Naruto 1. False Mirth

**Fandom:** Naruto  
**Title:** The Other Side  
**Part:** 01?  
**Genre:** General  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warning:** AU, Language  
**Spoilers:** Manga up to Shippuden (and possibly beyond)  
**Summary:** Sequel to **'Never Ever****'**. Spending a lifetime in the Sand Village has taught Naruto everything about being ideal shinobi, but upon his return to the Leaf Village, he will learn that there are still far too many things he does not know.

**Chapter 01: False Mirth  
**

"Stop your singing and _SHUT THE HELL UP_ back there!"

The charming phrased command rang through the air and was punctuated by a loud whiplash, followed shortly by the whine of an enraged bull. It seemed that twenty-five minutes and seventeen seconds of loud, raucous singing was enough to wear away Driver-san's little patience, compelling him to issue out orders he could not enforce and animal abuse that would no doubt come back to both figuratively and literally bite him in the ass.

Pathetic. Kankurou could last up to an hour, even at his worst.

But Naruto obliged, more out of amusement than anything else, and ended his very loud (and very offensive) song, which detailed his every last contempt for the Leaf Village and just exactly what methods he planned on employing to make the inhabitant's lives a living hell. The tune came from a child's rhyme Temari-nee used to sing, in a time when jumping rope was for enjoyment and not for training- with modified lyrics, of course.

Their 'escort' turned out to be an old man, uninformed of the situation and obviously bitter over having been assigned the task of ushering three enemy teenagers into _his_ village. The wagon he had with him was big enough for three, but not much more- a slave cart, Naruto later joked, though the underlying meaning was lost to few. The insult of not having a formal procession was noted, and though they had at least merited a small team of ANBU for guard, Naruto had a feeling that he probably wasn't suppose to know about them.

"Ah, I would, I would," Naruto replied, in the cold, chilling tone he used for scaring intruders from the borders of the Wind Country, "but if I do, I'll have that urge to start _killing_ people again."

Driver-san stiffened. Naruto caught Kurosaki's stare from the opposite end of the cart and flashed a smile she did not return, causing his own to droop a little.

Part of 'the arrangement' the two villages had worked out involved sending a three-Genin team to the Leaf village, with Naruto as one of them. Kurosaki and Nubou became the other two. Whether the Leaf meant it as an act of kindness or as a punishment, he did not know. Neither of them had shown a strong emotion (or any emotion, for that matter) when told they were being dispatched to an enemy village as war prizes, but Naruto still felt personally responsible for dragging them along; despite the fact that he had absolutely no say in the matter. They were still _registered_ as his official teammates, after all.

Currently, she was meditating and Nubou was resting, slumped, still covered in bandages, and bearing disturbingly resemblance to a broken dummy. Maybe they were both just sitting very quietly, Naruto couldn't be sure. Neither of them had said a word since their departure and Naruto's brief attempt at starting a conversation, which somehow resulted in him singing his very loud (and very offensive) song, had been unsuccessful.

Discomfort with silence was something he was not used to, something he did not ever want to get used to, for that matter. Silence with Gaara had always meant peace. Now, he was filled with a kind of anxiety, a need to make noise. Sighing and leaning back against the wooden rails, Naruto closed his eyes and wondered if any of the patrolling ANBU would favor a little chat.

---

It was late into the evening of the second day by the time they reached the Leaf Village. The West Gate, or at least what remained of the West Gate, greeted them. Even by night, Naruto could see that the damage Gaara had caused was great and for that, he smiled.

They passed by the sentries and doormen in silence, though the stony expressions on their faces conveyed better emotion than any words could have. Driver-san, who had kept amazingly quiet for the last twenty-eight hours, drove them through the wreckage and rubble to an official-looking building where a young Jounin was waiting.

"I've delivered the Sand shinobi," Driver-san whispered conspiringly to the him (they could hear every word), glancing over his shoulder ever so often, as if he were afraid his charges would do him bodily harm the second they were given the chance. Naruto resisted a short-lived urge to roll his eyes.

The young Jounin nodded absently, keeping his gaze trained on the passengers and Driver-san, apparently noticing that he wasn't being given the amount of attention he deserved, huffed a little huff inconsistent with his previous unease.

"You three," the young Jounin said when he finally chose to address them, "Come with me. The committee wishes to speak with you."

And so they followed the young Jounin into the building. Driver-san fumed silently by the door and Naruto smiled.

---

The 'committee' turned out to be two of the oldest geezers Naruto had ever seen. He vaguely recalled a rare glance at the legendary Ebizou-jiisama and Chiyo-baasama, and decided that these two probably had fewer years in their lives. Still, the old lady had enough lines on her face to make a prune jealous. Unlike Driver-san, however, they would not forfeit their dignity so easily; they were shinobi.

This should prove to be interesting.

The Old Lady was the first to speak. Later, much later, he would admire her for her poise and ability to speak calmly to an unreceptive audience. At the present, admiration was far from his mind.

"The three of you were deployed from the Sand Village two days ago in accordance to Sandaime Hokage's final wish," she said.

_That was a terribly nice, diplomatic way to rearticulate 'paying tribute'._

"It is not our custom to do such a thing, but we're willing to make an exception in this case. There are other factors involved besides granting His last request, many of which involve improving the strained relationship between the Leaf and the Sand."

_Liar_

Just then, she turned her gaze on him, as if she had guessed what he had thought. "And you in particular, Uzumaki Naruto. There are many things- too many things that you were not told; things we had wanted you to hear from us. I'm certain you know what this is that we speak of."

The Kyuubi. Naruto's facial expression almost changed at the unexpected bit of honesty.

"However," she continued, "someone has requested to relate these events to you himself. He will contact you soon."

Annoyance fell back into place. _I don't care._

"But there are more pressing matters at hand that need attending to," the Old Man all but interrupted. "We had not planned for you to arrive until at least the next month. But now that you're here, you might as well help with the reconstruction."

One month? One _entire_ month!

"The three of you are to be on a team until further notice," he went on. Then, after a slight hesitation: "You may keep and wear your Sand _hitaite_, but will also be given a Leaf one to keep. You are to remain in this village and you are not to have contact with yours until everything has been resolved."

"Sandaime Hokage left your apartment as it was, Uzumaki Naruto, in case you ever came back," the Old Lady said to him. Something thumped inside his chest. "As for the two of you, we are currently short on housing, but I'm sure his will suffice." The tone of her voice allowed no room for arguments.

"Your Jounin instructor will meet you at the Academy tomorrow morning at ten," the Old Man said. Then, staring purposefully at Naruto: "I trust you know where it is. Until then, you may go."

Sensing that the conversation was over, Naruto bowed his head stiffly (more of a nod, really) and turned his back on the Elders, an action promptly imitated by Kurosaki and Nubou. They exited the building without collecting the Leaf _hitaite_ lined up at the front table.

Rule #168 of Sunagakure Code: Identifying with enemies is unacceptable and punishable by permanent exile.

---

They trooped down the main avenue of the village in silence, heads held high in quiet dignity. They drew many curious looks and scowls, but no one did a thing. Naruto was almost disappointed- it seemed the people of the Leaf hadn't changed one bit. They were still pitifully impaired in directness.

He led Kurosaki and Nubou up the abandoned road to his old residence, a memory he had tried, but remained unsuccessful, at ridding himself of. When they jiggled the knob and realized it was locked, Naruto kicked the door clean off its hinge in a sudden fit of anger that surprised even himself.

He had hated this place. It was always empty.

"Drop your things off wherever you want," he said, gesturing them inside. "I'm not going to keep an eye on you guys, but make sure you remember where this place is. You're on your own for food, just don't do anything that could worsen our situation more than it already is. They're already desperate enough to keep us all in one spot for surveillance."

The sound of two immensely heavy packs hitting the ground was his response. Kurosaki and Nubou bowed simultaneously, and then each dashed out the door in different directions. The familiarity of such rigid discipline was strangely comforting and after a few seconds, Naruto followed in suit, leaving the door wide open, as if challenging anyone to come and rob them.

---

"I don't do business with trash," the man snapped.

Naruto sighed and rolled his eyes. Of all the convenience stores still open at this hour, he had to choose the one with a store clerk who could tell a difference between Sand and Leaf village symbols.

Locking the man in his gaze, Naruto formed undetected hand seals before swiftly bringing his kunai up and stabbing the wooden counter. The clerk reeled back in shock, horror dawning on his face when he realized that the previously-crowded store was now empty.

"Listen," he said in the same voice he had used on Driver-san: "You _really_ don't want to piss me off. You _really_ want to keep your head attached to your neck. You _really_ don't want to die a virgin."

With each 'really', the man shrank back further and further, until finally, he let out a small yelp and ducked beneath the counter. Naruto bagged the food, then, on a second thought, tossed a few coins down before he strolled out of the store. Getting into trouble on the first night was too much, even for him.

The bell hanging from the door jingled and the clerk blinked. The store was once again full of people and just as he was about to raise his voice and yell out that his establishment had been damaged, he realized, upon closer inspection, that the wood had no wound.

Outside, arms full of groceries, Naruto smiled.

---

The streets weren't deserted yet; he walked through them as if they were. It didn't matter that nearly everyone frowned in his direction. It didn't matter that they were ignoring him the same way they had a decade ago. Most of them probably didn't even recognize him as the vessel of the Kyuubi. He didn't care. Not anymore. Their approval was of no importance.

He did _not_ care.

Naruto glanced up toward the stars just in time to see one fall. Suddenly, he realized that the stars had not changed one bit, even from what felt like the other side of the world. In fact, he could almost fool himself into thinking that he was back home, if only Gaara was by his side.

He reached into a bag and pulled out an apple, polished, and bit into it, wondering if his friend was looking at the same sky.

t . b . c

In response to everyone who asked for a sequel, I bring you _The Other Side_. This one will be considerably longer and updated at a much slower rate. (Who remembers the whole update-per-day thing?)

Just a few notes: This will most likely have no romance. I'm seriously considering NaruHina, but don't count on it. My main intention is to write Gen. Orochimaru is dead, for those of you who don't remember. Haku is alive and on Team 7 (I'll delve into that back story later). The two Kyuubi that Naruto summoned will come into play later.

Any more questions, please ask. Rest assured, chapters will get longer. Thank you all for the positive feedback on Never Ever and I hope you'll enjoy this one just as much. :D


	2. Head Over Heels

**Fandom:** Naruto  
**Title:** The Other Side  
**Part:** 02?  
**Genre:** General  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warning:** AU, Language  
**Spoilers:** Manga up to Shippuden (and possibly beyond)  
**Summary:** Sequel to **'Never Ever****'**. Spending a lifetime in the Sand Village has taught Naruto everything about being ideal shinobi, but upon his return to the Leaf Village, he will learn that there are still far too many things he does not know.

