I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND/OR THE CHARACTERS

The Sons of The Fourths

"Art of Victory, that's what we're going to call this fight, baby! Deidara, Sasori, I don't care what you're names are S-Class criminals but from now own you are losers, S-Class losers!" shouted Jiraiya all alone

"Hey, relax Pervy, we made it," a smiling Naruto said as he came into view next to Jiraiya. "We made it because Nine Tails-San brought us to the top. Now, already with the money that the Leaf and Sand Villages spent on this little project, it's Na-ru-to…" he said as he gestured to himself with each syllable of his name.

A hand reaches across Jiraiya and gives Naruto a hard shove in the shoulder.

"…and my partner, Gaara." Naruto said as Gaara came into view holding up one finger. "And I'm…"

Gaara looks at him and made Naruto correct himself.

"Like I said, Gaara. We're here to kick Deidara and Sasori's asses. Hey, Pervy, what's the name of their group again, ah, ah, ah-coochie?" Naruto fake sneezed.

"Somebody must be talking about you. I don't know what their name is but they are losers, S-class losers!"

"But I'm…" Naruto said causing Gaara to push him again. "Like I was gonna say, me and Gaara are gonna take Deidara and Sasori down and then the rest of ah, ah, ah-coochie."

"You must be the talk of the town somewhere," Jiraiya said calmly for a change.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty excited," Naruto continued.

"I'm RRREAL excited!" Jiraiya shouted again. "Here's what I'm excited about, Naruto & Gaara vs. Deidara & Sasori, the Art of Victory, you are losers, S-Class losers!"

"And that makes me, of course, the winner," added Naruto. "After leaving the village, my record's going to be what? 6 and 0."

Hearing Naruto talk about his battle record reminded Gaara of his most recent loss to Naruto.

"Hey, relax, Gaara," Naruto said as Gaara grabbed him by the collar. "I mean, we all know who won that last fight."

"Hey, it was right down the middle, daddy!" said Jiraiya.

"It doesn't make you bad for losin' to Naruto Uzumaki, it just makes you the same as everyone else, don't worry about it," Naruto boasted as Gaara grabbed him by the other collar. "What you've gotta understand is what everyone else knows and what I'm trying to teach you, that Naruto Uzumaki is the Awesome Kage."

Gaara snatches Naruto's forehead protector off of his head and Naruto responds by taking his off his arm. Naruto holds Gaara's forehead protector gestures his thumb towards himself while Gaara holds his and points toward the sky as Jiraiya separates the two shinobi, Pain pauses the video leaving the trio frozen on the screen.

"So, it seems that the One Tailed and Nine Tailed Jinchuuriki are targeting us now, yeah," Deidara said. "And they're being guided by one of the sannin, yeah."

"Just how did they manage to send this video to us?" asked Sasori.

"One of Jiraiya-sensei's toads delivered it to me in the Rain Village," replied Pain.

"So, they know of our base?" asked Kakuzu

"It seems that way," answered Black Zetsu.

"Deidara, Sasori, be on guard, they seem to be targeting you two, first," commanded Pain.

"That won't be a problem, they won't seem so arrogant once they get a look at my art, yeah."

"I hope you two don't take this the wrong way, but I'd like it if they got past you," said Kisame. "I'd love to shave a few layers off of Itachi's target, he needs to be brought down a few levels, right, Itachi?"

Itachi remained silent as he usually did during their meetings.

"Hey, can we leave now, it's raining here, yeah?"

"Just be careful," Pain reiterated as the astral projected bodies disappeared leaving him and Konan alone.

"Hmph, 'be careful,'" said an insulted Deidara as walked through the raining forest with Sasori. "I'd take my art up against anyone, yeah."

"Prove it," said a confident voice.

"Who was that?"

"Dude, I'm kinda offended. You don't know who we are?"

"Show yourselves!" demanded an angry Sasori.

"Gladly," said the voice from behind them.

They turned around to find a ball of sand and a blue glowing ball coming at them, the sand hits Sasori and knocked him back but Deidara catches the ball that came towards him. He struggled with the ball as it seemed to swirl in his hands until a blonde figure gave him a spinning back kick that knocked the ball into his face. The combined force of the kick and the ball of chakra sent Deidara deep into the forest.

"I think I used too much chakra" said Naruto as he watched Deidara flying away from him. "I hope I didn't kill him yet."

"You?" said Sasori as he climbed out of his puppet ride that the sand ruined.

"Oh, now you recognize us?" said the smiling Naruto.

"That's right, it's us, the greatest team in shinobi history, daddy!" shouted Jiraiya.

"Hey, Gaara, which one do you want?" asked Naruto. "How 'bout blonde vs. blonde and Sand vs. Sand?"

