat."

"So you are going to find Itachi then?" the cat elder asked as she put a set of ninja equipment with exploding tags, kunai, soldier pills and several other medicinal pills in front of Sasuke. "I remember what you two were like as kids," she said as she watched Sasuke wrap up the equipment and put it away. "I can't believe it's come to this. To think that the Uchiha clan would be reduced to two people, and that they would end up fighting to the death."

She had served the Uchiha clan for many years, and had seen many things from that clan. She had also seen how much the two who were now mortal enemies had once loved each other dearly; she could not fathom how this had happened.

"I made up my mind a long time ago," Sasuke said, taking out some money from his kimono and handing it to the cat elder, "but I thank you for everything you've done for me."

"Hey grandma, do we have anything big enough to fit this guy?" asked a pretty blond girl around Sasuke's age, she had been trying to find clothes for Juugo but nothing seemed to fit.

"This isn't a department store girl!" the elder said in an annoyed tone, "Just wrap him up in the curtain," she gestured to the next to the two of them.

"Don't be rude grandma! They're paying customers after all!" the girl said in a distressed yet angry voice. However, she still did what her grandma suggested and pulled down the curtain, allowing Juugo to wrap it around himself.

* * *

The members of Akatsuki watched as the body of Roshi, the Yonbi Jinchuuriki fell to the floor, dead from having his Bijuu sucked out. The Gedou Mazou statue slowly opened one of the nine eyes, showing four in total.

"Mmm what next?" asked Deidra as he looked at the other members.

"What do you mean?" asked Kisame, "what are the choices?"

"Do we go after Kakashi Hatake and the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki?" asked Deidera, "or Sasuke Uchiha?"

Itachi opened his eyes and looked at the bomber but did not deign to speak.

"Oh…let's just forget about them," Tobi said, holding up his hands in a placating gesture, "besides we still need to get the Ichibi right?"

"No! Someone or something is protecting the one tails," Deidera said, "I was nearly blown up with my own art un! Until I know who did that it would not be wise to go after the Ichibi. Besides it was my job to kill Orochimaru, so I have a beef with Sasuke Uchiha."

This statement caused Itachi to activate his Sharingan eye, which were narrowed at the blond bomber, though he still refused to speak.

"Are you okay with that Itachi-san?" asked Kisame, the shark man knew that his brother was off limits, he was one of the few people who Itachi had told Kisame not to touch, ever.

However, Itachi just looked at him, as usual he said nothing.

* * *

Sasuke and his team looked out at the area from the cliff face they were on. The sky was beginning to darken and storm clouds were brewing in the distance.

Sasuke frowned as he looked around, "Let's move out!"

* * *

Naruto looked at the team that had been assembled for him as they made their way out of the gates of Konoha. He had Sakura, Sai and a man named Yamato, though Naruto knew that it was just a codename. Then there was Hinata, Shino Kiba and Kakashi, who were forming the other team to help look for Sasuke. Like him they were all wearing light tan ponchos to help protect them from the rain and cold.

"Is everybody ready?" asked Naruto, receiving several affirmatives he turned to look away from Konoha, "Then let's go."

The group blurred out of existence, beginning their move to find the Akatsuki.

They began jumping through the trees as they moved to the last known sighting of the Akatsuki member, Itachi Uchiha, a small town several miles away. When they got there the group jumped onto one of the roofs.

"We'll start our search here," Naruto said as the others all stood up. "We'll begin by searching in a five kilometer radius by using this roof as our center point. If we don't come up with anything, we'll relocate, search another five kilometer area and we'll repeat this pattern until we find our targets."

"But Naruto," Sakura began, every one turned to her, "our wireless equipment won't work if we split up that far! And we'd be in danger if something happened when we were alone! We should go in teams of two at the very least. That way if we encounter any ene-"

"Relax Sakura," Naruto said to the overly excited girl, "I've already thought of a solution to that." Naruto looked over at Kakashi, who nodded and bit his thumb.

Going through a few hand signs Kakashi slammed his hands down on the ground, a seal spread out along the roof from the center of impact. There was a puff of smoke, when it cleared there were eight dogs, including the well-known Pakkun.

"Your voices combined with our ears, will work better than those wireless headsets," Pakkun said from atop a large bull dog. "And our noses will detect danger well enough in advance to get you plenty of back up."

"There you have it," Naruto said with a smirk, "now then, here's how our patrols will work. Each person on patrol will have two of Kakashi's ninja hounds as bodyguards.

"Two…?" Sakura questioned, "But wait…"

Kakashi gave Sakura an eye smile, "Be nice to them ok?"

"Hiya, Sakura-chan!" Sakura looked down and to her left to see a dog with a slight Mohawk grinning at her. She gave it a weak grin in return.

Another one came up to her as well, this one looking as lazy as Shikamaru, "You always pick the noisy girls, man."

"I'll go with Shino," said a dog with white fur and sunglasses on its head.

Another dog came up to Shino and sniffed him, "Mm-hmm."

Sai watched as two dogs came up to him, "Hello," he said with a smile.

One of the dogs growled at him and he actually backed up a step.

"Naruto, since you're a jinchuuriki, Akatsuki will be targeting you," Kakashi said, getting the blond shinobi's attention, "how do you plan on dealing with that?"

"They may be after me, but I'm also the only one here who can face a member of them one on one," Naruto said. "However I don't plan on going alone," Naruto turned to Hinata who was standing by the large bulldog. "Hinata, I'm going to need to rely on your Byakugan's scouting abilities to give us a fast heads up."

Hinata nodded her head, "Right!"

"Now because Kiba has Akamaru, he'll be fine." Naruto looked at Kakashi, "And seeing as how aside from me and Yamato you're one of our only Jonin, you'll only take one dog along." Kakashi gave a nod and Naruto continued, "Alright everyone, I want all of you to remember that trailing Sasuke's scent is our main priority…Akatsuki comes second. And regardless of which target you find, your mission is only to determine their location and report back here immediately." Naruto looked at all of the members of his team, "Move out!"

The Konoha ninja became blurs as they launched themselves from the roof.

The search for Sasuke and Akatsuki was on.

* * *

Sasuke, Suigetsu, Karin and Juugo stopped walking through the forest, Sasuke turned to each of them. "Let's split up, report back if you find anything," Sasuke said.

"Heh, let's rock," Suigetsu said as he began moving one way.

Juugo looked down the opposite path and decided to go that way.

Karin pumped her fist as the other two left, now was her chance to be alone with Sasuke. She cuddled up to Sasuke's side and gave him a seductive smile and wink, "Oh, Sasuke-kun, I've wanted to be alone with you for so long."

Sasuke just looked at her like she was a minor irritant, "Get moving," he commanded.

Karin 'hmphed' as she walked away, not really caring about the direction she was going in.

Sasuke turned his head to look around as Karin left, thoughts of finding Itachi and killing him filling the avenger's mind.

* * *

There was a puff of smoke as Deidra created a large clay bird. Deidra pet the clay construct as he looked at his new hand, the one he had gotten to replace the one Gaara destroyed. "So far, so good…yeah."

Tobi just looked at his partner with idle curiosity, "So who should we go after? Sasuke or the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki?"

Deidra did not reply at first, instead he created another clay bird for himself and jumped on it. He stood up and smirked, "Who should we go for indeed, yeah…" The bird took off as he began to look for one of his two targets, he did not really care which, so long as he got to make his art.

* * *

"Who the hell are you?" a man in ninja garb with no affiliated hitai-ate asked.

Suigetsu smirked as he walked down, "Now that Sasuke's not here I get to have some fun." Quicker than the man could react, Suigetsu pulled off his sword and cleaved his head off. Grinning he opened the door and looked in, making sure there were no traps. He began walking in when all he saw were two men, one sitting on the couch and the other standing a little ways away.

"Who the hell're y-"

The scarred man did not get the chance to finish his sentence, as Suigetsu put his head in the hole at the end of Kubikiri Houcho. Pushing himself off, Suigetsu listened in satisfaction as the man hit his head on the inside of the sword. Suigetsu only stopped moving when he held the carved out section of his blade near the other man's head. Suigetsu grinned as he looked at the man who had dropped his cigarette and looked ready to shit himself.

"You work for Akatsuki's Kakazu as a banker and accountant right?" Suigetsu asked with a shark like grin.

The man gulped, "I-I'll talk…" he said, "please…spare me…"

Suigetsu's grin widened, "Atta boy, keep talkin'."

* * *

Juugo frowned as he walked around, he wasn't exactly sure how to go about searching for Sasuke's brother, having never met the man himself. Raising a hand a small bird flew down and landed on his finger, "I suppose I'll start by asking you."

* * *

Everyone had soon split up as they began to search for either Itachi or Sasuke. Each ninja and their dog partners took a different direction; some went into the forest while others traveled around the town. Sakura was walking through the town as she began her search.

She kept turning her head as she looked around the town, Sakura wasn't really sure what she would find or even how she would find whatever she was looking for. She wasn't a tracker ninja and didn't have any particular talent when it came to searching for others. Still, she had her orders and would follow them, even if she didn't think it would be of much use.

As she kept walking one of the nin-dogs she was with stopped and began sniffing the ground. Sakura only noticed this when she was several feet away and looked down to realize the dog had stopped walking. She turned back around and looked at it, "What is it?"

"It's faint," the dog sniffed some more before turning to look at the pink haired girl. "Very faint, but I was able to pick up some of Sasuke Uchiha's scent." The words caused Sakura's eyes to widen in surprise, she had only been at this for a few minutes but she had already caught Sasuke's trail.

A determined look came to her face, "Can you show me where?"

"Just follow me," the dog said as he began walking again. Sakura followed and kept her eyes peeled as the dog would occasionally stop and sniff the air before putting its nose back to the ground. As they continued walking Sakura watched as a girl with red hair and glasses walked by. She frowned as she eyed the girl.

"Damn," the dog muttered suddenly, getting Sakura to turn her eyes from the redhead to the dog. "I lost it."

* * *

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he scanned the area around him, a frown marring his face. "Hinata, I'm going to need you to hook up with Kakashi," he said, turning his head to face her.

"Why?" asked Hinata, looking at him with a slightly furrowed brow.

"Just do as I say, find Kakashi and tell him Akatsuki is in the area," Naruto said before he rushed off, leaving Hinata behind. He sighed in relief as he sensed her leave. Jumping from tree to tree Naruto landed in a small clearing before he stopped. "I suggest that you come out now..." He looked over to a small bush.

"You really have gotten impressive Naruto-kun," a cloaked figure emerged from the bushes and walked towards him. Stopping only a few feet away, the male figure left his head entirely cloaked in shadows so that it was impossible to see his features. "I'm impressed; you've become very famous recently."

"Recently?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, "I'm pretty sure I've been famous since my part about the war in Kiri got out. But you didn't come for small talk did you Kabuto?" The now identified Kabuto smiled as he lifted his head, revealing the right half of his face.

* * *

Sasuke frowned as he continued walking. He had been looking been looking around this area for around fifteen minutes. The raven haired ninja was pondering trying to search a different way than just walking through the forest when he heard rustling behind him, turning around he called out. "Whoever's there, I suggest you come out!"

Less than a minute later a figure with an orange spiral mask, wearing a black cloak with red clouds appeared on a rock. Sasuke's eyes widened ever so slightly, "That outfit! You're Akatsuki!"

"So you're Sasuke-kun huh? You sure do look a lot like Itachi-san!"

The moment Itachi's name came up Sasuke's gaze hardened and he glared at the man making Tobi stumble back before running off screaming, "S…SCARY!"

In that moment Sasuke began to hear what sounded like flapping come from above him, causing him to look up where he found Deidara with his hands together and two clay birds flying towards him. Just before the two large birds hit the ground, Deidara jumped off the one he was on.

"KATSU!" He shouted Deidara as the birds impacted with the ground exploded where Sasuke stood.

Deidara landed near the trees, placing a hand over his head as he looked at the smoke coming out of the crater that he just made, "I did it! I defeated Sasuke, yeah."

Moments later Tobi came out of another tree and praised Deidara. "That's senpai for you!"

However, it only took a moment for the dust and smoke from the explosion to clear up. When it did they both saw Sasuke with a white snake coiled protectively around him protectively. It had slight burns on it, making obvious that the snake had taken the brunt of the attack.

"That's senpai for you?" Tobi said meekly.

Deidara gained several tic marks on his head as he rounded on Tobi and shouted, "Shut up!"

In a poof of smoke the snake was gone and there stood Sasuke in the middle of the crater. He didn't say anything, but then, he didn't need to. His glare told them everything. "You know this guy looks kinda strong." Tobi commented.

"To think Orochimaru was beaten by this brat…I just can't believe it, yeah." Sasuke didn't deign to speak, instead turning on his Sharingan in order to increase the effects of his glare. "Look at the nice glare he's giving us Tobi, yeah!"

Sasuke stared at them for several seconds before finally opening his mouth to ask, "Where's Itachi Uchiha?"

Deidara seemed surprised by the question and said, "Huh?"

Sasuke eyes bore in to the blond bomber's own as he said, "Tell me where Itachi is and I'll let you go." Hearing the raven haired Uchiha's words made Deidara grit his teeth, the way they sounded so arrogant, like this brat thought he could defeat him.

"Sharingan…eh?" asked Deidara rhetorically. "With those eyes I guess you really are his little brother. You were probably only able to kill Orochimaru because of your Uchiha blood, without that you're nothing. Your nothing but a fool blessed with good genes."

Sasuke didn't say anything as they gazed in to each other's eyes. Then Sasuke burst forward in a burst of speed, moving faster than most people could ever hope to. He placed a hand on his sword as he ran, appearing right in front of the duo he unsheathe his sword and made a slice at Tobi's mid-section.

"Huh?" Tobi said before he fell down to the ground, meanwhile Deidara had already jumped back up on to a tree branch.

"There, that's one of you dead," Sasuke turned to look at Deidara. "Now I won't ask again, where is Itachi?"

However, while the raven haired ninja was speaking, Tobi getting back up and shaking his head blearily. "What's up with you, Tobi?" Deidara yelled. "Don't let your guard down just because he's a kid!"

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly as he turned his head and saw Tobi get back up. _What the...I know I hit him, so how did he get back up?_

Tobi just waved his arms in a slightly placating gesture, "His Shunshin No Jutsu was just too fast for us to deal with."

Deidara smirked as he pulled his arms of his pockets and shoved them into his clay bags, allowing the mouths on his hands to take in a good mouthful of clay.

_'First, I'll watch his movements with chakra level C1.' _He thought as he pulled his hands out revealing dozens of small clay balls.

"Tobi! Stay back!" he shouted as he threw the bombs in the air, while the clay made a lazy arc through the air Deidara went through several hand seals, turning the clay into small spiders.

However, they didn't get far as Sasuke made a Chidori in his left hand, swinging his arm in an arc he used one of his variants called the Chidori Senbonto form a countless number of lightning senbon to strike each of the small bombs, pining them to trees and the ground. Several of the spiders hit the ground near Tobi who fell over with a surprised yelp.

As Deidara began making a hand sign to blow them all up, Tobi yelled, "Woah! Senpai, don't detonate these around me!" At that moment Tobi looked behind Deidara and saw something that caused him to call out, "Senpai! Behind you, behind you!"

Behind Deidara was Sasuke, charging towards him. However, before Sasuke could even get to close enough to attack, Deidara threw out his hand, throwing a bomb at Sasuke and making the Uchiha's eyes widen in surprise as it blew up.

"SENPAI!" Tobi yelled as he saw the area Deidara and Sasuke become the fire zone for a decent sized explosion. Tobi began to make sniffling noises as he bowed his head, "He was strict, but a good partner." he sobbed. "I shall never forget you Deidara-senpai!"

However, before Tobi could begin to really ball his eyes out, Deidara came skidding out from the smoke. The blond man stood back up and turned a glare on the masked man.

"Tobi quit your whining!" he growled out. He stood back up fully and wiped some sweat from his forehead. Deidara knew he had been lucky to get away from the blast relatively unscathed, having been forced to blow up his explosive so close to himself. Though he was sure there was no way Sasuke could survive that.

"Oh, you're still alive!" Tobi exclaimed, looking up, most likely to make some exclamation about his senpai being alive, he spotted Sasuke Uchiha out of the corner of his eyes. Deidara turned his head to see Sasuke standing across the clearing, glaring at him.

_I somehow managed to escape by hiding in the bomb blast, damn it's a good thing I kept the chakra level at C1, _the blond bomber thought to himself as he looked over at Sasuke. It would have been embarrassing if he had been killed by his own art and this kid hadn't.

"He definitely moves swiftly," Deidara said as he reached in to his pouches again, bringing his hands back out he cupped the clay, which looked less than solid as they began to drop out of his hands. _Why don't I try something with a little more kick?_

The clay landed on the ground and Deidara made a hand sign. There was a large puff of smoke and when it cleared, Sasuke could see a large dragon appear from within. "Oooh! So Deidara-senpai is using one of his special works of art, the C2 dragon!" said Tobi with what sounded like excitement.

_So this guy can mold explosive clay using his hands,_ Sasuke thought as he analyzed the blonds fighting style. _Those palms on his hands look like mouths, that's probably where he molds the clay._

"You know what to do Tobi!" Deidara shouted as he jumped on the dragon.

"You got it Senpai!" Tobi shouted, "I've got you covered!"

Deidara made a few hand seals as he shouted to Tobi, "Get ready, Tobi un!" The dragon's mouth opened wide and began spewing out dozens upon dozens of basketball sized claw balls. "You know what to do Tobi, so get to it!"

"Yes sir!" Tobi saluted to Deidara. Sasuke frowned as he looked at the large creature, if it was like all of the other creations of the blond bomber than that meant it was just one big explosive. Crouching down Sasuke reached behind him and grabbed his sword. He pushed off and burst forward as he pulled his sword from his sheath, getting ready to take out the large creature. "Oooh, he's coming Senpai! Get ready to show him the power of your art!"

"Ha! Pop is dead!" Deidara shouted as he ignored Tobi, "My art is super-flat!"

The dragon opened its mouth again and this time a roughly Pterodactyl shaped clay creature flew out. It came charging towards Sasuke who ran straight at it, jumping to the left in order to dodge at the last second. However, the creature just turned around and came at him. The raven haired ninja began to run as the clay creation caught up. With a grin Deidara brought his hands in a hand sign and shouted, "KATSU!"

The creature exploded and Sasuke was only just able to jump out of the way in time, spinning through the air and landing on the ground.

"That was different than the other explosives. Wait, where's the other one?" asked Sasuke as he looked around the orange masked man. Growling slightly he turned his attention back to Deidara, "I'll deal with him later, first I need to get rid of the one that's in the air."

He quickly formed a Chidori in his hand and thrust it towards the large Dragon like clay construct. The Chidori took the shape of a sword as it extended itself forward, intent on impaling either Deidara or his flying creature. However, it seemed to be unable to reach either of them, stopping a few feet shy.

_Hmm, he was only able to extend his attack for about five meters_ Deidara thought. Out loud he said, "Isn't that Kakashi's attack! I'll give you some credit for your use of shape manipulation to extend its length, that's pretty impressive!"

_So he's a long range fighter,_ Sasuke dispelled his Chidori and frowned. _He's probably already figured out my range too._ He would need to find out this guy's weakness if he wanted to beat him.

* * *

"What do you want Kabuto?" asked Naruto as he glared at the white haired man before him. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you?" He already knew that he was capable of killing Kabuto, for all the white haired man's boasting, Naruto was far stronger than he was, and they both knew that.

"Easy," Kabuto made a placating gesture. "I'm not here to fight. In fact, you could say I'm here to help you." Naruto raised an eyebrow; he rolled his shoulders slightly as Kabuto reached into a pouch, ready to take the man out should he try anything.

However all Kabuto did was pull out a book and toss it to him. "What's this?" asked Naruto, looking at the book with a hint of suspicion.

"Just a little something that will help you, I think," Kabuto said cryptically. "It contains all of the information I was able to pick up on Akatsuki and its members." Not trusting the man's words a Kage Bunshin phased into existence besides Naruto and picked it up, opening the book and reading the first page.

The clone seemed to find no threat in it and handed it over to the real Naruto who took it, before dispelling itself. "Why would you help me?" asked Naruto, his eyes narrowed, "What do you gain out of this?"

"I suppose you can call it a present, Naruto-kun," Kabuto said with an eerie looking smile.

"You do realize that it's really creepy to receive a gift from a guy you barely know right?" said Naruto, his voice holding a mild amount of sarcasm. "Makes one wonder about you. Now how about you tell me the real reason you're giving me this information, hmm?"

"Haven't you become the cynical one," said Kabuto, "where did that naïve attitude of yours go? The one that was also screaming about never forgetting his promises and being Hokage."

"He grew up and became the person before you," Naruto said before releasing some of his killing intent, though that didn't seem to affect Kabuto. "Now tell me why you're doing this? What do you hope to gain?"

"As I said, it's a gift," Kabuto replied, "something I'm giving you as a show of respect. You know, ever since Orochimaru was killed I've been without a purpose," Naruto narrowed his eyes at the words, old words he had heard before. "It wasn't long after his death that I realized I don't know anything about myself. I don't know who I am, or where I come from. All I've got are enemies."

"Ever since I was a kid I've just gone from village to village, acting as a spy. The concept of what a home really was eluded me. At least, until Orochimaru-sama took me in...but now he's gone too, and I have no idea who I really am. You should know what that's like, Naruto-kun, the pain of not having an identity. Are you Naruto Uzumaki, or are you the Kyuubi. Surely you must have wondered, ask questions, who am I? What am I? When others stared at you with cold hateful eyes."

Naruto said nothing as he stared at the man, wondering just where he was going with this. "But you never let that get to you. You grew powerful, powerful enough that you are now one of the most feared men in the world. Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, the son of the Yondaime Hokage, the Nidaime Kiroii Senkou. You stepped out of the shadow of the Kyuubi and now you're looked up to in Konoha, you have friends and learned who you really are."

Kabuto reached up and pulled his hood back from his face, though he kept a profile view so that Naruto still could not see the left side of his face. "But I never did that, I never tried to surpass Orochimaru-sama. I simply clung to him, hiding behind his power. So you see, I understand how you feel and it's made me realize that I want to be like you."

It was then that Kabuto turned to Naruto and finally showed him the left side of his face. "And now I've decided to find a new me. One that surpasses Orochimaru-sama and I've started by integrating his soul into my body! You gave me the first hint I needed, to find myself a new identity. And for that you have my gratitude, Naruto-kun. Orochimaru-sama was a living symbol of reincarnation, and now he lives inside of me as the existence I must surpass."

For the longest time Naruto stared at the white haired man who had put him through more trouble than he was worth. He gazed at the other half of Kabuto that looked like he had skinned Orochimaru and grafted it onto his face. After what seemed like several minutes but in truth was only a few seconds Naruto began to laugh, he laughed long and hard.

"Are you... are you serious!" his sides heaved slightly with his uncontrollable laughter. "You honestly think you understand me?" Wiping a tear from his eye Naruto sighed before his eyes suddenly went cold.

"You know nothing about me! You may think you understand, but from what you just said, you really know nothing! I've always known who I was, unlike some people I never doubted myself when it came to who I was. Sure when I was a kid I hid myself from others, I was afraid of the looks people gave me, the hatred I saw in their eyes. But I never once doubted that I was anyone other than myself, because if I felt doubt, then it would have the same thing as admitting defeat!"

"And everything I've done up to this point is because of all of my hard work; shedding blood, sweat and tears to get to this point. And you?" Naruto scoffed, "you've just grafted Orochimaru's cells to your DNA, you're not surpassing him you're becoming him. It's the most pathetic thing I've ever seen!"

"To each their own I guess," Kabuto shrugged, "well whatever. I just came to give you that. However, know that when I've fully integrated Orochimaru-sama's cells into my body, I'll be coming back to fight you as a test for my abilities." He made a hand seal and his form began to waver, "Until we meet again, Naruto-kun."

Naruto watched as the white haired man disappeared, he stared for the longest time before shrugging and heading back into the trees.

* * *

"Heh," Deidara smirked. He made a hand seal and the dragon's tail contracted slightly before its mouth opened, from the opening was another Pterodactyl creature. "You may be good but my art packs a punch!"

The clay construct shot from the mouth of the dragon and flew towards Sasuke. Said Uchiha jumped out of the way just as the creature hit the ground, creating a large explosion and a cloud of dust, of which Sasuke just flew out of.

"You're just as fast as I expected," Deidara said with a large grin. He watched as Sasuke stepped on the ground, only for his foot to sink in, "Got'cha." There was another explosion coming from where Sasuke stepped. As Deidara flew overhead he looked into the dust and smoke his art had caused, "I wonder if I killed him?"

The smoke soon began to clear, letting him know he spoke too soon.

"What is this?" he asked as he saw Sasuke, only he looked different. The rave haired ninja's his skin had turned dark-grey and his hair grew and turned dark blue. His eyes were also dark grey. Additionally, he had grown webbed-claw-shaped wings from his back, and a dark, star-shaped mark appeared across the bridge of his nose. "I wonder if that's Orochimaru's cursed seal I heard so much about?"

Just then Tobi's head burst out of the ground, "Senpai! The clay mines are all set!"

"Well done Tobi!" Deidara yelled from his spot on the dragon, "Now get away from there!"

"Ok!" Tobi shouted as he waved to Deidara.

Sasuke swore as he looked up at Deidara, _He's using guided bombs from above and clay mines below._

Above him, Deidara was smirking, "C2 restricts your movement with mines, allowing me to make pinpoint attacks from the sky. That's the beauty of this combo's attack. You probably know this by now, but there are mines packed all around your feet. One wrong step and you'll blow yourself up!"

_So he's trying to make sure his bombs will hit by restricting my movements,_ Sasuke thought to himself. He looked up and glared at the blond bomber, _and he's keeping himself out of the range of my attacks._

Deidara grinned as he made a hand sign, "I wonder, can you dodge all of my attacks from above with those injured feet of yours un?"

Once again the large dragon opened its mouth and another clay creation was formed, "This next one will be big, un!" Sasuke watched as the clay creation, much larger than the other ones created so far was being formed. His wings tensed; an action which didn't go unnoticed by Deidara, "Think I'll let you fly away?"

The large clay creature shot forward, barreling towards Sasuke who had taken a scroll out from his back. The explosion from the clay bomb was much bigger than the others, and it created a large mushroom cloud of smoke. From within the smoke came the sword Sasuke had been using, spinning as it made a lazy arc through the air before landing tip first in the ground, occasionally sparking with electricity.

"Heh," Deidara smirked when he saw Sasuke lying on the ground, he was injured, missing one of his wings. "It looks like you managed to protect yourself with one of those wings, but with only the one you can't fly anymore."

Tobi got up from where he had been thrown and shook his fist, "That's Deidara-senpai for you!"

"I'll put an end to this one, un!" the blond bomber made another hand seal and another creature came out from the dragon, this one even bigger than the last. Sasuke looked at it and decided to put his plan into action, pulling on the two strings of ninja wire he had. Deidara's eyes widened before he turned to look behind him and saw two windmill shuriken flying towards him. He directed his clay dragon to dodge the attacks and grinned as he turned back to Sasuke, "Did you really think something like that could hit me?"

The dragon launched another creature from its mouth, this one even larger than the last and Sasuke knew he had to move. Pumping chakra through himself he jumped out of the way and tried to glide across the ground. Deidara smirked when he saw that and made a hand seal, _you have no foothold. If you fall anywhere in that minefield you'll be blown to shit!_

However, much to Deidara's surprise, if the widening of his one visible eye was anything to go by, Sasuke landed on the sword that was still stuck in the ground. The raven haired ninja's left hand began to crackle with electricity as he used one foot to stand on the sword. Just as the explosive hit the ground and blew up, he jumped into the air and thrust out his hand, piercing one of the creature's wings. Gritting his teeth Sasuke used his Chidori blade to slice the clay dragon's wings off.

"Ah! Deidara-senpai's losing his balance!" Tobi shouted in surprise as the blond bomber's clay creation began tilting to the right as it felt.

"Damn it un!" Deidara cursed as he used chakra to stick to the creature, "He purposely stuck his sword into the ground so he wouldn't have to worry about the mines! He tested the presence for landmines and created a foothold!"

A look of shock came to the blonde's face, _The length of the sword, which he used as a foothold, and that jump using his single wing. And he used that position on the ground, and then used that attack with the shuriken to lure me so that I was directly above the sword. The shortest distance that a chakra sword would reach –_

Deidara's thoughts were cut off as Sasuke sent the two shuriken sailing towards him from behind. The blond only had enough time to look back before they were on him and he was impaled through both arms.

"Senpai!" Tobi shouted as he saw what happened.

_Damn, I can't move!_ Deidara thought as he tried to move his arms. He grit his teeth as his clay dragon continued to fall, _This isn't good! The landmines are directly below me!_ The dragon hit the ground, setting off the landmines which began to blow up one by one, the explosions increasing in speed and frequency until the entire thing looked like one giant explosion that created a large mushroom cloud of smoke.

Tobi was forced to cover his face as dirt and debris flew everywhere. When the explosions ended he looked back and shouted, "Senpai!"

As Sasuke fell through the air he managed to flip himself around, at the same time going through several hand seals before he thrust out his left hand. Snakes were created and launched from his back, wrapping tightly around a tree and pulling him over to it so he landed in a crouch on the adjacent branch. As soon as he landed the second stage curse mark moved back into the seal, leaving him looking like he usually did.

From within the dust cloud Deidara's Akatsuki cloak flew out, getting Tobi to look at it and shout, "You did die by bombing, after all! Deidara-senpai, you fool!" Just as Tobi said that Deidara flew out from the smoke on a large clay bird, both his arms were bleeding profusely. "Oh! Y-you're still alive!"

Sasuke grunted as he stood up and looked at Deidara, his Sharingan eyes glaring up at the blond, "Stubborn ass."

Deidara on the other hand was glaring at Sasuke, remembering how he had just barely escaped his death by placing his feet in the holes on the shuriken and pushing them off. "You…stupid brat!" he growled, looking into Sasuke's Sharingan eyes. _Those eyes, _he thought angrily, _those eyes are the same as Itachi's!_

He remembered how he had first gotten forced into Akatsuki. He had been doing his job of creating his art when Akatsuki had come to convince him to join them. He had refused at first, and then Itachi, that red eyed bastard had challenged him. Deidara had figured it would be easy; he had even caught Itachi in his trap. Only to find out he had been the one in Itachi's trap the whole time, everything had been a genjutsu, and he had lost just like that. Itachi had beaten so easily.

It made him furious! And now this brat was looking at him with those same eyes!

"Don't mess with me!" Deidara shouted, "I'm better than you!" He remembered how easily Sasuke had defeated his spiders, "My ability is flawless! Unbeatable!" he remembered how Sasuke had gone through his clay people, "I'm better than you! I can't lose!" He remembered how Sasuke had led him right into a trap. But worst off, I can't lose to such a," he remembered those eyes. "brat!"

Reaching into his pouch Deidara pulled out a large hand full of clay and began to eat it. "Eh!" Tobi said as he raised a hand over his head to shield his eyes, "he's eating the clay? Then that means…is he really going to use that?"

When Deidara had finished eating the clay he grinned and held his hands in a hand seal, "I saved the best for last! With this jutsu, I'll kill you! Tobi, get away!" the blond began to inhale a deep breath.

"Yikes!" Tobi shouted as he began to jump through the trees, "It's the C4 Kurara!"

Sasuke tensed as he prepared for any attack Deidara could throw at him. What he was not prepared for however, was the blond bomber to begin spewing out clay by the bucket load. It came out in a steady stream, hitting the ground and growing, molding, being given form, then shape, then color. When at last the clay had finished forming it was a giant clay figure in the likeness of Deidara himself. The large clay construct actually sent a thrill of fear through Sasuke.

"This was supposed to be my trump card for Itachi," Deidara huffed, having used a lot of his chakra for this. "But I suppose I don't have much of a choice but to use it on you."

_Is this a bomb!_ Sasuke wondered in shock, his teeth grit as he realized what that would mean. _It's huge! I've never seen anything like it! If this goes off I can't see any way I would survive!_

Just then the large clay Deidara noticed him and began moving, its feet leaving large craters as it walked towards the raven haired ninja. "What is this! Are you just gonna start running away!" asked Deidara with a laugh. "You don't really think you can escape my C4 Kurara do you!" The clay Deidara broke into the tree line, smashing all the trees in its way as it followed Sasuke.

Deidara grinned as he clamped his hands together in an unrecognizable hand sign, causing the large clay clone to inflate. It swelled like a balloon, expanding and expanding until it burst. But not in a large explosion like Sasuke thought it would, there was a large white cloud of smoke as the clay bomb began to tear itself apart.

_Did it misfire?_ Sasuke thought, looking from where the bomb had been standing to Deidara. _No…that can't it be, he doesn't strike me as the type to use a dud._

Just then Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw something happening.

All of the creatures in the forest were beginning to disintegrate! They broke apart, disappearing as if they had never existed. Sasuke gaped when he noticed his own arm beginning to fall apart. "Damn!" Sasuke said as it began to spread, his arm was gone; his torso was beginning to disappear, along with the left side of his face. His eyes were wide until his entire body was gone.

Deidara saw what happened and began to laugh, "Hahaha! Now this! This is my greatest masterpiece!"

"The C4 Kurara," Tobi said as he jumped onto another branch, "extremely small, nano-sized explosives. Using the blast created from the rupturing Deidara bomb created millions of tiny explosives too small for the human eye see. They were then dispersed throughout the atmosphere, going into any living being that inhaled them and setting thousands of tiny explosions inside of the body, destroying them on the cellular level. A truly frightening jutsu."

Deidara looked around, moving his hair out of his face with a large grin, "I have to thank Itachi. I would have never come up with that jutsu were it not for him."

Laughing the blond threw his hands into the air, "I've won! I've won! My art wo-" he didn't get the chance to finish as he felt something. Looking behind him he saw Sasuke in his second cursed seal form coming at him with a Chidori in hand.

Deidara grit his teeth as Sasuke's lightning covered hand drove itself through his torso. "Looks like you've run out of chakra," the raven haired ninja said, "your reaction time has also slowed down."

"Those…eyes," Deidara muttered.

"That's right," Sasuke said, "Those explosives may be too small for the human eye to see. But my Sharingan can distinguish a chakra type by its color. The mini-bombs that were molded with your chakra, they were as clear to me as a cloud of smoke." A smirk made its way to Sasuke's face, "I could also tell you were hovering just outside of its blast radius. So as long as I could see the explosives, escape was easy."

Deidara grunted as he closed one of his eyes in pain, "But I saw you die from my explosives."

"You saw only what I wanted you to see," Sasuke said, making Deidara realize he had been trapped inside of a genjutsu.

Deidara chuckled, "So I was trapped inside of an illusion."

"I've avoided hitting any vital organs," Sasuke continued, ignoring Deidara's words. "Now tell me where Itachi is."

"That's why I said I have to thank Itachi," Deidara said, no longer sounding like he was in pain. A hand suddenly latched onto Sasuke's ankle and the Uchiha looked down to see Deidara grinning at him. He looked back towards the "Deidara" he had stabbed and saw that it was just a clay construct.

"A clay…clone?" said Sasuke in surprise.

"Hmhmhm," Deidara laughed, "I anticipated your use of genjutsu. You're just like Itachi! I never fall for the same trick twice!" _Ever since I fought Itachi that day I trained my left eye to counter the Sharingan! _"And now it's time to end this for real! Eat my C4!"

Sasuke grit his teeth as the Deidara holding him spat out more clay that was molded into another Deidara. This one began to expand, Sasuke tried pulling his arm from the other clone to no affect, as the clay had hardened to the point his strength didn't do anything. The expanding Deidara pushed into Sasuke, covering and smashing him until he was actually inside of the clone. Sasuke tried to escape but clay began to wrap around his arms and legs, making it impossible for any of his limbs to move.

On the outside Deidara bit of the clay he had been moulding. He grinned as he held on to the round construct, "It looks like you're the one who's lacking chakra! You don't even have the strength left to dodge, un!" The blond pushed himself off of his construct and smiled.

Inside Sasuke's Sharingan saw the thousands of tiny explosives attached to the wall, "I see."

"Inside are the same invisible C4 explosives!" Deidara shouted as if Sasuke could hear him. Reaching into his pouch he grabbed more clay; the mouth on his hand began to mold it and spat out a tiny bird. _My wounds are beginning to catch up to me,_ Deidara thought with a frown. He looked down, _on top that, my last combo used up the last of my chakra. What a poor piece of work. _Grunting, he threw the small bird at the clay that Sasuke was trapped in.

Inside of the clay Sasuke used his Sharingan eyes to see all of the foreign chakra of the nano-bombs inside of his body. Grunting, he created another Chidori to cut his way out of the clay ball.

"What do you think you can do!" Shouted Deidara as he held up a single hand sign. Sasuke's answer was to open up his single wing, halting himself in mid-air, all the while his hand was still sparking with his Chidori. A flap of his wing and Sasuke was off, soaring towards Deidara.

_Damn, he's using what's left of his chakra to form that Chidori!_ Deidara thought before smirking, "Your Chidori won't reach me at this distance! It's over! Katsu!" Deidara fell to the ground, hitting the branches on the way down before he smacked into the dirt. Grunting he pushed his head up and looked over to see Sasuke's wings falling to pieces before his eyes. "I win. I'm the winner!" grinning he pushed himself to a single knee, "My art has triumphed!"

Grunting he stood up and smiled as he began to laugh. Before he could start to really celebrate however, he felt the effects of a genjutsu, "No! why!" he turned around just in time to see a normal Sasuke before he was hit in the face.

Deidara was sent flying several feet away from Sasuke, skidding and tumbling along the ground before coming to a stop. Sasuke panted, looking like he had been put through a blender; he was missing his right sandal, scratches, cuts and burns were covering his body and he could tell he was on his last leg.

Deidara grunted as he pushed himself into a sitting position, "How? How did you do it! How did you disarm my C4?"

"I figured it out a while back," Sasuke said, "when facing the Sharingan it's prudent to hide your hand seals, because no matter how fast you are, these eyes will read them. Every jutsu you've used have been Doton jutsu. My Chidori is a Raiton attack…get it now?"

"I see," Deidara grit his teeth, "then that jutsu you used was to…"

"That's right," Sasuke interrupted, "Doton is weak against Raiton. I used the lightning my style generated to negate the effects of your bombs. After all, that's your style's weakness."

Deidara gasped, "I see…that Raikiri you used earlier was to run it through yourself. It enabled you to unarm the C4 that had been running through your body."

"That's right," Sasuke smirked, "thanks to that my body is in tatters. Although, the correct name for my jutsu is Chidori."

_He figured out the weakness to my art in such a short amount of time,_ Deidara thought with his teeth gritted angrily. _And so accurately too…_ "When did you figure it out? When did you discover my art's weakness?"

"When your first landmine blew up," Sasuke admitted, "although, I've been analyzing your style from the very beginning, ever since I countered your attack with my Chidori Senbon. Among the bombs you created, some exploded and some didn't. That's when I first formulated my hypothesis. The only bomb that actually exploded was the one you used when I attacked you, the one my Chidori senbon hadn't pierced. However, I figured it was also possible for you too have not triggered them because they fell close to your comrade."

Deidara panted, "In other words you weren't sure if they didn't detonate. I see… so that's why you tested those two alternatives on the landmines?"

"Exactly." Sasuke stood up a little straighter, "I figured if the landmines were self-triggered, then your will was not involved. So I could test my theory to see if my Raiton jutsu could disarm your bombs." Deidara's eyes widened and Sasuke said, "That's right. That time I stuck my sword into the ground I wasn't verifying the location of the landmines, I ran through them with my Chidori running through the sword in order to confirm my theory."

"But…but how! How could you pinpoint the location of the landmines so easily!" yelled Deidara.

Sasuke smirked, "These eyes distinguish chakra by its color. Didn't I tell you that earlier?"

Deidara's eyes widened as he realized he had been played a fool this whole time. "But what would have happened if my landmine had detonated!"

"Well, I figured it either would or it wouldn't. But if it did, I had a back-up plan," Sasuke stated, feeling arrogant at the way this man cowered before him, "Although, I didn't get the chance to demonstrate it." Feeling confident Sasuke began to walk forward, Deidara tried to get up only to fall. He stopped several feet from the blond bomber, "Now I won't ask again, where is, Itachi?"

Deidara's answer was to launch clay snakes from his hands, they latched onto Sasuke but a quick burst of ration chakra destroyed them. However, doing so used up the last of Sasuke's chakra and he too fell onto his knees.

Deidara began to smirk, "You may be trying to look all bad ass, but I can tell your chakra is also running drastically low. But I still have enough clay to…" he trailed off as he noticed that Sasuke seemed unconcerned. "Shouldn't you at least be panicking?" he looked into the teen's eyes and glared at what he found. "That's what pisses me off so much! The way you try to act so cool and unconcerned about what's going on! You think you're better than me! Better than my art! It pisses me off!"

In response Sasuke turned off his Sharingan and Deidara glared even more. "So you're disengaging your Sharingan huh? You really are taking me lightly, aren't you!"

The blond bomber ripped off his shirt, revealing an area over his heart with an odd seal and stitches on it. Using a hand he pulled off the stitches, while his other went to grab the last of his clay. The stitches came undone and Sasuke was surprised to see that they had been holding together another mouth. Deidara grinned as he let the mouth on his chest eat the clay, and as he did black lines began to form along his body and his skin turned gray.

"This is my ultimate art," Deidara said, "I will detonate myself and with my death, I will become art!"

_This guy's insane!_ Sasuke thought.

"This never-before-seen explosion will leave a never-before-seen scar on the land," Deidara said. "And my art will earn never-before-seen admiration! And in the midst of this admiration you will, die!" Sasuke tried to get up but all he managed to accomplish was to fall on his side. "An explosion that will cover a ten-kilometer radius! You won't be able to get away!" By now Deidara had become nearly transparent, only the black lines, his hair and eyes were visible. "Now suffer and despair! Scream! My art is…" all of the lines began moving towards the center of Deidara's chest to form a ball, "AN EXPLOSION!"

A white beam of light shot out from Deidara, blasting into the sky as the blond bomber was consumed. It spread out from the center, annihilating everything in its path. Soon the explosion took the shape of a large white dome with a pointed tip and two points on either side.

* * *

The explosion was seen by everyone in the area, including the Konoha ninja. Naruto frowned as he tried to sense out the chakra, he wasn't a sensor type but he had learned to differentiate chakra he had felt before. He recognized this signature as the one who had belonged to Deidara, the bomber that he thought he killed in Suna.

"I wonder how he survived?" Naruto said to himself, his eyes narrowed. "If he's fighting then it's either one of us or Sasuke."

Putting on a burst of speed Naruto tore into the tree line and began to travel towards the explosion.

* * *

**Ugh! I hated this chapter, too canon for my tastes. To be honest that's half the reason this chapter took so damn long to complete. I have to follow the basic canon plot since Naruto hasn't done anything to affect this part of the story. It totally sucks. And there's far too much Sasegay; again, a necessary evil. Don't worry though, I won't be showing the bastard's fight with his brother. I've got a different battle planned to take place during their battle. Hopefully, I'll be able to stop with this canon crap soon, it's cramping my imagination.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, all rights and privileges to this particular anime/manga are owned by Kishomoto...may he rot in hell. On a side note, I do own Namikaze's Return, which all of you are reading, or are going to read in a few minutes. Hopefully you will get just as much if not more enjoyment out of reading my fanfiction than you will reading or watching the original Naruto, which would be a big boost to my already over inflated ego and bring down Kishimoto's. Who knows, if I'm good enough, maybe he'll give me the rights to Naruto.**

* * *

**Chapter 19: Tobi**

* * *

"Deidara is dead," Zetsu reported to the rest of the Akatsuki members, his projected image flickering a little as he spoke. "He decided to end the battle by turning himself into a bomb."

"Oh my," Kisame said with a shark-like grin. "It seems we've lost another member, eh? I thought he was pretty strong too." Over on the other side of the cavern that he and his partner were resting in, Itachi opened his eyes to reveal the Sharingan as he looked around at the rest of the members. Sensing his partners eyes on him but not really paying attention, Kisame continued. "So, who was it that killed him off? Was it Sasuke, or was it the Kyuubi Jinchūrikki?"

"It was Sasuke," reported Zetsu, "however it seems Sasuke was killed in the explosion as well." Itachi's eyes flashed as the plant-like man reported that. Only Konan managed to catch it as she was doing her best to pay attention to the proceedings around her and the reaction the other members had to the news. She was sure that knowledge on her "comrades" disposition would help Naruto when the time came to fight them.

"So, Deidara dragged Sasuke along with him into hell huh?" said Kisame.

"You should be grateful Itachi," Pein said from where his projection stood, "Deidara died while preventing any unnecessary hindrances." This Kisame also took notice when Itachi's eyes flashed at the leader.

Grinning, the shark-like man said, "is it just me, or are we missing someone besides Deidara?"

"Tobi died as well," said Zetsu, "Deidara decided to destroy everything indiscriminately." Konan did her best to keep herself from reacting to that information. She knew who Tobi really was, there was no way that man had been killed. She absently wondered if he was getting ready to cast of his disguise. If so, she would need to warn Naruto about it.

"Oh, right, right Tobi," Kisame said, sounding as if he had just remembered, all the while the grin stayed on his face. "I'm actually a little surprised he died, the kid always seemed to have some escape route handy. But I guess his number just came up, huh? That must have been one hell of a jutsu."

"It doesn't matter," Pein decided, "there are plenty of people around Tobi's level that we can choose from to replace him. However Deidara was valuable."

"I don't know," Kisame said in a pleasant tone, "I rather enjoyed having Tobi around. He had a knack for turning this gloomy organization into something a bit more cheerful."

Pein just sighed, "I'm leaving. At least mourn for Deidara in silence." Peins image disappeared and soon enough, Konans vanished as well. Zetsu stayed long enough to leave a parting comment.

"In that case I will take care of Tobi's funeral. **It's time for us to go." **When the plant-like man had left only Itachi and Kisame remained, as they were the only two figures that had been at the meeting that were not projections, being the ones who had carried to Jinchūrikki to the cave in the first place.

"OI! Itachi, you alright?" asked Kisame, actually getting a tad creaped out by the way his partner was glaring at nothing. Itachi turned to him with the three tomoe of his Sharingan spinning, causing the shark-man to actually take a step back, "you know, you can be pretty scary when you want to."

as always, Itachi said nothing.

* * *

Naruto frowned as he looked at the two Kilometer wide crater. He was the first one of his team to have gotten here and had done his best to scout the area around and in the crater in search of Sasuke or the Akatsuki member. So far he had not had any luck. But than again, what was he expecting to find at a place that had been the center of a two kilometer wide explosion?

_From the way the crater looks there was a small, more concentrated explosion first,_ Naruto thought to himself as he analyzed the ring that had formed within the crater. _After that it had spread out and destroyed everything else. _A sigh escaped his lips, _even with my limited skills at sensing chakra I can feel the amount of residue from Deidara, but I don't sense much of Sasuke. The other chakra is overpowering his._ Not that it would have made much of a difference, even if he had been able to detect Sasuke's chakra there wouldn't have been much he could do about that.

"Naruto!" the shout came from behind him and the whiskered blond turned around to see the other tracking squads coming out of the trees. Sakura ran over to him and stopped at his side, breathing a tad heavier than normal due to her rush to get over here. "What happened here?"

"I believe Sasuke was fighting the Akatsuki member known as Deidara," Naruto said, "I can detect faint traces of his chakra mixed in with the bombers. Unfortunately its so overpowering that even if my sensor abilities were up to snuff I wouldn't be able to track him with it. Kiba!" He turned to the dog using ninja, "can you pick up anything?"

"It's faint but I can smell Sasuke here," Kiba said, his feet subconsciously snapping to attention at the commanding tone in the blonds voice. "I can also smell the scent of two other people that were here."

"Well, we already know one of them was Deidara," Naruto frowned as he looked at the large blast crater. "He's the only one capable of creating a bomb like this." His frown deepened, "the other is likely a newer recruit, since their numbers have already been cut down by four as three of them had died and Orochimaru left." Konan had informed him that Madara was Deidara's partner, having taken on the alias of Tobi. But he didn't want to cause a panic by telling his team that in order to get to Sasuke they would in all likelihood have to fight the greatest traitor Konoha had since it's founding.

"I can pick up another scent," said the small white dog that had chosen to travel with Sakura. "It belongs to the one that had been carrying Sasuke's scent in town earlier. It seems that Sasuke has gained a traveling companion sometime since killing Orochimaru."

"That means that Sasuke has formed his own group," every turned their attention to Naruto as he spoke. "He likely realized that fighting against Itachi without back up is tantamount to suicide, what with Kisame around. Even if Sasuke had the power to beat Itachi, he wouldn't stand a chance against both him and Kisame."

"Are you saying that you don't think Sasuke-kun can defeat Itachi?' asked Sakura, not quite sure how she should feel about Naruto's statement.

"Lets just put it this way Sakura," Naruto replied with a humorless chuckle. "Sasuke could get a hundred times stronger than he was before, but a hundred times zero is still zero. The fact of the matter is, when I fought both Sasuke and Orochimaru, the skills he displayed only amount to an A rank shinobi and that was with his Sharingan active. Itachi is on the higher scale of an S rank, he is one of the few ninja that carry the same strength as a Kage on the same level as Sarutobi when he was in his prime." Of course, he was neglecting the fact that Sasuke had his cursed seal form, but he doubted Itachi would let him use it, and even than he doubted the older Sharingan user would lose. Shaking his head the blond continued, "it would take a hell of a miracle for Sasuke to win a fight against Itachi."

Sakura's face gained a slightly constipated look, like she was warring between trying to defend her crush, or giving in to the fact of cold hard facts. Naruto turned his attention to the nin-dogs after having sufficiently cowed the pink haired girl. "Can you pick up any trace of Sasuke's scent?" he asked Pakkun.

"No," the little pug said, "I'm afraid not, Sasuke's scent ends here."

"Which means one of two things, Sasuke died in the explosion," Naruto ignored the gasp of shock and hurt that came from Sakura. "Or he used a Jikūkan (Space-time) ninjutsu of some kind to escape." That brought up a few complications, while there were actually quite a few Jikugon ninjutsu, they were all difficult to master. Well, almost all, not many ninja knew that the most basic academy jutsu, the Kariwimi was in all reality a low E ranked Jikūkan technique.

_He likely used some form of reverse summoning to escape,_ Naruto narrowed his eyes as his mind began oming up with a plausible theory. _I doubt even Orochimaru had many Jikūkan ninjutsu in his arsenal, however all summoners have basic space-time abilities thanks to their contracts. Creating a reverse summoning technique isn't that difficult if they use the original Kuchiyose No Jutsu as a base. But that would require two people, since it would need two scrolls to work. The user would create a a gateway with the scrolls being a gate and the space in between would be the bridge. The person with the other scroll would have to finish the technique by releasing the second gateway._

It would explain why Sasuke had a team, a contingency in case he needed a quick escape. _Well, say what you will about him but at least Sasuke hasn't totally lost his mind. At least, if he really didn't escape and wasn't blown to hell._

"Kiba, can you extend your senses and try and pick up Sasuke's scent?' asked Naruto, turning his attention to the dog using ninja. Over on the sidelines Kakashi watched the young blond analyzing and mulling over the situation. For a brief moment, he felt like he was standing next to his sensei again as the blond began taking charge of the situation.

_You really have grown, Naruto,_ thought the silver haired jonin.

"I can try," Kiba replied as he closed his eyes and made a hand seal. Kiba stretched his senses to their limit, straining to find any trace of Sasuke. After a few moments, his eyes snapped opened and he looked at Naruto. "it looks like your right," he said, "right now my nose has a greater sense of smell than even most nin-dogs. I've found Sasuke."

"Nice going Kiba," Naruto complimented before he gave the order, "lead the way." Kiba nodded before he took off, with the others soon following him back into the trees.

* * *

Konan watched as Nagato – she shook her head, the god realm path that had once been her best friend and the person she had loved more than anything in the world, Yahiko, sat with one leg dangling off the side while the other was propped up and being used as an arm rest. Before she had met Naruto, she had seen Nagato's desire to use the body of Yahiko as a way to ensure that their friend lived on. But after having her eyes opened to the truth, after realizing that what they were doing was the last thing Yahiko would have wanted, she saw it more as a perversion of their friend than anything. It almost nauseated her every time she had to be near the body now.

Shaking her thoughts off she called out, "Pein, he's here." She watched as the man rose from his sitting position and walked to her, stopping when he reached the lip that separated the inside of the building from the balcony he had been sitting on.

"So, how is Sasuke?" asked Pein as he stared at the figure who was secretly heading the Akatsuki.

"He's progressing nicely," the man said, his voice, once childish and enthusiastic had taken on a slightly mocking quality. "He was able to use the full power of the Sharingan well, I have no doubt that his eyes will surpass Itachi's. The time is drawing near. Soon I will have his path laid out before him, though I suppose a part of that is up to Itachi. There isn't much time left for him after all."

Pein took a step forward. "And what of the Kyuubi Jinchūrikki?" he asked, "it has becoming more of a pain in our side than we had anticipated." The way Pein called Naruto "it" as if the blond wasn't even a person, made Konan burn with anger. She reminded herself that both of the people with her had a powerful doujutsu that would read her emotions easily if she showed even a flicker, it was only that knowledge that allowed her to keep her face completely impassive and her body language unresponsive.

"Yes, the _Namikaze,_" Madara spat out the name like it was the most foul thing he had ever tasted. "He has grown more powerful than I could have thought possible. You will deal with him, Pein. As the leader of Akatsuki, failure from you won't be tolerated."

"I'm picking up his scent!" Kiba called back to the others following him as he rode on top of his nin-dog partner Akamaru, so that he could focus on tracking Sasuke. "There's no mistaking it. Judging by the way his scent is moving, they must be resting somewhere."

"Sasuke was likely injured during the battle," Naruto commented, "to be honest I'm still surprised he won in the first place. He likely needs some time to recover from his wounds so this will be our chance to find him." The others all nodded at his words, trusting in the blond jinchūrikki as they continued moving closer to Sasuke's scent.

"Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto," Madara said, his voice carrying both cold disdain and grudging respect. "He's no longer a helpless little child, not only has he made friends with many people, including those from hidden villages that he doesn't belong to, many of which hold high ranking positions like the Mizukage and the Raikage. He has also mastered many powerful jutsu, with the Hiraishan and that Rasengan of his, along with the power of the Kyuubi, he is in all likelihood more powerful than even his father had been." The Yondaime Hokage, one of the few men that had been able to stand up to Madara. Now his son was who they had to face, and he would be an even more dangerous opponent, "defeating him will not be an easy task. He has managed to kill off two of our members that we know of, and I believe he was the reason that we were unable to capture the Shukaku Jinchūrikki."

"You speak of him as if he is some kind of threat," Konan stated coldly. She didn't particularly like talking badly about her Naruto, but she needed to keep appearances. "Pein has never lost a battle."

The man just gave a light chuckle. "Well, that is true," he admitted, "than again, ever since his training trip, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto hasn't lost a battle either." The man walked over to a coat hanger and grabbed his Akatsuki robes, throwing them on. "I believe our business is done here," he said as he began adjusting his outfit. "Tell the others to hurry up and capture their Jinchūrikki. But leave the two and one tails alone until we have the Kyuubi, if he is protecting them than we stand no chance of capturing them until he has been taken care of."

"I understand," Pein said.