**Chapter 02: Head Over Heels**

When Naruto woke up to the unpleasant sensation of sweat in uncomfortable places that had greeted him every morning during the Chuunin Exam, he knew he was back in hell. It appeared his body would take slightly longer than his mind to adjust from the arid climate of the Sand Village--not too long, of course; he prided himself on his ability to adapt.

His grocery bag from last night was empty, and so was his stomach. Naruto swayed between risking another standoff for food or going hungry. It didn't take much thought—he quickly elected starvation to be the better option. Denying the intake of food to strengthen the mind sounded like something Baki-sensei would do.

There was a rustle behind him, and without turning around:

"Whaddaya want, Kurosaki?"

The girl bowed her head so low her spine was parallel to the floor. "Our presence is required at the Academy."

"Mm." Naruto opened the refrigerator door and made a face as a blast of cold hair hit him. At least the power was back on.

"...Naruto-san?"

"They can wait forever as far as I'm concerned. Want breakfast?"

---

They ended up being on time anyway because as it turned out, Kurosaki was not hungry and by the look on her face (or, rather, the unconcealed half of her face), she was the type who followed orders. Naruto firmly believed that people who could not see outside the box would die a premature death, unremembered by history. Kurosaki was no exception.

Nubou was already waiting in the abandoned classroom, still and unmoving like a doll. His face was still completely wrapped, and when Naruto offered a greeting, he responded with only a twitch.

The school bell signifying the start of the hour sounded out and when the tenth chime sounded, a Konoha Jounin stepped into the room. Naruto vaguely recognized him as the proctor for the Third Exam.

"Good, you're all on time," the man said, ignoring the sudden decrease in temperature. "My name is Shiranui Genma. I have been assigned by the powers-that-be to inform the three of you of the...arrangements the council has made."

Stony silence greeted this news. Undaunted, he continued.

Naruto sighed and took his focus off the man, allowing his eyes to glaze over. He missed waking up in the morning to Temari-nii walloping him with her fan to test his reflexes--training, she called it, before sauntering off to make breakfast. He missed Kankurou, who always went to him whenever he wanted to test out a new modification to Karasu; Naruto never lost, but it was something new and exciting and _fun_ every time. He even missed the sand and its eternal success in getting inside his shoes despite his best efforts to keep them out.

Mostly, he missed Gaara, who shared complete understood that pain. It was almost fitting, in a cruel, ironic kind of way, that he would find his family only to be taken away by the very village that wanted him dead...

"...Uzumaki Naruto has thus been granted the rank of Chuunin--"

Wait.

"_What_?"

"Due to his outstanding demonstration of shinobi arts," Genma repeated, "Uzumaki Naruto has thus been granted the rank of Chuunin."

Naruto gaped in disbelief. Then, slowly, as if he were speaking to an infant: "I tried to annihilate your village."

Genma shrugged. "Just the messenger, kid. And because of his promotion," he went on, addressing the other two, "the Council has made the decision to place him and the two of you on separate teams. Uzumaki Naruto, you have been assigned your first mission as a Chuunin. Kurosaki Uematsu and Nubuo Wataru, you two will be placed on a Genin team under another instructor."

The Jounin proceeded to explain their assignments: where Naruto would meet his team, directions for Kurosaki and Nubou; but Naruto wasn't listening anymore.

_I tried to destroy you,_ he wanted to shout, to Genma, to Konoha, to Sandaime Hokage. _I tried to destroy you. Doesn't that mean anything?_

---

_Chuunin. Chuunin. Chuunin. Chuunin._

It was a mission, only a mission. He did not take the Chuunin Exam to become a Chuunin, he took the Chuunin Exam because it was his role to play _in a mission_. He never cared to officially participate because to the shinobi of the Sand, rank was irrelevant. He, himself, had taken down scores of 'Jounin' because they couldn't grasp the concept that, for all their sparkly techniques, their speed could not outclass a simple kunai-to-the-neck.

And now he had a label. Like cup ramen. If he ever got a chance to meet with the powers-that-be, he'd tell them to take that title and shove it up--

"Ah, so you were elevated as well."

Naruto opened one eye lazily. The speaker was a very pretty...girl. Or boy. _It_ was a very pretty human. It also looked very familiar.

"And you are...?"

"How rude," It laughed. "You do not remember me?"

Normally, Naruto would have played along (if It were a girl, flirted). But he was not in the mood and the utter_freshness_ of the surrounding forest that was booming with life and all things natural was making him nauseous. "No."

"I took the Chuunin Exam with you," It said, taking a seat just outside his personal space. "I am Haku."

Naruto decided that Haku was a boy. If he was a girl...well, all the better.

"I am Naruto of the Sand Village."

"I'm surprised to see a Genin from the Sand Village become a Chuunin of the Leaf Village."

"I could say the same thing about you, Haku from the Mist." The air around him chilled considerably. "Your clothing during the Chuunin Exam was traditional Mist."

A team from the Mist had ambushed them once--he and Baki-sensei didn't leave a single one alive.

"So you do remember me," Haku said with a pleasant smile, the atmosphere warming again.

Naruto gave an indifferent shrug of the shoulders and reclined back, basking in the warm glow of the midday sun.

"Why have you come back?" Haku asked quietly, seriously.

"Spoils of war," Naruto answered with a hoarse chuckle. "The Leaf saw something shiny, so here I am."

"That's not what he said."

"That's not what who said?"

Haku did not respond. Naruto cracked open an eye and the other was standing.

A second later, Naruto felt it too.

_"Konoha Sempu!!"_

He blocked it, just barely. The second kick came out of nowhere and, had his reflexes been any slower, Naruto would have been rendered a vegetable. The force sent him skidding into the trunk of a tree, away from the sun.

"Lee-kun!"

Naruto recognized the name was the Taijutsu user, also from the Chuunin Exam; the one with the ridiculous jumpsuit who leaked with potential.

The boy with the thick eyebrows acknowledged Haku with a curt nod, but his attention remained on Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Rock Lee said courteously, "I hold no ill will against you, but if you continue to cause mischief here, I will have no choice but to defend my village."

Naruto wiped at the cut on his lip. _You wanna mess with me, Eyebrows?_ he thought, blood pounding in his ears, summoning the uncontrolled whirl of wind that was his trademark.

"Both of you, stop," Haku commanded sharply; neither listened. Naruto charged, with all the malicious intention of smashing Rock Lee's ridiculous face into the ground when, suddenly, he ran headfirst into an invisible wall. Thrown back onto his base, blinking the stars out of his eyes, Naruto became dimly aware that Lee, too, had hit the same 'wall'.

"I told you both to stop," Haku said coolly.

The barrier was still there when Naruto stretched out his hand; frosty to the touch, unseen to the eye, but very much concrete. He and Lee both opened their mouths to argue, and then, out of the blue, came an unmistakable sound of clapping.

It came from a toad sitting on its hind legs, clapping from beside the memorial tablet.

"My," it croaked with amusement, "what an interesting team I have been given to work with."

---

The toad, to no one's surprise, was actually a man—an old geezer in outlandish attire that Naruto could not identify who had a face Naruto was certain he had seen once before. His forehead protector had the kanji for 'oil', but Naruto sensed that this man was from this accursed village.

"Save your energy for the mission, you brats," the man said, with an approving nod in Haku's direction. "You're Chuunin now, you should know better than to attack your teammate."

"Teammate?" Lee asked in genuine confusion; Naruto wanted to rip the word in two.

The man nodded confirmation. "I am Jiraiya, I will be the leader of this cell. We must depart soon; I'll explain later. Your teams have been informed of the severity of this assignment. Meet up at the North Gate in an hour."

Without a parting word, the Toad-man disappeared.

Naruto knew the name Jiraiya-—Jiraiya the Toad Sennin, Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin. He never had the pleasure (ha!) of meeting the so-called Legend, but after that, he was left fairly unimpressed.

Well, if he had an hour, he would spend it eating ramen.

_I wonder if Ichiraku still tastes the same…_

"Naruto-kun!"

The voice belonged to Jumpsuit Boy.

"Naruto-kun, I apologize for my previous behavior," Lee said, glowing with such sincerity that Naruto had to look away.

"Sure, sure," he replied._Turn yourself off, you lighthouse._

"How is your wound?" Lee's eyes widened as Naruto turned to look in his direction.

"It's fine."

The cut had already healed.

---

An hour later, satiated with the still-delicious flavor of Ichiraku Ramen, whose owner thankfully did not recognize him, Naruto and the rest of his...unit set out.

"Before I begin the briefing," Jiraiya began as they raced across the upper-level of the forest. "I think a little storytelling is in order."

He began:

"Fifteen years ago, the Yondaime Hokage sealed away the Kyuubi into an infant child using a _Hakke no Fuin Shiki_, which allowed the Kyuubi's chakra to mingle with the infant's chakra."

_Hm. That would make sense._

"Five years later, some event occurred that triggered a severe weakening of the seal and the child disappeared from Konoha."

Lee and Haku nodded. Naruto's strides stiffened.

"His whereabouts were unknown for ten years; we thought him lost or dead, and then, in the last Chuunin Exam, he reappeared before us under the command of another shinobi village—-the Sand."

He could practically feel the realization dawning on the other two.

"A month before the Third Exam, the vessel was ordered by the Kazekage to 'summon a kyuubi' to assist in the strike."

_How does he know this?_

"What he managed to do instead, was a form of seal release. By emitting a large concentration of the Kyuubi's chakra, the Kyuubi could take form in that chakra and escape his human prison."

_…what?_

"There are a lot of details that intelligence hasn't gathered yet," Jiraiya continued, "but one thing is for certain: we need to catch the two chakra forms the vessel accidentally (or so we think) released. To do so, we required the vessel. Thus, we requested his return in the peace agreement and he joins us now today."

The other two glanced in Naruto's direction and by the look in their eyes, they caught on a long time ago.

_But why?_ Naruto thought, _Why would Kazekage-sama order me to…_

"Our mission," Jiraiya's voice cut into his thoughts, "is to find the two chakra forms that the vessel—Uzumaki Naruto—released, and beat them into submission so he can reabsorb them into his system. The three of you were chosen because of your unique abilities in each field of shinobi arts."

Jiraiya caught a branch and hoisted himself up. The three boys followed in his example.

Looking each of them in the eye, his gaze lingering on Naruto's, he added, grimly: "We'll need all three to even hope for success."

T . B . C

Well...it took me over two years, but I've finally got the ball rolling! I hope that answers a lot of questions and there's more explanations to come; I know I left a lot of holes with Never Ever. Overall, I hope they're believable because even though this is AU, I try to adhere to canon.

