Uzumaki Naruto lay on the roof of his apartment, enjoying the sunshine. In a rare moment of peace, he actually had nothing he urgently needed to do, which, as a Jounin, was extremely rare. Naruto grinned as he remembered how he and Sasuke had both finally been admitted to the rank of Jounin 6 months ago, almost a year and half since the destruction of the Akatsuki. Naruto absentmindedly twirled a kunai around his left index finger, concentrating on the report he was about to give Tsunade about the current state of Sunagakure, Gaara's Hidden Village. Tsunade had given Naruto the job of 'ambassador' to Sunagakure at the same time as he was made Jounin, and his duties had meant that he hadn't returned to Konoha in almost a two weeks.

It was fun, though.

Naruto chuckled as a familiar voice butted in. When the Akatsuki had tried to extract the Kyuubi, Naruto and the giant fox had overloaded their jutsu and the two of them reached a truce, of sorts. Naruto allowed the Kyuubi, or Kitsune as he preferred to be called, permanent access to his senses, meaning that the fox was continuously aware of the situation of his carrier. In return, Naruto had a whole host of new jutsus from Kitsune's memory and, if possible, even more chakra at his disposal than previously.

Well, if you call getting into two pointless fights and nearly being impaled on a kunai fun, then I guess you could call it that.

It was more interesting than the previous two visits we made.

Guess you got me there.Still, I ought to get my report over to Tsunade before she sends someone over here after me.

Get going then, blondie.

Stop calling me that!!

Naruto jumped down from the rooftop, landing on his apartment windowsill. He stopped to pick up the written report and a sealing scroll he was currently writing. With his luck, there would be a queue of people waiting to see Tsunade when he got there, and the scroll would give him something to do. He locked his window and apartment door and headed out onto the street. He began to make his way towards the Hokage's Tower when he noticed a familiar shock of pink hair in the crowd ahead of him. "Sakura!" he called, breaking into a run.

Sakura heard a familiar yell. She turned around to see a blonde haired ninja skid to a halt next to her, a huge grin over his face.

"Naruto!" She exclaimed. "When did you get back?"

"About an hour ago. I had to drop my stuff off at my apartment and I cleaned the place up – it was kinda dusty!"

Sakura took a proper look at her friend. Naruto's position as ambassador to Sunagakure and subsequent sun exposure had bleached his already blonde hair almost white with honey coloured lowlights. The sun had also given him a permanent light gold tan, contrasting sharply with his deep blue eyes. Naruto also seemed to have grown whilst he was away, making him six feet tall.

There was another difference as well, and it took Sakura a minute or so before she worked out what it was.

"You changed your outfit!" she cried.

Naruto gave a slightly sheepish grin. "What do you think?" he asked.

"It's…different. But it suits you." She added hastily.

She's right on that one. Kitsune interjected.

Naruto looked down at his outfit. It certainly was different. Baggy grey trousers tucked into black ninja sandals, a black vest top with a orange and black short sleeved jacket over the top was far cry to the orange jumpsuit he'd left in. Black arm protectors covered his arms from the bottom of his jacket sleeves to his wrists, and Sakura knew they were probably to hide several seals on his skin.

"Where'd you get it from?" Sakura asked.

Naruto's grin grew wider. "Gaara gave it to me."

"Gaara WHAT!?"

"Well, it started with an assassination attempt...

Flashback – two weeks ago, Sunagakure.

Night had fallen in the desert and Naruto had just finished his final meeting as official ambassador of Konoha. He wandered the streets of the city, making his way slowly towards his room near the Kazakage tower. As he reached the tower, some deep sixth sense made him glance up, and his eyes caught the slightest flicker of movement on the roof of the tower. Naruto's eyes narrowed, but he carried on walking as if he hadn't noticed anything. Quickly he performed a Body Flicker Jutsu and a Shadow Clone Jutsu, replacing himself with a dopplemeiner. Whilst his clone carried on towards his apartment, Naruto jumped silently onto the top of the Kazagake's Tower. As he landed he found both rooftop guards dead, lying in puddles of their own blood.

"Shit!" he muttered.

Abandoning all caution he performed a Forbidden Transmuting Justu and sunk straight through the two floors below him, landing directly on a masked ninja who was about to run a katana through Gaara's back. The man collapsed beneath Naruto's unexpected weight and Naruto wasted no time in delivering a powerful kick to his jaw, knocking him out cold. Inside his head Kitsune roared Behind you!

Pushing himself off his right leg Naruto launched himself across the room, taking the kunai that was meant for Gaara in his left arm. Naruto swore and pulled the throwing knife out, but forced himself to ignore the pain, focusing on the ninja who was still active and very much a threat.

Behind his mask, Naruto saw the eyes on the ninja narrow slightly. "You are not even from Sunagakure." He said.

"And?" Naruto asked, irritated by the wound in his arm, which was starting to burn as Kitsune's chakra healed it.

"You are expendable." The ninja stated softly. "You cannot perform any ninjutsu with only one hand, making you exceedingly… vulnerable."

Naruto felt the edges of his mind begin to overlap with the Kyuubi's. A slow smile spread across his face. "Why don't you try me?"

In response the ninja performed five hand signs and then cried "Ninjustu Art: Flaming Pentangle!"

Five lines of fire surrounded Naruto and Gaara, imprisoning them in a burning pentacle. The flames caused Naruto to start sweating and as they rose higher and the pentacle began to shrink, bringing the burning flames closer.