"We are close to achieving our goal," he said, walking towards the balcony as a storm began to form in the sky above. "Then, everything will go back to the way it's suppose to be," he stepped onto the lip as the rain began to pour down on the city of Amegakure, pelting the balcony as lightning flashed in the sky. "Soon, I will show the true power of the Sharingan. The true power of me, Uchiha Madara!" Konan almost snorted as she heard the egotistical boast, thankfully she was able to hold it in as Madara ran out to the balcony before disappearing in a space-time distortion.

Looking at the rain and resisting a frown, she said, "the sky is crying again." She looked over at the man she could no longer follow, "Pein..." _I can only hope that somehow Naruto can save you._

* * *

Tsunade and Shizune were interrupted from their daily routine, namely Tsunade trying to find some way to distract herself from the paperwork she had to do while Shizune tried to make her do the paperwork she wanted to distract herself from, by a knock on the door. "I'm coning in Tsu-hime!" came the familiar voice called out before Jiraiya opened the door and entered.

"Jiraiya," Tsunade greeted as she pushed the paperwork away as a new distraction made itself known, it was about the only thing her perverted teammate was good for in her estimation. "Did you find out anything from your spy network?"

Jiraiya finished walking in and stopped in front of her desk, a rare look of seriousness settling on his face. "I've found the whereabouts of the Akatsuki Leader," he stated, causing a look of shock to rise onto the faces of the two medic-nin.

"Really!" asked Tsunade in a loud voice. She stood up and pushed her chair away with the back of her knees as she planted her hands on the desk and leaned over with a serious look on her face. "Tell me everything you know, Jiraiya! Don't hold back any information you have!" This was a serious breakthrough, if he knew where the leader of Akatsuki was they may be able to take him out and defeat the Red Dawn in the process. Cut off the head and the body will fall, as it were.

Shizune seemed to have a similar idea as she said, "we should use that information to plan a surprise attack."

"Now, now, take it easy," Jiraiya said as his laid back manner returned. He held up his hands in a gesture for them to calm down.

"Calm down!" said Tsunade incredulous. She held up a hand as her fingers began twitching, almost as if she wanted to strangle the white haired man in front of her. "This isn't like making the sequel to one of your novels Jiraiya! We can't afford to waste time!" Naruto's life was dependent on the defeat of Aktauki, they needed to take that group out before she could name the whiskered blond her successor damn it!

"Nothing good can come from being impatient, you know?" Jiraiya said dryly. "Especially when the stakes are as high as this." A grin crossed his face as he continued, "now, what do you say you and me go out for a few drinks like the old days, huh? Then we can talk."

A large tic mark formed on Tsunade's face as she yelled, "you baka!" The blond's hand shot up and she pointed an accusing finger at her longtime friend and teammate, "I'm the Hokage! I can't just go out and drink during the middle of the day!"

Shizune sweat dropped at her sensei's words as she thought, _you go out and drink all the time anyways._

"Don't you feel any shame! Thinking about going out and drinking while many of our ninja are out taking dangerous and life-threatening missions!"

* * *

Less than an hour later Tsunade had just finished gulping down an entire bottle of sake. "Ah! Now that hit the spot," she said with a grin as she slammed the bottle down onto the table.

Jiraiya felt a rather large sweat drop forming on his head as he watched Tsunade wipe her mouth with her hand, there was a light blush spreading across her face as a sign that she was feeling a buzz. He looked down at the floor to see the nine Sake bottles his teammate had already downed. "You should really practice what you preach Tsu-hime," he mumbled, wondering if her large breasts were the reason she seemed capable of drinking so much without passing out. He leaned his head on the butt of his palm as he continued, "and your drinking straight from the bottle. You should act a little more responsible, you are the Hokage after all."

* * *

"Kiba! How close are we?" asked Naruto as he and the others jumped through the trees.

"Naruto I need you to stop distracting me!" Kiba complained, "I'm focusing on his scent as hard as I can, but there's very little of it left."

"Right, sorry," Naruto scratched the back of his head before sighing. He wasn't normally this anxious, but he couldn't help it at the moment. If they managed to capture Sasuke he could finally gain some closure from all of this, and his estranged teammate could finally be brought to justice for what he had done.

* * *

Suigetsu looked around the room and sighed. It had been pure luck that Sasuke had been able to summon Manda at the last second and activate that space-time jutsu to escape from the large explosion. Honestly he had been positive that the Uchiha had been killed in that explosion, it had only been the contingency plan that Sasuke had come up with and told Suigetsu to carry out even if it looked like he was dead that kept the water user from just assuming the worst.

Afterwords he had manged to reverse summon the raven haired ninja, via the scroll and blood he had been given to complete the technique, while Karin and Juugo tracked him with the red heads sensing abilities. Tsuthfully Suiegetsu thought that was the only thing the girl was good for, though were it not for Sasuke wanting her to be kept alive the sword user likely would have killed the annoying girl by now.

They had manged to take Sasuke to an inn where he could rest and heal, hopefully it wouldn't take too long though; because Suigetsu was getting bored. He looked at the sleeping Uchiha before looking over at Juugo, who currently had a flock of birds on him. He was probably communing with the raterded animals or something. "Juugo," he said, getting the orange-haired ninja's attention. "I'm going to go and look for Karin," he stood up and made his way to the door as the larger man acknowledged his words with a nod.

Suigetsu reached out for the small hole that would pull the sliding door open, when it was knocked off its hinges, smashing into his face and causing him to fall to the floor. He tried to get up but a foot smashed on the door and stayed there, keeping the water using ninja from being able to get up. "W-What the hell...?" muttered Suigetsu.

"Wake up, Sasuke!" Shouted Karin as she continued to unknowingly squashing Suigetsu. Not that she would have cared even if she did know. "We've been followed! What should we do!" Sasuke blinked as he turned to look over at Karin who just blushed and raised a hand to her face, _even when he just wakes up... he's so hot!_

"We're leaving," Sasuke made his decision and sat up, "Get ready. Juugo, mark all of the Akatsuki hideouts that we know of on the map." Juugo nodded and several minutes later the four of them were on the move.

"You alright Sasuke?" asked Suigetsu, noticing the bandages the Uchiha still had on.

"I'm fine," Sasuke said as he threw a cloak over his body. "My bodies ability to heal became a lot faster after I gained Orochimaru's abilities." _I guess this is the power of the white snake._

"Whoever is following us, whether it's Akatsuki or Konoha, they may have information on Itachi," commented Karin as she looked at her not-so-secret crush. "It may be a good idea to ambush them. What do you think, Sasuke?"

"IF their numbers are as large as you said than it's most likely Konoha," said Sasuke. "Akatsuki always move in groups of two."

"So ambushing them would probably be just a big waste of time, right?" asked Suigetsu.

"Exactly, we'll just ignore them for now," said Sasuke.

"So, what should we do?" asked Karin.

"We'll find Itachi," Sasuke said, taking a scroll out from underneath his robes. "In the worst cast scenario, you guys will have to hold off the Konoha shinobi." He knew that they would likely die if that were to happen, if Konoha was after him there was only one person they would send. And if he was here, then even these three combined would be no match for him. Not that it mattered to Sasuke, some sacrifices had to be made for his ambitions.

"For now, we move as Hebi," he held up the scroll, which was revealed to be a map of the area. "We'll use Juugo's information to check out the Akatsuki hideouts one by one. Let's go."

As Sasuke and Suigetsu left, Karin placed a hand on juugo's shoulder. "Hold on for a moment," she said as the large orange-haired man turned to face her. "I want you to do something for me."

"What are you planning?" he asked curiously.

A grin formed on Karin's face as she held up a pair of sweaty and smelly clothes. "These are the clothes Sasuke was wearing earlier and they're drenched in his sweat."

"Why are you holding onto Sasuke's old clothes?" asked Juugo. What he really wanted to ask was, "what the hell is wrong with you?" since only someone who was seriously fucked up in the head would bother keeping a pair of someone else's used clothing, especially when it smelled as bad as the pair she was holding.

Karin seemed to realize this fact as well and tried to cover up her stalker-like tendencies. "N-No special reason, you idiot!" she shouted as he held her glasses to her face.

* * *

Kiba sniffed several times as he sensed something change. "What's wrong Kiba?" asked Naruto as he noticed this while jumping alongside the dog using ninja.

"Sasuke's on the move again!" he informed everyone. Naruto had to frown as he wondered why Sasuke would start moving so soon after his battle with an S class ninja.

_He has to be injured from a battle of that caliber,_ Naruto frowned. _Is he really stupid enough to go after Itachi in his condition? Either he is and doesn't care, has a good medical ninja within his squad, or..._ "He may have a sensor on his team," the blond informed his comrades. "If so there's a very high possibility that he sensed us coming and is moving to get away from us. We'll need to hurry if thats the case."

"Wait!" Kiba shouted, "there's something wrong here! Sasuke's scent is splitting up! It's going off in multiple directions!"

"They must have caught onto us," said Kakashi as Naruto came to the same conclusion. "They're likely using this as a means of distraction, they want to divert our attention to trying to find the real Sasuke while they get away clean."

"That means they do have a powerful sensor shinobi at their side," Naruto said. "Someone who was skilled enough to recognize that not all of the chakra signatures here are human. Who ever it is was somehow able to realize that we're using nin-dogs to track them as split Sasuke's scent somehow." _Who ever he has on his side is powerful asset,_ the blond thought to himself, _I've never heard of someone with sensing abilities that powerful._

"The distance between all of the different scents is too great for us to use our radios!" said Kiba, "I don't even think the nin-dogs have that kind of hearing range! And I'm the only one who can track him but I can only go after one scent!"

"Are you forgetting who your talking to?" asked Naruto as his hands came up in the ram seal that he had made famous, or infamous depending on who you asked, before he left for his training trip. "I'm a one man army, Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" there were nearly several hundred puffs of smoke as the blond jonin created a mass amount of Kage Bunshin. Already having their orders the clones shot off and began their search for Sasuke.

Everyone looked at the mass amount of Kage Bunshin and nearly shook their head as they remembered how the blond had abused this jutsu in his youth. The search continued and the Konoha teams moved through the trees. Naruto stiffened a little as he sensed a presence lurking in the shadows somewhere. No one else seemed to have noticed, it was as if whoever was hiding only wanted to reveal themselves to him.

Acting with all the skills in stealth and finesse he had gained during his training period, Naruto swapped himself out with a kage bunshin so no one would suspect he was gone. For a while anyways. If Kakashi got his sharingan out they would no doubt notice he was missing, but the blond jinchūrikki figured he could find out who was tailing him and get back before they truly noticed.

Naruto landed on the ground and stopped in the middle of a very small clearing. A tri-pronged kunai shot out of his sleeve before he said, "you know, I kind of figured you'd be heading towards your confrontation with Sasuke, Itachi."

"It seems not much gets by you these days. You have grown quite powerful, Namikazu-Uzumaki Naruto." Itachi stepped out from behind the tree he had been hiding against, his Sharingan eyes were already out and Naruto wondered if he should expect a fight of some kind.

"I kind of have to be on the ball Itachi," Naruto said in a casual manner, though his eyes had narrowed and his body was coiled to strike at the slightest sign of aggression. "After all, I have a bunch of S ranked ninja after the Kyuubi, and I have no desire to die from having it ripped out of my seal."

"Indeed," Itachi said in the same monotone voice he had always used.

"Judging from the fact that you haven't attacked me yet, I'm going to go out on a limb and say your being here has nothing to do with Akatsuki," said Naruto. He knew Itachi wasn't stupid, they both knew that with the Hiraishin and the blonds ability to use Kyuubi's chakra to dispel genjutsu that Itachi stood no chance against him. As good as the man was, he just didn't have the same advantages against the whisker marked Tokabetsu jonin anymore. If he were with Kisame than it might be a different story, but without that mans large chakra reserves backing Itachi up the most the raven haired man could hope for was a stand still.

"You are correct," Itachi said, "I was merely hoping to talk with you."

"So, talk," said Naruto, gesturing for the man to start speaking.

"I have a question," Itachi started, "what do you intend to do with my otouto?"

Naruto closed his eyes and sighed, "we plan on capturing him and bringing him back to Konoha." opening his eyes he looked into Itachi's, unafraid of the genjutsu the man could cast on him. "He will in all likelihood be executed for the crimes of betraying his village and joining up with an S class criminal." Another frown marred the blonds face, "despite all that's happened I still feel... some form of friendship, or maybe rivalry is the correct word, for Sasuke. I doubt it will do much good, but I'm hoping to get his sentence to merely life imprisonment with the possibility of parole."

Truthfully the part of him that had grown up was warring with the part that still wished to be a chile. One side of him wanted nothing more than to kill Sasuke, to make him answer for the crimes he had committed. Another however, a small part of the child that still clung to Naruto, wanted to somehow save the first person who had acknowledged the blond in his own way. It was that small part that had not allowed him to kill the youngest Uchiha when he confronted him and Orochimaru all those months ago.

"I see," Itachi closed his eyes. "You have more honor than most shinobi I have met, you may even be more honorable than the fourth. Tell me, what is Sasuke to you?"

"I used to think of him as my brother," Naruto said with a frown. "He was the first person to acknowledge me in some way when we were kids, even if it wasn't necessarily good. Later on we gained a tentative friendship and became rivals." The blonds mind went back to the days he had first started on his path to genin. "I honestly don't know what he is to me anymore, he betrayed my village and my friendship. He broke my trust when he tried to kill me so he could gain the same eyes as you. He left and went to Orochimaru all for the sake of power."

A smirk made its way onto the blonds face. "In some ways, I blame you for what he became. Had you never used those damned eyes on him Sasuke likely would have never turned out like he has now."

"Do you think you can save him?" asked Itachi. Naruto looked at him quizzically for several moments. There was something in the way Itachi asked that, something that the blond felt was important, like his answer would decide how this meeting went.

When the blond finally had his answer, he said, "I think..."

* * *

Tsunade set the glass of Sake she had been drinking on the table before looking at Jiraiya. "So the Akatsuki leader is hidden somewhere in Amegakure, huh?" she asked. Jiraiya gave her a tight nod. "But that country has one of the tightest border patrols around," she said. "They check everything, background, purpose of visit, the length your staying, criminal records. You can't even get into the country without having nearly your entire personal profile on you. Even when they hosted the chunin exams, they were so isolated it caused all sorts of problems. It doesn't sound like the kind of village that the leader of Akatsuki would be able to move in freely."

"Maybe," Jiraiya admitted. "But since the place has so many restrictions for people coming in and out and their isolationist policies, it's the perfect place to hide any shameful truths."

Tsunade looked curious at his statement. "Shameful?"

Jiraiya nodded. "It seems that the country has been engulfed in a civil war for quite some time now, and the village has been split in two. There's also been rumors that the leader of Akatsuki is in charge of one of the two factions."

Tsunade frowned, "that country is surrounded by Tsuchi, Suna, and Hi No Kuni, and it's always been used as a battleground for the wars between these three countries. Because of that the country never had much political stability, and the number of refugees has only continued to grow."

"And that's exactly why I'm going to infiltrate the country to verify that information," Jiraiya stated.

"What!" Tsunade's head shot up as she stared at her teammate in shock. "It's too dangerous for even someone of your caliber to go there by themselves!"

"Don't forget I'm one of Konoha's Densetsu No Sennin, Tsu-hime," Jiraiya said. "You of all people should know what that means."

Tsunade looked away from Jiraiya as a sad frown crossed her face. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "it's because of me that your always getting put into these kinds of situations."

However her words merely caused jiraiya to laugh. "What's this? Feeling guilty all of a sudden Tsu-hime?"

Tsunade smiled. "Your the one who was originally suppose to be Hokage. The third always wanted you to succeed him."

"Meh, there's no way I would want to become Hokage," Jiraiya said dismissively. "I'd be no good at the job. I do better when I'm on my own."

"Is that why you went off by yourself to try and stop Orochimaru from leaving the village?" she asked, pouring herself another glass of sake.

Jiraiya looked down at the swirling liquid inside of his own cup. "Maybe, but I won't have to worry about him anymore." He gave a mirthless chuckle, "though that just means I can write the sequel to my novel faster."

"And yet, reality sometimes seems even stranger than fiction," Tsunade said, holding up the glass of sake to her face and staring at her reflection. "Out of all of us I never thought he would be the first to die. Do you remember when the three of us would go up to that old geezer, the Sandaime, and..."

"To think that the flat-chested Tsunade would grow such massive boobs and become the next Hokage," Jiraiya said as he decided to interrupt her reminiscing. With a lecherous grin he continued, "Times sure have changed. You used to be so beautiful and now your a fifty-year-old baba." The blond Hokage looked like she wanted to beat Jiraiya's face in for that statement but he continued talking as if he had no idea what she was thinking. "You know, it pains me to see how you've stored the memories and thoughts of the people you lost in those large boobs of yours. And those memories are just going to grow."

Tsunade stopped talking at that, she knew Jiraiya used terrible analogies and understood what he was saying. Plus she was drunk enough that the desire to hit the pervert for mentioning her breasts was small, for Jiraiya anyways.

"Oh well, there's no use dwelling on the past," Jiraiya said as he knocked back his drink. "Now my role is to set an example for the new generation and do my best to help them in the coming times." He thought of his newest apprentice, the boy that had surpassed all of his expectations. "For that, I'll gladly give my life, smiling. That's one of the cool things us old farts can do."

* * *

"If it's possible to save him than it's worth a try," Naruto said. "If I can, I will. But if Sasuke becomes lost to his darkness, then I will save him in the only way possible. I'll kill him." For a long moment the two stared at each other, one with an impassive expression, the other with narrowed blue eyes. After several seconds, which felt like minutes, Itachi gave the blond a sad smile.

"I see, then perhaps you can do what I had failed to do," Itachi said at last.

"What?" that was not what Naruto expected to hear.

"Allow me to reveal some truths that you will need to know if you are to ever bring peace," Itachi intoned as he pointed a finger at Naruto, "Tsukiyomi."

* * *

"Akatsuki..." Tsunade muttered as she and Jiraiya sat down on a park bench after she finished puking up the alcohol she had drank. "For someone to be capable of controlling a group of people that powerful, he must be extremely strong. And your planning to just waltz right in there like you own the place."

"Well..." Jiraiya sighed, he wasn't really good at these things. "I guess I'll be on my way."

"You know, I always thought I had nothing left in life after Dan and Nawaki died," Tsunade's words caused Jiraiya to pause. "They had been everything to me, the last member of my family and someone I had hoped would start a family with me. After they died, I always assumed I was alone..."

"Tsunade..." Jiraiya started, but was interrupted by the busty blond.

"I ran away from all my problems, I gambled and drank away my entire fortune because I was the only one who could use it anyways," Tsunade placed a hand on her stomach. "And I'm long since past the ability to reproduce." In a much softer voice, she asked Jiraiya, "have you ever believed yourself to be alone, only to find out that you've essentially ignored the last member of your family for the first twelve years of his life?"

"Are you...talking about Naruto?" asked Jiraiya, he knew that Tsunade's mother was an Uzumaki, so she and Naruto were technically related. But they couldn't be anything more than distant cousins at most.

Could they?

"When you had me run that blood check to see if he had any bloodlines, I decided to see run a search for other ninja he could be related to in our database," Tsunade said. "I... found much of what I expected, he's the son of Minato and Kushina, but I...I..."

"Tsunade," ok now Jiraiya was starting to get legitimately concerned. Tsunade looked like she was about to burst, tears of guilt and shame were welling up in her eyes and looked like they would overwhelm her.

"I found out that I'm not the last of my line, that I had a hidden family member in Konoha all this time!" Tears were now beginning to fall as she gave Jiraiya a helpless look. "I found out that Naruto is the grandson of the person I cherished most in the entire world."

Jiraiya choked in shock, "You don't mean he's...?"

A sob racked Tsunade's body. "Yes, Naruto is the grandson of Senju Nawaki, my otouto."

* * *

"You plan on dying, aren't you?" said Naruto as he stared at the man before him. He could see it in the way Itachi stood, not as the powerful shinobi the blond knew him to be, but as a man who was walking to his death. "Your going sacrifice yourself to Sasuke."

"Yes," Itachi said simply, as if he didn't care that he was going to be killed. From what Naruto had seen so far he probably didn't.

"Are you sure letting Sasuke kill you is the best option?" asked Naruto. "I know you love him Itachi but if what you showed me is true, than you brother has a very good reason to hate Konoha, if he were to ever learn of this..."

"I know," Itachi sighed, "I realize the risk I am taking, but I...I can't kill my brother Naruto. I had chosen him over my village the last time, when I was forced to act against my clan and I would do so again now. Besides that, I only have a year or two left to live anyways."

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto, frowning at the older man.

"I mean I have an illness that has been slowly killing me," said Itachi, getting Naruto's full attention. "It has been getting progressively worse, and I don't have much time left in this world. The only thing I can do now is insure that Sasuke satisfies his desire for revenge."

"And what if this decision leads to him hating Konoha?" asked Naruto. "I get what your trying to do, you want to wipe away the shame of your clan by letting the past stay buried. You let Sasuke kill you, he gets his revenge and Konoha gets a hero who killed the slayer of the Uchiha Clan. But I don't think you realize that Sasuke is considered a traitor in Konoha now, he betrayed the village all for the sake of power." The blond shook his head as he looked at the raven haired man before him, "do you really think that by letting yourself be killed, that the Uchiha Clan will be redeemed?"

Itachi looked at Naruto with that odd half smile that looked so odd on the mans normally impassive face. "Nothing is certain," Itachi said, "I realize that, and I know the chances of Sasuke being welcomed back to Konoha are slim. But I have to do this. If for no other reason than the fact that Sasuke became what he is today because of me. For the sins I committed against him, I have to let him be the one to kill me." The older raven haired man gave the blond a determined look, "If what you say does come to pass, and Sasuke ends up hating Konoha, then I will be counting on you to do what I could not. Now, I must take my leave, this will likely be the last time we see each other, Naruto-kun." The then burst into a flock of ravens which flew off.

_Genjutsu, _Naruto identified. He frowned for a few seconds as he stared at the spot Itachi had been, his mind whirling with the knowledge he had just learned. However there wasn't much he could do with th information Itachi had given him at present. Deciding it would be best to move on the blond channeled chakra to his feet and jumped back into the trees, determined to get back to the rest of his squad before they knew he was missing.

* * *

Normally, if Jiraiya had Tsunade laying on top of him he would have considered himself to have been blessed by Kami. In the many years he had been alive his crush for the woman had never faded, where others would have moved on after the numerous rejections he had doggedly clung to his crush. Even when he slept with other woman at brothels his mind had always been on the busty blond. At any other time he would have jumped for joy at the situation he was in.

_Great, the one thing I want the most has happened and I can't even enjoy it,_ Jiraiya looked down at the woman who had bodily tackled him to the floor and was currently shedding more tears than he had ever seen in his life. He was actually surprised by the sheer amount of tears coming out of her eyes, having expected her tear ducts to have dried out an hour ago. However Tsunade seemed to have become a literal waterworks and nothing he had said thus far managed to make her stop.

Eventually, her crying turned to minor sniffles and the blond woman placed her hands on Jiraiya's chest and pushed herself up. "Sorry," she whispered as she got off the white haired hermit.

"Are you alright now Tsunade?" he asked, curtailing his lecherous side for the moment. An impressive feat in and of itself. His busty teammate nodded her head and Jiraiya led her back down to the seat they had been sitting on before she had tackled him.

"Somehow, I feel like I should have known," Tsunade said as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Minato had never really acted like Nawaki, but his dream had been the same and his talent as a shinobi..."

"It does make a lot of sense," Jiraiya added, nodding his head. "I had always wondered if Minato had come from a shinobi family that simply died out." Part of the reason most civilian children never made it past chunin was because they lacked the genetics for it. Sure, one could say that it was because ninja clans taught their children at a young age, and a part of that was true. But by and large the main reason was because children from shinobi families had larger, more powerful reserves of chakra due to the fact that their parents, grandparents and so on had all used chakra. That was why ninja like Sasuke had been able to use jutsu like the Gokyāku No Jutsu before he even became a genin.

"There's also Minato's ability with Jikūkan ninjutsu," Jiraiya continued. "Out of all the shinobi to ever exist, only Nidaime-Sama was as good as he was in that field."

"Though that doesn't explain why Naruto has a Kekkei Genkei," Tsunade said. Now that her tears had dried and she was no longer as distraught, she found it a little easier to talk about. "Minato didn't have a Kekkei Genkei."

"You mean as far as you know," Jiraiya said, making Tsunade frown at him. "Kekkei Genkei, special abilities that are passed down genetically in specific clans. We've always wondered why some people seemed to have a specific ability like your grandfather and his Mokūton while others of your clan did not. And yet clans like the Uchiha and Hyūga clans all have their dōjutsu."

"What are you getting at?" asked Tsunade.

"Your grandfather could combine water and earth to create wood," Jiraiya said. "Yet no one else in the Senju clan could do that, however Nidaime-Sama was able to master Suiton manipulation to the point where he could literally create water by absorbing the moisture in the air. I've seen Minato do similar feats with his lightning and wind manipulation, powerful combination attacks that shouldn't have been possible due to the opposing nature of the two elements."

"Are you saying that the Senju clan may have some odd form of Kekkei Genkei?" asked Tsunade, wondering if what her friend was saying was true. If so, it would actually explain some things.

Jiraiya nodded. "I've been thinking about it and I believe the Senju clans ability may be the ability to manipulate chakra in ways others simply can't. Shodaime-Sama with his ability to combine wood and water, Nidaime-Sama with his master of Suiton Jutsu, you with your extreme chakra manipulation...your apprentice still hasn't mastered your strength technique has she?"

"No," Tsunade said, shaking her head. "She's gotten close, but there seems to be something blocking her from using the technique to its full potential."

"Exactly my point," Jiraiya continued, "and then we have Minato, he was actually the first to combine lightning and wind though he rarely used it on the battlefield due to how destructive it was, it had just as much a chance of killing his allies as it did his enemies."

"And now we have Naruto," Tsunade said for Jiraiya. "Who can manipulate and combine water, lightning, and wind to create Arashi Jutsu."

"It's more of manipulating the very weather itself," Jiraiya said, "but he does call it that." As he finished saying that a serious look crossed the mans face, "I think you should tell him Tsunade." When the busty blond looked away he continued, "Naruto deserves to know that he still has a family."

"But what if I tell him and he hates me for it?" asked Tsunade.

"You've practically been a member of his family since we brought you back to Konoha Tsunade," Jiraiya said. "Do you really think he would just abandon you if you tell him this? If anything he'll just let you know that he now has a legitimate reason to call you baa-chan." Tsunade snorted a bit at that since she could easily see the blond jonin saying just that. Though a part of her was still deathly afraid he wouldn't take it so well, even if she knew that her thoughts on the matter were completely irational.

"He has matured," Tsunade admitted with a fond smile. "I almost couldn't believe how different he was acting after he got back from his training with you."

"Ha ha, he really has come a long way hasn't he?" said Jiraiya with a hearty laugh. "The brat managed to exceed all of my expectations, I can't even beat him in our spars anymore without going into Sennin Mode. He's easily the most powerful apprentice I've ever had, beating out his old man who had always been a once in a generation genius." The last male member of the Sannin gave a rueful chuckle. "Naruto has proven to be a once every few centuries genius."

"I remember when he was just a snot nosed little genin screaming about becoming Hokage," Tsunade said with a reminiscing smile. "He used to be so much like Kushina."

"Ah yes, that red-headed tom boy," Jiraiya said with a grin. "Always roughen it like one of the guys. She was a bit of a firecracker if I remember, they called her Akai Chishio No Habanero due to her feirce attitude and hair color."

"She grew up to be quite the beauty though," Tsunade said.

"Oh yeah, did she ever!" Jiraiya said with a lecherous grin as his perverted side got the best of him.

"Jiraiya..." the warning tone in Tsunade's voice caused him to stop his train of thought before he got pummeled by the woman's fists, which was not something he wanted to deal with right now.

"Eh he he, sorry Tsu-hime," the white haired man coughed several times before getting back on track. "You know as more and more time past I really started seeing Naruto has something of a grandson. I've never had any children but Minato was always like the son I've always wanted, smart, powerful, and a real lady killer."

Tsunade gave an indulgent grin. "I bet the only reason you like Naruto so much is because he surpassed his old man in his ability to snag beautiful women," she remarked dryly.

"Isn't that the truth," Jiraiya said with hearty laugh. "He's engaged to the Mizukage, the Nibi Jinchūrikki, Yugito Nii, and..." When the man stopped Tsunade frowned.

"You know who his other wives are don't you?" she accused.

"I know one of them," Jiraiya admitted, "he won't tell me who the fourth woman he's engaged to is, no matter how I try to weedle it out of him. But I do know the other woman he is engaged to." He was actually very impressed at how well Naruto and Koyuki managed to keep their relationship a secret. In the world of shinobi and cutthroat politics, keeping a secret like a famous Daimyo and Actress becoming engaged to a infamous S ranked ninja was a very difficult thing to do.

"Why did he tell you and not me?" asked Tsunade, both seething and slightly hurt.

"It has nothing to do with him telling me," Jiraiya said as he held up his hands in a placating manner. "I was just there when they started dating, that's all." Tsunade continued to glare at him, making the white haired man sigh. "Glaring at me isn't going to do anything, I promised Naruto I wouldn't tell anybody and that includes you. Besides, we're still in a very public location, even if I were inclined to tell you I would here."

"I suppose I can see your point," Tsunade sighed as she dropped the glare. "And I can understand your desire to keep your promise to Naruto." As she looked at her teammate a wistful smile came to her face, "he's so protective of them, even when Mei who has an entire village of shinobi guarding her." She had been told about the rings they each had, how Naruto had placed the Hiraishin seal on the rings so they could call him when ever they wanted. She suspected it was the reason he would disappear several times a week when not given a mission.

"Very, he acts a lot like Minato in that regard," Jiraiya said with a chuckle. He looked up at the sky to see the sun beginning to set. "Well... I'd better get going," he stood up and grabbed his summoning scroll.

"Do you really have to do this alone?" asked Tsunade, her voice containing a hint of worry. "Couldn't you at least wait for Naruto to return from his mission? I'm sure between the two of you, you could -"

"I have to do this alone Tsunade," Jiraiya interrupted the woman. "I... I have my own personal reasons for doing this, and they need to be done alone." His words caused the blond woman to look down, she knew very well why he felt the need to do this by himself. Amegakure was the place where he had met his first three apprentices, all of whom had been killed during the second war after he left. The country was a place of great personal grief for the man, naturally anything that happened in that country that concerned him would be personal. That still didn't make it any easier.

"Don't die," she said.

"Concern for me Tsu-hime," Jiraiya joked, "don't I feel loved."

Tsunade tried to scowl but it ended up failing as she muttered, "baka."

"I know, why don't we make a bet," Jiraiya said, catching the attention of the busty Hokage. "You should bet on me dying," Tsunade looked at him incredulously. "With your luck, you'll definitely lose," he gave the shocked looking woman a grin. "And if you lose, you'll have to go on a date with me and let me feel those lush melons of yours!"

Tsunade's eye began to twitch as Jiraiya gave another of his perverted grins while his hands were making grabbing motions, as if he was just imagining the feel of her breasts in his hands. It seemed that even in the most heartfelt of situations, the man managed to retain his lecherous nature.

Poor, poor Jiraiya.

* * *

Thanks to Naruto liberal use of Kage Bunshin, creating upwards of two hundred clones, the Squadron of Konoha ninja were able to quickly and thoroughly search out most of the areas that held Sasuke's scent. It was almost ironic that the blond jonin had never used the jutsu in the jutsu as a means to scout, which was what it had been originally made to do. Thanks to his training Naruto found that even from multiple dispersions his mind was more than capable of processing the knowledge gained.

Naruto wasn't the only one using their specialized methods of searching. In the skies above the forest Sai made his own search, riding on an ink eagle of his own creation. He searched the area from above to see if he couldn't pick up any sign of the Sasuke or the group said ninja had formed.

It was nearing the one hour mark when Naruto stiffened at the feeling of one of his Kage Bunshing being killed, pierced through the stomach by a Chidori. "I found Sasuke!" he shouted as the wind rushed past his face. The others all looked over at him as he stopped, "follow me!" He spun on his heels and began jumping in a different direction. The others soon followed the blond as he sped off.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called as the blond began getting farther and farther away. "Hold on! There's someone else up ahead."

Just as Hinata said this a man wearing an orange mask, with the standard black cloak with red clouds on it, stood up and waved. "Hola!" he greeted the group with an enthusiastic and child-like voice. Naruto's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before his instincts kicked in. he flipped his body around, his feet hit the branch as he moved in a crouch, his hand just barely brushing against the bark near the mans feet before he used the branch as a springboard to jump back down to the ground.

_It's him,_ the blond thought to himself, wondering why this man was out here.

"Oh my, oh my!" the man shouted, "Hello, there, there, and there! I never imagined I would meet up with Konoha Shinobi all the way out here. And there's two,four, six. It's eight against one, now thats just unfair."

"Oh don't worry about that," Naruto said with a chuckle. "I'm not the kind of guy who plays unfairly. This battle will be between just you and me."

The one eye of Kakashi, along with the two of every other ninja that had been sent on this mission widened. "Naruto..." Kakashi started to say, but was cut off by the blond.

"This guy may be acting like a fool but don't let his appearance deceive you Kakashi," Naruto said. "All members of Akatsuki are S ranked ninja, none of you would stand a chance and I'm going to need room in order to fight at full strength." Before Kaskshi or anyone else could protest, the blond jonin tossed the copy ninja a set of scrolls. "When you get to Sasuke use those scrolls to seal him and Itachi, I designed those specifically for prisoner transportation." The silver haired jonin looked like he wanted to debate with the blond, but seeing the look in Naruto's eyes decided not to.

"Got it," he told his current superior.

"Hold on a minute!" argued Kiba, "do you just expect us to run off while you fight!"

"I expect you to do the mission we've been assigned," Naruto said evenly. "Our mission is not to fight Akatsuki right now, but to apprehend Sasuke and bring him back to Konoha." The blond looked at the masked Akatsuki member, "if he's here than its only because he want's to delay us in getting to Sasuke."

"Yeah but -"

"Kiba!" Naruto cut off the dog using genin harshly, making everyone flinch at the cut-through-steel voice. "This is not up for debate! Our mission is to retreive Sasuke, we can only do that if one of us stays behind to make sure this guy doesn't follow us, and of the eight of us I'm the only one capable of fighting an S rank ninja on even grounds." Seeing the defiance still on his friends face, the blond sighed. "Look, I'm trusting you to complete this mission, in return, I want you to trust that I know what I'm doing."

despite looking like he had swallowed something foul, Kiba nodded. "Fine," he huffed, "but I expect you to catch up when your done."

Naruto gave a mirthless chuckle, "don't worry, I'll be along shortly."

Knowing a dismissal when he heard one, Kakashi began to give out orders. "Let's go!" he said before jumping off and away from the battle that was about to take place. The others minus Naruto soon followed the silver haired jonin and made their way out of the battlefield.

Before they could get far, the masked ninja appeared right in front of them, popping up from the ground and shouting, "Ninpo: Mogura Tataki No Jutsu (Ninja Art: Whack-a-mole Jutsu)! You guys cannot escape me when I'm using my super-awesome – Ah!" the orange masked mans speech was cut off as Naruto appeared in front of him in a yellow flash.

"Rasengan!" Naruto smashed his technique into the man, or at least, he tried to. The rasengan ended up going right through the mask Akatsuki member like he wasn't even there. "Keep going!" the blond shouted at the Konoha ninja, who had stopped when the man appeared in front of them. Don't stop for anything! I'll make sure he doesn't get you, just get moving!"

The others soon did as told and began to move out. Like the first time they tried the man in the orange mask popped up in front of them. "Mah! That could have hurt if it hi-" and once again he was cut off as Naruto reappeared in front of him in another flash. However unlike last time the team of Konoha ninja didn't stop as they continued jumping away. The man tried to follow using his Mogura Tataki No Jutsu, but the blond jonin was having none of that as he flashed to the mans location each time he tried to cut off his allies. "You really fast!" the masked ninja said as he stopped, "super fast, I don't think I've ever met someone as fast as you are!"

"Cut the act," Naruto said, his voice colder than a glacier from the former Yuki No Kuni. "Your not fooling me with that act of stupidity Tobi...or should I say, Uchiha Madara."

The moment the name left Naruto's mouth the masked ninja's entire countenance changed. His posture straightened, the laid back and slightly goofy aura dissipated and the man's entire body radiated a confidence bordering on arrogant and power beyond that of any other shinobi Naruto had faced to date. "So," the man said, his voice no longer that of an over-excited idiot, but of a man who had no trouble killing others in order to achieve his goals. "You know who I am... I'm curious as to how you know that."

Naruto smirked as two tri-pronged kunai slipped into his hands and he slid into the stance his father often used in conjunction with his kunai. "Do you really think I'm going to tell you that?"

* * *

**Here we go! Another chapter out, we now know the shameful secret Tsunade has been hiding. Yes! You heard right, Naruto is related to her through her little brother Nawaki! Dun-dun-dun! To be honest, I'm not one hundred percent certain whether or not the timeline I have is accurate. I'm pretty sure that Nawaki died near the beginning of the second shinobi war, which is the same war that Jiraiya found Yahiko, Konan and Nagato. I'm pretty sure he was around fifteen or sixteen when he died, I can't confirm that though because they never said anything, but I decided this was how I would use Kishi's ambiguous timeline. And for those who complain about him being too young to have a kid, I know at least three girls who got knocked up when they were a year younger than that, so don't start with me. Now, again, I have no idea how long it was before the third shinobi war started, but I think it started around twelve or thirteen years after the second war, which would coincide with the time Minato became a Chunin and Kushina was kidnapped by Kumo, but I could be wrong. Still, this is fanfiction and this is what I decided to do. Once again, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, the next one will be even better so stay tuned.**

**A/N: Another thing for all of my fans! I have decided to drop My Naruto/Bleach story, it was a dead end fiction that I'm finding impossible to continue. The problem was I simply made Naruto too strong, the problem with that in this story is that there wouldn't have really been any conflict. It would be Naruto goes to soul society, kicks ass, takes names, the end. All told it would probably only be like twelve chapters and then I would have had to kill off Aizen and the story would more or less be over, because lets face it, Naruto would not have lost to him when the man let his betrayel be known, and if I did let Aizen get away it wouldn't have made sense. So I am dropping the story. I apologize to those of who were hoping for me to continue it.**

**.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: Has anyone ever wondered why we have to create a disclaimer for every chapter? I mean, we put it up in the first chapter so people should know that this story is not ours from the onset, right? I wonder if there is some kind of law that states we must write a disclaimer for every chapter? What would happen if we didn't write one?**

**I vote for tossing the author who doesn't into the dungeons of DOOOOOM!**

**I know, the name is very original.**

**I would like to thank Senjuto for Betaing this chapter for me.**

* * *

**Chapter 20: When it Rains, it Pours**

* * *

Within the large body of water that surrounded Amegakure No Sato, a small toad stuck its head out of the water. This was not so strange. Amphibians of all kinds were often found near or around the water, and considering how much precipitation Amegakure received there were far more toads there than there would be anywhere else.

However, while there didn't seem to be anything remarkable about this toad, what it did next would easily be something that stepped out of the bounds of reality. Where if anyone that was not a shinobi had been watching, they undoubtedly would not believe what they were seeing.

The toad opened its mouth, almost as if to croak. Before the creature could even make a noise however, a large hand, followed by an arm came out. This was soon followed by a head full of white hair, another arm, a body wearing a red and green Kabuki outfit and a set of legs. When the man's body was all of the way out, Jiraiya of the Sennin stood up.

"Amegakure," the man muttered, an unusually somber expression on the man's face. "I never wanted to come back here."

Amegakure was a small, yet highly industrialized hidden village located in an unnamed country. Its architecture was composed of several metallic skyscrapers with rowed ducts connected to them and mazy power lines surmounting. A number of smaller villages also surrounded Amegakure. As its name suggested, it rained almost constantly due to a storm above the village.

It was a place that held many bad memories for Jiraiya, memories of several of his many failures, of his loss against Hanzo, the deaths of his three students. There was a lot about the village that would haunt the Sennin until he died.

Straightening his back, Jiraiya, the Gama Sennin of Konoha and one of the most powerful men in the world began making his way into the sprawling village.

* * *

Pain's head snapped up as he looked out at the falling rain. His eyes narrowed.

"Pain?" asked Konan, seeing the look on his face.

"Someone has managed to infiltrate Amegakure," Pain said. Konan had to fight hard not to let her eyes widen or her emotions show on her face. She didn't think it was Naruto. He had already infiltrated Ame, and they could see each other via Hiraishin kunai. But that didn't mean she didn't worry. Pain continued on unmindful of her feelings. "Judging by their chakra and the fact that I didn't feel them until they entered suggests they are skilled."

* * *

Jiraiya unsealed a plain tan traveler's cloak from a seal hidden in his vest pocket. Putting it on he threw the hood up and walked out from under the small overhang he had used to stay out of the rain. As he wondered where the best place to start gathering information would be, he came upon a little shop with an old lady selling pork buns outside.

He grabbed one of the buns off the stove the old lady had them on. "Ack!" he quickly began tossing the hot bun from one hand to the other in surprise. Though he supposed it shouldn't be, it had been on a stove after all. It was supposed to be hot.

When it finally cooled down enough so that he could hold it in one hand he reached into a pocket with the other and pulled out some money.

"Baa-chan, I'll take one of these," he said to the old lady, holding the money out to her.

"Anytime," the old lady said as she took the money. As her hand closed around the ryō she eyed him warily. "You know, I haven't seen you around here before. You're not from around here, are you?"

"That obvious, huh?" said Jiraiya with a jovial smile and a laugh. "Well, I'm actually a writer, you see. I do a lot of traveling for a magazine I write in about regional specialties." Jiraiya gave himself a mental pat on the back at picking this particular persona to adopt when he saw the woman's suspicion melt away and a smile to take her face. As a spy master he had to always come up with false jobs and such in order to keep suspicion off his back. It helped that he was at least partly telling the truth, he was a writer after all.

He took a bite of the food while the old woman spoke. "Oh, I see. So, what do you think of my pork buns?"

"They're excellent," Jiraiya commented honestly. They were good. "Just like the rumors say, these pork buns are quite amazing."

The old woman smiled and nodded. "Right, right?"

"I would love to introduce these into our magazine," Jiraiya continued. He looked at the woman and smiled, slightly sheepishly. "If that's ok with you, that is?"

The old woman suddenly gained a flustered look. "Really? You want to place my food in a magazine?"

"Of course," Jiraiya said. He bent down and cupped his hand to his mouth so he could whisper in a conspiratorial fashion. "And once I write about them, you'll be flooded by customers. Everyone will want one of your pork buns."

"R-really now?" The woman looked rather excited by the idea of having so many customers. "You would be able to do that?"

"Of course," Jiraiya said. He looked around at the surrounding area, he couldn't see very far due to the rain and the large buildings blocking the other parts of the city out. "It sure is peaceful here."

"Yes it is," the woman agreed. "This village is no longer suffering, all thanks to Pain-sama." The old woman put her hands in a prayer sign, "All praise him."

"Pain?" Jiraiya muttered with a frown. It was disturbing to see the signs of utter devotion on this woman's face as she spoke of pain. She looked as if she was speaking of Kami himself.

"Yes, Pain-sama," the woman said with a smile.

Jiraiya's frown increased. "What happened to Hanzou No Salamander..." his voice trailed off when he noticed the looks he was getting from the citizens around him. They all held expressions of scorn and suspicion. While attracting attention at all was bad while infiltrating a village, the last thing he wanted was for people to actually be suspicious of him.

"Sorry to bother you, baa-chan," he said lightly as he placed his hood over his head again and walked off.

* * *

"I see," Madara replied. Unlike Naruto he didn't bother changing stances, opting to stand with a casual demeanor that let the blond know that the ancient Uchiha didn't see him as much of a threat.

Well, Naruto would just have to change that.

Flicking his wrist Naruto let the tri-pronged kunai sail from his grasp. He flashed to it almost immediately after, his throw having been so hard and so fast it only took a second to reach Madara's position.

A spinning blue ball of chakra appeared in the blonde's hand, which he rammed into Madara's chest. However, the powerful Rasengan didn't even touch the former Uchiha leader. Instead it went right through the man is if he wasn't even there.

Naruto frowned as he dodged the sickle and chains that Madara had summoned, most likely through a seal somewhere on his person. He threw his kunai again, flashing several feet away before tossing both kunai, one near Madara and the other into a tree. The blond flashed to the one near Madara and attempted to attack him, this time using wind blade in an effort to cut the man's head off.

Once again his jutsu went right through Madara and he was forced to flash to his second kunai as the man attacked him in return.

_It has to be some kind of Jikūkan__ Jutsu,_ Naruto concluded as he analyzed the phasing ability of his opponent. _He could be sending his body to a separate yet connected dimension, thereby making attacks phase through him..._

The question was whether he was phasing his whole body or just parts of his body, and what kind of limitations such a jutsu contained. He couldn't imagine that this ability didn't have some kind of cost, or perhaps a limit on the number of phases he could do in a certain amount of time.

Perhaps it was time to put Madara's abilities to the test?

Naruto jumped into the air, using chakra to boost his height. At the apex of his jump he flicked his wrists, launching the two kunai from his grasp. Those kunai soon multiplied into dozens.

Hundreds. All of them heading down for the forest floor below. They covered the ground, the branches; every single area was littered with tri-pronged kunai, spaced apart by fifteen feet to grant Naruto maximum usage. No matter where Madara tried to go he would not be able to get to the edge of his kunai field in time should his abilities run dry.

Smirking, Naruto disappeared in a yellow flash.

Soon enough flashes began to appear all around Madara, they were constantly in motion, flashing from all sides in an attempt to hit him. The attacks moved so fast that the Uchiha found he couldn't even tell which flash was Naruto and which was simply an afterimage. They came in all at once, at the same exact instant. Making distinguishing between flashes impossible. Not even the famed Sharingan was of any help here.

However his phasing ability wasn't all Madara had. While Naruto was flashing around him the man disappeared within a vortex, reappearing several meters away. The blond shinobi was quick to flash to the man, not wanting to let up and possibly give the man an advantage.

He hadn't realized that in keeping up the pressure his advantage had been lost. Though he figured that out when he tried to continue flashing around Madara and got a foot in the face for his efforts.

The blond flipped around, landing on an adjacent branch and using chakra to stick his feet to the bark. "Your Sharingan can see my chakra signature when using the Hiraishin," Naruto stated with narrowed eyes. He could almost feel the smirk the man was likely carrying on his face.

"Correct. I might not be able to discern which is the real you when you're flashing around me like previously. But dealing with a single Hiraishin attack is easy, if you know how to do it."

Naruto grit his teeth, not liking the smug tone in the man's voice. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to step up my game."

"We both know there is no stepping up," Madara said mockingly. "You've been fighting me as hard as you can since the beginning. You and I both know anything less than your best effort will end in your defeat." The blond frowned at the way the ancient Uchiha called his bluff, but didn't comment further.

Flinging the two kunai into his grip Naruto once again disappeared in a yellow flash.

* * *

Jiraiya smiled as the beautiful young waitress placed some dango and red-bean paste on his table. "Here you go," she said cheerfully as the white haired hermit wondered if he could convince her to help him come up with material for his books. He grinned at her and was about to go with old try and true 'up front and ask them' routine. Tried because he had tried to use it many times, and true because it never failed to leave him with a rather large hand print on his face... or worse.

However, a small hanging ornament caught his attention. He could tell rather easily that it was made from paper, the origami ornament was done up in a white angel. "Excuse me miss... but what's that?" he asked, pointing to the ornament.

"Hmm?" the waitress looked at him curiously for a moment, then turned around to see where he was pointing. A smile came to her face. "Ah, that's our angel," she said, and once again Jiraiya noted the same tone of devotion from this woman as the old lady. "Don't you know? There's a rumor that says if you place an origami of her in front of your shop, you'll have good fortune."

"Good fortune, huh?" Jiraiya mused out loud. As he began to eat he couldn't help but wonder what was going on. This country was nothing like what he had expected. He had been expecting a country torn in two with civil strife, if not outright war. And yet Amegakure was completely unified. How could this be?

_It looks like I'm going to need to do some more searching,_ he decided with a sigh. _Maybe I should interrogate one of their shin...o...bi..._ his thoughts were derailed as he saw a rather garish pink sign for a brothel that red Come-Come Pub War. Above the name were two hearts being pierced with an arrow.

Jiraiya's eyes widened and his hands came up and made grasping motions, already imagining the beautiful, nubile flesh they would be feeling. "Maybe I should interrogate them for some information instead!"

* * *

"Oh, Jiraiya-kun, you must be joking!" laughed the blond woman wearing a rather revealing kimono. She poured some sake from the bottle she was holding into the white-haired hermit's cup. "Did that really happen?"

"I assure you every word I said is true," Jiraiya confirmed, right before he took a long gulp from his glass. His cheeks were currently flushed red from all of the alcohol he had been drinking, and he was feeling a nice buzz.

"Wow! That must have been a fierce battle," she said in an impressed voice. It was hard to tell whether she was really impressed, or if she even believed him. Call girls like her were trained to please the men they served, which included feeding a man's ego. Not that Jiraiya particularly cared if she was being honest in her admiration or not.

"Not as fierce as this battle, Tezuna-chan" Jiraiya said as he rather blatantly stared at her chest, which was almost Tsunade-sized. "You know, your name is very similar to another girl I know. She was a lot like you, an amazing and beautiful woman. Seeing you makes the long trip I had to make to get here all worthwhile."

"Oh, so you're not from around here?" asked Tezuna.

"No, I had come here seeking work," Jiraiya said. "I heard there might be some decent paying work for a mercenary like myself. I believe the person hiring was called Salamander No Hanzou -"

"Shhh!" Tezuna hissed as she placed a finger to her lips. "You shouldn't talk about someone like Hanzou here."

"Hmm? Why not?" asked Jiraiya, looking rather confused.

Tezuna looked around to make sure no one was within hearing range, before leaning towards Jiraiya to whisper in his ear. "If people here think you're a comrade of Hanzou, they'll kill you."

"Really? That sounds rather dangerous!" Jiraiya exclaimed.

"The new leader, Pain-sama, is very strict," Tezuna said. "If anyone gives him a reason to be suspicious of them he will kill them without mercy. At least, that's what my hubby said."

"What!" exclaimed Jiraiya. "You have a husband, Tezuna-chan?"

"Yes, but he's just a village genin so we don't make much income, so I have to work to," she explained.

"Ouch, sounds like you have your work cut out for you," the white-haired man said. However on the inside he was frowning in thought. This Pain was obviously very powerful if he could invoke such reactions from the people in his village. That no one even seemed to know who the man was, was also a cause for concern. From what he had gathered no one had even seen Pain in the village, and his 'angel' was the people's only connection to the enigmatic leader of Amegakure. For someone of Jiraiya's caliber, finding such little information on a person was disturbing to say the least.

Jiraiya focused his attention on Tezuna some more, asking some general questions about her before asking about Pain.

"According to my hubby, the rain is falling because of Pain-sama's technique," she told him. "With that technique he is able to see what everyone in the village is doing."

That kicked started the man's brain. "That sounds like a pretty powerful technique," Jiraiya said. "It's kind of disturbing that someone could invade another's privacy so thoroughly."

Tezuna nodded. "That's why it's best to mind our tongues."

"Tezuna-chan!"

Tezuna looked up to see one of the workers calling for her. She stood up and bowed to Jiraiya. "Forgive me, Jiraiya-kun. I'll be right back."

As she walked off the flush from the alcohol Jiraiya had consumed disappeared as did his act. His eyes narrowed in thought. _If this 'Pain' really has a technique like that, then he already knows I'm here. It's likely he's been watching me from the beginning._ That was a disturbing thought. He had believed he had infiltrated the village successfully, but if the man could actually watch him somehow using the rain then he had been caught the moment it touched him.

* * *

Naruto grit his teeth as he used the Hiraishin to dodge another of Madara's Kamui's. He and the ancient Uchiha had been fighting for nearly half an hour now, and neither had really landed a hit on the other. Naruto had suffered several nicks and cuts that had already healed over thanks to Kyuubi, and Madara's Akatsuki cloak was cut in several places, but that was the extent to the damage either of them had received.

In the shinobi world combat was fast paced and brutal, every second counted because a single second where you're not on your A-game is a second in which someone can slip a kunai between your eyes. Most shinobi battles don't last more than fifteen minutes, and the longer battles are normally the ones done between genin who don't know more than the basic academy jutsu and have maybe one or two tricks up their sleeve.

As ninja progress in rank and ability the amount of time those battles take lesson. Most battles between Jonin-level ninja don't take more than five, maybe ten minutes at the most, if the two trapped in combat are of equal or similar strength. That was why the battle going on between the two currently in the clearing was so unusual.

The battle currently happening between Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto and Uchiha Madara was not only remarkable in just how long they had been fighting, but in the speed with which they fought. The Hiraishin, probably the most famous Jikūkan jutsu to ever grace the Elemental Nations, a jutsu that was made famous for the decimation of somewhere around one-thousand Iwa ninja during the Third Great Shinobi War. A jutsu that Naruto used to replicate that feat during the time he spent in Kiri, helping his fiancée Terumi Mei, the now Godaime Mizukage in Kirigakure's Civil War.

And the space-time abilities of Uchiha Madara, a man whose skill was legendary, and whose prowess in war and the art of combat was unparalleled; a man who was said to only have one equal in Senju Hashirama, the founder of Konohagakure No Sato and leader of the Senju clan.

It was a battle where the speed being used by the two was so great that no one else would have been capable of keeping up with it, save maybe the Yondaime Raikage; a battle in which every millisecond could mean the difference between life and death. There was no room for mistakes in combat on this level, and both Naruto and Madara knew that.

_'__Fuuton: Kami Oroshi (Wind Style: Divine Wind From The Mountain)'_ Naruto gathered a vast amount of wind chakra into his hands and unleashed it in a powerful vortex that flew towards Madara at insanely high speeds. They would have struck had Madara not gone underground and used his whack-a-mole jutsu to appear on a tree several meters away.

"You'll have to do better than that, young Namikaze," Madara taunted.

"Don't act so superior, Madara," Naruto said with a frown. "I may not have hit you, but you haven't done much damage to me either."

"True, true, I suppose we're in a bit of stalemate then," chuckled Madara.

"Not for long!" Naruto growled as he began gathering lightning chakra into his left and water chakra into his right.

_'Ranton: SutoRyuu No Tama (Storm Release: Storm Dragon Bullet),'_ the blond shinobi thrust out his hand and launched a condensed ball of water that had electricity crackling inside it. The ball began to morph as it moved, the lightning moving to the front as it took the shape of a dragon head. The crackle of the lightning made the dragon bullet sound like it was roaring at Madara as it crashed into the man.

Or at least it seemed to crash into him.

"Oh my! What a powerful attack," Madara said. "Truly, you are a powerful shinobi."

"Don't patronize me, Madara," Naruto said with narrowed eyes.

"Oh but it's so fun!" Madara chuckled. "That's quite a scary look, Naruto-kun. You really should be more careful with who you glare at."

Naruto's lips thinned into a small line. He despised how this man was mocking him even as they battled. It was like Madara didn't even deem him a threat.

Using the Hiraishin Naruto appeared less than two feet from Madara, two fingers extended outwards and pointing at the Uchiha.

_'Raiton: Gian,'_ a lance of white lightning shot from Naruto's fingertips and pierced through Madara's body.

Before the lightning attack even hit however, the blond shinobi had already flashed to another seal behind the ancient Uchiha.