I'm so sorry it took this long, transitioning from high school to senior high completely defeated me. More to come soon, I you all for the support and all the reviews (114 for one chapter is all kinds of incredible)!! It is the thought of making readers happy that keeps me typing. So..thank you!!


	3. The First Night

**Fandom:** Naruto  
**Title:** The Other Side  
**Part:** 03?  
**Genre:** General  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warning:** AU, Language  
**Spoilers:** Manga up to Shippuden (and possibly beyond)  
**Summary:** Sequel to **'Never Ever****'**. Spending a lifetime in the Sand Village has taught Naruto everything about being ideal shinobi, but upon his return to the Leaf Village, he will learn that there are still far too many things he does not know.

**Chapter 03: The First Night**

"Haku-san is on a mission already?" Haruno Sakura asked in surprise, swinging her legs from her perch on the bridge.

Kakashi nodded. "We lost a large number of shinobi in the last attack. So even though Haku just became a Chuunin, there is no transition period." His eye wandered over to his where his third student stood, silent and brooding. "It's a big jump from D-level to B-level missions. I'm sure it's something not everyone could do."

Sasuke glowered at his instructor. He never quite warmed up to the older boy even after spending months by his side. It was a quirk of his--holding grudges against anyone who ever attempted to murder him, regardless of the circumstances.

He might also have been smarting from the fact that he himself had not been promoted.

"So...it's just Sasuke-kun and me now?" Sakura asked innocently, clearly pleased with the idea.

Kakashi considered this. "His mission does not have a time line. If he's not back in six months, we may have to split the two of you to separate teams or add another Genin to qualify for the Chuunin Exam."

Sakura looked crestfallen at the idea. Sasuke looked apathetic; his fire burned for another cause.

---

"No."

All eyes turned to the most vital piece of the puzzle.

"You have no idea what the hell you're talking about, you old fart," Naruto said angrily, ignoring the noise of objection from Rock Lee. "The technique I used was taught to me by the Kyuubi himself."

"The Kyuubi is a thousand year old demon," Jiraiya replied. "Its first instinct is always self-preservation. The only reason it's kept you alive all this time is so it could free itself at the first possible opportunity."

"Why would Kazekage-sama command me to do this then?" Naruto challenged.

Jiraiya hesitated before he finally spoke.

"When was the last time you actually spoke with the Kazekage face-to-face?"

"That's none of your concern." Kazekage-sama became very busy in the months leading up to the invasion. "Why?"

"It's possible..." Jiraiya started slowly, "that your Kazekage was 'replaced' even before the Chuunin Exam."

Naruto did not comprehend the full implication of Jiraiya's words until he realized that the Sennin couldn't look him in the eye. Then it hit.

_Orochimaru._

He had to reach out for the tree trunk to steady himself.

Jiraiya looked sympathetic.

_Don't want your pity, old man._

"Even if that's true, you're forgetting another thing." Naruto raised his voice and enunciated: "What if I don't want the Kyuubi back in my body?"

Any trace of compassion disappeared from Jiraiya's face.

"You can't force me to help you."

He was behaving childishly and he knew it, but after being tossed around, traded, and handled like some highly coveted prize, he was determined to have some _control_ over his life.

Jiraiya did not reply immediately and Naruto's glare did not lessen in its intensity; Haku and Lee eyed each other, wisely keeping out of the exchange. For a moment, it seemed as if they had hit a standstill--Jiraiya was the one who broke the silence.

"You're very close to Sabaku no Gaara," the old man said quietly. "Can you truly ease his pain if you do not understand it?"

Bile rose in Naruto's throat.

"Fuck you, old man."

---

"Lee has a mission already?" Tenten cried, clapping her hands excitedly.

"Yes, Lee-kun has come of age!!" Tears of manly joy streamed down the face of Maito Gai as he clutched at the scroll announcing his protégé's first, _first ever_, assignment. Then, turning to the silent student sitting in the corner: "Neji! Show some enthusiasm for your teammate!"

Neji shook his head disapprovingly at his sensei's unbridled display of emotion and looked to the lonesome tree stump Lee usually occupied.

Though he would never show it, Neji was...confused. He had never lost to Lee in a match before, yet Lee became a Chuunin despite the fact that neither of them defeated their opponent in the Third Exam.

It was an unpleasant and unfamiliar emotion and the thought of analyzing it made him want to tighten his already-crossed arms. Nevertheless...

_He'll come back alive._

If there was one thing Neji could be certain about, it was that he had not spent years training beside a weakling.

---

They pressed on to the Northeastern border of the Fire Country with Jiraiya in the lead and Naruto sulking in the rear. Even though Naruto had been rude to the legendary Sannin, even though he had been part of the invasion that nearly destroyed his home, even though he was the cause of the mission at hand, Lee couldn't bring himself to feel anything truly negative toward Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto-kun had been right. Being the vessel of the Kyuubi no Kitsune--a fact Lee was still coming to terms with--meant the mission would not have a chance at success if he did not play his role.

Yet they continued on, after Jiraiya-sama brought Sabaku no Gaara into the equation.

...only after Jiraiya-sama brought Sabaku no Gaara into the equation.

He did not understand.

Later, Lee would know for certain that he could never understand, because he was not a _Jinchuuriki_.

---

They finally came to a stop at a small inn within view of the border between the Fire Country and the Hidden Sound Village. They all entered at different times, each obtaining a different room under a false name.

_It's just a find-and-retrieve mission_, Naruto thought, scowling, as he secured the parameters of his rustic little hotel room. _We're going way overboard with the security._

"Yo."

Instinctively, Naruto flicked a well-aimed kunai toward the window, which his intruder caught by the handle with the tip mere millimeters from his nose.

"Oh, my bad," he said with little indication of remorse. "I thought I smelled a pervert."

Jiraiya did not look amused.

"I shouldn't have been able to enter this easily."

"There's no enemy," Naruto snapped. It was unfair that he had to sleep outdoors whenever they wandered too far from home during Genin missions in order to cut trivial costs, and here, they needed _four rooms_ for _four people_ on a _scouting expedition_.

"There's always an enemy," Jiraiya returned, the weariness in his eyes telling a story Naruto didn't want to hear.

"_Your_ enemy, not mine."

The Sennin sighed. "Just listen." Naruto tilted his chin up defiantly. "When the Kyuubi escaped your body, it left a small amount of its own chakra behind as a safeguard in case, for any reason, you decided to hunt it down. You probably wouldn't have, under normal circumstances, but the Kyuubi did not become the most powerful tailed beast through carelessness."

He waited. When there was no response, Jiraiya continued.

"Splitting into two was probably not part of its plan, and as of now, we're not sure why it did. Most likely, it will search for a safe location where the two halves can rejoin into one, and then it will come after you and take back what it left behind. Until then, it will flee from you lest you try to take it in its weakened state. I've tracked them to this location, but the rest is up to you. By accessing what remains of the Kyuubi's chakra, you should be able to...detect it somehow.

To take the Kyuubi back, you 'touch' it while expelling its chakra within you into the physical incarnation. The contact will create a vacumn and the power of the seal will forcibly draw the Kyuubi back into your body."

Naruto's expression remained stone blank; he wondered if it unnerved the 'living legend'. The Sennin looked as if there was something else on his mind, but decided last moment against voicing it.

"We won't stop to rest after tonight," Jiraiya said, stepping back out the window. "Not until we've caught at least one of them."

"Wait, wait." The old man turned back. "We all got separate rooms so we could_rest_?"

Jiraiya gave Naruto a look he could not interpret.

"No."

---

It was a silent night in the village of Konoha. A full moon graced the sky, shining over a rooftop pavilion occupied by two men.

"Your student was sent on that crazy mission too, Kakashi?"

Gai regarded his rival solemnly, all traces of his previous mirth replaced with dead seriousness.

"Mmhmm...it should be a good learning experience." Kakashi glanced at the other man. "Unless you're just afraid your student won't come back alive."

"Of course not!" The force of his declaration was almost comical. "I have faith in Lee wherever he goes!! It's just...that boy he's with."

Gai averted his eyes, hands tightening around the scroll.

"Uzumaki Naruto, huh?" Kakashi exhaled as he turned his gaze toward the heavens. "I remember that kid."

T . B . C

Some clarification: Naruto is fifteen, not thirteen. I think I started out 'Never Ever' with the information that he was fifteen in the manga--I'm not sure if that still stands, but I'm sticking with my original idea. Secondly, there will be no pairings. Really. There will be friendship, family, and love, but romance is not a central theme.

I know this chapter is a bit short, but the next segment will take longer to write and I'm not sure how to divide them evenly. Hopefully, the content makes up for the low word count, and hopefully, it was presented in a manner that was easy to understand.

A great big 'Thank you' to all you reviewers!! Even a simple message motivates me, so many thanks for sharing your thoughts.


	4. Hunting the Predator

**Fandom:** Naruto  
**Title:** The Other Side  
**Part:** 04?  
**Genre:** General  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warning:** AU, Language  
**Spoilers:** Manga up to Shippuden (and possibly beyond)  
**Summary:** Sequel to **'Never Ever****'**. Spending a lifetime in the Sand Village has taught Naruto everything about being ideal shinobi, but upon his return to the Leaf Village, he will learn that there are still far too many things he does not know.

**Chapter 04: Hunting the Predator**

It was a day of unnatural heat in the Sand Village, where the action of removing clothing layer by layer was not restricted to Kazekage-sama's 'little guest'. The citizens looked to the sky and to each other in question, but merely shrugged, for the temperature was just another minor discomfort.

For Naruto, it was nothing short of _hell_. Apparently, he had entered the Sand Village at the time when the 'cool weather' was just beginning. So all the conditioning from the last few months? MEANT NOTHING!

He was parched. He was drying up. He was wilting like a water lily trampled on the sand bed of the southern sea. He was...waxing lyricisms about a freakin' flower. This obviously meant that he was WORSE OFF THAN HE THOUGHT.

Even Baki-sensei dismissed him early with a gruff reminder that he needed to clock five laps at a lower time. Later, Naruto would discover that when Baki-sensei said "Your stamina is disgraceful", he really meant "Your stamina is by far the best I've ever seen in any shinobi. How wonderful it is that a student such as yourself came along and rescued me from the doldrums of old age."

...or something like that.

Naruto returned to his home (_his home!_), flopped onto the couch, flipped the cooling unit on full blast, and stopped moving. He might have fallen asleep because the next thing he knows, there's the sound of the front door slamming shut and a second later, Kankurou--dare he use the word--_bounced_ past gleefully, holding a large wooden box.

"What're you so happy about?" Naruto yawned, sitting up lazily.

Kankurou jumped, clutching the box closer. "...nothing."

Naruto stared.

