The Mizukage and her entourage traveled quickly, tree-hopping through a forest near the border of Konohagakure. She was a beautiful woman, no older than early 30s with a full figure, and chestnut hair flowing nearly to her feet with bangs swept over one side of her face covering an eye. What one would immediately notice about her sea green eyes, however was how tired and world weary they appeared. Mei Terumi was a woman who had spent years fighting a bloody civil war against the previous Mizukage, Yagura, and her eyes reflected it. Mei's side had won, but after years of in-fighting her village had been reduced to a shell of its former self. So the way Mei saw it she had two options: wait for word of her home's weakened state to spread, and for the vultures to come... Or form an alliance with another hidden village. Her choice was obvious.

Shinobi culture was one of paranoia and fear, however. As a result alliances between villages were rare and often fleeting.

Out of the four hidden villages, she and her advisors immediately dismissed Kumo as an option, given how militaristic and hot headed the Raikage was, going to him in a time of need would probably make the man more likely to invade than anything. Kumo also had a bad reputation for kidnapping shinobi, ally or foe with kekkei genkai, or strong chakra to experiment on them, reputation that was not undeserved. Iwa was similarly dismissed partially due to its shady dealings with Akatsuki, but mostly due to the deep seated resentment between Suna and Iwa, which could put Kiri at odds against both Suna and Konoha. So when deciding upon a possible alliance she thought the choice of village to be simple, Konoha.

Konoha had recently been betrayed in a plot by one of their own, in league with Sunagakure, which had taken a toll on the village. After the death of the Sandaime Hokage, Suna realigned with Konoha, but both villages were weakened. They had also lost their Jinchuriki shortly after, and with it the power of the Kyuubi... Much like her own village had now lost theirs, following the death of Yagura, the Sanbi's host.

The Kyuubi's jailor was reported to have been KIA by the Akatsuki, in an attempt to capture the boy nearly four years ago. Leaving under the cover of night while his guardian slept, he had foolishly tried to battle two S-class criminals head on, and alone. He paid the price of his arrogance before the legendary Toad Sage could catch up to the boy. Though his body was never found, enough blood to have been fatal without quick treatment, along with the tattered remains of Naruto's jacket was. Jiraiya, who had taken him out of the saftey of the village on a mission to train the young man, heart heavy with guilt, had refused to believe he was dead. After all he was an Uzumaki, a clan famed for their resilience and tenacity. Not only that but his healing ability was further boosted by the demon fox. However, even if he did survive the encounter, it was only a brieff reprieve. It was more than likely that Naruto would've been taken by Akatsuki for extraction of the Kyuubi.

And so, with no leads on his or the Akatsuki's whereabouts, and knowing the fate of a Jinchuriki who has a tailed beast torn from their belly, the Godaime was forced to accept the unpleasant reality.

Naruto was dead.

... Well, not really.

Jiraiya was right, and the Kyuubi's jailor was right next to her as they leapt through the a forrest at the perimeter of the land of fire. A spacey girn on his face, as the nostalgia of being back home washed over him, she assumed. She was glad to have him, he was a very talented shinobi in his own right, and his unique condition made him a valuable asset for negotiations with konoha. The reason she had taken him with her on this trip.

"Are you nervous about returning, Izumi-kun?" A soft voice rang out from her right.

Were it not for the feminine tone of the voice, one could be forgiven for thinking that the lithe, androgynous figure it came from was a boy. With her short black hair, and her near perpetually squinted brown eyes the small girl was by any stretch of the imagination very average, but her soft smile as she spoke to her blonde teammate was infectious, and made her appear to glow.

Even if the blonde thought it looked slightly strained.

"Nah Kana-chan, Im actually kinda excited... I wonder if anyone will remember me..." The boy trailed off sheepishly, prompting a chuckle from the girl "I think that it would be very difficult for anyone to forget someone as kind as you are, Izumi-kun" Izumi's face blossomed into a radiant grin, which caused the girls cheeks to flush slightly.

