Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto or anything related. This is fan made entertainment and no profit will be made.

Note: Sasuke will not be mentioned or appear in any capacity. If you are a fan of Sasuke, sorry but you may not like this. I have never liked Sasuke as a character and after what happened at the end of the series I will never like him. I know he has such a huge role in canon, but that doesn't mean I have to write him nor do I have any desire to.

So this is just fair warning up front. If you just need to have Sasuke included, you might be better off finding another fic.

Chapter 1

In the Land of Fire, surrounded by beautiful green forests, Konoha also known as the Village Hidden in the Leaves is one of the great shinobi villages. Two figures were currently making their way through this forest. One was an older man known as Jiraiya, one the Legendary Sannin. The other was a younger boy with very distinct whisker marks on his cheeks. His name is Naruto Uzumaki, Jiraiya's student.

They were finally returning home after three years on the road training. Naruto was constantly hurrying Jiraiya along, excited to return home and see how all his friends were doing.

After a little more traveling they finally made it through the gates of the village. Naruto was grinning ear to ear as he took in the sight of the village that he loved. After being on the road for so long he had thought of home on several occasions.

"Man it's great to finally be back."

Jiraiya chuckled and reminded Naruto that they still had to report to the Hokage. After a little griping about being hungry and needing to visit his favorite ramen shop in the village Jiraiya agreed to let Naruto go get his food and then meet him at the Hokage's office.

"Man I have missed this place. Hey old man, how about one bowl of Miso Ramen and keep them coming."

Teuchi was caught by surprise at the sudden outburst and turned to see who had just entered Ichiraku. Upon studying the young man for a few minutes he finally recognized who it was.

"Wait, Naruto? It is you isn't it? You've returned to the village."

"It's been a long time, It feels good to be back in the village again, Now how about that ramen?"

As he was waiting for his ramen to be ready he looked over to the seats next him and noticed someone else was there. A blond haired guy like him wearing a red coat and white gloves.

"Hey what are you staring at," the stranger finally said turning to Naruto, who had been staring for a couple of minutes now.

"Oh sorry, I just thought you looked a little odd to me. I don't normally see someone just wearing white gloves every day. You must be new to the village am I right?"

The strange subconsciously grabbed his right hand at the mention of his gloves. "I'm the odd one. Yeah right whisker cheeks."

"Whisker cheeks?"' Naruto's eyebrow twitched at that response. "Look I just said it was a little odd that's all. If you wanna wear gloves whatever, but why not just take them off to eat. You're not worried about them getting dirty?"

"Why are you so concerned about when and whether I wear gloves or not? It's my business after all."

"So you are new to the village right?" moving on to his other question, "I've never seen someone like you around here."

"What if I am?"

"Nothing, I was just curious. So what brings you here?"

"Are you always so nosy?" The stranger was clearly not happy about the barrage of questions.

"I'm just trying to make conversation, but if you don't want to talk then fine."

Naruto had gone eating his ramen after it was served as did the stranger. He would glance over at the other guy every so often. He really couldn't figure out what the guy's deal was.

The stranger noticed the constant glances, but once he saw the way Naruto was practically inhaling his ramen he found he couldn't look away.

"Now who's the one staring?"

The stranger flinched and went back to eating his ramen. A girl with brown hair finally came out from the back of the shop. "Oh my gosh, Naruto! It's so good to see you back!"

"Hey Ayame, good to see ya."

The two proceeded to chat about what he had been doing. The sranger finally finished his meal before paying. Naruto noticed the blond getting ready to leave.

"Nice talkin to ya shorty," Naruto said to him before suddenly getting kicked out of his chair.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT A FLY HAS TO LOOK DOWN TO SEE HIM!"

Naruto was taken by surprise by the sudden attack. "I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT! I JUST CALLED YOU SHORTIE CAUSE YOU'RE SHORT!"

"THAT'S IT YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME!"

"NARUTO!"

The blond ninja turned to see a pink haired girl, who also happened to be his teammate.

"TELL ME YOU AREN'T PICKING FIGHTS AFTER JUST GETTING BACK!"

Naruto paled at seeing Sakura angry. He knew all too well how she gets when she is mad. "N-No way Sakura. It was this guy. He started it.

Naruto pointed to the other blond before proceeding to glare at each other. Sakura looked back and forth between the two noticing the obvious tension. She finally hit Naruto over the head.

"Okay that's enough Naruto. And just you are you anyway?"

The stranger calmed himself down before answering. "My name's Ed and I've been trying to get in to see your Hokage, but I've been told she's busy."

Naruto rubbed his head as he finally caught the guy's name. "Lady Tsunade has a lot to tend to today. You could be waiting quite a while."