Kankurou stared back, but in almost no time, his shoulders slumped in submission. "Okay, okay," he mumbled, dropping the box on the floor. "Don't tell anyone."

Curiosity peaked, Naruto agreed quickly. Kankurou lifted the lid and pulled out a large cloth-covered...

"A doll?"

"No, no, it's a _puppet_." Naruto looked unimpressed. "...and it kills people."

"OH!!"

Encouraged, Kankurou launched into a detailed explanation of Gokiboru's abilities--the ones he'd discovered so far and the modifications he planned implement because Gokiboru was a basic-type puppet with so much potential for add-ons that even the best sometimes just stuck with Gokiboru, because it was that good, and he was gonna be one of them.

Naruto blinked.

"One of who?"

"Them. The masters." Kankurou's cheeks reddened, but he uncharacteristically stood his ground. "I'm gonna be one of the best puppet masters ever."

"No," Naruto corrected promptly. "_The_ best."

A smile broke out on Kankurou's face. "The best," he echoed.

Naruto grinned widely.

"Great! You can be the best puppet master ever, and I'll be the best of everything else."

--

"It's not working," Naruto said flatly.

"Try again."

Naruto scowled and focused harder. It usually did not take this long; not that he used the Kyuubi's chakra on a daily basis, but it had always been _there_ when he tried. Probing deeper, Naruto became aware for the first time that the presence of the Kyuubi was actually _gone_, as if someone had sucked it out with a vacuum.

"It's not--" And then he felt it: the tiny sliver of volatile red in him that bubbled and snapped, enraged and screaming to be reunited with the two flaming entities that suddenly burst forth in Naruto's mind. One of them was weak, but the second was traceable. He shuddered. "Yeah, I feel it."

Jiraiya gave a quick nod of acknowledgement, and silently, they moved out.

--

The small team of four passed on, an endless stretch of grass waving them merrily by, unaware that they were being watched. Two figures in black, the larger one wielding a large sword and the other with an aura so deadly it seemed even the wind dared not to breathe on him, stood a fair distance away on higher ground.

"Well then, which one is it, Itachi-san?" asked the swordsman who bore a strong resemblance to a shark, clearly aware of the answer. "That one," the boy in the green jumpsuit, "that one," the effeminate one in the Mist garb that had been altered for a warmer climate, "or that one," the blond one in black whose neck hung a forehead protector with the symbol of the Sand Village.

"Carefully, Kisame," the one named Itachi replied. "They did not send Kakashi as planned."

"Che, caution, caution," Kisame grunted, swinging his sword around. "I don't need to hear it from you too."

Itachi did not respond, eyes locked on the boy leader.

--

"We'll never catch it this way," Naruto declared, thirty minutes into the operation. "Whenever I try to locate it, it increases in speed and changes direction. There's just no way. And..."--turning pointedly to Jiraiya--"you know this already."

"I did."

Naruto twisted around; Haku looked away quickly and Lee doesn't meet his eyes. "They know too." Naruto came to a full stop. "What the hell is going on? This isn't just a find-and-retrieve-mission, is it?"

"Naruto-kun--"

"No, it isn't," Jiraiya interjected. "And that's all you need to know."

"It's hard for me to continue this mission if I'm always conveniently out of the loop, _sir_. Oh, you wanna fight?" Naruto asked, seeing that Lee and Haku had gotten into a defensive stance. "C'mon then, I'll waste all of you."

"Naruto-kun," Lee said urgently, "look behind you."

The urgency in his voice awakened a shred of common sense. Naruto straightened and turned.

Two figures in black, both with a kunai-drawn line breaking the village symbol of their forehead protectors, stood a small distance away on the even field. One sported a predatory smile. The other had a pair of matured Sharingan eyes.

Naruto felt a cold chill crawl up his spine. _How had he not noticed them?_

"Naruto-kun," the man with the Sharingan said quietly, "we need you to come with us now."

The anger returned at full blast.

"Y'know," Naruto chuckled coldly, concentrating the chakra in his fists, "I'm gettin' really sick and tired of people _telling me what to do_."

In half a second, he closed the distance between them and took a swipe at the Sharingan user. The man jumped aside lightly...and was sliced in two.

It was one of his favorite techniques: the Naruto Cut. Ever since the day they discovered his compatibility with the wind element, Baki-sensei had trained him to work a little bit of it into nearly every one of his signature moves.

Elemental recomposition was a lot of expect from a brat kid, but he had puffed out his chest and proclaimed his worthiness; and Kazekage-sama had _smiled_ at him.

The Naruto Cut was something he came up with after one particularly nasty training session with Baki-sensei where he landed a grand total of zero hits. By infusing wind into his chakra and releasing its concentrated form in the flatness of a blade, depending on the speed and force of his swing, he could very well take someone's head off.

Of course, because of the angle of release, it only worked if his opponent tried to dodge the attack. If they took it head on...well, his punches are pretty damn powerful too.

Naruto looked back just in time to see the two halves of the Sharingan user morph into blood red birds.

"I have you now," a voice murmured in his ear. Genjutsu. Naruto clapped his hands together, even though instinct screamed that it was too late.

"_Kai_!!"

The blood red birds turned to black and expanded like a shadow, the wings extending like fingers and hurtling toward him at a nightmare speed.

Naruto closed his eyes and forced more chakra out. The one thing, the _only_ thing he liked about Genjutsu was that, with his chakra amount in reserve, he could counter them quickly if he knew they were being used.

The next thing he knew, Jiraiya had him by the scruff of his neck and they were back with the rest of the team. "Do you ever think?!" The old man asked, anywhere from exasperation to fury--Naruto didn't care for specifics. "You're way too reckless, kid."

Naruto grinned. "Lemme try again, I can get him this time."

"Not a chance," Haku replied, and without warning, he grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him through a floating mirror that had most definitely appeared from out of no where. He felt an icy rush and then, nothing.

--

"Figured you'd try some low-handed tactic like that," Kisame growled, unsheathing the Samehada. "You can go on, I'll take care of things here."

"No." Itachi's gaze was cold and calculating. "We'll get the boy after a second Sannin departs this world."

--

The destination of...whatever they went into hovered in a forest, above the center of a lake. A very deep, large lake.

"H-how'd you do that?" Naruto gasped, recumbent after finally reaching shore.

"It's my bloodline ability," Haku managed to cough out as he pulled himself out of the water. He went on to explain it in excruciating detail, but then he noted the blank look in Naruto's eyes. "I can create teleportation pads out of the moisture in the air and travel far distances so long as the destination has a good amount of moisture in the air."

Naruto blinked. "Useful"

Haku laughed weakly. "If I take someone with me, the lower their amount of chakra, the easier it is. Naruto-kun, your level of chakra...is monstrous."

Even without the Kyuubi, he did not say.

"So where are we?" Naruto asked.

"We're near the northern border of the country of the Sound Village," Haku replied, taking a deep breath. "There's a few things I think I should tell you now while we have breathing time."

"That's probably a good idea," Naruto agreed, propping himself up on his elbows, looking expectant.

"We were under orders not to tell you anything," Haku started, "not until a situation like this happened."

"You expected this."

Haku nodded. "Jiraiya-sama has been watching an organization called Akatsuki since, perhaps, even before the Chuunin Exams took place. Originally, he was merely wary of the gathering Missing-nin. Then you reappeared and their activities increased exponentially, leading him to speculate that their plans involved you in some way."

Akatsuki. Orochimaru. Naruto's fists tightened. Haku undoubtedly noticed, but thankfully did not comment.

"After the...after what happened, with the separation, Jiraiya-sama was uncertain if Akatsuki would go after the Kyuubi or you. Either way, you had to be brought back to the Leaf Village, so you were, under heavy guard--"

"Heavy guard? I was on the back of buggy cart with a civilian driver."

"They had to make sure your trip went undetected, but just in case, two Leaf Jounin were under disguise as your teammates. I believe Jiraiya-sama masqueraded as your driver."

For the first time in a very long time, Naruto was rendered speechless.

"You were needed immediately for this mission, but because the danger was all in speculation, they could not spare any Jounin or Chuunin. Based on criteria, the next best options were two Genin who had impressive results on the Chuunin Exam." A pause. "Even Lee-kun thought our promotion was rather hasty."

Naruto was not sorry. Haku did not expect him to be.

"Our orders were, under the circumstance that Akatsuki unveiled themselves, to split up. Jiraiya-sama and Lee-kun would deal with the enemy, and I would be responsible for getting us to a safe location where we could resume the mission."

"He couldn't tell me that beforehand?" Naruto asked incredulously. Haku regarded him calmly. Naruto let out a laugh. "He thought I'd go with them willingly."

"You could not be trusted."

"But if they were actually after the Kyuubi, then we would have lost a lot of time by staying together."

"He must've decided that protecting you was a higher priority."

Naruto looked away.

"Let's move," Haku said, standing abruptly. "There were two men and we still have a mission to complete."

--

_His hands still bled, but a huge smile like sunshine burst forth anyway._

_"Wahaha!! Way cool!!" Naruto hollered, jumping up and down as if he hadn't nearly keeled over exhaustion just a few moments ago. The dummy had only a small nick on its shirt, but he was sure that, with practice, he could rip the whole thing in half. "I will call it: the Naruto Cut!!"_

_Baki-sensei cleared his throat from behind. "Naruto, you realize of course that this technique already has a name--"_

_"No! No, it's my technique, it's the Naruto Cut," the boy responded, accentuating the capitals with a punch of the fist. "I don't care what it was called before either, 'cause by the time I'm through, I'll be so great that no one'll know or care what it used to be called."_

T . B . C

Kankurou's puppet, Gokiburo, derives its name from a Yuugi-ou card "Gokibore", or 'roachball'. For you must be a bug before a bird, right? Right? 8D

I hope my explanation of the Naruto Cut is understandable. If enough people don't understand, I'll draw a picture or something.

Anyway, I hope this chapter explained a lot and is without too many errors. I will be very busy in the next month, so the next update will probably not happen until early June. Thank you for reading!


	5. An Entire Half But Only Half

**Fandom:** Naruto  
**Title:** The Other Side  
**Part:** 05?  
**Genre:** General/Action/Adventure  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Warning:** AU, Language  
**Spoilers:** Manga up to Shippuden (and possibly beyond)  
**Summary:** Sequel to 'Never Ever'. Spending a lifetime in the Sand Village has taught Naruto everything about being ideal shinobi, but upon his return to the Leaf Village, he will learn that there are still far too many things he does not know.

**Chapter 05: An Entire Half; But Only Half**

"Amazing," Lee whistled as he inched closer to the black flames.

"He is," Jiraiya agreed, dispelling his toad summon. "Uchiha Itachi was one of the best Konoha had to offer."

"Why did he go bad?"