_'Ranton: Senkou Shikyo (Storm Release: Lightning Death),'_ a white beam with the same diameter of Naruto's finger shot towards Madara, piercing him through the head.

Once more Naruto was gone in a flash and reappeared right in front of the Sharingan-wielding ninja.

_'Fuuton: Shinko Renpa (Wind Release: Serial Waves),'_ Naruto took a deep breath and then exhaled an untold number of wind blades. He moved his head up and down, sending a stream of unending blades through Madara's body just as the two other attacks hit.

None of them even touched Madara. "My, what powerful ninjutsu you have," the Uchiha complimented, though the mocking tone it was in let Naruto know what the red eyed man really thought. "Had I been anyone else I dare say those attacks would hurt."

_'Damn it!'_ Naruto thought as he flashed away. _'Nothing I do even seems capable of hitting him! What the hell kind of jutsu is he using to avoid my attacks?'_ Even as skilled as the blond was in Jikūkan jutsu he could think of nothing that allowed attacks to simply phase through them. It was like the man was a ghost.

"Well, seeing as how you're done, I believe it's my turn now."

Naruto's eye widened as Madara appeared right in front of him, and he was just barely able to dodge kunai that came his way. He attempted to grab the Uchiha by the hand and pull him into a kick. However all that happened was his hand phased through Madara's wrist and he was sent flying backwards with a kick.

Flipping around Naruto landed on a branch and glared at Madara. _'He's pretty fast even without manipulating space and time. I need to be ready.'_

Naruto watched as Madara appeared right in front of him again. While the man seemed to have gained quite a bit of speed, it was nothing the blond couldn't handle and had only surprised him because he had not been expecting it.

Naruto flashed behind Madara and launched a wind blade through the man's body. It phased through as always but the blond refused to let that bother him. He flashed again and sent a beam of Ranton chakra at Madara, a much larger beam then the small one he had fired last time. This one was around ten feet in diameter and when it struck the place Madara had been standing, the entire area disintegrated. The beam flew through the tree, literally vaporizing the trunk. With that part of the trunk gone, the top of the tree had nothing holding it up and it soon fell down to the floor below with a loud crash.

"Oh my! Now that was scary!"

_'Nothing I do seems capable of affecting him,'_ Naruto thought with narrowed eyes. _'Without understanding his jutsu I can't figure out what weaknesses it has. Damn.'_

Naruto wasn't quite sure what to do in this situation. While he had been in some tough battles, no one had ever pushed him this far, and no one had ever had a technique he couldn't break down and analyze. It was frustrating and made even worse by the fact that the man he was fighting didn't seem to be taking this battle seriously.

_'Maybe I should go for something with a more area-wide affect.'_

The battle soon began to take a step in a new direction as Naruto began using a combination of Hiraishin and powerful ninjutsu to keep Madara from doing much more then letting the attacks phase through him. It was the only weakness he had really discerned, Madara could only move so much when using his phase ability. Naruto didn't know why, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

While the battle was going on the blond ninja began releasing more and more of his chakra into the atmosphere. An act which did not go unnoticed by Madara.

_'What's this?'_ the ancient Uchiha wondered as he watched the boy saturate the surrounding area with his chakra. _'What is he up to?'_

_'Almost done,'_ Naruto said to himself. Over head the sky began to darken, rain started pouring down and lightning could be heard within the storm clouds that had suddenly formed overhead. Naruto's eyes began to take on a fierce blue glow, lightning crackled inside of them as he began gathering more and more chakra.

"You should have taken me more seriously Madara," Naruto said in a tone that quite literally oozed with power. It was as if the chakra he had gathered was so massive it affected his tone of voice and speech. "Now you're going to regret it."

Madara watched curiously as Naruto jumped into the air...

...and stayed there.

_'What!'_ a shocked Madara thought as the blond shinobi continued floating in the air, his hands raised over his head as if attempting to make an appeal to Kami. There was a pulse of chakra, so thick and powerful it was visible even without the Sharingan. It spread out across the area, pushing out exactly two kilometers before stopping and creating a light blue dome that encompassed the area ground below and the storm clouds above Naruto.

Great hail stones ranging from the size of pebbles to that of large boulders began crashing into the clearing. Dozens of trees were hit with these mammoth sized stones, which tore through them like a scythe tore through wheat.

The wind began to pick up, growing into a fierce hurricane-like storm in less than a second. Trees were whipped every which way as the wind lashed out at them, cuts began appearing on the bark as the wind began taking on a sharp quality. Then, as if the gods themselves had decided to try and smite Madara, four large tornadoes came crashing down into the clearing. They tore up the land, gouging out deep craters of earth and stone, which was then funneled into the tornadoes and swirled around them in motion with the wind. The attack, which many would only believe was an act of nature was awe inspiring in its power and fury.

Then the lightning came down. It crashed into the clearing, tearing the world asunder and sending a massive shock wave through the earth. Where the lightning struck sparks would cascade across the land in all directions, consuming and destroying everything in their path.

With a scream that seemed to shake the very heavens themselves Naruto let out the rest of the chakra he had been gathering.

The entire world became blinded in a flash of white light.

* * *

Pain stood on the open balcony, letting the rain hit him as it fell. His eyes roamed over the village. "Konan, when I stop the downpour, I want you to use your ability to stop the intruder."

Konan did her best to still her fast-beating heart and nodded. "Leave it to me."

Pain ran through several hand seals and began releasing his chakra. "It's done."

"Right."

* * *

Jiraiya almost smiled as he saw the Genin he was waiting for walk into the bar he had built using a transformation toad. When Tezuna had left he had taken the opportunity to follow her and discovered her husband was coming back from a mission of some kind. Since he had not had any luck in getting the kind of information he had wanted from civilians, he decided the best way was to get information from Amegakure's shinobi.

He had given himself a basic disguise. He now had short black hair, along with a goatee and sunglasses. Have such an elaborate disguise might be an unnecessary precaution, but he couldn't be sure that Pain didn't know what he looked like and sent that information to the shinobi under his command. He wasn't going to take any chances now that he knew how dangerous the man was.

"Welcome," he said as the Genin and his partner hung up their rain coats and sat down. "What can I get for you two?"

"Get us some snacks and some Sake," the Genin with light brown hair said. "It's not Sunday, is it? Isn't that when Pain-sama normally uses this jutsu?"

"Pain-sama must've had something important come up," the other Genin, one with dark brown shoulder length hair said. "Maybe he's leaving the country for something."

"But it's never rained this much on other days of the week," said the man that Jiraiya had decided to call spiky.

The other Genin, who had just been dubbed scraggly, by Jiraiya, shrugged. "Maybe he needs to put a lot of power into this jutsu so it lasts."

"But if it keeps up like this..."

"Oi! Watch your mouth," the scraggly Genin said angrily. "Pain-sama is working constantly for everyone in the village! Just bear with it for a while."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," the spiky haired Genin replied. He then looked over at the disguised Jiraiya and frowned. "Why haven't you made us anything yet."

"Sorry, sorry, it just takes some time to prepare," Jiraiya said. "You see, this is our grand opening today, so I've got a special 'Grand Opening' service today."

"Really!" exclaimed an excited scraggly. "What kind of service is it?"

"The Club Frog Special Torture Service." At these words a puff of smoke enveloped Jiraiya and he was returned to his normal spiky white haired form. The two genin quickly leapt to their feet, but before they could do anything the pair was engulfed in a large cloud of smoke.

Screams soon echoed from inside the bar, which began to morph and shrink until it turned into a small toad. The toad quickly hopped into the surrounding lake where no one would be able to find it as Jiraiya began to interrogate the two genin.

* * *

The attack done by Naruto had not gone unnoticed. The entire team that Tsunade had put together had all stopped to look at what could only be a contained version of Armageddon. "What the hell is that!" shouted Kiba.

"I don't know," Hinata mumbled with wide eyes. "I can't use my Byakugan on that, there's so much chakra I'd go blind if I did."

"My Kikouchu tell me that's all Naruto's chakra creating that...that...attack," Shino said. Truly attack did not do the massive done of well contained annihilation justice, but there wasn't anything else the Aburame could think of to call it.

"You're telling me that's all Naruto!" Kiba shouted. The look of dumb wonderment on his face would have been priceless and something Shino would have used for nice blackmail material, had the situation not been so unbelievable.

"That is exactly what I am saying, Kiba-san," Shino replied in the same monotone voice he always used.

No more words were spoken as everyone watched in a mixture of shock and awe at the dome, which had now become a pure white that no one could see through. A few seconds later the dome had cleared; allowing them to see what had come it's in wake.

"T-there's nothing there anymore," Sakura stuttered with wide eyes. "Everything that was within that done is just...gone."

"Hinata, can you see anything?" asked Kakashi.

Hinata tried activating her Byakugan, only to gasp in pain and turn them off a second later. "No, there is still far too much chakra saturating the area." She blinked several times as if trying to get rid of spots that appeared before her eyes.

Kakashi sighed. "Let's not stay here. Whatever Naruto did, he did it to give us enough time to capture Sasuke without interference. Let's go!"

* * *

Naruto floated back down to the ground. As soon as his feet touched the now decimated ground he was forced to a knee as he gasped for breath. His entire body felt like it was on fire. His muscles were twitching spastically and every millimeter of movement sent jolts of unrelenting pain through his body. Even with his impressive pain tolerance, all he wanted to do was bitch and moan about how much pain he was in.

"Fuck! I didn't think it would hurt this much," Naruto hacked up several globs of blood. He grimaced when he noticed the blood was charred black. "Well, damn."

_'Kyuubi, damage assessment.'_

There was a large sigh from the Great Beast in his mind. _**'You have fried most of your nervous system, your veins have been charred beyond belief, and your muscles all look like they've been placed in a deep fryer.'**_ A chuckle escaped the creature's throat. _**'You should be good in a few hours. I have to admit, that was a rather impressive attack brat. Almost reminds me of my own force-of-nature abilities.'**_

_'Gee, I feel so happy that I'm being compared to a furball with a chip on his shoulder,'_ Naruto said in a sarcastic tone. He chuckled when he heard a grumble of 'impudent whelp' in his mind. The blond felt Kyuubi's chakra begin flooding his body and sighed in relief. While the Bijuu's chakra may be poisonous to anyone else, to him it was the ultimate painkiller. He could feel all of his damaged internal organs being mended together and knew it wouldn't be long before he could move again.

A flash of instinct, a warning of imminent danger was all that saved him from being impaled by a sickle. Not to say that Naruto got away unscathed. He had only managed to roll to his feet and turn around before being impaled through the shoulder.

Naruto grunted and bit his tongue hard enough to taste blood as he found himself staring at Uchiha Madara. "That attack was quite deadly," the Uchiha said, and for once his voice was entirely serious. And with good reason, as the man's left arm was gone entirely, his mask was cracked and half of it had fallen off, revealing the left side of his age-lined face. He was also missing his right leg below his knee and his remaining hand only had three fingers. "Had I been any slower that would have killed me."

"How are you still alive!" shouted Naruto as his frustration boiled over. "That was my strongest attack! There's no way you could have survived that!"

"Oh contraire my dear fox. I am quite... resourceful. Surviving that attack was hard but not impossible for one such as me."

Naruto snarled as he grabbed the sickle and sent as much lightning chakra as he was able. Due to the damage he had sustained he ended up getting hurt to, but it completed its objective of getting Madara to let go of the weapon and jump away. Though how he was able to move so nimbly when he only had one leg was beyond the blond.

Naruto grunted as he pulled it out and threw it away. He stared at Madara as he prepared for another round. If he were honest with himself, the blond knew he would not last for much longer. Not unless he got at least an hour or two of rest so he could recover from the damage he had done to himself. Not that he was going to be giving up anytime soon.

"It seems we are at a stalemate," Madara replied.

"Maybe -" Naruto stopped mid-sentence before smirking. "Actually Madara, it seems I'm going to need to reschedule our little playmate for another day. I've got to go. You know how it is, places to go, people to see. But don't worry; I'm sure we'll meet each other again real soon."

With that Naruto disappeared in a yellow flash, leaving behind a frustrated Madara who finally let loose a scream of pain from the loss of his limbs.

* * *

"Report!" Naruto ordered as soon as he appeared next to Kakashi in a bright flash of yellow. He didn't let anyone see just how much it hurt to even speak.

"We have Sasuke," Kakashi said, holding up the Prisoner Transportation scroll. "As well as the corpse of Itachi."

"So Sasuke won?" Naruto already knew Sasuke would win. Itachi had not gone to meet his younger brother to kill him, but to sacrifice himself to him. But he had to keep up appearances...for now.

"Yes, when we got there Itachi was dead and Sasuke was unconscious," Kakashi said with a nod. "It looked like they had both been through one hell of a battle." The one-eyed man then looked the blond up and down. "Though I don't think either of them were as beat up as you."

Naruto would have chuckled had doing so not hurt so much. "Yeah well, that Tobi character was harder than I thought."

"I'm sure, that must be why you destroyed two kilometers of forest," Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

"It was," Naruto replied, he didn't have the strength to rise to Kakashi's bait right now. "It looks like our mission is complete so let's head to Konoha."

"Hai!"

* * *

Outside the toad the rain in Amegakure had stopped. Pain turned to Konan. "Do it, Konan."

"Hai," she said, bringing her hands into a single hand-seal. Cracks soon appeared on her face and the sound of peeling was heard. Konan spread her arms wide as her body began to peel apart into some sheets of paper. Hundreds of thousands of sheets floated into the air as Konan's body disappeared and became paper. The small purple flower that she had kept in her hair since she was little was the last sheet to float off and flatten itself.

Then the sheets began to fold themselves until thousands of butterflies now floated in the air. The small origami butterflies flapped their wings and began to disperse, heading off to search for the intruder. Konan did not know who it was, but she could only hope it wasn't someone allied with Naruto.

* * *

Jiraiya frowned as he walked down one of the many streets in Ame, thinking about what he had learned from interrogating the low-level genin.

It seemed no one really knew much if anything about Pain. All they had was rumors and hearsay. No one even knew what he looked like, and some thought rumor of Pain's existence as just a myth. Everything the people heard, whether they were orders, speeches and even religious festivals were all given to the populous by proxies or the 'angel'.

Because this, Jiraiya couldn't even tell if Pain existed, or whether he was simply a front for the true person acting behind the scenes. Maybe this angel was the person who was really in charge, or even someone who didn't truly live in Amegakure. Unfortunately, all he had to go on was what he knew, and that wasn't much.

Even more disturbing was that he had heard the Civil War that had supposedly been going on had been over for over a decade. Even worse was the rumor that Pain had crushed Amegakure all by himself, including Salamander No Hanzou, a man who was said to be just as and maybe even more powerful than Sarutobi Hiruzen had been in his prime.

That was another thing Jiraiya had trouble grasping. Hanzou was a legend for his prowess on the battle-field. He had even been the one to defeat Jiraiya, Orochimaru and Tsunade and had given them the title of Sannin. Even more concerning was the knowledge that Hanzou had become extremely paranoid during the later years after the war. From what the genin had said Hanzou had always been surrounded by an elite unit of guards to protect him at all times, and even children were searched for weapons when he went out. That anyone could defeat not only Amegakure's forces, but Hanzou all by themselves was a frightening prospect.

However that wasn't even the worst thing he had learned about Pain. No, the worst was the man was not only powerful, but completely merciless as well. He had killed not just Hanzou, but Hanzou's parents, his wife, his child, distant relatives; anyone even remotely related to or allied with Hanzou was killed. Then he had burnt their homes, several living districts which to this day were still demolished as a warning to those who might show resistance.

Jiraiya knew now that the only way to get anywhere was to find this 'Pain' and fight them himself.

As he entered a new road his eyes widened as he saw several hundred sheets of paper flying at him. Despite being surprised however, he wasn't an S ranked ninja for nothing and reacted so quickly that no one would have known otherwise. His hands went through several seals in less than a second and blew out a large fire bullet. "Katon: Endan!"

Konan was forced to move back as the fire bullet flew towards her. She reached the end of the road and backed up against the wall as the bullet exploded in front of her. The fire and smoked caused from the technique cleared a second later to reveal she was completely unharmed, and a large paper wall had blocked the attack.

"I came here looking for Pain, and instead I end up finding you." Jiraiya smirked at the beautiful blue haired woman. "Not only have your techniques improved, but you've turned into one hell of a woman, Konan."

Konan said nothing as she stared at the man who had been her sensei, and was the current sensei of her lover. She had been surprised when she first saw that their intruder was none other than Jiraiya. Though she supposed she shouldn't be. Jiraiya had a spy network almost as vast as Madara's, it was a reasonable assumption that Amegakure would eventually become suspect for holding Akatsuki.

One thing Konan knew was that they were now in a bad way. The whole reason she and Naruto had agreed not to inform Jiraiya was because they both knew he would come looking for Nagato if he found out they were alive. But Nagato was no longer the man he once was, he was now Pain, a man who had lost his heart long ago and could no longer see that his goals had shifted from bringing peace to revenge.

Jiraiya was unaware of her thoughts as he began speaking again. "I thought you were dead, but instead, you're just a bunch of paper. So, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you're this 'angel' people keep talking about?" When Konan still said nothing Jiraiya grunted. "So who is Pain?"

"That's none of your business, sensei," Konan said as she played her part and began floating in the air. Jiraiya tensed, wondering if he was about to have a fight on his hands. He woman who only had half a body at the moment floated up higher into the air and several thousand sheets of paper began forming out of her back, creating two large angel wings.

"So, that's supposed to make you an angel?" asked Jiraiya with narrowed eyes. "Doesn't look like much. Does that shape bring you any benefits?"

Konan said nothing; however she did begin launching several thousand paper shuriken at him. Jiraiya reacted quickly and began blowing out a stream of fire to counter her attack. As the two tried to overpower each other, Konan slipped a sheet of paper behind Jiraiya and stuck it on his shoulder.

The white-haired Sennin's eyes widened as he felt something slap on his shoulder, thinking it was a paper bomb he took pealed it off quick and was just about to throw it away when his eyes caught sight of it. They widened as he saw that it wasn't a paper bomb, but a message.

_What the hell do you think you're doing here, sensei?_

Jiraiya blinked in surprise, and it was only his instincts which managed to keep him from getting impaled by more paper shuriken. Or was it?

_These shuriken aren't getting close to hitting me,_ he realized with a frown. Being a ninja of his class, Jiraiya could easily tell when someone was trying to actually hurt him or not. And he could tell that Konan was trying very hard to make it _look _like she was trying to kill him, but she actually wasn't. It was like she was putting on a show for someone else's benefit. What was going on here?

Deciding to play along for now Jiraiya blew out several dozen large fireballs that sailed towards Konan. At the same time he slipped the sheet of paper in between the fireballs, having used the split second to scrawl a quick message using his chakra. Konan caught the message on one of her wings and discreetly read it.

_I'm looking for information on Akatsuki. I didn't expect to see you here. You've grown quite beautiful my dear._

Konan didn't know whether to scowl or smirk. It seemed Naruto was right and Jiraiya really was a pervert, even in battle he was trying to compliment her. She responded to his compliment with more paper shuriken, this time aiming closer to him – more specifically his male bits – causing the man to pale. She almost let her impassive face fall in amusement, but shook her head and once again slipped a message through the attacks.

_You shouldn't have come here sensei. This village is much more dangerous now. I suggest you leave while you can._

Jiraiya frowned, even as he sent some oil towards Konan, which coated her form liberally and made it impossible for her to use her paper jutsu. He went through several hand-seals and his already lengthy hair extended to ridiculous lengths. It quickly wrapped around Konan, binding both her wings together so she could not try to use them to escape.

As Jiraiya's hair wrapped around Konan, a small strand of it discreetly slipped his reply to her last note on one of her angel wings, at an angle where she could read it.

_I can't leave. I have to find out information on Akatsuki, and I'm guessing you know about it. Who is your leader? And what happened to Nagato and Yahiko?_

Konan growled in frustration as she read her former sensei's reply. This man was going to make it incredibly hard to get him out alive. She wasn't really sure what to do; neither she nor Naruto had planned for Jiraiya coming here to look for information. They both knew it had been a possibility, but had assumed that the man wouldn't do anything for a few more years. And by that time they had hoped Akatsuki would be defeated.

She was just about to use one of the more powerful jutsu Naruto had taught to her, what he called an 'ace in the whole' jutsu. Her lover had not wanted her to rely on just her paper jutsu, feeling that paper was too easy to counter once someone realized its weakness. Thus he had taught her five jutsu from each element, and five non elemental jutsu. She was preparing to use one of the wind jutsu he had taught her, when a familiar voice made her freeze.

"It's been a long time, Jiraiya-sensei."

Konan's eyes widened as Pain appeared crouched on a cliff of metal pipes several dozen feet away.

_Damn it! I thought I had more time!_ She thought to herself. With Pain here things were going to swiftly go downhill. Even using just one of his paths he could defeat her, and while Jiraiya may be able to beat one; this particular path was extremely difficult to face in combat. Mainly because it was damn near impossible to actually fight it up close.

Considering the situation she was now in, it was a wonder she could still keep most of her impassive mask on.

Jiraiya looked at Nagato, for that was the only person it could be. He had long orange hair in a ponytail, with one bang parting off to the left in a style reminiscent of Naruto's friend Ino. He had a several stud piercings along his jaw and neck, and two on each of his cheeks, which were connected by a thin strand of metal that went through his nose. He was wearing the traditional Akatsuki robes.

Narrowing his eyes, Jiraiya said, "Your appearance has changed quite a bit. But I still remember those eyes..."

He remembered the very first time he saw those eyes, the legendary Rinnegan, back when he had been training the three Ame orphans. Nagato and Yahiko had been attacked while he was away, when he returned, the ninja were dead and Nagato was in a state of shock and had gained the most legendary of all doujutsu.

"So you are the one they call Pain, Nagato. It seems you didn't grow up as I had expected. What happened to you?"

"You don't need to know that," Pain said. "You're just an outsider, after all."

Jiraiya frowned, "It seems you've changed, Nagato."

Pain clapped his hands together, "Kuchiyose No Jutsu!" A large summoning seal away spread out on the pipe wall behind Pain. There was a large burst of smoke, and a large crablike creature scuttled out. Jiraiya's eyes widened as it stopped at the ledge and shot out a foamy substance from its mouth.

Konan let it over take her, knowing that at the moment she would be no good. It washed off the oil and she made a hasty get away until she could come up with a plan to get her and Jiraiya out of this mess alive.

Jiraiya on the other hand jumped into the air and flipped himself on the wall to dodge the foamy liquid. "Foam huh? I should have realized he would exploit my greatest weakness. Washing away my oil with foam."

The giant crap disappeared in a puff of smoke and Pain began manipulating his hands like he was conducting an orchestra.

The crab summon burst out of the foam, it's left pincer-claw making grasping motions as it attempted to crush Jiraiya with its pincers. However, Jiraiya wasn't S-class for nothing and swiftly began making hand seals.

"Ranshishigami No Jutsu (Raging Lion's Mane Technique)!" as he called out the name of his attack, Jiraiya's hair expanded from all sides. It quickly wrapped around the crab summon's arms, legs and torso.

The Gama Sennin stamped a foot on the wall and his hair constricted. By using his chakra, Jiraiya had hardened his hair follicles to the same density and hardness as steel. While the crab's outer shell may have been tough, even it wasn't strong enough to withstand Jiraiya's attack as it sliced through the outer shell and into the creature's fleshy interior.

The crab burst into smoke as it was de-summoned by the attack. Out of that smoke came more hair, this time in the shape of a large mouth. It crashed into Pain and slammed the path against the wall. The amount of force the attack generated caused the pipes to bend out and the wall to crack. Konan watched over head, the only sign that she was worried being the way her teeth bit her lower lip.

Jiraiya flexed his chakra and the hair began to recede slightly, enough that he could now see Nagato inside of his grip. "Nagato! I have a few questions I want to ask you!" he said in a tone that suggested he wasn't talking no for an answer. "What happened to Yahiko?"

Konan winced at the memory the boy's name brought. She shook her head however and quickly replaced it with the memory of the man who was very similar to the bright and excitable boy. She looked over at Pain whose face was impassive as always.

"Ah, I do recall someone by that name, yes," Pain replied. The tone in his voice suggesting he didn't care about the name, causing Jiraiya to grunt angrily. "He died a long time ago."

"What? He died?" Jiraiya nearly joked. He looked at his old apprentice and frowned. "What happened to you Nagato? Your old self would've never been so callous."

"Happened? Nothing happened," Pain said without inflection. "There was just war. There was too much death here. That death caused pain and that pain made me grow."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Through pain, even a foolish child will grow up," Pain continued. "Through pain, words and thoughts are controlled too."

Jiraiya scowled. "Are you saying that casting aside feelings for your friend makes you a man?"

"Sensei," Pain said chidingly. "You are still a man. But caught within infinite pain, I transcended humanity."

"What?" Jiraiya said in a harsh whisper.

"That's right," Pain said. "I went from being a man, to a god. By becoming a god, my words and thoughts become the laws of nature. Sensei, you are still just a man. Trying to comprehend my words is meaningless. As a god, I now comprehend that which I could not as a man. And because I am a god, I can understand that which was previously incomprehensible. Simply put, I've evolved beyond man."

Konan had heard Pain say things like this hundreds of times before. In the past, she had always believed his words were absolute; she had been in awe of him and believed he truly had become a god. To accomplish what he had in such a short time, to create such a grand goal, to find the means and have the will to go through with his plans. Surely, someone who can do so much and have such a grand plan must be a god?

Her time with Naruto had tempered that awe. She had seen the havoc Pain had truly caused, some might have believed that everything he had done was for the sake of peace. But she knew better. Pain was taking revenge on the world for causing him pain; a child lashing out at the thing that created him. And he was merciless in his revenge, he had no compassion for others, he did not fight for the sake of others, and did not care who he had to kill to get what he wanted. He said he wanted peace, but how can there be peace when the man creating it did not have the compassion necessary to help those who would be ruled under this peace?

For all his power, Pain was not a god, but a simple man who had lost sight within his own delusions. And while it broke Konan's heart, she knew there was not much she could do now.

Except insure that Pain died so that Nagato could rest in peace.

Jiraiya kept his face blank as Pain finished his monologue. "And what are your intentions now?"

Pain closed his eyes. "To cleanse this world in meaningless strife. That's the work of god."

"If that's your goal, why are you collecting the Bijuu?" asked Jiraiya.

"You're going to die anyways... that is the only reason I will tell you my goal," at Pain's words Jiraiya's eyes widened. "By using the sealed Bijuu, I will create a new forbidden jutsu. With only a single use of that jutsu, even an entire nation can be wiped out in an instant. It's the ultimate forbidden jutsu weapon. I will give this jutsu to the nations. Eventually, they will use it. Hundreds of millions of people will die in an instant. After witnessing the display, they will be terrified, they will all know pain. That terror will act as a deterrent. The conflicts will vanish. You could say the current world is still not moving towards a state of equilibrium. Pain will force the world to grow up. Like the old me thought, for the world to move forward and grow up, divine help is necessary. This world is still but a mere child."

Konan's lips became a thin line as she listened to Nagato's words. Being able to actually here his plans without the illusions of Pain's perfection in her mind, she could now see what Naruto saw. A weapon like that would not bring peace, not unless Pain was seeking the peace of the grave. If he gave weapons of such devastating power to the elemental nations, they would use it. Whole nations would be extinguished; an untold number of people would die.

And when those who survived, those who had loved ones killed at the hands of that weapon, they would rage. They would hate, and they too would use the weapon and wipe out the nation that attacked them. The hatred would spread, as more and more nations used the weapon to destroy their enemies in revenge. Soon after the world would become a sterile wasteland, nothing would exist after that. There would be no war, but there would be no one left to enjoy the peace Pain's weapon brought.

Apparently, Jiraiya thought the same thing as well, because he actually began to laugh. "You think...you think that by destroying the world, you'll make it grow faster? That is the lamest, most idiotic thing I've ever heard! You won't be making anything grow! You'll just kill this world and everyone in it! I guess in a way you'll create peace! If the peace of the grave is what you're looking for!"

Pain just shook his head. "You just can't understand, sensei. You are still just a regular human."

"And that's how I know I'm right!" Jiraiya shot back. "Because unlike you Mr. 'I've transcended humanity' I still am human, and as a human I understand other humans. You create that weapon, people will use it, and when the few people who see that weapon used, and realize that their loved ones are dead. They will grow terrified and angry, and then they will use that weapon in retaliation. As more and more people use the weapon they will destroy the world, leaving it nothing more than a graveyard. You're a fool, Nagato. That's what you are, and I'm ashamed of how you've become."

Pain's eyes narrowed. "It matters not what you think. Only my will, the will of god matters." Pain quickly disappeared within a Kawarimi and appeared several feet away. "Over here sensei. To me you're an insignificant child whose growth was stunted."

"Another summon?" Jiraiya said as he saw Pain standing atop a massive chameleon, "I have to admit, hearing a kid like you telling me that I and the world need to grow up. It's rather funny coming from a brat like you. You say you're God, but I'm no longer a human either." He said as he made hand-seals for his own summoning jutsu. The smoke amassed around him, "Flooded by anger I cry tears of blood! The Gama-Sennin of the Legendary Sannin! The Gama-Youkai of Mt. Myouboku! The great Jiraiya-sama -" his speech was cut off as he fell face first onto the surface he had been standing on.

Still floating in the skies above until she could come up with a way to get Jiraiya out of this fucked up situation alive, without revealing her position as a spy, Konan felt like face-palming as she saw Jiraiya fall flat on his face. _And this is the man who trained Naruto-kun and I,_ she thought lamentingly.

"You really haven't grown up at all have you?" Pain said with disdain. "You're still just as clumsy and childish as ever."

Jiraiya pushed himself up until he was on his hands and knees. "Damn it Gamaken-san, don't move around so much when I'm striking my pose!"

The massive toad had clothing on that was very similar to Gamabunta except his was magenta in color. He had horns on his head, black markings going down his face and he held two objects in each hand, a shield in one and a sasumata in the other, **"Don't blame me, it's your fault you tripped over your own feet like a clumsy idiot."**

"No respect." Jiraiya muttered as he rubbed his face. Soon Pain and his massive chameleon came charging forward, "We won't be able to go easy in this fight. We'll need to use everything we have on this guy right from the start. I'm going to use Sennin-mode for this."

Gamaken looked up at the summoner on his head in shock, **"What? Jiraiya, are you really going to use that so soon? Is this guy really that powerful?"**

"He's likely gonna be one of the toughest opponent's we'll ever face." Jiraiya said, "That's why I'm summoning the Two Great Sage Toads. Though it's going to take a while before I can gather the chakra to do so. I won't be able to split my hands during that time. I'm going to need you to buy me some time, think you can do that?"

Gamaken nodded, **"You've got it Jiraiya. I'm not that strong, but I'll give you my best!"**

In the skies above Konan watched as the battle began to progress. She had to admit, despite being much older now and still acting like a complete fool, Jiraiya was still a very powerful ninja and seemed capable of holding his own against most opponent's. Were he facing her, Konan had no doubt she would not be able to win.

However it was becoming obvious to her that Pain was on a whole other level. It was going to take considerable skill just for him to make it out alive.

Jiraiya watched as Nagato and the chameleon summon disappeared. His eyes narrowed. "I wonder where the hell he found this summon? Gamaken-san! It looks like we're going to need to use that barrier jutsu to find him."

"**Right, it looks like we're in for a tough battle," **Gamaken said.

It seemed that Pain had figured out his plan however, since he switched out his chameleon summons with a three-headed dog that went on the attack as soon as it appeared. Jiraiya had to channel more chakra to his feet to keep from falling off as Gamaken began jumping and dodging the attacks. Through some fancy footwork on Gamaken's part, they managed to pin the dog to the wall via stabbing it with the giant toad's sasumata. Jiraiya cheered, "I don't know why you keep dissing yourself Gamaken-san, you're actually pretty good."

Whatever celebration Jiraiya might have done was cut short as the three-headed dog somehow managed to split itself into three more dogs.

"What the hell!" he yelled, only to watch in growing horror as the dogs split even further, becoming six dogs. "Now that's just not fair!"

Gamaken soon began to battle with the now six one-headed dogs, jumping around as he used his Sasumata and shield to fight them off as he jumped from wall to wall. He managed to bat most of the dog summons away, however one managed to get through. The dog hit Gamaken and sent him flying through the wall.

"Are you alright, Gamaken-san?" asked Jiraiya as his summon managed to hang onto one of the poles. "Think you can move without jostling me so much?"

"**I'll try my best," **Gamaken said.

"That's all I can ask for." Jiraiya frowned as he looked at the now dozen-headed dog, the former dogs having melded together. "I really have no clue what we're dealing with here. I wonder if these dogs are bound to some kind of self-replicating summoning technique? Either way, I think we should get out of here for now." The pole Gamaken was holding began to loosen and fall. "Let's fight them in a location of our choosing!"

"**Right!"** Gamaken leapt away as soon as he hit the ground. Heading off as the dog split one of its heads and went off after them.

As they were running Jiraiya's eyes widened as he caught sight of a still camouflaged Nagato hanging off a wall. Unfortunately he could do anything due to the dog chasing after him.

Gamaken moved quickly, luring the dogs into a place of their choosing. They soon managed to lure the dogs into a dead end. Jiraiya smirked. "Well it looks like we're trapped, Gamaken-san." He eyed the dogs as they prepared to attack. "They'll likely try and split up again so get ready!"

The dogs did split up, making an attempt to attack Jiraiya and Gamaken from all angles. However the large toad summon had some pretty slick moves up its sleeves. Spinning his sasumata, Gamaken was able to deflect all of the dogs. When the last one attacked Gmaken, the large toad bashed it across the top of its head, smashing it into the ground. He jumped up and began looking for a place to recuperate from the wounds he received at the dog's hands.

However before they could get far, a giant drill-beaked bird came at Gamaken who lifted his shield to block. It kept him from taking immediate damage, but it didn't keep him from being slammed into a wall hard enough that the pipes on it burst. Jiraiya winced as he was jostled around, "Whenever I plan to attack he hides himself! This really sucks." Jiraiya tried his best to think up a strategy to fight because if he kept going like this he wouldn't even live long enough to use Sennin-Mode, _'I don't understand. With the Rinnegan Nagato is capable of using all six chakra natures, so why is he just using summons?'_

A massive ox rushed at him and Gamaken, "Gamaken you can return home now, I'm ready!" Gamaken returned to the mountain of the toads just as the ox plowed Jiraiya into a wall, kicking up a cloud of smoke. However it ended up with the ox blown away as if it were a light-weight.

**"Kid, why do ya always summon us to annoyin' places like this? No wonder Bunta is always so angry at you!" **An elderly voice came from the hole that Jiraiya and the ox had made in the wall.

**"Don't be like that, Ma. You know Jiraiya always has a reason for summoning us." **Came another elderly voice from inside of the wall.

"**For cryin' out loud, be quiet, Pa!"**

"Sorry for summoning you both here Fukasaku-sama, Shima-sama." Jiraiya said apologetically.

Shima spoke again, **"But brat, didn't you always say you disliked this form because it made your face ugly and chased away the girls? That's why you only use it when fighting the other brat."**

Jiraiya chuckled, "Naruto would be pissed to hear you call him brat. Besides, there's no choice but for me to just deal with it. I am fighting an opponent with the Rinnegan after all."

"**The Rikudou's eyes! To think it really exists!"**

"**Well in that case it can't be helped!"** Jiraiya's form could be seen from the shadows of the hole in the wall with two small toads on both of his shoulders. **"Looks like we've got to fight with you."**

Jiraiya's smile was grim as he walked out of the whole for Pain to see his new form. "I'm glad I can count on you two. It's good to know a guy has friends."

* * *

**So this is a tad late I think. I was having trouble writing these scenes how I wanted them. Even now I'm not sure I like this chapter very much. Hopefully you guys will. Oh! For those of you who are wondering, Naruto's last attack was his Araton Ability.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: So, I don't know how many of you read some of the recent manga, but I just did and found out that the Bijuu have names. Now, admittedly I'm a little confused. First, we learn that the Bijuu are demons, then we learn that Kyuubi is supposed to be a creature of mass hatred and malice, THEN Kishimoto says they are simply masses of raw chakra with a conscious that were once the chakra of the Juubi before being split into nine, and now we learn that they have names and Kyuubi's apparently not as evil as we thought.**

**I really wish Kishi would make up his mind about the Bijuu.**

**And every other plot hole and contradiction he has in his story.**

**If I owned Naruto, this shit wouldn't be a problem.**

**I would like to thank Senjuto for betaing this story for me. You rock my friend.**

* * *

**Chapter 21: A Friend's Betrayal**

* * *

Jiraiya and Pein stared at each other, a classic standoff between two powerful forces just before the epic clash. While not much had changed about Jiraiya as a whole, there were several differences that Pein was able to take note of. The most notable being his nose, it was much larger now and was covered in warts. The other changes included his eyes, which had red rings around with a black bar that ran horizontal across them in place of a pupil. The final difference was that he had a pointed beard that looked just like the toad on the man's right shoulder.

_'He went through all that trouble just to summon two toads?' _Pein frowned as he looked at the toads, then began to analyze Jiraiya's new look. _'No, there's someth__ing different about him as well. It looks like Sensei has gone through some kind of transformation. How interesting, whether it's Orochimaru or Jiraiya, these Sannin always have unique abilities.'_

"Jiraiya-chan, I can't see the descendant of the Six Paths," Pa said from his place on the man's right shoulder. He looked around with a frown. "Where exactly is he?"

"Hmph!" Ma scoffed as she too looked around the area. "Jiraiya-chan's eyesight must be going with his age."

"No, he's here," Jiraiya said with a frown. He was tempted to mention that ma was much older than he was, but that would have just earned him a smack with her ladle later on. "However, he's hidden himself in a summon creature that can make itself invisible."

"Oh, then it must be a chameleon type summon."

"I've erected a probe barrier."

"That won't work against these types of summons," Ma said with a shake of her head. She brought her hands into a hand seal. "You've got to be more forceful. Let's drag them out using the Kurīchā no kenshutsu (creature detection)."

"Don't get overexcited, Ma," Pa spoke up with a frown. "You'll get more wrinkles that way."

"Oh hush up, Pa!" was the reply he got.

"Still, I'm not sure why you went so far as to summon us, Jiraiya-chan. Is this guy really that much of a threat?"

Jiraiya eyes narrowed and a frown marred his face. "The man we're fighting happens to be a former student of mine."

Both toads looked over at Jiraiya with shock etched upon their features. It looked almost comical, their faces being surprisingly more expressive than those of a human's, their mouths and eyes stretched and widened to proportions that a human simply couldn't reach.

It would be Pa who broke the silence.

"I never knew you had another apprentice besides Minato-chan and Naruto-boya!" Pa's eyes widened further as he leaned into Jiraiya's ear. "Then is he... the one?"

Jiraiya didn't seem to register Pa's words; however, just because he had no physical reaction didn't mean he had not heard what the elder toad had said.

"_I shall now tell you. In my dream you, who are solely perverted, will still manage to become a splendid ninja. And in time you will have your own disciple. That disciple will become a ninja who will bring great change to the ninja world. That is what I saw in my dream."_

"_Great change?"_

"_Either great stability or great destruction. The likes of which the world has never seen before. One of those two."_

"So this boy is the Child of Prophecy!" asked Ma, sounding surprised as she looked at Jiraiya. "Then why are we fighting him?"

"No," Jiraiya shook his head. "He is not the Child of Prophecy. At first, when I had first seen his eyes I had been positive that he was, but now..." the white-haired perverted hermit smiled. "Now I know that he is not. Perhaps he could have been, but he has gone down the wrong path."

"Then it's..."

"Yes," Jiraiya answered. "It's _him."_

"If that is the case then it's our job to destroy the descendant of the Sage, much as it pains me," Pa concluded. "If he is not following the right path, then we cannot let him live."

"Whatever the case may be we should get started," Ma declared. "I want to be home in time to make my stew..." Jiraiya grimaced at the thought of Ma's stew, filled with bugs and nasty creepy crawlie's of all kinds. "... so let's get started!"

Ma leaned forward and opened her mouth. What came out was not a tongue, at least, not one anyone besides maybe the other toads had ever seen. It looked vaguely similar to an eel, with a long pink tube-like body and a face with closed eyes and sharp, shark-like teeth. The difference between this tongue, thing, creature, and an eel were both its color, a light pink that was very much the color of a tongue, and the wart-like protrusions that ran along its body.

It slithered out of Ma's mouth, growing longer by the second. When it reached a length of three or so feet, it began to sniff around, nostril's flaring in its attempt to track the summoned chameleon by scent. The creature stopped a moment into its tracking, pointed in a specific direction and with a cry of "Found him!" from Ma, it rocketed forwards at surprising speed.

Pein had no time to tell his summon to move as the fleshy appendage with the face wrapped around the chameleon. The thing tightened its hold and made it impossible for the summon to move, then, from the large wart-like bumps it began emitting a yellow gas. The chameleon let loose a strangled cry as it not only became visible, but the tongue managed to wrap itself around the creature's neck and begin strangling with.

"Got'cha!" Ma cried. Her tongue began to reel in, tightening its hold and drawing the fleshy appendage taught. With a great heave that should not have been possible in a being so tiny, Ma lifted the chameleon into the air, and then slammed it back down onto the ground. "Pa!"

"Right!" Pa's cheeks bulged as Ma gave him his cue. He threw his head backwards, then forwards, releasing a small, yet highly concentrated beam of water. It hit the wall of the building behind the chameleon, carving a path through the metal as Pa brought his aim lower, until it hit the chameleon, cutting the creature in half. The chameleon's death screams died as its blood splattered everywhere, then it disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving its blood to rain down on the ground.

"So that's the Rinnegan, huh?" Ma said with a solemn look. "It certainly looks like the one found in the legends."

"What a nasty looking pair of eyes," Pa commented. "I can see now why you would not want him to be the Child of Prophecy. Though his eyes are that of the Sage, he does not seem to possess the heart for what you require."

"I made my choice a long time ago," Jiraiya said. "Even before I knew Nagato was alive my choice was set."

"Then all that's left for us to do is take him out."

The expressionless face on Pein did not change at the loss of his summon creature. Indeed it did not look like he even cared. His face remained passionless, dead, as if he had cut himself off from the world and all that it possessed. He might as well be a corpse for all the emotion his face showed.

Whether or not the man Jiraiya had once trained held the capacity for emotions anymore became a moot point when, a second later Pein clapped his hands together. "Kuchiyose No Jutsu."

Two summoning seal arrays appeared on either side of Pein, long lines of kanji that spread out along the ground. There was a flash of light from the center of each, and then a puff of smoke as Pein summoned not a pair of creatures, but two bodies. Human bodies.

Both of the bodies were completely different from each other. The one on Pein's left was fat, with two piercings moving vertically across the bridge of his nose, a spiky piercing on each cheek, and a strange rod-like piercing that went through his ears and stuck themselves in the side of his face. Along with his piercings the man had an odd spiky beard just under his lower lip, and Rinnegan eyes.

The other man was skinny, especially when compared to the fat one. He had lines going down his eyes, and two piercings on each cheek, along with two more on his chin and one barbell piercing on his nose. Like the other human that had been summoned, this one had a pair of Rinnegan eyes.

Jiraiya frowned in confusion as he eyed the three Rinnegan bearers. "I don't understand. How can there be three Rinnegan users? Is this some kind of special jutsu?" The more he thought about the situation the less sense it made. The Rinnegan was a near mythological dojutsu, Jiraiya had considered himself lucky to even see it once. Yet here he was, looking at three people who all bored the Rinnegan. "This has to be his technique, which means there's some kind of trick to it."

"This is getting bothersome," Ma complained as she looked at the three men before them. "I had been hoping to finish this quickly; I was making dinner you know."

"Focus Ma," Pa snapped. "We can't be getting all whimsical when we have an enemy that needs to faced standing before us."

However, Ma seemed to get irate at being reprimanded. "What was that, Pa!"

Jiraiya quickly headed off any argument the two might get by saying, "Now, now you two. You can have your lovers squabble later. Right now we have to focus on beating this guy. It's time we made our move."

"I hope you know I'm getting you back for that lover's squabble comment," Ma said, making Jiraiya pale. "However, you are right; we should get rid of this guy before we do anything else."

"Alright then! From this moment on, let Sage jutsu prevail! Look to the skies above, upon halos and heavenly canopies! Jiraiya the gallant –"

CRACK!

"Quit yakking in my ears!" came the shout from the two toads as they smashed their fists into Jiraiya's face. Both of the man's cheeks were smashed together, squishing and conforming they forced the white-haired Gama-Sennin's face to take on the general shape of a fish, with puffed out lips that flapped and gaped, a squished cheeks and wide eyes.

Jiraiya felt like crying as his posturing was once again interrupted, this time by his own companions. _"Is it too much to ask that they allow me to enjoy the small pleasures I can derive in a life and death situati__on?" _he asked himself lamentingly. He had put all that effort into making the most awesome and heroic poses for occasions like this. Why couldn't they just let him have his fun?

No one appreciated him.

"Let's just get this over with," Ma decided to turn back to the task at hand. Namely kicking the ass of one – three – Rinnegan users. "I want to finish this guy off and be home in time to finish dinner."

"Ma, this guys a Rinnegan user," Pa said, glaring over at the toad on Jiraiya's left shoulder. "Dealing with him is far more important than dinner. We're facing the ultimate ocular jutsu, you need to stay alert!"

"Shut up Pa! I don't care what kind of jutsu he has! Don't belittle a housewife's dilemma of what she should cook every day, you old geezer!"

"How dare you use such a tone with me! I'm just looking out for you!"

"I don't need looking out for! If anyone needs to be looked after it's you!"

Jiraiya sighed as the two toads began yelling at each other from their perch on his shoulder. _"Not even a second ag__o they were complaining about me yelling into their ears,"_ he sighed at the hypocritical pair, not that they even heard it over their bickering. _"I'm beginning to wonder if I might have been better off on my own."_

While the pair of toads bickered and Jiraiya lamented, Pein had decided he was done waiting for the battle to begin. He sent the Human Path to attack. The reanimated human corpse launched itself forward at an impressive speed, easily surpassing those of Maito Gai with his weights off. In spite of this, the Path stood no chance as Jiraiya literally seemed to disappear and reappear within a second flat. By the time the Path was just a little over a quarter of the way to Jiraiya, the white-haired sage had reappeared directly in front the Path and launched a deadly kick that caught it flush in the face.

The Human Path was launched back, sent flying through the air before it hit the dirt, where it skidded along the ground, rolling and tumbling until it smashed into the cement cliff that the other two Paths were on. There was a loud explosion from the impact as dust and rocks were kicked up from where the path hit, obscuring the area until the smoke dissipated naturally. When it did, the other two Paths were able to see that the Human Path was lying on its back in a crater made by the force from Jiraiya's kick.

It was an impressive display of strength.

"Not bad..." Pein acknowledged his sensei's fighting prowess.

Jiraiya put his leg back down and crouched low. "Now that the fight finally seems to be underway, do you think you two could put aside your spousal differences? Just a suggestion."

"I guess we have no choice," Ma said with a sigh. She put her hands in another seal in preparation for her jutsu. "Boy, you provide the oil. Pa, you provide the wind. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am!"

All three of them, toad, ninja and...toad, went through a single hand seal before sucking in a deep breath, then blowing out their respective jutsu.

"Senpo: Bāninguoiru no o furo!"

The three each launched their separate jutsu, Ma shot a large stream of fire out of her mouth, Jiraiya shot out oil and Pa blew out a stream of wind. All three attacks held a similar conical shape that increased in size the farther they got from the trio, before merging into a single attack. The oil quickly spread across the ground, with the fire lighting it up, meanwhile the wind fanned the flames and increased the intensity of the jutsu. The wind also served to help direct the flow of the attack, causing crests and swells within the oil. Before long, a giant wave rose up in front of the three Paths, set to burn them all to cinders.

Unable to deal with this new jutsu, the Animal Path jumped backwards, while the Preta Path moved in front of the trio. It held out its hands, a light barrier of chakra forming in front of it as the jutsu came crashing down, set to sweep the three paths away. Smoke and steam rose up into the air, obscuring Jiraiya's vision of the events taking place on the small cliff. Frowning, the Gama-Sennin jumped into the air and landed on one of the large poles that were running vertically from the ground and looked into the steam as he tried to get a clear view of what happened.

Ma and Pa looked just as interested as they too, leaned forward a little to see what had happened with the paths.

"Did it work?"

As the smoke cleared Jiraiya's eyes widened. Down below the three paths were standing, completely unharmed. "All of the oil vanished?"

"It must be one of their jutsu," Pa concluded. Jiraiya figured out the same thing, though he was still unsure of just what that jutsu was. What could cause a combination jutsu that was more powerful than the average S-rank disappear like that.

Jiraiya frowned for a moment before deciding on a course of action. Kicking off his sandals the white-haired Sennin got down on all fours. As his hands set down on the ground both them and his feet began to grow, not only getting larger but also becoming more toad-like in appearance, complete with warts and everything.

"Since our jutsu didn't work how about we find out how well he can fight in close combat?"

"Sounds like a good idea."

With his decision to change his pace Jiraiya blasted off the ground at speeds so high it created a large explosion from the point he left. Holding out his left hand a spinning blue orb of chakra appeared in his palm. It was only about the size of a baseball but that soon changed as the Gama-Sennin pumped more and more chakra into the attack. The Rasengan grew, its size increasing to easily three times that of a human. It was a feat that he was capable of thanks to his sage mode.

With a thrust of his arm the attack was rammed directly on top of the Preta Path. Normally, this would be the part where a large explosion of chakra occurred and the recipient of his jutsu was utterly incinerated by the sheer power the attack possessed. However, Jiraiya was not only disappointed but also utterly shocked when he saw the fat human corpse begin absorbing the jutsu through his hands.

"_He's absorbing my entire jutsu!" _Jiraiya's shock was absolute as he watched large chunks of the blue orb getting absorbed into the Preta Paths hands. _"I've never seen something like this before. A technique that can absorb jutsu so completely. Is this another ability of the Rinnegan?"_

"Behind us!"

Jiraiya soon found that he didn't have time to worry about the inner workings of the Preta Paths Jutsu as the Human Path appeared directly behind him. Thankfully he had Pa watching his back; the elder male toad pulled a purple ball out of his robes and threw it at the ground. There was an explosion of purple smoke that quickly covered the small area around Jiraiya, blocking the view of the Human Path and confusing his senses. In an attempt to use the smoke screen to his advantage, Jiraiya appeared behind the Human Path and threw out a strong right jab that had strength on par with his teammate Tsunade's.

The Human Path didn't even bother turning around as he caught the punch in his left hand.

"_What?"_ Jiraiya would have blinked had the act not possibly granted Pein a new advantage. _"He not only blocked a punch while I'm in Sennin Modo, he also did so without even looking!"_ That took a lot more than just a killer sixth sense and quick reflexes. Jiraiya's speed and strength were enhanced far beyond those of a normal shinobi's. Even Gai would have trouble fighting him with six of the inner gates opened while he was in this form, and Naruto had to be in at least a five tailed state just to keep up with him.

There was something seriously wrong here, but Jiraiya couldn't figure out what for the life of him.

Outside of the smoke screen the Human Path watched the two silhouettes inside. A frog jumped out from the smoke, drawing his attention to it. Less than a second later it was made clear that the frog was just a distraction as Jiraiya appeared directly behind the Human Path and crouched down low.

"Senpo: Kenbari Senbon!" Thousands upon thousands of senbon needles formed from his hair and were launched at the Human Path. As they sped towards the reanimated corpse, the Path went through several hand seals, his fingers a blur. There was a puff of smoke that covered the area behind the path for but a moment, before clearing to reveal he had summoned a large Panda that ended up taking the attack for him.

He did so without even turning around.

Opportunity missed Jiraiya jumped back, as far away from all of the paths as possible. As he glared at the Human Paths back he began trying to discover why none of his attacks thus far had worked. _"I don't understand, so far all of my attacks have been c__ompletely negated with minimal effort. Had he dodged that attack I could have gotten him with another, but instead he summoned that Panda, and all without even turning around." _The Human Path turned around and looked at Jiraiya and, as if on some unspoken signal, the other two hopped back onto the platform. _"They've managed to block all of my attacks without even using verbal signals or eye contact. Even if all three were sensor type shinobi, they would still have to see the attack in order to block it."_

Something was definitely wrong here.

"_Kibari Senbon is my fastest attack, and it has the widest attack range. The only way to get away from that attack unscathed is to block it as he just did. And he did it without looking." _Jiraiya glared at the three Paths, all of which were staring at him with dead eyes. _"These are no ordinary clones."_

"Jiraiya-chan, I think I've discovered the trick they are using," Pa said. Jiraiya spared the elder toad a glance.

"Are you sure?"

"Hai, do you remember during our encounter with the long-haired one? You had managed to get behind him and attack from his blind spot, yet he still managed to block your attack. Did you notice how whenever you would attack one of them, at least one of the other guys would be watching?"

"Yes, I did notice that," Jiraiya confirmed. He had not found anything particularly unusual about it, when in combat it was folly to take your eyes off your opponent. Even leaving your enemy unguarded for a single second could swing any engagement into the hands of the person you were facing. It wasn't unusual that they would all do their best to keep an eye on him. "I don't see what you're getting at. They didn't give each other any hand or eye signals that I could see."

"Yes, but look at their eyes. All three of them have the same eyes," at Pa's words Jiraiya's eyes widened as he finally picked up on what the elder toad sage was saying. Pa looked at the three humans in contemplation. "Suppose the three of them can share what they see with each other."

"Enabling their eyes to share visions with one another," Jiraiya frowned as he thought of just what that would mean. "If that's the case this battle will be much harder than I expected." With the combined abilities of the three paths, along with their ability to share images between themselves, they literally had all of their bases covered.

"_They can nullify all of my ninjutsu, the one with the long hair is strong enough that he can go toe-to-toe with my strength while I'm in Sennin-Modo, and the one with the pony-tail can __summon various creatures that can act in both offense and defense."_ Jiraiya quickly ticked off the skills he had seen from the summons thus far, and was not only impressed but beginning to realize just how disadvantaged he was. _"On top of all that they can__ see what their comrades see, making it impossible for me to sneak up on them. Yep, I'm screwed if I keep fighting them all at the same time."_

He needed to somehow separate them from each other, or hit them with an attack that would kill them all in one go. Both of those were next to impossible as far as he had seen. With their ability to share each other's vision it would take a lot of effort to separate them, and with the fat one's ability to absorb his ninjutsu none of his attacks would work either.

It was beginning to look more and more like a hopeless case.

* * *

Watching the battle from above, Konan felt anxiety wash over her. She would admit to being surprised at seeing Jiraiya's Sennin-Mode being used, and had even been impressed with the strength the jutsu had shown thus far. Just like Naruto had told her it allowed the user to far surpass their physical limitations. It was truly a fearsome technique.

However, even with his Sennin-Mode powered up the white-haired hermit had still been unable to land a single hit on any of Pein's Paths. It was moments like these that showed just how hopeless a situation really was. Even with the incredible boost in strength and abilities, Jiraiya was still unable to land a single hit on Pein.

Konan knew she had to do something to help get Jiraiya out of this situation. He was not only her teacher but Naruto's as well; on top of that he was the blonde's godfather, his sole remaining link to his parents. She would never be able to forgive herself if she just let the events playing out here take there course when she could have stopped them from happening.

But was she really ready to go against Pein? It was one thing to spy on him, at least when spying she had never actually raised a hand against him. It might have made her feel guilty, betraying him as she had, but Konan had been able to tell herself that it was for his own good. Fighting against him would be another matter entirely.