Well that ought to have alerted any ninja who's paying the slightest bit of attention. I only hope they get here in time to do something useful.

Thinking fast, Naruto took out a scroll, bit his thumb and smeared some of his blood on the ink. Just then the door flew open to reveal Kankuro. His eyes widened as he saw his brother and comrade imprisoned by the flames.

"Gaara!" he called, but Naruto could barely hear him over the noise of the flames.

Naruto finished writing and flexed his left hand. He placed the scroll on Gaara's unconscious form and performed a teleportation jutsu as the pentacle flared even higher and collapsed in on itself. The scroll was one of Naruto's designs and it activated as the ninjutsu was performed, taking Gaara with Naruto.

Naruto reappeared on a rooftop some distance from the tower, cushioning the Kazagake's fall with his own body. Groaning, he rolled Gaara off him and sat up. Naruto checked his friend's pulse and was relieved to find that it was steady and strong. He sat cross legged on the rooftop and watched with interest as Kankuro appeared on the roof of the tower looking slightly worse for wear. Both of his puppets were out and from what Naruto could tell he appeared to have caught both of the assassins.

When his senses judged it safe, Naruto pulled Gaara into a sitting position and draped one arm over his shoulder, noticing as he did so that his tracksuit was ripped and covered in blood from his now healed left arm. He jumped across the rooftops and was immediately spotted by xxxx.

The ANBU leader raced over to Naruto, a mixture of relief and apprehension on his face.

"He's fine." Naruto said, answering the unspoken question. "Trust me, I checked. A couple of minor scrapes, and one fairly sizable lump on the back of his head, but he'll be fine."

The tension eased out of his face and he helped Naruto carry his Kazagake over to a team of medical ninja. Naruto laid Gaara onto the ground and the med-ninja surrounded him, their faces glowing green from the medical chakra they emitted.

Naruto pulled off his ruined tracksuit top, and in a moment of recklessness, burnt it using a small fire jutsu. His ears detected an acceleration in Gaara's heartbeat and a moment later the Kazagake opened his eyes.

Gaara sat up, despite the medic ninja who tried to hold him down. His noticed Naruto first, who was jumping up and down, rubbing his arms in the cold. His sharp eyes took in the ash on the blond haired ninja's face and hands and the blood smear on his left arm, before his gaze drifted over to the Kazagake tower, which had a large smoking hole in the roof. A slight smile twitched the corner of Gaara's mouth. He raised an eyebrow at his anbu captain, whose eyes flickered the blond haired ninja from Konoha.

"It would appear that I am in your debt, Naruto."

Naruto just shrugged. "Anytime, Gaara. You know that."

Flashback End.

...continued when a group of genin mistook my room for their sensei's...

Flashback

"You have got to be kidding me." Naruto mumbled. His shadow clone was waiting in his room, and when he saw his creator he vanished in a puff of smoke, and all his memories arrived in Naruto's head.

Naruto shook his head in disbelief. He turned his gaze onto the two young ninja who were stuck in a trap, unable to move. "Do you mind explaining what happened?"

The two Genins exchanged glances and the girl spoke. "We thought it was our sensei's room."

Naruto flicked his eyes towards his wardrobe. They had been nothing if not thorough. His entire set of clothes had been utterly decimated. His jumpsuit tops and trousers had been shredded to pieces and liberal amounts of ink sprayed over the rest of his t-shirts, which left him the trousers and t-shirt he was wearing.

"You must really dislike your sensei to want to play a joke like that on him."

They avoided his eyes and refused to answer.

Unfortunately for the two Genin, Kankuro picked that particular moment to pay a visit to Naruto's temporary residence. His eyes widened when he saw the state of the room and when he recognised the two ninjas who were stuck in the seal.

"You!"

The two Genins' jaws dropped open. "Kankuro-sensei!"

"Kankuro-sensei? Kankuro is your Jounin leader?" Naruto saw the look on Kankuro's face and almost felt sorry for the two Genins. Almost.

Flashback end

...and ended with a shopping trip."

Flashback

Since becoming the Kazagake, Gaara had learnt an awful lot more about human nature than he had thought possible. There was, however, one aspect of which he did not understand, did not want to understand and therefore never would understand. And that was a girl's obsession with shopping. And when Gaara thought girl, the person who he really meant was his sister, Temari, who always seemed to complain that she never had enough time to do it. Gaara simply could not see the point of it. It was, as far as he was concerned, a completely waste of time. So when he found out about the disaster concerning Uzumaki's wardrobe, he decided that it would be a good opportunity to give Temari an excuse to go and buy Naruto a new wardrobe.

Which was why, several hours later, a thoroughly annoyed looking Naruto carrying at least 5 shopping bags was dragged into the Kazagake's office by an enthusiastic Temari. Gaara nodded in silent approval at Naruto's new outfit. The black trousers and tight t-shirt showed off his toned muscles in a much better than his former outfit, and the flowing, orange red jacket gave him a slightly dangerous air.

Gaara was pleased that his sister appeared to have had a good time at least. And he remained pleased until he saw the bill.

Flashback end

Sakura shook her head. "Only you could pull something like that off, Naruto."

Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed. They walked towards the Hokage's tower together, their laughter mixing in with the sounds of the streets.

Naruto smiled to himself. It's really good to be home.