"I could tell you," Jiraiya said gravely. "But then I'd have to dispose of you."

Lee frowned. Sometimes, he really wished someone could say that and not be completely dead serious.

"Should we follow Naruto-kun and Haku-san?"

"We will," Jiraiya said, clapping a hand on Lee's shoulder. "But first we have to complete another mission and it's something only you can do."

---

Breathing heavily, heart pounding in his ears, Naruto peered from behind the trunk of a large oak tree, not daring to believe his eyes. For five days, they had pursued the Kyuubi resonance with nourishment in the form of soldier pills and no sleep at all. It was a tricky bastard, always running in a different direction from Naruto's last trace and never allowing itself to be cornered.

In the end, they had found it—as fate would have it—entirely by luck. After multiple failed attempts to track the Kyuubi through the sliver of red chakra left in his body, Naruto decided to take off in a completely random direction. Hours later, lo and behold, the Kyuubi stood in their line of vision, stalking about in the grassy valley below.

It was huge. When Naruto had first released the two, they had been a reasonable size, maybe the height of a full-grown Inuzuka clan-raised dog. Now, it was nearly the size of the entire stadium from the third leg of the Chuunin Exam. How it could've grown to this massive size...

Haku drew a shaky breath from beside him. The Kyuubi's chakra, though divided, possessed enough indirect force to send even the strongest shinobi to their knees. Eventually, he pulled himself together and signaled Naruto, index finger extended toward the Kyuubi: one chance.

In the future, when asked when he first truly respected a shinobi from Konoha, Naruto would recount this moment.

A mirror of ice appeared and at the same moment, the Kyuubi let out a great roar. As quickly as he could, Haku grabbed onto Naruto's arm and yanked him through. They exited the other end just as the mirror dissolved from the radiated fury of the Kyuubi's chakra.

One if its tales whipped from out of nowhere and rammed violently into Haku, throwing his limp body far over the hills and Naruto, maybe a little overwhelmed and maybe a little terrified, dove forward and attached his palms to the Kyuubi's hind leg, focusing the Kyuubi's chakra into his hands.

At first, it only burned. Painful, but he'd lived through worse.

And then, it was like a switch had been flicked: it _burned_. His chakra pathways became like vacuums, forcibly drawing the Kyuubi's chakra back inside his body; it was like liquid hellfire searing its way through every last blood vessel of his body.

He might have cried out as he lost consciousness.

---

Haku watched in horrid fascination as the Kyuubi-chakra swirled and convulsed until it lost its form, swirling around Naruto like a hurricane around its eye. And then, all at once, it plunged at his body, as if it were attempting to force its way in.

Naruto jerked and writhed, supine, and then a terrible scream pierced the air, the kind that was wrenched involuntarily from a man who has never known fear in his life moments before he meets with death.

Before Haku could react, three figures leapt over him and raced toward the now-motionless boy.

---

Odd.

Usually, when he held audience with the Kyuubi, there was a _drip, drip_ sound, not the _crackle, crackle_ he was hearing now. He opened one eye, slowly.

There was a small campfire burning a safe distance away, shadow where the firelight did not touch. In front of the campfire sat a man dressed in white with golden-blond hair.

Silently, Naruto reached down the side of his leg for a kunai...

"Ah, you're awake."

...only to find that he had no weapons. He wasn't even wearing his own clothes; they'd been replaced by a plain black outfit.

The man turned around and smiled. "Don't try to move too much, not that it matters very much if you do. This isn't real, after all."

Naruto stared, dumbfounded.

"You should have some idea who I am," the man continued, the corner of his mouth quirking up wistfully and maybe just a little sadly too. "Or don't you?"

"I know who you are," Naruto said at last. "What are you doing in my head?"

"I've been here all along, Naruto," the man said. "I have been with you for as long as the Kyuubi has."

"You don't look anything like your portraits."

He smiled. "The artisans of the Sand Village saw an enemy. The artisans of the Leaf Village saw a hero."

The Yondaime Hokage's features were much softer in person, strong, but not sharp. Up close, Naruto was quite disconcerted to discover how much they mirrored each other in appearance.

"Why me?"

Yondaime Hokage did not answer. He didn't have to. The unguarded expression on his face, the myriad of emotions in his eyes, the way his hands were held, forcibly relaxed, as though to keep himself from reaching out and touching Naruto; the Yondaime Hokage didn't have to say a word for his message to be heard.

"Why?" The echoes of Naruto's demand disappeared into the surrounding black void.

"I had no choice," the other finally said. "So many had been lost already. There were other shinobi villages on their way to stake their claim on the Kyuubi. Your mother had passed on. _I had no choice_."

"I was your _son_," Naruto bellowed, slamming his fists down, breathing heavily. It pained him to say the word. "Do you have any idea what I had to go through? Do you know how I remember my childhood? Do you know how difficult it was for me to just exist?!"

"I know," Yondaime replied quietly. "I know everything that's happened to you, and I knew you would be treated like that even before I made you a Jinchuuriki."

"Then _why_?"

"I loved Konoha. I would have done anything to protect it." He cocked his head. "You know the feeling: that willingness to protect those you love, no matter what the cost."

Naruto looked away. He was more familiar with that sentiment than he cared to admit.

"Why me?" He finally asked.

"It wasn't because you were _my_ son," Yondaime said. "It was because you were Kushina's son." He offered Naruto a shaky smile. "Your mother was an extraordinary woman from an extraordinary family."

A lump formed in Naruto's throat. He'd never heard those words in combination like that before. It never really clicked in his mind that he didn't just appear out of nowhere and was, and that he must have had some kind of lineage.

"A seal like yours," Yondaime continued, "one that requires the user to forfeit his life has some unorthodox side effects. By being the executor, I had to give a little bit of myself into the seal. This little bit of me has been inside you all these years, working its way to influence the Kyuubi in a humanistic way, though neither of you would ever have realized it.

"However, there are repercussions from your releasing the Kyuubi chakra that changes things," Yondaime said, with an emotion Naruto did not want to understand. "When the Kyuubi was set free, so was I. When you took the Kyuubi back, I was not reaccepted because the seal was not designed for me. This was the only way I could have seen you, but this would have been the only chance I had to see you."

There was a knot now, heavy and crushing and grinding in his chest. His throat was dry and his eyes were swimming and there was so much—_so much_—he wanted to say, but the words crashed against each other exiting his mind and died before they could be realized.

Yondaime smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," he said. "I'm sorry we couldn't bring you into the world at a better time. I'm sorry you didn't get to live the life I had envisioned for you... Please don't ever doubt that you had parents who loved you, who would have given up the world for you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

---

Naruto awoke, his vision blurry.

He hadn't cried in all the years he spent in the Sand Village; tears were shed following the loss of a companion or a serious bodily injury, but never like this. He was a shinobi. He thought he had murdered his heart, but that single conversation revived in him the longing that his siblings could never quite alleviate.

He must have asked himself this question a long time ago, before he really understood what it all meant. He had been too afraid of what the answer would be, and so forced himself into ignorance. He would watch other children from a distance with their families, be envious, but not seek the truth. He did all this in self-protection and now to have it all broken down...

He had parents. A father and a mother; and they had both loved him.

It was too much. It was all too much.

---

"Up and about already? I thought you'd take longer than three days to recover."

It was a gross overstatement. Naruto was immobile and just barely sitting up. He was heavily bandaged from the neck down—chakra burn was his guess. He was flushed, his breathing was labored, and his hands would twitch every so often enough to be annoying.

"Mmrgh," was his response.

His healer was a woman, young and blonde, and she was the owner of the most massive pair of breasts Naruto had ever seen in his life. Seriously, they were like...the size of his head.

"What did you expect," came another voice from the doorway. Naruto's eyes narrowed in dislike. "The brat was in good hands."

"I thought you were dead," Naruto enunciated, not troubling himself to remove the disappointment from his tone.

"Che, it'll take more than those two to get rid of me," Jiraiya replied with a wide grin as he strolled in uninvited and sat down beside Naruto. The woman, he noted, had departed. "How are you feeling, kid?"

Naruto glowered silently, but even that was only half-hearted from his exhaustion.

"You surprised me," Jiraiya continued conversationally. "I didn't think you would actually capture one before we got to you."

"Fuck you," Naruto retorted. Except it came out all jumbled, so it sounded more like a lazy, mumbled breath. Jiraiya talked some more, all nonsensical stuff Naruto didn't care about. Why he and Lee had been delayed, how Haku was holding up, where they were and yes, this one was coming out of his paycheck. It was nothing Naruto cared about, but the Sannin kept going on and on with his talking.

Eventually, Naruto decided that the best way to get rid of the old geezer was to feign sleep. To his surprise, it actually worked. Jiraiya stopped talking and the blessed silence had never sounded so sweet to Naruto's ears. He was on the verge of returning to slumber when Jiraiya spoke again.

"I know it must've hurt," the old man said, more somber and quiet than before. "The body is not built to deal with direct assimilation of demonic chakra like that, and in such large amounts, if it had been anyone else, they would have died. Even for you, it must've been excruciating. I didn't tell you that, and I'm sorry."

Naruto kept his face carefully blank. Jiraiya waited a moment, then shuffled to his feet and made to leave.

"If you don't want to go after the other half," the old man said falteringly before closing the door, "I understand."

The door slid shut and Naruto was left alone with his thoughts, and all of them led back to one person. Yes, he loved every person in his little family: Temari-nii with her short-temper, Kankurou with his doll fixation, Yashamaru with his sad smile, Baki-sensei with his inability to express approval; even Kazekage-sama with his...even Kazekage-sama.

His treatment in the Sand Village hadn't been very different from his treatment in the Leaf Village, but having people to go home to, having a home that was actually a home, had made all the difference in the world. They were all precious to him, and he would do anything for them.

But of everyone, Gaara had always been the most special to him, because only he understood what it meant to be a Jinchuuriki. It was ironic, that the thing which made them hated by all was the thing that bound them together the tightest. If he returned to Gaara with any less the demon he was, their connection would not be the same.

He brought to mind the Gaara from when they first met, stoic but with lonely eyes that begged for acceptance; the Gaara from his childhood, stoic but sympathetic when Baki-sensei refused to pass him as a Genin for the third time; the Gaara from just a few years ago, stoic but whose voice whispered to Naruto in the dead of night that he was so very tired of killing; the Gaara who waved good-bye to him, stoic but whose eyes had shed tears not meant to be seen.

He thought of how Gaara would be when Naruto told him he'd allowed half of the Kyuubi to escape from him. He would be stoic, maybe even happy on Naruto's behalf, but he wouldn't look Naruto in the eyes after that. If Gaara viewed Naruto as being any less a demon than himself, their bond would be altered irreparably.

He couldn't let that happen. In the name of his brother, he would go after that other half of the Kyuubi even if it killed him.