It was one thing to go behind the back of the man you once claimed was your best friend, and quite another to stare him in the face and let him know just how far the depths of your betrayal went.

And yet, she knew that she couldn't just stand there and do nothing.

In the end it came down to a choice of which side she was willing to stand by.

Naruto and the light he represented, or Nagato and the growing darkness that Madara had cast over her friend.

* * *

As Jiraiya and his two toad companions continued their face off against the three Paths, the white-haired Sennin tried his utmost to think of a way to pull a victory from his ass.

It was very unfortunate that he wasn't like Naruto had been back in the day, when he somehow pulled out Deus Ex Machina devices out of his metaphorical ass to beat his opponents.

"Jiraiya-chan, I think it may be best if we fall back for now," Pa suggested.

"I think you may be right." While it rankled Jiraiya to just up and retreat like this he knew a hopeless situation when he saw one. At the moment there were still too many unknown factors to plan for every possible scenario. Not only that, but even if what they had seen so far was all Pein had to offer, it might still be more than enough to defeat them. As of now, nothing Jiraiya thought up sounded like a viable attack option against the man... men, they were facing.

It was just as he was about to escape into the pipes that the rhythm of combat changed in a way no one would have expected.

Several thousand paper shuriken soared down from the sky, peppering the vicinity of the three Peins. The attack came as a major shock, both to Jiraiya and Pein himself, who was unable to react for several seconds, allowing his paths to get several deep cuts in their bodies and clothes. It was only after the Preta path got one deep cut across his face that literally split the skin from his left jawline to his right hairline that Pein reacted.

The Animal Path went through a multitude of seals and summoned the giant crustacean once again, allowing his Paths to hide under it while it took the barrage of paper shuriken instead. The hailstorm of sharp paper lasted for nearly a full minute before ending. When the hailstorm stopped Konan materialized in between the two, forming from several thousand pieces of paper.

"Konan," Pein said, whether he was truly surprised or not his voice did not show it. It was just as dead as always. "What are you doing, Konan?"

"I'm doing what I have to," Konan said. She looked up at him pleadingly, "I'm here to ask you to stop this. Please stop this. Stop fighting Jiraiya, stop trying to gather the Bijuu, nothing good can come from what you're doing."

While none of Pein's Paths reacted in any way that would betray their emotions, Jiraiya gave a reaction that was much more prominent. His eyes widened and his jaw actually became unhinged. At the same time his mind tried to register what his eyes were telling him, but kept coming up blank as Jiraiya had one of his first 'what the fuck' moments in several years.

"Konan, you know what we are doing is the only true path to peace," Pein said. "You've always agreed with my ideals and have always done your best to support me in them. Because of our friendship, I will give you this one chance to repent. Return to the headquarters and we will talk, continue defying me and I will show you true Pein."

Konan grit her teeth and looked away from the Animal Path, which seemed to have taken up the job of spokesperson for the three of them. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed the tears that threatened to come out back into their tear ducts.

She was not surprised that he would threaten her like this, after what she had seen Pein do and what she remembered seeing what he had done to Amegakure from Naruto's perspective, it had become plain and clear that the man she had once known was dead. But hearing him threaten her like that, without even a fluctuation in his voice, it hurt far more then she was willing to admit.

"So this is how it is," she muttered in a low whisper. "You've become so blinded by what you think is right that you would even strike down your best friend."

"It is because you are my best friend that I will strike you down, should you choose to defy me," Pein answered. "It means that you have lost sight of our goals and become corrupt. I would be doing you a justice by letting you die before your memory became tainted."

"You've truly changed, Nagato," Konan paused, and then shook her head. "No, I can no longer call you that. The Nagato I knew died a long time ago. I had deluded myself into thinking you were the man I had known for so long, never wanting to admit that the kind and compassionate boy I had known and considered a part of my family had died the same day as Yahiko."

A single tear fell down her cheek before she looked up at the three paths with a glare.

"I can't delude myself into thinking I might be able to save you anymore. I had always hoped, prayed that I would be able to pull you away from this path of destruction, but I see now it was a fools dream. However, I won't let the sacrifices you, me and Yahiko went through be in vain, I won't let you destroy the peace we all wanted. If need be... Pein... I will fight you."

For a long moment nobody moved, they scarcely even breathed. Jiraiya stood behind Konan, watching her back as she stared down her longtime friend. To say he was confused would be similar to saying Tsunade was slightly vain, or that Naruto liked ramen. He was currently undergoing one of those moments where your life is flipped on its head, then kicked with enough force that it kicked your teeth in. He couldn't even be sure of what was going on right now.

Then the moment was over as the Animal Path said, "So be it."

Bursting into action all three paths went on the warpath. Wings shot out of Konan's back and with a great flap she launched herself into the air, another flap launched several thousand paper shuriken at the Human Path. They would have hit their target dead on, however; the Animal Path was already acting and had sent the crustacean to block the attacks.

Thanks to that the Human Path was able to reach Jiraiya unimpeded. It began a taijutsu battle with Jiraiya, throwing a left jab at the white-haired man. It was not blocked; instead the Sennin had deftly dodged to the left, using some fancy footwork to sidestep the attack. He had then grabbed the paths wrist as it was passing by, and then he yanked. With the added forward momentum from the man's punch, combined with a powerful pull from a Sennin-Mode enhanced Jiraiya, the man was easily sent flying forward. Right fist cocked back, Jiraiya was just about to let loose with a mighty punch –

"Behind you Jiraiya-chan!"

– When Pa's voice forced him to make a split second change in his plans. Instead of smashing his fist against the Path's face, he rotated on the balls of his feet, spinning around one-hundred-and-eighty degrees as he tossed the reanimated corpse at whatever was behind him.

The thing behind him just so happened to be the crustacean the Animal Path had re summoned. It had been bearing down on him and looked like it was about to snap him in half with one of its powerful claws. With the Human Path getting thrown in its field of vision the large summon creature was forced to stop its attack.

This small lull in the summons movements gave Konan a chance to launch her own attack it the large crustacean. She sent several hundred paper bombs at it, attaching the small slips into key points on the creatures body, the joints, eyes and plating on the underside. With a hand sign all of the paper bombs exploded, destroying the creature outright and sending it back to the summoning world.

Unfortunately for Konan this gave the Human Path, which had recovered a chance to attack her. The reanimated corpse jumped into the air, its impressive strength allowing it to easily reach her height. It came down behind her, planting both of its feet on her back and kicking her, hard.

With a loud cry of surprise, Konan was sent spiraling down, making every attempt she could at regaining control. Before she could regain control of her flight, or go splat against the concrete, Jiraiya managed to jump up and catch her, before falling back to the ground.

"Thank you," Konan said as he set her down.

"You can thank me by telling me what's going on," Jiraiya told her.

"I will if we manage to make it out of this mess alive," Konan replied just as readily. She eyed the three paths as they began a new attack pattern. The Animal Path had summoned the three-headed dog; the Human Path was running along the wall to attack from a better angle and at a higher altitude. Meanwhile the Preta Path stood back, watching silently.

Not only was the attack pattern one that did not have any major holes that could be exploited, Konan knew they could not waste time fighting anymore.

"However, if we are going to get out of this then we need to leave now."

"Easier said than done," Jiraiya muttered, but quickly ended up going through a set of hand seals. "Ranshishigami No Jutsu!" Once again Jiraiya's hair hardened and grew at a quick rate. The large strands of hair spread out in separate chunks and tried attacking each of the paths individually in an effort to disrupt their pattern. It worked, but only somewhat.

The Animal and Preta Paths, not being truly made for combat purposes were forced to jump away from the attacks, which followed them as they back pedaled. However, the out came soon changed when the two got together. In that moment the Preta Path stepped forward and used it's absorption abilities to render the hair useless. Jiraiya's long hair quickly retracted after that, no longer having the chakra to maintain its form. If nothing else it had at least forced the two Paths away.

His other attack had not been so lucky. The Human Path seemed to rely solely on taijutsu, it was both fast and strong, easily on par with his own strength in Sennin-Modo. When those abilities were combined with it using the fields of vision granted to it by the two other paths, the Human Path was capable of dodging the attacks long before Jiraiya's hair actually reached it.

Jiraiya didn't even bother attacking the dog. Prior experience with the summon creature had taught him how bad of an idea that was, and so both he and Konan were forced to dodge the three-headed animal as it rushed in to attack them both.

While Jiraiya jumped back and began backpedaling across the ground as the dog tried to pounce on the pair, Konan flew higher into the air, twisting in an aerial display before launching a barrage of paper shuriken at the Human Path. Said path had been closing in on Jiraiya and had been about to double team the Sennin with the dog summons, with this move it forced the reanimated corpse back and allowed Jiraiya to make space between himself and the dog.

Konan flew back down to Jiraiya as they were giving a small amount of breathing room. "We should probably split up," she suggested. "Head back down the way you came while I take to the air. Head northeast until you reach the lake, that's where we'll meet up."

"I guess I really have no choice but to listen to you," Jiraiya said as he eyed the Paths and the dog. "Alright then, let's do this! Kuchiyose No Jutsu!" Biting his thumb, the white-haired Sennin spread his blood across his hand, went through a series of hand seals, then slammed his hands into the ground, creating a large cloud of white smoke.

The smoke cleared to reveal a huge toad, easily towering over buildings and trees. He had an aquamarine skin tone and yellow eyes with grey markings around them and two distinct, circular markings on his shoulders. He also carried two huge katanas on his back, which were his main weapons with an orange sash around his stomach.

"Gamahiro, I need you to help me make an exit from this place!" Jiraiya called down from his place atop the toads head.

"Eh? Jiraiya-san, and Fukusaku-sama and Shima-sama? What are you two doing here?" asked Gamahiro as his eyes moved to stare up at the two elder toads.

"Never mind that, Gamahiro-boya," Pa said. "We need to concentrate on making an exit."

"Right, I don't know what's going on but I'll do what I can to help."

With that said the pace of the battle had once again changed. Gamahiro pulled out his swords and bull rushed the largest enemy in his path, namely the three-headed dog. Before the large summons even had a chance to move the sword wielding toad brought both swords up in a cross slash that sliced through the beast with ease.

Unfortunately the attack did nothing more than make the dog split into three separate dogs, but the attack had done its job in allowing Gamahiro to reach the entrance that Jiraiya and Gamaken had made before the white-haired hermit had gone into Sennin-Modo.

The three Peins watched them go, both Jiraiya on his toad and Konana, who had shot straight up into the air and was now flying away.

The Animal Path went through another set of hand seals and summoned a giant drill-beaked bird. The bird quickly flew off to chase after Konan while the dogs went after Jiraiya.

* * *

Meanwhile, within the chamber where the three Paths had come from, the three unopened stasis pods cracked open with a hiss of steam.

* * *

Konan found herself in a tenuous position as she barrel rolled out of the way of the bird that Pein had sent to attack her. The large summon just barely missed, she could actually feel the creatures feathers brush against her cloak it was so close. Not only that but the feathers were sharp, as she soon found out when the parts of her cloak that the bird's feathers touched were cut straight through.

As the bird finished flying past her, and before it could turn around to make another attempt at ramming her through, Konan sent a barrage of paper shuriken at it. Several thousand shuriken flew straight at the creature, though it did try to dodge the bluenette had taken it's movements into account beforehand and launched her shuriken in a wide scale barrage that made it impossible for the creature to get past. Disappointingly the attacks didn't do anywhere near the damage she had hoped, merely left a few small cuts along the creatures back and wings. Not enough to dispel it, and since the summons was actually a reanimated corpse much like the paths, it didn't feel any pain that it might have if alive and therefore, there was no true disruption in its flight that Konan could take advantage of.

In an effort to lose the summon Konan began to descend back down to the city below. The bird had an advantage in the open air, it was much faster than she was. But she was more maneuverable. It stood to reason that if she could make her way into the twisting streets and skyscrapers of Amegakure, she should be able to lose it.

At least she hoped so.

Of course it went without saying that the summon had no intention of letting her get into the city. It dive bombed her, speeding down with a loud screech as the air was rent in front of him. There was no time for her to even dodge as the creature's beak drilled straight through her.

Yet rather than blood and gore being the end result of the violent confrontation, Konan's body burst into paper, letting the bird pass right through her and scatter the many sheets into the air. The many thousands of paper slips folded themselves into airplanes and quickly took off in all different directions, making it impossible for the summon to decide which slip to follow.

Konan could only hope this trick would be enough to fool Nagato, at least long enough for her to meet back up with Jiraiya.

* * *

While Konan had been duking it out in an aerial battle with the bird, Jiraiya was once again having a running form of combat toad vs. dog style. The battle between Gamahiro and the dog summons was even more vicious then the one that Gamaken had been involved in. The two summons, or the toad and the half a dozen dogs that had split from the one, battled it out as they raced across the large city of Amegakure.

Gamahiro had quickly realized that hopping onto the platforms in an effort to gain the higher ground would not work, as the dogs all seemed capable of communicating with each other long distances and getting one or more of them to attack whenever he tried to get up. Jiraiya had hypothesized that if the three humans Pein had summoned could share vision, and then it stood to reason the summons did as well. They all had the Rinnegan after all.

Thankfully Gamahiro had yet to be injured beyond a few scrapes, courtesy of his talent with a blade. Unlike Gamaken who relied on defense and endurance to get through tough battles, the large blue and green, dual-sword wielding toad was all offense. He raced through the streets without much thought, taking turns only when directed by Jiraiya or one of the elders, and slicing at anything that got in his way.

This was not just limited to the dog summons, Gamahiro had sliced several pipes and buildings straight through in his effort to not only escape the dogs chasing after them, but also disrupt their ability to catch him by using the area to his advantage by causing as much collateral damage as possible. It wasn't as effective as it would be on any other opponent, summon or otherwise, thanks to their shared vision. However, he had managed to catch several of the furry little beasts unaware and smash a building on them.

Not that it did much as the summons simply multiplied. Jiraiya had to wonder how many times they could split before reaching their limit. At least count he had been able to observe at least a dozen and a half dogs running all over the place, and unfortunately for him, they still seemed capable of splitting even more.

"Gamahiro!" Jiraiya called from his place on the large toad's head. "These dogs are throwing us off course and trying to herd us in! We need to head farther north! Try to find a spot where we only have to deal with them one at a time!"

"That's sounds a tad difficult but I'll do what I can!"

Springing into action Gamahiro used his powerful legs to hurtle himself along the ground. As he moved through one of the many large streets of Ame two dog summons turned a corner in front of him and charged. The large toad, swords in hand, didn't slow his pace at all as he ran towards them.

When he neared, the dog that was more towards his left jumped, it's muzzle a vicious snarl of teeth and a foaming mouth. Gamahiro deftly used his right foot to hop to the left, the sword in his right hand flashed as he slashed the dog in half, initiating another split.

The second dog was now right in front of Gamahiro. It leapt towards him an opened its maw in preparation to clamp down on the toad's neck. However, the summon from Mt. Myoboku had no intention of letting the creature bite it. Bringing both swords up in a cross guard that formed an X in front of him, the large towards rushed forward and slashed the blades down. The speed with which he pulled of this particular maneuver was so quick that all anyone saw of the swords was a bright flash of silver, and then Gamahiro was past the dog and continuing his run through the city.

This did not deter any of their pursuers, however, and several more dogs along with the ones that Gamahiro had just sliced up began following them.

"I think we need to use something that packs some more punch," Ma suggested as Jiraiya turned his head to look at the dog summons following them. "Something that will sweep them all away in a quick blaze. Jiraiya-chan, Pa, you both know what to do!"

"Hai!" The two shouted as they figured out what jutsu the elder female toad wanted to use. Jiraiya turned around and all three went through a series of hand seals.

"Senpo: Kasai no torento!" Once again Jiraiya ended up spitting out a large stream of oil, while Ma shot out fire and Pa wind. However, unlike the last attack which created a massive wave of fire, this one did something different. As oil spewed out of Jiraiya's mouth in a constant and steady stream, the wind from Pa shot out in the pattern of a whirlwind, or a tornado. It caught the oil in its grasp and forced it to take on the same flow. Meanwhile the fire struck the oil, instantly igniting the flammable liquid, which soon turned into a roaring blaze as the wind fed even more power into the flames. Soon enough the attack took on a spiraling torrent of white hot fire that looked like it came straight from the sun itself.

It blazed it's way along the path the dogs were on, lighting up the entire street. Several of the summons tried to get out of the way, but the attack was far too large, while not as wide spread as the Bāninguoiru no o furo, the attack still had a wide range. It acted like a funnel, small at the starting point but growing larger the father out the attack got. None of the dogs were spared as it blazed past them. They all howled as they were burnt, their bodies dissolving into ashes.

"Jiraiya-chan, perhaps we should use the pipes to make our way to the destination point," Pa suggested.

"I think that's a grand idea. Out here we're not only outnumbered but the playing field also puts us at a disadvantage." Jiraiya looked down at the large toad he was on top of. "Gamahiro! We're going into the pipes; I want you to do what you can to lead the summons away! However, don't push yourself! If you get hurt, dispel!"

"Hai! Good luck, Jiraiya-san!"

* * *

"Are you sure we can trust this woman, Jiraiya-chan?" asked Pa as the human he was on ran through the pipes of Ame.

"Hmm... I honestly don't know," Jiraiya admitted. "When I first got here, it was her who attacked me. But at the same time she didn't actually try to kill me, she used our combat to slip messages to me via her paper. She had tried to warn me away. Also, she is now fighting with us against Pein and I can't really see a reason for either of them to set up such an elaborate deception to defeat us."

It was painful to admit, but Jiraiya knew he would not have won the battle against Pein as things continued as they had. If the fight had progressed any further he would have lost.

"On the other hand she is with Akatsuki, and was Nagato's best friend. If she is betraying him, it would mean that something major has happened to her that forced her to change her mind. I can't possibly think of anything that might have the necessary emotional impact that would convince someone to do that."

"I suppose we have no real choice but to trust her then," Pa mused to himself. "In the meantime, we should analyze the six paths and see if we can't come up with a strategy to defeat them. Especially if this does turn out to be a trap."

"Do you have any idea's Fukusaku-sama?" asked Jiraiya.

"No, not yet. But if we look over what we know so far something might come to us. Let's take a look at what we know. While all of those men look different, they all possess the same eye. All three of them have the Rinnegan of the Six Paths."

"I'm still not sure what to make of that," Jiraiya admitted with a frown. "The Rinnegan is supposed to be a mythological dojutsu that no one has seen since the Rikudou Sennin. Discovering that Nagato possessed the legendary eyes of the Six Paths was shocking enough, but now there are at least two more that we know who have the ocular jutsu."

"I suppose the question we should ask then is which one is the real Pein? Though I'm not sure if that would even matter. The problem is all three of them possess the eyes. We don't know who, or what Pein is. However, we can make a small deduction on their abilities."

"Their vision is linked, and they share images. That seems to be the main ability those eyes hold."

"So, what does that mean?" asked Ma. She was never much of a thinker when it came to situations like these. She was a housewife through and through.

"Think of their three eyes in a manner similar to those of a set of security cameras. In the same way that three security cameras can show different angles of the same image, those three are able to see three views at one time. So if just one of them can see the target, then the other two can counter with the ideal attack, with perfect timing, without having to see their foe."

Pa paused to let the knowledge sink in.

"In other words, their field of vision is three times better than a normal shinobi's. And unlike the Byakugan, they can always guard each other's blind spots, without weaving signs or manipulating chakra."

"No wonder their combination seems so invincible," Ma exclaimed, finally understanding what the other elder toad was getting at.

"Which means if we want to defeat them, we would have to split them up and fight them separately," Jiraiya concluded. "I'm positive that in a one-on-one battle we would win. Since they all share visions, fighting as a team is probably their standard mode of attack. Unfortunately, taijutsu seems out of the question, and ninjutsu will just be absorbed."

"Which means we would have to go with genjutsu," Pa concluded.

"Yeah, genjutsu..." Jiraiya sighed. "I'm just as bad at genjutsu as Naruto, worse even, since I don't have his ability to use fuinjutsu to create genjutsu."

"Then maybe it is a good thing that were meeting up with that girl," Pa said. "Ma and I have a genjutsu that we can do, but I would rather we use it as a last resort."

"I agree with Pa, there's no way you can convince me to use that jutsu!"

"Eh? Is there something –"

Jiraiya's question was interrupted when a large explosion took place just a few feet in front of him. From the smoke came the Human Path. It closed the distance to Jiraiya far too quickly for the Gama-Sennin to use any of his jutsu, starting up a taijutsu battle by throwing out its left leg in a high kick. Jiraiya ducked under the kick and attempted to grab the leg so he could throw the path into the wall, but the Rinnegan user retracted his foot much more quickly than the white-haired hermit thought he could. At the same time he lashed out with his right foot, throwing a kick that would have hit Jiraiya's mid-section, but because he was ducking, ended up being aimed right at his face.

It was only thanks to his years of training that Jiraiya was able to react quickly enough to save himself from being smashed in the face with a foot. Crossing both arms, Jiraiya blocked the kick. He was forced to channel chakra to his feet when the attack threatened to launch him in the air. Then, when he was assured he would not get sent flying, he grabbed the leg with both hands and heaved, swinging the Human Path around in a full circle before tossing him into a wall.

The force of his throw cracked and cratered the wall of the tunnel. The Human Path did not get up as it was lodged into a human sized crater in the wall.

However, Jiraiya learned to late that this was all a distraction. A very different path then the ones he had encountered thus far appeared behind him. This one was a tall, bald man with an unusual body shape, possessing a very thick neck, no ears and a large jaw. Like all of the others he had been fighting, this man seemed to possess Nagato's Rinnegan. It was the only body to not have orange hair, simply because it had no hair at all. It had a vertical ring piercing on its nose, six spike studs all around its head, three studs on the top and bottom of each of its six arms, an enormous cylindrical stud on its chin, and two vertical studs on each of its upper cheeks. The body had three faces, each with a different expression, and two of which appeared from the sides of its head only when it removed its cloak in a fight: happy, angry, and neutral. It also had a long, saw-like "tail" which stretched from his back over his head.

"You should never let your guard down, Jiraiya-sensei."

Jiraiya's eyes widened as he tried to move into a defensible position, but was only able to turn around as one arm latched onto his left arm, and a fist was shoved into his gut.

The power behind the punch was enough that Jiraiya was sent flying backwards, into the wall with enough force that the entire area of impact exploded outwards and the Gama-Sennin was sent flying out of the tunnel he had been in.

Jiraiya's feet hit the water and he skidded along the surface, his feet created small trenches in the liquid before he slowed to a stop.

"O-Oi! Jiraiya-chan, your arm is missing!" Ma shrieked as the Gama-Sennin grabbed at the now missing right arm.

Jiraiya really wanted to say something sarcastic and witty to the blatantly obvious remark. But the pain wasn't allowing him to think properly. "I'm well aware of that."

"What's going on!" asked Pa.

"This one has a different face than the others we've gone up against so far," Jiraiya said. "He was probably summoned after Konan intervened."

"Jiraiya-sensei!"

Speaking of Konan, said woman flew down the moment she saw him on the water's surface. She touched down, her feet just a few inches above the water as she gaped at his arm, or lack thereof. It was the most expressive he had seen her face since they met again.

"Y-Your arm is missing!"

"Yeah, no kidding," Jiraiya grit his teeth. Were his mind not so scattered from the pain he probably would have wondered what it was that made people point out the obvious.

"Are you alright?"

"I'll live, so long as I can get this fixed up before I bleed to death." Jiraiya then looked out at the area he had just come from, and both his and those of the toad elders' eyes widened when they saw not three but six paths standing along the wall. "What the – what is this?"

"Those are the six paths of Pein," Konan answered as she looked up at the six bodies, her eyes only focused on one of them. "They are the reanimated corpse of people Nagato used for his Paths. They are Pein, all of them."

"Wait, what?"

"They are Pein. Those people were corpses that Nagato used his Rinnegan's abilities on, reanimating them and gifting them with the Rinnegan. They are all connected to him and he to them, he controls their movements and actions via a series of chakra receivers that not only grant him that ability, but give them his abilities."

"Now I see," Jiraiya said in understanding. "None of those are Nagato. The real one is controlling them from somewhere else, that would also explain why they all have the Rinnegan and only one set of abilities."

Konan nodded at his words, but did not turn to look at them. "Nagato granted each Path one of the Rinnegan's abilities, between that and their shared vision they are nearly invincible. Able to see any attack and counter it, they are the perfect weapon for the Rinnegan."

Jiraiya looked at all of the paths as they stood there. Then they stopped, his eyes widening as they landed on one of them he recognized right off the bat. "Konan, is that...?"

"Yes, that is the corpse of Yahiko," Konan shuddered as she spoke. She felt a spike of pain at seeing her friend's corpse being used in such a way. "In some twisted sense, Nagato felt that using Yahiko as one of his Paths would make it like Yahiko was still fighting with us."

Jiraiya stared up into the eyes of Yahiko, or at least the eyes his body now possessed, as they too stared back at him without expression or emotion. It was unnerving, seeing someone he remembered as such a rambunctious kid, almost Naruto-like in manner, with such an expressionless face.

"Konan, I will give you one more chance to return to me," Yahiko, the Deva Path said. "I understand that you might be feeling pressure from what we are doing, but you know as well as I that all we do is to ensure peace."

"I don't believe that," Konan shook her head vehemently. "I can no longer believe that Pein. We aren't creating peace; our ideals were lost with Yahiko. All we're doing now is creating more tragedies."

"Do you truly believe that?"

Konan closed her eyes. "Yes."

"I see..." a pause. "Then you, along with Jiraiya, shall know pain."

* * *

**Well this chapter has been a long time coming. Some of you have been eagerly awaiting it, while others are probably thinking 'what the hell is this idiot doing still writing.' For those of who were anticipating this chapter, I do apologize. I am currently working 40+ hours a week, spending 15+ hours looking for a job in my career field (IE video game creation as a 3D artist), and spending another 20+ updating my portfolio to show gaming companies my awesome work. So I only have 88 hours of time available, and about 60+ of those hours are used for sleeping so I really only have like 28 – 20 hours of available time tops. Half of that is spent with my friends, which let's face it, for fanfiction writers – who aren't making money for our writing – like me our social lives are more important than our writing. The rest of that time I'm usually too lazy to do anything other than watch TV and play video games. On top of that my muse is crapping out on me, just thinking up this chapter took a large portion of my already fried out brain to think up so yeah... I'm having issues. But hey, that's life.**

**Any who, you may all be asking what the point of this spiel is about. My point it, I've got a lot on my plate right now, and unfortunately it's hampering my writing. So while I will TRY to keep to my set schedule, please do not expect too much out of me. If my next chapter doesn't come out in time, just accept that I'm probably doing something important and that it will take a while for me to write out my next chapter.**

**However, rest assured**** none of my stories are abandoned.**

**On a side note, I'm going to be posting a poll on whether or not to kill Jiraiya. I have two branch trees for my plot, so I can write either one of them so I don't really care one way or the other. So I'll let you guys choose.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. And as unfortunate as it is, I probably never will own Naruto. All rights for Naruto go to Kishimoto, the teme.**

**A/N: This is just a thank you to my beta reader, Senjuto for continuing to look over my work.**

* * *

**Chapter 22: One Man Rescue Squad**

* * *

Yugito sighed into her drink as she sat on her stool in one of the many taverns located in Kumogakure, a relatively small joint where shinobi went in their off time to engage in the ancient art of getting shit-faced wasted. Not that she herself would ever get drunk, like all Jinchuuriki, her Bijuu burned most of the alcohol from her system before it could have any serious detrimental effects. Yugito suspected she could get sloshed it she drank enough, but disliked the thought of having her ability to think logically hampered.

"You seem bothered..."

Looking up from her drink, the young blond Jinchuuriki for the Nibi let her gaze stray over to the woman on her left. The dim lighting in the bar cast number of shadows around her friend, Samui, as she too sat at the bar nursing a drink. Her friend looked at her with a curious expression on her slightly cold face.

"Care to share what's bothering you?"

"Nothing... much," Yugito spoke with a grimace at the end. Frowning, she brought the cup of sake in her hands to her lips, drinking the warm liquid and letting it burn down her throat. Setting her cup down delicately, she grabbed the bottle from her right and poured herself another glass. "I guess I'm just going a little stir crazy from not being allowed to take missions."

Her words were something of an understatement, since the Akatsuki's botched – but nearly successful – attempt at capturing her; both she and Kirabi had more or less been placed under house arrest. Now, while that term may have been a little harsh, it was a very accurate description to her current predicament. She was not allowed to leave Kumogakure under any circumstances, she was now allowed to take missions, in fact, Raikage-sama had specifically told her that until the Akatsuki crisis was taken care of she would be more or less forced to stay in the village.

The only time she had gone out was during the Chunin Exams, and that had simply been because of the fact that she was with both Kirabi and A, and the exams were being hosted in Konoha.

She frowned at the thought of Konoha, or to be more accurate, a specific person who lived there. It had been quite a while since she had seen Naruto, mainly due to the mission he was now on. Yugito hadn't been told what the mission entailed, but knew that it had something to do with Uchiha Sasuke, her fiancé's traitorous teammate.

That had been nearly two weeks ago. She still hadn't heard from him.

"When people say nothing much, it usually means the opposite," Samui commented idly. She took a sip of her sake, closing her eyes she swallowed, hummed, and then poured herself another glass. "Hiding your feelings and thoughts from your friends is not cool."

Yugito snorted a bit, amused by her friend's words. A moment later she sighed, pushed the saucer of sake away and said, "I dislike being a burden."

"Who ever said you were a burden?" asked Samui, frowning a bit when she heard her fellow blonde's words.

"No one, they don't need to," Yugito said, shrugging her shoulders. "But as things stand right now, I'm more of a burden then an asset. With Akatsuki on the loose, I can't take any missions, I've been confined to the village, and I'm not even allowed to go outside to train."

Even Kirabi was still being allowed to travel to his favorite training spot at Unraikyō. Meanwhile, she was confined to the training grounds inside of the village. Yugito thought the Raikage was showing favoritism towards his adopted brother, but would never admit that out loud.

"Don't forget that you are also bothered by the fact that Naruto hasn't been able to spend much time with you," Samui added, a small smile gracing her face. Yugito huffed a bit, looking away, which just caused the normally frigid woman's smile to grow. "Not to say that I can't see why you would be bothered by that. If I had someone like him as my boyfriend, then I wouldn't have to worry about all of the men around here staring at my breasts."

"Fiancé," Yugito corrected absently, along with silently agreeing on the other woman's assessment.

Especially the breast part, even now she could see the men around them staring at Samui's large assets.

"That's right," Samui spoke with a small smirk. "How could I forget that you two are engaged? Especially with that small gem on your finger." Her eyes flickered to the beautiful ring that Naruto had crafted for Yugito, then back to the other woman's eyes. "You know, I'm surprised Raikage-sama is actually allowing this."

"You shouldn't be," Yugito stated, turning more fully so she could face Samui. "Everyone knows that Raikage-sama and Naruto-kun's father fought each other in the last war. And everyone knows how each and every single one of those battles ended." Samui couldn't help but nod her head. She knew how those battles ended, and how none of them had been in the Raikage's favor. No matter how hard the man had tried, how many times he and the man who had earned the moniker of 'Kiroii Senkou' had fought, A had never won.

And now Naruto had learned the very technique that had made his father so feared, and could use it to the same degree that Minato had. On top of that, the blond was capable of fighting A on even ground without its use. And that was not even going into Naruto's abilities when he used the Kyuubi's chakra. That alone made the Raikage wary of Konoha, so when the chance came to form an alliance, he took it. Better to be allied with someone capable of such power, than to be against them. The Raikage, for all his power, skill and stubbornness, was also intelligent and did what was best for the village.

The fact that Naruto had fallen for Yugito was really just the icing on the cake, it ensured that Konoha, and Naruto in particular, would remain Kumo's ally.

Conversation drifted after that, Samui had never been that talkative of a person to begin with, and Yugito became lost in thought.

Thing would have continued as they were, with silence as their only companion. However, an interruption came in the form of Omoi and Karui, who were bickering together as they came in.

"Gah! Why can't you shut up! Just once, I wish you would stop overthinking everything!"

"I'm just saying that whatever Raikage-sama wants from us must be very important, he wouldn't have asked this of us if it wasn't. Maybe he wants all of us for some kind of top-secret mission. It would have to be something super-secretive, like sneaking into a foreign country that we're not friendly towards. Maybe we'll even end up having to assassinate someone proclaiming themselves to be a god with plans for world domination."

Hundreds of miles away, Nagato sneezed, then frowned. Gods don't get sick, so why did he sneeze? He shrugged, and then got back to using his paths to fight Jiraiya and Konan.

"And I'm telling you there is no way we'd be given a mission like that," Karui said through grit teeth. It was easy to see that the woman was about to blow her top, meaning this conversation had likely been going on for some time now.

Deciding that she wasn't in the mood to listen to the pair arguing about something that, in all likelihood, was pointless, Samui interrupted them. "What are you two doing here? I thought you were serving under Darui at the moment as bodyguards for Raikage-sama?"

"We were," Karui said, straightening herself in front of the blond woman. "However, Raikage-sama has requested the presence of yourself and Yugito-san, along with both of us. We were sent here to get you."

Yugito and Samui looked at each other, blinked as similar expressions of curiosity formed on their faces, and then simultaneously turned their attention back to the dark skinned pair in front of them.

"Did Raikage-sama say what he wanted?" asked Yugito.

"Only that we were to retrieve you two and escort you to his office," answered Karui before Omoi could say anything. She was not in the mood for his conspiracy theories, having listened to them far more than anybody should have to.

The two blonds shared another look, before standing up. Yugito gestured to the two Chunin in their presence and said, "Lead the way."

The trip they took to get to the Raikage's office was very roundabout. Unlike in Konoha, one could not just shunshin into the Raikage's office. As a village that was more militaristic then any of the other hidden villages, Kumogakure followed very strict protocols that were enforced to the letter. The only person capable of breaking these protocols was Kirabi, which Yugito suspected was simply because he was Raikage-sama's adopted brother.

Though even the famed Hachibi Jinchuuriki couldn't get away with some things.

Shaking her head, Yugito did her best to ignore the pair bickering in front of her, only catching the occasional word from their heated discussion. She instead remained silent as they made their way along the village, hopping across the flat roofs to the many conical buildings in the city.

Like most days in Kumo, the sky was fairly clear, with the only clouded areas being around the Raikage mansion and the large mountains that their village was built around. Unlike Hi No Kuni and some of the other countries she had been to, the weather in Kaminari No Kuni was very predictable.

When they arrived at the Raikage's mansion and walked in, they were greeted by Mabui and quickly ushered into the Raikage's office. The man himself was sitting at his desk, a large stack of paperwork off to one side, and an even larger stack of paperwork on the other. It was clear from the scowl on his face and the way he was grumbling while taking papers from the larger stack that he had just received the large stack of paperwork a few minutes ago, probably right after he had finished the first.

However, the moment the door shut and Yugito, along with the other three shinobi present stepped forward, the Raikage stopped stamping papers and placed his hands on the desk, pleased to be doing something other than seeing how long it would take for his hand to get carpal tunnel.

"I have a mission for the four of you that is of the utmost importance," A began without preamble. The man was never one for beating around the bush, a surprising lack of subtlety considering all of the plans and plots he had come up with in his life to help his village gain more power.

Opening a drawer on his desk, he pulled out a scroll with two symbols on the bottom. The first was easily recognized as the Cloud shaped symbol of Kumogakure. However, the second took a bit longer for most of the shinobi in the room to place as the symbol of Kirigakure.

"This scroll contains important documents that will help solidify our alliance with Kirigakure," the man's statement drew surprised gasps from Karui and Omoi, while Samui and Yugito only raised an eyebrow. "You are to deliver this scroll to the Godaime Mizukage and wait there until the treaty can be signed and formalized. This will be a long-term A-rank mission of the utmost importance. I'm counting on the four of you!"

Yugito now realized why the Raikage had called on her for this mission, especially as he had been so adamant on keeping her in the village after getting almost captured by Akatsuki. It was obvious to her that she was being sent because Mei was one of the women that Naruto was engaged to, and the Raikage – along with everybody else who saw them at the Chunin Exams in Konoha – knew about their relationship. Never had she been so thankful that knowledge of Naruto's relationships with her and Mei had been known.

She, along with Samui, Omoi and Karui snapped to attention upon receiving their orders.

"Hai, Raikage-sama!"

* * *

It hadn't been long since Naruto had hooked back up with the rest of his squad, who had just come back from successfully retrieving Uchiha Sasuke – with said traitorous ninja being sealed up inside of Naruto's Prisoner Transportation Scroll. He, along with Yamato, Kakashi, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Sai, and Sakura, were all hopping along the trees as they made their way back to Konoha. They were in a standard arrow formation, with Naruto in the lead, Kakashi and Sakura on either side and the others evenly spaced behind them to create the key points of the formation.

Naruto scanned his surroundings, keeping an eye open for any possible threat. Madara may have been injured, but the blond wasn't sure if that would be enough to stop the man. And even if the one claiming to be the ancient Uchiha was unable to attack, it didn't mean he wouldn't send a subordinate to do the same. Kisame and Zetsu were both very real threats, especially Zetsu as Konan had told him that the plant being could travel underground at overwhelming speeds.

_**'Hey brat.'**_

_'Kyuubi?'_ Naruto frowned as he continued hopping along the trees. It was very rare for the Bijuu to start a conversation with him, preferring to stay quiet unless it was to make the occasional snide comment. _'What's up?'_

_**'I've been waiting to tell you this until after your fight with the Uchiha. But that man who was claiming himself as Uchiha Madara was not, in fact, Uchiha Madara.'**_

_'E-Excuse me?' _Such was Naruto's shock that when he landed on the next tree branch he stumbled and nearly lost his footing. Only experience and long-standing use of tree hopping and a quick application of chakra kept the blond from plummeting to the ground in a rather humiliating way.

"Naruto?" questioned Kakashi, who was hopping along right next to the blond, a small note of concern in his voice at seeing the rather confident and normally skilled Naruto nearly fall off during something as routine as tree hopping. Behind them, the rest of their squad was also looking at the whiskered blond in concern.

"Hold up Kakashi," Naruto said absently, "Kyuubi's trying to tell me something important." He missed the looks of shock and concern he got with that statement, or to be more accurate, he ignored them. What the great Bijuu had to tell him was far more important than their shock at the moment.

_'What do you mean that's no Uchiha Madara? How could that be anybody else?'_

_**'I don't know!' **_By the snarl in Kyuubi's voice it was clear the ancient beast was even more frustrated by this then he was. _**'I'm only telling you what I felt. I know Madara's chakra signature as well as I know my own. So I'd know if it was him. That man was not him.'**_

_'But what about when he made you attack Konoha when I was born?'_ asked Naruto, trying to gain enough information that he could wrap his head around what Kyuubi was telling him. _'I thought you said that Madara was the one who forced you into attacking the village.'_

_**'I never said that. You just assumed that because that Konan girl you are mated to told you Madara was the one who is leading Akatsuki from the shadows that he was the real Uchiha Madara.'**_'

Kyuubi's words were a cause for alarm. If what the fox was saying was true, then the person that Naruto had assumed was the reason Kyuubi's attack on Konoha, and the secret power behind Akatsuki, was not who Naruto thought he was. It also meant that Konan was wrong and the man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara was deliberately handing out misinformation on his identity to further confuse everyone, including his own men.

The problem Naruto had with that was that if Kyuubi was right, and the man he had faced was not Uchiha Madara, then who was he? Why was he impersonating another person? Especially one who had been considered one of the most powerful Shinobi to date? None of this made sense to Naruto. He could not see any discernible reason for Tobi to impersonate Madara, especially when only a few people even knew of his existence, and of those few only himself, Konan and Pein knew who he truly was.

Or at least, who he was pretending to be.

_'But I thought Madara was the only Uchiha who had the power to control you,'_ Naruto said, eliciting a growl from Kyuubi, who was angered at the blond for bringing that up. The blond did his best to ignore his prisoner's angry growls, however, as he continued speaking. _'And if that isn't the case, and there really is someone out there with the power to subdue a Bijuu, then who is it?'_

_**'How should I know?'**_asked Kyuubi, his voice something akin to a snarl. _**'As far as I knew that blasted Madara **__**was**__** the only Uchiha whose eyes had the power to... subjugate me.' **_The way the Bijuu said subjugate, as if the word were some kind of poison, did not go unnoticed by Naruto. There was a prominent pause following the ancient Kitsune's words. _**'That there is another Uchiha with the power to control a Bijuu is troubling.'**_

_'Why is that?'_ asked Naruto, curious. He had his own thoughts on why having another person capable of controlling a creature as powerful as Kyuubi was troubling, but suspected his reasons were vastly different from the Bijuu's.

_**'You mean aside from the fact that it means there is another capable of making me subservient to their will?'**_said Kyuubi in a dry growl. Naruto didn't say anything, knowing the question was rhetorical, but his feelings of mild embarrassment that went through the seal made the ancient kitsune snort in a mild form of amusement before continuing. _**'The reason it is so troubling is because not just anyone of the Uchiha clan can do this. To be capable of subjugating a Bijuu requires more than just a Sharingan eye. Even the famed Mangekyo Sharingan of legends is incapable of enslaving me, from what I know, Uchiha Madara's younger brother, Izuna, also possessed a Mangekyo, yet he could not control my actions with it. It requires a mental fortitude that few possess.'**_

_'Which means whoever this man is, not only has a strong Sharingan, but also has powerful mental abilities,'_ Naruto concluded. So it required more than just a Sharingan, or even a Mangekyo like Itachi's. It required a powerful will that could oppress and subdue the will of the Bijuu they were trying to take control over; meaning that their mind and will had to be stronger than normal.

That was a scary thought.

_**'Exactly. The Uchiha in question also must have a very powerful chakra. It takes a lot of power to use the Sharingan's ability to subdue me, just the act itself would require more chakra then most of what you would call Jonin level Shinobi possess.'**_

_'I see...' _Naruto resisted the urge to sigh as he felt a slight head ache coming. This new piece of information was troubling, especially since it essentially meant he would need to reevaluate the situation entirely. Still, better to deal with it now, than not know and find out sometime down the road when the knowledge he now held could have made a difference. _'Thanks Kyuubi.'_

_**'Che, whatever brat.'**_ Naruto almost smiled at the grumble in Kyuubi's voice. He could almost picture the ancient Bijuu scoffing at him.

"Naruto," Kakashi's voice interrupted his thoughts. Turning his head Naruto looked at his former sensei with a curious expression.

"Something wrong, sensei?"

"I was just wondering if you were done talking with... Kyuubi. And if so, what was so important that it had to tell you."

"He," Naruto corrected absently, tilting his head a bit as he tried to decide how much he should tell Kakashi – and the others who were secretly listening in. He couldn't tell them everything, not only because they were out in the open but because secrets never stayed secret for long when more people knew about it. And the information that the man claiming to be Uchiha Madara was not Uchiha Madara was a pretty big thing.

Knowledge was power, and in this instance it may be better to tell them as little as possible.

"Kyuubi was just giving him some information on the man that I fought a few minutes ago."

"Oh?" Kakashi raised a single eyebrow in question. It was obvious to anyone that the silver-haired man was looking for more information. However, much as Naruto may trust Kakashi, this was the kind of information that he was not willing to hand out callously.

"Yes," Naruto replied with a nod, then snapped his mouth shut. After several seconds, when it became obvious that the blond was not going to elaborate on what he and Kyuubi spoke of, Kakashi sighed and went back to monitoring their surroundings and looking out for signs of danger.

It wasn't until three hours later that something happened. In mid-jump Naruto's body stiffened and his eyes widened in surprise. He stopped, abruptly and, turned his head in a specific direction with eyes slightly glazed over; looking at something only he could see.

"Naruto?" said Sakura, surprised by the sudden stop as was everyone else. They had been making good time so far, and were only a few days away from Konoha. Naruto had been driving them rather hard to make it back to the safety of the village where Akatsuki wouldn't be able to attack them, which was why everyone was wondering what had caused the blond to stop moving so suddenly.

"Someone just activated one of my Hiraishin seals," Naruto said with wide eyes. The look didn't last as his eyes sharpened and he turned his head to look at Kakashi. "Sensei, from this moment onwards you are in charge. I want you to head to Konoha with all due haste. Do not stop until you are within those walls. Understand?"

"Yes," Kakashi nodded, and then paused before voicing his concern. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't know," Naruto frowned, and then shook his head. "But everyone who has a Hiraishin seal knows that I am on a mission. They wouldn't have activated it if they weren't in very serious danger." He paused, and then looked at everyone on the squad before nodding in goodbye. "I'll see you all in Konoha."

And with that, Naruto disappeared in a flash of yellow.

* * *

Naruto knew almost as soon as he used the Hiraishin to flash to the location of the person who summoned him, that something was wrong. It was not just an innate sense of instinct that told him this, but ran more along the lines of all of his senses and combat experience screaming at him with all the subtlety of a sledge hammer. The vast and erratic flares of chakra told him that whoever had summoned him was likely in a battle.

This theory was proven to be a reality when he appeared in the middle of a battle between Konan and Jiraiya, and six different people all with the ripple patterned eyes, which he guessed were the Six Paths of Pein.

It was immediately apparent that the battle was not going in the favor of his mentor, and his lover. Jiraiya was missing his entire right arm, and was crouched down panting heavily, his eyelids drooping as he fought to maintain a conscious state. Konan was faring better, but it was clear she had seen better days as well. The clothing that she wore under it was ripped and cut, along with her body, a large bruise was forming on the right side of her face, and she was bleeding profusely from a wound on the left side of her torso.

Things definitely weren't looking good for the two.

Using the split second he had to analyze the situation, it was obvious to him what was going on. It was clear that they were in Amegakure, if the rain didn't tell him that much, and then the large steel city several meters before him would have; which meant that his sensei had tried to infiltrate Amegakure. If Naruto had the time, he would have taken a moment to curse out Jiraiya for his foolishness.

Unfortunately he didn't. It would not be long before the others reacted to his presence and he needed to be out of there by then.

Reacting with due haste, Naruto put on a burst of speed and appeared right in between Jiraiya and Konan. He placed his hands on the water's surface and flared his chakra, molding it, directing it, controlling it. In a burst of electricity and wind, a large cylinder of water, nearly one hundred feet high, rose around from around them, protecting them from the paths that had been just about to attack when he had flashed here. The water crackled and howled as blue arcs of lightning danced across its surface, and green gales of force cutting winds moved around life giving liquid. It was a three way state of protection and one of Naruto's ultimate defensive jutsu, Araton: Fiferement No Shōheki.

"Naruto!" Konan shouted, recognizing the jutsu for what it was. She spun around to face him to see that the blond already had a now unconscious Jiraiya held over his right shoulder. The blond didn't say anything, just held out his hand to her. She took it, and the moment she did, Naruto pulled her to him, wrapped his free arm around her waist, closed his eyes and concentrated.

There was a flash of yellow. The protective elemental barrier that had been held up by Naruto's chakra dispersed, the water falling back into the lake and disrupting it's movement with large waves, the lightning dispersed into the atmosphere and the wind blew outwards in a shock wave that forced the paths that had been standing next to the protect cylinder several meters back, where they skid along the water's surface, creating crevices.

The Deva Path let its hands fall down to its side, the protective barrier of gravitational chakra that he had created dispersing. His eyes roved over the now empty landscape, expression never changing. When it became clear that Konan and Jiraiya were gone, escaped by the help of the person he belatedly recognized as the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, he – along with the other paths – began making their way back to base.

He would need to inform Madara of this new development.

* * *

The moment Naruto, along with Konan and Jiraiya reappeared, the blond Shinobi quickly dropped to his knees, gasping as he heaved in a great lungful of air.

"N-Naruto-kun!" Shouted Konan, surprised to see her lover looking like he'd just run a five thousand mile marathon with Gai and Lee. Her arm encircled his waist as she tried to hold him up, but due to her own exhaustion only managed to bring her down with him.

As the blond fell to a knee, Jiraiya slid from Naruto's grasp, falling to the ground and laying on his side. The slow breathing was the only thing that let them know their sensei was alive.

"Are you alright?" asked Konan, her voice clearly stating her concern.

"Yes," Naruto got out, his voice raspy as he continued heaving for breath. It took him a few seconds before he could continue talking. "The Hiraishin is a jutsu where the chakra cost is proportional to the mass I'm using the jutsu on. That cost is tripled when I'm taking more than one object at a time, especially if I'm flashing with them." And that wasn't even mentioning how he had just gotten out of his own battle with the Madara-that-was-not-Madara. As it was his reserves had already been cut down to a third by that battle. By the time Konan had summoned him, he'd been running on empty and was just barely able to use the Hiraishin.

His eyes landed on Jiraiya and he remembered that time was of the essence.

Acting with as much haste as possible, Naruto summoned a scroll from inside his left kunai pouch. Unrolling quickly and flattening it against the ground, he smashed his hands on the seal located in the center of the parchment. With a puff of smoke that cleared soon after it appeared, Naruto summoned the medical supplies that he always kept on hand. He grabbed one of the jars containing several black pills, popped the lid and threw two into his mouth.

The blond grimaced. He hated using chakra pills, or any kind of artificial enhancers. But at the moment, he didn't have much of a choice.

As he felt his chakra replenish, Naruto turned to Konan and began speaking. "I'm going to get Tsunade. I need you to stay here with Jiraiya and keep him alive."

Konan nodded sharply. She wasn't a medical ninja, but having been the one who healed most of her friend's wounds when they were injured, she was decent when it came to application of medicine and field bandaging.

Naruto didn't respond with words to her affirmation. Instead he disappeared within a swirl of leaves, leaving her to tend to Jiraiya's wounds.

The first thing Konan did was roll Jiraiya onto his back. He had long since lost consciousness and was beginning to look drawn and pale, a sign that he was running low on blood, which meant he needed to replenish what he'd lost.

Konan easily found the blood replenishing pills; Naruto was very meticulous in his labeling. She opened the container and grabbed several, feeding them to Jiraiya one at a time. It was difficult to get him to swallow them, since he was already unconscious she had to help him chew by moving his chakra, and then help him swallow by forcing the paste down his throat with some water. Thankfully, he wasn't dead enough that his survival reflexes weren't kicking in, and he automatically swallowed the water and pills.

When the blood replenishing pills began working, it showed the now severed stub that was his arm beginning to leak more blood then before. Konan, knowing that she had to stop the blood flow, ripped off the right sleeve of his tunic, and used it as a tourniquet. The blood flowing out of the wound slowed to a mere trickle, which she knew was about as good as she was going to get it.

Realizing that there wasn't much else she could do for her sensei now, Konan fell onto her backside, hands going behind her for support, and for the first time since she had appeared with Naruto, took in her surroundings.

The room they were in was a bland, square room with very little in the way of personality. She and Jiraiya were on some kind of pad, a light tan pad with a rubber grip texture. They were in the center, surrounded by gray lines that formed a square around them. The walls were made of cement, a light tan color weathered and cracked with age. Several stone columns acted as support and held up the roof. Behind her, she noticed a set of stairs with rust colored handrails surrounding it leading to a door. The few personal effects that she noticed were the tri-pronged kunai hanging on the wall at the far end, and several haori's that Naruto wore.

It wasn't long after her initial survey of the room, maybe five minutes later that Naruto reappeared in a yellow flash next to her, this time with two other people.

Naruto dropped to his hands and knees, panting. The one on his left, who she absently recognized as Tsunade swore, loudly.

"Shit!"

The blond Hokage was at Jiraiya's side in an instant, running a medical scan over him. The worry that was clear on her face began to get grow into fear, letting Konan know that something was wrong with the man. Her theory was proven a moment later when Tsunade began speaking again.

"He's going into shock! Shizune! I need you to help me carry him upstairs!"

"Hai! Tsunade-sama!"

Konan watched with tired eyes as Tsunade and the dark-haired woman that could only be Shizune grabbed Jiraiya and lifted him as delicately as possible. The pair of medical ninja moved as quickly as they were able without jostling the white-haired hermit, moving up the stairs and through the door. When the door closed with a _click_, Konan was snapped out of her stupor and moved over to where Naruto was sitting.

"Naruto-kun?" she questioned, making his eyes snap open to look at her. The blond offered a tired smile, which she tentatively returned, though it didn't last for long.

"Come on," Naruto said, pushing himself to his feet with a great heave. He wobbled for a moment, his legs shaking as he showed just how tired he truly was. The blond looked like he was about to fall over, but thankfully for him, Konan seemed to realize this and managed to catch him just as he was starting to tilt.

"You're tired," she noted, not bothering to berate herself on how obvious that statement was. With a few deft movements, Konan managed to wrap her left arm around his waist, while pulling his right one over her shoulder and allowing him to lean on her for support.

"Yeah, no kidding," Naruto said with a dry chuckle. When he looked at Konan out of the corner of his eye, and saw the look she was giving him, one that told him she was not in the mood for smart ass remarks, he decided to elaborate. "We ran into Madara on our mission."

Konan flinched, a clear indication of how she felt about this knowledge. "You fought him?" she asked.

Naruto gave a tired nod as he said, "yes, it was probably my hardest battle yet, and I'm not even sure how serious he was." His left hand pressed against the now healed shoulder wound. Aside from having exhausted most of his chakra in that battle, he'd been more injured then all of his other battles for the past several years. The only fight he'd had that had been that tough was when he went up against Yagura during the Kiri Civil War.

As his mind went to the battle he'd had with the one calling himself Madara, he remembered Kyuubi's words.

Turning his head to look at Konan, he said, "Let's head upstairs. There's something important that I need to tell you."

* * *

Konan watched as the large wound on her torso healed, the flesh that had been shredded by the serrated blade-like sash of Pein's Asura Path knitted together very slowly. It was only a few minutes later that the torn skin fully healed, not even leaving a blemish.

"You are very good," Konan complimented the woman who healed her wounds. Shizune looked up from her work and smiled.

"Thank you," she said, before her still glowing green hand moved to deal with Konan's less grievous injuries. As Shizune began healing the smaller cuts and bruises that had formed all over her body, she began speaking some more. "I've been trained by Tsunade-sama since I was a little girl. She's taught me everything I know about being a medical ninja, and while I can't use her strength technique, I like to think that my skills in healing are at least around her level."

Konan gave a nod as she remained silent and let the woman work. Her eyes moved around, staring at the bland white walls of the hospital room she was in. The smell of blood and disinfectant hung in the air, a retched scent and one that Konan had never liked. It had been a long time since she'd been injured enough to require going to a hospital. Her job as the Angel of Ame kept her in the village, so unlike the other members of Akatsuki who were always out on missions or capturing Jinchuuriki, she had stayed in one spot and thus never got into any serious battles.

A grimace came to her face as she closed her eyes, her mind flashing back to the battle she and Jiraiya had with Pein. She couldn't help but curse herself for not having intervened sooner then she had. If she had more resolve to fight her friend, then maybe Jiraiya wouldn't have been as injured as he was. That she had taken so long to steel herself was a cause of great guilt for her, and because of her hesitation, there was a very good chance Jiraiya wouldn't live out the night.

He could only imagine how Naruto must be feeling right now.

"There," Shizune said, the woman's voice bringing Konan out of her funk. She opened her amber colored eyes and looked to see the medical ninja standing back up, having just finished healing the last of her wounds. "Your wounds have been healed so you're free to leave. However, your body is still going to be very tender. I would suggest not doing anything too strenuous for at least a few days."

Konan gave the woman a sincere nod. "Thank you."

