A/N: Yes it's back. For those that don't know (I would assume the vast majority) I had this story up for quite a while some time ago, it got as far as about chapter 15 at which point I realised that I had convuluted the plotline and it had become pretty much unwritable. Good news though - I have begun a complete rewrite and this time it has the benefit of a thought out plot so it won't have random introductions to absolutley nothing. I have also (I hope) improved the writing standard so that it is easier to read, people complained about jumping in time last time but it has remained, at least it now has labels! Anyway - enjoy and let me know whether or not it's an improvement.

Tsunade sighed deeply as she looked out of her office window at the village she loved, the rooftops awash with a deep orange-crimson as the sun set. Turning around she addressed the man before her desk, "I'm afraid not."

The man seemed to slump slightly, his great height seeming to reduce returning him to the small boy she barely remembered healing in the hospital all those years ago. His black hair now hung around his face as it always had but his face itself showed fatigue, not from a busy day but from a hard life, the resulting look made him appear ten years older than he was.

A white patch of burned skin was just visible on the crook of his neck near his left shoulder, a reminder of a time in his life he was not proud of and would rather forget.

"Why?"

Tsunade shrugged, "You know why Sasuke, nothing has changed in the last six years; we still have no evidence to support your 'hunch' that he is still alive and as such we cannot afford to send teams out to search for him. Where would they start?"

Sasuke knew she was right but he still came every week and requested the mission, he had blown through nearly a third of the remaining Uchiha finances in the first year of his old teammates absence by privately funding missions to find him the council refused to allow the village to cover.

"I know… I just…." Sasuke trailed off disheartened.

Tsunade nodded, "As soon as anything resembling evidence he survived turns up I will immediately commission a search, even if I have to fund it personally." She smiled at him sadly, "I'll even make sure your leading the first team out the gate, but for now there is really nothing we can do.

Sasuke nodded and turned to leave, as he did so Tsunade allowed herself to glance through the report that had turned up on her desk all that time ago, and read the words she had many times:

ANBU Classified report number ZZ24881D

Report type: Battle Site Analysis

Officer in Charge: A. Mitarashi, Service No. 2901B

Location: Fire Country, aprox. 12 miles North of Tanzou village

Battle site seems clear of any wreckage, evidence of large, chakra based, explosion has destroyed all flora within a 200 metre radius of explosive source. Heat scorching has destroyed any possible fight marking for analysis – number of opponents and village of origin undeterminable. Only materials found where:

One Hitai-Ite – Partially melted heat from the explosion, remaining markings indicate it to have been property of Hyuuga Hinata (service number 88491A). Traces of burnt organic matter present – could be blood.

A melted pool of metal of weapons grade – believed to be the remains of a Kunai pouch – owner unknown. Particular blend of steel common throughout fire country – weapons where of low quality.

Extensive burnt organic matter found, it is unclear if this includes any bodies, friendly or hostile, as the amount of burnt plant and animal life makes it impossible to determine.

Rock Lee (service number 75132D) was found outside of blast radius suffering from severe burns and other injuries (see attached medical report). Brief conversation was achieved before he lost consciousness, field medics where unable to revive him so he was brought back to Konoha for further treatment. Information gleaned from brief conversation implied a battle involving the Kyuubi in it's five tiled form (see attached transript).

Burn patterns in surrounding…

Tsunade stopped reading, she knew it all by heart by now anyway, besides she had already read the parts that interested her, the rest just wittered on about dispersion patterns and chakra trace analysis.

She remembered when they brought Lee back, she had worked round the clock with three other medics to try and revive him but it was no use. He had now been in a come for over six years and showed little improvement, he had woken up once in that time but they received no information from him. It was an unpleasant memory, Sakura had been with him at the time he awoke, he had stayed awake for twenty minutes and in that time he did one thing and one thing only.

He screamed, a terrible, terrified and pained scream, no amount of sedative or soothing voices stopped him. The medics had seen it before, when the Kyuubi attacked all those years ago – if someone was unlucky enough then some of the beasts chakra would enter their system and result in this. Tsunade had run tests and the best likeness she could find was like being stuck in an eternal genjutsu – she had wandered often since if euthanizing would be kinder.

"Naruto," She muttered under her breath, "How I wish you where still with us."

Six Years Earlier

Naruto watched a cloud drift slowly by as he leant on the village gate, he gently shifted his weight to once side causing him to move slightly toward the girl stood next to him.

"Is it me," he asked without taking his eyes off the sky, "or does that cloud look like a pineapple?"

Hyuuga Hinata turned seven shades of red as he crush moved closer and all but whispered in her ear (from her perspective anyway, in reality there was a good foot between them).

"It….well…I…erm…you…"

Naruto took his eyes off the sky and turned to look at her with a lopsided smile, "are you alright? Maybe you don't like pineapples?" he guessed.

Hinata struggled to come up with a response when a shout came from behind her in the direction of the village, "My friends! I am sorry for the delay!"

Lee approached, his green spandex shining in the sun horrifically, "That's ok Lee," Naruto called to him, "We aren't actually due to leave for another few minutes anyway."

Lee frowned, "Yes but if we were to leave early and run as fast as we can we could prove our youth by being well ahead."

Naruto hit him on the head, "No, we will travel at a normal pace, one me and Hinata can manage and still be in good form to fight, honestly I sometimes I wander if I am the only sane person in the entire village."

'Then again' he thought 'I do talk to a giant fox that lives in my mind… maybe sanity is relative.'

Hidden Vallwy, Whirlpool Country, Present

Naruto lifted the axe above his head and brought it down onto the block of wood in front of him causing it to split neatly in two. He smiled to himself subtly, there where easier ways to prepare firewood, chakra would be the easiest but for some reason, nothing felt the same as the satisfaction he got from manual labour.