---

"We're continuing then?" Haku asked, gaze never straying from Naruto. There was something akin to worry etched on his face.

"Of course," Jiraiya replied, smiling broadly. "With all of us this time, it should be somewhat easier."

New to their company was the blonde woman, her student, and a pig. The Godaime Hokage, Jiraiya had introduced her as. She had been hesitant to take the position, Jiraiya had recalled, but Lee's youthful flames of youthful energy (Springtime of Youth might've been thrown in there too) had won her over; Lee had punctuated this statement with a fist pump and the woman had massaged her temples in exasperation. Naruto had a pretty good idea of how Eyebrows could completely wear someone down through sheer dogged persistence.

The other woman in their company, the keeper of the pig, was peering at Naruto curiously. He would've thrown a look back in her direction if he wasn't just barely standing on his own. His entire body was still sore from what had transpired nearly a week ago now—not the standard I-can-still-fight kind of sore, but the more annoying maybe-I-can-move-my-leg-now-nope-guess-not sore.

Suddenly, something pulled at his arm and Naruto found himself hoisted onto the back of—oh _hell_ no.

"Put me down," Naruto said, each word spoken with a slow decisiveness that promised a terrible outcome if Eyebrows did not unhand him this very moment.

"I will be your support, Naruto-kun!" Lee exclaimed, foolishly ignorant to his passenger's threat. "Your resolve to complete the mission displays the flames of your—"

"Stop talking," Naruto said warily. Being on Eyebrow's back meant hearing Eyebrow's voice at an excruciating volume, and he was in no position to plug his ears, nor did he have the energy to even reach for a kunai, though his fingers twitched toward his side.

Well, no, his fingers twitched on their own accord. He just missed the weight of his side-pouch on his thigh.

"Let's move out," Jiraiya said. Their party had increased to seven, including the pig, and while each person was a strong shinobi in their own right, Jiraiya had a sinking feeling that searching for the second half would be more difficult than anyone could anticipate.

T . B . C

Comments, suggestions, corrections, praises, criticisms; I'll take anything.


	6. Turning Points

**Fandom:** Naruto**  
Title:** The Other Side**  
Part:** 06?**  
Genre:** General/Action/Adventure**  
Rating:** PG-13  
**Warning:** AU, Language**  
Spoilers:** Manga up to Shippuden (and possibly beyond)  
**Summary:** Sequel to 'Never Ever'. Spending a lifetime in the Sand Village has taught Naruto everything about being ideal shinobi, but upon his return to the Leaf Village, he will learn that there are still far too many things he does not know.

**Chapter 06: Turning Points**

In accordance with Jiraiya's gut feeling, which always proved to be valid no matter what the circumstances were, the other half of the Kyuubi no Kitsune was a bitch to catch. Even with the addition to their team, the Kyuubi had become more rushed, more frenzied in its movements.

The Kyuubi chakra within Naruto and the Kyuubi chakra external of its vessel acted like magnets; after all, things not meant to be separated inherently had a strong force of attraction. But while it became easier to pinpoint the Kyuubi's location, it became much more difficult to corner because it, too, knew exactly where its pursuers were.

The conversation had stopped nearly four days ago, and the members of the little party now travelled in a stony silence. Every so often, Naruto would lift his finger from his perch on Lee's back, point in a nonlinear direction, and they would change course. At first, the action was met with compliance. Then...

"How do we know this kid isn't trying to pull a fast one on us?"

The Godaime Hokage had stopped in her tracks, assuming a suspicious pose with her hands on her hips. Jiraiya sighed—he was actually surprised it had taken her an entire week to vent her frustrations.

"Tsunade-sama!" The keeper of the pig threw an apologetic look in Naruto's direction, which went unacknowledged.

"I don't trust him," Tsunade maintained, her glare still fixed on the blond. "For all I know, he's trying to lead us in a false direction, or he's trying to delay our return to Konoha. How can you trust him implicitly?"

Naruto's expression did not change, not even a twitch, and his hand remained, since Tsunade's outburst, unwaveringly pointed to West—the complete opposite direction from they had been traveling from.

"Answer me," she said, when no one responded. It seemed the frustration of blindly following a chuunin who still bore the _hitaite_ of a foreign village was nursing her ambition to assume the role of the Hokage.

Jiraiya sighed. "Tsunade—"

"No." The interruption came from Naruto himself. His eyes were hard and his mouth twisted in a grim line. "Put me down, Lee."

Hesitantly, Lee obeyed.

His knees nearly buckled from beneath him when they were set upon solid ground. His healing ability was extraordinary, even with the source being halved, but recovering from the addition of five-tails worth of ancient, demonic chakra into the human body was no small feat.

"You can run back to Konoha if you desire," Naruto said frigidly. "I will complete this on my own."

He limped a single step and his knees promptly buckled from under him, and he would have met with a very undignified face full of dirt if Haku did not catch him just in time.

"I will assist you, Naruto-kun," he said steadily, with no intention of letting the other boy fall, but not quite meeting Naruto's taken aback stare.

"I will too." Lee took Naruto's other arm and hoisted it over his shoulder before going full-frontal with his unstoppable nice-guy pose. "Together we will prevail, won't we, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto's comeback died in his throat as Lee's colossal eyebrows seemed to dance with a life of their own. It must have been Genjutsu, there was _no other explanation_.

Tsunade raised her eyebrows at Jiraiya. "This is the generation that Konoha has sent me to deal with?"

"Nope," Jiraiya said, smiling. "This is your generation now, and it's up to you to lead them to new and greater heights, Godaime Hokage-sama."

---

"Stop."

The command came three days later near a remote food station

"I need food."

Exasperation and daggers were sent in the blond's direction following his statement, but the loud rumble from the belly of Ton-Ton couldn't have had better timing.

So they settled for a brief rest. The establishment's owner was not familiar enough with shinobi ways to realize what an odd band he was serving, but smart enough to know not to ask too many questions and to be quick with a benevolent smile.

At Naruto's request, Lee had placed him down on the edge of the corner-most bench; close enough to be considered part of the group, but far enough away to confirm an obvious divide.

In truth, Naruto had stopped the group so he could try to focus chakra, which he hadn't attempted to access for a week now. In the past, whenever he 'spoke' to the Kyuubi or used its chakra, his body would experience a brief period of numbness. Now, it seemed that his previous contact with the Kyuubi's chakra was having the same effect.

He closed his eyes and tried to focus. The act had never come natural to him; chakra always seemed to just burst out willingly. It was a strange sensation to have to visualize and coax the movement of what was once a rushing river. Slowly, slowly, he could feel the energy running over his body again, the stiffness of his unused coils ease up and—

"Naruto-kun?"

The interrupter was Tsunade's assistant, not longer holding the pig, but a plate loaded with dango and a cup of tea. "Didn't you say you were hungry?"

"I did," Naruto answered, but made no move to take the food.

"I'll just leave this here," Shizune said with a smile. "It's not healthy to rely on soldier pills for long periods of time."

Mildly surprised by the unexpected care, Naruto took his first real look at the young woman. And it was then that he noticed the resemblance—the eyes, the smile, the hair...Yashamaru was not very happy with the first four women Naruto had compared him to, he probably wouldn't take kindly to a fifth.

"You remind me of someone," he said to Shizune, but took a dango out of courtesy. Then another because she didn't take the plate away, then another because she was still smiling, then another because—well, you get the picture. It was only until Shizune carted away the empty plate that Naruto noticed the undeniable little smirk on the corner of her mouth.

Women.

Fifteen minutes later, they were ready to move out, but Naruto hadn't budged an inch since the last dango.

"Naruto-kun?" Lee asked, just as the other boy made a seal and opened his eyes.

"_Gokkan no jutsu_!"

There were no external transformations on Naruto's part, but his senses nearly crashed at the overload of information he was now receiving: the crudeness of the bench he sat upon, the overwhelming taste of An-dango in his mouth, the scent of green tea wafting by his nose, and the dull roar of the Kyuubi no Kitsune off the distance. He could see it, not a plain sight view, but it was now within his radar and it couldn't detect his presence, not this time.

"It's over in that direction," he said, pointing off in the distance, a direction perpendicular from where their original path. "I can see it."

They looked vaguely intrigued, and just a little doubtful, but Lee lifted him back up and they were on their way once more.

---

The Tailed Beasts were truly magnificent creatures. Even at half power, the Kyuubi still fought with enough viciousness to hold his own against a toad and a slug summon. From uphill, the three Chuunin overlooked the battle.

It was near breathtaking in its unlimited potential for destruction.

But he had a mission to complete.

"Throw me," he said into Lee's ear.

Lee tore his eyes away from the battle. "What?"

"Take me by the feet and throw me at that thing," Naruto repeated flatly. "Try not to miss."

Lee gulped, but closed his grip around Naruto's ankles.

---

It was nothing like what he thought it'd be.

The first time, yeah, it'd hurt like a bitch, but it was only like someone had set him on fire.

This, this was like a force of nature taking him apart, cell by cell, and expiring every molecule with a slow-burning lighter.

But all that, even all of that, was nothing compared to the horror he felt when the Kyuubi's consciousness reemerged from within him who, with one roar, ripped his mind into shreds.

---

The two Sannin, summons dispelled, and the green-clad Chuunin of the Leaf were frozen in shock, disbelieving and yet mesmerized by the sight before their eyes.

The Kyuubi's form had disintegrated, and now surrounded Naruto like a malicious orange-red cocoon. It looked as if the demon's chakra was trying to force its way into Naruto's body, but they _knew_ that wasn't the case.

They had not seen this sight last time. Only Haku had, and his face was turned respectfully away. All they could do was watch, the process of absorption painfully slow.

At long last, with one final burst of energy, only Naruto's supine body laid before them, the Kyuubi's chakra vanished without a flicker.

Jiraiya heaved a great sigh of relief and Tsunade made a signal with her hand, which prompted Lee to scamper off and find Shizune.

The Toad Sannin approached the unconscious boy, but before he could reach out to check for a pulse, he was blocked and thrown back by an unknown force. Startled, he managed to right himself before he landed on the ground. There was a shield of loose dirt still hovering over the spot where Jiraiya had tried to touch.

A cold, calculating voice sliced through the air.

"What have you done to him?"

---

The Hidden Village of the Sand was, as the name stated, located deep within the heart of the desert. The Wind Country, on the other hand, held within it patches of grasslands, forests, and natural reservoirs—the combined area of which still paled in comparison of size to the desert, but still they existed. Such data did not regularly circulate outside geographical academics and merchants, but it was fact.