"No problem," Shizune said with a smile, though it was clear the woman was not really in the mood. The smile was as fake as the ones Naruto used to wear when he was younger. Not that Konan could blame her given what transpired just a little over half an hour ago.

Standing up, Konan made her way out the door with Shizune following close behind. Looking over at the woman who had decided to walk along side of her, she asked, "Do you know where I can find Naruto-kun?"

Shizune absently noted the suffix Konan added to Naruto's name as she nodded. "He's probably standing outside of the emergency room that Tsunade-sama took Jiraiya-sama to. I'm heading there myself so just follow me."

With a nod Konan did just that, following the woman as she moved through several halls, up a flight of stairs, and down another hall. At the end, they found Naruto just as Shizune said they would. He was standing in front of a large set of double-doors with a red light blazing above the door to let everyone know it was currently in the middle of an operation. The blond himself was pacing back and forth in front of the door, the thumb of his left hand in his mouth as she chewed on it in worry, while the other was cupping the elbow of his left hand and holding it up. Every few seconds he would stop, turn his head to look at the door, and when he noticed that the light still hadn't turned off, he would continue his pacing.

It was easy for Konan to see that her lover was worried, the expression on his face, his movements and the stiff pacing told her all that she needed to know and more. Knowing from experience that if he continued to stand there with nothing to occupy him, he would just worry more, Konan walked over to him, the soles of her shinobi sandals making light squeaking noises along the floor.

Behind her, Shizune watched the proceeding events with idle curiosity. She looked over at the door, seeing the light burning brightly and letting her know that Tsunade was in the middle of a delicate operation. Unless her master called for her, she would be better off not entering. Therefore, she turned her attention back to Naruto and the mysterious woman he was with.

"Naruto-kun?" she said, her voice bringing him to a halt. Naruto turned to look at her just as she reached him. His arms relaxed upon seeing her, moving back down to his sides, and some of the worry on his face turned into relief at seeing that she was alright. It warmed her heart to know that he cared about her, to see the emotion of worry on his face and know that at least part of it was because he was concerned for her wellbeing.

She moved the rest of the distance between them, closing the last inch as her arms slid his waist and wrapped themselves around him tightly. Naruto was taller than her now, when they had first met the blond was about the same height as she was. Now he was at least a head taller. Her head was able to easily fit underneath his.

In response to her hold on him, Naruto's around wrapped around her shoulders, squeezing her just a little tighter then he normally would, as if to make sure she was really there. His chin came to rest on the crown of her head, eyes closing as he tried taking deep breaths to calm the worry that was raging in his mind.

"It will be ok," Konan murmured, her voice so soft that Naruto almost missed it. They parted only slightly, so that Naruto could look down at her as the blue haired woman looked up. She tried to offer him a reassuring smile, though it was clearly forced. Despite this, she continued. "Everything's going to be fine. Jiraiya-sensei wouldn't let something like this kill him so easily."

"Yeah..." It was clear Naruto didn't quite believe that as he looked over at the still closed door, a prominent frown marring his face. He shuddered a bit, his body shaking and sending a reverberation through Konan. She watched in concern as he closed his eyes and grit his teeth.

"Are you alright?"

"We should have told him," Naruto whispered, his voice breaking ever so slightly.

"About us?"

"About everything," Naruto said. Opening his eyes again, he turned his head once more to look at Konan. "I should have realized that he would eventually figure everything out on his own. Amegakure's the only nation in the Elemental Countries that has been totally isolated from the rest of the world. It's the perfect place for Akatsuki's base. I should have realized that he would eventually figure this out and go there to see for himself."

"You can't predict the future, Naruto-kun," Konan said. "At the time, you thought this was for the best. We both know how Jiraiya thinks. If you had told him back then, he would have still gone there. Maybe things would have been different, but maybe they wouldn't have. You can't know for sure." She rested her head in the crook of his neck, breathing his scent in through her nose, and blowing her breath out through her mouth. "All we can do now is hope that Jiraiya will pull through this."

"Right."

As one of Naruto's hands went to the small of her back, his other one came to her head, fingers beginning to brush through her hair as he rested his cheek on her head.

"Excuse me?" asked Shizune, bringing attention to herself after watching the exchange. Naruto and Konan looked over at her. Seeing this, she continued, focusing her eyes mostly on the blond. Asking the question she wanted to ever since she worked on Konan, she said, "Naruto-kun, who is this?"

"That's right; I haven't introduced you yet, have I?" Naruto said rhetorically.

He ended their embrace, taking a step back from Konan and grabbing onto her left hand. She responded, lacing her fingers with his as they walked over to one side of the wall, where Shizune had chosen to stand.

When they reached the dark-haired woman, Naruto introduced the two by saying, "This is Konan. Konan, this is Shizune."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Konan said, hands held in front of her as she bowed slightly in respect.

Though Shizune was dissatisfied by the very small introduction, having been hoping to learn more about this mysterious woman that somehow knows Naruto – and in an intimate sense if their previous actions were any indication – she returned the gesture.

"It's nice to meet you as well."

Returning to an upright position, and hoping to learn more about the blue-haired beauty, Shizune opened her mouth to speak. Before she could, however, the light above the door blanked, and a few seconds after that the door opened and a tired Tsunade walked out.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune said as she, Naruto, and Konan walked in front of the blond Hokage.

"How's Ero-Sennin?" asked Naruto before the woman even had a chance to speak. "Is he alright? Did he make it through? How is he doing...?" He was forced to stop talking when Tsunade held a hand up in front of his face, backed by a tired glare to let him know she was not in the mood to listen to him.

After a few seconds, when it became clear that Naruto would not interrupt her, Tsunade said, "It was come and go for a while, but Jiraiya's going to be fine."

The relief that washed through the area was almost palpable. Both Naruto and Konan closed their eyes and sent out a silent thank you, neither realizing that Tsunade was eying the two curiously, though her attention was more focused on Konan. Deciding that she would get her answers as to who this woman was – and why she looked so familiar – along with the knowledge of why Naruto was here without his squad later, she first decided to tell them more about Jiraiya's condition.

"His right arm is gone completely, and since you didn't have it with you, I can't reattach it. Even if you did bring his arm, the wound was beginning to get infected and I'm not sure reattaching the limb would have worked. In the end I was forced to cauterize the wound. This will hamper his ability to use Ninjutsu, but I'm sure he'll find a way around that when he wakes up. There were several other problems as well, namely that he had more than a few broken bones, including a nearly shattered ribcage. His left lung had also been punctured by several bone fragments from his ribs." She paused for a moment, catching her breath before continuing. "As things stand he was very lucky that you managed to get me when you did. A few minutes later and he would have died from any number of the injuries he suffered."

It was a harsh diagnosis, and one that made everyone listening wince as they heard the number of life threatening injuries he had. At the very least he was still alive, that had to count for something.

"Can we see him?" asked Naruto.

Tsunade shook her head. "Currently he's been put into a medical induced sleep so that his injuries might heal without him aggravating them." She then fixed Naruto with a glare. "I'm also going to need a mission brief from you, as well as an explanation as to why you are here, without your squad I might add, and who this woman is."

Naruto sighed. He should have expected something like this.

"Right. Well, let's go to your office. This explanation will take a while and isn't something you're going to want to become public knowledge."

* * *

**Here you have it, Jiraiya lived and Konan is now in Konoha. Since this chapter was merely a transition from the Infiltrating Ame and Sasuke Retrieval Arc to my next one, it is much shorter then my other chapters. I thought about adding the next scene to this one, in order to keep the word count around the same length of my other chapters, but it didn't feel right so in the end, I decided to leave things as is.**

**Now, a lot of people have been asking me about my Harry Potter's Rise to Power story. For those of you who do not check my profile, I am currently on chapter 14. For some reason, this story is a lot harder to get out than my other ones. It is also going to be several chapters longer than I expected; likely somewhere between 19 and 21 chapters total due to the fact that I ended up writing more than I thought, with several of my beginning chapters needing to be cut in half because of how long they were.**

**However, those who enjoy that story will be pleased to know that I am going to be focusing the majority of my attention on it now, in the hopes of finishing it sometime within the next month or two.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I know it's been a while since I updated this story, but just in case you forgot, I do not own Naruto. All rights go to Kishomoto, the bastard.**

**Chapter 23: Revelations**

* * *

Tsunade rubbed her forehead as she looked at Naruto, who was currently standing at attention in front of her desk with the blue haired woman that she had seen with him by his side, and couldn't help but wonder if this boy was trying to force her into retirement via stress. Just when she thought they had everything figured out, the last remaining Uzumaki aside from her managed to drop an exploding tag on her.

"So you're telling me that the Uchiha Madara that is supposedly secretly leading Akatsuki from the shadows really isn't Uchiha Madara, but someone impersonating him?" She had just been given a report on what had happened during their capture Itachi mission. While she was pleased to know that Sasuke had been captured during that mission, this knew information on the man known as Tobi, who they had assumed was Uchiha Madara was troubling.

Tsunade really wasn't sure if she should be relieved or terrified by that knowledge. The founder of the Uchiha clan had been a shinobi of monstrous strength. The only ninja said to be on par with her grandfather, Senju Hashirama, who was still considered to be the most powerful ninja in the Elemental Nations. If the man Naruto fought was not Madara, then it meant they wouldn't have to deal with such a powerful ninja. On the other side of the coin toss, the man Naruto fought was capable of controlling the Kyuubi just like her grandfather's rival, which could mean they were dealing with someone who was not only just as powerful, but also a complete unknown. Neither of those answers brought much comfort.

"Kyuubi seems to think so," Naruto answered her with a shrug. "And since he knows the bastard personally, I can only assume that the fox is right. Aside from that, I trust Kyuubi's judgement when it comes to these things."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not misplacing your trust. This is the being that nearly destroyed Konoha, you know."

"I doubt Kyuubi would lie about something like this," Naruto defended the powerful nine tailed kitsune in his gut. "He doesn't benefit from lying to me or withholding information that could potentially end with him becoming a tool for an Uchiha again." If there was one thing that Naruto knew about the fox it was that he hated being manipulated or controlled in any way. He worked with Naruto because it was a benefit to him right now, but even with the threat of being sealed in a statue should Akatsuki capture the blond, it was still reluctant to do so. Naruto could only imagine how Kyuubi would feel about becoming an Uchiha's pet once more.

"That does make sense," Tsunade sighed, more than ever wishing that she didn't need to be sober for this report so she could reach under her desk and grab some sake from her stash. "I suppose I'll just have to trust you about the Kyuubi then. Now that we have that out of the way..." Tsunade's eyes strayed from Naruto and went to Konan, narrowing as they did. "You can begin telling me who this is and why she ended up with you and a half-dead Jiraiya."

For one of the first times in a long while, Naruto found himself at a loss for words. It wasn't that he had no intention of telling Tsunade who Konan was, because really, it wasn't like he could keep this from her. No, his issue ran more along the lines of trying to figure out what he should tell her first. After all, how do you tell someone that the woman before them is not only one of the four women who had agreed to be his wife, but also a member of the very organization trying to capture his Bijuu? It's not like he could just come out and say 'this is my bride to be, Konan, I'm sure you remember her from when the two of you met in Ame during the Second Shinobi World War. Oh, and by the way, she also happens to be working with Akatsuki; you know, the organization made up of S-ranked criminals trying to steal the Bijuu. But don't worry! She no longer agrees with their ideals and is actually my spy within said organization now.' Yeah, he could see that going over really well. This required more subtlety.

"Do you remember when I mentioned during my first few days here how I refused to reveal two of the women who agreed to marry me for their own protection?"

Well, so much for subtlety.

"Yes," Tsunade said, furrowing her brow as she tried to figure out where this was going. "You wouldn't even reveal who they were to me, stating that the more people who know the less of a secret it is the safer she... was...?" The woman's eyes widened as she snapped her gaze towards Naruto, and then towards Konan. They came back towards Naruto a second later and her jaw nearly dropped. "You're telling me that she's one of your wives?"

"The technical term would be betrothed," Naruto stated, a bit of mirth in his voice at seeing Tsunade looking as if she had just shit a brick. "But yes, this woman is my betrothed. Her name is Konan."

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Tsunade-sama," Konan finally spoke up for the first time since the meeting began, bowing her head slightly towards the blond Hokage as a sign of respect.

"See me again?" Tsunade blinked after picking her metaphorical jaw off the floor. She looked at the woman with slightly narrowed eyes. "Are you telling me we've met before?"

"That is correct. You may not remember me, but I was one of the war orphan's that Jiraiya took in when you three were in Amegakure during the Second Shinobi World War."

Konan's words spurred the memories of the Godaime Hokage. She remembered the Second World War quite well, though she wished she didn't. That was not a time she liked to remember as it was the war where she lost both her younger brother, Nawaki, as well as her boyfriend and fiance, Dan. However, she did remember her time in Ame. It was hard to forget, seeing as how that had been when she, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru had fought against Shanshōuo no Hanzo (Hanzo of the Salamander) and earned themselves the title of Densetsu no Sannin.

Thinking back on that time, Tsunade did remember meeting three orphans, two boys and a girl... a girl with blue hair, amber eyes, and an origami flower in her hair. Blinking several times, Tsunade looked at Konan and overlapped the image of the young girl with the woman standing before her.

They were nearly identical, minus the labret piercing, skin tight leather pants, shoulder-less leather top, and the sensual curves that most women would kill for.

"Gaki..." Tsunade growled out. "You'd better have a good reason for marrying someone whose old enough to be your mother!"

"Eh?"

Naruto blinked. Konan blinked. Naruto blinked once more for good measure.

"But... Mei's almost twice my age," Naruto pointed out. "Doesn't that make her old enough to be my mother as well?" That was not even mentioning Yugao and Yugito, both of whom were in their mid twenties. Thinking on it, the only one who was even close to him in age was Koyuki, who was only twenty years old. Even then, the only reason marriage with her was considered legal was because he was a shinobi, and therefore an adult.

"And as things stand the only reason I'm even tolerating your relationship with Mei is because I can see that she truly loves you," Tsunade stated with a stern look. "Even now a part of me is telling me not to let her anywhere near you because of your age difference. This woman," the busty blond pointed at Konan, "is at least ten years older than Mei is! That means she's over twenty years older than you!"

Naruto's lips thinned into a small line. He was well aware of the difference of the age between himself and Konan, and was even more aware that their relationship would turn a lot of heads, and not necessarily in a good way once people learned about their age difference. Still, he had assumed Tsunade would be supportive, if not because Konan loved him, then because she understood him better than most due to her also being a student of Jiraiya's. That she didn't hurt more than he would ever let on.

"While it is true that I am technically over twenty years older than Naruto-kun," Konan began speaking before either of the two blond's could. Both of them turned their attention to her, Naruto with curiosity, and Tsunade with animosity. "That is only partially correct. You see, due to an... incident a few years before the Third Great Ninja War, Nagato, or Pein as he has stylized himself as, became crippled. This led him to creating his paths, which splits up his Rinnegan abilities into six individual bodies. Being forced to use this jutsu not only greatly weakened his Rinnegan, but also leaves him very vulnerable if people knew how to exploit it. Because of this we came up with a back up plan. Should Nagato ever die, I was to implant his Rinnegan into my own eyes and continue his work."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the woman, her anger still simmering beneath the surface, but buried under her curiosity. "That's a very interesting tale and all, but what does that have to do with the age difference between you and Naruto?"

"Because we were not aware of how long it would take to accomplish our goals, Nagato felt it would be best if I was able to live longer. For the past eighteen years he's been using a modified version of the Gedō: Rinne Tensei No Jutsu (Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique) which when used normally would allow him to revive a person who has recently become diseased. However, the modified version is different in that it stores souls in the King of Hell, and then converts them into a form of medical chakra that can rejuvenate the body."

"In other words it's capable of turning back the hands of time," Tsunade concluded for Konan before the bluenette could finish her speech.

"Or stalling them," Konan told her. "Which is what happened to me. While I've technically lived for forty-two years, my body has not aged since I was twenty-four."

"Hmph!" Tsunade huffed as she glared at the younger woman, before begrudgingly speaking. "I suppose that would explain why you don't look your age..."

There was a hint of jealousy in the female Hokage's voice that almost had Naruto smiling. He could only wonder at how pissed the blond woman was at knowing that while her young looks were due to a henge, Konan's was because she really was just that young.

A few seconds later Naruto realized something that caused him to blink. "How come I didn't know anything about this?"

"I didn't think it was relevant at the time," Konan admitted with a shrug. "Would knowing that I am physically younger than you thought I was make a difference?"

"Well... no," Naruto admitted, scratching his cheek with his index finger.

"Then it doesn't matter, does it?" asked Konan with the slightest of smiles. "And besides, I never really thought about what our age meant for us until Tsunade-sama brought it up." Which was true, ever since they had met Konan had never really thought about Naruto's age. While her lover sometimes tended to act childish, more often then not he displayed the maturity of someone three times his age. Because of that she had never really seen him as a sixteen year old boy, but simply as a man who had the same desire for peace that she did.

Tsunade stared at the pair for a long time, before heaving a sigh and slumping back in her chair. Despite this she still managed to fix them both with a glare. "I still don't like it," she told them without reservation. "Even if you are physically as young as you claim, I still dislike the fact that you two have such an intimate relationship." Naruto opened his mouth, most likely to come up with some retort, but Tsunade held up a hand to stop him. "However, both of you are consenting adults, and furthermore, ninja. I can't tell you how to live your life and that includes who you can and can't be intimate with. I'll let this go on the condition that you," she pointed at Konan, "never betray the trust and love he has given you."

"I give you my word that I would never betray Naruto," Konan said, and though her voice was still stoic, her eyes were burning with conviction. "Naruto is the only light I have left in this world of darkness, and the only person who can truly understand me. Even if I didn't love him, I would never betray him."

"I'll hold you too that," Tsunade told the bluenette. With the minor confrontation and relationship crises over, the blond Godaime Hokage leaned back in her desk, propped her elbows on the table, and laced her fingers together in front of her face. "Now, since we've gotten this out of the way, why don't you two tell me how you know each other."

Naruto's shoulders slumped as he realized that he had just overcome one crises only to run directly into another. Arguing over a relationship between two people's age difference was nothing compared to explaining how the woman he was set to marry belonged to a group of S-ranked criminals that were dead set of sucking the Kyuubi out of his body, which would consequently kill him. Talk about moving out of the stove and into the oven.

"You'd better break out the sake for this one, Hokage-sama," Naruto said, using the more respectful title and suffix for the woman before him, letting Tsunade know just how serious this next issue was. "This is going to take a long time to properly explain."

Tsunade looked at the elite jonin with a raised eyebrow, before deciding to do as told. Bringing out a bottle of sake and three cups, she poured all three of them a drink. Reaching out for hers, the woman took a sip, reveling in being able to drink something for this. After allowing herself a small moment of pleasure, she fixed the blond with a level look. "Start talking, gaki."

"Right," Naruto sighed as he grabbed his own cup, taking a small sip before he began. "It all started when I decided to separate myself from Ero-sennin for a bit to look for clues on Akatsuki's whereabouts on my own..."

XoX

Pein found himself staring into the raining sky as he stood upon the balcony of the towering structure he had claimed as his base of operations. The cloud's were particularly thick today, and the rain was much heavier than usual. It beat against the steel architecture with the sound of a thousand drums being hammered at the same time, an endless drum beat that refused to stop for anything except a god.

None of this mattered to Pein at the moment. The reanimated corpse he was using as his Deva Path could feel neither the cold, nor the sting of a thousand droplets of water being battered against his body. He simply continued to look out at the city as the heavens cried out their anguish to him.

"Madara," Pein stated as he felt a distortion behind him. He did not turn as the one calling himself Tobi began appearing within a swirl of black chakra, first his orange swirl mask covered head, then his body, followed finally by his arms and legs. "You failed to keep the Kyuubi Jinchurikki occupied. Because of his interference, Jiraiya survived and now knows where my base is located."

"The boy was stronger than I thought he would be," Tobi said, his voice gruff as he walked towards Pein. There was a limp in the masked man's steps, a sign that the leg he had regrown and attached to himself was still giving him problems. He came to a stop besides Pein and looked out at the city. "I underestimated him and it cost me."

"The boy is becoming more trouble than we expected," Pein said, his narrow eyed gaze sweeping back and forth across Amegakure. "We have underestimated him too much. First he killed Sasori, and then he defeated Hidan and Kakazu. He will need to be taken care of soon."

"Agreed."

Pein's words went without saying. Namikaze Naruto had become a major thorn in Tobi's side. Already several of the plans he had created were derailed, and the schedule for the sealing of the Bijuu, as well as which Bijuu he wanted to seal first, was no longer viable. That meant he would need to come up with an entirely new plan if he had any hope of completing his plan.

"Where is Konan?" asked Tobi as he finally seemed to realize that the woman who was always at Pein's side was no longer there. It was amazing he had not noticed when he first got here, but had to chalk that up to the fact that he was still in a good deal of pain. It was difficult to think when his new limbs were still giving him so many problems.

"She is gone," Pein said, his eyes narrowing into slits. "She betrayed us for the Kyuubi Jinchurikki."

"What?" If it weren't for the mask getting in the way, Pein would have most likely seen Tobi blink. However, Tobi was wearing a mask and so the Rinnegan user could not see the surprised blink the man made. "Can you repeat that please?"

"Konan has betrayed us for the Kyuubi Jinchurikki," Pein restated, his narrowed eyes seeming to narrow further. "When I was fighting against Jiraiya-sensei, she interfered and helped fend me off. Furthermore she was carrying one of the Jinchurikki's Hiraishin Kunai, and managed to summon him before I could finish her and sensei off."

"How is this possible?" asked Tobi. For the first time in a long time the orange spiral mask wearing Akatsuki member was flabbergasted. "Konan was the last person I would have ever expected to betray you." Which was true. Unlike everyone else who had joined Akatsuki for their own reasons, Konan was strictly loyal to Pein. Everything she did was for him, and she had stayed by his side through thick and thin ever since they were younger. The idea that she would betray her best and dearest friend was unfathomable.

"That makes two of us." It was hard to tell what Pein was thinking. Of course, that could have something to do with the fact that the man before him was nothing more than a doll, a puppet being controlled by the real man that had once been known as Nagato. Even still, Tobi almost thought he detected a hint of hurt in the man's voice.

"What are you going to do about this?"

Pein was silent for a moment. He understood the real question that Tobi was asking. What was he going to do about Konan? Was he going to kill her? His dearest friend? The friend who had been with him through thick and thin, who had supported him through all of their hardships, who had agreed to capture the Jinchurikki with him, the woman he had at one point held a major crush on...

…The same woman who had just betrayed him for the Kyuubi Jinchurikki. The woman who had told him she could no longer agree with his ideals. The woman who had fought him alongside Jiraiya, and had called the Kyuubi Jinchurikki using a ring that apparently had the seals for the Hiraishin on it.

"I will deal with her the same way I would deal with anyone who has decided to make an enemy of god."

Tobi almost snorted at the ludicrous statement. Pein may be powerful, perhaps even more powerful than he was in many ways, but a god this man was not. Not by a long shot.

Still, he would allow the fool his delusions. Pein was needed if his plans were to succeed.

"Well, you will have to deal with her another time," Tobi told him. "As things stand, attacking Konoha outright is no longer a viable option at the moment."

"And what about Konan?" asked Pein, finally turning away from gazing at the rain to glare at the man who kept trying to dictate what he could do. "It's unwise to leave a loose end like her around. She knows all of my secrets..."

"And chances are the Kyuubi Jinchurikki already knows them," Tobi countered the man before he could continue. "If she had the ability to summon Naruto than it means they have been working together for some time now." Which made sense, now that he was thinking about it. Tobi had always wondered how Naruto had managed to arrive at Sunagakure just as Deidara and Sasori had been about to capture the Ichibi Jincurikki. The intelligence he got was that the Namikaze brat had been in the area after capturing a bounty and had just decided to go see his friend, but now that he really thought back on it the whole incident had been far too coincidental. It was most likely that Konan had told him about Akatsuki's movements. That was the only way the Jinchurikki for the nine-tails could have been in the right place at the right time to help fight off his minions.

"Then it is all the more imperative that we deal with her now." In Pein's mind that was the only thing that made sense. His best friend had betrayed him for one of their enemies. The only way to rectify this situation was to kill her at his earliest possible convenience.

"It is very likely that you have no secrets left from Konoha, Pein," Tobi chastised the man who thought himself a god. "If you go there, they will be ready for you, and not even the vaunted powers of a god will be able to stand up to the full might of that village."

"Do not underestimate the powers of a god, Madara," Pein said dismissively. "Dealing with Konoha will prove little trouble for one such as me."

"You fool!" Tobi hissed, finally losing his patience with Rinnegan bearer. "Do not underestimate the ninja of that village!" He may have hated Konoha beyond all reasonable comprehension, but even he would never deny that they produced some of the most outstanding shinobi the world had ever seen. "The Namikaze brats power is not something to be trifled with, even without calling upon the Kyuubi's power. He has mastered his father's Hiraishin to an incredible degree, and his ability to use sealless ninjutsu is outstanding. While I have no doubt that you would ultimately triumph in a one on one fight against him, it would not be an easy battle. And if you fought against Konoha, you would not just be fighting against him. Even someone as powerful as you will not be able to best the Kyuubi Jinchurikki when he has the likes of Senju Tsunade and Hatake Kakashi fighting with him. And that's not even going into how Konan will be fighting against you as well!"

"Then what do you suggest I do?" asked Pein, and though his voice was just as even as always, Tobi could tell the man was getting frustrated. "We cannot risk allowing such a loose end to live. Konan knows all about our plans, and she knows the weaknesses of every member of Akatsuki. Leaving her alive will prove detrimental to our plans."

"Chances are she has already given Konoha all of your secrets," there was very little doubt in Tobi's mind about that. If she has been working for the Namikaze brat for as long as he thought she had, then it was not much to assume Konoha already knew everything Konan did. At the very least Naruto already knew everything. "So the point is moot. For now, we should focus on acquiring more power. Already five of our nine members have been killed, and we only have the Sanbi, the Yonbi, and the Gobi to show for it."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" asked Pein, visibly calming down. They were in a precarious position right now. Ever since Akatsuki had made their move against the Jinchurikki and hidden villages, things had rarely gone their way, and most of the blame could be laid solely at the feet of the Kyuubi Jinchurikki.

"I have just been given some news that the Nibi Jinchurikki has left the village for Kiri," Tobi began.

"And you want to have her captured in route," Pein was already guessing at what the man wanted to have done. It would be a simple matter to send Kisame to take care of the women. While she was strong, she only held the two-tails. For someone like the monster of the hidden mist, she was nothing.

"No," Tobi shook his head. "She has the ability to summon the Namikaze to her side. Even if you went there yourself, there is nothing stopping him from simply flashing away with the girl. Instead I want you to attack Kumogakure, and capture the Hachibi Jinchurikki."

"You want me to go?" The Deva Path raised an eyebrow. It was unusual for Tobi to request that he go and do something, especially when the masked man knew that Pein was not one to be ordered around like the other Akatsuki members.

"I would have Kisame go, but I have a need for him to be elsewhere," Tobi shrugged as if to say 'what can you do'. "Also, the Raikage is strong, as is the Hachibi Jinchurikki. They call him the perfect host for a reason. While Kisame may be capable of taking the hachibi one-on-one, I doubt he would be able to defeat the Raikage." And that was saying nothing about the village as a whole. Kumogakure was a heavily militarized village, and while they did not produce shinobi as outstanding as the ones from Konoha, they had a lot more ninja than the hidden leaf village did.

"You wish for me to destroy the village then?" That made a good deal more sense. While Kisame was probably enough to capture the eight tails, the man that had been dubbed 'Monster of the Hidden Mist' was not strong enough to destroy an entire village, and especially not one as militarized as Kumo. No, Kisame would most certainly not be able to do that, but Pein could.

"With Konan's treachery now out in the open, it will only be a matter of time before Kiri, Kumo, and Suna learn about your abilities," Tobi reasoned. "If Konan was working strictly for the Kyuubi Jinchurikki like I assume she was, then it means that right now only Konoha knows about your abilities, but it's only a matter of time before they send that information to the other villages. We need to strike now while the other villages have no knowledge on your capabilities."

It was a reasonable assumption, and quite possibly the only reason Pein didn't refuse Tobi's request out of hand.

"Very well," Pein agreed, deciding that doing as Tobi suggested was in his best interest. He would deal with Konan later, preferably when he had more power at his disposal so he could also take care of the Kyuubi Jinchurikki at the same time. "Kumo will fall by my hand. It is time to show the world what a god can do when angry."

Tobi almost didn't manage to cover up his snort this time. _'You may think you are a god now, Nagato, but that is only because you have not seen what a true god among ninja can do.'_ But he would eventually. If all went according to plan then his most annoying pawn and the rest of the world would see what someone who had had really been considered a god amongst shinobi could do.

XoX

The trip home was very subdued. After Tsunade had grilled Naruto on everything he had been up to that had not been reported to her, and Konan on everything she knew about Akatsuki and Pein in general, the pair had been let free. In any other circumstances, Naruto would have probably used the opportunity Konan's need to no longer hide presented to show said woman around Konoha, but as things stood both of them were too tired dealing with their previous battles to do much more than head home.

After entering the front door to the large house Naruto would now be sharing with Konan as well as Yugao the pair took off their shoes and set them aside, before stepping into the house proper. Naruto turned his head and looked over at Konan with a slight smile. "Why don't we get something to eat before choosing which room you will want to sleep in."

Konan frowned for a moment, and were it not for the fact that she knew there was another women living here, even if they had never met, she would have probably insisted on sleeping in his room. As things stood it would be best to agree with his suggestion so as to avoid any unpleasantness with the other female she would be living with. She didn't want to cause trouble like Yugito and Mei had after all.

Besides, it wasn't like having her own room meant she couldn't sleep with Naruto. She just wouldn't be doing it all the time.

"That sounds fine," she told Naruto as she followed him into the dining room.

"Why don't you take a seat while I get started on making some dinner," Naruto suggested as he walked over to the refrigerator and began searching it's contents. Meanwhile, Konan sat down at the long table meant for quite a few people, set her hands down in front of her on said table, and began watching as Naruto moved about the kitchen, turning on the stove, getting out pots and pans, and setting aside ingredients like he had been doing it all his life.

The dinner Naruto made was just a simple stir fry, nothing extravagant. Not that he could truly be blamed. With everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, the blond haired Uzumaki was feeling more than a little tired. After dinner was over he had every intention of sleeping like the dead for a good fifteen hours at least.

It was just as Naruto had begun serving that one of the other two residence of the house, and the one who was more often than not, not at the Namikaze estate, walked in.

"That smells soo~ good," Fu mumbled as she entered the dining room. Her head tilted up and her nose twitching as she took several deep whiffs, it was quite clear that the girl was literally following her nose. Moreover the female Jinchurikki with mint green hair was drooling, and when combined with the way her stomach rumbled, made it obvious that she had not eaten for at least several hours.

Naruto and Konan watched in a mixture of amusement and wonder as Fu plunked down in the seat she always sat in when having dinner at the Namikaze Estate. Granted, such an instance was actually very rare, as the nanabi's Jinchurikki preferred staying over at the Aburame Clan grounds.

"Would you like to eat with us, Fu?" asked Naruto, his mouth turning into a very slight smile.

"Yes please," said Fu, still drooling. Naruto was amused to note that the girl seemed to be completely oblivious to Konan's presence. He wondered if the hunger was the cause.

"Hold on," Naruto said, scurrying back into the kitchen. "Let me get you a plate."

Doing exactly what he said he would, Naruto opened the cupboard where he stored his plates and bowls, and grabbed one for Fu, along with a set of chopsticks. He came back out mere moments later and set the dish and eating utensils in front of her.

Almost before Naruto had even finished putting the plate down, Fu began dishing up her food.

Naruto and Konan shared another look. This one questioning, as both of them wondered the same thing.

"You're pretty hungry today, Fu," Naruto commented just as the girl he spoke to finished putting the amount of food she wanted on her plate. The Namikaze clan head suddenly found himself very grateful that he had made so much, because Fu had taken enough food to feed an Akamichi. Her plate had a literally mountain of food on it. "That's... quite a bit of food. Are you sure you can eat it all?" he asked, honestly wondering where such a waifish girl planned on putting all that food.

"Mmm," Fu moaned as she stuffed her face. Her chopsticks were a literally blur as they moved from the plate to her mouth. The small mountain of food she was eating began to disappear right before their very eyes. She only stopped once to speak, and even than her mouth was so filled with food Naruto could barely make out what she said. "I hab hom weally harb braiming boday."

"Uh... huh," Naruto murmured, more to himself than to anyone else. Though it was apparently not quite enough, because Fu spoke to him again.

"Yeb, Hibi an' Hino 'ave been barring wib me. It's buff."

"I see," Naruto got out, watching with an almost sick fascination as the food on Fu's plate quite literally vanished before his very eyes. He was really beginning to wonder about where the girl was storing all that food. How could someone so tiny possibly eat so much?

Beside him, Konan seemed to be much the same way, only worse. Her nose was wrinkled and her face looked almost green as she watched the tiny female vacuum down the food like an Akamichi at an all you can eat buffet after having fasted for a month. She looked like she was going to be sick.

Finally, after what felt like hours, but was in truth only a few seconds, Fu's plate was cleaned of food and even seemed to have been polished to a shine, making Naruto wonder if the Nanabi Jinchurikki had licked the plate sometime while he was watching her and he just hadn't seen it. The girl with mint green hair put her chopsticks down and released a content sigh as she patted her belly. "Ah! Now that really hits the spot. Thanks for making dinner, Naruto-san."

"You... you're welcome," Naruto managed to choke out, shocked. He had seen many things in his rather short life, but he had never seen someone eat like Fu just had. Not even he was this bad, not even when it came to ramen!

It was only after had eaten her fill and spent a few moments staring vacantly at the table that she finally noticed the beautiful blue-haired woman sitting at the table with them. "Naruto-san, who is this?"

"Ah," Naruto blinked, his head shaking as he found something to focus on other than Fu's phenomal ability to put away food like an Akamichi after going on a hunger strike. "That's right. You haven't met yet, have you?" He had nearly forgotten that he only summoned the bluenette when no one else was around, since he hadn't wanted even a hint of her identity leaking out and somehow getting back to Akatsuki, and more specifically Pein. "This is Konan, one of my betrothed's."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Fu-san," Konan said with a slight bow of her head.

Fu gave her a bright smile that was so different from the lifeless eyes she used to have. "It's nice to meet you as well!" The girl then tilted her head, and looked at Konan curiously for a moment. "Wait, if you're one of Naruto-san's betrothed's, how come I've never seen you come over?"

Naruto was very grateful that Fu was looking at Konan so intently that she didn't notice him wince. He was hoping to avoid telling anyone about his lover's roll as his spy in Akatsuki until Tsunade decided what they should with the information the bluenette had given them. He should have realized that something like this would have happened, if not with Fu then most definitely with Yugao, who, even though she was giving a relationship with him a chance, had yet to meet Konan.

Fortunately for him, Konan was able to come to his rescue. "I have come over before, but because I was on a long term mission that required me to stick around, I couldn't be summoned very often."

"Oh..." Fu blinked, then nodded her head. "Well that makes sense." The green haired girl stood up and stretched. "Anyways, I think I'm going to hit the sack. I'm pretty tired from all training I've been doing with Shino-kun and his family."

"Alright, see you tomorrow then," Naruto said as the girl gave them a wave and left the dining room.

"Naruto-kun," Konan said after a moment of silence passed through the room.

"Yeah?"

"I don't think I'm very hungry anymore."

"Neither am I."

XoX

Later that night Naruto lay awake in bed unable to sleep. The shades on his window were pulled up, allowing the moonlight to spill into the room. They cast shadows along the walls that seemed to warp and twist in unnatural ways, or maybe that was just Naruto's mind playing tricks on him as the guilt over the recent events with Jiraiya washed over him.

His sensei had almost died, and it was his fault. Naruto couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if he had been honest with his sensei and informed him of Konan and Nagato's involvement in Akatsuki from the start. He had always assumed that if Jiraiya knew his old students were still alive, then he would have gone to them in an attempt to make the one now calling himself Pein see reason, but he couldn't help but wonder now, would that have really happened? Due to not being let in on what had transpired between him and Konan, Jiraiya had gone to Amegakure anyways. He had not only gone there and been confronted by Nagato, but had been completely unprepared for the man's power and abilities, and because of that he had nearly been killed. He likely would have too were it not for Konan's timely intervention.

How better off would Jiraiya have been if he had known about Pein's abilities from the start? What would have happened if Naruto had been up front and gone with him when he went to confront Pein? Would they have been able to defeat him? He hadn't done anything because he didn't want to tip the man calling himself Tobi off and force the masked man to act before he was ready. But in doing so he had almost lost his sensei, and while Jiraiya was not dead he was now one arm short, making jutsu impossible unless he learned one-handed seals.

As Naruto's mind began spiraling into a ring of depression and guilt, there was a knock on his door. A frown made it's way to his face as he wondered who was at the door, though he suspected he already knew the answer. Getting up, the blond shinobi silently made his way over, before opening the door to his room.

Just as he thought, Konan was standing in front of his door. She was wearing a blue nightgown that matched her hair and went down to just below her knees. After his eyes made there almost customary trail over her body, the nightgown barely covering her curvacious figure, he looked up and noticed the uncertainty on her face. Her eyes were flickering from his face to the side, and she was worrying her lower lip between her teeth, a sign that she was nervous.

"Konan?" Naruto started, his voice concerned as he tried to figure out what was wrong with his lover. Of course, he realized it wouldn't be possible to discover the source of her problems without asking her, so quickly decided the best way to get to solve whatever ailed her was the direct approach. He liked being direct anyways. "What's wrong? Can't sleep?"

Konan shook her head. "Can I come in?" she asked softly, and Naruto gave her a nod before moving out of the way, allowing her to silently pad into the room.

She stopped over by the window, her arms crossing under her bust as she released a small shiver. It wasn't from the cold, Naruto noticed.

He walked over to her, slowly wrapping his arms around her midsection. When she didn't protest, and even began to lean into him, he tightened his hold until she was being held securely in his arms.

"What's wrong?"

Konan didn't respond for a moment, and for a second Naruto had to wonder if she would explain at all. After a few seconds, however, she began to speak, her voice slightly stilted with emotion. "I was just thinking about... about what happened in Amegakure," she murmured softly. "When Jiraiya-sensei fought with Nag – Pain," she corrected herself quickly, though Naruto heard the stammer in her voice. He only just managed to withhold a wince. "When I first stopped him from killing sensei, I tried to talk some sense in him, to make him see reason. However, he wouldn't hear any of it. I always thought that he would eventually come to realize that what we were doing was wrong. A part of my hope was that I could bring him around to our way of thinking if I kept talking to him about it, but he didn't listen to me. He..." She stopped for a second, and her body gave a shudder as she clenched her eyes shut. "He was perfectly willing to kill me because I didn't agree with him. I never imagined he would be willing to kill me, that he would have stooped so far into the darkness that he would be willing to kill his childhood friend. But he was. If you hadn't shown up when you did then I would have been dead before the day was out."

This time Naruto did flinch. The thought of Konan being killed made his insides rebel. The very thought that someone who meant so much to him, whose hopes and dreams coincided so much with his own could be killed by the best friend she had stood by and watched helplessly as he fell into darkness for years unsettled him more than he could ever admit. It wasn't something he wanted to think about.

"However, when I found out that... Pein was perfectly capable and willing to kill me, I realized something," Konan continued, mercifully saving Naruto from his defeatist thoughts. "What we are doing is dangerous, more so than even being shinobi. Our desire for peace can only be achieved when the current system has been dismantled, and that will create a lot of enemies for us. With what we're doing, any day could very well be our last." Her hands grabbed his arms, and carefully pulled on them to loosen his hold on her. She turned around slowly until she was facing him. Amber eyes carefully stared into expressive blue, and the blue haired beauties hands came up and gently cupped Naruto's face. "And I don't want to die with any regrets in my life."

Naruto brought a hand up and gently grabbed a hold of one of Konan's. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her palm. "None of us are going to die. I promise that no matter what happens, I'll protect you and everyone else."

Konan smiled, but shook her head. "You can't guarentee that."

Naruto searched her eyes, his own questioning. After a moment he asked, "why are you telling me this?"

"Because when either one of us could die at any moment, I want to make sure I live my life to the fullest," she told him, a gently smile on her face. "More importantly, I want to show the man I love that he means the world to me." Her hands moved forward, her fingers sliding through his hair as Naruto's own hands instinctively rested themselves on her waist. She brought his head down until their foreheads and noses were touching. Her hot breath on his lips made Naruto shudder. "If I live in a world that can kill me at any time, I want to give myself fully to the man I've chosen to marry so that neither of us live with regrets."

With those final words, Konan pressed her lips against Naruto's. His response was instantaneous as his eyelids fluttered closed and he began to kiss her back. Her hands removed themselves from his hair and slid down before she wrapped her arms around his neck. In return the hold he had on her waist came loose and he slid his arms around her back.

The kiss startled out gentle, soft, ephemeral. It was nothing more than the two brushing their lips against each other. However, the kiss only remained chaste for a second. Wanting to feel more, Naruto took Konan's lower lip in his mouth and began to gently suckle on it. His move caused the woman in his arms to emit a soft, breathy moan, her mouth opening to do so and allowing him to slip his tongue inside of her.

His tongue slowly worked it's way between her lips, brushing against her teeth, before the fleshy pink appendage encountered resistance in the form of Konan's tongue. Rather than battle against the woman in a fight for dominance, Naruto worked around her, entwining the oral appendage normally used for speech with hers and rubbing them against each other.

The action felt phenomenal. They caressed and moved and worked around each other in a timeless dance that created a gentle and pleasurable friction between them. Hypersensitive nerves that often dealt with taste tingled in ways that only came from activities of the flesh. In that moment, Naruto could have happily stayed where he was all night.

However, it became clear that Konan wanted more. The woman's hands found themselves gripping Naruto's shoulders, and she began to push him until his legs hit the bed. Another surge and the blond fell backwards, Konan going with him as they were still in the throes of a passionate embrace of tongues.

She wiggled on top of him, squirming in ways that caused his arousal to grow, until she was straddling his waist. Her hands began to explore his body, caressing his muscular chest, and tracing the contours of his six-pack abs. The ephemeral touches of her gentle hands sent shivers down Naruto's spine, and caused goosebumps to break out on his skin.

Konan's hands stopped when they reached the growing bulge in his boxers. While their dancing tongue's continued, she brought one hand up to support herself, and the other cupped his hardening member and began to rub it. Naruto groaned into her mouth as his arousal spiked, the feel of her hand rubbing him through the fabric of his boxers created a friction that almost made him putty in her hands.

Keyword being almost. Naruto had never been one to allow himself to receive such pleasure without giving it back at least tenfold. As a gentleman it was only right that he returned the favor.

While Konan was had rubbed the stiff rod in Naruto's ramen themed boxers until it was hard a rock, the blond she was making out with underneath her had cupped her breasts through her nightgown. The fabric she was wearing was very thin, almost see through in the light of the moon, and it did very little to mask the feel of what his hands were doing to her.

A throaty moan escaped from the back of Konan's throat as her blond lover's hands groped her chest. Her back arced forward like a cat, her perfectly round breasts pressing themselves against Naruto's hands as he kneaded the fleshy globes expertly. His thumbs brushed up against her nipples, the small bud hardening underneath them. It wasn't long before the fabric of her nightgown became unbearable for Konan, she wanted to feel her lover's hand on her flesh.

The kiss broke, the two panting heavily as they tried to regain their breath. Konan placed her hands on Naruto's chest and pushed herself up until only her crotch and thighs were touching his body.

Sometime during their heavy petting, Konan's nightgown had ridden past her thighs. She went down to reach for it so she could pull it off, but Naruto beat her to it.

"No," he rasped, his voice heavy with the lust he was feeling. Konan shivered at his tone, and her the pale blue panties she was wearing grew damp. "Let me."

Naruto's hands began to draw up her nightgown, and Konan raised her hands above her head. When the sheer, semi-translucent dress moved past her bosom, revealing dark pink nipples, Naruto surged forward. His lips took one of the hardened buds into his mouth, and the bluenette cried out as he began suckling on it. She tried to bring her arms down so she could wrap them around the blond's head, but Naruto had raised the nightgown far enough that they were caught in his grasp. The woman straddling his waist squirmed and moaned as he worked her over, sucking on her nipple, flicking it back and forth with his tongue. She was helpless until he decided to release her.

When Naruto finally removed the nightgown, he had already finished with one of her tits and moved on to the other. Rather than simply take it into his mouth, he swirled his tongue around the outer edge of her areola, moving closer and closer to her nipple with each full rotation.

"Stop... Stop teasing me..." Konan panted out as her hands gripped Naruto's head and tried to pull him into her breast. He grinned – or would have if he were not currently busy – but didn't let her dictate the terms. He moved at an agonizing pace, and when he finally did reach the hardened bud of pink flesh, took it in between his teeth and gave it a gentle tug, eliciting a long, drawn out moan from the woman he was working over. "Oooohhhh!"

Rather then use his free hand to attend to her other breast, Naruto let it travel down, trailing across the creamy expanse of skin that lay exposed before him. He stopped only when his hand reached the junction between her thighs, and cupped her sex through her panties. There, he began to rub his hand along her crotch, pressing his fingers against labia.

"Ahhn! ha... ha..."

Konan's moans mixed with pants as Naruto's fingers began pressing against her womanhood. He slid his fingers up and down her slit, the digits pushing against her outer lips just enough to part them and brush against the small hood that hid the real treasure. Eventually, Naruto got tired of feeling the cloth against his skin, and pulled it out of the way so he could stimulate her directly.

"Naru – I – o-oh!"

A shudder ran through the beautiful bluenette's body as Naruto moved one finger inside of her, then curled it after sticking two of the joints into her. It only took a moment for him to find the slightly smoother patch of flesh along her inner walls and stimulate it by pushing his finger against it and rubbing.

"Oh! Oh! OH!" Konan cried out, her grip around Naruto's head tightening almost painfully. Her fingers grabbed large chunks of his hair, and it felt like she was close to pulling them off. Despite this Naruto continued to stimulate her arousal, and even decided to go one step further.

With a surge of strength, he rolled them over so that Konan was her back and he was on top. Not that the woman seemed to notice with her eyes closed and her head thrashing back and forth as she moaned. Her hips began to buck into his hand, helping him work the inner walls of her pussy more liberally. With his hand now less confined due to Konan no longer straddling, Naruto was also able to use his thumb to free the woman's clit from the small hood of flesh it was hidden under.

That seemed to be Konan's threshold. She could hold on no longer. Her walls clamped down around his fingers with enough strength to make him wince, and almost refused to let go as her hips jerked against his hand. With one last thrust of her hips, she cried out loudly, before her entire body slumped onto the bed.

Naruto pulled his fingers out of her and brought them to his face. They glistened with her essence in the light of the moon, and he brought them over to his lips where he proceeded to suck them clean. He noticed Konan looking at him with slightly wide eyes and a red face, and gave her a tiny grin. "You taste good."

Konan looked away from him, the hue on her cheeks darkening.

"Yo-you shouldn't say such embarrassing things, Naruto-kun."

Naruto chuckled, before moving over her until his face was mere centimeters from her own. Konan's eyes flicked from his, then looked away, causing him to chuckle a bit, before he reached out with a hand to cup her face.

The feel of his hand against her cheek caused her eyes to be drawn back to his. He brushed his thumb against her cheek, enjoying the feel of her unblemished and silky skin.

Konan leaned into his hand, her eyes closing and her mouth parting ever so slightly. Naruto's eyes were drawn to her lips, her lip stick had rubbed off during their heated kissing, and they were slightly bruised and a lot more red due to all the blood that had been drawn to them when the blond was sucking on them. He was so tempted to lean in and claim those beautiful lips again, but held himself back knowing that there would be plenty of time for that later.

"I love you."

Amber eyes flickered open to look at Naruto. Her head tilted in curiosity for a moment, as if she had not quiet registered his words. Barely a second passed before her lips curved into a small smile. She moved her head forward and planted a gentle, yet longing kiss on his lips.

"I know," she murmured softly when they parted. Their lips remained close however, close enough that they could feel the others breath on their skin. Foreheads were pressed together, and noses gently rubbed against each other as amber eyes stared into blue. Konan smiled at him again. "I love you too."

They kissed again. Konan's hands wrapped around Naruto's neck as she fell back onto the bed, taking him with her. Situated between her legs, Naruto pressed his body against his lover's. There was barely any room between their bodies, they were so close that Konan's breasts were smashed up against Naruto's chest.

A hand reached down, sliding between the small space in between them that only remained because Konan's bosom was keeping them from closing the space any further. Soft digits slid into Naruto's boxers and wrapped around his hardened phallus.

"Naruto," Konan breathed out in a heavy pant. Her eyes were darkened with lust, and she looked to be barely holding on. The blond on top of her didn't seem to be fairing any better. "Naruto... I want this in me."

A smile was given to her as an answer, and Naruto only moved back far enough so that he could reach down and slide out of his boxer's. Konan gazed at the hardened piece of flesh in arousal, already imagining what it would feel like to have that monster in her.

Placing his hands on her inner thighs, Naruto spread Konan's legs so he could aim the head of his shaft at the small opening of pink flesh. He moved his hips forward slowly, the head of his cock sinking into the entrance to Konan's most sacred place. His shaft soon began to follow, but he stopped when a pained hiss emitted from his blue haired betrothed.

"Are you alright?" he asked in concern.

"Yes!" Konan gasped a bit, wincing as Naruto's girth spread her walls. "You're just a bit... bigger than I had realized. I've never had anything as big as you in me before." There was also the fact that she had only slept with one other person, and said man was dead and had been for around twenty years. Going so long without sex had undoubtedly ensured that she was a lot... tighter than most other women. "Be gentle."

"Right." Naruto took a deep breath, and slowly began pushing himself into Konan again. He made sure to watch for any signs of discomfort on the bluenette's face, and made sure to stop when he did. It was difficult. Konan's sheath was squeezing him like a velvety vice, and all he wanted to do was bury himself hilt deep into her. He restrained himself however, knowing that was not what Konan wanted.

When he was all the way, Naruto took a moment to just bask in the feeling of becoming one with the woman under him. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to move anyway. Konan was so tight that the act of moving may very well cause him to lose control of his load before they even got started.

Konan didn't seem to have the same issue, and after waiting for a few seconds as she adjusted to Naruto's size, began rocking her hips back and forth, drawing a soft moan from her and a sucking in of the breath from Naruto.

Getting the hint, Naruto also began to move with her, pulling his cock out of her pussy, then thrusting it back in. They moved slowly at first, merely working to find each others rhythm, however, it wasn't long before Konan wanted more.

"Faster... Naruto-kun... please."

Naruto didn't bother giving her a nod, and instead focused on increasing the speed of his thrusts. His grunts of exertion were drown out by the combined sound of skin slapping against skin and Konan's cries of bliss.

Said woman was moaning and thrashing underneath him. Her hips moved and bucked as she tried to keep up with Naruto's pace, but was unable to do so.

Naruto leaned down as he kept thrusting into her at blistering speeds. His mouth began claiming her body as his, his lips kissing every inch of skin they could reach, his tongue licking off the sweat their love making had caused.

He claimed her mouth once more, and Konan responded to him eagerly. Her loud moans, muffled by her lips being covered by Naruto's, reverberated through the whiskered male and nearly caused him to lose control. He held on though, wanting to set the bar during Konan's first time with him as high as possible.

Feeling Konan's vaginal walls tighten to the point where Naruto's pace was involuntarily slowed let him know that she was close. She just needed one more push.

Letting go of her lips, Naruto moved his face until his mouth was right next to her ear. "You're close, aren't you?"

Konan moaned loudly in response.

Naruto smiled and nibbled on her earlobe. "Cum for me, Konan."

And cum she did. Letting lose a wail that was louder than all of the previous ones she had, Konan's walls clamped down on him to the point where it actually became painful. Only her fluids gushing against his cock made the pain bearable, and allowed him to wait out her orgasm while keeping his still hard shaft inside of her.

He let himself rest as Konan recovered, simply content to watch as the gorgeous female under him took great gulps of air, her breasts heaving up and down in a hypnotic motion. She didn't come to for a while, so Naruto had plenty of time to devour the sight before him.

When Konan did finally recover, she gave him the softest of smiles, before bringing his head down to hers for a kiss.

"Thank you," she whispered against his lips, causing Naruto to grin as he kissed her again. It wasn't until Konan's hips moved against his slightly that she realized something. A frown crossed her face as she pulled back to look at him. "You didn't cum."

"I figured you might want at least one more round before we call it a night," was his cheeky answer, complete with a fox-like smile. Konan returned his smile with a much softer one of her own, before her hands gripped his shoulders and pulled.

Before he could squash her, Konan rolled them over, so that Naruto was once again on the bottom and she was on top. Her hands slid from his shoulder's to his chest, and Konan's smile remained in place as she leaned down and gave him a kiss.

"You're right," she whispered, her voice huskier than it had been all night. Naruto shivered when she trailed a perfectly manicured nail over his pectorals. "I would like to do this again before we call it quits tonight." She kissed his chin, then pushed herself back up and looked down at him through slightly hooded eyes. "I want to give myself over to you completely, to cry out your name until my voice is hoarse. To make love with you until I'm lying in your arms sweaty and exhausted. But more importantly, I want to show you just how much I love you."

If Naruto weren't still stiff as a kunai, those words alone would have been more than enough to make him stand at attention. It wasn't exactly dirty talk, and he doubted Konan was capable of such (that was more Mei's area of expertise), but it didn't really matter. There was just something about the way she spoke, the sincerity in her words, the emotion in her voice, that caused a severe spike of arousal in Naruto.

And then she began to move. Using her arms for support, Konan lifted her hips, revealing Naruto's dripping with her love juices cock inch by inch. She stopped when only his head remained buried inside of her, but only for a second, before she slid back down just as slowly.

Naruto released a hiss of pleasure at the agonizing pace. His eyes clenched shut, and his body shuddered in blissful agony as Konan began to repeat the process. He wondered if she was getting back at him for his earlier teasing.

"K-Konan..."

"Patience," Konan said, already knowing what he was going to ask, if the small smile on her face was any indication. "All good things come to those who wait."

Yep, she was definitely getting back at him.

Thankfully her pace did pick up. It seemed going so slowly was just as painful for her as it was for him. Before too long the woman was riding him hard, his shaft sliding in and out of her wet cunt with lewd squelching sounds to accompany it. Deciding to help her along, Naruto's hands reached for her hips, helping her find her rhythm and helping him get her timing down so he could match her thrusts with his own.

Groans, grunts and moans filled the room again as the two proceeded to make love once more. Naruto spared a glance at the woman riding on top of him, and found his mouth had become strangely dry.

He had always known that Konan was a beautiful woman. Even before she had agreed to become his spy he had thought her to be gorgeous. However, in that moment as she was, in crass terms, fucking herself on him, she had never been more beautiful to him.

Her porcelain skin glistened and shone with the sweat she was working up from their passionate bout of love making. Her beautiful amber eyes were closed in an expression of bliss that he had never seen on her before, and her mouth was open, forming a tiny 'o' as she moaned out his name.

Moonbeams shot in from the window and were arrayed around her in such a way that they had formed a halo of light around her body. The effect cast her in a phantasmagoric light, too perfect to be real, an image conjured by the mind trying to create it's idea of perfection. During this time, Naruto couldn't help but think that Konan truly did look like an angel.

"Konan," he groaned out. "I-I'm close..."

"Hold on... please," Konan's eyes opened and she looked at him. "Just for a little bit longer... I'm almost there."