Gaara replied by holding up one finger and heading for Sasori

"Cool, I'll take on that Deidara guy," said Naruto as he set out to track Deidara down leaving Gaara to deal with Sasori.

"So, I hear my old partner took out your father."

Gaara simply held up one finger.

"And you're about to be named kazekage."

Gaara once again held up one finger.

"Well, I've taken out one kazekage and it'll be a pleasure to take out another," Sasori said as heattacked Gaara.

Naruto tracked Deidara when an odd looking bird came his way, Naruto jumped out of the way in time to avoid the blast.

"Good, I didn't kill him," Naruto said to himself as he got up.

Naruto looked around to find another bird coming his way, he took a kunai from pouch and through it to blow up the bird prematurely.

"Where the hell is he?" Naruto asked himself.

Naruto continued to look around until his spotted an odd shadow on the ground, he looked up to see Deidara flying around on a clay bird.

"There he is," Naruto said to himself. "How do I get up there?"

Naruto thought about it until he found the answer.

"Got it, Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Naruto created a clone and they both formed a rasengan.

"Okay, we have to be precise with this."

Naruto jumped ran up into a tree then jumped off and collided his rasengan with the other Naruto's. The force of the two rasengan blasts Naruto into the air, his aim proved true as he rocketed into the air towards Deidara.

"Incredible," Deidara said in surprise.

Naruto moved so fast that Deidara had no time to evade it and connected with a right hand that knocked him off of the bird. As they fell to the ground, Naruto took hold of Deidara and continued to pummel him then he gave him a rasengan that drove him into the ground as they landed.

"I wish there were people here to see this," Naruto said as he took Deidara's ring and forehead protector. "I bet Gaara's isn't nowhere near finished yet."

He went back to find Gaara standing over the destroyed Sasori.

"So he was a puppet too?" Naruto asked as he walked up. "How the hell did that work? That's like the egg coming before the chicken…or is it chicken before the egg? I can never remember."

As Naruto waxed philosophic, Gaara collapses to the ground.

"He must've gotten some of that poison in him," Jiraiya said as Gaara immediately began meditating.

After a few minutes, Gaara goes into Sage Mode which began cleansing the poison out of his system.

"The poison's out but you're still going to be down for a while," Jiraiya said. "We aren't too far from the Leaf Village, you can rest there."

"Wow, Gaara, I kicked my guy's ass and you got sick," boasted Naruto which made Gaara push him in the chest. "But I'll tell everyone you won."

When they arrived at the Leaf Village, they headed straight for the hospital where they admitted Gaara.

"You shouldn't be here long," said Jiraiya.

"And while you're here, see if they can give you something to help you not get your ass kicked again," joked Naruto who had run out of the room before Gaara's sand got a hold of him.

Naruto walked through the village looking for something to get into during his stay and decided to visit his friends. He searched and eventually found Sakura coming from the library.

"Hey, Sakura."

"Oh, hey, Naruto. What are you doing here?"

"Uh, we just took out a couple of Akatsuki guys but Gaara got poisoned," Naruto answered. "We were nearby so we brought him here to get worked on."

"You've taken out two members of the Akatsuki? Lord Jiraiya's been training you to well."

"Yeah, that trip to the toad mountain really did Gaara and me some good."

"I still can't believe the Sand Village agreed to Lord Jiraiya's proposal to let him train Gaara alongside you."

"Yeah."

"Well, I've gotta run," she said as she left. "I've got a few things to take care of for Lady Tsunade."

"See 'ya."

Naruto continued to walk through the village when he ran into Kiba with Akamaru.

"Hey, Keeb, Akamaru."

"What's going on, Naruto?"

"Woof!"

"What's it been, a few months?" asked Kiba

Naruto and Gaara had been checking in periodically with their villages since they were going up against the very organization that was targeting them since they became partners under Jiraiya.

"Yeah, what are you up to?"

"Oh, Akamaru and I are waiting to meet Hinata here, she's supposed to bring something from Kurenai-sensei."

"Mind if I wait with you? I don't really have anything to do for the moment."

"Sure."

They were talking about things when they heard the sound of someone gasping, they looked and saw a nervous Hinata, standing with a scroll in her hand.

"What's wrong with her?" Naruto asked.

"I wish I could tell him but it's not my place," thought Kiba. "Uh, shit if I know."

They walked over to her as she was too nervous to move.

"Is this from Kurenai-sensei?" Kiba asked.

She nodded and handed it to him as she tried to avoid eye contact with Naruto.

"Okay," Kiba said as he got an idea. "Hey, Naruto, you said that you didn't have anything to do, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, neither does Hinata. Bye," Kiba said as he ran away so fast that he tripped. "Ah, bitch."