Thus Jiraiya, neither an academic or a merchant (barring his hobby of smut-peddling, of course), found to his surprise that the Kyuubi had unwittingly led them just within the borders of the Wind Country, where they were now facing off an extremely pissed off—

"I will ask again," Gaara said, his tone unchanging, but his sand crawled over the two Sannin's ankles, rooting them where they stood. "What. Have. You. Done. To. Naruto?"

A shower of senbon needles rained from the sky. Another set were shot from a holder targeted at his face. A great green leg shot a kick out from behind him. All three attacks were stopped by Gaara's absolute defense.

"I'll kill all of you," he hissed. "_Sabaku_—"

"Gaara, stop!!"

His killing intent was unfazed, but he released his captives with a loathsome glare.

Yashamaru released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Things would have gotten...very difficult indeed, if he had not intervened.

"My, this is a messy situation isn't it?" He asked with a cheery exterior. "Given that you are all foreign shinobi—unless you have passports or visas? No? I thought not. They don't give those out freely nowadays—I'm going to have to ask you all to come with me."

"Don't touch him." Gaara growled when Lee attempted to hoist Naruto over his shoulder, his statement reinforced by sand shooting up to prevent contact between the two. "He is a shinobi of the Sand. We will take care of our own."

---

Two days passed, Naruto stayed asleep within the Kazekage family compound, allowed no outside visitors except a healer, but never alone.

"What I want to know," Tsunade said, staring hard at Jiraiya, "is why I have to wait for him to get better before I can go back to Konoha."

'You know why Konoha set up your search party like it did," Jiraiya answered with not a hint of pretense. "Imagine, the Godaime Hokage assuming power at the head of a party which includes the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune—most politicians would kill for an image enhancer like that."

"You agree with that?" Tsunade asked in disbelief. Of the three of them, she had always counted on Jiraiya being the least jaded.

"Konoha needs a strong Hokage right now," he said simply.

"You want me to gain power and influence by using that boy as a scapegoat?" Tsunade stood up abruptly. "That's not gonna happen."

"You won't do it?"

Tsunade straightened herself and lifted her chin defiantly, bringing to life her title of _hime_. "A Hokage does not participate in such dishonorable games. Shizune, we're leaving."

She stalked out. Shizune, with a blush, bowed quickly to Jiraiya before following her mentor out the door.

Jiraiya watched the two women walk away, and smiled happily to himself. He knew he was right in choosing her to succeed and protect the will of fire. He freakin' _knew_ it.

---

Naruto awoke with his vision in a haze, careful not to move because he knew it would hurt like hell. There was an angry presence in the back of his mind, volatile and contemptuous. His gut feeling rarely spoke up, but when it did, he listened. That presence would never go away.

So this was how Gaara felt, all twenty-four hours of the day. He thought he knew how painful it was to be a vessel. He had no idea.

"You're awake."

That voice...it couldn't be.

"Gaara?" He was in his old room. Gaara was sitting cross-legged beside his tatami-mat, with an expression on his face that meant he was near tears, but unwilling to show it. Naruto asked, stupidly, "Am I dreaming?"

"You're not."

"Cool," Naruto grinned, and fell back to sleep.

---

"I've been thinking..."

"How...shocking."

"Hey now, just listen." Naruto rolled over, wincing just a teensy bit. "The Yondaime Hokage was the one who sealed the Kyuubi in me, right? So I figured that everything was his fault. Like, he left his chakra on me, and that influenced both me and the Kyuubi in some way. That's why I...felt so weird before the Third Exam. That's why the Kyuubi was so much more docile before. That's why...m-maybe...maybe that's why I couldn't...maybe that's why I...the mission..."

Gaara averted his gaze. They had not spoken about what happened during the Invasion, and if he had his way, they never would.

"But it's gone now. He's gone now. So...anyway, I have an idea."

"An idea?"

"More like a plan, actually. Or a mission, even. I thought about this a lot, so don't laugh. Or wait, go ahead and laugh, Yashamaru says laughter's good for the soul or whatever. I'm going to become a Hokage."

Gaara's jaw dropped. Naruto would've found the sight comical if he didn't know that the closest Gaara had ever come to an expression of astonishment was one raised eyebrow.

"Just listen to me," Naruto pressed on, slightly unnerved by the incredulity in Gaara's eyes. "I didn't say it was going to be easy, y'know. See, I...I found out something about the heritage that might pull things in my favor. Think about it, Gaara," he added, almost pleadingly. "With you here and me over there...we could change the world."

"To what?" Gaara finally asked, caving under Naruto's anxious stare. "To what would we change the world into?"

Naruto blinked. "Oh, I haven't thought that far yet. I just...I don't want to be in a position with no power anymore."

Something about his statement resonated within Gaara and now he could meet Naruto's eyes unflinchingly.

"Long-term?"

"Super-long term," Naruto replied with a wide grin.

"A-Class?" A ghost of a smile danced across Gaara's lips.

"SS-Class and a shot of your strongest sake."

They grinned and each other, and they were children again, with insignificant worries and a naïve awareness of the world, racing around the house lobing Kankurou's spare puppet parts at each other ("Hey! Be careful, those things are poisonous!!") and drawing funny faces on Temari's bedroom wall. They tried to mess with her fans once. They never tried again.

And then...

They were still children, but now they were armed with sharp knives and explosive tags and an array of methods to capture, torture, or most of all, to kill. They were still children, but now with the weight of what it really meant to be a living weapon carved into their stony hearts. They were still children even now, yet they were plotting ways to take over the world, one country at a time.

The remnants of their younger selves, it appeared, died in this moment.

"What about this?" Gaara asked, fingers running over the hitaite tied around Naruto's neck, which still displayed the insignia of the Sand Village.

"I fight for Suna," Naruto said quietly. "That won't change."

"You didn't have to get the Kyuubi back just for that."

"Hmm? Oh no, that was on your behalf." Naruto grinned. "We're brothers aren't we?"

---

The Sand Village had blatantly refused to release Naruto from Gaara's protection until he could channel chakra without a visible grimace, thus extending their stay by two weeks. Not that Naruto was in a great big hurry to leave, but after observing him in his natural setting, Lee could understand why.

The tangible love between him and his siblings would impress even Gai-sensei. He hadn't known that shinobi of the Sand Village, elite and frosty and untrusting, could laugh and joke and smile the way Naruto and his brothers did.

The scene from when his sister returned from her mission would live in Lee's memories forever. Her waltzing in, smacking Naruto's head with her fan (it was a BIG fan) before burying her face in his shoulder and bursting into tears.

He hadn't known Sand shinobi could _cry_.

There was an uneasy emotion in his stomach he couldn't place the more he saw the four of them interact. He would have to ask Gai-sensei about it when he got back.

---

Naruto left the Sand Village with all the belongings he hadn't brought with him the first time he left: the weapons he swore he would not fight for Konoha with, the clothing he thought he knew he wouldn't need.

He had hoped, so desperately, that the exchange would be temporary. He knew better now. He and Gaara were Jinchuuriki. It bound them together and forced them apart. As carriers, they would never have the luxury of fighting on the same team for the same village.

Only Temari and Kankurou came to see him off, Temari handing Naruto a parcel Gaara had asked her to give him. There were no words spoken this time, only a sober exchange of gestures.

Naruto turned his back on his home and plodded on toward the village he despised, and Gaara overlooked his departure from rooftops away, his own personal raincloud showering torrents down his face.

T . B . C

An update after only a month?! What is this madness?!?!

I got the direction I wanted to take this story in, thus the updates will (with any luck) come quicker. A lot of things happened in this chapter, I hope it was enjoyable and plausible and cohesive.

Coming in the next chapter: a new mission with Team Asuma.

A belated Happy Winter and a Joyous 2009 to all!!


	7. A Persistent Ache

**Fandom:** Naruto **  
Title:** The Other Side **  
Part:** 07? **  
Genre:** General/Action/Adventure **  
Rating:** PG-13 **  
Warning:** AU, Language  
**Spoilers:** Manga up to Shippuden (and possibly beyond)  
**Summary:** Sequel to 'Never Ever'. Spending a lifetime in the Sand Village has taught Naruto everything about being ideal shinobi, but upon his return to the Leaf Village, he will learn that there are still far too many things he does not know.

**Chapter 07: A Persistent Ache  
**

The return journey was swift and painless, for the most part. A blessed blanket of silence had enveloped his group, even the normally talkative Rock Lee opting to close his big youthful mouth.

Both his teammates appeared to have lost their ability to look Naruto in the eye or address him directly for that matter. Odd, he supposed, but that was the trouble with working on a team in the first place. When he pulled missions solo, excepting the ones he undertook as an apprentice, there was none of the awkwardness, none of this guilt the other Chunnin were so obviously enduring.

What the hell they were feeling culpable about, he had no freakin' clue.

The mission debriefing with the newly anointed Godaime Hokage (who had a fondness for low-cut necklines) passed by in a blur and Naruto left for his assigned residence the moment they were dismissed without a looking back.

He had work to do.

---

His bags—the two on his back and the one that hung from his shoulders—were dropped unceremoniously on the ground and emptied chaotically around him. His room was clean enough despite his month-long absence. Either someone had hired a housecleaner without his permission, or little spying insects had cleaned up after themselves a little too well.

No matter.

He had no hand in his packing, trusting that Kankurou would at least get the things he asked for and Temari would make sure he had everything else. He had asked for a uniform, a custom design, distinctive from anything found in the Leaf Village, but not too close to the style of the Sand Village. The result, no doubt from the eye and mind of Temari, was a black suit with an orange vest and orange bindings that coupled the otherwise loose-fitted clothing to his body.

He had asked Kankurou to pack his weapons, trusting that his sometimes incompetent, but trustworthy older brother would firstly know where all of his weapons were and secondly that he would've had them safe. The look on Kankurou's face when he had passed them over indicated that more than a few people had been caught trying to swipe them, and that Naruto had inadvertently disarmed a good number of his puppets.

Nevertheless, they were all clean and in working condition. He had an entire pouch of small blades that wrapped around his torso beneath the vest, double-rowed and easily accessed. They were the same size and shape as a standard kunai, but thinner and sharper. The two shuriken he tucked into the hidden folds of his vest; those were slightly larger and more angular than the standard set, and were meant to be held, not thrown.

Last but not least of his equipment was his most powerful and most treasured, a gift from when he had been accepted into apprenticeship.

Like his master before him, Naruto also fought with a blade of wind. He wasn't as skilled as Baki-sensei just yet, who could channel an invisible edge out of thin air; he still needed a medium to concentrate his elemental chakra through. In the past, they had sliced off a little bit of the blade with each step he mastered. Now, his 'katana' was not so much a 'katana' anymore as it was the handle of a short sword with about a centimeter length of blade—not that anyone would guess, for the sheath disguised its length.

He had asked Gaara for one thing and, despite the time constraint and inherent difficulty in attaining such an item, Gaara delivered.