"I..." Naruto's voice stuck in his throat as he felt his cock bulge. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. Knowing that Konan, like him, wanted to share a mutual orgasm, he pressed his hand against her engorged clit and rubbed. "I'm..."

"Cumming!" Konan finished as her walls clamped around him for the second time that night, this time getting their just rewards as Naruto painted her walls white with thick, hot streams of cum. With one last scream erupting forth from her mouth, Konan collapsed against her fiance and the man she had given herself to fully.

"So warm," she mumbled, snuggling into Naruto's chest with a sigh. "I've never felt this... content before."

Naruto was tempted to make some witty comment. Perhaps a corny one-liner that would cause the normally stoic woman to smack him upside the head. It would have most likely ruined the moment, but then Naruto had never been known for keeping his foot out of his mouth.

However, he noticed almost immediately that Konan's breathing was deep and even as she exhaled against his chest. Looking down, he saw the bluenette's eyes were closed, and a small smile played on her face. She was asleep, and it was probably a good thing, he mused to himself.

Smiling, Naruto wrapped one arm around Konan, pulling her closer to him, while the other was used to drag them both up to the head of the bed. Surprisingly, she did not wake, merely murmured incoherently and tried to burrow her way into his chest.

He carefully slipped them both under the covers, then lay his head down on the one pillow that had not been thrown off the bed by what they had done. Sighing contently, Naruto closed his eyes and went to sleep. Tomorrow was likely to bring new problems and more issues, but for tonight, Naruto allowed himself to be at peace as he held one of the few women he could truly say he loved to him.

* * *

**Ok, so I haven't really gotten off my hiatus yet, but I know that a lot of people have been asking me to update this story. This may have been due to the two hundred and thirty six messages I've deleted from my inbox, but whatever. Anyways, this chapter just sort of came to me after a long few months where I was simply unmotivated to write for this story. I hope you all enjoyed it.**

**Now before anyone asks, the Tsunade/Naruto issue that sprung up before Jiraiya left for Ame will be addressed in the next chapter. So don't go thinking I forgot about that.**

**Also, I'm sure you all noticed the lemon. I saw that Kenchi had started putting some up again and figured it was probably safe to do so. If not, I would appreciate someone warning me in advance so I can take the lemon down before the story gets deleted.**

**Well, that's all I've got to say to you people now. It's been fun, but I've got to get my ass back to cracking on my job search.**

**Later peeps!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: Wanna know a fun fact. I haven't watched the anime for Naruto since the Sanbi Arc. To be honest, while I write crap loads of Naruto fanfiction, I've grown uninterested in the actual canon events. Most of my knowledge has come from Narutopedia.**

**It's probably why my updates for stories like this are so slow.**

**Chapter 24: Assault on Kumogakure**

The rays of light from the setting sun were just barely seen over the mountain tops of Kaminari no Kuni. What rays cold be seen created an intense halo effect around the mountain peeks before they ended up hitting the dense cloud covering that hovered around the mountain peeks, the light refracting off the thick particles of condensed water and changing their generally white coloring to stark oranges and pinks.

It was a very beautiful sight as one Ōko Yushima could attest to.

Ōko Yushima was an average, chunin level shinobi. He had chin length dark green hair and brown eyes. His outfit consisted of the standard Kumogakura attire of a chunin; a long, gray top that gathered at the waist to give it a sash like appearance with matching colored pants. Over this was his one-strap chunin flak jacket along with a set of arm guards and shin guards. Attached to his waist was a plain looking katana.

Like all Kumogakura shinobi, Ōko was trained in the use of kenjutsu and raiton jutsu. He was not the best at either of those, especially raiton since his elemental affinity was for suiton ninjutsu, but he got by. He was good enough that he made chunin, though he had not advanced beyond that despite having been a shinobi of Kumogakure for the past sixteen years.

This was fine with him. He did not really care to advance in rank. Ōko had decently comfortable life as a member of squad sixteen, whose job it was to patrol the south-eastern border, the only way to enter Kaminari no Kuni on land.

That was one of the reasons Kumo was nearly impossible to invade, and one of the reasons they did not need a very large amount of shinobi assigned to border patrol. With only one land route capable of being used to enter Kaminari no Kuni, it meant any invading forces would be funneled through that single fifteen kilometer space. And while that was still a significant portion of land, it was nothing compared to the likes of Hi no Kuni, which had nearly seven times that amount that needed to be patrolled.

Along with squad sixteen there were only eight other squads assigned to border patrol. The nine squads were not necessarily a close knit bunch, nothing like those tree huggers from Konoha, but they got along well enough. It was necessary for them to at least be capable of working together in order to set their patrols up in a net formation that would ensure no one made it past the rivers and valleys that formed the vast majority of the country.

Ōko's squad was currently patrolling closer to the border. It was their job to set up the first 'net' within their formation. The group of four were traveling through the mixed terrain several meters from each other and moving in a crossing formation that had them weaving in and out of each other's view every few seconds.

Being so close to the borders that separated Kaminari no Kuni from Shimo no Kuni _(Land of Frost)_ meant the terrain was a combination of mist filled valleys and several rivers that would eventually lead into the mountain covered terrain their country was so well known for.

"_Squad sixteen,"_ the crackle of his ear piece came to life in a burst of static and the voice of the captain in charge of the border patrol was heard through it. That she was speaking now alerted him to the fact that the rest of the squads would be coming once they received the all clear. _"Anything to report? Over."_

There was a moment of silence before another crackle of static came over the ear piece and his jounin squad leader voice was heard over the line. _"Nothing unusual to report. Everything looks normal. Standard protocol. Over."_

Standard protocol called for the normal web formation that would have the nine squads set up their patrols in a sweeping pattern. It wasn't as tight as some of the 'nets' they formed when chasing down a suspicious person or missing nin, but then, for something like a simple border patrol the more advanced formations designed to hem in and capture possible enemies weren't needed.

"_Roger that. Squads six and seven will rendezvous with you at alpha point. Over and out."_

His jounin squad leader acknowledged her superiors orders before ordering the members of squad sixteen to alpha point.

Alpha point was a small underground bunker exactly fifty two meters from their current location. It was nearly impossible for anyone without authorization to notice due to the genjutsu that was woven around the bunker, making it look like a small hill. Only members of Kumogakure's shinobi force, or a doujutsu like the Sharingan or the Byakugan would be capable of recognizing and seeing the illusion for what it was.

Ōko formed up behind his squad leader, Mai, a jounin with raven haired that had two small buns tied on her head while the rest was let down to run over the front of her shoulders and down her chest. She had light brown eyes that were set in an apathetic expression that bordered on looking bored. It was a look she always wore. Like Ōko and everyone else, her outfit consisted of standard jounin attire. The only difference between her and most of those in her squad was that she did not have a katana at her side, but several dozen stilletos strapped along her waist and thighs.

As the group reached alpha point they were forced to stop when they caught sight of someone who shouldn't be there. Landing on the ground, the squad of four saw a man with spiky orange hair and several piercings on his nose and ears, and two more piercings under his lower lip.

His eyes were the strangest pair any of them had ever seen. Both the iris and sclera were purple, and there were four concentric rings surrounding the pupil. They looked like some kind of doujutsu, but they didn't look like any doujutsu Ōko had ever heard of.

However, while the eyes were unusual, it was not what caught his squad leader's attention.

"That cloak..."

It was the cloak. Wrapped around the man, covering his entire frame from there view was a black cloak that had red clouds on it. It was an unusually flashy piece of clothing for anyone to wear, very easy for people to take notice of. It was almost like he wanted people to see him.

So busy was Ōko observing the man that he became completely shocked when the strange orange haired figure disappeared. Not just moved, but vanished entirely. At least, that's what it looked like to him.

The 'sliching' sound of fabric and flesh being sliced into followed by a pained gasp had Ōko turning his attention towards one of his teammates. He was shocked when he saw the man who vanished was standing before one of his squad members, a strange metal rod in his left hand.

Said rod was also stabbed through the chest of his teammate, penetrating all the way through the man's torso and sticking out of his back. As his squad mate gave a death shudder, the orange haired male pulled the rod out of the now dead chunin and let the corpse fall to the ground with a dull thud.

"It's Akatsuki!" Mai shouted in shock, and Ōko felt surprise of his own coursing through him. He knew of Akatsuki, everyone did. A group of powerful missing ninja that were apparently after the Bijuu. They had even been forced to step up their patrols on the off chance one of it's members tried to sneak into Kaminari no Kuni to take Kirabi-sama and Yugito-sama.

While his own shock at seeing a member of Akatsuki here kept him rooted to the spot, the orange haired man with the strange eyes managed to disappear in another burst of speed. He appeared in front of the last member of their squad, a drinking buddy of his, and just like last time the man impaled the chunin in the chest with that strange rod.

"Ōko!" Mai snapped as she whipped two stilettos off her and spun them in her hands. "Don't just stand there like an idiot! Form up!"

With her piece said, Mai began channeling lightning chakra through her stilettos. A part of the reason she was a jounin despite not having much in the way of solid close range skills was due to her accuracy with throwing weapons, and her talent in lightning manipulation. She was one of the more skilled ninja in the village when it came to manipulating the raiton element and was on par with some of the more powerful ninja of their village.

"Raiton: Pasu no Kiba (Lightning Release: Piercing Fang)!" With the two stilettos in her hand now covered in wreathing arcs of blue lightning, Mai threw the sharp knives at the orange haired man with incredible speed. The weapons were so fast all that Ōko could see was a sharp, blue streak as they traveled straight towards the Akatsuki member who had just attacked and killed two of his squad mates. They looked like two bolts of lightning rather than a pair of throwing knives.

The stilettos, which looked like they would pierce right through the man with ease at the speed they were traveling, never touched the man. Ōko couldn't even begin to guess what happened. One second, the lightning wreathed weapons were sailing towards their enemy at speeds most jounin would be unable to keep up with, the next the two blades were blown away with some kind of invisible force.

The next instant happened too fast for Ōko's eyes to follow. Mai had been preparing to throw more lightning covered kunai when she was suddenly lifted off her feet and sent soaring towards the Akatsuki member.

Before Ōko could even blink, Mai was impaled by the black metal rod, her mouth opening in a gasp as blood leaked out of it. As the lights in her eyes dimmed, the man wearing the black cloak with red clouds pulled her off the rod and tossed her cooling corpse onto the ground.

And than the man was in front of Ōko.

The last thing the chunin with little aspirations saw was purple eyes with concentric rings staring at him before his world erupted into pain.

XoX

Pein stared at the corpse of the green haired man he had just tossed to the ground before lifting his eyes to his surroundings. He did not bother to turn his head to see the six other figures walking out from the surrounding rock covered terrain. He did not need to bother, for he already knew they were coming. He _was _them, just as _they _were him. They were all one. They were all Pein.

Six sets of identical Rinnegan eyes stared ahead into the misted valley. Beyond this border lay Kaminari no Kuni, the country where Kumogakure was. The shinobi village where the Hachibi Jinchurikki lived.

"_Squad sixteen, have you reached Alpha point yet? Squad sixteen! Report!"_

Pein glanced down at the ear bud on the chunin he had just killed as a voice came across it, getting louder and louder as it asked for squad sixteen to report to them.

It looked like he had a few more small time shinobi to deal with before he could reach Kumogakure and secure his target.

XoX

It was a fairly peaceful day in Kumo.

Of course, the term peaceful is always very subjective when it comes to a shinobi village, and even more so when talking about a village like Kumogakure. As a ninja village that is heavily militarized there is always something going on; ninja hopping along the roofs, both ANBU and normal squads, ninja walking along the street and mixing in with the few civilian families that lived in Kumo. Ninja training in one of the many hundreds of training ground that dotted the village.

In fact, the training grounds were almost always crowded with numerous shinobi training to sharpen their skills. It wasn't unusual for the sounds of explosion and large arcs of lightning to be seen and heard coming from the many training grounds on an almost twenty four hour basis. The Yondaime Raikage was very big on training, and mandated that all ninja regardless of age or rank must train for several hours each day to keep their skills sharp. And so hundreds of shinobi were currently outside at one of the many training grounds practicing their jutsu or polishing their skills with a blade.

Still, despite the day being busy, peaceful was a term that could be contributed to the village. If nothing else, the day could claim to be peaceful because there were no large scale battles happening, no situations where someone might die at any second. There was nothing to indicate that this day would be different than any other day.

Perhaps this was why no one had noticed the group of six orange haired figures standing several meters away from Kumogakure. The six paths of Pein stood on a bluff overlooking the whole of Kumo. Laying at the feet of the Deva path in an expanding pool of blood was the corpse of a former ANBU, the last of the villages defense perimeter in this particular sector of the village outskirts.

Deva subtly narrowed his eyes as he looked at the large village. According to reports Akatsuki had managed to receive, Kumo's Jinchurikki rarely ever visited the village, especially since Akatsuki's failed attempt to acquire the Nibi Jinchurikki.

It was both a fortunate and unfortunate circumstance. That the Hachibi's Jinchurikki was not here meant Pein not only had to acquire information on his whereabouts, but also travel elsewhere after annihilating the village was bothersome. At the same time, he did not want to fight against the Hachibi Jinchurikki, the Yondaime Raikage _and _the rest of the village at the same time. He had no doubts of who would win such a fight, but Pein also knew he would not walk away from that battle unscathed.

Yes. It was probably for the best that the Hachibi Jinchurikki was not here. No sense in fighting the perfect host along with an entire village at the same time.

Time to get started.

The Preta Path, a large man with slicked back hair, a sharp looking piercing on each cheek, two running vertically down his nose, five more jutting out from under his bottom lip, and another two long piercings sticking out of his ear moved to the fore of the group. The second animal path, a young girl with a chakra receiver above her nose, two on either side of her neck, a row of four running vertically down each cheek, and two studs on each forearm, walked over to Preta as the other reanimated corpse crouched down and laced it's hands together. She stepped onto the Preta's hand's, which were pointed towards Kumo, then crouched down in preparation.

Soon enough, Animal was launched through the air at impressive speeds. Her body straightened as she dove towards the shinobi village head first, heedless of any possible danger she may face. There was no need for her to worry. Unlike Konoha, Kumo did not have a barrier surrounding it that would alert anyone to her presence. This was likely due to how many shinobi they had, nearly three times that of Konoha.

As Animal got closer, she quickly flipped herself around, landing on her feet on top of a roof. At the same time her hands flipped through several seals so that as soon as she landed on the ground, she was ready to summon the other five paths to her.

There was a large puff of smoke as the five paths appeared. It dispersed very quickly, however, as the six paths took off as soon as they were summoned, already preparing to cause as much damage as possible before anyone could realize they were there.

XoX

It had not taken Animal long to make it to the center of the village. Most of the ninja patrolling Kumo's interior were Chunin, and they were far too slow to see her as anything more than a blur. By the time she reached the heart of Kumo her hands had already flown through all the needed seals to summon a powerful creature of her choosing.

The cloud of smoke that the summoning created was far larger than when she had summoned the other paths, and far more noticeable because of it. Not that this mattered much. Before the smoke had even dispersed fully, a three storied three-headed dog jumped forth and descended upon the hapless village before the village's forces could even begin to realize what had happened much less set up a timely response.

Several buildings were decimated as the large three-headed beast smashed into them with reckless abandon. A number of ninja that were hopping the roofs were violently flung through the air, a number of them hitting the ground and an even larger number hitting the surrounding buildings. Judging from the sickening crunch that could be heard from several of them, the ones that hit the building in particular, many of these shinobi were not injured but outright killed, the force they hit the wall with ending their lives.

The Animal path looked on as her summoned beast began rampaging through the village. This would set up a nice distraction for the others to begin slaughtering this village's shinobi much more easily.

XoX

Asura was perhaps the most unusual looking of the six paths. Aside from being completely bald with four spiked chakra receivers sticking out of his head, Asura also happened to possess three faces. Each face look generally the same and even had the same piercings, two running vertically down each cheek, a loop ring that ran vertically down the bridge of his nose, and one large receiver embedded into his chin. Yes, just looking at Asura's face was enough to inform anyone that this was not a normal person.

Landing on the ground, Asura skidded across the dirt surface. As he slid across the abandoned alley, his left hand grabbed the wrist of his right hand, twisted, then pulled. Oil poured forth from Asura's forearm as it was pulled off. As he pulled his arm out further, a long, one inch thick metal wire with several dozen missiles attached to it became more and more visible as the wrist got farther from the rest of the arm.

Coming to an abrupt halt, Asura lifted his arm, now loaded with high tech mechanical weaponry, above his head. Less than a second later, two dozen missiles were launched into the air.

Many shinobi and civilians who were in the general vicinity of Asura looked up when they saw these strange looking machines with flaming plumage like those of a comet behind them. They didn't have much time to gawk and wonder about these unusual devices, however, as the first one soon hit a nearby building.

One after another the missiles struck buildings and roadways, exploding with enough force that the entire building hit was blown sky high. Many of the buildings that were hit were reduced to rubble, and large chunks of debris created by the destroyed buildings were sent flying. The debris would either hit another building, toppling the walls it struck, or flew into a street crowded with civilians and shinobi, killing many of those it hit and leaving just as many broken.

Those missiles that hit the street often managed to do so in a busy intersection or bustling marketplace, sending those that were not in it's blast radius flying. Those who weren't fortunate enough to not get a full blast of the missile's destructive force were destroyed outright, their bodies exploding in a spray of blood and gore as pieces of their anatomy were sent flying across the street and splattering all over the walls.

With any luck, not only would the amount of destruction generated from the explosives cause enough death and mayhem to keep every in a panic, Asura hoped that the way the destruction from the explosives had spread out would keep people from getting a fix on his general location so he could continue causing as much long range damage as possible.

In either event, it was time to move to another location anyways. Ill begotten was the ninja who stayed still for too long while in enemy territory.

XoX

Preta counted at least ten shinobi surrounding him on ground, and another five on the rooftops. Their flak jackets and the way they carried themselves showed him that many of them were chunin, but he could spot a few jounin amongst the large group of ninja looking to take his head off.

Most people would probably be worried about being surrounded by so many enemy shinobi. Preta was not, and not just because he was only a reanimated corpse. There was simply no need for him to worry about the trash currently facing him. What could meager ninja such as the rabble around him do when they were confronting a god?

"Raiton: Bakurai (Lightning Release: Depth Charge)!"

Several of the ninja were enveloped in a layer of lightning after going through a set of handsigns. It looked like they were going to collaborate their jutsu by combining the same jutsu in order to make the attack bigger and more powerful. It was similar to the way collaboration jutsus worked, in which one elemental attack would be used to boost another such was with fire and wind. This was a bit different as there was only one jutsu being used and multiple people launching it at the same time, but the effect was the same, not that it mattered.

While the six large bolts of electricity combined in midair to increase greatly in both size and power, the rest of the ninja pulled out their swords and prepared to rush in should he manage to dodge the attack.

Not that he had any need to dodge.

Holding out his hands just as the combined jutsu was about to hit, Preta began absorbing the chakra that had been used to fuel the attack. Slowly, little by little, the large lightning jutsu began to decrease in both size and power. To those looking on from afar, it looked like the jutsu was being sucked into a distortion centered around Preta's palm.

"What the hell!?"

"The jutsu had no effect!"

Surprise emanated from the Kumo ninja surrounding Preta. What was going on here? Why wasn't this strange man nothing more than a charred corpse? Had the jutsu failed? Or had this orange haired weirdo found some other means of surviving what should have been an unsurvivable combination jutsu?

If they weren't in the middle of a battle against a ninja who had actually had the gall to attack their home there was little doubt that many of them would have been scratching their heads in confusion. As it was they did not have time to be confused. Their enemy was still alive, unharmed, and that meant they still had work to do.

Since the jutsu had failed in a most spectacular manner, the surrounding ninja that had their weapons out were quick to charge in. They rushed forward at varying speeds, their weapons raised or prepared in their preferred styles. The Kumo ninja had Preta surrounded on all sides. He was boxed in, trapped, and they had no intention of letting him get out of this trap alive.

Too bad for them Preta didn't need their permission to get out of this predicament alive.

Something interesting about the Paths of Pein. Each path has only a single particular ability given to them from the Rinnegan, one of six abilities that were techniques only those who bore the Samsura Eye could use. Because of this, each path was actually very limited in what they could do. The Preta Path could only ever block and absorb ninjutsu, the Animal Path could only summon, the Human Path could read the mind of his target and yank out there soul, etc. etc. However, you would never find a path that could do more than the power they were given.

A good example was elemental ninjutsu. No path would ever be able to use Elemental Ninjutsu, because it wasn't a Rinnegan specific ability.

The Path's inability to use more than a single technique limited to the Paths of Pein in many ways. Together they were a nearly unstoppable force, but divided they were weakened significantly, their overall abilities nowhere near as powerful as the total summation of their parts.

So how can one eliminate the inherent weakness in dividing the Rinnegan's techniques through six reanimated corpses?

The answer is simple.

Taijutsu.

Moving at speeds none of the shinobi around him could follow, Preta charged his first target, a younger ninja who had a bit more speed than the rest of them and was the one who would reach him the soonest. Preta appeared right in front of the younger male and before anyone could even begin registering that Preta had changed position, he rammed a crushing fist into the other ninja's chest.

If the sound of explosives from Asura and the roar and noise of buildings being crushed under foot by Animal's summoned monster not drown it out, the crunching sound of the young shinobi's bones breaking as they caved inwards towards his organs would have been overpoweringly loud. The young shinobi did not even get a chance to scream as the blow not only killed him instantly by having one particularly unlucky bone fragment stab him in the heart, but the blow was powerful enough that it also sent the Kumo Chunin flying backwards.

Preta did not wait around to watch as the now dead corpse smashed against a wall with a sickening crack. He was already moving.

By now, the other ninja had realized that he was no longer in his original position. They had halted in their tracks, though a few he noticed had spotted him and were adjusting their charge accordingly.

They would not get the chance to attack him. Once more, Preta moved forward, lashing out with a powerful kick that connected with a ninja's solar plexus.

As the younger man went down with his ribs broken, Preta twisted his body to the left. His right hand shot out, latching onto a wrist whose hand contained a sword that had been descending towards his hi. Continuing his spin, Preta soon sound himself back to back with the shinobi that had just attacked him, his own hand still firmly gripping his enemies wrist. With nary a sound, Preta proceeded to toss the enemy ninja over his back and into a group of other ninja charging at him.

Several of the charging ninja went down, but most of them managed to avoid being tossed to the ground by jumping either to the side or over the Judo tossed man. They were the less fortunate of the group, as Preta decided to take them out first. Appearing in between two ninja who had jumped along the same general path, the large reanimated corpse launched his fist into the face of both enemies with enough force that their faces caved in as they were sent on a flight path similar to the one Preta's first up close victim received.

"What the fuck is this guy!"

"He's a monster!"

No. Not a monster, Pein thought to himself as Preta began decimating the rest of the ninja trying to destroy him. A god.

XoX

The ever present grin was still on the Human Path's face as he held his hand on the head of a ninja he had managed to capture while everyone else had been distracted by the fireworks and mass destruction occurring throughout the village. It had not been that difficult to find this man. He had already been walking down a deserted alley near a bar, likely he had had one too many drinks, and all Human had to do was swoop down and place a hand on his head before the man could recover from his shock at seeing the numerous explosions happening within his village.

Human was one of the more normal looking paths. A slightly effeminate male with long, orange hair and Rinnegan eyes. Like all the Paths of Pein he had several chakra receivers embedded in his body. The ones on his face were located on his cheeks, with two running vertically down each cheek, which seemed to be par the course for chakra receivers, and one going straight through the bridge of his nose.

With his hand in contact with the appendage containing the other man's brain, Human quickly and thoroughly scoured the mind for any information the guy might have on the Hachibi Jinchurikki's whereabouts.

It was not surprising that the location for the Hachibi Jinchurikki was a well kept secret when one took into account that the eight-tails host was the younger brother of the Raikage. While a lot of people seemed to know that the Jinchurikki known as Kirabi was rarely in the village these days, few actually knew where he was being kept.

Like all the others, this man did not know where the Hachibi's Jinchurikki was being kept either. It seemed the Yondaime Raikage had upped the security on his Jinchurikki, or at least his brother.

Then again, he did not really need to worry about the Nibi's Jinchurikki, as the young woman was well known for being one of the Kyuubi Jinchurikki's lovers. With the Namikaze's Hiraishin seal likely located somewhere on her person, and a Hiraishin Kunai for her to use in case she was ambushed and needed back up, the Nibi Jinchurikki was currently out of Pein's reach anyways.

At the very least he could not go after her until Akatsuki had acquired some of the other Jinchurikki they needed. The Nanabi and Rokubi Jinchurikkis were still at large.

Seeing how this man did not have any useful information to give him, Human decided that he had outlived his usefulness. Pulling his hand up as if he were yanking on something, Human watched as a blue, ghostly object was pried from the shinobi's head. His on the spot interogee quickly went slack as his soul was pulled from his body, slumping to the ground like a Sunagakure puppet with it's chakra strings cut off.

Human looked up just in time to see several explosions from the head-mounted canon located within Asura's skull. The blue lights from what looked distinctly like some kind of high tech laser beam hit a number of buildings, merely damaging some and outright annihilating others. As Human watched on, one of the buildings nearest him was hit. The laser-like blast took out a large portion of the wall and several support pillars.

As the building began to crumble like a stack of cards that had been hit by an angry child having a temper tantrum, Human decided to find another victim he could extract information from while Asura and the others kept them distracted. Hopefully the next fool in his grasp would give him the knowledge he wanted to know.

XoX

(A few minutes before the assault...)

"Dammit, Omoi! Do you always have to over think shit? I'm trying to drink in peace here!"

Samui was just barely able to keep up her cool persona and contain the irritated sigh that wanted to escape her. She had gone to the bar today with the hopes that she could get a nice drink and relax in peace.

Being a jounin squad leader was tough work, especially when said leader had ninja under them that couldn't get along if their lives depended on it like she did. Day in and day out the two Chunin ninja of Team Samui would argue over the most trivial and uncool things. Omoi would over analyze and over think everything, and Karui would respond with violent words and just plain violence. It got tiring listening to them bicker constantly. Samui felt she deserved a little downtime. They had just gotten back from their latest mission, escorting Yugito to Kirigakure, and she was tired.

"Look, all I'm saying is that we were really lucky that Courier ninja wasn't carrying top secret documents that could have destabilized the entire country. Not only that, but if someone could actually steal documents from us it means our village isn't as secure as it should be. Who knows what other countries and villages would –"

"Gah! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Why won't you get it!? I don't know care! The situation was already dealt with anyways! Why are you so fucking big on what ifs!?"

Unfortunately for Samui it seemed like her teammates had the same idea she did. She could go to another bar of course, but there was only one shinobi only bar within Kumogakure. The Raikage did not approve of indulging in alcohol, but couldn't ban it unless he wanted to cut into one of the most profitable ventures in the entire Elemental Nations. So instead he simply stated that only one bar would be a shinobi only bar in the hopes it would keep his ninja forces from overindulging since most didn't like the mingle with the civilians.

The rest of the bars were civilian bars, which she most definitely did not want to go to. While having to suffer through listening to Omoi and Karui argue was bad, the feeling of several dozen eyes stripping you was worse, much worse.

It was times like these Samui cursed her large chest. Sure, her breasts were big. She had even had people compare her breast size with Senju Tsunade's. And they were useful for distracting male ninja. But beyond that they were nothing but a mere annoyance. They sometimes got in the way of her kenjutsu, they were so large they didn't fit her small frame and often gave her back problems, and she couldn't go anywhere without having every male and even a number of females ogling her chest.

It was so uncool.

"You should care. What if something like this happens again. Only instead of something useless like the number of handbooks being published getting stolen, they steal a map with the entire lay out of the village, including all of our secret entry points."

Speaking of uncool.

"That would never happen!"

Her eyes traveled over to the insufferably uncool duo that were her teammates. Omoi was looking contemplative and slightly paranoid as always. Meanwhile, Karui was red faced and angry and looked one second away from shoving a kunai into Omoi's spleen. In other words, she also looked the same way she always did. Her wanting to kill Omoi was just par the course.

Naturally, the reason for her teammates various expressions were because they were fighting... again. Over what, she didn't know, they had changed subjects so many times in the past hour that she wasn't paying attention anymore. For all she knew they could have been arguing about whether or not the Samurai came before the Shinobi.

Times like these made her wish she had different teammates. When she had first come in to the bar she had been able to claim a seat by herself. Her reputation as a cold and aloof bitch worked in her favor and made it so that none of the average run-of-mill shinobi would ever bother her. There were only a few ninja in the entire village who would actually come up and speak with her.

Her teammates were two such people. Yugito was another one. Kirabi-sensei would probably be one as well, but since he had never been to a bar because he didn't drink it was a moot point.

"My respect for you has really gone up."

Samui tore her cold gaze away from her arguing teammates to look at the only other person sitting at her table. The man on her left was a fairly tall, dark-skinned man with a slightly bulbous nose and lazy, half-lidded eyes. To top of his general lazy boy look, his posture was slouched while his left arm was hanging behind his chair.

His hair was a mess of shaggy white locks with a thick bed of his hair covering his left eye. He was wearing a high collared, sleeveless uniform with loose fitting pants, bandages on his wrists, and the standard white one-strap-over-one shoulder flak jacket of Kumogakure. He also had the kanji for water and lightning tattooed onto his left and right arm respectively, signifying the two elemental affinities he possessed.

When Samui raised her eyebrow at him, Darui gestured to the pair of still arguing Chunin. "Dealing with them day in and day out must be tiring. I'm impressed that you can handle them as well as you do."

"I had Kirabi-sensei as my sensei, same as these two." Samui shrugged her shoulders, which did very pleasant things to her chest as Darui could testify. "Having to deal with their constant arguing as well as Kirabi-sensei's rapping on a daily basis made it easier for me to remain cool when they get like this." Though that didn't mean she actually enjoyed listening to them bicker, or that she could necessarily block them out. She had just grown so used to them constantly arguing like an old married couple that she was able to act like she was ignoring them.

"That's still pretty damn impressive," Darui continued with an easy going smile. "I don't think I would have the patience to deal with this," he gestured to Omoi and Karui, who were _still _arguing. "On a daily basis."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Samui replied in the same cold tone she always spoke. "I would like to ask that you not hit on me, Darui-san. It's not cool."

"Ouch," Darui over exaggerated a flinch and effected a mock hurt expression. "I see those rumors about how cold you are weren't an exaggeration." He tilted his head back as he knocked back the sake in his saucer, allowing the warm liquid to burn down his throat. With a content sigh, he set the saucer back down and poured himself another glass. "Though I did hear a rumor that you've gotten pretty cozy to the Namikaze boy Yugito is so taken in with."

"That's because Naruto-san is cool. He can at least look at me without looking below my face," Samui replied. "And besides, he is already taken by Yugito-sama and, from what I understand, several other woman."

"I did hear Bosu saying something about that after the Chunin Exams a few months back," Darui hummed in thought as he remembered the Yondaime Raikage muttering something about lucky blond bastards. "He sounded jealous."

"I wouldn't know," Samui said in a cool voice. "I'm not as close to Raikage-Sama as you are."

"True, true."

Before anything else could be said, the loud 'boom' of multiple explosions and what sounded like something crashing into a number of buildings reached their ears. This was followed by the earth rumbling and shaking underneath them.

"What the hell is going on!?" shouted Karui as she was knocked off her chair and onto the floor, an angry expression marring her face.

"Maybe some new techniques gone out of control," Omoi suggested, right before he began suggesting more theories. "Or maybe there's some kind of large scale earthquake that's managed to reach up here. Or maybe someone's attacking the village!"

"Who would be stupid enough to attack the village?" asked Karui as she stood up with a growl. The thought that someone would attack their village so blatantly was absurd. They were the most militarized village out of all the hidden villages. No one would be dumb enough to assault their village with anything short of an army, and they would have been alerted long before now if that were the case.

Samui ignored them both as she and Darui dashed towards the doors and quickly exited the bar. The two Kumo Jounin hopped onto the roof in order to assess the situation.

What they saw was enough to shock even Samui into loosing her cool demeanor.

Smoke and fire filled the air. Samui could smell the scent of ash on the wind. Everywhere she looked dozens if not hundreds of fires were liberally dotting the village. Dozens of buildings were destroyed, their remains, cement corpses on the ground, lay on the ground as nothing more than large mounds of rubble. And a number of corpses, both shinobi and civilian, lay unmoving on the streets.

Beyond all that was the large three-headed dog towering over many of the buildings in the village as it tore it's way through buildings and people with equal impunity. It roared and snarled at anything and everything, attacking whatever it laid eyes on with the single-mindedness of a beast.

It was a scene out of a nightmare, something Samui could have never imagined happening. Kumogakure was under attack. But who could be attacking? To assault Kumo directly was akin to suicide without an army, and there was no way an army could have attacked the village without Kumo having been alerted far in advance.

That was another thing. She could clearly see that this was not an army attacking. There were no hords of enemy shinobi, no mass amounts of hostile forces conveying on the city like a plague of locusts. In fact, from her point of view it was easy to see that there were only six areas of Kumo being attacked at any given time.

An infiltration assault then? That was the only thing she could think up at this point. But to infiltrate the village with only six people was the height of stupidity. Six people against the most heavily militarized village in the entire Elemental Nations was like an ant hill trying to take down a dragon. All the dragon needed to do was breath fire into the ant hill and it would be gone.

_'Could it be Akatsuki...?'_

There really wasn't any other explanation as to who could be attacking them. Out of all the groups Kumo had made an enemy of, Akatsuki was the only group that was not only brazen enough to do something like lead a direct assault on their village, but also the ones with enough power to cause serious damage before they were taken down.

Did that mean they were here for Kirabi-sensei? Samui shook her head. Of course that's why they would be here. Akatsuki were after the Bijuu, and of the two ninja of their village, Kirabi was the only one possessing a Bijuu that was still within Kaminari no Kuni.

But they were attacking the village. Did that mean they didn't know that Kirabi-sensei wasn't actually in the village? She supposed that was a good thing in some ways, except for the fact that their lack of knowledge meant they had decided to lead an assault on the village. There was always good and bad to any situation. That they did not know where Kirabi-sensei was meant they could not capture him and take the Hachibi. That they did not know where he was also meant they had decided to attack Kumo directly, leading to much death and destruction. Samui would just have to take things as they were and do her best to defend her village.

"Is that a giant three-headed dog?" asked Darui, looking at the large monster with a frown. Samui nodded her head.

"Yes."

"Ah, ok. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't seeing things."

"What the hell is going on here!?" Karui had just come up onto the roof where Samui and Darui were standing to see the sight of her village being attacked by the largest dog she had ever seen, never mind the fact that it had three heads. Beside her, Omoi also landed on the roof and stood in stunned silence at the event he was witnessing. "Who's attacking us?"

"Could it be...?" Omoi gasped. "It must be!" Samui looked over at the Chunin under her command. She was not surprised he had figured out who was attacking so soon, what with his propensity for overthinking. "Aliens! Extra terrestrial life forms are attacking our village so they can capture our people and anal probe us!"

Even Samui's eyes twitched at his words. Karui's reaction was much more violent.

"IDIOT!" She landed a powerful punch on his face, not enough to send him flying like she normally would, but certainly enough to leave a large, red imprint that looked exactly like her fist on his left cheek. "There's no such thing as aliens! Stop over thinking everything!"

"It's obvious that the people attacking are Akatsuki," Darui added, Samui nodding her agreement, having come to the same conclusion. The man given the title Raikage's Second Right Hand turned to look at the blond woman whose cool demeanor was finally back in place. "I am going to inform Raikage-Sama about this. I'm sure he already knows but..."

"Go do what you need to," Samui told him. "Omoi, Karui, and I will see what we can do to help defend Kumo." Darui nodded and, turning on a dime, began to jump across the roofs of Kumo towards the Raikage's mansion.

"I don't know if we can do anything about that dog," Omoi said thoughtfully. "We're not really a unit made for mass destruction, and it will take something big to get rid of that thing."

"Where there is a summons there is a summoner," Samui informed him coolly. "If we can find the summoner, we may be able to force them to reverse the summoning. At the very least we can keep them occupied so they can't summon anything else."

"Right," Karui slammed the fist of her left hand into the open palm of her right. "All we need to do is find this summoner and kill them before they can summon anything else. Don't worry. When I get my hands on that bastard his ass is grass!"

Samui sighed, but did not say anything to dispute her subordinates words. "Let's go."

XoX

When the first set of explosions rocked Kumogakure, the Yondaime Raikage had been in the middle of his work out. Since he works out all the time this does not really mean much. The attack could have happened several hours ago or several hours later and he would still have been in the middle of his work out. That did not change the fact that he had been exercising while the attack started, interrupting his training.

He hated it when people interrupted his training.

"Mabui!" A yelled out, his voice both harsh and angry. At the sound of it, the door to his office opened, allowing an attractive young woman with dark skin, green eyes, and light gray hair pulled back into a bun with only two bangs framing either side of her face, to enter the room.

"Raikage-sama," Mabui began, already knowing what he wanted to hear. "I have just gotten several reports claiming that six people wearing black cloaks with red clouds have infiltrated the village." Even as she said this, another series of explosions rocked the village.

"Akatsuki!" A growled. He should have known they would be the ones behind this. There was no one else who would be stupid enough to attack his village. If those idiots thought they could get away with harming his village and his people like this than they had another thing coming!

"Alert all of our reserve shinobi that are not already on the scene!" A ordered. "Tell them they are to help evacuate the civilians first, and then prepare to help annihilate the Akatsuki!"

"Hai, Raikage-sama!" Mabui gave him a crisp bow before hurrying towards the door. A saw this and was about to head out himself when Darui entered the room.

"I guess you already know what's going on," Darui commented, his lazy posture now gone. "Where do you want me?"

"Find C and get over to the damned three-headed monstrosity and take it down!" A ordered. "When you do that, find me! I'm going to be going after the leader of these idiots!"

"Ah, Bosu," Darui raised a hand to stop the Raikage from doing what he knew the man would do to late. "Why don't you –"

**SMASH!**

" – use the door instead," Darui sighed as he looked at the remains of the window the Yondaime Raikage had just busted through in his haste to face the enemy. He scratched the back of his head for a moment, feeling a tad sheepish at what his Raikage had just done. "At least everyone is probably too busy panicking to notice any damage Bosu is likely going to cause."

With a final shrug, he began making his own way out of the tower. He had more important tings to than worry about the mass amount of property damage his Raikage would likely cause before the man even reached his enemy, like finding his partner C for one.

"Meh, I'll apologize to the people whose stalls Bosu destroys later."

**Ugh. So this chapter is finally done. I know it's been a long time since I've updated this story. That's actually why it took so long for me to update. I wanted to put out a chapter for this story, but since my motivation to actually write anything for this story is about zero, updating chapters is like pulling out teeth. Only much more painful.**

**Despite this, I do hope that my writing is up to par if nothing else. Please let me know what you think. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, leave it in a review and I'll likely give you a PM so long as your not asking for spoilers.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25: Battle for Kumogakure**

* * *

Fire was everywhere. Great conflagrations that devoured the ruined remains of buildings and the corpses that littered the streets. Many buildings had long since collapsed, either from the explosions of the Asura path, or crushed under the foot of the Animal Path's summon. What few buildings had not been turned into rubble and debris looked like a stiff wind would cause them to collapse on themselves.

The amount of damage Pain had unleashed upon Kumogakure in such a short amount of time was as astonishing as it was widespread. Only a few areas of the village had been left pristine. The few sectors that had been lucky enough not to have one of the six paths make landfall in them.

"Everyone hurry!" Shouted one of the many Chunin level shinobi that littered the ranks of Kumogakure's ninja corps. He was waving his hands to go with his actions, directing the numerous civilians that were running frightened through the streets. Working with him were several other shinobi, all of them Chunin as well. "Quickly, this way! We need to get all of you to the shelters!"

It was easy to see the terrified expressions on the civilian's faces. It was even easier to understand why.

While everyone knew of the possibility of the village they lived in being invaded by an outside force due to it's status as a Hidden Village, none of the citizens ever thought it would happen. And why should they? Kumogakure was the most militarized village of the Five Great Nations. They may not produce shinobi of such quality that they become legends every generation like Konohagakure did, but they had more ninja than any other village out there. The idea that someone would attack their village was laughable.

No one was laughing now.

As the Chunin directed the civilians to the shelters that had been erected inside of the very mountain range their village was built on, a dozen of the villages elite Jonin were doing everything in their power to defeat the four-headed dog that had been summoned into their midst. Barring that, they were at least hoping to draw the summon animal away from the civilians so they would be able to flee the scene.

Both of these tasks were much easier said than done. Whatever kind of summon this four-headed dog was, it was incredibly durable. Kunai were too small to do any real damage, close range weapons like swords were out of the question as well. One ninja tried to be brave and close the distance by jumping on it's back so he could stab it with his katana. He paid the price for his hubris by being eaten alive by one of it's four heads.

Originally, the dog had only had three heads, but during one ninja's attack where he had blasted it with a powerful lightning jutsu, the dog had grown an extra head. They weren't sure if that meant lightning jutsu aided it or if this was just some kind of freak accident, but they had become wary of blasting it with any lightning jutsu below A-rank.

"Please remain calm and follow us!" The Chunin continued directing his charges across the damaged village. They could not move very quickly. Even running as fast as they could, civilians were notoriously slow. At least compared to shinobi. "We're getting you all to shelter! Please remain calm and ― look out!"

Ultimately, it was the slowness of the civilians that led to their demise. A stray jutsu managed to hit the dog in one of it's eyes, perhaps it's one weakness. This led to the giant summons stumbling right into a building, one which led directly to the roadway that the civilians and Chunin were using to reach the shelters.

The civilians were all killed when the debris and rubble of the now destroyed building came crashing down on top of them. Their screams were the last thing the ninja helping direct them heard before they were crushed by several tons of cement.

The Chunin was killed when he jumped out of the way, just barely missing getting crushed by the large amount of rubble, only to get crushed under the large paw of the dog summon. When the dog summons lifted it's paw off the ground again, it revealed the Chunin's body twisted in an unnatural shape, his head bent at an angle that should not be possible.

Samui tried not to lose her cool as she watched the giant four-headed dog kill a large number of civilians and Chunin like they were nothing. There weren't many things in this world that were worse than seeing your comrades getting slaughtered like they were animals. The knowledge that she could do nothing to stop this monster as it continued destroying and killing everything in it's path only made Samui feel that much more useless.

Her feelings were made even worse by the number of corpses that littered the ground. Civilian corpses, not shinobi. These were not hardened warriors prepared to face death at any second, but innocent lives who have never known the true hardships ninja went through every day.

"Dammit!" Karui swore as she saw the same thing Samui and their other teammate saw as they traveled through the streets, trying to avoid the summon's gaze and the debris it threw in all directions as it crashed through one building after another. "What the hell is everyone else doing!? Why aren't they trying to stop this thing!? And just where the fuck are the kami be damned Anbu!?"

"They're probably being held up by whoever is causing those explosions," always the thinker, Omoi was the one who came up with the most reasonable explanation. "I doubt whoever summoned that dog is alone. It wouldn't surprise me if there was a small group that had managed to infiltrate our village and is causing as much havoc as they can."

"You also have to account for the fact that it's only been about fifteen minutes since this thing's been summoned," Samui added with a frown. Her eyes darted left and right, constantly shifting as she kept wary of her surroundings just in case they ran into the one who summoned that dog. "The Anbu will take time to mobilize, especially since one of the first buildings that was destroyed was the Anbu Headquarters."

After hearing this, Karui summed all of their thoughts nicely.

"Shit!"

"In any case, we need to find the person who summoned this thing. If we can find them, we should be able to make them reverse the summoning."

"Right!"

"You don't have to tell me twice."

The search for the summoner continued. Whoever had summoned that thing was very skilled in stealth. Neither Samui nor her two squad mates could find hide or hair of the person responsible for that creature's appearance. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack, made even worse by the fact that Samui was not even sure of what the needle was supposed to look like.

It was a frustrating turn of events to say the least.

The trio quickly ran into one of the many alley's that dotted the once pristine village, just barely dodging the giant dogs attention. They were getting closer and closer to the summon now, which was making it more difficult to keep from being spotted. The only reason they had not been seen yet was due to the many shinobi that were still trying to ineffectively take the thing down with lightning jutsu.

Speaking of, now that they were closer, Samui could see the lightning jutsu being hurled at the summon. It looked like those Jonin were going all out. There wasn't a ninjutsu below A-rank being thrown at that thing. Everything from lances and spears made of lightning to dragons and other animals composed of the lightning element were being launched at the summon to absolutely no effect.

It was like the thing didn't even feel the pain it should be in. What was going on here? That summon should at least be getting aggravated. Why was it just shrugging off the attacks like they were nothing. Better yet, how was it able to shrug off so many jutsu so easily? Were the attacks just too weak to do anything? Perhaps they needed a jutsu above A-rank to truly damage it?

As if the shinobi attacking the dog summon had been thinking the same thing, several moved in to distract the creature while a half a dozen jumped onto the roofs, their hands already running the gauntlet of seals for a collaboration jutsu.

After they ran through all the handseals needed, the group called out the name of their technique simultaneously. Samui could not hear what the name of the jutsu was over all the noise near them, but she could see the effects, see the stream of what was obviously lightning chakra coalescing and shooting off of each shinobi before all the jutsu clashed in the center and grew even larger.

The jutsu unleashed from the combined efforts of the ninja was massive in size; a giant dragon made of spiraling lightning with glowing red eyes that towered over the four-headed dog. It looked like a giant tornado made out of pure lightning that managed to form cohesion and took the shape of a dragon. Even from the distance she was at, Samui could see the way the chakra spiraled around a central axis like that of a tornado.

Samui knew what the technique was. Rairyū no Tatsumaki. An A rank ninjutsu when used by a single Jonin level shinobi. As a collaboration jutsu it was probably above S-rank.

If nothing else it made for an impressive sight.

The four-headed dog's snarl was drowned out by the dragons roar, an earth shattering sound that shook the very heavens. The powerful roar seemed to carry to all corners of the village and echo for several long seconds after the massive lightning beast finished.

And then the giant collaboration lightning jutsu surged forward. The four-headed dog summon was given no time to do anything much less move as the massive lightning dragon smashed into with the fury of a thunderstorm combined with a tornado.

What happened next was an incredible explosion of epic proportions. Lightning exploded outwards in all directions from where the jutsu struck as a giant sphere of swirling blue energy engulfed the summon in it's light. The sight was so bright that Samui and her two teammates had to cover their eyes lest they be blinded.

When the light died down and it was safe to look again, the trio did so and gasped at the sight before them.

Well, Karui gasped. Omoi did too. Samui just stared with a slight widening of her eyes, but you could tell she was just as shocked as her companions.

And why wouldn't she be? The place where the dog summons had been was gone. What had once been a bustling city street before the fighting broke out was now nothing more than a large crater. Samui couldn't judge just how large the crater was, but she estimated it to be at least several dozen meters in diameter.

"Woah..." Karui muttered in shocked awe. "That is one big hole."

Omoi didn't really have anything to add, so he just nodded.

"It looks like they destroyed the summon," Samui noted coolly. Of course, being who she was, everything she said was often spoken in a cool and collected tone, even when she was near the point of freaking out. "I doubt there's anything that could have survived such a concentrated assault."

And she was right. Such an intense and powerful offensive assault was enough to defeat even the four-headed dog summon. It hadn't even been given the chance to split itself before being forced to dispel from the several hundred million volts of electricity traveling through it.

That didn't mean they were out of the woods yet. Several dozen meters from Team Samui's location, another large burst of smoke appeared to hover over destroyed and burnt out buildings. And from that cloud of smoke a giant centipede with a dark black carapace and orange colored skin underneath that shot out. Like the four-headed dog, this summon also had the Rinnegan, as well as a number of body piercings, including one that went straight through the center of it's head.

Almost as soon as the giant centipede was summoned, did the thing go on a rampage. Rearing it's head back, the monstrous summon crashed itself straight through one of the still standing buildings it was near. Debris and rubble were soon flung in all directions. Several of the larger chunks smashed against walls that, due to already being weakened under the strain of having the four-headed dog destroy much of the structure already, toppled down as the rest was building collapsed from having nothing left to support it.

Samui turned back to look at her two teammates, a cool look in her eyes.

"Come on!"

"Right!"

The trio dashed out of the alley and into the street proper. Deciding to forgo stealth in favor of getting to whoever had summoned that centipede before they could disappear, Team Samui blasted down the street as quickly as they could go, their legs nothing more than a blur as they ran.

It was this lack of discretion that led to them never reaching their intended target.

It started when Samui felt a very mild yet powerful burst of killing intent directed at her and her teammates. The intent was so subtle that the only reason she sensed it at all was because she was a Jonin level kunoichi. That was the only warning she got before a presence appeared from above them.

"Move it you two!" Samui ordered her squad mates as she followed her own words with actions. Tucking forward into a shoulder roll, the blond haired Jonin traveled across the ground quickly just as whoever she had sensed landed on the place she had been with a loud smash that seemed to shake the ground.

Spinning about, Samui reached behind her and grabbed the tonto strapped horizontally across her back. Her two teammates landed on either side of her, Karui on her left and Omoi on the right. Both had their weapons drawn.

Unlike Samui, who preferred using a tonto, a short blade made more for stabs and thrusts than slashes, Omoi and Karui utilized long blades. The blades were not quite at the length of a Nodachi, a long sword that was usually just as tall as a person, but they were definitely longer than your average katana. Other than their longer than average length, they were fairly standard looking blades. Nothing at all special about them.

With their weapons out and ready to be brought down on whoever had just attacked them, the trio of shinobi glared at the dust cloud that had been created by whatever made impact with the ground.

The thing, for whatever this was could not be human, before them was incredibly unusual. It looked human enough, except that it had no neck to speak of and a large piercing on it's chin to go along with the numerous other piercings all over it's face. It's eyes were purple, both the iris and sclera, and running around the eyes was a ripple pattern.

The thing that Samui noticed the most aside from the eyes was it's cloak; black with red clouds.

"Akatsuki?" Samui narrowed her eyes. So these were the people after Bee-sensei, Yugito and Naruto. They must either be supremely confident in themselves or incredibly arrogant to attack them up front like this.

"So these are those Aktsuki assholes?" Karui looked at the... thing incredulously. "I knew they had to have some issues, but I hadn't realized these people would be so damn freaky looking."

"We should handle this guy with caution," Omoi suggested. "Given that he's attacked the village, even if it was done out of arrogance, he must be assured that he has enough power to back up his assault. Or maybe he's just some kind of distraction and the real mastermind is already heading over to where Bee-sensei is."

"Whatever," Karui scoffed. "If this idiot thinks he and his goons can really take on the full might of Kumo, I say let him! We'll crush him and his friends like bugs!"

Samui frowned as she listened to her teammates. Something told her this battle would not be that easy.

Still, she prepared for a fight all the same.

This was so not cool.

XoX

The shinobi of Kumogakure were having a very difficult time with this new summon creature. It was bad enough that they just barely managed to kill the last one, which had cost six of them almost all of their chakra to destroy. Now they had to deal with one that seemed even more difficult to kill than that four-headed dog.

Nothing they had thrown at it worked so far. The centipede was impervious to lightning release attacks. At least, nothing they've attacked it with did anything more than mildly irritate it. Not even chakra flow, channeling lightning chakra through their swords, did anything more than leave light nicks on the giant monster's carapace.

One of them _had _managed to take out one of the creature's many legs, but he had also lost his life in the process. Since then, those few brave ninja who tried ended up losing their lives long before they could even reach the summon beast. It was almost like the thing was learning the more they fought it.

How were they supposed to beat something like this? Something they couldn't even damage?

"Kumo-Ryǖ Kaengiri (Cloud-Style Flame Beheading)!"

Descending from above, a man with blond hair and holding a sword that was imbued with Fire Nature chakra above his head slashed at the centipede summons left eye. While the carapace that he hit did not even crack or glow red from the heat, the eye was soft and the blade that had been lit aflame easily sliced through it.

There was a loud sizzling sound as the eye burst open like an overripe fruit. The intense heat caused the light receptive organ to not only explode, but evaporate all of the liquid located inside of the eye itself.

The centipede summoned let out a loud shriek of pain as it reared it's head back. Atsui jumped off just as the giant centipede began shaking it's head back and forth, bashing it against the buildings around it and destroying them with impunity.

"Now that was a hot attack!" The man shouted. Now that he wasn't a falling blur, he was more easily discernible than before.

The man who shouted in exuberance had shoulder length blond hair that was being worn in an asymmetrical bowl cut. His eyes were green and he was wearing a sleeveless version of the typical attire a Jonin of Kumogakure wore. The only real difference aside from the sleeveless shirt was that he was also wearing shin guards, bandages around his forearms and the kanji for Netsu (Heat) tattooed onto his left shoulder.

"How do you like that?" The man continued. It was clear he was reveling in his sense of having managed to damage the giant summon while everyone else was struggling. Equally clear was that he had no real trouble gloating over his supposed victory. "Was it too hot for you to handle!?"

"Atsui-Senpai!"

"That's right!" Atsui grinned largely as the other shinobi stared at him in awe, or surprise. Some of them may have also been deadpanning. Not that he noticed this, busy as he was showboating for everyone. "It is I, the man with fire in his veins. Don't come near me or you might get burned by how hot I am."

The amount of stares his introduction got was numerous. Even the summons was staring at him with it's one good eye.

"Kuchiyose No Jutsu!"

Unfortunately for him, and everyone else, there was someone who was not staring at him. The one who had summoned the giant centipede. Even more unfortunate, this person decided that the best response to make to Atsui's declaration would be to summon more animals to fight.

"Kuchiyose No Jutsu!"

Two more large bursts of smoke exploded into existence. Like the after effects of a nuclear explosion, the white smoke formed two large mushrooms heads that expanded far into the sky before being blown away by a strong breeze. When the smoke finally cleared, everyone got a sight of what had been summoned to fight them.

They promptly wished they hadn't.

The first of the summons was actually one that flew out of the first cloud and smoke and into the air. It was a giant Drill-Beaked Bird. It was an incredibly unusual looking animal as it not only displayed a prominent and jagged beak that looked similar to a drill, but it also had three distinct legs ― two located horizontally on either side of it's body and one below ― as well as three wings. Like all the summons of the animal path, the bird had Rinnegan eyes.

The bird summons screeched a loud, horrible sounding shriek that echoed across the village and forced Atsui and the other shinobi near it to hold their ears in pain.

Gritting his teeth, Atsui could barely restrain a grimace at the loud noise. His hands were beginning to feel wet, a sure sign that the ear splitting screech had actually managed to damage his eardrums enough to cause internal bleeding. That was not good.

Looking up, he was just in time to see the large bird summons dive bombing them. The giant avian swooped in like some kind of demented bird of prey, leveling out only after it was hovering just a few feet over the village. It was close enough that the discharge of air from it's flight destroyed several buildings.

Then it began to lay eggs.

Atsui found himself blinking along with all the other shinobi as hundreds of eggs fell out of the bird summons backside. The eggs, strange yellow eggs with white spots, attached themselves to every surface available. Not just the ground but the walls of buildings as well. Several landed near Atsui.

"What the...?"

What was this? Some kind of strange ninjutsu? Perhaps the eggs contained a poison that would be released when they broke? Or maybe they would birth more birds? That's what usually happened when eggs hatched, right?

It only took Atsui a second after the eggs around him began glowing to realize that whatever they did, he did not want to stick around to find out.