"I guess he really had to go," said a confused Naruto.

He turned to Hinata whose blush intensified even more.

"So, you wanna hang out?"

"What should I do?" she thought.

"You should do what you want to do."

"What did you say, Naruto?" she asked confused.

"You asked me what you should do," he replied. "You should do what you want to do."

"Did I say that out loud?" she asked.

"Yeah. Look, do you wanna hang out or not 'cuz I'm bored as hell."

"Okay."

They walked around the village but Naruto found her strange as he usually did because she just remained silent and nervous, his curiosity finally got the best of him.

"What's the deal with you, Hinata?"

"What do you mean, Naruto?" she nervously asked breaking her silence.

"You're always so uptight whenever I see you."

"Uh, well, I, um."

"I know what you need," he said as he took her by the hand.

If he could see her face as he dragged her through the village, he would've seen that her face was almost as red as his partner's hair. He came to their destination, Ichiraku Ramen.

"Hey, old man, two bowls of miso," Naruto said as they sat down.

She remained quiet and nervous which began to annoy him until the ramen came.

"Hold on," he said before she began eating. "Try this."

He sprinkled something into her ramen.

"What's this, Naruto?"

"Seriously, it's not bad but it'll help you unwind some," he said as he could see the apprehension in her face. "It won't hurt you. We're comrades and I might need you someday."

"Okay."

She began to eat the ramen with Naruto and eventually relaxed as he said she would, she then found talking to him easier.

"I like you," she just blurted out.

"What?" he asked surprised.

"I like you, that's why I act so weird around you."

"Well, I guess that explains it."

They talked for a while and Naruto had something to tell her.

"Well, this was a fun date," he began.

"Date?"

"I bought you ramen, didn't I?"

"Yeah," she shrugged.

"But I've gotta tell you something."

"What?"

"That stuff I put in your ramen was just seasoning."

"What?"

"Yeah, I just put that idea in your head so you'd cool out."

Her embarrassment came back and she took off as he gave chase, he caught up to her near the academy.

"Wait," he said as he cut her off. "I'm sorry for tricking you like that but you were a wreck the whole time."

He could see the tears in her eyes from nervousness.

"Look, at least you got that off of your chest and I kinda like you too. Remember I told you that before I fought Neji? You're cool people but just a little too wound up. Forgive me?" he said as he gave her the shoujo eyes.

She looked at him as her composure came back.

"Yes," she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Good 'cuz I need your help with something, come on."

He took her to Jiraiya as it was time for them to make another video update, Naruto made a clone to hold the camera.

"Okay, you know what to do?" he asked Hinata.

"Yes."

"Okay, let's do this."

The remaining members of the Akatsuki astral projected to Pain's headquarters after he called them in.

"What is it now?" asked Hidan.

"They've sent another tape," replied Pain.

"Apparently, they've killed Sasori and Deidara," added White Zetsu.

"That quick?" asked Kisame.

Pain put the tape in and the words "Message From The Sons of The Fourths" was written on a sign before it was dropped to show Jiraiya, Naruto, and Hinata.

"The greatest force in the shinobi world, baby!" shouted Jiraiya. "Right here in the flesh."

"Hey, kids, it's me, Naruto Uzumaki. The only reason any of you have even became shinobi in the first place and the absence of my partner will not even go be noticed, I cover his ass in battle and I'll cover his ass on this message with the help of Hinata here," he said as she held the ring and forehead protector he took off of Deidara. "She's even got Gaara's dialogue down, right Hinata?"

She pushes him in the chest.

"That's good Hinata although I can handle a much stronger push, just ask the kage and feudal lords. I mean does it look like Naruto Uzumaki can handle a push?" he asked as Hinata tied the forehead protector to his arm.

"That's right, baby, a big push!" screamed Jiraiya.

"When you think of Naruto Uzumaki, think of push," he said before handing the ring and forehead protector to Hinata. "I mean, I even got someone to fill in for my partner right now so he doesn't look bad. What kind of man would do something like that, what kind of heart must he have? I'll tell ya', one special man, one two forehead protector wearing jinchuuriki. Hey, I'm the Awesome Kage."

The video went off as Akatsuki members talked among themselves, back in the Leaf Village, Naruto and Hinata continued to hang out until night set in and he walked her home.

"Thank you for walking me home. Here's your ring back, Naruto."

"Naw, you keep it."

"Really?" she asked surprised.

"Yeah, you wanna hang out again tomorrow?"

"Yes, I'd like that."

"Good, meet for lunch at Ichiraku's."

"Okay," she agreed and went in for the night smiling from ear to ear.