It was a cloak. A simple white cloak from the mills of the Wind Country, developed especially for the shinobi lifestyle. Supposedly, the cloth had absorbent fibers that would keep the garment sweat and bloodstain-free. Naruto didn't very much like wearing the color white, but it drew as much attention as the orange did and was probably guaranteed to raise some shit.

He walked over to a mirror, inspected himself, and took a deep breath. Then, with a critical eye, he slowly and carefully schooled his expression so it was calmer, more benevolent. The end result was even better than expected and he cracked a smile so big it cancelled out the illusion almost instantly.

Oh yes, the resemblance between him and father dearest were almost uncanny—when he didn't have that big smirk on his face, of course. He could work on that later. The cloak was enough, for now.

Sighing with relief, and maybe feeling a tad giddy, Naruto stepped back from the mirror and stretched. He felt more comfortable now than he had in a long time. He didn't have a chance to use his weaponry during the Invasion and he hadn't planned on using them to fight for the Leaf Village, but now that he had them back and ready for use, there was a kind of soothing contentment breathed from the shinobi portion of his brain.

Some things were liable to change. Others, especially the habits ironed in by the fist of Baki-sensei, would never change.

Then, fully dressed and fully armed, Naruto plopped down on the floor and went to sleep. Tsunade already had an assignment waiting for him the next morning. It appeared the Invasion had crippled Konoha's forces more than they'd initially led on; the thought brought a smile to Naruto's face as he drifted off to a light slumber.

---

"Haku-san!!"

The sound of pounding footsteps drew nearer before coming to an abrupt halt. Haruno Sakura caught herself just in time; neither of her teammates, she found, reacted very positively to touch.

"Welcome back," she said with a smile, cautiously reserved again. "How did your mission go?"

"It..." Haku trailed off. "It was a success..."

"Haku and his team were sent to retrieve the Godaime Hokage-sama," came a calm monotone from their right. "One of his teammates was injured so Tsunade-sama returned without them while they stayed behind for his recovery, isn't that right, Haku?"

Haku nodded affirmative. The speaker, along with the third member of Team 7, stepped out from the shadow of the a lamppost.

"Congratulations," Kakashi said, his eye curved up cheerfully. "This calls for a celebration. Dinner's on Haku's first paycheck."

Sakura cheered. Haku rolled his eyes. Sasuke was caught between glaring at Haku and glaring at Kakashi. The two of them were lying, and he wanted to know why.

---

"What was it you wanted to speak about?" Gai asked, all business after he and Lee had performed their customary greeting. "It must be serious if you couldn't find comfort anywhere else but this pavilion."

Lee felt tears leak from his eyes—Gai-sensei understood him so well.

"Gai-sensei, my mission left a terribly bitter taste in my mouth and I do not understand why."

"I guessed it was something like that. Did it have something to do with the Kyuubi-boy?"

"Yes, it involves Naruto-kun, though it's somewhat difficult..."

"Start from the beginning," Gai said, motioning for Lee to sit down. "Rest assured, I knew the true target you were searching for."

"Right! So...we left the village, the four of us..." Lee recounted their encounter with the two men from Akatsuki (Gai-sensei nearly jumped at this news), their subsequent separation, "...Tsunade-sama could not resist the power of my youthful persuasion!"

Two rivers flowed from Gai-sensei's eyes at his student's narrative. They quickly dried as Lee transitioned from his side-quest to rejoining the main group, to that indescribable feeling Lee hadn't been able to shake since his stay at the Sand Village.

"I can't understand it, Gai-sensei," he said earnestly, "but after that, I couldn't bring myself to talk to Naruto-kun or even look at him."

Gai sighed. Despite all of Lee's fighting ability, he was still such a child sometimes.

"Lee-kun," he said seriously, "that emotion you describe is guilt."

Lee's eyes widened. Certainly, all the symptoms were there, but—"Gai-sensei, I haven't done anything I feel guilty about."

"It's not for yourself," Gai explained. "You feel guilt on account of the Leaf Village and their treatment of Uzumaki Naruto. He is a Jinchuuriki whose lived his life being dealt with as if he were a weapon and not a human being. The Leaf demanded his return without any consideration to his wants, as if he were a prize."

"But he wasn't a Jinchuuriki when he first came back here. If...if he had not gone after the Kyuubi, he wouldn't have been a Jinchuuriki..." The gears in Lee's head were working overtime. "If...if he had refused the mission, he wouldn't be a Jinchuuriki anymore. He...he went through so much pain to get those things back too..."

Gai sighed. He knew all his students had to grow up some day, he just wished there was a better way to ease the harshness of the truth.

"From what you've told me, he's friends with the Jinchuuriki of the Sand Village, is he not?" Lee nodded. "It's very painful being the container of a Tailed Beast, people have trouble distinguishing between the human and the sealed demon. By ceasing to be a Jinchuuriki, he wouldn't be 'like' Sabaku no Gaara anymore. The Leaf Village knew that, and they manipulated him completely. That's why you feel guilty, Lee, because you know he was trapped in a lose-lose situation, because his actions were orchestrated by the village you call home, and because you were touched deeply by his devotion to the other boy who must've been very close with him."

Teardrops fell freely from Lee's face, not the ones of stirring passion, but sorrow and just a little hint of shame.

"It's not your fault, Lee." Gai sensei said, laying a reassuring hand on Lee's shoulder. "Just know it, and try to change yourself for the better because you know it."

"Hai, Gai-sensei."

---

He awoke to the unpleasant sensation of something chomping down on the back of his head. His eyes shot open and his hand immediately fluttered to the base of his skull. It was still intact. The uncomfortable gnawing sensation, however, was still present.

This, he supposed, was the effect of expelling and then assimilating a Bijuu's chakra. The Kyuubi's presence was stronger than ever before and when it became too silent, he could hear growling and a snapping at the bars that bound it.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto got to his feet and shook his head like a dog trying to shake off water. It didn't work, but hell, it made him _feel_ better.

---

"There's been a disturbance in the town Kainan down in the South, a gang has taken over the town. Nansei is the chief manufacturer of the Fire Country's textiles; production has shut down since then the incident. Your mission," Tsunade said, pinning Asuma first before traveling over to Naruto, "is to relieve the town of the delinquents."

Asuma nodded in acknowledgement. The mission seemed clear-cut enough and his team could probably handle it.

Naruto, on the other hand, didn't move a muscle.

"One more thing," Tsunade added, "the people of Kainan are pacifists, and their system of law is quite different from the standard. When you apprehend the criminals, you'll have to bring them in for trial—"

"What?" The question was asked, incredulously, by the until-then silent and unmoving Uzumaki Naruto. "Why would they hire a shinobi village?"

"They didn't ask us directly," Tsunade said, putting her hands together. "The Daimyo of the Fire Country is the one we will seek payment from, but they won't pay up unless production resumes immediately and if killing occurs in Kainan, the people will set aside time to grieve, even if the dead is the enemy."

"I have a question, then," Naruto said quietly. "Have you not read my file?"

"I have."

"Then why would you send me on this kind of mission?"

"Because a shinobi needs to know more than what you've learned," Tsunade said sharply.

Naruto's lip curled in disgust, and then he turned to Asuma.

"Is two hours enough?" he asked stiffly.

Asuma nodded. "We'll meet at the South Gate."

Naruto made a small noise of acknowledgement, and then he disappeared swiftly out the window. At the boy's departure, Asuma raised an eyebrow questioningly in the new Hokage's direction.

"His records are quite impressive for a shinobi who was just promoted to a Chuunin," Tsunade said, leaning back in her chair with a sad smile. "Only C-Ranks and aboves; all assassination or mass elimination missions. Whatever the Sand Village used him for, it wasn't what your father had intended."

"Is that so?" Asuma asked with a false chuckle. "Guess Ino-Shika-Chou generation two has their work cut out for them."

---

There was a small package with a simple note sitting on Naruto's coffee table when he returned.

_You might need this_, the note read. Inside the package was a _hitaite_ bearing the symbol of the Leaf. Upon reading the note, he promptly upended his coffee table in a violent manner and entertained the thought of sending the damn thing back to the Hokage with a line drawn through the center of the metal before he suddenly sat down, hard, clapping a hand to his head.

It hurt. Like an animal's jaw was clamped around the base of his neck and sinking their fangs, deeper and deeper, slowly and certainly. He didn't know how much more of this he could take.

He glared at the Leaf hitaite in his hand, willing for it to spontaneously combust. He couldn't wear it. He couldn't fight under that emblem...

...but he could compromise. Marveling at his own genius, Naruto untied the Sand hitaite from around his neck, tucked the one bearing the Leaf symbol into the Sand one so they fit like puzzle pieces, and then retied it around his neck. At least then he would have identification if needed without sacrificing his pride.

He was so pleased with himself that his headache magically disappeared.

---

"...and that's the situation," Asuma finished. "This is a B-Rank mission, and the delicacy of the circumstances would usually require a team of three Jounin. However, seeing as we have a shortage of able-bodied shinobi right now, our formation has been rearranged. I will be the only Jounin, the three of you should equate one Jounin, and we have an additional Chuunin who will accompany us."

"An additional Chuunin?" Shikamaru asked with a wrinkle in his forehead. Attaching extra unknown element moments before a mission began complicated his strategy. Complications, naturally, were troublesome.

"Yes," Asuma said, sounding resigned. "You might remember him from the Chuunin Exams. You can show yourself now."

"Finally." Like a switch, the three were jolted by the sudden proximity of a presence they hadn't sensed before. Naruto smiled at the three of them, and it was not a friendly smile. "If you don't remember me," he said "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. At your service, little Genin."

T . B . C

If the writing bug bites, you should treat the wound, right? Whew, two weeks to three days—something I assure you will not happen again.

For more information on Naruto's outfit: go to Naruto chapter 248, take what future!Gaara is wearing, remove the skirt, add a white cloak a la Yondaime Hokage minus the flames, and there you go.

If you can figure out what the city name 'Kainan' is a reference to, have a cookie.

And now for an entirely different matter:

Despite the fact that 'The Other Side' and its prequel 'Never Ever' are both AU's, I feel like I've done a pretty decent job at explaining the differences between them and the canon, and providing at least a substantial amount of background information to keep the story consistent. However, I don't think I can cover everything because my mind's focused on what's to come as opposed to what has happened.

So if there's a part of the story that I've left unexplored that you would like to see more detailed, drop me a review or an email or whatever medium you're comfortable with, and I might consider adding it on as a bonus scene or incorporating it into the story somehow. If that doesn't clear up any fuzzies, at the very least, it gives me an idea of what you want to read. So, ah...help me out, please?


End file.

Naruto, Adventure, Friendship