Ed threw his hands in the air, that was clearly not what he wanted to hear. It wasn't long before he perked up at hearing Sakura say she could help get him in to see her sooner.

"I'm actually Lady Tsunade's apprentice. So I could help you, if you two apologize to each other." They way Sakura said it implied it wasn't a request.

Sighing in defeat Ed didn't really see any other choice. It was that or wait who knows how long. "I'm sorry."

"Huh, what's that I didn't hear you." Naruto got in Ed's personal space with his hand to one of his ears.

"I SAID SORRY OKAY!"

Naruto recoiled at being yelled at in his ear. Sakura began glaring, waiting for him to make his apology. "Look I'm sorry."

Deciding that was probably going to be the best she was going to get out of these two Sakura lead them to the Hokage's office. Jiraiya was already there wating for them when they walked in. Tsunade looked up from her work at the three individuals.

"Hey Granny! Miss me!"

"Brat, show a little respect. Jiraiya has already filled me in on your training. I look forward to seeing those results for myself. Now who is this?"

"This is Ed Lady Tsunade. He said he's been trying to get in to see you." Sakura gestured with her hand as the blond stepped forward.

"This is going to sound strange but I've been looking for a suit of armor. I thought if anyone would know it would be the leader of the village." Ed pulled out a picture of himself with a suit of armor. "You haven't seen or heard of anything like that in your village have you? It's important that I find it." Ed was carful not to refer to the suit of armor as to what it really was for fear of giving the truth away. He didn't want to reveal more than necessary.

Tsunade raised her eyebrow as she looked that picture over. Jiraiya had also leaned over to see for himself. "I can't say that I have. I would have remembered. What is so important about finding it?"

"It's important to me. Personal matter."

"Well I'm afraid I can't help you because I haven't."

"I see," Ed sighed disappointingly. "Well thanks for your time."

"A suit of armor? Is it some kind of family heirloom or something?" Naruto had decided to chime in, now curious.

"Doesn't matter. It's my concern and it's not here anyway." Ed had taken his picture back and was putting in his pocket.

"Actually I had heard word in out travels that something like that had appeared in Suna." Jiraiya was in a bar when he heard some guys talking about something matching the description of the suit of armor in the picture.

Ed's eyes shot wide when he heard that. "Wait Suna? Are you sure? Are you absolutely it was like this?" He then held up the picture again.

"I know what I heard. It matched that description alright. I didn't think much of it since it wasn't my concern at the time."

Ed got excited for the first time that day. It actually surprised Naruto. He didn't know this guy could do happy. Everyone couldn't help but watch Ed dance around.

"Alright! So all I have to do is find my way to Suna then. Um, exactly which of the five nations is Suna in by the way?"

"Huh, you don't know? You're really not from around here are you? Suna is in the Land of Wind." Tsunade once again had an eyebrow raised as she informed him.

"Right, got it. Thanks!" Ed then turned to leave in a hurry. Jiraiya stopped him when he was told to wait.

"What's this all about? What's so special about this suit of armor? You're awefully anxious to find it"

"Like I said, it's a personal matter. There's really nothing special about it that anyone else has to worry about it but me."

"Okay, you clearly don't want to talk about it. Actually this is perfect. Someone form Suna is here in the village and is preparing to return. I had planned on testing Naruto and Sakura's progess since they've been training."

Tsunade sat back in her chair as she continued. "However, I might just put that on hold for now. An escort mission to Suna will do for getting their feet wet since I haven't had them on any missions in three years. Naruto! Sakura!"

The two stood at attention. "I'm assigning you an escort mission for Ed and Temari to Suna. Kakashi will be your team captain so I want you to find him. "

"Wait so you want us to escort this guy?" Naruto was pointing at Ed. Sakura scolded Naruto and told him not to question Tsunade.

"If it gets me to Suna then I don't care. I'm ready to leave whenever." Ed was now more hopeful than ever that he was close.

"Huh, my first mission in three years. Alright, I'll get this done no problem!" Ed noted that Naruto didn't lack for confidence if nothing else.

Naruto, Sakura and Ed soon left the office leaving only Tsunade and Jiraiya. "So what do you think of that Ed kid?" Tsunade turned to her old teammate not long after.

"There's clearly more to that suit of armor than he wants to tell us. I don't see any reason to be concerned about it though. I say just wait and see what happens."

"Yeah, he doesn't seem to be looking to cause any trouble. It's probably not that big of a deal anyway. By the way, are you planning on heading out again?"

"I need to get back to keeping tabs on the Akatsuki. Now that our training is done Naruto should be able to hold his own against them, but he still needs work on controlling the Nine Tails."

"Well for now we'll see how he does on this mission. I don't forsee any problems, but you never know."