A/N I don't own Naruto or Taken, and the following was written purely for entertainment purposes.

Prologue

Naruto reclined in his chair, gazing out over Suna. Next to him, Gaara sat, similarly reclined.

"The world has changed since we were genin, Gaara." Naruto said, pondering.

"Indeed." Gaara replied. The days of the shinobi were declining. Where once, if you had wanted something done, you would've hired ninja, now you could hire civilians instead. Civilians with only enough chakra control to trigger an explosive note. With only the barest ninja training, and technology on their side.

Men with guns were far cheaper than a jounin, after all.

Naruto couldn't recall ever seeing Gaara with more than a day's old beard before, but now, at 55 years of age, he was growing one. His eyes, dark green, were the same as they had always been, loaded with the knowledge of the darker side of humanity. His hair was also unchanged, an exotic blood-red.

Naruto's hair however, had traces of grey in it, leaving him with sandy hair that had once been golden. His beard, several days old, was salt and pepper colored, making him look older than he was. His eyes, however, were the same piercing blue that they had always been. His face was completely devoid of lines or wrinkles; testimony to his Uzumaki blood.

Suddenly, Naruto's phone rang, and he glanced down in surprise. He was retired now, and he rarely got calls.

He pushed the green button and held it up to his ear, aware of Gaara watching him. "Hello?"

"Hey daddy!" The voice was high and clear, like birdsong.

"Kushina?" He asked. Kushina was his daughter, the middle child. She had just recently been named a Jounin, and instead of joining ANBU, had elected to take a young genin team instead. Hiruzen, his eldest boy, was already an experienced ANBU captain, and one of the most feared Shinobi on the planet. Naruto's youngest, Minato, had just passed the Chunin exams, and was well on his way to being an excellent ninja himself.

"Yeah, it's me." Kushina laughed. "I got called out for a B-rank mission with my old teammates. I'm on watch, and I got home-sick, so I wanted to hear a familiar voice."

"Is Anko with you?"

"Nah. Sensei said she was too old to go running around outside the village anymore. Which we both know is a total lie." Kushina laughed again.

Naruto frowned. "You shouldn't be on the phone while you're on watch. It's too much of a distraction."

"Yeah, well. It's just a simple kidnapping case in a small village. We're not even that close to the village yet."

"Still. If I had a nickel for every time something unexpected happened on a mission I'd be a rich man."

"Dad. You are a rich man." Kushina laughed.

"I know. I'll let you go." Naruto said, with the tone he always used when finishing a phone call.

"Okay, okay. I lov-" Her voice was cut off by a muffled scream, followed by a lot of loud crashing noise as the phone fell to the ground.

"Kushina? Kushina?" Naruto asked, getting worried. He closed his eyes and cast his senses out, searching for her Hiraishin kunai. It was near the other Hiraishin seals, in Konoha.

Damn it, why'd she leave it at home?

There was the sound of heavy breathing on the other end of the phone.

"Hello." Someone sneered, their voice scaly and unpleasant.

"Who is this?" Naruto demanded.

"Someone who has your daughter." The voice cackled, then paused, waiting.

Naruto took a deep breath. "I don't know who you are, or what you want. But what I do know is that I have a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career.

Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.

If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."

There was a pause from the other end. "Good luck." The voice sneered, and hung up.

Naruto looked up at Gaara. The man's face was as stoic as always, but Naruto had known Gaara long enough to see the worry and alarm in the man's eyes.

Hinata was with Gaara's wife, at dinner or something. Suddenly, Naruto missed her terribly. But he didn't have time to look for her, he had to go now.

"I'll tell her. Go." Gaara said.

Naruto nodded, closed his eyes as he searched for the seal, then disappeared in a flash of yellow chakra.

xxxx

Naruto landed in his house, kneeling on the floor, one hand pressed down for balance. Striding to his closet, he quickly changed out of his normal clothes.

He put on black pants, shinobi sandals, and a black long-sleeved shirt. Over that, he placed his black flak jacket, over which he strapped his ninjato. He slid on his belt, looping his kunai pouch through it.

Reaching for a shelf, he retrieved one of his old ANBU masks. It was black, with a grinning fox painted in red. He wiped off the dust, then held it in his hand as he found his next Hiraishin mark.

xxxx

Konohamaru, the Seventh Hokage, looked up in surprise as his old boss appeared in a flash of yellow chakra.

He was clad totally in black, and he looked absolutely terrifying, his face a mask of controlled anger.

"My daughter. Where was she sent?" He asked, an undercurrent of fury obvious in his voice.

A small part of Konohamaru's brain wanted to protest that, surely, as Hokage, he deserved more respect than that. The other, larger part, which wanted to live, immediately replied.

"She was sent to NikkoShukuba to-"

Konohamaru shut his mouth.

Naruto was already gone.

A/N

So I got this idea in the shower, while I was supposed to be planning the fourth chapter for my other story. It stuck in my head, so I had to write it. I don't know if anyone's ever used this idea before, but if they haven't, it needed to be done.

Review review review, tell me if you like this idea as much as me, and think I should keep going!