Atsui jumped into the air in order to avoid the eggs, which had covered every viable surface on the ground. Just in time too. Several seconds after he became airborne, the eggs all exploded.

Many of Atsui's comrades did not get away in time and were caught in the blast. Those who did manage to get far enough away from the explosions were forced to watch as their friends were annihilated in a hailstorm of fire, their bodies disappearing as they were reduced to naught but ash.

Landing on the ground after the explosions ceased, Atsui and the other ninja of Kumogakure wondered how they were going to deal with this monstrosity. Already the giant avian was coming for another pass, this time with what looked like some kind of dust storm with lightning billowing inside of it trailing behind.

It wouldn't matter. Many of these ninja would not get another chance to attack the bird summon anyways, for at that moment the second summon made itself known. Stampeding out of the second cloud of smoke as it busted down anything and everything in it's path was a large Rhinoceros,

If the bird summons was large, then the Rhino was gigantic on a scale that could compete with the Bijuu. It easily towered over everything around it. Not only was it tall, but it also possessed a lot of mass. From the sharp looking horn on it's head to the long tail that swayed behind it like some kind of pendulum the giant summons had to be at least six, maybe ten times the length of the average building in Kumo.

With it's mottled, leathery gray skin and what looked almost like dark gray armor, the Rhino was easily visible amongst the cement bricks that exploded in all directions in it's wake.

It's large hoofed feet pounded on the ground, creating large craters each time it moved. The earth seemed to tremble under it's weight. The earth was shaking so violently that Atsui, along with his comrades were forced to send chakra to the bottom of their feet to keep from falling over.

Not that this did any real good. The Rhino had started charging them the moment the group of ninja landed on the ground. It plowed through several buildings, smashing it's way across the village in it's effort to run them over.

As things stood, Atsui was just barely able to get out of the way by making quick use of the Kawarimi to substitute himself with a rock. Many of his comrades did the same thing, substituting themselves with the debris around them to avoid getting trampled by the monstrous looking Rhino.

A few of the Chunin were not so lucky. One of them had been going through the hands signs for the Kawarimi, but the shaking earth from the Rhino's charge had knocked his hands out of place, forcing him to remake the handseals. He had not been fast enough, and he had paid the price when the Rhino's large horn gutted him.

The Chunin died quickly, bleeding out as the horn went straight through his stomach and came out of his back, it's length stained red with blood that glinted in the sunlight.

With a violent shake of it's head, the Rhino threw the corpse off it's horn. The body flew through the air and landed on the rubble from one of the many destroyed buildings.

"Dammit! This is getting even hotter than I expected," Atsui was not very pleased with this turn of events. They had managed to get rid of the dog and the centipede, but now they were facing too summons and he had no idea how to deal with these ones. That Rhino looked very durable. Would jutsu even work on it? And what about that bird? It looked like it attacked mostly from a distance if one were to judge by the jutsu it used. Most lightning styled ninjutsu were short to mid range attacks due to the fact that the lightning had to travel through air, or wind, and would dissipate after a certain amount of time unless someone kept it going with a constant stream of chakra.

Most people did not have the reserves to keep a lightning jutsu from dissipating.

Atsui wished he had a summons of his own. Only something as large as a boss summon could deal with something like this without exhausting itself. It was unfortunate, but while Konohagakure had was known for having powerful summons such as toads, slugs and monkeys, Kumo was not known for possessing any summoning contracts. That pretty much meant they were shit out of luck.

Life was so unfair sometimes.

XoX

It was like one of those old western stand offs. It was a clear day, mostly, if one ignored the cloud of dust and dirt that blocked out the sun at times. The roads were deserted, sort of. There were no people around besides them at least, just the bodies of those who had died. And the hero and the villain were standing just several meters away from in each other in a stare down of epic proportions. All the signs of an epic stand off were present.

"I'm simply saying we should approach this guy with caution. He's a member of Akatsuki. There's no telling what kind of tricks he has up his sleeve. For all you know, he could be hiding a mechanical body under that cloak. Or maybe he can launch explosives from his hand or something. What would we even be able to do if he had a mechanical body?"

"That's why we need to attack! So long as we don't give the bastard the opportunity to do anything, he can't attack us! Now quit talking, idiot! We're in the middle of battle."

If one discounted the fact that the hero had two bickering side kicks by her side.

"You two, stop fighting." Samui sighed. Really, she wished these two would just give it a rest at least once. "It's not cool."

As if her words were magic, the two instantly shut up and got back into their combat stances as if they had never been fighting in the first place. Their attention snapped back into focus and was redirected towards the Akatsuki member who, for some unfathomable reason, had decided to let the two's antics play out.

It was easy to see from their stances that Omoi's and Karui's styles were opposites yet complimentary in every way. Omoi preferred to take a wide stance with his feet spread apart and knees bent at an angle. He kept his blade sheathed, with his left hand gripping the hilt to ready it for a quick draw. On the opposite end of the spectrum was Karui's narrow stance, her feet coming together and legs straight. Her katana was unsheathed, both hands were on the hilt, which was being held in front of her in a very basic kenjutsu stance that was reminiscent of the Samurai from Tetsu no Kuni (The Land of Iron).

Samui would have shaken her head at how the two seemed to compliment each other so well, were it not for the fact that they were about to fight for their lives.

The stand off did not last very long after the two got themselves in gear. A strong wind rustled through the clearing, kicking up dust and a few leaves that moved into their path. That was the unspoken signal as both Karui and Omoi charged from either side of Samui and made their way towards the strange looking man.

The 'man' before them responded quickly, but not in the way anyone likely expected. Twisting his head to the left, Samui, Karui and Omoi watched in shock as the skin bulged before another face, one that was identical to the original face except it was smiling, formed on the left side of it's head. This was followed by the same thing happening to the right, only that face was frowning. The 'man' then threw off his cloak, revealing a horrifying surprise underneath.

What looked like a man was actually a machine of some kind. It had six arms with what looked like bolts on the shoulders and a large, serrated blade-like sash around it's waist that almost looked like a tail. Seeing what this thing looked like underneath that cloak for the first time had the members of Team Samui pause.

"Holy shit!" Karui swore as she jumped back to gain some distance between her and the machine. "That is one ugly son of a bitch!"

Said ugly son of a bitch seemed to take offense to that. At least, that's what it looked like. Gripping one of his forearms, a loud clicking sound proceeded the thing's wrist detaching from the rest of his arm with only a thick line of metal with several rockets attached to it's side.

"This doesn't look good," Omoi murmured as the Asura Path pointed his arm at them. With a hiss of smoke and fire, the many dozens of rockets launched from their places and flew towards the trio of Kumo shinobi.

Samui swore as she, Karui and Omoi jumped away to avoid the barrage of explosives. This didn't help them much as the missiles followed them where ever they ran, forcing the group to split off and divide the missiles between them.

Karui and Omoi took to the roofs and went in opposite directions. Nearly a dozen missiles followed them, and the two were soon forced to dodge and weave across the rooftops, keeping one step ahead of the missiles as they impacted against the roofs and exploded.

In the meantime, Samui used the distraction the two gave to charge forward and close the distance between her and the Asura Path. It was a risky venture, moving so close to an opponent whose abilities were still very much a mystery.

But it wasn't like there was much else she could do. If she wanted to find out what her opponent was capable of, the only way to do that would be to engage this strange being in combat.

Despite her intentions, Samui found herself unprepared when the Asura Path was blasted forward at incredible speeds from chakra propulsion jets activating on the bottom of it's feet. Samui only had enough time to get her tonto up before the serrated blade tried to bifurcate her.

A loud squeal of metal on metal erupted from where tonto met serrated blade. Sparks flew between the two weapons, but only for an instant, as the Asura Path overpowered Samui seconds after the two clashed.

With a grunt of shock, Samui was sent skidding several feet backwards. Gritting her teeth, she channeled chakra to the bottom of her feet in order to maintain her balance and hopefully stop herself from moving too far. She succeeded, only to look up just in time to see one of the Asura Path's fists detach from it's arm and come flying towards her like one of those segmented rockets he shot at Karui and Omoi.

Eyes widening, Samui made to raise her tonto to deflect the fist, even though she knew she would not make it in time.

Fortunately, she did not have to.

"Kumo-Ryū Mikazukigiri (Cloud-Style Three Days Moon Beheading)!"

Omoi rushed in from the left, his sword sliding out from it's sheath at lightning speeds. Gripping the blade with both hands, he swung the sword in a single, large, crescent-moon shaped arc that occurred at such velocity that the sword actually seemed to form a blurring streak that made the crescent shape of Omoi's weapon visible.

His target was the hand that had just been launched. Most people would probably not be capable of slicing through such a small and fast moving object, but Omoi was trained by Killer Bee, the resident Jinchurikki and one of the few ninja who had truly mastered swordsmanship. Something like this was well within his capabilities.

The blade quickly and efficiently sliced straight through the middle of the hand, cutting it in half to reveal the steel and cables underneath. With it's circuitry destroyed, the propulsion jets that kept the hand moving forward at such incredible speed sputtered and died. The two halves then separated, one falling down to the ground immediately, the other continuing on as momentum carried it and blowing a small hole through the wall that was miraculously still standing even though the rest of the building was not.

The wall collapsed several seconds afterwords, as if the hole had been the final straw that broke the camels back.

Just seconds after Omoi managed to slice the flying hand in half, Karui descended upon the Asura Path with the vengeance of a fallen angel, her sword pointed straight down as she was set to impale the mechanized villain.

"Take this you bastard!"

Unfortunately for Karui, the Asura Path was already reacting to her presence. Four small triangle shaped segments split and peel back from his head, revealing the metal underneath the false skin along with a large hole. Blue light began gathering around the hole. It was only after a few seconds of watching the light gather there that Samui realized what was happening.

"Karui! Get out of there!"

The warning given, Karui did not waste any time and began making several handseals. It was difficult when one of her hands was gripping her sword, but she made due, completing the last handseal just in time for what came next.

There was no real warning when the canon on top of the Asura Path's head went off. One moment it was building up enough chakra to destroy several buildings, the next there was a large blast of energy that shot from it's head and exploded. The light engulfed Karui's form until nothing of her could be seen.

When the light died down, there was nothing above the Asura Path. Everything had been obliterated.

"Kumo-Ryū Omotegiri (Cloud-Style Front Beheading)!"

Appearing in front of the Asura Path, Karui swung her sword in a single, quick and powerful cutting motion.

The attack would have taken the Asura Path's head off, had it not been for the powerful looking serrated blade launching itself forward and knocking her sword aside. With her sword knocked away but her momentum not halted, Karui stumbled forward.

It was the perfect opening for the Asura Path, who did not hesitate to waste this opportunity. The blade moved to bisect the dark skinned kunoichi. Asura had every intention of ending her life right then and there.

He would have too, had the blade not been blocked by another sword appearing from his left. There was a loud 'clang!' as metal struck against metal, followed by a squeal as the two weapons ground against each other.

Omoi's teeth were grit as he channeled chakra into his feet to keep from getting sent flying. He didn't know how such an unusual weapon that did not appear to be all that sturdy (it bends far too much) could be so strong. It was like getting hit with a several thousand pound brick!

Still, he did what he could to keep the serrated tail blade from moving. Out of the three of them, he was physically the strongest. While blocking and locking this attack into place was hard, it was not impossible for someone who had been forced to block Killer Bee's sword attacks during training.

Dashing forward, Samui made her presence known as she began using chakra flow to channel lightning natured chakra through her tonto. The blade was soon wreathed in blue lightning that crackled and popped as it skittered across the metal surface.

With the serrated blade already occupied, there wasn't much it could do against Samui as she reached the machine path.

"Kumo-Ryū Raitoku (Cloud-Style Lightning Thrust)!"

Keeping her body low to the ground, Samui thrust her lightning coated weapon forward, hoping to pierce this thing's head.

It was not to be. While the serrated blade may have been neutralized by Omoi, the Asura Path still had five arms it could use. Which it did use.

One of the three hands on it's right side came up and grabbed onto the blade, heedless of the electricity that was not coursing through it's body. While that hand moved the blade off to the side, forcing Samui to stumble forward, another hand came up to stare into Samui's face.

"Kawain no Hiya (Flaming Arrow of Amazing Ability)."

Samui had just enough time to realize her mistake before the fist was detached from the arm and launched at her. The fist struck her with such force that it felt like all the bones in her head had caved into her face. She had never felt anything as excruciating as this before.

And then she was sent flying backwards with enough force that her body became nothing more than a blur before it crashed straight through a building.

"Samui!" Her two teammates yelled out in unison. Not that they could do much more than yell, for once Samui had been taken care of, the Asura Path turned it's attention on them.

Almost too quick for them to follow, the Asura path had two of it's five remaining arms pointed at them. They only had enough time to register this before the fists were detached and sent flying. Omoi was hit in the chest, his entire ribcage collapsing in on itself while the hand going after Karui went straight through her stomach, leaving a bloody trail in it's wake as it exited her back.

The last thing either of them saw before their world went black was the Asura Path's head splitting open again to reveal the chakra canon gathering energy to finish them off.

XoX

Atsui was beginning to wonder if this situation wasn't getting too hot for them to handle. They had a giant bird creating lightning storms and dropping egg bombs on them, a giant Rhino that was rampaging through the streets and destroying everything that the centipede and dog didn't. And that was on top of the new summons that had come out of the woodworks; a giant ox

That's right, a giant bison with thick brown fur multiple piercings located throughout it's body, the largest damn horns he had ever seen and the same odd ripple patterned eyes as every other summon they had been dealing with so far.

It had appeared about five minutes after the Anbu had shown up to try and subdue the other summons and subsequently wiped out most of the Anbu by squashing them flat when it had been summoned. Now there were only three Anbu left of the four squads that had arrived.

Things really weren't looking to hot for them right now.

"The bird is coming back!"

As the cry went up, Atsui looked up into the sky and swore. The bird was coming back, and not only was it laying eggs, but that lightning storm was behind it as well. He hadn't even known that thing could create two different attacks at once.

"Everybody scatter!"

That sounded like a fine idea to Atsui. He had no desire to stay in the line of fire from that thing. He had already seen numerous examples of how deadly that Bird could be first hand. A good number of Chunin and a few of the Anbu that had managed to avoid getting smashed by the ox had their remains splattered across the ground from those egg bombs.

Hopping down from one of the few roofs that miraculously still stood, the young Jonin made his way out of the area of imminent destruction via giant Bird summons. After making it quickly to the ground, he began to high tail it out of the general area with chakra enhanced speed.

It was while he was running that he ended up hitting a new problem. Though it may be more accurate to say the new problem hit him.

He had been running down one of the main roads when it happened. The building to his immediate left exploded in a blast of fragments and cement shards. Atsui was not only knocked off his feet, but several large shards managed to embed themselves in his arms, legs and torso. Thankfully, he had managed to cover his face with his arms otherwise his head would have been impaled instead.

Not that this meant much when he landed on the ground several dozen from where he had been originally standing.

Atsui moaned in pain as he tried to regain his bearings, an impossible task to be sure. His entire body felt like it was on fire. He was tired, he hurt, and there were at least a dozen shards of cement ranging from the size of a pebble to the size of dagger sticking into various areas of his body. If he didn't get medical attention soon, he would probably bleed out.

A loud snort caught Atsui's attention. Managing to just barely lift his head and show off slightly glazed eyes, the jonin of Kumogakure caught a glimpse of the thing that had been responsible for almost killing him. It was the Rhino. And it was glaring straight at him.

"O... ugh... I feel almost like Samui for saying this but... not cool."

As the Rhino glared down at him, it's mouth opened up to reveal a person standing inside of it. Atsui's vision was blurry so he could not make out who they were or even what they looked like. All he could see was black on red.

Now why did that sound so familiar?

"You are the one who took out my Centipede."

Atsui blinked. The voice was distinctly male. He supposed that was good to know, though just why it was good to know he was about to be killed by a man eluded him.

Come to think of it, there were a lot of things eluding him at the moment; like why he was no longer feeling any pain when just moments ago it felt like his skin had been getting ripped off his muscles and bones. A part of him knew this was not a good thing. Another part was just relieved he didn't hurt anymore.

"You shall know Pain."

Well, that didn't sound good. It sounded even worse than the stamping the Rhino was making as it dug it's hoofed foot into the ground in preparation to charge at him.

Atsui tried to move his body as the Rhino charged him, but no matter what he did, his body just would not respond to his commands. In fact, he couldn't even feel his body any longer. All he felt was warmth... man... he was feeling hot...

"Daburu Kuropansa (Double Black Panther)!"

The last thing Atsui saw was black lightning taking on a blurry form as it charged straight for the Rhino.

XoX

As the shadow clone that had helped him dispelled, Darui watched as the Double Black panthers blitzed the giant Rhino. The two animals made of black lightning, the signature technique that had been taught to him by none other than the Third Raikage himself, crashed into the Rhino with a fury that could not be contained. Thousands of black tendrils of lightning chakra skittered across it's surface in a never ending and impossible to discern pattern that did not follow logic or explanation.

It was interesting to see the effects that black lightning had on living creatures. Most lightning techniques were piercing in nature, and while black lightning _had _the ability to pierce most armors and materials, that was not why it was so deadly.

Darui looked on in grim satisfaction as the Rhino roared in agony, it's body stumbling and spasming as the black lightning boiled the creature's insides. Eventually, the giant Rhino came down with a loud crash, up-heaving earth and sending chunks of debris flying. The giant beast twitched once, twice, then disappeared in a large puff of smoke as it was sent back to wherever it came from.

With a sigh, Darui took a look behind him.

Atsui was still laid out amongst the rubble, his body twisted at an unnatural angle. His right arm was bent in a way that should not be humanly possible, unless the joint keeping said arm from moving in that direction had been broken like Atsui's probably was. One of his legs had been crushed underneath what had to be at least several hundred pounds worth of debris. It would take someone of the Raikage's caliber to lift that.

Perhaps the most telling sign that Atsui was no longer amongst the living, aside from the lack of a rising and falling chest to signify breathing was the glassy, glazed over and dull eyes and the large pole that impaled the man's chest.

Barely withholding a grimace, Darui tried to think of what he should do now. He needed to take care of the other two summons before they could cause anymore damage, then find the summoner and take them out as well. After that he would need to find Raikage-sama again and help him deal with the leader of this group. And that was not even going into what else he was going to have to do after all this was over.

It looked like he had a tall order ahead of him.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Darui looked over to his left to see another large cloud of smoke arise from where the Rhino had dispelled, his body tensing. He had not realized that the summoner was anywhere near him. Then again, it would be hard for someone who was not a sensor to find the person in charge of summoning all these creatures when he or should could be anywhere.

The cloud was soon blown away Darui was given a clear sight of what had been summoned. It was a giant chameleon with leathery, dark green skin. It had one large, protuberant Rinnegan eye that looked like it was barely being held in by the eye socket, and a strange bandaged cylinder for it's other eye. Even more unusual than that and the many piercings on it's body were the two wings sticking out of it's back and the snake-like tail, which actually had a snake head with two Rinnegan eyes.

"Where is this guy getting all these summons from?" Darui could not help but wonder about that. Seriously, Giant three-headed dogs that can become four-headed dogs? Centipedes? Rhino's? Ox? And now a Chameleon? How many summoning contracts did this guy have? "This is so drab."

"Darui!"

Darui did not bother to turn as a figure dropped down next to him. The young man stood up to his full height, revealing short blond hair and dark eyes. He was wearing a sleeveless black shirt with a one-strap-over-one-shoulder flak jacket that was the standard issue for all ninja of Chunin and above level in Kumo. Other noted articles of clothing was the Kumogakure head band on his head, his elbow-length arm guards, and red and white Kumo shinguards that went over his shinobi sandals.

"There you are, Darui," the man said. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Apologies, C" Darui did not look very sorry. "I was actually looking for you as well, but then I ran into this guy and, well..."

"I see," C said, his attention never really straying from the sight in front of him as he spoke with his partner. "I suppose I can forgive for not finding me. You were just doing your duty as a Kumogakure shinobi after all."

"Thanks, I guess," Darui began running through several handseals as he prepared to use another jutsu. In response, the large chameleon and the summoner on top disappeared. "We'd better finish this fight up and find Raikage-sama. Who knows what kind of drab enemies he's fighting."

"Right!"

XoX

Ē's Raikage robes swished behind him as he ran through the ruined streets of Kumogakure, his teeth grit and his brows furrowed in a mask of barely contained anger.

And why shouldn't he be angry? Everywhere he looked he saw nothing but death and destruction. Buildings reduced to rubble, bodies laying where they were killed, the ground and few remaining walls soaked with the blood of his people.

But that wasn't even the worst thing. No, the worst thing about all this destruction and chaos was that most of the people who had died were civilians; men, women and children who did not even know how to fight. Whoever had attacked his village had done so with little regard to innocents and noncombatants.

It pissed him off to no end.

Ē loved his village. He may not always show it, but the village meant more to him than anything else, even his own life. There was nothing he would not do for his village, whether it was something dirty and underhanded like trying to kidnap the Hyuga heiress during peace negotiations or allying himself completely with Konoha. If it meant keeping his village safe from harm, he would do it without a second thought.

That was actually why he had allied himself with Konoha in the first place. When he had heard from his spies that had been keeping an eye on the ongoing war in Kiri and learned that the yellow flash had made a return in the man's son, Ē knew that he would have to do something to keep the man from becoming a threat to his village.

At first, he had thought about assassinating him, but later on realized how poorly that would work out. Naruto had mastered his father's jutsu, one that allowed the boy to surpass even himself in speed. He had shown that mastery by decimating a group of nearly five thousand enemy shinobi.

To top it off, the boy had been traveling with Jiraiya. Ē had a lot of faith in his ninja, but even he knew that taking on two Kage level shinobi was suicide for anyone other than two other Kage level shinobi. There was a reason Kage's were known as army killers.

His thoughts were later vindicated when he heard of the failed attempt Iwa made at killing the boy.

So he had decided to do something else. If he couldn't kill the son of the Yondaime Hokage, he would ally Kumo with him. It was a decision that he did not regret to this day.

Of course, none of that mattered now. His village lay in ruins and the one responsible for it was standing right in front of him.

Ē studied the man who appeared before him, standing there so nonchalantly, his face completely devoid of emotions. Like a corpse. The man was of decent height, a bit taller than average. He had spiky orange hair, a lot of piercings and purple eyes with a ripple pattern in them. The Raikage had never seen these eyes before, but he had most certainly heard the legends of the Rinnegan.

"You're the Akatsuki scum who attacked my village."

"And you're the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure," the man replied in a dead voice. "It's an honor to meet you. Tell me, where can I find the hachibi jinchurikki?"

"Like hell I'll tell you that!"

Activating his Raiton no Yoroi, Ē became wreathed in lightning. Blue currents of incredible power cascaded across his body, enhancing his speed and reflex synapses to levels most shinobi would never reach.

With the speed granted to him by the Raiton no Yoroi, Ē disappeared and quickly reappeared right next to the bastard whose face he was going to smash into a pulp.

"Aian Kurō (Iron Claw)!"

Ē could not explain what happened after attempting to use his Iron Claw. One millisecond he was set to grab the man's face and the next he was lying against the remains of a destroyed wall. Sitting up, he looked over to see that the man before him had not moved an inch from his spot.

What the hell had just happened? Deciding he would need to be more cautious, Ē stood up and eyed the man warily.

"It looks like I'll be needing to take you seriously."

The man tilted his head, as if not quite understanding what Ē was saying.

"Prepare yourself! For I won't be giving you another opportunity to do whatever you just did!"

Ē charged up his lightning armor again. He had a feeling he was going to need to go all out from the very beginning if he wanted to have any hope of victory here.

Then again, what else should he have expected from a man who bore the Rinnegan?

* * *

**Here is the next chapter. Hopefully it was enough to satisfy you guys who have been waiting for me to update this fic. Let me know what you think. Like it, hate it, are there any inconsistencies? Be sure to tell me.**

**And do not forget to check out my blog: Thoughts and Wonderings of a Fanfiction Writer. I post answers to any and all questions asked in reviews here. The link is on my profile page.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26: A Double Surprise**

* * *

Darui's eyes darted around the destroyed residential district as he searched for a sign, any sign, of their current enemy. That chameleon summon they had been set to fight just disappeared several seconds ago after using some kind of transparency jutsu or something and now he had no idea where it was.

A good shinobi would normally be able to notice small discrepancies within the landscape that marked an invisible enemy; movements in the dirt, the sound of footsteps, a spike in killing intent from someone who was about to attack. There were all manner in ways for a skilled shinobi to detect another even when they couldn't see their enemy.

Not that this meant anything to Darui at the moment, who couldn't detect a thing; no footprints in the dirt, no sound of footsteps, no spike in killing intent. It was almost as if their opponent had disappeared into thin air. Even with all his prodigious talent in the ninja arts, Darui couldn't detect his enemies presence anywhere. Their enemy was simply better at hiding than he was at tracking.

Good thing he wasn't a tracker ninja or he would be embarrassed.

"C," he spoke to his partner, his hands prepared to either start making seals or grab his sword. There was no telling what an enemy like this was capable of so he wanted to be ready for anything. "Can you sense him?"

"I'm having a bit of difficulty," which was a mild way of saying he couldn't. "There's just too much interference from the other summons and enemies running around Kumo. The strange thing is, all of them have the same exact chakra signature as the one we're fighting."

"That shouldn't be possible." Chakra signatures were unique to each individual. No two people had the same chakra signature. Even identical twins would have different chakra signatures. "Are you sure you're sensing them right?"

"Of course I'm sure," an annoyed vein throbbed on C's forehead at Darui questioning his sensing abilities. He was one of the best sensors in Kumo while Darui couldn't sense his way out of a paper bag. His normally relaxed partner really had no right to talk. "And I'm telling you that I'm sensing nine chakra signatures that are all identical to each other. It's interfering with my ability to sense our enemy. Now stop questioning me!"

"Alright, alright," Darui mumbled his apology. "No need to be so drab."

"Darui! Behind you!"

The quick and sudden warning had Darui spinning around to face whatever C was warning him about. He was taken back for second when he saw nothing, however, and this gave their invisible opponent the opportunity to get a clear shot at him before he even realized what was happening.

Darui's eyes widened as something long and fleshy wrapped itself around his leg. He looked down, but couldn't see whatever was gripping him. He did, however, see the creases in his clothing as whatever wrapped around him tightened. His clothes were also getting a tad wet. A tongue?

"This is not good."

Without warning and before he had time to cut the invisible tongue off him, Darui was yanked into the air. Tsking in annoyance as he tried to reach for his sword but kept failing due to how hard he was being shaken, Darui decided it would be easier to simply use one of his jutsu.

Fortunately, he had a number of jutsu to choose from that would benefit him in a situation like this.

Rabbit. Dog. Boar. Ram. Rat.

"Raiton: Kangekia (Lightning Release: Wave of Inspiration)!"

Channeling as much chakra as he dared to his hands, Darui felt the flow of his chakra reverse and polarize as it was changed into lightning natured chakra. Garlands of crackling electricity arched and skittered across his hands like living creatures, coating and covering both appendages with their blue glow. Acting with speeds that most people would not expect from such a laid back guy, Darui grabbed onto whatever was attached to his leg.

He winced a bit as his own technique sent a shock through his system, but his pain was secondary to his primary objective. The lightning on his hands went down into the thing gripping him, lighting up the appendage which he could now see was definitely a tongue as it traced a path towards the owner of said fleshy, pink appendage.

The summons released a shrill scream as it became visible again due to the lightning chakra currently shocking it breaking it's concentration. It let Darui go, allowing him to fall back to the earth. As he fell, his body spun and righted itself so that he would land on his feet. At the same time, his hands were already going through several handseals in preparation for launching another technique.

"Raigon Raikōchō (Lightning Illusion Flash of Lightning Pillar)!"

While Darui was preparing his own jutsu, C had already gone through the handseals needed to use one of his opening techniques. The Lightning Illusion Flash of Lightning Pillar was a supplementary genjutsu that had no range, meaning it could be used at close, middle or long distance and still affect the enemy all the same.

Like the name stated, it was a lightning release genjutsu that blinded people by making it appear as if a bright light was emanating from the one who cast it. It generated an electric light directly from C's body, which increased to blinding proportions within seconds after it's been cast. With his opponents blinded, C would than be able to cast more illusions on his enemies before they even realized it and finish them off while they were distracted.

Or allow his partner to finish them off, as was the case here.

"Ranton: Reizā Sākasu (Storm release: Laser Circus)!"

As Darui held his hands out in front of him, a halo of lightning chakra surrounded and spread out from them. The technique quickly encircled his hands before several beams shot out from the center of the halo where most of the chakra was being concentrated.

The beams of light blue, electrified chakra tore through the air, all of them heading straight for the chameleon. In response, the summons animal turned invisible just as the beams sliced through the spot where it was standing. They continued on to strike the ground not even a half a second later, obliterating a small chunk of the earth and causing smoke, dust and debris to get launched skyward as a miniature explosion occurred, further obscuring the area in a veil that Darui could not pierce.

Not that it mattered, really, because his sight was practically useless right now anyways.

"C?" he called out, not taking his eyes off the cloud of dust as he looked for any sign of movement. While he wouldn't be able to see the Chameleon summons, he would see the dust that got displaced in the air when a creature that big moved. Provided it hadn't been sliced apart by the piercing power of his Storm Release technique.

"It's to your left!"

Damn! Darui had been sure that he had gotten it with that last attack. They'd had the creature dead to rights and hit it with one of their better combos. How had that thing managed to move fast enough to avoid his attack and not disturb all that dust in the air?

He would have to think on it later. Right now, there were more important things to worry about and any hesitation on their part could easily end with their lives.

Not wanting to present an easy target, Darui began moving as quickly as he could, dodging debris and bodies alike as he began running in a zigzag pattern. It was a good thing he reacted to C's words so quickly. Not even a second after he had darted away did something invisible strike the ground hard enough to crater it. Had that hit him, it might have very well left him as a bloody smear on the ground.

Beginning more handseals, Darui prepared to use another jutsu while C looked like he was already in the process of casting one of his genjutsus. Hopefully, his partner's illusion would distract that thing for a little longer than it did last time.

"Raiton: Unzeji Nidozumu (Lightning Release: Jaded Edge Two Times Prism)!"

Black lightning erupted from Darui's body, covering him in skittering garlands of dark electicity, which soon shot off his body and into the air. Higher and higher it soared until it was completely out of sight, seemingly piercing the heavens.

Not even a second later, the black lightning descended towards where C had last said the summon animal's location was, splitting off into four bolts that struck the ground in four different locations that when looked at from a birds eye view would have been marked as the points of a prism. Not even a second later, the four points of black lightning shot inwards, striking at the center in between the four points.

The explosion created from the attack was most impressive. A large, black ball of condensed lightning and chakra over six meters in circumference. It looked like all the power behind the attack was being contained within that sphere. Only a few small arcs of lightning managed to escape it, lashing outside of the sphere and striking the gravel, rocks and buildings with enough power to blast whatever it hit apart. When the attack died down, there was a large crater sitting in the ground.

"You didn't get him, Darui!" C called out, alerting the dark skinned and normally laid back man to the fact that their enemy was not dead. "He's moving again! To your left!"

"Tch! This guy is really drab," Darui swore as he made to move. Before he could, something clamped down on his right shoulder. Whatever it was, it was strong enough to easily pierce his clothing and flesh. Blood began pouring down from the wound, which looked to be multiple puncture marks of varying size.

Biting back a scream of pain, Darui was lifted off his feet and tossed into a wall, which crumbled upon being forced to receive his weight and kicking up a lot of dust and smoke.

A second later something managed to wrap around C's torso and arms, bringing them together and forcing them to constrict. The Jonin level shinobi tried to break what could only be this summon's tongue, but it was surprisingly durable and no matter how much muscle he put into his effort or how much chakra he pumped into his body, nothing seemed capable of breaking the insanely strong appendage that had managed to get a hold of him.

The situation was made even worse because his arms were being held against his torso, meaning he couldn't use his hands, and without the ability to make handseals, he couldn't use any of his jutsu. Even the simple Kawarimi was out of his reach with his arms restricted like they were.

Before his situation could become anymore tenuous, Darui appeared before him in a blur, his right hand already gripping the sheath of his sword, which he yanked out quickly.

Flowing from the action of unsheathing his blade, Darui continued swinging it downwards towards where he accurately guessed the invisible tongue was. His blade, charged with lightning chakra and glowing a light blue as electricity danced across it's surface, sliced into something, presumably the tongue, with impunity.

There was an outraged shriek as one half of the tongue, the half that Darui had cut off from the rest of the summon's body, became visible. Darui smirked in satisfaction. It wasn't much, but it looked like they had found at least one weakness.

"Took you long enough," C grunted as he was finally free from his constraints. Shaking his arms, he tried to get feeling back into his arms. "Did you have to wait so long to attack after using Kawarimi?"

"Sorry," Darui didn't sound all that sorry. "I was waiting for the best opening to do the most damage. This guy's slippery. I haven't been able to get a lock on him, and since you haven't been casting any genjutsu on him, it's harder for me to hit him than usual."

"I have been casting genjutsu on him," C told his partner in annoyance, surprising Darui. "It's just not that none of them seem to affect him."

"A summon animal that's immune to genjutsu?" Darui sighed. "This is so drab."

Before C could scold his partner on using that stupid catch phrase of his, a loud shrill, screech caught their attention. Craning their necks up, the pair saw a giant bird with a drill beak heading towards them at speeds that almost seemed to break the sound barrier. The pair were soon forced to jump out of the way as the monsterous bird summon dropped several dozen eggs from it's rear end that soon exploded against the ground.

The large explosions from multiple detonation points not only sent up large amounts of earth and debris, but also caused hot winds to shoot upwards towards the pair of Kumogakure Jounin. Both were jostled by the winds that lashed against them and pushed them further away from each other, separating them. As the two began to finally descend several dozen meters from where they had been originally, C found himself getting smacked in the back by something invisible.

"Guh!"

Having already been falling, the Jonin of Kumo was sent towards the ground at an increased rate that made him look like a streak of white in the air. He soon ended up hitting a building face first, smashing into and through the ceiling to what had, at one point, been a small house. He ended up lying face down on the ground, in a small crated just a little larger than his body, groaning in pain.

While he had been hit with attacks that were a lot more painful, he would admit those were few and far between. His back was burning from where that thing had hit him. It felt like someone had taken sledge hammer to his spine. To top it off, he had practically belly flopped through that roof and the concrete of the floor. He likely had bruises on his bruises.

He tried to push himself up, but all he managed to do was turn himself over so that he was lying on his back. When that happened, his eyes widened as they met a pair of Rinnegan eyes set within a man with long, orange hair.

C was pulled to his feet by the man before being forced onto his knees. A hand was placed upon his head and the Kumo Jonin found himself incapable of moving. No matter how hard he struggled, or how much his mind told him to attack this man, he wasn't capable of doing anything other than kneeling there. It was like his body had completely frozen up.

"Where is the Jinchurikki for the Hachibi?" asked the man as C's mind screamed at him to move. He didn't say anything that would betray the location of the Raikage's adoptive brother. He was one of the Fourth's most loyal shinobi, and he would never betray his leader.

Too bad for him the human path did not need to hear him speak.

"I see, so the Hachibi Jinchurikki is currently residing at a place called Unraikyō."

C's eyes widened in both shock and fear. He was an intelligent ninja, preferring to analyze his opponents and come up with a plan before engaging. A shinobi like him was easily able to read between the lines and realize that this man had just read his mind.

But how was the question. Was this an ability granted to him by the Rinnegan? The legendary Doujutsu was certainly one of mystery. What very little text existed on the Rinnegan only spoke of it's ability to control all five main elements and that it was a power originally used by the Legendary Rikudou Sennin. Everything else from it's abilities to it's origins were wrapped in a veil of mystery.

These questions and more fled from C's mind, as did everything else seconds later when the man pulled his hand away, taking the Kumo Jounin's soul with it.

**XoX**

Ē blitzed towards the spiky haired Rinnegan wielder, his body moving so fast it did not even leave a blur. One moment he was standing several meters away, the next he was right in front of Pain, his let arm extended and covered in the electricity from his Lightning Armor as he prepared to strike the man who had dared attack his village with a Lariat.

Just before Ē's attack could touch Pain, the Raikage once again found himself being sent sailing backwards, only this time the attack was even more powerful than before. The last time the attack had hit him, it had felt as if a strong force was pushing him back. This time it felt like his entire body had just taken one of Senju Tsunade's legendary punches without having his Lightning Armor protecting him, only instead of a concentrated area like his stomach or face, it felt like he had been hit by the fist of a giant.

Rather than ending up buried under a pile of rubble, staring at a ceiling of a home he had been busted through, the attack was powerful enough that Ē was blasted through several buildings, tumbling end over end like a rag doll before managing to right himself.

His feet soon skidded along the ground as he was forced to channel chakra into them in order to stop his backwards momentum. Even then, he ended up skidding back for several more feet, leaving two long trenches where his feet had been dragged through the ground to signify his passing through.

Standing to his full height, Ē frowned as he tried to figure out what had just happened. The man before him hadn't even moved an inch, he had him dead to rights, and yet, somehow it was him who had been blasted away like he was a fifty pound weakling.

Unfortunately, Ē had never been a very deep thinker, especially when in battle. He was the kind of guy who relied more on his instincts than anything else when in combat.

Which was sad because right now he couldn't make heads or tails of what just happened to him. All he knew was that this guy apparently had some kind of special jutsu that he used to shove him away with the kind of strength expected from Senju Tsunade, and he didn't even lift a finger to do it.

For those who knew the Raikage, they knew that he was hot headed and easily angered, especially when something happened that he didn't understand. Right now, he was just not getting how this guy had been able to launch such a devastating attack on him without even making so much as a twitch. It was even worse than when he faced Minato and the bastard managed to dodge his fastest attacks.

Naturally, Ē decided to charge at the man again so he could wipe that blank look off the idiots face. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to charge right in from the front. No, while the Fourth Raikage was quick to anger and even quicker to action, he was still an intelligent man with a keen sense for battle and tactics.

This time he came in from behind the man. He decided to go with something simple. An Aian Kurō. Meanwhile, while his hand was clawed and ready to grip the back of his enemies head, Ē was going to observe his opponent and see if he could not determine some kind of weakness to whatever technique was being used against him.

Once again it happened. Just as he was about to hit Pain with his devastating attack, the man seemed to have sensed his approach and quickly reacted by ducking under his Aian Kurō, spinning around to face him. This time, Pain held out both hands towards him, and again, Ē felt himself getting propelled backwards at incredible speeds.

This time, he was prepared for it, however, and when he felt himself getting launched backwards, Ē began to crank up the juice and added more power to his Lightning Armor. Soon, the two powers began a fight for dominance that neither seemed capable of winning. The Raikage, with speed maxed out beyond what most humans should be capable of accomplishing was unwilling to give an inch even though keeping his body running at such a high level was beginning to put a strain on his muscles and bone structure. On the other hand, Pain seemed completely emotionless as he continued pumping more and more chakra into his attack.

It was a battle of attrition, with neither side willing to give the other an inch yet both wanting the other to lose. In a battle such as this, the one with the strongest will, or just the one who was more stubborn, would be the victor.

Ē was one of the most stubborn bastards anyone would ever see.

With a final roar of defiance, the Fourth Raikage managed to break the stale mate. It seemed that Pain could not hold whatever technique he had been using for very long before it just stopped working. On the other hand, Ē could use his Lightning Armor for as long as he wanted, though the longer he used it the bigger the strain was on his body. Still, it was a small price to pay for finally getting a good hit on the bastard who had destroyed most of his village.

Because there was no more resistance in the form of whatever power Pain had used to try and push him away, Ē's body followed the laws of physics. The speed at which he had been running had already been quite outstanding and the only reason he had not moved was due to Pain exerting an equal amount of force to keep him in place. Without that, the Fourth Raikage not only shot forward and closed the distance incredibly quick, he did so in less time than it took to blink an eye. This time, there would be no way for the Rinnegan wielding bastard to dodge his attack.

Ē found his body halted when something sharp and painful stabbed him in the stomach. His body folded over the offending object as it ground against his Lightning Armor, which protected him from most of the damage whatever had stabbed him would have done, though it did nothing to prevent the blunt force trauma of having something rammed into his gut.

Grabbing the offending object as he folded around it, the Raikage let out a titanic roar of anger and pulled whatever was on the other end to him. He soon discovered that the thing trying to pierce his stomach was a long, prehensile like, serrated tail, and that the person on the other end was a really unusual looking bastard with six arms and three faces. Not that this person's looks mattered to Ē, the guy was dead either way.

The strange three faced man soon came into contact with Ē's Lightning infused fist as it smashed against his chest. The Fourth Raikage did not have the incredible chakra enhanced strength of Senju Tsunade, but with his Lightning Armor, that really didn't matter. Under the incredible power and strength granted to him through this technique, this strange new enemy may as well have been made of paper.

Even though it was only a single attack, Asura found itself being completely destroyed by the lightning coated fist to his chest. His body literally exploded into thousands of shards and gizmos, revealing that he was actually some kind of robotic doll similar to, but nothing at all like the puppets of Sunagakure. As pieces of his body scattered and bounced along the ground, his head hit the dirt several meters away and rolled to a stop next to Pain, who had finally moved away from his original position.

"That was a very deadly attack," Pain admitted as he stared down at his Asura Path with emotionless eyes. He looked back up at the Raikage to see him huffing and puffing in anger. "I dare say that would have killed me had it hit."

"It was supposed to kill you, you bastard!" Ē growled in annoyance and anger. He had been so close to finally showing this guy why he shouldn't have attacked his village when that jack ass had shown up out of nowhere. And just who the hell was that guy anyways? Some kind of robotic puppet? These Akatsuki freaks were the weirdest bunch he had ever seen.

"I am not one to be done in as easily as that," Pain stated, "Though I do applaud you for your effort."

Before Ē could make any kind of retort, or just attack the man, which he had planned on doing, another person appeared before him. This one was a man with a pudgy face, the same orange hair as the other two and the same Rinnegan eyes.

"What the hell!?"

Ē's eyes widened. What the hell was going on here? The Rinnegan was supposed to be a legendary doujutsu that was so rare only the Rikudou Sennin was said to have possession of it. Now he had met not one, not two, but three people who all had the Rinnegan. What the fuck was going?

In his surprise, Ē could not react in time when the Preta Path grabbed onto him and began to drain him of his chakra. The crackling electricity that surrounded his body soon dispersed as the chakra he put into the technique was absorbed by this new enemy.

Thankfully, the act of having his chakra drained was enough that he finally managed to gather his wits and used the immense strength granted to him through years of lifting weights in his office to break Preta's hold on him. This was followed by a powerful headbutt that had the Rinnegan bearer stumbling backwards.

Rather than do what most shinobi would do in this situation, which was jump backwards to put some distance between them and bombard the enemy with long-range ninjutsu, Ē did the exact opposite and grabbed this new guy by the face after making his hand into the shape of a claw.

"Aian Kurō!"

Lifting Preta up by his face, the Raikage barely gave the path a second to realize it's situation before smashing him down head first into the gravel. The results were very pleasing. Preta's head was literally crushed underneath the clawed hand.

Even without his Lightning Armor active, Ē was still someone with immense physical strength as suggested by his powerful frame.

"Banshō Ten'in (Heavenly Attraction of All Creation)."

Before Ē could even think of attacking Pain again or congratulating himself on his kill, he was quite suddenly jerked off his feet and sent flying towards the Deva Path!

His eyes widened as he moved closer and closer to the man who had his hand outstretched towards him as if beckoning him over. The move had been so unexpected that there was very little he could do to counter against it. Due to the force being exerted on him, he could not bring his hands up to use even the most basic of jutsu and because his feet were nowhere near the ground, he was not even capable of channeling chakra to the bottom of them so he would stick to the ground. He was, for lack of a better term, a sitting duck.

At least, that's what Pain thought.

With determination flowing through his veins, Ē did not try and fight the pull on his body, which would have been an exercise in futility anyways. Instead, he watched as the man using the strange technique that seemed capable of attracting and repelling objects pulled him closer and closer.

It was a good thing he was used to moving at such high speeds. Because his eyes were well adjusted to spotting fast moving objects, the Fourth Raikage was able to see Pain pull out some kind of black metal rod and pull his arm back in preparation to stab him.

Not that Ē would ever allow such an obvious attack to do him in. He was not only a kage, but one that specialized in close range combat. Taijutsu was his forte, and only someone like Senju Tsunade, Namikaze Minato and now Namikaze Naruto had ever been able to match him in that arena.

This Pain character seemed to be primarily a Ninjutsu user. Granted, he had only displayed two abilities so far, but it would not surprise Ē if the man only had a few more centered around his ability to attract and repel objects. What's more, he had managed to catch Pain off guard with his taijutsu. It had only been thanks to the timely intervention of those other two that this Rinnegan wielder had been saved.

When Pain thrust the metal rod forward to stab Ē through the stomach, the Raikage was prepared. Activating his Lightning Armor not even a second after the attack was made in order to increase his physical prowess and speed to incredible levels, Ē's left hand lashed out, grabbed hold of the black metal rod, snapped it in half, then launched a powerful right hook at Pain's face.

This time, there was no path around to save Pain from getting hit this time. Like the sound of thunder cracking against the ground, the noise from Ē's Lightning enhanced fist striking Pain's face was loud enough that it caused the earth to rumble.

The punch did more than just make a lot of noise, however, it also shattered Pain's jaw and sent him flying backwards in the same manner he had been doing to Ē for the past few minutes. Like a lightning jutsu gone out of control, his body spinning like a top, Pain struck the ground, digging up massive amounts of rock and dirt as he created a large trench along the path he was thrown. He struck one of the buildings in his way, going straight through it and coming out the other side. The building collapsed in on itself like a house of cards and still Pain traveled further.

The Raikage glared at where he had last seen his enemy. He was sure that would put an end to him. Ē had struck out with everything he had in that last attack. Not even someone of Tsunade's strength would have been able to survive a hit like that without being liquidized.

Nodding to himself, the Raikage prepared to find the rest of the enemies attacking the village and protect his people before his entire body froze. His eyes widened as he felt his chakra being leached from him. Looking down, he found Preta gripping his calves tightly.

His Lightning Armor went out as he no longer had the chakra to sustain it.

He was still alive!? Ē had been sure he'd killed the bastard. He could even see it's face was still caved in where he had crushed it beneath his hand.

With a growl, the Raikage made to yank one of his legs out of the idiots grip and stomp on his head when an indescribable pain pierced his abdomen. Ē blinked several times as he stared down at the bloody tip of a serrated tail. Still in shock, he craned his neck to look behind him and saw the mechanical enemy he had annihilated a little while ago standing behind him, a grin on all three faces.

"What... the fuck!?" Ē grunted as he went down to a knee. He tried to stand again, but the chakra being drained from him by the Preta Path was leaving him incredibly weakened. All he could do was shake and heave as he tried to push his body beyond what it was capable of.

"What an amazingly strong attack." Ē looked up, disbelieving as he saw Pain walking back towards him looking no worse for wear. There didn't seem to be any damage done to him at all! "You truly live up to your title, Raikage. An attack of that caliber would have killed most people."

"You..." Ē coughed as blood began welling up in his lungs. "How are you still alive?"

"A pointless question," Pain said in his usual monotone voice. "There is no need to answer it when you are going to be dead soon." Ē growled as he tried to stand again, but was too weakened. His vision was beginning to blur from a lack of chakra and blood loss. "You fought valiantly, but in the end it wasn't enough. You now know pain, but it is too late. I cannot let one as dangerous as you live."

A flash of black was all that the Raikage saw before a rod of black metal was stabbed all the way through his neck and out the back. Ē gurgled as he bled out, his eyes glazing over and his body slumping. A single second passed, then two. Finally, the Raikage stopped breathing.

Pain looked at the body of the Raikage, then raised his head to look at the rest of the village. There was no more need to stay here now that he had the location of the Hachibi Jinchurikki. All that was left to do was use this village as an example of what would happen to those who defied God.

Using his powers to lift himself into the air, Pain floated high above the hidden village. From his birds eye view he could see how much damage he had caused. More than half the village was nearly destroyed. Not that it mattered. This village wouldn't be around at all for much longer.

Raising his hands high above his head, Pain's gaze sharpened as his chakra surged in preparation for his technique. In less than second, Kumogakure would be no more.

"Shinra Tensei."

XoX

Within the darkened bedroom that was lit only by the few streams of light that managed to sneak in through the curtains of a nearby window, Namikaze Naruto felt himself begin to stir. It was a slow stirring, the kind where one still felt a bit groggy from the events of yesterday and needed a few minutes to adjust from that moment of restful peace to complete awareness.

Blinking several times as his eyes adjusted to the darkened room, the young man took absent note of the décor. He easily recognized the master bedroom of the Namikaze estate. He also easily recognized the female body snuggled deeply into his side.

Smiling slightly, Naruto reached out with a hand and began to gently run his hands through Konan's beautiful blue hair. Rather than fan out like the other girls hair did, Konan's was too short for that and thus was arrayed in a typical bedhead fashion, with numerous strands sticking up chaotically sort of like his own. An amusing thought escaped him as he wondered if their children would look like that, their mother's hair color but his style.

He shook the thought off. While an appealing thought, children weren't something they could afford right now. Not with Akatsuki, and more importantly, that guy claiming to be Uchiha Madara still on the loose. The last thing he wanted was for his wife and child to be used as a hostage.

Wanting to get his mind off the dark place his thoughts were taking him, the last Namikaze heir found himself gazing appreciate at Konan's beautiful figure. The blanket he had used to cover them had fallen a bit and was only covering up to their waste now, so Naruto had a decent view of some of the woman's bountiful chest, blocked only partially by the way her right boob was mashed against his torso, but also by her angelic face as it rested against his shoulder.

Though he could not see, Naruto could definitely feel the way their legs had entwined sometime during the night. It was something he always enjoyed, waking up to the feeling of a pair of soft, smooth and downright sexy legs hooked around his own after a night of passionate love making.

Than again, he loved everything about moments like this, from the way Konan's breath felt hot against his skin to the way her body was pressed so closely against his there wasn't even enough space for one of her paper jutsu to slip through. Call him sappy, but one of the best parts of having sex was waking up next to the woman you loved.

Or would that be women in his case? Well, whatever. He could think on that later.

As Naruto spent his time just enjoying the feeling of waking up with one of the people who meant the world to him, Konan began stirring.

Noticing a change in his angel's breathing, he looked down just in time to see Konan raise her head and blink her beautiful amber eyes several times. After a second or two of looking like they were still asleep, those half lidded eyes sharpened and focused on him.

"Morning," Naruto greeted warmly. Konan gave him a smile that matched the warmth in his voice.

"Good morning, Naruto," Konan mumbled as she leaned up enough to give him a chaste kiss on the lips.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as Konan laid her head back down on his shoulder.

"A little sore," Konan admitted, not quite managing to suppress a shiver as her lover let his fingers trail along her back, leaving goosebumps in their way. She pressed her lips against the skin of his shoulder in return, and smiled when she felt his breath hitch slightly. "But a good kind of sore."

"I'm glad."

Silence reigned for a few seconds as Naruto continued to stroke the woman's bare back. They would need to take a shower eventually. He could feel the dried sweat sticking to her frame, and he doubted he was much better.

"Last night..." Naruto looked back down to see Konan staring up at him, her chin resting against his shoulder. "Last night was incredible. I'm glad we shared this moment together." Her eyes became soft as a small smile crossed her lips. "For some reason, I feel much closer to you than before."

"Almost makes you wish we had done this earlier, huh?" asked Naruto, which earned him a light smack to the chest. "Joking, just joking..." he saw the look he was getting and grinned sheepishly. "Well, sort of. Anyways, we should probably take a shower and then head down for some breakfast." On cue, Naruto's stomach rumbled like some kind of ravenous beast. "Did I mention I was starving?"

Konan giggled at Naruto's antics, then stopped as she realized she was giggling. She looked back at Naruto, her eyes narrowing as she saw the grin on his face.

"You didn't hear anything."

Naruto's grin widened.

"Sure I didn't."

"You didn't hear anything."

"Hmmm... how about this." With movements that were swift and sure, Naruto rolled the two of them over so that Konan was pinned to the bed while he was hovering over her. "I'll pretend nothing happened, if you give me a kiss."

Konan smiled as her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled his face down to hers.

"I think I can do that," she whispered, before pulling him into a passionate kiss.

XoX

After several minutes of not quite going all the way but certainly doing more than just kissing and fondling, Naruto and Konan mutually decided to adjourn to the restroom to get clean. Having never been this intimate with Naruto until then, Konan realized that there were things about the blond that she had not known.

For one thing, Naruto was a very attentive lover. She had known that he was capable of supporting her emotionally, as well as how able he was at supporting her physically, but she had not known about his skills at supporting her intimately. Her time last night had made her realize that Naruto was a very skilled lover, but it was their time in the restroom that made Konan truly aware of how attentive he was to her needs as a woman.

She had sat between Naruto's legs while they showered, shivering and moaning in delight as he gently and lovingly washed and kneaded her back, working out any and all knots she had while at the same time getting her clean. He had spent the same amount of attention to her breasts, stomach, legs and feet, messaging and worshiping her body as he cleaned her up. By the time every part of her had been washed, Konan was more than ready to get dirty again.

It was a shame she had been too sore to commit in any acts of debauchery.

Getting out of the shower, the pair decided they wanted to relax for a little while longer. Naruto made a shadow clone and had it transform into a dry, clothed version of himself. After ordering it to make breakfast, which the clone left to do while grumbling under it's breath about 'lucky bastard originals', Naruto and Konan found themselves lounging in the large bathtub, relaxing as steam rose from the water's surface.

In what had become practically par for the course as far as Naruto's love life was concerned, Naruto was sitting at the end of the tub with his back against the tub itself. Meanwhile, Konan sat in between his legs, her firm, shapely rear pressing against the obvious sign of his arousal. Her back was resting against his chest, her head laying back so that she could press her cheek against Naruto's as his arms wrapped tightly around her, making her feel like she had been encased in a loving cocoon.

"We haven't talked much about your's and Ero-sennin's battle against Pain," Naruto said after several moments of comfortable silence. "How are you feeling?"

Konan sighed as she turned on her side and lowered her body so that she could rest her head on his chest. If they were going to have this conversation, she wanted to be comfortable, and listening to Naruto's heartbeat was surprisingly comforting.

"I... I don't know," she said at last. "I'm not sure how I feel. For the longest time, Nagato had been my best friend, my world. I was his biggest supporter and his goals and life were what held me up. Now that he has fallen to darkness, I feel almost like I no longer have a purpose."

Naruto did not say anything as Konan spoke. Rather, he listened and let her express herself through words.

"And even though you and I got together, and I knew that you were at odds with him, I had always hoped." A few cold droplets of water splashed against Naruto's chest. They presented a stark contrast to the heat coming from the bath water. "I always thought that I would be able to save him. That if I stuck close to him, I could subtly influence his decisions down a less destructive route. Then maybe the three of us could have worked together to bring peace, but now..."

"I understand," Naruto said, running his hand through Konan's hair. "It's hard watching someone who meant so much to you fall and realize there is very little you can do to stop it."

Naruto's own mind went to Sasuke, the person he had thought of as family that went on to join Orochimaru. He knew exactly how Konan was feeling, having already experienced such an event himself.

"I wish I could say something that would help you cope with this, but the truth is, I never really got over Sasuke's betrayal. Even now, a part of me hopes that he can be redeemed, while another still feels the sting of what he did to Sakura and I. I truly don't know what I can say that would make you feel better."

"Just be here for me," Konan murmured as lifted her head to look up at him. "That's all I need."