Kana glanced to her right at Izumi, and felt her stomach knot. Despite her calm, warm outward appearance, inside there was turmoil. Her mind raced, full of incoherent, anxious thoughts. What if he stays at Konoha? It is technically his home, after all. The leaf will want it's Jinchuriki back. It was common practice for villages to sometimes ransom prisoners, what if, once his identity was known the leaf demanded for him to return?

She sighed.

"He is not a prisoner.", she snapped at herself mentally. Still with the way some villages treated Jinchuriki... What if he had no choice?

*What if he did have a choice?*

She shifted to run closer to the young man. "Hey, Izumi-kun...", she breathed barely above a whisper. She inhaled to continue speaking, only to stop once she caught sight of Ao, the jonin responsible for guarding Mei, shoot her a pointed glance. " Not the time for idle chatter kids, lets save it for after the mission" though his tone was gruff he didn't appear angry, if the smile and glint in his un-covered eye were any indication. The two younger shinobi shared a small smile, and nodded in the man's direction. Ao was right. Now was not this time. She cursed her self mentally for letting herself be so distracted on a mission.

Later, she promised herself, later.

The group fell into a comfortable silence as they neared closer to Konoha, a place the young man hadn't been in years. Although he had once called the place home, he now found his thoughts on Kiri, and chuckled at the irony. When he had first ended up in Kiri, he was single minded in his desire to return to Konoha.

Now however...

He loved the people he'd left behind in Konoha, and missed them dearly, he did, but... now that he was so nearly back, he found himself missing Kiri. He had fought for Kiri. Fought, sweat, bled, killed and warred. And he had lived.

Many were not quite so fortunate.

*Like all of my team, other than Kana-chan.*

He sighed, determined to break through his gloom. The losses should only serve to temper his resolve to see Kiri restored to the former glory he was so often told about.

His thoughts looped back the The mission at hand. He hoped negotiations went well. Kiri was pretty screwed if they didn't. They had fertile land for crops, and other natural resources but few people to harvest them. Worse, the number of active shinobi had dwindled to a fraction of the number it had even during it's "Bloody Mist" days.

*Bloody Mist, huh?*

He thought of the person responsible for the macabre namesake, Yagura,

Yagura, and his sadistic academy graduation exam. What kind of unity could be achieved in the Kiri military if to enter it you had to kill other Kiri citizens?

It was only natural that the people of Kiri would rebel against the psychopath that mandated such a practice.

What wasn't natural, what he couldn't understand was the the people who remained loyal. Cowards, morons, or sadists. Maybe a mix of the three. When his tanto cut Yagura down the remainder of his oh so loyal forces fled like the roaches they were, not that there many left, and not that the majority made it very far.

He made sure of that.

He could feel his mood darkening, as he felt an all too familiar feeling course and tingle through his coils. He knew dwelling on that particular subject wasn't a good idea.

So, with some effort, he willed his thoughts to Konoha. Until very recently they had not had the resources to devote to intel missions about an as of yet non-hostile force. He wasn't able to even access his own contact, given the hectic state of the contry during Mei's rebellion. It was only after the war, when Mei had begun to look for prospective allies that he had really heard anything of substance about his former home. From what they could tell Konoha hadn't been involved in any really large scale confrontations. With that, and the fact that the Akatsuki had been largely exterminated, he dared to hope that his former team was intact.

He hoped he got to see Sakura soon. he was willing bet she was a first class medical nin now. He hoped to see Granny Tsunade and Jiraiya and apologize for worrying them. He hoped Kakkashi was doing okay, after the battle with Sasuke, at the valley of the end, he had blamed himself for the things that happened when he and Naruto brought Sasuke back home.

His thoughts turned to Sasuke, his first friend. He was a gifted shinobi, but was nearly driven insane by his own need to avenge his family. His family killed by his own older brother. Sasuke was right, the bonds Sasuke once had caused him more pain than Naruto could imagine... He hoped Sasuke was alive. He hoped Sasuke was still Sasuke, and not some weird androgynous snake fetishist's new meat puppet.

As he wished for Sasuke's well being, his thoughts turned to how he had ended up there in Kiri casting aside his own name, and former home. Fighting a war with strangers in a strange place.

Over time that strange place became home, and the strangers became loved ones.

Sasuke was right. Losing bonds hurt, and he had no intention of losing anymore.