It also gave him a more self sufficient feeling, using chakra reminded him of his old life, and though he still trained to maintain and increase his strength, he preffered not to think about the world of Ninja.

Looking up he watched the morning mist slowly undulate in the valley below him like a great ocean, he could see for miles from here, it was beautiful scenery as well as strategically favourable place for him to build a house. His smile was short lived however as he spotted some people moving toward him in the morning sun. They where to far away to see but there should be no one here, Whirlpool Country's population was decimated in the last great war and it's members assimilated leaving an effectively empty country – there was no reason for anyone to be here.

"Hinata!" He shouted behind him without taking his eyes from the distant intruders.

A moment later the woman in question appeared in the doorway of the house wiping her hands with a dish towel, "What is it?" she asked, her voice no longer shy as it had been in her youth but firm and gentle.

Naruto nodded toward the people in the valley, "Byukagan," Hinata declared, "Shit."

Naruto raised his eyebrows and turned to the woman beside him, she never swore despite living with his mouth all year round, "What is it?"

"Black cloaks and red clouds; aren't they all dead yet?" She answered.

"Fuck!" Naruto bit his thumb and ran through hand seals before ending with slamming his palm into the ground and declaring his technique, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

With a loud pop and a puff of smoke a Toad that could crush four full-grown men appeared, "Jiraiya I'm busy I was…. BOSS! You're alive!"

Naruto smiled warmly and patted the nose of the giant amphibian, "Sorry I haven't contacted you 'Kichi but I needed to stay under the radar – you've sure grown."

"As have you – how you been?"

"Good, but as much as I would love to stand here catching up I have called you for a reason, I need a favour – a big one at that."

"Anything for you boss, Dad is going to be ecstatic that you're alive – these days he complains he sees no action and Jiraiya won't take him drinking because of the cost."

Naruto chuckled, "I don't really have time to explain just go with Hinata while I get ready to great our guests."

As he said this Gamakichi looked behind him and his eyes widened when he saw the rapidly approaching Akitsuke cloaks.

Six years previously

Naruto sighed as he watched the bright orange blur move around in front of him, "Lee… Why, may I ask, are you making the journey on your hands?"

"Because," Lee replied while trying to recover his balance from a slight stumble, "it proves my youthful exuberance."

Hinata giggled lightly while Naruto exasperatedly placed a hand over his face, "Can you stop? You look absurd, particularly with those leg warmers waving around like bird scares."

"I…." Lee huffed in effort as he began to skip on his hands, "Will not accept fashion advice from 'Kill me now orange' Naruto – no offence meant my friend."

Naruto winced, he had fond memories of that jump suit – but it embarrassed him no end when people brought it up, he searched for a change it topic, "Speaking of wardrobe change, where'd you get the Jacket from Hinata?"

Hinata blushed at his attention, she was no longer wearing her furry coat and had replaced it with a more fashionable, and functional, lightweight blue jacket, "I-It was a birthday present from my sister."

Naruto smiled, "That's nice… hang on, does that mean I missed your birthday?" He asked, annoyed at his own remise at missing a friends birthday.

He relaxed however when Hinata shook her head, "N-No, I got it early as we won't g-get back before my birthday."

"Well that's no good! We will have to celebrate among ourselves, won't we Lee!"

"I must agree with Naruto on this, we will have to celebrate this most jubilous occasion – twenty is a milestone."

Naruto whistled, "Twenty eh? I guess soon you'll start thinking about finding a man and having children… Hinata?" To his surprise Naruto had to jump behind his teammate and catch her as she feinted.

"I am afraid my friend you have just committed a cardinal sin." Lee informed him.

"What did I do?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"You must never question a girl on when she plans to get married or suggest that she should start thinking about it - I am unsure why but doing so usually results in being beaten up and the girl to stop talking to you for some time.

"That bad?"

"I would say that pouring chilli oil in Hokage-samma's Sake would be safer."

"Ah shit."

"For someone as sensitive as Hinata it may even be worse."

Naruto swore at his own social ineptitude before picking Hinata up so that they could get her to somewhere more comfortable.

Hokage's office, present

Tsunade looked up from her paperwork as a knock reverberated through her office, "Enter!" she called out. Through the door walked the same Uchiha she had been expecting all day, "Nothing's changes Sasuke – I still haven't heard anything.

Sasuke looked at her evenly, "I am here to request a mi…"

"Denied."

Sasuke glared at her angrily, "You haven't even heard what it is."

"I know what it is Sasuke and I can't allow you to blow all the remaining money of your clan looking for one person whom you think might be alive!" She sighed, "I know you miss him, we all do, but there is no way we can keep doing this."

"He must be alive! There was no body!"

"There was no fucking forest Sasuke!" Tsunade shouted, "Anything that can turn a two meter thick tree into ash would destroy any trace of Naruto, or Hinata for that matter."

"But…"

Sasuke was cut off when a loud pop was heard and Tsunade's office was filled with smoke, the figure of a large toad just visible through the dust.

"JIRAIYA!" Tsunade bellowed.

"Wrong." The animal replied.

"Jiraiya didn't send me – Naruto did."

Both Tsunade and Sasuke stared at the giant amphibian, "Would you," Tsunade asked, "care to repeat that?"

The toad chuckled, "I said Naruto sent me, here," he said depositing a letter on her desk with his tongue, "I was told to give you this when I dropped these two off, I need to head off now in case I'm needed – bye!"

"Wait! What do you…" Tsunade shouted to an empty room, or nearly empty as she noticed the two figures the toad had left behind.