"I'll always be here for you," Naruto responded earnestly, causing Konan to smile as she leaned up and claimed his lips in a kiss. Naruto's hands tightened around her waist, pulling Konan flush against him as her own arms entwined around his neck and made to pull her up so she could have more access to his mouth.

A moan escaped her lips as one of Naruto's hands moved from the small of her back to her perfectly peach shaped butt and began to grope it. Konan responded by moving her ass in time to his squeezes and caresses, grinding it against her lover's increasing proof of her lover's arousal.

Their tongues soon broke through each others mouths and began moving together. They pushed and rubbed and hooked against each other as they played that age old game in which everybody was a winner and no one was a loser. Konan thought it was one of the most enjoyable games in the world.

Eventually, Konan's grinding led to the pair's mutual release. A low groan came from Naruto's mouth as Konan let out a breathy sigh of content and sank deeper into the water. Her head to came rest against his chest once more and she spent a number of minutes just laying kisses on his pectorals as her blond lover began running a hand across her back while she came down from the post orgasmic high.

"We should probably get out," Naruto said after several minutes of silence. "My clones finished making breakfast, and I really should formally introduce you to Yugao. Plus, if we stay in here any longer we'll start to prune."

"That's the one in the ANBU, right?" Konan asked, her eyes drooping a little as they both stood up. She was feeling a bit tired, not just from staying in the water so long, but also from what they had just done. All she really wanted to do right now was drag Naruto back to bed and snuggle against him while she slept.

"Yes," Naruto nodded, "You never met her before since we didn't get involved with each other until after the Chunin Exams." He paused. "She's currently eating breakfast, so now would be the best time."

After drying off and getting dressed in a pair of civvies, Konan and Naruto made their way out of the room and into the kitchen. There they found Yugao sitting at the long table, eating what looked to be an omelet with a side bowl of fruit. As soon as the pair entered, said purple haired beauty looked up and gave a slight mischievous, if strained, smile.

"The next time you two get up to the kinds of antics you did last night, you may want to think about applying a silencing seal on the door... and the walls... and maybe the ceiling, floor and window for good measure."

"Y-You heard that?" Naruto asked in surprise while Konan blushed at hearing that her debauchery had been heard by someone. Yugao nodded.

"I heard it all the way from the basement," she looked at the pair, her eyes showing a mixture of amusement and jealousy. "You must have been pretty amazing to make her scream that loudly."

Konan's cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of red, creating a very stark contrast against her blue hair. Naruto shook his head and smiled as he grabbed Konan by the hand and let her over to table. After moving her being gentlemanly and helping her into a chair, the blond walked around the table towards Yugao, absently creating another shadow clone to grab two more plates and put the food on the table.

"I think you're just jealous," Naruto smiled slightly as Yugao twitched. Leaning down, he wrapped his arms around her and leaned in so he could place a kiss on her cheeks. "But you know you shouldn't be. Whenever you're ready, I'll be here waiting."

Yugao's countenance relaxed. Her eyes softened and she smiled at him before turning her head and placing a chaste kiss on his lips.

"Thank you," she said with a grateful smile.

"You never need to thank me for something like this," Naruto told her as the clone set both his and Konan's food on the table and dispelled. Sitting down in front of his own plate, Naruto decided to finally get the official introduction out of the way. "Yugao, this is Konan, she was a spy for me within Akatsuki and the reason Gara's still alive. Konan, this is Uzuki Yugao, one of the youngest ANBU in history and a well known sword junky."

"I hope you know," Yugao began with grace and poise, only the slight twitching of her eyebrow letting on to what she thought of being called a sword junky. "That I am going to get you for that comment later on."

"And I'm looking forward to it," Naruto grinned, causing Yugao to sigh and turn her attention onto Konan.

"So, welcome to the family, I guess," she said. "It's nice to officially meet you."

"Likewise," Konan felt a little weird knowing that this woman was also one of Naruto's lovers. Being from Amegakure, she only knew of the laws Konoha had towards clans, specifically clans that were nearing extinction, through Naruto. It still felt strange to share the person she planned on marrying with several other woman. "Naruto has told me a lot about you."

"Oh, he has, has he?" Yugao sent a sidelong glance at Naruto, who was whistling an innocent tune as he periodically placed food in his mouth. When he got the woman's attention, he immediately turned and looked away, causing her to narrow her eyes and look back at Konan. "And just what has he been saying about me?"

"I don't really think it's necessary for you to know what we've been talking about, do you?" asked an embarrassed Naruto.

"Oh no," Yugao gave Naruto a small grin. "It is very necessary." She turned back to Konan, ignoring the way Naruto began to sputter. "So, care to share?"

Konan looked over at Naruto for a brief moment, watching as he waved his hands across his face in a 'no' gesture, then turned back to Yugao. "He used to speak very often about how you were constantly protecting him when he was younger, and how he always used to think you were the most beautiful woman in the world," she told Yugao succinctly, though with a hint of amusement and envy in her eyes.

Both Naruto and Yugao blushed.

"H-He really said that?" asked Yugao, her eyes moving over to Naruto before the color staining her cheeks deepened and she looked away.

Konan nodded. "He did. He also mentioned about how when he was younger he wanted to marry you, and would constantly fight your... boyfriend every time he came over."

It was a testament to her recovery that the indirect mentioning of Hayate didn't even so much as cause her to flinch, though her chest did feel a tight ache when she thought of him. This time when she looked over to see a red faced Naruto pouting at the two of them, her eyes softened and a smile crossed her lips as she remembered those very simple times.

"Yeah," she chuckled warmly, "He was always going on about how he would beat up Hayate-kun and then make me fall in love with him. Of course, then he went to the academy and fell in love with that Sakura girl." Yugao crossed her arms and gave a mock pout. "I felt like I had been replaced."

"No one could replace you," Naruto said lowly, his face turning red when the other two looked at him. "Ah, I mean, I thought I should aim lower. You know, cuz it was clear that Hayate had an advantage over me."

"So you gave up," Yugao teased. "What happened to never giving up and never going back on your word?"

"I didn't give up," Naruto puffed up in mock indignation. "I was simply making a temporary retreat until a better opportunity to sweep you off your feet arose. And I thought that since Sakura was cute and had a unique hair color, she would be good practice for when you finally realized I was the man of your dreams."

"You mean the boy of my dreams," with a teasing smile, Yugao watched as Naruto gave her a pout. "And it doesn't look like you ended up getting much practice. You never even managed to get a single date with Sakura."

"Ugh, don't remind me," Naruto moaned.

As Konan watched the small byplay between the two, she couldn't help but smile. "You two seem to get along very well," she noted, looking over at Yugao with a smile. "I'm actually kind of jealous."

"Yeah, well..." Yugao trailed off unsurely. "It's just because I've known him for so long."

"Perhaps."

Light banter continued throughout the rest of breakfast as Konan and Yugao learned a bit more about each other. They seemed to get along fairly well, which Naruto was glad for. The last thing he wanted was for these two to start fighting each other like Mei and Yugito had when they first met. Dealing with that kind of situation once was more than enough for him.

Near the end of breakfast, the doorbell to his estate rang out. Frowning, Naruto created a shadow clone their plates and wash them off while he, Konan and Yugao walked over to the door.

The person on the other end was an ANBU member with a lizard mask covering his face. When he saw Naruto standing there, he snapped off a salute. "Namikaze-san, Hokage-sama has requested you in her office."

"Did she say why?"

"I am not privy to her reasons, sir," the ANBU replied dutifully. Naruto nodded, figuring that the woman probably just wanted to speak with him. He looked over at Konan and Yugao, both of whom understood his expression.

"Don't worry about us, Naruto," Yugao said. "I'm off duty right now, so I can use this time to show Konan around Konoha while wait for you to get back."

Naruto smiled at the pair, before turning back to look at the ANBU. "Lead the way, lizard-san."

The ANBU nodded as he grabbed Naruto by the sleeve of his shirt. Together, the two disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

XoX

Tsunade leaned back against her chair, sipping at a saucer of sake in order to keep from becoming a nervous wreck. These past few days had been very hectic since Naruto came back from the successful mission to capture Sasuke. She had tried working up the courage to tell them about their relationship but Jiraiya's battle with Pain had interfered. Then she had to personally keep Jiraiya from dying on them, even then, he was still left with just a single arm and had been put into a coma.

Now there was nothing left getting in her way. Jiraiya was out of danger, Sasuke had been retrieved. Pain was an ever looming threat but not one they could deal with right now. Even the paperwork was complete, which was a rarity for her.

All of this led to one thing. It was time to tell Naruto of their relationship to each other. She was nervous, frightened even, but he deserved to know.

She had sent an ANBU out fifteen minutes ago, so all that was left to do now was wait for Naruto to arrive. Which was why she was sitting there, contending herself with sake so that the passing of time did not increase her nerves. If she got any more nervous, she wasn't sure she could go through with it.

A brief wind kicked up, followed by a swirl of leaves. A few seconds later, Naruto appeared alongside the ANBU she had sent to get him.

"You called, baa-chan?"

"Yes, I did," Tsunade said, causing Naruto to frown. "Thank you for getting here so promptly," she informed the ANBU, who gave a nod and vanished upon using the Shunshin again. "Sit down, Naruto."

Still looking a little unsure, Naruto did as told and took a seat in one of the two chairs in front of the desk.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here," Tsunade said after a moment before taking a quick sip of her sake. Naruto, still confused, nodded. "A while back we managed to acquire some information on your blood test that can and likely will cause a good deal of commotion if it ever gets out. It also changes a good deal between us."

"Then what I have is a bloodline?" asked Naruto.

"Yes," Tsunade said, "it is a bloodline. I believe it came from a combination of your Uzumaki blood and your father's blood."

"My old man," Naruto frowned. "What does he have to do with this? As far as I am aware, he was not a part of any clan."

"And as far as we were aware, he was not either," Tsunade said. "Recent information from your blood test, however, has shed some light on things. Namikaze Minato was an orphan as far as anyone knew. There are no records of his parents in any of our files, however, I am beginning to believe that is because they were stricken from his profile by Sarutobi-sensei."

"It must be pretty important if Hokage-ojisan needed to erase the information," Naruto noted.

"It is," Tsunade took a deep breath, then blew it all out in a sigh. "I'm not going to beat around the bush, Naruto. When we ran the blood test, we did a much more extensive test than the one to simply see if you had a bloodline. This test showed us a number of information that goes beyond blood type and genetics. Through it, we would have been able to find out who your grand parents and great grandparents were so long as we had a sample of their blood on record."

"I take it this has something to do with my grandparents, then?" Naruto frowned in thought as he was finally given a bit more information on what this meeting was about.

"Just one of them," Tsunade informed him, "Your grandfather on your father's side. You see, I discovered that your grandfather is, in fact, my deceased younger brother, Senju Nawaki." Naruto's mouth dropped. "Naruto, you're father was actually my nephew, which makes you my grand nephew."

With the bomb dropped, Tsunade waited for the other shoe to fall. She expected a number of things to happen after Naruto recovered from his shock. Anger at leaving him alone for so long, rage at how he was treated by the villagers. She expected him to shout at her, to yell and scream about how she should have been there for him, and she felt he would be right to do so.

Clearly, she let her own anxiety get the best of her.

"You do know that you can no longer complain about me calling you baa-chan, right?"

Tsunade blinked. "What?"

Naruto grinned. "You can't get upset when I call you baa-chan anymore. Technically speaking, you kind of are my baa-chan since we're related and all."

"Naruto," now it was Tsunade's turn to gawk, "I just told you that you are and I are closely related and all you can say is that I can't complain about you calling me baa-chan?"

"So?" Naruto looked at her, confused. "I don't really see your point. This doesn't change anything."

"Doesn't change anything?" Tsunade parroted in shock. "Aren't you... you should be mad? You're related to be and I wasn't there for you! I've known about this for months, but kept it from you because of my own fear and selfish desire to keep the status quo!"

"I'm still not seeing the problem," Naruto admitted with a shrug. "As far as I can see, you only found out after I returned to the village, which means you did not know we were family before then. I'm not sure how I can blame you for not being there for me when you didn't even know we were family."

"So you're not mad at me?" asked Tsunade, still reeling from shock.

"Of course not," Naruto scoffed, "Being upset at you for not knowing something is stupid. Why would I blame you for being ignorant. That would be like how the villagers blamed me for everything the Kyuubi did when I was younger."

"Thank you," Tsunade whispered, trying not to let the tears fall from her eyes. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Don't get all wishy washy on me. Aren't you old hags supposed to be tough?"

His question was answered when Tsunade threw an empty sake bottle at his head.

"Watch it, brat!" Tsunade scowled. "I may let you get away with calling me baa-chan from now on, but there is no way I'm going to let you call me an old hag without suffering the consequences."

"Geez, you're so violent," Naruto muttered, "Aren't the Senju supposed to be peace loving hippies or something."

Tsunade snorted. "Only when you don't piss us off. Then we become the devil incarnate."

"Right, right," Naruto nodded his head, pleased to see that he had dispelled the aura of doom and gloom surrounding Tsunade. "Now, this information is interesting and all, but I do have a question."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"

"How did Nawaki have a kid? Wasn't he, like, twelve or something?"

"Thirteen," Tsunade corrected, "And yes, he was too young to have a child. However, Orochimaru was his sensei."

"And you believe that he may have taken samples of Nawaki during that time?"

"Or sometime after," Tsunade replied. "I don't want to believe that he was experimenting that early on, but it's not outside of the realm of possibility that he injected a woman with Nawaki's seed and tried to observe her when she got pregnant. It's also very likely she died at childbirth, as there are no records of who Minato's mother was. She was likely a random civilian that Orochimaru had selected for that very same reason. Less chance of people noticing her that way, especially during times of war."

"Makes sense," Naruto nodded his head.

"Naruto," Tsunade began again, a tremor in her voice. "Are you really okay with this?"

"Eh?" Naruto looked confused, but then shrugged. "I don't see why not. I mean, we're already pretty much family, right? Might as well make it official."

"I see," Tunsade had to smile at his words as she remembered another reason she liked the blond so much. He didn't just remind her of her little brother and late lover, he was also an amazing person capable of accepting others no matter what and always tried to look on the bright side of things.

She was about to say more, but before she could even open her mouth, the door to her room was blasted open and one of her ninja was leaning against the door jam, huffing and puffing like he had just run a marathon.

"You had better have a good reason for barging in like this!" Tsunade scowled at the man, who shrank a bit but did not waver.

"It's... It's Kumogakure!" The man rasped, his breathing still heavy. "We just received news that it was destroyed by Akatsuki!"

"WHAT!?"

* * *

**Finally, the Pain vs Kumo arc is basically complete. I just have one 'aftermath' chapter and it's finished. I do apologize for taking so long to get to this point.**

**You guys know how it goes by now; read, review, check out my blog, do a handstand, worship the log and, well, whatever else you think you should do.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Important Authors note: Some of you may know this and some of you may not, but I'm getting ready to publish my first original novel. It should be out in about a month now. This is an exciting step for me and I hope you guys will support me by getting a copy when it comes out and letting me know what you think. It'll be available through Amazon as a paper back and (hopefully) an eBook.**

**For those who are curious to know what the story is about, here is the blurb that you will find on the back of my cover. For those who read the last blurb in either Devil Ninja or the Heir of Slytherin, you'll notice I changed it quite a bit.**

Kevin Swift is a mature young man; he's independent, responsible, gets good grades, and is one of the star runners for the track team. The only thing keeping him from being "Mr. Popular" is this strange problem he has around girls. He just can't talk to them...at least, not without making a fool of himself.

Enter Lilian Pnév̱ma (nev-ma). She's cheerful, vibrant, and inhumanly beautiful. She's also just plain inhuman, something Kevin learns the hard way when he discovers a naked Lilian in his apartment instead of the two-tailed fox he brought home the other day. Lilian claims he is her mate and is willing to do anything―no matter how embarrassing it is for Kevin―to earn his love. Needless to say, life for Kevin Swift just got a whole lot more difficult.

**So what do you think? Interested? If you want to learn more you can go to facebook and search for American Kitsune.**

**Anyway, I've babbled about my novel enough. Please enjoy the latest chapter of Namikaze's Return.**

* * *

**Chapter ****27: Approaching Tempest**

Morning in Kirigakure came as the sun rose over the horizon. With the first rays of light shining across the large coalition of islands, a number of people began to wake up, getting themselves ready to start another day; bakers began baking their goods, merchants started to set up shop, and a number of shinobi could be seen traveling across the roofs of buildings. A light breeze blew through the hidden village, carrying with it the scent of the sea.

It was this scent that caused Nii Yugito to stir from her slumber. Cracking a single eye open, the young woman with long blond hair quickly shut it again as several rays of light streaming in through the nearest window hit her eyes. Groaning, she rolled onto her side and shut her eyes again, determined to get a few more minutes of sleep before starting her day. It wasn't like she had anything pressing to do right now anyways.

As she rolled over her right hand came into contact with something that caused her to pause. It was soft, and round, and squishy. She recognized what it was, even in her semi-conscious state.

Opening both eyes, the first thing Yugito saw was the mass of red hair. It was spread across the bed, looking almost like wild fire as the sunlight hit it.

The second thing she saw was the woman that hair belonged to, a beautiful woman with a figure that rivaled her own, and a face that held a sensual elegance about it. Even when she was at rest, the woman looked positively alluring, with her eyes closed and her lips parted ever so slightly, just begging someone to plant a kiss on them. Yugito shook her head of such thoughts, but could not deny it had entered her mind.

The last thing the blond-haired Jinchurikki noticed was that her hand was on the woman's right breast. Yugito blinked several times, wondering what she should do. After a moment's thought she decided to slowly take her hand off Mei's well-formed chest so as not to wake her.

"You can leave it there if you want."

Startled, Yugito tilted her head to see that Mei was already awake. The woman's sea green eyes were staring at her with a mixture of amusement and mischief that reminded her a lot of the man they were going to marry. Maybe that was the reason she had allowed this woman to convince her to share a bed.

"I didn't want to wake you," Yugito said, letting her hand come back down to rest on Mei's bare bosom.

"I've been awake for a while," Mei admitted. The woman with gloriously long red hair allowed her own hand to rest on Yugito's. "I don't really feel like getting up right now though, so I decided to relax a bit."

"I don't think that's really something a Kage should say," Yugito teased. "People will accuse you of being lazy."

It was interesting for Yugito to realize how at ease she was with the other woman. Maybe it was because they had shared a sexual encounter with each other during the prelims when they both had sex with Naruto...in fact she was sure that was the reason. Still, it did not change how fascinating the thought of her and this woman being more...involved with each other than was necessary was to the blond beauty.

"They can say whatever they want," Mei countered, "I don't really care, though I doubt anyone would actually complain. With Mizu no Kuni at peace, I don't have as much to do anymore." Relatively speaking, at least, especially when compared to immediately after the war when they were rebuilding the nation. The process of not only rebuilding her shinobi forces after having them nearly cut in half, but also aiding the civilians regain their livelihood, and rebuilding Kirigakure from all the damage it had taken during the war had been a very long and arduous process. It was fortunate they had the full support of the Daimyo in this or the process would have taken much longer than two years.

"That sounds like an excuse to me," Yugito mumbled. Despite saying this, the blond-haired beauty scooted closer to Mei, allowing their equally nude bodies to conform as she used the red head's bosom as a pillow.

"It's only an excuse when there is actually work to do," Mei countered as she pulled the slightly younger woman closer. Cuddling with Yugito wasn't the same as cuddling with Naruto, but for the moment, both of them were willing to contend themselves with each other. "I can afford to rest for a few more minutes."

"Hmm..." Yugito moaned slightly as she relaxed into the other woman's embrace. Her eyes closed again as warmth seeped into her body.

She allowed herself this small moment of peace and quiet to last for several seconds before speaking again.

"So what do we have to do today?"

"There are only a few more formalities to worry about before we can finalize the alliance between Kumo and Kiri."

"...Great."

"It shouldn't take longer than an hour or two," Mei ignored the sarcasm in Yugito's voice. "The council is only procrastinating because that's how they work. They want this alliance to happen just as much as we do since it will mean securing both our northern and eastern borders from intrusion. Once that happens, we'll officially be allies with both Konoha and Kumo."

"And Suna," Yugito added.

"And Suna," Mei agreed, though the desert nation was not really important to Kiri, being too far away to for them to really effect her village. A thoughtful hum escaped her lips. "Once the alliance is finalized we'll become the largest coalition of allied shinobi villages in the Elemental Nations. Not to mention the most powerful."

Yugito could not help but agree. An alliance between Konoha, Kiri, Kumo, and Suna would make them the largest and most powerful group of allied villages. That was four of the five Great Shinobi Nations. That was a lot of fire power to bring down.

"We're going to ruffle some feathers when the alliance becomes official."

Mei nearly snorted. "We've already ruffled quite a few feathers. Some of the smaller countries have learned of the alliance and are getting restless. They won't do anything though, they know that if they were to start anything they would be crushed." The minor villages were much smaller than their counterparts in the Five Great Nations. Plus their forces were not as well trained due to their lack of funding. A war against one nation of Kiri's size would be costly, a war against four was suicidal.

"Do we know what Iwa has to say about all this?"

"No," Mei shook her head at Yugito's question, "Iwa has been silent since several of their ninja went rogue and attempted to use Koyuki as a hostage to kill Naruto. They cannot afford to make any moves right now, though I do not doubt they know about the alliance." It wasn't like they had tried keeping it a secret. Every village worth their weight likely knew about the upcoming nupitals between Naruto, Mei and Yugito. It wasn't as publicized as Naruto's close "friendship" with Koyuki, but it wasn't like they had done anything to hide it either.

Yugito did not say anything, merely absorbed the information to the best of her abilities. As a shinobi of Kumo, and one of its Jinchurikki at that, she had not really had to worry about the politics between the villages like this before. She wasn't like Mei who had to worry about running a village or Naruto who was the head of two nearly extinct clans. She was just a ninja with a giant chakra entity sealed inside of her. As such these political concepts were a little more difficult for her to grasp.

It was while Yugito was trying to work her way through the knowledge her fellow sister-wife had given her that Naruto appeared before them within a Hiraishin. Both Yugito's and Mei's eyes lit up when they saw the man they were to marry, but soon realized something was wrong when he did not smile at them. In fact, he looked rather grave.

"Koi," Mei spoke up, disentangling herself from Yugito to stand up, heedless of her own nudity. "What's wrong?"

Naruto said nothing as he walked over to them. Yugito also made to stand. She was only given enough time to sit up, however, before her husband to be sat down on the bed and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice a mere whisper, "I am so, so sorry."

Yugito did not know what was going on, but a feeling of dread began to well up inside of her, along with confusion. Why was he saying this? What was he sorry about?

She pushed Naruto back a little so she could look at him. The pit in her stomach increased when she saw the despondency on his face.

"Naruto...why are you sorry? What's wrong?"

When Naruto bit his lip, Yugito knew that she would not like his answer.

She had no idea how right she was.

XoX

Breaking the news of Kumo's destruction to Yugito had been much harder than Naruto thought it would be. No amount of preparation could have prepared him for the anguish this knowledge would have given the woman he shared so much in common with. The look on her face when he told her, that tormented expression she had given him was something that would remain with him for the rest of his life.

Several hours had past since then. Mei was off in a meeting with her council. As much as she would have liked to remain and help Naruto comfort her distraught sister-wife, she couldn't neglect her duties as the Mizukage. She had left the man they both loved to comfort Yugito, holding her in his arms as she cried out her anguish and rage to the world. It was the only thing he could do in this situation, and it left him feeling powerless. What kind of fiance was he that the only thing he could do was console his inconsolable significant other?

He should have tried to kill Pein when he had the chance. Had he done that none of this would have happened. Yugito wouldn't be mourning the loss of her village and he wouldn't have to deal with this feeling of helplessness and guilt.

The Jinchurikki for the two-tailed Nekomata had fallen asleep several minutes ago, having expended all of her energy crying and screaming out her denial, shock, sorrow, and anger to the world. She was sitting sideways in Naruto's lap as he sat on the bed, his back against the headboard. His arms were wrapped around her in a tight embrace, as if he were trying to shield her from the world. Her head was tucked neatly in the crook of his neck as he rested his chin on the crown of her head.

It was about midday now, which Naruto noted when he looked out the window and saw the sun shining high overhead, sending beams of light down on the world below. From his position on the bed the blond Uzumaki-Namikaze was able to clearly make out the people of the Village Hidden in the Mist as they went about their business, ignorant and unknowing of the tragedy that had just taken place. Naruto felt a dissonance between the world around him and his own broiling emotions. A day in which something so horrifically tragic happens should not be this bright and lively.

The sound of the door clicking open took his attention off his desolate thoughts - something he was grateful for. Looking up as someone entered the room, Naruto was greeted with the sight of Mei Terumi walking over to him.

"How is she?" was the first thing Mei asked as she sat down at the edge of the bed.

Naruto's eyes traveled down to where he could see the shimmering blond hair of Yugito. He could not see anything else right now, but he knew that if he were to get a glimpse of her face he would see red rimmed eyes and tear stained cheeks.

"I think...the answer to that should be more than obvious," he said softly, shifting as he tightened his hold on the blond woman in his arms.

"Right...foolish question, I know." Mei scooted further onto the bed, moving to rest against the headboard right next to him. She grabbed Yugito's calves, lifting them up so she could scoot under them and then set them back down on her la[. Her hands traveled up and down the other woman's legs, which caused the female Jinchurikki to purr lightly in her sleep. It was the only form of comfort the red head could offer right now.

"How did the council take this news?" asked Naruto after several minutes of silence.

"About as well as can be expected," Mei said with a heavy sigh. "They're afraid. It seems that news of Kumo's destruction has reached all corners of the Elemental Nations, as well as the knowledge that one of the Five Great hidden villages was wiped out by a single person. It's only natural they would be afraid of someone with that kind of power."

"Yeah..."

"Is something wrong, koi?"

Naruto shook his head. "Not really...it's just..." the blond-haired Uzumaki grimaced. "I can't help but feel like this is my fault. If I had just killed Pein when I had the chance. If I hadn't run when I confronted him in Ame, then none of this would have happened. Yugito wouldn't be distraught and Kumo would still be standing."

"But your sensei would have been dead," Mei pointed out.

"I love Jiraiya like a father, but the life of one man isn't worth that of the thousands who are likely dead now thanks to Pein." It was harsh thing to say, callous almost, especially coming from Naruto. But as shinobi, both he and Mei knew that sacrifices were sometimes necessary no matter how much they hated that aspect of their lives. "How many people lost fathers, mothers, sons and daughters in that attack? Is my happiness worth the happiness of all those who lost loved ones of their own?" He looked back down at Yugito. "Is it worth her happiness?"

Mei did not answer his question. They both knew the answer, and she knew that, regardless of what she told him, Naruto would blame himself.

She tried another approach. "Do you think you could have beaten him?"

"I don't know," Naruto bit his lip, "Maybe. Pein was able to beat Jiraiya-sensei. My strength is comparable, but we never went all out in our spars, so there's no telling who was the stronger between the two of us. Still...Pein was injured from his battle. I saw that at least one of his paths had been destroyed. I also know how his paths work, I know their weaknesses, their strengths. All he likely knows about me is my affinity for wind jutsu, my use of the Hiraishin and that I can summon toads. I had all the advantages and yet I still retreated..."

"Oh Naruto..." Mei's eyes softened as she looked at the man she was to wed. He looked so despondent right now. That damn noble streak of his was acting up again, making him blame himself for Kumo's destruction even though there was no way he could have known this would happen.

Unable to do anything else, Mei let her head rest on his shoulder and pulled herself as close to him as possible. Right now this was the only thing she could do.

XoX

Naruto was jolted awake as the blond-haired beauty in his arms stirred. Looking down he watched as Yugito sniffled a bit. He could not see her face, but he imagined she didn't look too pleasant right now.

"Yugito..."

Her head lifting a bit, Yugito looked up at Naruto, who winced. When he pictured how horrible she would look he had really been underestimating just how bad it was. Yugito's eyes were bloodshot and puffy from her tears. Her cheeks had tear tracks staining them. There was even a little fluid running down her nose.

"Naruto..." Yugito's voice cracked as she spoke, as if she had not used it for a long time.

"How are you feeling?"

"Awful," Yugito buried her face in his chest. Her arms wove tightly around his torso, holding onto him like some kind of lifeline as her entire body went into a fit of shuddering. In return Naruto's arms held her tightly, trying to give her as much comfort as he could with the gesture.

The pair were silent for a moment, a long moment that seemed to stretch on without end. But end it did when Yugito spoke again. "I'm not dreaming am I?" she asked, her voice soft, conveying with it an anguish and sadness that Naruto felt did not belong in her voice. "This is really happening. Kumo was destroyed."

"I'm sorry." Naruto knew his words meant nothing, but he couldn't help but apologize. It was his fault Kumo was destroyed. Had he just killed Pein when he had the chance this wouldn't have happened.

"I can't believe it's gone," Yugito mumbled. "Kumo was my home, I grew up there my whole life and the shinobi I worked with were always so kind to me, treating me like somebody important instead of scorn like most Jinchurikki are treated in their own village." A stifled sob escaped her lips. Naruto could feel several tears dampen his shirt. "They didn't deserve to die."

"No, they didn't," Naruto agreed. "I wish I could say something that would help ease your pain, but I've never had this happen to me before. I've never lost so much in such a short amount of time. I just...I can't even begin to imagine how you must feel right now. I'm sorry. I wish I could do something for you."

"Just hold me," Yugito told him, "Just like this. Hold me and tell me you'll always be with me...promise me you won't leave me..." Naruto felt like someone had stabbed him in the heart. The woman who had always been so strong, both in spirit and body, was gone. The woman he had grown to love so much sounded more like a weak little girl than a strong-spirited kunoichi. It was enough to break Naruto's heart.

"I promise," he said even though he knew this was one of the few promises he should not make. There was no guarantee he could keep it. But he also knew how fragile Yugito's state currently was. The mere fact that she was even asking him to make this promise when she knew as well as he that the life of a shinobi was often times short and violent told him this. She needed some reassurance, even if it ended up being false assurances, right now she needed something to hold onto.

So he wrapped his arms tightly around his fellow Jinchurikki and gave her the words she wanted―no, the words she needed to hear. "I promise, I'll never leave you. I'll stay with you forever and a day. And you know how I am with promises. If I make a promise..."

"You'll never break it, because that's your nindo."

Yugito and Naruto were almost startled when another voice spoke up. But they relaxed when a second set of arms wrapped around them both, holding onto them just as tightly as they held each other.

"I also promise to stay with you, Yugito," Mei promised the other woman, kissing the blond on the temple.

Yugito allowed her body to relax into the combined embrace of Mei and Naruto, her eyes closing and her body slowly beginning to shut down once more. She was still tired, oh so tired. She needed more rest.

"Thank you," she whispered softly before falling asleep within the embrace of the two people who meant the world to her.

XoX

The day after Yugito and Mei received the news of Kumo's destruction, the trio found themselves standing outside of Kirigakure's gates, waiting. They had received a message sometime last night from Tsunade that a response and rescue team made up of Suna and Konoha shinobi, and Haru no Kuni samurai would be coming to pick them up before setting out for Kumogakure. They would be arriving sometime that morning.

And so they stood there, silently waiting as the sun rose over the horizon and painted both the sky and ocean with brilliant splashes of color. It was a positively cheerful day, a stark contrast to the trio of ninja who waited with the Kirigakure squadron that would be joining them on this expedition.

One of Naruto's arm was wrapped around Yugito's waist. He had not let go of the woman since the news had been released. Even when they ate the pair stayed in constant physical contact, with his fellow blond sitting on his lap.

Yugito did not seem to be in any rush to have this end. Even though she knew it was a crutch to rely on Naruto for strength, right now she needed to, she needed his strength because she did not have any of her own at the moment. Especially with what they were going to be doing, where they would be going. The young woman knew she would need all the strength she could get if she wanted to see what remained of Kumo with her own eyes.

The group did not have to wait long. A mere thirty minutes after they arrived at the gates with the small contingent of Kiri shinobi that were to be accompanying them did a deep thrumming sound from above them, growing louder with each passing moment.

As one the group looked up to see a speck appear in the distance. It was too far for most shinobi to see, but came closer with each passing second. One speck soon became two as the objects continued sailing through the air.

The unidentified flying objects eventually became large enough that everyone could make them out in more detail. They were large, oblong objects with complex multi-plane fins. The way they glistened in the light let everyone know they were made from some kind of alloy. The skeletal structure seemed to consist of several rings and longitudinal girders. The two flying objects were being propelled from the back by several engines, mounted in gondolas, or engine cars, which were built into the structural skeleton. A comparatively small compartment was built into the bottom of the large, cylindrical objects with tapered ends. No doubt it was where all of the passengers were located.

"So that's Haru no Kuni's new Zeppelins," Mei said, intrigued and awed by the massive flying ships. Even Yugito had snapped out of her current depression to gape at the large vessels as they set down a couple meters away. "I had heard they were impressive to see, but I didn't expect them to be so massive."

"Haru no Kuni has always been well-known for their advanced technology," Naruto said as he and the others began walking towards the Zeppelins. The doors on the massive metal monstrosities opened up and a boarding ramp was soon lowered. "This is their latest invention. I'm told it was based off the smaller blimps that Dotou created several years back."

As the group neared the Zeppelins two squads of shinobi from Konoha and Suna emerged from the massive floating ships. Naruto smiled when he saw who was there to greet them.

"Shikamaru, Sakura, Ino, Chouji," he greeted the four who gave their own greetings in turn.

"Troublesome. This is so troublesome." Shikamaru grunted as Ino elbowed him. "Anyways, we're not the only squads here, but we're in charge of this mission." He rubbed his torso. "We've got several more squads and one squad of ANBU from both Konoha and Suna."

Naruto nodded, then looked at the Suna contingent. "Temari, Kankuro, I didn't expect Gaara to send you two."

"Gaara actually wanted to come himself, but we convinced him otherwise," Temari looked at the group, her eyes surveying both Mei and Yugito for a second before moving back to Naruto. "It took us a lot of effort to keep him from leaving."

"It's probably a good thing that you did," Naruto frowned. "With what's happened, Suna is probably the safest place for him right now."

"Yeah, because Kumo didn't just get turned into a smoking crater by one guy―OOF!"

"Kankuro!" Temari hissed at her younger brother as she retracted her elbow from his torso.

"The hell was that for, sis?" asked Kankuro as he rubbed his now sore ribs. Temari just glared at him before pointing at the three people in front of them. When he turned his head it was to the sight of Naruto and Mei glaring daggers at him while Yugito had buried her face in the blond Uzumaki's shoulder.

"Ah, ahahaha...ha...ha..." Kankuro laughed nervously, trying not to shrink in on himself at the sight of two kage level ninja shooting him looks that could melt steel. Considering one of them actually "could" melt steel and the other was rumored to be one of the most powerful shinobi in the Elemental Nations his attempts failed epically.

In other words, Kankuro looked about ready to shit himself.

"I'm...really sorry about that...that was totally callous of me. It won't happen again..."

The puppet user gulped nervously when he saw Naruto's lips thin into a tight, white line. Kankuro got the distinct feeling that the only reason the young clan heir had not pummeled him was because of the blond chick he was currently holding in his arms.

Even that may not have been enough to save him, but help came to him however inadvertently from a very unexpected source.

"Naruto-kun!"

Descending from the ramp of the second blimp was none other than Koyuki Kazehana, the Daimyo to Yuki no Kuni and another one of Naruto's wives (though only Naruto and Koyuki's sister-wives knew that). As was per usual when she was out in public Koyuki was decked out in very regal garb, a thick blue kimono with light red accents and voluminous sleeves. Her hair had been styled in a pair of loops that swung behind her as she walked...well, ran towards them. The young woman, in her haste, seemed to have forgone any sense of decorum and had broken rank from the Samurai surrounding her in order to full-on sprint towards Naruto and the group.

"Yuki," Naruto greeted with a smile. Koyuki looked like she wanted to jump on him as she stopped in front of them, but withheld herself when she saw Yugito in his arms. "How have you been? It's been a while since we saw each other." About a month all told. Naruto had been so busy recently that he'd been unable to visit her weekly like he would have preferred.

"Busy," Koyuki said, "There's a lot of work involved in running a country, you know?"

He did know. She complained about it to him often enough. "I'm surprised you're here then."

"I may have used this as an excuse to take a small break," Koyuki admitted shamelessly as her contingent of samurai caught up to her. "But I thought you guys could use my help." She looked at Yugito, her eyes dimming a bit before they flickered back to Naruto. "I wanted to lend whatever aid I could."

"We could use a hand, actually," Naruto said, "Thank you."

Koyuki smiled at him, but was interrupted from saying anything when the captain of the samurai contingent with her spoke up. "Koyuki-Dono, while we are among allies here, I would like to request that you not run off like that again."

Rolling her eyes Koyuki said, "Oh relax, Aizen. No one would dare attack me here, not with three kage level ninja, two squads of shinobi and a contingent of Haru no Kuni Samurai. It would be suicide."

"Nevertheless, I would like to ask that you show a bit more caution," the man replied smoothly, his voice both articulate and concerned. "It would not do for rumors to spread around about you."

This time, Koyuki scowled. "I do not care about rumors, you know that, and it's already a well-established fact that Naruto is one of my closest friends. If people want to talk about us then let them. You would also do well to remember your station. You may be one of the best captains of my guard, but I will not put up with you disrespecting me like that."

As Koyuki argued with the head of her guard, Naruto found himself studying the older male. He was a very scholarly looking man, with square rimmed glasses, and brown eyes and hair. This did not fool Naruto though, who knew the man was very capable. He wouldn't be wearing the white haori of a guard captain over the chakra armor that all members of the Haru no Kuni guard wear if he wasn't.

Aizen Souseke was one of the newer members of Koyuki's guard detail. He had risen through the ranks from a lowly soldier relatively quickly after joining. Naruto knew this was because he had trained in Tetsu no Kuni, the land where powerful samurai are in abundance. While he had never seen the man in action, it was said that Aizen had mastered the art of Iaido and channeling chakra through his swords to enhance their power at a very young age.

"I don't think he's disrespecting you, Yuki-chan," Naruto placed his free hand on her shoulder. "He's merely concerned about your well-being."

"Thank you, Naruto-san."

"Oh fine," Koyuki rolled her eyes, "I'll be more careful and not run off anymore. There, you happy now?"

"Very."

"This is so troublesome," Shikamaru murmured again as he scratched the back of his head, his eyes blinking lazily. "Look, I don't wanna interrupt you guys," he paused, "Actually I do. This situation is troublesome enough without all this quarreling. Anyway, we really should get a move on."

"Don't be rude Shikamaru!" Ino jabbed her friend and Chunin commander in the gut with her elbow. Shikamaru grunted and rubbed his now sore stomach, but didn't react to the blond girl's maneuver otherwise.

"He is right though," Sakura said, "We really do need to get moving. The more time we spend here the more likely it is that we'll be unable to find anyone to save."

At the reminder that they were going to Kumo in order to rescue any survivors, Yugito perked up.

"They're right," she said softly, stepping away from Naruto's comforting embrace to stand on her own. "We really do need to leave."

"Yugito..." Naruto stared at the woman's eyes as they quivered. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Yes...I..." she bit her lip, "I need to go there...to see what happened to it..my home..."

"I understand," Koyuki clapped her hands together, "And in that case, we should get a move on. Yugito, you'll be coming in my Zeppelin." With that she grabbed the blond girl by the arm and began gently guiding her to the Zeppelin she came out of.

As they began walking off Koyuki turned to look at Naruto. "I'll leave you to commune with your friends and come up with a plan of action for this rescue operation. Yugito and I have some girl things to talk about?"

"Girl things?" Naruto blinked. "What kind of...you know what? Never mind. I don't wanna know." He waved them off. "Have fun."

"Don't worry, we will."

XoX

Yugito allowed Koyuki to guide her along as they walked down the halls of the Zeppelin. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. The walkways were made of metal and their footsteps created a series of loud "clangs" on the floor. Like the floors the walls were also metal, and their polished surface gleamed brightly from the overhead lights. The glare they reflected caused Yugito to wince as it hit her overly sensitive eyes.

The group soon arrived at a set of double doors at the end of the hall. They looked much more majestic then the rest of the hall; dark red wood polished to a shine with golden inlays in rose patterns running along the edges it and the crest of the Kazehana family on each door presented an ornate appearance that managed to keep from looking overly ostentatious.

"This is my personal flagship," Koyuki told Yugito when she saw the older woman staring at her door. "Whenever I travel by air I use this Zeppelin."

"I see..."

"Let's go," as two of the samurai in Koyuki's escort detail opened the door, the woman in question led Yugito into the room. The inside was just as beautiful as the door, though it was a bit more austere than the blond Jinchurikki had expected. Aside from the plush, royal purple carpet and wooden panels along the wall, the only other decore inside was the large bed, a desk, a dresser, a changing area blocked off by screens, and a mirror with ornately woven framework.

"Why don't you sit on the bed while I get changed into something a little more comfortable," Koyuki asked to Yugito as she walked towards the dresser where she began pulling out several articles of clothing. Of course, saying that she "asked" Yugito was a bit of an euphemism. When a Daimyo "asks" you anything, it is more like an order most of the time, even if you were "in" with the Daimyo doing to asking.

Thus, Yugito sat down on the bed.

"Why did you want me to come with you?" asked Yugito as Koyuki moved behind the changing screens and began getting dressed in a new set of clothes.

"We're both going to marry Naruto, but we hardly get to see each other," Koyuki said as if it was the reason was obvious. Seconds later the Daimyo to Haru no Kuni emerged wearing a pair of light blue flannel pants and a long sleeve shirt. "I thought this would be a good time to get to know you a bit better. Plus..."

Koyuki walked over to the bed and sat down right next to the other woman. Yugito watched her move. It was true she did not know the woman before her very well. They had only met a few times because Naruto's "real" relationship with Koyuki was still a closely guarded secret. Only her most loyal advisers and sister-wives knew they were more than just close friends.

It was this lack of knowledge about the woman before her that would probably best explain why she was so surprised when Koyuki pulled her into a hug.

"I also wanted you to know that I understand how you feel," Koyuki said to the stunned Yugito, who merely blinked as she found her head resting against the other woman's bosom. "I remember when my uncle usurped by father's throne, killing him and forcing me to flee everything I ever knew. While my country was still there, I could never go back to it because I knew he would kill me if I did. I remember how hard it was knowing that I would never be able to see my father again, never visit my country again. It was so difficult that there were times I just wanted to give up."

Koyuki paused, gathering her thoughts.

"Naruto, try as he might, can't understand what it's like to lose everything you've ever loved." A hand came up and gently brushed through Yugito's hair. "But I do...and I know that sometimes you need a shoulder to cry and a person who can understand what you're going through the truly help. I'm sure you already feel like you've cried enough tears, but if you think you've got anymore left, now is probably the best time to get them out."

It started with a stifled sob, then turned into a trickle of tears, before becoming a torrential downpour.

As she was held in the arms of one of her fellow sister wives, Yugito cried tears of anguish and pain.

XoX

Pein watched as the Gedo Mazo greedily sucked out the Hachibi's chakra from its host. The chakra of the Bijuu had engulfed its host, who was still unconscious, and a long tendril had snaked its way to the mouth of the Gedo. As the earthen-colored, decayed looking statue with spiky protrusions on its back continued its task, one of the nine eyes on its head began to slowly open. When the eye had open fully the task was finished, and Killer Bee was dropped unceremoniously to the ground where he lay still.

"Man..." a sigh came from Kisame, "That was a lot harder than it used to be. With only four of us left it took more than twice the time it usually did." The silhouetted figure of the most notorious criminal in Kirigakure looked at the now empty hands where the other members used to stand during this procedure. "Deadara and Sasori, the Zombie brothers, Itachi and now Konan...maybe we should think about getting new members."

"Ooh! Oh! New members sounds good!"

"Right now there are no ninja who meet the qualifications we are looking for in members of Akatsuki," Pein said without hesitation. "None of the current ninja save the kages can possibly stand up to a Bijuu."

"That's too bad. Tobi wanted to make more friends."

Pein frowned at Madara, but didn't say anything about his stupid acting. There were more important matters that they needed to attend to.

"While it's a little early, I believe the time has come for us to declare war on the Elemental Nations."

"War, eh?" Kisame gave a fanged grin. "And how are we gonna do that? We don't have all the Bijuu yet, and with only four members I don't see how we're going to be able to do much."

"Zetsu," Pein turned to the plant-like being with a white and dark half. "I want you to get in touch with the smaller nations hidden villages. Get them to agree to meet me. Tell them the time has come for the smaller nations to rise up against the five great villages. If they are not convinced, inform them that I was the one who destroyed Kumo."

"Of course, Leader-Sama," Zetsu's white half said.

**"Don't worry, we'll get it done," **the black half added.

"So we're gonna be using the smaller nations to fight?" Kisame rubbed his chin. "It's not a bad idea, but we're still out numbered 20 to 1."

"It will be fine," Pein said, "None of those arrayed against us can oppose the will of God."

XoX

The sight that greeted them as their Zeppelins reached Kumo was one that none of them could expect. It was a horrendous sight; the rocky spires of the mountain range that Kumogakure no Sato had been built upon were gone, the entire mountain range having collapsed. The once great village was now nothing more than a pile of rubble and debris.

Naruto grit his teeth at the destruction done. Had anyone survived that? Could anyone survive the decimation of an entire mountain range? Once more the weight of his failures struck him with guilt.

"It's not a very pretty sight, is it?" a soft voice asked in his ear. Naruto turned his head to see Yugao, decked out in her ANBU uniform, staring down at the village through the glass window. She had her mask on, so he could not see her face, but he could imagine the expression she was wearing. It was likely a mirror image of his own.

"It's a lot worse than I thought it would be," Naruto grimaced as he thought about the man who had done this. "That kind of power is unfathomable for anything except a Bijuu. I had heard that Madara and Hashirama were able to cause this level of devastation whenever they fought, but for someone to be capable of leveling an entire mountain range in this day and age is unbelievable."

_**'Such is the power of one who wields the Rinnegan, even if it is a mock imitation of the one the Rikudou-Sennin had.'**_

_'So this is the power of the Rinnegan? I hadn't realized it was so...so...'_

_**'God-like? Do not be fooled, this level of destruction is not that of a Gods. I could do this easily with an Imari, but it's definitely something within the Rinnegan's capabilities. The Rikudou-Sennin's Rinnegan was so powerful he was able to create the moon you see floating over head every night. That is the power of a true God.'**_

Naruto said nothing to Kyuubi's praise of the Rikudou-Sennin's powers. If there was one thing he had learned about the nine-tailed entity sealed inside of him, it was that the only human he seemed to hold any respect for was the man who had been hailed as the creator of ninjutsu, though the whisker marked young man had no idea why.

"Are the teams ready?" he asked out loud.

"Yes," Yugao answered smartly. "They're all ready and awaiting your orders."

"Good." Naruto turned from the sight of the destroyed mountain range. He didn't want to see it anymore, not when he would be getting an up close glimpse of it soon enough. "Then let's go."

"Hai!"

XoX

Hoshigaki Kisame stopped walking as the sun overhead began to set. Glancing around all he could see were trees, their trunks so thick and the interweaving branches creating an overlapping network so complex and intermingled that he could not see anything past them. His senses told him there was no one else around for miles, no enemies at least, and while he was not a very good sensor, he had come to trust his instincts.

"So what do you think about all that?" Kisame asked of no one in particular. "Pein declaring war on the Five Great Nations?"

"Foolish," a voice spoke up from behind him. There was a rustling of bushes and leaves as Kisame turned around to see the man known as Tobi walk out from behind a tree. "But it serves our purpose well enough. With everyone's eyes on Pein it'll allow us to claim the remaining Bijuu."

"The Nanabi, the Nibi, and of course, that Namikaze gaki," Kisame grinned. "Fighting that brat's going to be a blast!" As if he were already anticipating a good fight, Kisame reached for the handle of Shamehada and gripped it tightly.

"We're not going after the Nibi or the Kyuubi just yet," Tobi informed him. "Now that Kumo has been destroyed going after them is going to be difficult. I doubt they'll be separated any time soon, and taking on the Nibi with Namikaze there will be nearly impossible. At my current level, I'm not sure I could beat him."

"He must really be something if you're admitting that," Kisame observed.

"He is his father's son."

Several birds chirped as they flew through the trees. Kisame placed a hand against his shoulder, cracking his neck several times. "So what is it you want me to do?"

"Pein is going to be busy preparing for war," Tobi began, "He won't have time to watch your movements and with Konan turning traitor he's lost his second set of eyes. You'll be able to move around much more freely from now on."

"Good to know, but what do you want me to do?"

"I've just received a report that the Kyuubi has left Konoha for Kumo and taken many of Konoha's ninja in the hopes of finding survivors from Pein's attack. At least six squads containing some of Konoha's best and brightest are now gone, including the Kyuubi Jinchurikki. I want you to head to Konoha and capture the Nanabi. She's living in the Namikaze estate, but spends most of her time within the Aburame Clan grounds."

"So I'm capturing another Jinchurikki, eh?" Kisame grinned a shark-like grin."And on my own this time too. Sounds fun."

"Be sure not to cause too much of a commotion," Tobi added, "We cannot afford to lose another member. Zetsu will be helping you on this mission. He shall create a distraction for you."

"Zetsu, huh? So we're doing that, then?"

"Yes. It's a little earlier than I wanted, but circumstances have dictated that we unleash Zetsu sooner than I had anticipated."

Kisame nodded. He was curious to know what Tobi needed to do in Konoha, but honestly didn't care enough to ask. It wasn't like he would receive an answer anyways.

XoX

Within the Hokage's office one Godaime Hokage sat behind her desk, working on a large stack of papers. There were currently two different stacks: one of the unsigned petitions and reports she had yet to look over, and another for those papers she had already finished. The stack containing unfinished paperwork was the larger of the two.

The day had hardly even started and yet Tsunade was already stressing out, though on this day it had very little to do with the fact that she had more paperwork than she usual. Indeed, it had nothing to do with the paperwork at all.

She had just received a report that the airships containing Naruto, Yugito and the joint Konoha/Kiri/Suna/Haru forces had set down near Kumo and would begin looking for survivors. While that was all well and good the report had also included a very detailed description of what happened to Kumo. An entire village gone. No. Not just gone. Turned into nothing more than a large crater in the ground. Even the mountains the once proud village had been situated in were no more.

Tsunade shuddered at the thought of someone who had that kind of power at their disposal. What kind of inhuman being had the power to destroy an entire village on their own?

"Tsunade-Sama."

Blinking, Tsunade looked up to see Konan standing in front of her desk. With Naruto off on a mission, his lover had decided to lend herself as Tsunade's aid, something the busty Hokage was thankful for as Shizune was needed at the hospital.

The beautiful kunoichi with blue hair and amber eyes had a scroll in her hand, which she handed off to the busty Hokage.

"Another report?" she asked, opening the scroll and reading its contents. A frown crossed her face. "This is a report from one of our guard stations on the eastern border." She looked up at Konan. "I'm not sure why you felt this was important enough to give to me."

"It may be nothing, but that report came in two hours later than it should have," Konan told her. "Naruto informed me that all guard stations are to send reports via carrier bird every six hours."

"I'm going to have to speak with Naruto about revealing Konoha protocol to someone who isn't a Konoha ninja," Tsunade sighed. She then straightened in her chair and looked at Konan. "I doubt this is anything to worry about. The team is probably just experiencing some difficulties and couldn't get a message out sooner. Our eastern border tends to have the most trouble because it's so close to Iwa and there are a lot more bandits and highwaymen in the area due to the tension between our two nations."

Konan nodded, but didn't look convinced. She couldn't place her finger on it, but she did not think the delay was due to difficulties with bandits or anything of the sort.

"Still, I'll have a team sent to check in on them," Tsunade added after a moments thought. "In times such as these it certainly couldn't hurt to be caution."

Konan nodded, mildly reassured.

With nothing serious left to talk about, Tsunade leaned forward and smiled amicably at the younger woman. "So how are you liking Konoha?"

"It's exactly as Jiraiya-sensei said it was," Konan told the older kunoichi. "Your village is very beautiful...to be honest, I'm rather jealous. I wish Amegakure was as peaceful and beautiful as this village."

"You may end up getting your wish soon, you know?" Tsunade told the woman. "Naruto is doing everything he can to unite the Shinobi Nations through friendship and acts of goodwill."

"I know," Konan smiled at the mention of the man she had pledged herself to. "His plans on uniting the Elemental Nations are much different than Pein's. It's why I decided to follow him."

XoX

Several dozen miles from Konoha, hidden within a small hill and surrounded by shrubbery was a small outpost. It was one of many that littered Hi no Kuni. There were literally dozens of them, all interspersed throughout the nation. These outposts were built sometime after the Second Shinobi War on orders of the Sandaime Hokage, and all of them were dedicated towards keeping an eye on potential hostilities entering their nation.

"Ack!"

One of the Konoha shinobi, a Chunin judging by the flak jacket, located at this particular outpost let out a grunt of pain as he was impaled by a hand. Crimson, life-giving liquid began pouring out of the wound, trickling onto the pale white hand that had been shoved right through his chest, flak jacket and all. The Konoha shinobi grit his teeth, blood leaking from his mouth as his arms shakily moved so he could grab onto the arm that had stabbed him.

One second passed. Then two. The Konoha ninja's arms went slack, dropping limply to his sides. The man was no more.

As the dead Konoha shinobi slumped over the arm, Zetsu finished absorbing what chakra the man had left. When he was finished he tossed the now useless corpse away, letting it hit the ground several feet from him with a dull thud.

While Zetsu was looking at the now dead ninja, Kisame walked up to him, his giant blade hefted over his shoulder like always.

"That was boring," the shark-like man grumbled as he stopped a few feet from the plant man. He looked at Zetsu. "I hope that Jinchurikki gives me a better fight than these wimps." Seriously, he had just taken on a full squad of Chunin and Jounin (one that he had intercepted before they could arrive at this outpost) and they hadn't even been able to scratch him. Talk about a disappointment.

"Considering it's a Jinchurikki you're going to face I bet she'll be much stronger than these ninja," Zetsu said.

"So you're going to be my distraction, huh?" Kisame grunted, "Where are the others?"

"Oh, they're around."

As Zetsu spoke several figures emerged from the tree-line. They were all Zetsu. To be more specific they were clones of the original Zetsu. Unlike the original, these Zetsus bodies were completely white and they had no venus flytrap extension around their head. Also unlike the original these Zetsus had a strange zig-zag pattern running down their stomach and another one on each leg that were reminiscent of the flytrap extension.

More clones soon came out of the wood works, some emerging from the trees, others coming up from the ground. There were hundreds of them, maybe even thousands. More than enough to keep Konoha's shinobi forces occupied.

Of the Zetsu there, eight walked over to the original and placed a hand on his shoulder. A bright, blue glow engulfed them as chakra was transferred from the original to the clones. When the transfer was finished, the eight clones no longer looked like Zetsu but one of the eight shinobi that had been located at this outpost and killed.

The newly transformed Zetsus moved off, four going into the outpost while the other four took to the trees and headed for Konoha.

"Let's go," Zetsu said as he began walking in the direction of Konoha as well.

"Finally," Kisame muttered as he began moving again. "I was starting to get bored standing around like this." As he walked forward the Zetsu clones began dispersing one by one, some disappearing into the trees and others melding into the ground. Soon the grounds around the outpost looked just as they always did with no sign of what happened other than a few blood splatters on the grass.

Konoha wouldn't know what hit them.


End file.
